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SaNChEzZ posted:I don't even know my numbers, but is'a almost 5gal/week in the 40+20, and like a gallon every 3 weeks into the 8gal. Those would be standard numbers for me, historically. Right now it's just so much worse, I want to say at least 25-33% increase.
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Feb 7, 2013 23:28
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Mine is also under the sink, but in an apartment, so I made no permanent connections. I just hang the waste up and into the sink (with the end weighted down with a giant binder clip) and hang the product water into the 5 gal jug (also weighted down the same way). I only need about 5 gallons a week for top off and then I used to only need 5 gallons for water changes, but with the higher rate, I just may do a couple a week, epescially since I just tested my tank water and see an unusually high ammonia rate.
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Feb 8, 2013 00:48
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Fermunky posted:Mine is also under the sink, but in an apartment, so I made no permanent connections. I just hang the waste up and into the sink (with the end weighted down with a giant binder clip) and hang the product water into the 5 gal jug (also weighted down the same way). I only need about 5 gallons a week for top off and then I used to only need 5 gallons for water changes, but with the higher rate, I just may do a couple a week, epescially since I just tested my tank water and see an unusually high ammonia rate. This is my setup, I'm in an apartment too. Check those connections frequently!
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Feb 8, 2013 01:48
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SaNChEzZ posted:Just don't forget, as I've done once or thrice, once my drain line to the sink disconnected, dumped like 5gal of water into the carpet. You don't realize how much 5 gallons of water is until it's all over your floor. I've forgotten to turn off my RO/DI unit several times. The first time I left it running overnight and ruined my laminate floor in the basement. The subsequent times I left it running I did SOME water damage but not as much. Now I just have the thing running into a 32 gallon brute can and leave the light on and door open to the closet it's in. I don't often forget anymore.
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Feb 8, 2013 05:23
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I feel sorry for you guys in apts. I've got my waste line run directly into the main drain for the house with a saddle connection and if I happen to overflow a bucket it drains directly down a trough in the basement to another main drain. I really need to get a brute trash can though so I dont have to keep switching out buckets.
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Feb 8, 2013 17:56
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Soon enough, I will have a house as well. However, we don't do basements on the west coast for whatever reason.
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Feb 8, 2013 18:12
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I accidentally leave my ro/di running so drat much, I don't know what I would do if I didn't have a basement. Overflow runs to a depressed drain in the basement about 2 feet away from the bucket. My friend has his attached to some kind of valve that shuts the unit off when his container is full.
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Feb 8, 2013 18:37
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Go to Lowes or Homedepot and get one of the watering timers.
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Feb 8, 2013 19:52
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Is there such a thing as too many water changes? Secondly, since getting my MH, I've noticed the glass building the thin green film quicker than usual, and find myself wiping down the glass about once a day instead of once a week. Just a coincidence and likely will go away? I had high amnonia yesterday, so wondering if that has something to do with it...
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Feb 8, 2013 20:29
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You actually can damage livestock by lowering the amount of nutrients in the water too quickly. Stability and gradually changing is key. Yeah, your MH is probably promoting extra algae growth because the increased lighting has caught up to the amount of nutrients in the water. e: that said, as VVVV says, as long as you're not doing the thing where you do multiple 80% changes in a row to dilute nutrients you're probably going to be ok VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 20:49 on Feb 8, 2013 |
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Feb 8, 2013 20:41
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Fermunky posted:Is there such a thing as too many water changes? I mean, don't go nuts or anything changing 50% weekly but even with that, if you've got sufficient biological filtration, it would be okay. With 55 gallons or so of total water volume, I change 5 gallons every week or so. Recently I had flatworms and the whole process of treating that made me change probably 30-40% of my water within a week, everything was fine, but I've got a lot of live rock and a sump. You don't really need to change it that often. When I had my nano, at first I would change about 30% of the water weekly thinking that with such a small amount of water, the changes would be even more crucial. I found this was not really the case and as long as parameters were in check and I was using good clean water, things were fine. I probably could have done monthly water changes on that little nano and it would have worked out. ****** Salts. What do you guys like?
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Feb 8, 2013 20:44
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I started with a bucket of Coralife, then went to D+D H2O for 3 buckets, now I'm on Reef Crystals. I hear good things about SeaChem Salinity(? I think that's the one). Reef Crystals is because it's relatively cheap and has something ridiculous like 1500 base magnesium in a 1.026 mix so I don't have to worry about dosing that much. Anyway, I like it. VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 20:57 on Feb 8, 2013 |
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Feb 8, 2013 20:47
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api call girl posted:I started with a bucket of Coralife, then went to D+D H2O for 3 buckets, now I'm on Reef Crystals. I hear good things about SeaChem Salinity(? I think that's the one). I'm using this stuff mostly because it was on sale at Marine Depot when I drove there to pick up hanna reagents. http://www.marinedepot.com/Red_Sea_Coral_Pro_Salt_Mix_Bucket_Salt_Mix_for_Aquarium_Water-Red_Sea-RS4211-FISM-vi.html Its working fine I suppose. I'm wondering how this stuff works out: http://www.marinedepot.com/Kent_Marine_Reef_Salt_Mix_Salt_Mix_for_Aquarium_Water-Kent_Marine-KM00043-FISM-vi.html $51 for 200 gallons is a pretty sweet deal and I've seen it sold out on Marine Depot a couple of times so it must be popular. I might give it a try when I run out of the Red Sea stuff.
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Feb 8, 2013 21:01
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visuvius posted:I'm using this stuff mostly because it was on sale at Marine Depot when I drove there to pick up hanna reagents. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1714505 This should still be relatively good information.
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Feb 8, 2013 21:04
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I've been doing 5 gallon weekly changes on my system which has about 50 total gallons. But I did two 5 gallon changes in the last three days. My ammonia seems to be stable now, and I dont plan on doing more than 10 gallon changes a week.' As for salt, I am using Red Sea right now and it seems pretty good.
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Feb 8, 2013 21:07
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I've been using instant ocean sea salt super mix but am debating switching to reef crystals because I've heard good things pertaining to coral growth. This stuff. http://www.amazon.com/Instant-Ocean-Salt-Super-160-Gallon/dp/B000256EUS/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1360354140&sr=8-9&keywords=reef+salt Henchman 21 fucked around with this message at 21:18 on Feb 8, 2013 |
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Feb 8, 2013 21:13
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I used the regular sea salt for a long time and switched to reef crystals a few months ago. The big benefit of it is that if you do regular water changes with it your dosing requirements to maintain parameters in a stony coral tank are a lot lower. I actually overshot my alkalinity parameter by almost 2.0 dkh because I continued the same dosing schedule during the switch and didn't test frequently enough. Whoops!
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Feb 8, 2013 21:20
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Just figured I'd chime in here about the LED fixtures. I'm going back and forth about whether or not the MaxSpect Razor will be a good investment for the money. I think I have to replace my t5 bulbs soon (easily $100 investment by the time everything is shipped), so I'm trying to figure out if I just want to replace the bulbs or the fixture itself. If I replace the fixture, there's no way I'm NOT doing LEDs, but because I have a shallow tank, they'll probably have to be dimmable. On a positive note; I had a full water test done at my LFS and was told that I have near-perfect water quality! So it's getting there. Finally re-introduced one of my favorite tank inhabitants; a scarlet cleaner shrimp. I'll post an update to the thread with a good FTS, but its definitely getting there! Just picked up my first Acro today; an ORA Miami Orchid. I'll leave you guys with the reason the cleaner shrimp are my favorite:  Vacuuming the sand or placing coral is particularly hilarious; he jumps onto my arm and goes along for the ride every time.
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Feb 11, 2013 05:57
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Would they clean under your fingernails? That may be helpful for the gentlemen of goonish hygiene.
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Feb 11, 2013 07:13
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Finally got some frags from a friend, so on my way to corals now. The list of frags he gave me: Green Bay Packer zoa Grateful Dead zoa Blue Green paly Green paly Blasto Merletti Fermunky fucked around with this message at 18:44 on Feb 11, 2013 |
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Feb 11, 2013 14:36
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I worry that #3 and #4 are what are called Texas Trash palys and the bog standard green button polyps. They're ugly and they spread like the plague, and they choke out growth on other good corals. http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversden/ItemDisplay.cfm?c=2733+5&ddid=177176 http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversden/ItemDisplay.cfm?c=2733+5&ddid=176446 http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversden/ItemDisplay.cfm?c=2733+5&ddid=179215 http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversden/ItemDisplay.cfm?c=2733+5&ddid=177482 Any of these things, I'd stay away from in a fresh tank. If you already have well-established colonies of other stuff that completely dominate the tank in harmony then small additions of these aren't AS bad but can still be pretty bad. The exception is the Purple Death but that's just because people seem to like it so much. It still grows like a loving PLAGUE. I've had to kalk away little bits and pieces of it for years (don't tell anyone, they might kill me through the combined power of telejealousy). http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversden/ItemDisplay.cfm?c=2733+5&ddid=177614 If they're more standard zoa/paly polyps like these then it should be alright. http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversden/ItemDisplay.cfm?c=2733+5&ddid=176762 VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 15:21 on Feb 11, 2013 |
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Feb 11, 2013 15:18
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SniperWoreConverse posted:Would they clean under your fingernails? That may be helpful for the gentlemen of goonish hygiene. They do actually. It's really funny to watch. They go after any dead skin on your hand, too. This one has literally run across the span of my tank to jump onto my hand.
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Feb 11, 2013 15:26
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For actual image content, I got this as a discolored, sickly, flesh recessed rescue frag AGES ago. Dude had no idea what it was.
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Feb 11, 2013 15:26
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Were you saying 3 and 4 of my list are considered trash palys, or the links you gave? ...or both... My tank has had no coral in it until last night.
Fermunky fucked around with this message at 15:31 on Feb 11, 2013 |
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Feb 11, 2013 15:29
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Fermunky posted:Were you saying 3 and 4 of my list are considered trash palys, or the links you gave? ...or both... My tank has had no coral in it until last night. Possibly. Take pictures of #3 and #4. But the way you described them raised some alarm bells. The 4 I linked in that one group are considered trash palys. Stores sell them because they're loving dicks. (Well, that and frankly, they're ok additions to a tank someone never intend to be anything other than a FOWLR) VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 15:46 on Feb 11, 2013 |
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Feb 11, 2013 15:44
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Feb 11, 2013 16:10
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Ah OK, I will likely have to wait until they open up. My friend fragged them yesterday since he is getting ready to move and decided to give me some of them, and they're all very small, so it's kind of hard to tell them apart right now.
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Feb 11, 2013 16:12
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Paly's as a whole seem to take over an entire tank if you let them, which is why I've stayed a billion miles away from all of them. Luckily I have something in my tank that appears to munch on zoanthids/palythoas and keeps them in check.
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Feb 11, 2013 16:21
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Here are some crappy cell shots, I unfortunately do not have a decent camera for up close shots I embarrassingly do not remember which is which.      That last one doesn't look particularly interesting.
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Feb 11, 2013 18:31
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In order, 1 2 and 5 I would be wary of. Yes, zoanthids and palythoa can mat over a lot of real estate, but Texas Trash and the like ... well, imagine like, 9 square inches of the stuff in one place, 4 square inches of it in an entire different part of the tank, 2-3 miscellaneous polyps of it popping up every which where, a square foot of it on a rock, etc. That's the kind of menace you'd have to keep in mind. Do a quick googling of "texas trash palythoa" to see the horror stories. The green button polyp thing is weird too. It doesn't grow in a huge mat, but mini-colonies of it can pop up over incredibly long distances and can't be contained. Not sure any of yours are it. I harp on this because I have had to deal with Texas Trash. It is no joke. There's still the random few polyps of it here and there in the tank. VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 18:40 on Feb 11, 2013 |
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Feb 11, 2013 18:38
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Thanks, I'll keep an eye on those. I am particularly happy you did not see an issue with #3 (I think thats the blasto?). That one looks really nice with the MH off. #4 is incredibly tiny, and I wish I remembered which bags I took these all out of as my friend had the names written on each one.
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Feb 11, 2013 18:42
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Blastos are cool, I love 'em. I have a colony of B. wellsi that is particularly wicked, it has red/purple rims and blue center.
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Feb 11, 2013 18:45
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These clowns are the motherfucking businessssss. I love clowns. Just last week I finally found a mate for my female Picasso.
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Feb 11, 2013 19:14
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Thought I'd post up some pictures of my tank after 3 months. I'm adding coral gradually as I can afford to. Probably going to stick with just 3 fish and my cleaner shrimp.    
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Feb 11, 2013 19:29
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Lookin good buddy. The hammer frag is adorable, the acan is cool looking and I've got those same radioactive dragon eye zoanthids. They're probably the best growing zoas in my tank and survived The Great Zoacalypse of 2012.
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Feb 11, 2013 19:33
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Thanks. I've had that hammer frag the longest, and it doesn't seem to grow. I'm not sure what the growth rate should be on it, but everything else is outpacing it. I have a pink birdsnest that I got as a 1/4 inch frag that has grown another 1/4 inch in just 2 weeks. I'm afraid that thing will take over the tank soon. One of the heads of my trumpet is about to split any day now, as well.
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Feb 11, 2013 20:31
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Does it make sense that only the tank side of my overflow has a BUNCH of red algae in it? Only shot I have of it is my web cam: http://telijah.dyndns-web.com:8082/. I haven't cleaned it out since I've been making my own water, so I am wondering if I give it one more clean out if the red algae will stop coming back. Edit: My last fts shows it, but it's gotten a lot worse since putting in the new MH 
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Feb 11, 2013 21:06
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How long has your tank been running? Based on the FTS, your mag-float also looks to be covered with brownish algae. I had similar algae and it went away on it's own after about a month. Hopefully, you'll have the same luck.
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Feb 11, 2013 22:05
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U.S. Barryl posted:How long has your tank been running? Based on the FTS, your mag-float also looks to be covered with brownish algae. I had similar algae and it went away on it's own after about a month. Hopefully, you'll have the same luck. Diatoms, regular in a new tank. They'll go away in a month or so. My revamped 8gal is a diatom mess right now.
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Feb 11, 2013 22:12
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Here's the promised full tank shot; feeling particularly proud of the tank today! Apologies about Table Breakage
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Feb 11, 2013 22:14
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