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GenericOverusedName posted:This is a bit of an odd request, but I'm having trouble convincing my autistic brother that coral reefs are in fact made up of living animals, and not just weird-colored plants and rocks. Glad you liked it! If you'd like I could probably post a feeding video at some point in the week. That entails turning off the pumps and filtration and target feeding with Reef Snow, so you can see all of the corals react to getting fed.
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Feb 19, 2012 17:27
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| # ? May 26, 2024 06:59 |
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Has anybody in here check out the Jellyfish Art tank? Pretty neat stuff. I mean, I know that jellyfish tanks have been around for awhile, but this is the first one I've seen that isn't in the $1,000+. http://www.jellyfishart.com/ is the website for those that haven't seen it.
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Feb 19, 2012 20:13
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It looks like the most horrible idea ever.
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Feb 20, 2012 00:40
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So the bf and I were in PetSmart last night and happened upon a BioCube 14 on clearance for half price. Bought that and now I'm trying to figure out the best way to approach setting up a nano-reef for our bedroom. I have plenty of experience with freshwater, but none regarding saltwater. I looked around the beginning a bit but was hoping to get any info from people who have this specific tank and any cheap mods I can do myself (or have the bf do). I don't have a lot of excess income atm, so I'm hoping to try and set it up with most of the basic components it came with and upgrade later when money isn't quite as tight. I was thinking I would grab a cheap skimmer, a ro/di water filter unit, a heater, and whatever else I need to get a cycle started. Is this possible or are my dreams of coral and clowns doomed?
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Feb 20, 2012 01:33
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Russian Dollies posted:So the bf and I were in PetSmart last night and happened upon a BioCube 14 on clearance for half price. Bought that and now I'm trying to figure out the best way to approach setting up a nano-reef for our bedroom. I have plenty of experience with freshwater, but none regarding saltwater. I have (love) the BC-14. Not running anything in it at the moment, as it's in slight disrepair as I replace the fans (a weak point in the hoods). For me, setting up a reef tank is all about those back chambers. This site is your best friend: http://shop.mediabaskets.com/ That being said, you typically have to be pretty careful with water chemistry in smaller tanks. But thankfully, you wont need to change a whole lot of water. Here's my purchase list to get everything running for a reef tank: - Return Chamber (left hand side): Upgrade the pump and get a Hydor Flow (rotating return head, great for varying water flow) - Center Chamber: Remove the Bio Balls and pick up a media basket. Get the 4-led chaeto light, and place it over the back chamber. Then in the center section of the media basket place some Chaeto. Filter floss on top, then Chemi Pure in the bottom. - Intake Chamber (right hand side): Forego the filter cartridge for the Protein Skimmer they make for the tank specifically. The sales site says that you can't use the protein skimmer with the media basket, but that's a load. I got it to work just fine. In-Tank: pick up a Koralia Nano powerhead. Awesome for moving some water around in that little tank. Of course, this may be a little heavy on the modification side of things for just getting started, but the end result will be a much more stable reef environment. Note that none of this has to be done from the start, nor does it have to take place all at once. You can phase it in as you'd like to see how it goes. Since you're new to the reefing hobby, I'd suggest going down to your LFS and picking out some live rock yourself. You'll probably pay a bit more per pound, but the wysiwyg nature of going to an LFS is well worth the extra price. You shouldn't need more than 1lb per gallon of rock, and typical live rock can be between $5 - $7 / lb. So you've got all the rock you need for less than $75. As for live sand; a lot of people go with the standard white / beige live sand. I prefer the black live sand if you can find it, but it's pretty hard to find. The reason I prefer it is that it makes corals stand out a bit more, and is less likely to collect algae. Don't go out of your way for it though. A 10lb bag should suffice. If you've followed these instructions, you'll have spent: Light: $60 (over priced but serves purpose really well Media Basket: $45 Basket Contents: $15 Koralia Nano: +-$30 Hydor Evolution 1200: $22 Protein Skimmer: $15 Hydor Flow: $12 Live Rock: $50 Live Sand: $20 Marineland Stealth Heater: $20 All said and done you're in around $250 (give or take), and are ready to handle anything. Once the live rock cycles, you'll have to pick up a clean up crew. Check this out: http://reefcleaners.org/index.php?p...emart&Itemid=34 $18 and free shipping to the lower 48. Usually arrives in 1-2 days, it's a wonderful deal. So you've got your filtration, cycling, clean up, water movement and natural filters taken care of. You'll have moderate to high flow in the tank, and the PC lights that come with the tank will be able to handle almost anything (spare maybe clams or SPS corals like acropora). Tank should cycle in a week or two, check your water quality to make sure it is. Safe bet for a first livestock purchase is Zoanthids and Mushrooms; drat near impossible to kill and add a lot of color. Happy reefing! Hope this helped. Here's how my BC-14 looked when it started:  And the last good picture I have of it before it got taken down and moved into the 40g:  That was about 6 months worth of time. A little inspiration for yah!
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Feb 20, 2012 02:25
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That is an awesome looking reef! Thanks so much for the info. I should be getting my tax refund this week then I can see about implementing all that advice. If I can keep the price around what you quoted I'll be a happy camper. Thanks! 
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Feb 20, 2012 02:34
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GenericOverusedName posted:This is a bit of an odd request, but I'm having trouble convincing my autistic brother that coral reefs are in fact made up of living animals, and not just weird-colored plants and rocks. Check this out, man http://www.youtube.com/user/CoralMorphologic
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Feb 20, 2012 03:04
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Russian Dollies posted:That is an awesome looking reef! Thanks so much for the info. I should be getting my tax refund this week then I can see about implementing all that advice. If I can keep the price around what you quoted I'll be a happy camper. Thanks! No problem! For reference: 2 months after this shot was taken the corals moved into my 40g reef at the office. Six months from then, and here's what it looks like:  Note: the coral in the bottom left hand corner and the one in the top right hand corner existed in the nano tank I posted the shot of earlier. They've each drat near tripled in size since the nano picture was taken
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Feb 20, 2012 03:17
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Russian Dollies posted:So the bf and I were in PetSmart last night and happened upon a BioCube 14 on clearance for half price. Bought that and now I'm trying to figure out the best way to approach setting up a nano-reef for our bedroom. I have plenty of experience with freshwater, but none regarding saltwater. Best resource for small tanks: http://www.nano-reef.com/
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Feb 20, 2012 18:33
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Russian Dollies posted:So the bf and I were in PetSmart last night and happened upon a BioCube 14 on clearance for half price. Bought that and now I'm trying to figure out the best way to approach setting up a nano-reef for our bedroom. I have plenty of experience with freshwater, but none regarding saltwater. edit: None of the Petsmarts around me have any of the 14g. I found it online at Petco for 199.99 with free shipping but it says it is a Corallife. Is there any difference between that and oceanic? nwin fucked around with this message at 20:43 on Feb 20, 2012 |
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Feb 20, 2012 19:32
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With tax it ran us about $120. I thought it was quite the find. Edit: Oh, and I was mistaken. We actually got it in PetCo, not PetSmart. It is an Oceanic, and was the only one there. Maybe they're phasing them out of stock? Russian Dollies fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Feb 21, 2012 |
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Feb 20, 2012 21:09
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another loser posted:Best resource for small tanks: http://www.nano-reef.com/ More specifically: http://www.nano-reef.com/articles/ The sticky threads on their beginner's forum are pretty good too.
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Feb 21, 2012 18:37
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Speaking of nano tanks. Here is a picture of my work tank. We just upgraded it from a 5 LED PAR38 fixture to a 7 LED PAR38 fixture. Big improvement!
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Feb 21, 2012 19:38
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Internet Explorer posted:Speaking of nano tanks. Here is a picture of my work tank. We just upgraded it from a 5 LED PAR38 fixture to a 7 LED PAR38 fixture. Big improvement! Looks good, what size is it?
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Feb 21, 2012 20:58
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Oh, sorry. Got distracted. It is about 12 gallons.
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Feb 21, 2012 21:27
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I did a 10-gallon water change last weekend on my 75-gallon tank and my toadstool leathers have been retracted ever since. The levels all test good and the only thing I changed was to raise the salinity from 1.021 to 1.024. Is this behavior normal, or should I be worried?
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Feb 23, 2012 16:34
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kaiger posted:I did a 10-gallon water change last weekend on my 75-gallon tank and my toadstool leathers have been retracted ever since. The levels all test good and the only thing I changed was to raise the salinity from 1.021 to 1.024. Is this behavior normal, or should I be worried? I'm still new to all this buy I think that is a big salinity jump in one shot. I would have tried to adjust it from 1.021 to 1.024 over 1-2 water changes. Toadstool leathers are generally pretty hardy and are known for shriveling up for a few days if something changes or they are growing. I wouldn't worry about it too much.
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Feb 23, 2012 17:33
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What was the salinity in the change water that caused 10 gallons to raise .003? Edit: missed a decimal point, mundane detail and all that. optikalus fucked around with this message at 19:43 on Feb 23, 2012 |
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Feb 23, 2012 19:13
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I have a new aquarium which I just a couple days ago added a couple half-inch yellow tip hermit crabs to. I think this was a big mistake, as they've basically been tiny nonstop lawnmowers on all my rock and now there is poop EVERYWHERE. Oh god, what do I do? I assume I need some snails to clean it up but will I need a cover to keep them from leaving the tank or will they refuse to go above the surface?
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Feb 23, 2012 20:31
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If it's a new tank I'm guessing that it's diatoms.
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Feb 23, 2012 20:56
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optikalus posted:What was the salinity in the change water that caused 10 gallons to raise .003? I added additional salt directly to the sump to bring the level up. I've noticed the salinity will gradually decrease as salt crusts above and on the edges of the tank. Every month or so I'll try to get it back to 1.024ish. I'm guessing it'd be better to do so more frequently and therefore gradually.
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Feb 24, 2012 05:30
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Manslaughter posted:I have a new aquarium which I just a couple days ago added a couple half-inch yellow tip hermit crabs to. I think this was a big mistake, as they've basically been tiny nonstop lawnmowers on all my rock and now there is poop EVERYWHERE. Oh god, what do I do? I assume I need some snails to clean it up but will I need a cover to keep them from leaving the tank or will they refuse to go above the surface? You won't have to worry about them leaving the tank. When I had a tank my snails would go to the top and kind of hang out there for awhile then eventually go back down, but never fully emerge from the water. They prefer to stay wet.
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Feb 24, 2012 06:10
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Crasscrab posted:You won't have to worry about them leaving the tank. When I had a tank my snails would go to the top and kind of hang out there for awhile then eventually go back down, but never fully emerge from the water. They prefer to stay wet. This works for most snails except nerites, who like to hang above the waterline just a little bit too much and can therefore end up falling off the other side.
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Feb 24, 2012 15:28
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arioch posted:This works for most snails except nerites, who like to hang above the waterline just a little bit too much and can therefore end up falling off the other side. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rs/index.php http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/rs/index.php <--Nerites are here!!!! http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-07/rs/index.php Ronald L Shimek, PHD posted:Some of the ones [Nerites] collected for sale in reef tanks are really intertidal marsh animals and have no business in a reef tank. I am not the only one who thinks so, by the way. The snails agree with me, and vote with their feet, moving out of the tank and into the wilds of the adjacent rooms. These animals will live in the tank, but seem to have a physiological need to move above the water line. At least in many cases, unlike some of the limpets, they also move back down to the water. Unfortunately, there is no good way for a hobbyist to determine if the animals offered for sale are intertidal or subtidal as the shells are quite similar.
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Feb 24, 2012 17:49
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So, your best bet is to probably avoid Nerites. There are plenty of other species to choose from. When I had a tank (had a 12 g for roughly three years up until last year ), ceriths always worked the best for me. They're on the smaller side but quick movers.
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Feb 24, 2012 18:23
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I actually have pretty much everything in snails--mini conchs (Euplica?), a couple chitons, little limpets, stomatella, mexican turbos and astraea in one tank (food for mantis, essentially), nerites, ceriths, dwarf ceriths, collonista, banded trochus, various annulus and moneta cowries, and an abalone. And then various species of nassarius snails as scavengers.
VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 18:39 on Feb 24, 2012 |
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Feb 24, 2012 18:36
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Wow, I just found the craziest thing in our work tank. A baby longspine urchin that is pure black. We have had the tank up and running for about 6 months now and have not introduced any new rocks or small coral. He must have hitch-hiked on the original live rock. He was really small, maybe about the size of a penny. I didn't get a chance to take a picture of him, but he looked like a really small version of this. http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+530+591&pcatid=591 Internet Explorer fucked around with this message at 03:29 on Feb 25, 2012 |
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Feb 24, 2012 22:17
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The best thing about live rock--hitchhikers. The worst thing about live rock--hitchhikers.
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Feb 25, 2012 03:21
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Thankfully, the only real problem I've had in either of my tanks is apitasia. I have been working on eliminating that with apitasia-X. It's a pain, but not nearly as bad as some hitchhikers people get.
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Feb 25, 2012 03:28
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I saw a brittle star the other day. We haven't a added live rock in over a year.
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Feb 25, 2012 04:03
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Haha. My 12 gallon at work has probably about 50 micro brittle stars. My 90g at home has 0.
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Feb 25, 2012 05:01
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Brittle stars are good... right?
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Feb 25, 2012 08:08
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Anony Mouse posted:Brittle stars are good... right? Micros are good, big ones are generally good if you keep them well fed.
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Feb 25, 2012 08:13
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So I came home today and found my clown fish on the floor a couple of feet from the tank. There was a small puddle around her and she was still wet, so I threw her in the tank to see if she was still alive. She started twitching and slowly coming back, but the crabs were way too interested, so I threw her in the sump. She seems to be recovering slowly, but is there anything else I could/should do?
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Feb 26, 2012 02:11
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Russian Dollies posted:With tax it ran us about $120. I thought it was quite the find. Called the local Petcos the other day and no one seemed to have them. Decided to look on my own and found one at the first PetCo I went to, 119.99 plus tax, last one on the shelf. I'm happy!
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Feb 26, 2012 02:38
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cculos posted:
Is the light you're talking about JBJ Nano-Glo Led Fuge Light from the website listed? Also, for the Koralia, do you think the 425gph or 240gph is the one to go with? Finally, could you provide a link to the protein skimmer? None that I'm seeing come close to $15. Thanks!
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Feb 26, 2012 03:13
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nwin posted:Is the light you're talking about JBJ Nano-Glo Led Fuge Light from the website listed? Also, for the Koralia, do you think the 425gph or 240gph is the one to go with? Finally, could you provide a link to the protein skimmer? None that I'm seeing come close to $15. The light is the 4LED nano fuge light, correct. The Koralia I went with is 240gph. 425 is quite a bit for that small of a tank. Sorry about the $15, it's $30 on amazon for the protein skimmer: http://www.amazon.com/Oceanic-82053-BioCube-Protein-Skimmer/dp/B0015GIPDW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330223886&sr=8-1 Hope this helps!
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Feb 26, 2012 03:39
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So I think for starting out, since it's such a small aquarium, I'm just going to go with distilled water. After the live rock and the sand, I probably won't need any more than 10 gallons of it anyways. From all the research I've done online, it seems people can't make up their mind between RO water or Distilled water, although having both is the most preferred. I would like to just be able to go to the store and fill up 2 5 gallon jugs with what I need. Time for a stupid question, will I want Instant Ocean or Reef Crystals to mix with this, or Red Sea Coral Pro Set? I'm just getting my grocery list ready of stuff I'll be buying and want to make sure I get everything right. I'm definitely looking for a setup very similar to cculos'. I'm not too sold on the protein skimmer yet though. Most things I've read online seem like it's a waste and you're constantly replacing the air stone every month for not much reward. I figure I'll skip on that for now and can always add it later if need be. Should I just stick with the normal cat ridge filter in there for now or do something else (I'm going to be following all your other steps with the media basket, etc.). Also, what size heater would be recommended for this? I have an old 50W from my 29g freshwater that I would think to be more than adequate, but if it's too much, better to find out now before I start getting into it. Finally, for stocking questions. The wife is insistent on a clown fish, which I'm cool with, We want to get a peppermint shrimp, and then I was thinking maybe a yellow watchman goby or something similar? Ideas? I'd love to get a pistol shrimp with the goby, but I don't think that will work out too well. Am I wrong? Still have lots of questions, which is why the tank is still without water on the stand. I want to make sure I do everything right, because I've rushed into freshwater before and I know it doesn't have a great likelihood of turning out well. nwin fucked around with this message at 21:46 on Feb 26, 2012 |
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Feb 26, 2012 21:33
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I found myself in a very lucky situation in that I have two really great LFS in the midst of Colorado. I was really worried I'd have to go online and have a bit of a crap shoot as far as stock goes, but the stock at one place is amazing for fish and coral (seriously the whole setup was just mind blowing), and the other is great because they cater towards the smaller tanks. Just picked up a beautiful 11lb piece of Figi live rock and I'm super impatient for some of the cloudiness in the tank to go down so I can get some decent pictures. Regarding the Biocube skimmer, I've been playing with it for the past few days and I think I've figured out the adjustment on it, though can't say how good or bad it is yet since I don't have any skimmate yet. I did, however, switch out the air pump as the one it came with seemed kinda flimsy and rattled like crazy. I've also considered cutting that little tab between chambers 1 and 2 down a bit since the lid gets caught on the collection chamber if it isn't placed just right. I decided to wait a bit on the media basket until I have more of a bio load in the tank. My goal is to keep it pretty small anyway, so gonna wait and see if I need something like that once I have more going on. Now for opinions: When I was purchasing my live rock today the owner gave me a free sample of something called StartSmart Complete. The bottle claims that it cycles a tank in 24 hours. He fully admitted he had never used it, but that some of his customers said that they'd had good results with it. I'm in no hurry to cycle by any means, but I'm curious if any one else had used the stuff or had an opinion on it.
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Feb 26, 2012 23:40
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| # ? May 26, 2024 06:59 |
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  2nd clutch. I think they're still laying. 
VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 03:57 on Feb 27, 2012 |
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Feb 27, 2012 03:53
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