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I recently moved my 100 gallon tank from a 3rd story apartment to a condo 10 miles away. It had been running for almost 3 years and at one point looked like this:  I got crazy busy with work and dropped the ball on maintenance over the last 8 months and ended up with a really horrible green hair algae problem. Basically everything was covered and I wasn't able to get a hand on it. The plan was to scrub all of the rocks once I moved and that is what I did. Unfortunately, even that didn't get rid of everything and now 3 weeks after setting it up again in the new place I'm still having a bit of a hair algea problem. I'm doing weekly 10% water changes while scrubbing the actual pieces off with a toothbrush, added a huge cleaner crew and have been running my lights for only 6 hours a day (TFHOs 54x4). The tank is lookin' pretty good. I have high hopes for my urchin which is supposed to munch on some of this green crap. The problem is some of my rocks have so many drat nooks and crannies that it makes it hard to get to the hair algae rooted there. Anyhow here it is now (excuse the blurry pictures I'm still trying to figure this camera out):             I'm going to stay on top of this one like a sonovabitch. I've got a buddy going to the wholesalers in LA today and I've asked him to look for some really bright and colorful zoos. I've always had the generic greens, maroons and reds but I really want some blues, oranges and yellows. Current tank inhabitants are: Purple Tang Kole Eye Tang Bi-Color Psuedochromis (This guy is a champ and I've had him from the beginning) Two Percula Clowns Flame Angel Falco Hawkfish Some kind of sandsifting watchmen goby I've asked my friend to also pick up a large blue tang (about 5"-6") and I'm really tempted to get a baby clown trigger. I know they are kind of assholes and nip at corals but I'm hoping if I get a juvenile one I'll be okay. I'm guessing I'll be maxed out as far as fish goes at that point.
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Oct 14, 2009 19:50
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Totally forgot SA had a thread on saltwater stuff. Awesome! I used to have a 100 gallon reef a few years ago that I think I posted about here at some point. I didn't know much about the hobby back then (still learning) and kind of just jumped into things. Surprisingly, things worked out relatively okay. A bad bubble/hair algae outbreak, two tank moves and a divorce basically ended that period of reefing. Fast forward to now. I recently setup a 12 gallon Aquapod that had been sitting in my office in a really lovely state. Things are going pretty well but I had this question that was basically ignored on reef central so I shall repost here: This is probably a dumb question but here goes. I have a 12 gallon Aquapod for which I originally bought the 15K Kessil a150. I found that this was too blue for my tastes so I exchanged it for the Kessil 10K. I like the 10K better, but now after seeing how zoanthids (which I have a particular love of) really shine with some blue hues, I feel like the 10K is not blue enough. So my question is, how do I supplement the Kessil with some blue? I see people talking about doing that here but I"m not sure how it would work. My kessil currently hangs about 6 inches about the center of the tank. If I buy an inexpensive blue T5 fixture or something similiar, and place it under the Kessil, won't I have a huge shadow in the tank? Can someone tell me how to do this? Basically I just want to add a little blue to my Kessil and I'm confused about how it would actually work. Here is a picture for reference (this was when I still had the 15K).  ALSO, Can someone please tell me how to increase the flow going through my back chambers? I bought a media basket for the first chamber and have blocked the two lower intake grates so it skims better off of the surface but the water just doesn't seem like its moving well through the back chambers. A big problem seems to be that the water level between the tank and the chambers is not much different so there is not a good waterfall effect going on. I've ordered a MaxiJet 900 which is yet to arrive, will this help the water flow out of those chambers quicker? Basically the water kind of looks like its sitting around back in those chambers, its obviously moving but I feel like there should be more flow.
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Jul 19, 2012 19:40
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SaNChEzZ posted:You could get a stunner strip? Dunno how you'd mount it, but they're pretty cool. it hink Ecoxotic makes them. As for the flow, I too had an AP24 and I took a fluval 1 filter/pump thingy, took of the filter part so it was just a tiny powerhead and chucked it in the back chamber to keep the water moving around in there. Okay those stunner strips might work. I'm thinking maybe I can cut a piece of thin acrylic to mount it on, then make legs for the mount so it can sit on top of the tank, towards the front. I'd have to angle it to face down and back but maybe it'd work? I'd love to hang something at the Kessil's height but I'm not sure how that would work. Another idea that came to me is, what if I get one of the Par38 bulbs and just use a simple desk lamp next to the aquarium for power? They aren't too expensive but would using the two different types of light gently caress with the corals? Like if I had the 10K Kessil on for most of the day and then switched to the Par38 bulb for a few hours at night, would that work?
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Jul 20, 2012 00:06
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arioch posted:Look at what I saw at the LFS today: That's pretty nutty. I don't think I like it though. That thing should be out chillin' in the ocean somewhere mimicking poo poo. Those things are way too clever for aquariums.
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Jul 27, 2012 17:44
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Here are a bunch of pics of the new nano:                   I'm really bummed right now cause the Snowflake clown in that picture is just aboud dead. Right up until last night he was golden, eating like a pig. I wake up this morning to find him super lethargic, swimming weakly and with white mucus over parts of his body. Pretty sure he has clownfish disease. There goes A) a really beautiful and what I thought was healthy fish, and B) $70. Not sure what to do with the Darwin Clown I still have in there. He hasn't shown signs yet but even if he does I don't have anywhere to put him.
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Jul 30, 2012 20:06
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arioch posted:Ya, since that's a bred clown, somebody in the custody chain is an unexcusable literal living breathing piece of poo poo for having it come into contact with brooklynella. Is this in response to my clown dying? If so can you expand on what you said a bit? What do you mean about the body shape being off?
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Jul 31, 2012 01:01
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arioch posted:Snowflakes are tank-bred clownfish that pretty much don't occur in nature, so it had to have been healthy to start with (no disease, I hope, in a breeder's larvae grow out system) but at some point spent time in the same tank system as a bunch of wild-caught un-quarantined clowns to get brook. Somebody hosed up big along the line. Hey thanks for this reply, it helps explain things quite a bit. You're like some kind of clown genius. I called the guy at the LFS that sold it to us and of course he basically claimed it was everything but brook. Dick. Won't be going back there. Actually, even though he had lots of clowns there, he claimed he had never even dealt with it. Black Onyx clowns are basically what I always wanted but I could never find a pair around here and didn't really want to order online so I went with the Snowflake and a Darwin. Do you think the Darwin will get the disease at this point? I have long since pulled the diseased snowflake. Its a tough situation because I doubt any LFS is going to want to take him, I don't have a quarantine and I imagine keeping the Darwin in the tank will just keep the brook in there. Ultimately, I'd like to get a nice black onyx pair. How do you suggest I go about this? For all I knew, the Snowflake was doing fine and I bought it from a pretty nice store. Where did you get your onyxs from and how did you make sure they were healthy enough to purchase? Thanks man.
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Jul 31, 2012 02:56
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Thanks for the tips man. I checked out his site and he doesn't seem to have anything in stock at the moment. Hopefully he will when I'm ready in TWO MONTHS.
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Jul 31, 2012 05:07
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arioch posted:This is the guy I bought my onyx pair from: http://www.booyahsreef.com/ DUDE. Thanks for the heads up on this guy. I spoke with him earlier today for like half an hour and he was super pleasant and informative. I make a point of saying this because in my experience, for some reason, most staff at LFSs are obnxious, aloof and slightly arrogant assholes. At least the ones in So Cal are. I'll probably be picking up a pair of Black Onyx or Snowflakes when I'm ready.
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Jul 31, 2012 21:53
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Jonny Nox posted:Whelp, found some Aiptasia in my main tank. Hopefully I can grab a kit tomorrow. gently caress humanity.
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Aug 1, 2012 23:57
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SSH IT ZOMBIE posted:I just had a very bad thing happen.] Yeah that sounds rough man, sorry for your losses. Your post basically made me change my mind about getting an RBTA. I have a great spot in mind for one in my nano but I have a feeling it won't stay put. Coral/fish warfare is nuts man! This poo poo happened a few weeks ago:  I was so loving bummed. Everyone I talked to about it was really surprised and the general consensus is that the clown was probably sick and weak (it was its first night), the maxi just capitalized on the situation.
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Aug 10, 2012 02:55
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I know there are probably a million different reasons for this, but does anyone have an idea as to why my zoanthids haven't been opening up the last few days? It's a largish rock that is covered with watermelon zoanthids and it was great for the last several weeks but for the last few days, very few of the polyps have been opening. I did find and pull out 4 tiny nudibranch about a week ago. I think they came in on one smallish Zoa rock that I bought. I sucked the nudis out and dipped the affected rock in freshwater. The watermelon rock that is currently not opening was fine during that whole experience. The wife and I have been scanning the hell out of everything looking for more nudis but I haven't seen a thing. I'm on top of my water parameters so I don't think it's related to that -- nitrates, Alk and calcium have been on point. I need to buy a magnesium test kit but I can't imagine it would be that either. Today is the worst (most closed) I've seen it. The temp did hit 82 today when it's normally 77-79, but it was brought back down after a few hours.
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Aug 14, 2012 03:20
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I imagine that would melt a bit of the ziplock bag in the tank.
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Aug 20, 2012 01:51
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Pukestain Pal posted:I've been out of the reef game for about 5 years now and am looking to start up a new reef now that I have bought a place. I'm thinking of doing a 12 or 18g. What's the latest recommendations? Looks like LED's are the new thing. I'm mostly looking to do soft coral with maybe a hard here and there. Dude check out the for sale section on nano reef. Some guy has been trying to sell a really nice looking 18ish gallon AIO for a pretty good price. This one: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=306289 I'd totally jump on this if I weren't planning my 50 cube.
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Aug 29, 2012 06:46
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What do you guys think of this setup right here: http://znnea.rmuvx.servertrust.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=SCA%2D001 These is some guy on Craigslist selling these new for $550. Apparently they are knock offs of the Cadlights 50 cube. I can't find much discussion of them online besides a cople threads mentioning that theyre Cadlights knockoffs. I Pmd one guy on reef central that had one and he said he was satisfied aside for the plumbing pieces being a little cheap, he used his own. Seems like a steal for a starfire tank but I'm debating whether or not I should just have a legit Leemar cube made or save that for the actual home I plan on buying next year and just loving around with this in my apartment for now.
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Aug 29, 2012 06:53
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Russian Dollies posted:Found this when doing some aquarium shopping today, and thought I'd share. Like others mentioned, montiporas are probably your best bet followed by some cheap acros and a birds nest. I would have agreed about the SPS don't go with minis thing before I set up my 12 gallon nano. I did just what you're about to do, got 3 small frags, one of each just to see how they would do. So far, they look to be doing great. Polyps come out and the montipora has already encrusted over the superglue I attached it with. As long as you keep on top of your parameters and water changes, it should be okay.
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Sep 1, 2012 08:41
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I'm setting up a Cadlights Artisan 50 tomorrow. I currently have a 12 gallon Aquapod reef that is pretty stocked with a ton of corals and frags. If anyone has any tips, feel free to share but this is generally how I will be doing this: 1) Build stand, connect plumbing. This part should be easy according to the dude at Cadlights. Everything is pretty much preassembled. 2) Dump 3 30 pound bags of Aragamax Select into the tank, press down and create a slight incline from front to back. 3) Remove all corals from live rock in the nano and place on the tiny bit of sandbed left. Move live rock from nano to Cadlights 50. 4) Spend next hour or so aquascaping. Will this hurt my live rock since there will be no water in the tank for a while? 5) Slowly fill the new tank with water using that bowl method. 6) Done? The owner of one of the LFSs I go to gave me a vial of this Prodibio nitrifying bacteria stuff. Usually I'm really skeptical about all this additive poo poo but he said this stuff is legit. He claimed I could move all of my live rock over and between that, the brand new water and the vial of Prodibio, I should be able to move my corals over pretty soon. Is this accurate? I shouldn't much of a cycle right? Feel free to throw out any tips or advice.
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Sep 15, 2012 00:22
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Internet Explorer posted:An hour or so of your rocks being out won't cause enough die off for a cycle. You should be fine, just treat it like the smaller tank for a bit until the bacteria has a chance to populate the new rock. Make sure you don't reuse the old sand. I wasn't going to use all of the sand from the nano but I was planning on using a cup or two to seed the new tank. Is this something I shouldn't do?
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Sep 15, 2012 03:33
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Lusername posted:Seeding it should be fine. That's what I usually do, although I know some people don't seed it at all and just let the live rock repopulate the new sand with life. I was told by LFS guy that I don't really need to wash it but most of the threads on RC say it needs to be washed so I'm doing it in the tub In a 5 gallon bucket, This is kind of a huge pain in the rear end. People are saying they wash it until the water runs clear. I've rinsed this first batch like 20 times and it's still cloudy. I got rid of a bunch of the foam but it's definitely not running clear.
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Sep 15, 2012 07:40
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http://www.cadlights.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=42&products_id=216 I need a new light for my 50 cube. What do you guys think of this light? Is the non name brand stuff all cheap Chinese crap? I don't really feel like spending $600 on a fixture.
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Sep 17, 2012 22:13
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Can't get an answer on RC about this. Most of my God drat threads get ignored there for whatever reason. Just gonna repost here in case I can get an answer On Sunday I started a new Cadlights 50 gallon tank. The goal is to move my 12 gallon nano reef over to this tank. I set it up with: - 90 pounds of Aragamax Select dry sand that had been washed - 55 or so gallons of freshly made reef crystals water - moved about 25 pounds of live rock over from my established nano - a vial of prodibio nitrifying bacteria that was recommended to me - All corals still residing in nano at the moment I was told to not expect much of a cycle. The water is crystal clear at this point and I just spent about an hour doing tests. Ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and phosphates are all at 0, Salinity is 1.025, Calcium 460 and Alk is at 8. Am I good to move corals over at this point or is the water still in some weird in between phase or something? I'm not sure how long to wait here.
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Sep 20, 2012 00:41
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Yeah I had posted earlier. My water cleared up pretty quickly with the new dry sand. I literally picked the rocks up out of one tank, walked 2 feet and dropped them into the new tank. I think I will move half of my corals over and move my Kessil from the nano to the 50. If I leave some corals in my nano without a light for like 24 hours, will they be okay? How long can corals go without a light source? I think I've heard people recommend "lights-out" breaks where you keep them in the dark for a day or two.
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Sep 20, 2012 01:02
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Yeah I tossed in maybe a cup of the nanos live sand into the new tank. I'm actually going on my lunch tomorrow to pick up some more Real Reef rock. I have no idea how I want to aquascape this thing. Suggestions welcome. Amazing that I can get more help here than on the fuckng reef forum.
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Sep 20, 2012 05:22
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Speaking of snake oil, have you guys seen this thread on RC: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2211981&highlight=chinese It's a continuation of another chinese light thread where basically one dude took over with his linking to some company in china that sells custom 120W 55x3 fixtures. He ordered one and posted pictures and whatnot. It took of from there with tons of people asking him questions and people placing orders. I'm pretty intrigued. I was about to pull the trigger on a Cadlights multichip based fixture until I saw that discussion. Here's the link to the light: http://www.aliexpress.com/store/pro..._587062331.html I'm trying to decide between trying my luck with one of these fixtures, or ordering a Maxspect Razor: http://www.marinedepot.com/Maxspect_Razor_R420R_LED_Light_Fixture_24_Inch_LED_Light_Fixtures-Maxspect-0M1131-FILTFILDTF-vi.html Thoughts?
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Sep 20, 2012 07:11
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So far so good. For the price, its pretty great actually. I priced everything out and for a 3 sided starfire cube tank with internal overflow, sump, protein skimmer and stand and pumps, it would have been about $1500 on the low end. I got a bunch of quotes. I paid $805 for everything. It would have been $60 less but I upgraded to one of their larger skimmers, rated for like 75-150 gallons. The stand is obviously not that great but its just a simple black stand. The build quality on the actual tank is excellent as far as I can tell. Everything is clean and well put together. Everything went together smoothly for the most part.
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Sep 20, 2012 18:00
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I think about to pull the trigger on one of these: http://www.marinedepot.com/Maxspect_Razor_R420R_LED_Light_Fixture_24_Inch_LED_Light_Fixtures-Maxspect-0M1131-FILTFILDTF-vi.html My Kessil a150 could probably work just fine for the cube but that light is sexy as hell.
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Sep 21, 2012 20:47
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Take your time man and use the poo poo out of the search function on Reef Central. Search just thread titles and you can pretty much find an answer or general consensus to every question you might have.
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Sep 26, 2012 00:27
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Very nice cculos. How long has it been running? You should take a closer shot. Also, are you using two MP10s? How do you like those. I'm thinking about splurging on one of those and a RKL setup.
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Sep 28, 2012 02:32
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Xeus posted:Why does this hobby have to be so expensive? I've been reading up on smaller reef tanks for a few weeks now and I think this is what I want to try and set up. I mean, there are a million options for what you want to do. I just set up my 50 cube with 90 pounds of dead sand and like a cup of established live sand from my nano and it was worked out fine. I used Aragamax select and i'm extremely glad I did. I didn't think sand would be a big deal but the clean, consistently sized grains and weight of the grains really makes things look good in the tank. If you're going to use an AC70 for filtration, I would consider a media basket like this: http://shop.mediabaskets.com/AquaClear-70-Media-Basket-AC70MR.htm Or make your own. A little mini fuge would be nice. Also, for lighting something that small, you should look into a Par38 bulb from Ledtric or Ecoxotic Panorama strips. All of this stuff can be found used all day on nano-reef and RC for sale forums.
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Oct 2, 2012 18:54
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nwin posted:Ok, ricordea are stupid...I bought one that was glued to a piece of lr, and it was good for a few weeks where I put it. Then a week ago it detached itself from the rock and was hanging out at the bottom of the tank. From what I had read, if the flow or lighting is too strong, they'll detach themselves and move somewhere else. Well it stayed on the sand for a few days and I would try and place it on rocks in low flow areas. Today...I can't find the drat thing. I'm guessing its hiding in some nook, but who knows...any ideas or what to do if I find it? I think the popular trick is to put the ricordea and a piece of rubble in a shot glass and turn it over in the tank. Eventually it will attach, or so the theory goes.
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Oct 3, 2012 00:39
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Sweet setup man. What's your plan for it?
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Oct 5, 2012 17:40
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I need some opinions on dosing and two parts. I've got a 50 cube with mostly LPS but a few SPS frags that I'd really like to take off. In my little nano, I never had to dose anything since just water changes would do the trick. With this tank, I tested last week and I was at 440 and when I retested this week I was at 395. The other thing that got me thinking about dosing was I was buying a couple of zoanthid frags from some lady on RC yesterday and she mentioned how with her tank, SPS growth really took off once she started dosing a two part with one of those dosing pumps. She said the stability was key and poo poo just blew up. Does anyone here dose? Do you use a two part that you add weekly or something else? I think I might try the BRS two part starter kit: http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/aquarium-additives/brs-additives/brs-2-part-calcium-alkalinity-total-package-bulk.html I've heard good things about this kit. The only thing is you have to add that poo poo like every day. The kit that comes with the pumps is $150 more and I'm trying to decide between the two right now. ALSO, on the Auto Top Off front, where do you guys stand. Firmly int he Tunze corner or is that $80 JBJ job good enough?
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Oct 8, 2012 19:33
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SaNChEzZ posted:As far as top offs go, I just manually do them. Roughly 5gal a week goes into the sump, I should really get an auto deal, would make things much easier. Yeah I'm trying to go for more stability. I'm bad with the top offs and get salinity swings. Thats okay for LPS but I think my SPS frags are pissed about it.
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Oct 8, 2012 19:46
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Melchior posted:I dose BRS 2-part daily. You can do it whatever frequency you like, but she is right that stability is the key to good growth. A tank with a lot of stony corals is going to suck up calcium and lower alkalinity a lot faster than one with mostly soft corals, and as the corals get bigger and grow faster the dosing requirements of the tank go up. I started out dosing ~10ml of calc/alk solution daliy, and 3 months later I'm up to 45ml daily. This is a 90g which is about 75% SPS/LPS. Really appreciate this post. I've been testing alk and calcium pretty frequently to get a better picture of how much I'm going through. I went through the calculator and the amounts it recommended were as follows for calcium: Starting: 420 Desired: 460 2 Part Calcium Solution Need: 368.4 ml, 12.4 fl oz, 73.6 tsp 12.4 fl oz seems like a shitload to me to add all at once but I have no experience with this so I don't know. Whenever I add the Brightwell's calcium supplement its like a capful at a time so 12.4 fl oz seems like quite a bit to me. Would it be okay to add it at all at once or if not over how many days should I add the initial dose? Also, do you find dosing the BRS two part to be a pain in the rear end or is it a pretty easy routine thing? I didn't go with the package that includes the dosers when I realized it came with those hand pumps.
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Oct 9, 2012 18:01
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Thanks again for the tips Melchior. Here are some pictures of my new tank. This was set up on 9/16 and most of the corals and frags were moved over about a week later. Here was my original nano:  The new 50:               
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Oct 10, 2012 00:19
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Hypnotized posted:Have you had any trouble getting your copperband to eat? Yeah this guy was a huge mistake and I regretted it pretty much as soon as I got him home. Its been a bitch getting him to eat and I'm pretty much going to pull him and take him to a shop for some credit. Never getting one again unless I have a huge reef filled with tube worms or some poo poo. These guys are picky as hell.
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Oct 11, 2012 17:46
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nwin posted:Stocking question for my 14g biocube. Since your other two fish are pretty low impact and you do such frequent water changes, I would think you'd be okay. You might get poo poo if you mention it on RC though so theres that but you should be fine. Stick with a small one though.
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Oct 18, 2012 19:23
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Internet Explorer posted:I think one clown is too much for a 14g. Those 3 fish are too much. Adding another clown is way too much. Opinions, assholes and all that. The fish he currently has are in no way too much for a 14 gallon cube. I mean unless these are huge 6 year old fish, I seriously doubt they are stressed out. I like when people talk so non nonchalantly about a fish getting to 3 1/2 inches. Do you realize how loving long it would take for a small 1.5 inch clown to grow two full inches? Enough to overgrow a 14 gallon tank? A really loving long time. Probably longer than the tank is even around since most peoples tank turnover seems to be like under 2 years.
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Oct 19, 2012 19:55
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Could there have been some kind of temperature fluctuation that you were not aware of?
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Oct 19, 2012 22:56
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Is it just a standard red laser? I'm guessing one of those deal extreme, take down a plane jobs? Seems like a good idea for apstasia but are you hosed if you nail something else with it or A fishes eye?
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Oct 23, 2012 07:17
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