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I love showing off my reef tank! That was from exactly 1 year ago. Had all the live rocks, fishes, and clam for about 6 years. Lost almost all my corals about 3 years ago due to flat worms and red bugs which really bummed me out. Then I was moving into a new house and everything kind got of neglected. So after taking that pic, I started cleaning everything up and got my tank back into order, upgraded to some new lights and other gear also. Then 6 months ago, I bought a load of new corals and got back into the game. Here are some pics of the tank from last month.   
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Jun 6, 2008 17:24
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 14:53 |
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Ophidia Snaketongue posted:Can people tell me what equipment they're using to keep their reef tanks going? I want to go reef, and the arrays of different kit different people use seems baffling. I'd be interested in knowing your various techniques. Look at Reef Central and some other reef sites for more detail but here are the basics: Live Rock, high water flow, protein skimmer, water change, strong lights, calcium + alkalinity for coral growth. Now a days, propeller type pumps are the way to go, I use maxi-jet pumps with sureflow mod. Protein skimmer, almost any type will work, look for one within your budget and your tank size. I use Remora for my 60 gallon. Lights - Metal Halides are the standard, I use a Lumen Bright reflector with 12k reeflux bulb (again, all these stuff you can google for more detail). I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my lumen bright mini reflector, that poo poo turns your whole lighting system into a flood light and your corals will love it. Set it up high though, like at least a foot away because your corals will get burn.  With my old spider reflector, my MH would light up the whole room but now with the LB mini, it is like 10 times darker because all the lights are being focus into the tank. T5 lighting is also becoming more common, thats another type to look into. Cal and Alk - must keep these up for coral health and growth, lots of reading for this subject. Calcium reactors or 2 part dosing are pretty standard. I use 2 parts myself because of price and I get good results from it. Lazy Bastard fucked around with this message at 16:00 on Jun 9, 2008 |
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Jun 9, 2008 15:47
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optikalus posted:Oh great, monti eating nudis. Noooo, you shouldn't give up on them, especially that first one. If you don't want to spend money on dip, just take a toothbrush and scrub all along the edge and underneath it. Do it every other day and keep an eye on it, you can beat them!
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Apr 7, 2011 19:51
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Well, giving up can save your tank also. I went through the same phase before, when all seems lost. You have to remember that these are still delicate saltwater creatures, even nudi and red bugs. If say you let your salinity slowly slide to 1.030 for a few months, or have 14 dkh alk for a while, or don't change the water for half a year, they will die off. And you'll be surprised how some corals can survive through all of these, I'm not saying all but some will. Went through all that poo poo when I first started years ago. I have bad luck with tanks and poo poo always happens when things are going well. The latest adventure begun march of last year: ************************* Downgrade tank to 40 breeder in preparation of incoming newborn son. Came home one day to find my garage wall leaking water, right at the level where the tank is on the other side of the wall...  Emergency tank bought on spur of the moment and kinda regret, it was either that or just post on reefcentral and ask someone to come take everything off my hands. Lost a loooot of stuff from this.  Incoming newborn baby *bam* tank neglected for 6 months.  January 2011. Well I must still be doing something right because the corals are growing like crazy. Plus only half the tank is functioning because I just have my one pendant over the right side.  Yesterday, after spending a few months cleaning up the tank and getting another pendant, APEX reef controller, and a few other items to make my life easier (after all these years). Right side:  Left side: 
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Apr 8, 2011 03:23
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If you have to replace a ballast, I would just gut the lights and retrofit it with T5 from Hellolights (http://www.hellolights.com/t5-retrofitkits.aspx), or if you're really handy, some DIY LEDs. It will let you grow more corals and will look a lot better than PC.
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Apr 12, 2011 16:08
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 14:53 |
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Dono posted:-I'm going to be upgrading my powerheads. I got a Nano wavebox and it isn't really good for sps water flow, you still need powerheads (still love the look of the wavebox water movement though). The wavebox just moves the water back and forth bit by bit, polyps will wave but you can see particles in the water are circulating very slowly. I got 3 maxi-jet with algae free mod and 2 koralia evo 1400, the maxi-jet moves a ton more water. I plan on getting a mp40 to start with and then see if I need another mp40 or mp10 for the other side. I had GFO but now I'm dosing vodka/vinegar. I find that I can feed way more (have to actually) than when I was using just GFO. Contemplating about moving on to Bio-pellets just so I don't have to dose manually everyday. I run carbon all the time, I believe it helps with cleaning up the toxins that corals release against each other, also for water clarity. If you get the BRS GFO reactor (I love BRS), it comes with compartment for GFO and carbon in one container. Dosing BRS 2 part, a starter package will last you for months, especially when you are just starting with SPS. When I had my huge clam, I would go through it really fast but that thing was like a foot long. I got 2 big acro colony and tons of frags and I am only dosing 50 ml alk/cal a day. 2 part + BRS dosers are definitely the way to go now a days. Just got the Apex controller and it is the loving bomb! Control your tank with your iphone/ipad/android, yes please. Being able to get alerts and check on your tank when you're out and about is awesome. Having the controller makes everything easier and really ease my mind when I am away from the tank for more than a day or two. Cleaning the glass: Easy Blade + a 350 Mag-Float (glass tanks only) is so good for removing coralline on glass that I have to rate it as my second most favorite piece of equipment for the tank, right below the Apex. Rockscaping gotta be one of the most time consuming task. I can spend hours moving just 3 or 4 rocks around before I get it to the way I like. Lazy Bastard fucked around with this message at 21:55 on Apr 27, 2011 |
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Apr 27, 2011 21:42
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