basser9

Run the water level between 1/2 inches from the top just like you would with a needlewheel it will never shut down and is a great skimmer set up that way. Thats right below the cup in the main body a inch or so from the cup dont run the skimmer like there site tells you to it is poor advice.

A small frag stand alone system is very hard to do with poor results for sps. If you get some micron bags i like a 3 bag setup with a 100 inside a 10 inside a 1 micron bag then you can run the output from your frag system through the bags into your main tank. Any pest will easily be removed with the 1micron bag and you can easily have a vibrant frag tank.

They are not usually aggressive and are great algae eaters unless you feed alot sometimes they become like a dog that eats human food then hates dog food they get a liking to fish foods and stop eating algae. I always make sure when i buy them i see them eating algae in the store they should be scraping rock etc.

The florida stuff from HOT has some meat corals and sea squirts that survive. There are alot of mantis in there stuff also. A tank with nice rock only is a nice tank just dont confuse that with a full blown SPS reef. They used to call them DUTCH tanks and they would have alot of different red algae in them.

A scoup of sand from a healthy reef or garf grunge is all you need .......period. A tank with acid washed rock which has been bleached then soaked in LC is just better. I think when you prep your rock with acid it opens the pores up and really allows for better nitrate control and of course the phosphate issue with fresh rock can be really bad thats why i think its really important for a SPS tank not to use fresh rock or even non prepped clean rock. Sure you can have a nice tank with the fresh rock but its just less hassle to use a clean phosphate free rock in your tank. 30 YEARS and a dozen setups and its a world of difference in MY tanks if i use prepped rock .....a no brainer.

Heres the chart from the study and the 2 skimmers sanjay used it is in the study you are talking about but sanjays was done on his big reef and the rest of the study was done artificially. Look closely at that chart the tall beckett downdraft was a rockstar the needlewheel was very bad. I have a etss 1000 beckett modded skimmer run off a dc10000 pulling 85 watts sanjays study has proven what i saw on my own tanks that a needle wheel can not handle a heavy fish load like a downdraft. Add carbon dosing in and you are looking at a tank crash on his tank if he ran the RED DRAGON and didnt do extra heavy water changes. Sanjay used GAC and still the TOC were spikeing with the red dragon skimmer very scary if you have a large heavy stocked reef and carbon dose.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2101969&page=2 RANDYS article and this thread really can enlighten anyone as it has me as to why its not carbon that fuels red slime.......very important read.

The reason you dont see it is because it is bad for a sps tank. The biofilm on that stuff is a mess when you expose it to high reef tank light. I remember well getting the fresh rock letting it cure in the tank doing a waterchange then watching the bubble algae grow an hair then all the rock anemone take over...... .......no thanks. The Florida stuff is at HOT in glenburnie it is full of EVERYTHING GOOD AND BAD.

http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/116-vinegar-dosing-methodology-for-the-marine-aquarium My experience with vodka and red slime problems had me thinking that it was CARBON its self that fueled the slime explosion but the science points to vodka as the problem and not just that it adds carbon. Vinegar seems safe as it pertains to red slime. This article also touches on BIO-PELLETS and its fueling of RED SLIME. This article and the science behind it has got me to dose vinegar but i would be very carful with any dosing of any other carbon types because of fueling RED SLIME.

Whats in that stuff.

Get the seachem low nitrate and you will see what i mean. I think they test in the same nitrate range.

One way to use it is find a dose that keeps it at .06 or so and keep adding it on a regular basis once you are sure it has stabilized at that dose you add GFO. So you would keep adding lc and use gfo to get under .03. Some people have been able to keep levels under .03 with just LC every tank is different.

I hate all the kits from salifert they are just badly made the seachem is about the finest kit i have used.....love it. Has a reference sample as well.....try it.

Heres a great dosing chart if you start . 50 NITRATES are fine in a fish only or lps tank for the most part just make sure you have a very good skimmer if you CARBON dose. I would not have a reef tank if i had to do water changes like alot of people here do. Deep sand beds.......sulfur reactors.......carbon dosing..... Alot of ways to keep a nice tank and do a 1 year large water change.

Heres a nice dosing chart for CARBON. Tanks with lots of fish react very differently then a typical berlin style setup with limited fish pop. Get a seachem low nitrate kit its cheap an test in the area you want.

Compared to most things we dose i consider LC the one with the least side effects . If you use a 1 micron bag you have zero chance of any type of issue seems pretty simple. For SPS it appears way safer then anything i add to my tank with clams just dont dump the stuff in your tank get the 1 micron bags......simple I have had CH OVERDOSES/CARBON ISSUES and a 2PART overdose over the years these things have caused tank crashes or red slime partys LC is no different then anything else........be careful

The stronger seaclear is not made anymore its all CR. Almost all the reefers have been dosing with the old version of seaclear i have found that PHOSFREE may even be weaker then they claim. There is a stronger version of PHOSFREE at the pool store that looks like the onr to buy. I have some old rock and alot of sand so my dosing is still a work in progess untill my setup settles down. I dose about 6 hrs a day. I will post a video in a bit.

Its all LC the only question is what is it diluted down to. Phosfree is way weaker then seaclear. Phosfree has a little lanthanum sulfate in it. Some products may have a little clarifer mixed in.

A ton of us use SPECTRUM it is harmless in a reef unless you have a love for fanworms. Plus our friends from down under are easy to deal with.

Just get INTERCEPTOR SPECTRUM from australia thats what we all use.

Nobody has really used AG that i can tell there very little info on it but the dose and your tank size dont add up. There is a cleaning solution and wipe from hanna your numbers will be off if the glass pipette gets a residue or scratches...... You will be shocked how easy that glass gets scratched up. The residue that sticks to everything is very hard to get off its not like a powder settles on the bottom like dust its very sticky. Filter floss in the socks really works great it sticks to it well.

You should put a bowl/cup [plastic tupperware type]in to the sock most of the reaction will take place in the bowl......you will see a white residue stuck to the sides . I dont believe a 10micron bag is low enough i would add a 1micron bag if you dont and dose alot of LC it will stick like glue to your pumps/tank and or your skimmer. I just built a reactor for LC its just a 5 gallon bucket with bioballs draining to a 100/10/1 micron bag setup. The bioballs are getting alot of the sticky white residue at least the ones near where the LC is dripping.

Your nitrates at 20 have nothing to do with your fish losses alot of saltwater fish will just die...... If it was 200 most saltwater fish would do fine even at that level. Find a different vendor if you notice a pattern to the deaths.

I would run half GAC and half GFO.......put a sponge between them. PO4 is really easy to tumble and regenerate worth the extra cash to me.

A point to keep in mine when use use the PHOSPHORUS meter you need to take a screwdriver and open up the corners of the regeant packets because alot gets stuck in there. I believe this is where alot of issues happen. The api alk test is so cheap and easy i cant see any reason to go to a alk meter.