firecrackerbob

I run the maximus from aquasafe canada... baught off ebay a few years ago. no problems, only about 100$, and I drink the water as well. that said, I have been getting concerned about how much waste water I am making...

that does seem low!.. I vaguely remember someone saying this about TEK fixtures\ballasts... but I could be mistaken.

AHHH... just lurking here, but I have been meaning to post the same question... I really dont feed my tank much, and I have (to my knowledge) driven my nutrient content very low to get rid of all nuisance algeas... My frogspawn and motnis are pretty bleached. I actually took my skimmer out about a week ago to see if things improved.(make things dirtier?) this is probably a dumb question, but how do you know if you water is too CLEAN? it seems like 99% of the time the problems in this hobby revolve in the opposite direction!!!

I worked in real estate for about 5 years. while there are some good inspectors out there, most are guys with a flashlight, some stationary, a truck, and a sign. Maryland at least has some required certs, but not much... JMHO, if you really want a "pro" opinion, I wouldn't go that route unless they have some other PE cert as well.

But.. I find it soooo funny that people need to add T5's to there super LEDs (not just you ryan).. All this chatter about how far superior these lights are and yet this is the end result. Do you know what I add to my T5s.? Nothing bc there awesome enough already. I get a big smile everytime I read about someone doing it. Sorry LED guys.. Wait, no im not. HA!!!! thats great!! I needed a good laugh today. thanks... TOTALY agree... LEDs are great- for me to p00p on(triumph comic dog anyone?)

Im NOT a structural engineer, so obviously they are the only ones who can give a truly accurate opinion, BUT I would be totaly shocked if you they came back and said it would be a problem! just from personal experience, I had a 120 set up in my town house before I moved, similar to what you are describing. I was paranoid as well, so I set up some deck beams under the tank with just enough wiggle room to slide the supports into place. two years later when I was getting ready to move, I took down the supports with the tank still full. there had been zero compression on the system. your results may vary though... keep us posted! I would be very interested to hear a professionals take on it!

My tank has been running at about 7.9 for years. I have tried everything: running lines outside, reverse fuge lighting, dosing sodium carbonate, kalk, recalibrated my probes numerous times... and come to this conclusion.. its good enough. haven't heard of that skimmer technique, not sure it would work. what you would need to do there is to increase evaporation to dose more kalk ATO. Have you considered adding vinegar to your top off?

Ive used kalk paste and dabbed it on aptasia before with success. I would think Vinegar would work also if you are using a syringe to inject them. if you are just squirting them I doubt it will kill them off, but who knows?!

I used to sell very heavily FOR PROFIT in my last club. I would say I came close to breaking even in the hobby, and IF I had really wanted to, probably could have scaled the operation up. I think building a major system that incorporates natural light really makes the difference between the hobbyist and the entrepreneur (frag-trepreneur?). it can be done if you are willing to deal with the headaches... primarily whining customers... I personally got really tired of it. numerous customers would complain that the frag I sold them (and clearly stated!) that had been grown under MH\VHO didnt look the same under their lighting, then proceed to flame me online and in meetings... after a while of firefighting it got old... your results may vary though. I would personally suggest ( and what I would do if I ever tried the business again) is to only sell to people in person who come to pick up the frags from your tank... once is purchased its theirs. PERIOD. there is nothing wrong with doing it for a profit. just dont quit your day job

Im a huge bare botom advocate. I will probably never go back to any substrate. Right now I have encrusting gorgonian(simialr to GSP as above) starting to grow across it. I have seen it cover whole tank bottoms, but I have been trying to keep it trimmed back so it doesnt take over... Im not a mandarin expert, but from what I have read, it seems like they are better served with a large fuge rather than depending on the main tank for pods... as far as if they will care or not, none of the fish I have seem to care whats on the bottom.

I post this because you mentioned that you were completely open to suggestions... are you running a substrate tank or bare bottom? I struggled with GHA, RHA, out of controll culerpa... all of that crap... until I went bare bottom. within 4mo all of the nuisance algaes were dying off. then I started dosing vinegar and within 2 more months my rockwork was clean. I also stopped feeding the tank almost completely. Oh, and running a fuge heavy with cheto helps alot too!

As always, I think there are many ways to do things in this hobby, so you will probably get a variety of views... with that said, the general consensus that I am aware of is that Bio-ball type reactors are a dated approach to nitrate management. they are probably OK for a FOWLR, but I think I would remove it for a reef tank. so if it was me I would either just take it out and call it a day(maybe put a sock filter in its place if you want), or (and what I would reccomend) is to setup a refugium compartment if you can... you could probably just remove the media from the bucket, put Cheto in and put a clip on light over top... with that said, there is always the 'if it ait broke' way to look at it... but if you ware going to go heavy on the sps I think I would get it out of there.

I would love some too!!! Ill even to the surgery for you!

WOW... thats really horrible! sorry to hear about your loss! I dont know whats worse- buying a product that causes a crash or doing something yourself that causes it- I have done it both ways... I almost bought some Kent carbon a month or so ago... decided to go with BRS instead, close call!!! Even worse is getting a bad batch of salt!

somehow I always end up being contrarian... gaa... anyway, my display is hermit only(with the exception of 1 large mexican turbo). I have found that scarlet hermits live nearly forever in my tank so I have mostly scarlets and some blue legs. my fuge has 1 large zebra.

I have a fuge going right now with two baskets of cheto that are covered in a mossy green hair algae. in my previous tanks I never had this problem and my cheto was always pretty "clean". do you guys think its a bad thing or do you think I should dump whats in there and start with fresh cheto? It seems like the GHA is slowing the growth of the cheto, but the whole mass is still pruneable...

I use el cheapo plastic baskets from the dollar store to hold mine... they might have one to fit your settup... if not, eggcrate basket should do it.

I cant help with the CL issues, but to your other question--I run BB with a mixed reef; standard overflow to sump and in display powerheads- mostly softies, with some SPS and LPS. I LOVE IT!!! I have struggled with algea issues and low coral growth for most of my time in the hobby. since I switched to BB, my tank went from looking like junk to looking spectacular in just under 9mo... I will never go back to substrate!

I consider using one on occasion, but in the end, I want as low of a maintinence tank as possible, so I do not... I have a few compartments on my sump and just siphon out detritus when I do my water changes. I havent had any noteable adverse results.

I would agree with the above as well... I will take it a step further, just as a point of reference. My settup is currently a 55 display with a 45 fuge plumbed together out of a 20sump. all tanks are bare bottom. the 45 is settup with a power head along the bottom of the tank to keep water circulating, off of the bottom I have a rack with about 75lbs of rubble rock and rock sitting on a shelf. over that I have two plasstic baskets with Cheto (macro algae) in them for nutrient export. there are countless pods in there and I really dont have to feed my tank very often as a result. As always, the "right" way to run a tank is whats best for you... for me that has been a bare bottom display. I dont think I will ever go back to substrate.

pass the butter and lemon wedge please...

I just use styrofoam sheets. I put them under pumps inside my sump then agin under the tanks(both display and sump) seems to do the trick... just hear a mild hum sound which I have actually grown kind of fond of. (BTW my sump has 2 mags and a maxi going at all times)

Ill take the contrarian appraoch as always and say the best way to go is KISS... heres how I do it: -10gal tank with a aqualifter set on a timer to run for 15 min 2x a day(6am and 6pm). -in the 10gal is ~1cup of kalk as well as a powerhead which is set to run 15min 2x a day counter to the aqualifter(12am and 12pm). this has been running for about 3yrs now with no problems. my tank is not heavy on the sps or lps, so this, along my manual vinegar\kalk dosing keeps the system well in check. im sure strirers are great and all, but this cost me about 30bucks to settup and has never had a failure...

There are people who have setup solar tubes over their tanks.. looks pretty cool. My next house will probably be a rancher, and am considering this option... we will see though... As for the best combos, its a matter of opinion, but I like T5/VHO(actinic) or MH/VHO(actininc). JMHO, there is nothing about LED that has blown me away. people tout being able to turn their reef into a rainbow, but really who wants to look at a red\yellow reef. even "normal" colored LED lit tanks just dont look right to me. then there is the price, although you are ruling out, to me is significant. when you factor in how many people are dumping traditional settups and switching to the "latest and greatest", you can pick up used fixtures or retrofits for fire sale prices... or you could pay a grand and get LED... its a pretty simple choice to me...

we will probably need a bit more info... are you using RODI, size of your tank, how often do you feed, water parameters... etc. algae is normal part of having a tank, but when there is an excess of nutirents things get out of whack- algea is the first sign of that... that said, a 2mo tank is still cycling. Not to be a member of the tank police, but personally I wouldnt have any fish in there before 3mo if you are starting with uncylced rock...