nbgen12

Salifert is pretty easy/accurate Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

I've noticed some little small bugs which come out when my lights go off in the aquarium. They are pretty small, some were a pinkish color and others were a greyish color(which seemed a little smaller). They move around on the glass quick following the flashlight. None were any really bigger than a pinhead, and were pretty slender. Anyone know what bugs these might be? or have a link of where I can check out nocturnal bugs and such? I'm not really experienced enough to know what it might be. All coral is doing well so it doesn't seem to be a coral eater. Would these be copepods/amphipods?

Definitely a great meeting and experience!! It was my first meeting since joining WAMAS about 3 weeks ago and I love what goes on. I would like to add that the coral I got from Valeria, hdreef, gws3, and Mr Salt all look amazing already. My frogspawn and torch coral are already opened up and really make the tank come alive! Big thanks!

I've seen tons of good things about the reef nutrition products and may have to get some when my current stuff runs out

You don't really have to feed them, but they are filter feeders, so I've read getting a little extra nutrients into the water is ok and can be really beneficial to them. Since my phosphates and nitrates are about as close to 0 as you can get, and my zoas weren't growing much at all I decided to read a little on it. Zoas like to have a little extra nutrients in the water, and I've read people add a little zoo and phyto plankton for their corals in general, which I hadn't been doing. I was only feeding the brain and yellow polyps about once a week, then only feeding what the fish would consume on a daily basis. This didn't leave much for anything else in the tank in terms of nutrients. I'm going to start doing this once a week and keeping an eye on the nutrient levels and see how things react. Anyone that has a lightly stocked tank might already be doing the same thing and I'd be interested to hear about it. Zoas are hardy....but everything else is thriving in my tank except for the zoas, and I've seen that zoas can actually recede with a lack of nutrients in the water. My SPS has absolutely taken off since I got them about 3 weeks ago. I will also make sure to be careful on the feeding because the SPS will not appreciate too much nutrients, but I need to find the balance. My calcium is around 380(slowly raising to a target of 420), Alk is at 3.0 meq/l(would like to raise to about 3.3-3.5), Magnesium is at 1350, PH 8.2. I have been checking the zoas non stop during the day and at night to see if I can find any pest or anything which would cause them to have problems, but have seen nothing. I also gave each colony a little coral dip a couple days ago to make sure there were no pests or fungus problems. I figure the lack of nutrients might be having an effect, so time to try a little adjustment. Chime in if you are having to do the same thing. Let me know what brand of plankton products you use and if there is anything you think I should be doing which I may be missing

Before today I never really fed much zoo or phyto plankton(I've got 2 zoa colonies, 1 yellow polyp colony, decent sized maze brain coral, 1 small stylophora, 2 montipora caps). One colony of zoas has recovered pretty well since my alkalinity problem about 4 months ago where I hadn't kept up with it and it was near 2 meq/L(I didnt have the SPS until AFTER the alkalinity thing was fixed, and somehow the brain coral was fine the whole time). I've got Alk at 3.0 now for the last few months and the one colony is recovering well, while my eagle eye zoas have been just kind of treading water. I decided to feed a little of phyto and zoo plankton today and get off the flow to the sump and within 15 minutes both colonies of zoas opened up much much more. I read an article about them needing a little higher nutrient levels in order to thrive, so I figured I would start doing this once a week with both phyto and zoo plankton and having the return cut off for about an hour to let everything stay in the DT. How often to you guys do this for your zoas/soft corals? I know they are photosynthetic, but I feel like just a little feeding could make a huge impact...at least in my system which is currently lightly stocked in terms of fish and coral. Anyone have similar experiences? What brand or type of phyto and zoo plankton do you use?? I've just got the kent marine stuff but figure there is probably something better out there or maybe cheaper in the long run with good results.

That black sand looks absolutely awesome. I think your tank may have switched me to go with the black sand in my new 75. Looks awesome with the contrasting colors.

oh wow that is troublesome news(pre-ordering tanks before the sale) LOL. It's so hard to control the spending until you've got what you want for equipment...I'm still in the heavy spending stage until I get my hands on a good aquacontroller and some MP-40s.....not looking forward to seeing the bank account after those lol. Thanks for checkin in with petco!

hahaha

I'm more than pleased to say it has already paid for itself in....about 12 hours?? This awesome guy called me up and said if I came out to pick it up, he would give me a 40g breeder for free. That's about as warm a welcome as it gets! Will be keeping him in mind down the road and make sure to return the favor once some of my coral grows out from its frag size. I should have become a paying member of WAMAS the moment I thought about getting started.....woulda, coulda, shoulda....

appreciate it!

Thank you! I'm extremely excited to fully realize what that $20 membership allows me access to.....

alright I see it now...thanks!!

I actually did that last night but I guess haven't gotten the chance to explore around yet. I'll definitely try and get out to the event on April 29th to check everything out and get to meet some of the local reefers around here!

and yeah it's definitely for a sump so having a perfect 40g isn't that important...just needs to hold water for me

I'm new on here and actually didn't know I would post anything relating to the buying or selling. Where should I post something like that on the forum?? I don't want to any moderators burning me for violating the rules lol. It would be awesome if I could get a deal for close to the same price because I would rather not wait for the sale if I don't have to. I've looked on craigslist for few several weeks but every one I see on there is incredibly overpriced for a used tank, and they always want to sell the thing with their hood, filter, gravel etc..

That would be awesome if I could know ahead of time....it's taking every last bit of energy not to just go in and just buy the 40 breeder for 100 bucks or whatever it is so I can just get started lol. (itches neck)

Does anyone knows when Petco will do their next $1 per gallon sale? Or when the last $1 per gallon sale was?? I'm itchin to get my sump built before I build my stand for my new 75g tank I'll be upgrading to and was hoping to save a good bit of money...patience is a tough thing when you can't wait to get out of a 55g long tank and actually get a little aquascaping space haha.

The bare bottom move probably made a big difference on the safety of the transfer because I think the existing sand holds all sorts of nasty things. I'll probably be fine if I just use new dry sand unless I hear something different. I'll have one brute to keep the rock submerged in the existing saltwater while I move the 55 out and put the 75 in place, then another brute for new salt water. I'll probably lay down the 1" sand bed, then do the water and rock like you did bcoop. I don't think there should be any problems unless someone mentions something. I'll just keep some prime on hand in the off chance things get a little hairy.

I'm currently running a 55g mixed reef and got a new 75g tank I will be making a stand for shortly. Some tank info: I've only got 1 damsel and 1 chromis right now, 1 coral banded shrimp, 1 sally lightfoot crab, assorted hermits and snails, several zoas, yellow polyps, a few montipora, and a stylophora. I've got 2 18 gallon totes from home depot, each with it's own aqueon filter and 100w cfl light which serve as QT tanks(never used yet but would put a piece of live rock in each). Existing sand bed is about 3" deep and has been established for about 2 years. From things i've read, I will probably scrap all but a cup or two of the old sand and buy new dry sand, and just transfer the live rock over from the existing tank to the new one, since I have about 75 pounds of live rock on there already. I plan on keeping the fish and coral in the QT tanks for a few days just to make sure something funky doesn't happen. I would really like to not deal with the QT tanks and just use them to hold the livestock until the rock is set up, then immediately move them into the new 75g display. Would this be possible? or should I just go with the QT tanks running for a week or two to see if a mini spike happens? I would like to just get it all done in one swoop as long as someone can verify that I'm not crazy for thinking this is possible haha. I keep getting completely mixed responses from reef central forums, so figured I would see what some of the local experienced guys think around here. I've never done a transfer of a mature system so it naturally scares me to lose the coral i've got. I appreciate any advice, information, and pointers anyone can provide!