Marc Weaver

Frank- I use Tropic Marin Pro Reef. I switched to it after RSCP and never looked back. I took another long look at the aquascape and realized I like it too. It took us a long time to lay it out. Plus, I have to remove the whole lighting fixture, which is heavy and lagged to the wall. I think I am going to try GFO again. I used to use it, but NOPOX has kept my nitrates below 1 and my phosphates below .04 for a year now. But, I have red turf algae and cyano all over the place. I used chemi-clean once, and the cyano was wiped out for 2 months, but it eventually came back. No matter how much I siphon out, it always comes back. Maybe I'm getting a low phosphate reading because of the cyano and turf algae. I thought it was all related to not enough flow over the rocks and sand, but in spots I can see the cyano is being pounded with flow and it still remains. A turkey baster will take it off, though. When I stopped dosing NOPOX to see what would happen, my nitrates climbed by 1/2 to 1 ppm a day until I started again, but the cyano stopped spreading and SPS turned brown and green in a few weeks which took a month to reverse. I was always told that if your coral stops growing, the most likely culprit in an otherwise stable tank is phosphates. Here is a screen shot of my test results since August.

Hi all- I would like to totally re-aquascape my tank and remove all of the sand and go bare-bottom. It's a 220 gallon with 90% SPS corals, no HUGE colonies, but several of them are getting large. Currently, my rockwork is a huge pile stacked up against the back of the tank which I don't like. I am getting cyano all over the place with 4 Tunze 6105's (around 50-55X turnover) because the rocks are stacked in a way that there are many stagnant areas. No matter how I angle the Tunzes, I cannot get good flow everywhere. I would also like to remove a few large fish and a nuisance crab if I can find it. My sandbed is terribly covered with cyano and I can only get virtually no flow over the sand or a sandstorm to happen. I have been sucking sand out with each water change preparing for this, so hopefully the biological filter shock will be manageable. I sat my live rock on top of the sand, not on the bottom of the tank, so I can't take any more out without a rockslide. I only moved a large tank one time before, during an emergency where my old 150 gallon cracked a seam and water was leaking out. It was a nearly total coral loss, despite my best efforts. I had all my SPS colonies in tubs with circulation and heat for around 12 hours and got the tank running again. Over the next week it was RTN city until almost all was lost. This scares me and almost makes me not want to re-aquascape. My plans are as follows: 1. Mix and aerate 60 or 90 gallons of new salt water and match SG, temp, alk, etc. 2. Break off all coral and relocate them temporarily to the frag tank that I have plumbed into my main system. Some may not fit and will have to go into the sump, but it will not be for very long. 3. Turn off main return pump and allow all water to drain down into the sump. 4. Block off main tank drains and circulate water only through the sump and frag tank. 5. Drain some main tank water into a large tub for temporary fish holding. 6. Drain rest of tank water into tubs for rock cleaning. I will swish and brush as much detritus off the rocks as I can and replace this water with new. 7. Shop-vac all sand from bottom of main tank and perform a thorough cleaning. 8. Redo rockwork. I am trying to achieve a more minimalistic approach with 2 islands and an arch or something like that. 9. Replace all water in main tank. 10. Add the main tank back into circulation as soon as most of the dust settles. My hopes are that everything will be OK because the coral is never going to be switched out into tubs. It will stay in the same system with all heaters, etc so no temperature drop should occur. I always found it difficult to keep temp stable in a tub for some reason, even with powerheads blowing over a heater for circulation. I know I will probably lose a few SPS, and I am prepared for that. I would like to keep my losses to a minimum. I believe that in the end this new rock arrangement and bare bottom tank will allow a better environment that is more condusive to SPS coral growth. Current levels: Nitrates 0.25 Phosphates .01-.03 Alk 8.5 Calcium 420 Some pics (older, tank looks WAY worse now despite constantly low nutrient levels. Not much hair algae, but tons of cyano.

The calcium checker is tricky, cumbersome, and just not worth the cost in my opinion. I sold mine after 2 or 3 uses. I have the ULR Phosphorous checker for phosphates which I love. You have to multiply the result by 3.066 and divide by 1000 to get ppm phosphates. I find this meter to be very accurate and repeatable despite lots of negative reviews on the Hanna ReefCentral forum. For example, I'll test my water before I feed for the day and get a 6 (.018ppm) then a little while after I feed and it will measure a 11 (.034 ppm.) The next day the levels are back down. If it's sensitive enough to test the elevated phosphate levels from added frozen food then it's accurate enough for me. The test procedure is not that bad, you have to swirl the reagent in a cuvette for 2-3 minutes, then wait for the 3 minute countdown for a reading. If you forget about it and walk away, the meter will shut off and you will lose your reading after a few more minutes. That's the only thing I don't like. I wish it would stay on longer or beep when the test is done. The alk checker is very good as well. I have exhaustively tested it against Salifert and my results are always consistent to within .1 dKH. The reference solution that comes with Salifert also checked dead on in the checker. It measures PPM alkalinity which you multiply by .056 to get dKH. I have also tested the checker against a Lamotte 4491 kit which I have as well and it always matches that kit also. I figure that if it matches Lamotte and Salifert it is a great product. The test procedure is quick and easy.

I got the same generator last year on sale at tractor supply for $299 and it ran my whole setup and refrigerator for 1 1/2 days and used only 7 gallons of gas. That was great!! Just to give you an idea what was running at the same time: 1 MP10 2 Tunze 6055 1 Koralia 1400 4 Tunze 6105 1 PanWorld 100PX pump 1 Blue Line 50HD pump 1 Quiet One 3000 pump 52 3W royal blue LEDS 1 400W Halide at a time 2 300W Heaters Apex Controller Dosing Pumps Refrigerator Cell phone chargers A few house lamps

Thanks for the heads-up!! I have to take the fabric canopy off the gazebo before we get any snow. Not like I need it on there these days anyway.

I use an Osmolator and I can't believe how high quality this thing is!! (Sorry, couldn't resist.) But seriously, I do have one and it works for me. I couldn't believe it when it worked from 20' horizontally and 12 feet vertically down in the basement with the stock pump.

Sixlines sleep in a mucus cocoon on the rocks, not in the sand. I think that with plenty of places to hide if it feels threatened, It'll be OK.

If you have a foam filter on the return pump, you can remove it so it wont get clogged. You don't need it. Most pumps have a strainer on them to prevent large things like snails from getting in the pump, or the plastic housing of the pump itself is the strainer.

You did the right thing by removing the sand from the sump. Unless you are using it for a remote deep sand bed (5 or 6 inches deep) there is no point to having it in there. It just traps dirt and makes cleaning the sump a hassle. I don't usually run anything in my sump at all other than equipment, but I am currently holding some live rock in there now for a friend. If your tank is new, you can take the live rock out if you want to. It will make the sump easier to keep clean. You can drain it and use a $20 shop vac made to fit on a 5 gallon bucket to vacuum the bottom periodically. Some people that like more open area in their tanks run live rock in the sump for extra filtration, so I don't think it will hurt to leave it in there. If your tank is already established and you want to remove the rock, remove maybe 1 piece every week or two, because your bacterial population will need time to adjust. If you pull it out all at once, you risk a nitrate spike, especially if your tank is overstocked. You can always drain or pump the water from the sump into a rubbermaid container, put the rock into it, clean the sump, and replace the rock if you want while doing a water change. Give the rock a good swish in the old tank water to remove the detritus and put it back into the sump.

Here's a link http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_3/cav3i1/Baffles/bafflesart.htm I was considering this at one time, but never actually did it.

Linckia stars seem to be hardier in my experience. I never had any luck with keeping red fromia alive more than a few weeks, but I have had my blue linckia for almost a year now. I have read that linckia and fromia survival rates past a year and a half or so are not good, though. I have had a few nitrate spikes of around 20ppm too that the linckia has lived through. I did drip acclimate slowly into an acrylic box in the sump for 3 hours. This was to keep the temperature constantly equalized because if the container is not in the sump the water will get cold and will have to be temp acclimated again.

Hard to tell how long unfortunately. I had to coax my ocellaris clowns to host my anemone by chasing them away from their usual places. Once they got near the anemone, I would let them alone and walk away from the tank. It took about a week.

Are you guys feeding reef roids in full daylight or actinic only?

Just stumbled upon this site, which has many photography lessons which are focused on reef tank photography. The lighting lessons are very interesting. http://www.ximinasphotography.com/

Yep, looks like colonial hydroids (google it and check the first few images.) Read up on killing them. Some say they are difficult to get rid of, some say they go away by themselves. If I were you and they are only one one small rock, I'd take it out and discard it to be safe. Some people even use a blowtorch to burn them off. I've never personally had to deal with them, though.

I also use the shop-vac, Steve. Works like a charm. I have one of the 5 gallon-bucket ones I bought for $20 that I only use for the tank. I also use a 100 micron filter sock I change every day. I have 10 of them. My water is a LOT clearer with the sock than without. I remove it for vacations and when I get back the water looks hazy until a few hours with the sock installed. So if you keep up with it, they definitely make a difference.

Welcome

Check it both ways and see if there is any noticeable difference. I don't remember if there was when I did it.

I would use 5mL and stick with that as long as you are sure it is 5mL. I have a few API kits and the lines are all different!! Hanna checker vials are the same way.

My liquid is nasty-smelling, but the solid stuff like you have that I scrape from the neck does not smell too bad.

Looking good Frank!!

They say garlic entices fish to eat.... It's all part of the acclimation process.

It takes a lot more mL of calcium additive to make a difference than it does alk additive (at least if you are using BRS or Randy's recipe.) I have always dosed an equal amount and have not noticed wild calcium fluctuations when adjusting alk dosages to keep up with my demand. I base all my dosages on alkalinity and calcium for me is a second priority and it never fluctuates more than +/- 25 ppm which I feel is acceptable. I keep alk at 9 and calcium ranges between 400 and 450. Check out this link. "Equilibrium" is purely based on speculation derived from the ratios found in natural seawater. http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-04/rhf/feature/index.php

I have 2 foxfaces and they eat short hair algae only. I still have to manually remove the long stuff. They will destroy some caulerpa, though. I feed it to them sometimes and they eat it out of my hand.