BMW1600

pics of tank and stand please

It's tripled in size since I peeled off most of the GSP. Seems like most things I try in the tank give me slow, incremental results...not this time!

Unfortunately no before and after. But VERY noticeable difference. In fact - and I would love to hear from experienced SPS keepers - even at the lower power levels my two birdsnests are growing more or less laterally, and not vertically, despite their position about 30% up the height of the tank. I might lower the light level some more and see what happens. When I first lowered the light the tips of my pink birdsnest suddenly "sprouted" and split within a matter of a week.

I put Reefbreeders LEDs over my 54 bowfront a few months ago, replacing a 4 bulb Deep Blue fixture. They hang maybe 16 inches or so above the waterline. I slowly turned them up over the course of a month and a half to a maximum of 55% on the white channel and 50% on blue (of course gradually ramping up and tapering down). Growth was OK, but not what I expected. I since turned down the whites to no more than 40% and blues up to 45% and lowered the ramping up/tapering even more aggressively. Surprisingly I have seen amazing growth...stuff that never seemed to do anything suddenly budded (SPS)/reproduced (LPS) and my algae issues became a lot more manageable. Anyway, for anyone else in my shoes who is still figuring stuff out and thinking about LEDs, I thought this might be useful Dave

I peeled most of it off with a knife last night...keeping my fingers crossed

I have a little two head acan that is one of my very first corals. I was 99% sure I totally killed it a while back when I was still figuring things out. It literally had one tiny, barely visible bit of "flesh" left. I just left the skeleton in the tank. Amazingly, it came back after about four months and was doing well. For no apparent reason it has started to recede again. There are a few polyps of GSP on the frag. Could that be causing the recession? I sort of like GSP so I have left it alone, but I'll yank it off this frag if it could be causing recession. Thank you Dave

Thank you all for the very thoughtful responses. I appreciate it.

I am a little reluctant to get a fuge/any more hardware because I want to get a bigger tank in the next few months and I already have floats/HOB skimmer/Phosban reactor hanging off the back. Can I add a bottle of pods at intervals? Maybe every two or three months? That would be far more manageable.

I have a 54g bowfront. I don't know how many pounds of LR I have but it is a significant pile (to the point where I have considered removing some of it). I did an "emergency" rush transfer when I got the tank so I never had a chance to weigh it out. I have one clown, one bangai cardinal, one pajama cardinal, one anthias, one red firefish, and one azure damsel. If the tank is too small I'll forgo the mandarin. I just think they are beautiful.

When I first set up my tank I had a goby (and a few other species) that died because of my impatience and stupidity. I have had my tank running for over a year now, a lot more knowledge under my belt, and I'd like to try again. I'm worried about feeding, because all my other fish live quite happily on the simple diet I give them. I don't want to have to add something else routinely and make it a pain in the butt. I have no population of pods in my tank. I guess my big question is, if I add them, what stops the pods from being destroyed/captured by a protein skimmer? (I don't have a sump.) What else could I feed a mandarin to keep it happy? Thanks! Dave

100% chance...if I had a sump Anyone local want the Jack the Ripper of hermits?

My daughter brought home a hermit from OBX that we tossed into the tank. I recently realized that it has managed to almost wipe out 2 cleanup crews. I think the less I feed the tank the more snail-murderous it becomes. I hate to terminate this guy's existence since we took him out of his home, but I can't justify his $100 worth of food! Anyway, thanks for making this thread, I am once again struggling with this problem which is much worse because almost all my snails are dead!

You can monitor if you have the NET module, which I do not yet have. I started out with the basic RKL package.

Been running it like that for a year. Its just been set in there, not mounted, and the heater is just long enough where the rubber top leans against the top of the return chamber, so I guess the only "contact" is slight, at the bottom of the heater. I think the real "heating action" occurs higher up. Anyway, no problems!

No one was watching my tank because I had it all set up correctly to be left alone ahahah

Just got back from a week+ in Jamaica. A week and a half ago I frantically ordered/assembled an ATO with my RKL. Cleaned everything up, checked water, etc etc. Just before I left I unplugged my skimmer because I ran out of time to build an overflow for it. Upon my return last night (10 days later) I arrived to hear my RKL alarm. I ran over to the tank. Water temp was 70.0. I figured my heater died from overcycling or something. NOPE. I keep my heater in the return chamber of my BakPak skimmer. So, no skimmer = no heated water the entire time. Just about everything seems to have survived, although it's not very happy. Worst damage was to a pretty birdsnest. I think all my critters made it. I feel really, really stupid! Dave

Thanks for the reply. It's moderately stiff air line. Not the soft silicone. There is probably one foot of excess line lying the bucket. As the line comes over the rim of the tank it makes one loose loop around the outlet on my skimmer. There is not a lot of slack, just enough to avoid pinches.

Last night I set up my ATO using my Reefkeeper Lite. Single float for now, because one of the Digital Aquatics float switch hangers has every single one of its drilled holes stripped right out so there are no threads I'm using an Aqualifter to pump RODI water from a bucket under my stand. The Aqualifter is hung by a screw underneath the tank, as high up as it will go underneath the stand. It is pushing water through a total of about 6 or 7 feet or air line (some of that is excess in the bucket...some of that is line snaking around my HOB skimmer). My question is, given the length of line involved, should I be seeing a steady stream of water, or a fast drip? Because right now I am seeing a fast drip. Maybe 2-3 drops per second, but certainly not a stream. I understand the pump has a max 30" lift. I've seen a lot of photos and vids of them sitting on floors near tanks, or underneath them, so at this point I'm just seeking confirmation that the pump is operating as it should, since I have absolutely no frame of reference. Thanks! Dave

I have struggled with powerhead placement in my sumpless 54 gallon bowfront/corner tank and I want to fix it for good. It has an Octopus Bakpak skimmer hanging on a back side. My guess is 150-200gph on that. I started out with some underpowered junk powerhead from the previous owner. Then I put in Koralia 750. Still not enough flow so I tried an additional 1400. No matter what it blows everything around, shifts sand, etc. Tried pointing it straight at the 750 and the 1400 was still too much flow. Now the 1400 is on a timer to go on a couple times a day for maybe 30 min. I have slowly let my cleanup crew die off so I need to keep the water moving to avoid debris buildup. Should I get another 750 and aim them at each other? Maybe a 1050? Any other placement advice on a bowfront would be appreciated. Dave

I will try to dig some up and post a comparison

I found that the streak-free car windshield cleaners you buy at Autozone and the like worked best.

Well, I kept having recession on some of my stony fellas, and my stupid thick skull finally figured that (1) the temporary, worn-out actinic that replaced a DOA ATI actinic, and (2) the half-dead/flickering ATI actinic on my four bulb fixture were probably the culprit. Rather than buy new bulbs for a few weeks I went ahead and got this bad boy: http://reefbreeders.com/it2060.html Came yesterday. WOW is this thing nice. It's just a completely different tank. The programming is intuitive, easy, and powerful. The remote is nice. The unit appears to be very well made. incidentally the DAY I ordered this I came home to this incredibly loud noise over my tank. It was one of the cooling fans on my Deep Blue fixture. Ha. It must have known. Dave

Thanks, I appreciate it. I don't know if I can wait that long :o I have long popped into and out of the various "Chinese LED" threads on RC, but it just got to be information overload.

My luck is impeccable; right when I decide to buy a new light, I see that I missed the Evergrow GB by a couple days. LOL I was thinking about the IT2080 - it's probably more than I need for a 54g bowfront, but I figure if I expand tanks I can still use it. I understand there are a million ways to set these up, but I'd appreciate advice as to whether I should just get the stock light configuration with 90 degree optics, not having enough experience to form strong lighting preferences. Tank is mostly LPS. Also, they come up on a few sites...any links "more legit" than others? Thanks! Dave

Lurking because I just lost four zoa colonies :( Some of my very first frags, too. I guess I waited too long to treat them with Furan/CoralRX and they are just gone.