Wes

I wasn't ULN, but I ran biopellets. In my scenario, I saw a noticeable increase in growth of corallimorphs when I started adding aminos regularly.

Too much flow and too much light seems to slow them down, as well as too clean of a tank. When I used to add aminos, these guys seemed to grow much better.

Ahh, I miss it. Maybe someday I'll be able to afford to go back. ;-) Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be many up this way. Once I get things going, I'll have to have you over for a 'boh and a look at my tanks.

I've seen mentioned in a few places that red spectrum lighting(660nm) is best for algae scrubbers. I've had fine luck with CFL (warm and cool white), but I'm thinking about buying/putting together a cheap LED fixture for the fuge area. I'm not sure if I'll stick to chaeto or eventually build an up-flow algae scrubber, so I'd like to get something that could grow both. Basically, all I'm asking is if anyone has advice on growing chaeto under a red LED.

You can see a couple pics in this set of photos: http://imgur.com/a/W6mhb Somewhere I have pics of the process, but I'm on my phone right now.

If you want to do it on the cheap, buy a used nanocube. You can pull off the trim and it cleans up nicely. I've done this 2x and loved the outcome both times. Then you have a rimless AIO without any seams along the front. I quite like it. My other fav. mod for the nano/biocube is to put a koralia nano into the false wall(dremel out or drill a 2" hole IIRC). I think this setup would look just KILLER with a kessil. When I was always on the cheap, I made a DIY 70W halide setup for this size tank, though a viper also looks nice over that setup and sometimes can be found nice and cheap. My original plans for my my nano build were to do just this, but I wound up with an 18" cube... To be honest I think I might've been happier with the nanocube. AIO rimless nanos are quite a bit of fun.

I have a hard time believing this. I'm sure some is lost to abiotic precipitation, and perhaps considerably more so if dosed all at once, but with proper protocol, I doubt there would be a noticeable difference.

gorgeous fuzzy dwarf! one of my favorite fish! If you ever want to keep things it would eat, let me know, I've been looking for a yellow fuzzy dwarf...

I'd also dry it and weigh it to get an idea of how much it's pulling out. It'd be interesting to collect, dry and weigh the skimmate over the same period, but that'd be pretty gross...

Should be fine, just don't dose both parts at once. I'd do it over a few hours to be safe, though.

That's 1.1mL per minute on the BRS dosers. How to accomplish it best depends largely on the system. I personally prefer kalk in the ATO and 2-part on dosers(BRS seems about the most affordable). If you don't have a large demand, you can dose 2-part daily/weekly/whateverly. In fact, as you're learning your system, it's a good idea to do it manually until you get a feel for how much you're actually using. Overdosing can cause a boatload of problems.

Calcium is only limiting at pretty low levels and there is far more of it, making it pretty easy to keep Ca levels safe. It is far more important to maintain appropriate levels of alkalinity. If you're only going to dose ONE thing, do alkalinity and rely on frequent W/C or more intermittent supplementation to maintain the rest.

Same thing just happened to a friend of mine in another club. Unbelievable how fast it goes in that direction, given how long it takes in the other... ...It's time for me to review some redundancy plans for myself and look at my weak links... So sorry to hear about it.

While I don't think LEDs yet qualify as "tried and true" like halides or t5s, I have very little doubt they will grow most corals. I think the biggest difficulty is the wide variety of options in LED setups.. I think that the true test is 5+ years under the same fixture. As that becomes more and more common, I think it will become clear that LEDs are the top option. The kessils are sleek and cool, but IMHO not my top choice for a full blown SPS tank. I did decide to use an a150w over a mixed reef nano, however. I also feel like I should say that while I am hesitant to give a 100% endorsement, I'm still choosing LEDs for both of my current builds. By the way, if you have a 3' tank, check out the max spect razor. It seems like about the best option, LED or otherwise, for that size.

Hey guys, I'm thinking of doing an all in one 20l using the Badfish AIO and was wondering if anyone else had experience or opinions on these systems. If you've got one, I'd appreciate pics!

You're absolutely right, whatever is right underneath it will do just fine, but most SPS corals have growth patterns that will shade parts of the colony, typically leading to uneven color and often to die-off of the shaded parts of the colony. It's a natural thing, just not aesthetically pleasing. Natural movement of the sun combined with very large refraction of light from waves makes it happen less on the actual reef, but it certainly does happen even in natural settings. It happens to some degree even in tanks that are lit very broadly as colonies get extremely large. However, it becomes pronounced much more quickly when lighting by a single stationary point-source.

I specifically said "LED pendants;" arrays are different than a single point source since there is substantial overlap from each individual LED. This is definitely not the same as hanging a single kessil. I also just said it becomes harder, though certainly not impossible.

Argh, I hate moving tanks. Best way I've found is to set up a new tank and run it like you were starting a new system, bringing over items somewhat slowly from the first tank. The worst damage typically comes from the sand-disturbing even a shallow sandbed can throw a ton of nutrients into the water column. IMO, start the new tank, bring over a few hardy corals/fish, then do the rest of the coral in one shot.

ah, cool. I did the same thing with one in a 12g -> 75g once and it turned out fine. The tiger pods won't reproduce all that much IME. What I did to try to keep the population running was to make little pod condos out of rubble and swap them between my nano and my bigger tank's fuge that had a massive pod population. You could also dunk chaeto from your larger fuge in your cube.

I've had great experience with their customer service. FWIW I'd guess that the seal of magnet may have been compromised when cleaning. That's happened to me before with a skimmer impeller, wound up with the same swelling/rusting. I've always had good luck with koralias, had them running over 4+ years in a tank.

To build on what Dave said, another problem with LED pendants is that point-sources introduce a lot of shadowing even if they 'cover' a wide area. If you want to grow LPS/softies, not an issue, but for SPS there will be substantial die-off and it becomes harder to maintain large colonies that still look good. The par readings can be deceiving as well since LED light is often such a narrow band-width. Brightness also typically isn't a great cue, as our eyes are much less sensitive to the deeper blues that LEDs often produce in abundance (no doubt the kessils don't compete with 400w MH, though!) . I think time over corals is the best indicator, and that info is just starting to come in...

There is no way to sustain a population of pods in a tank that small. Your mandarin will very likely starve, even if you get it feeding on frozen food. They need to eat a lot and often. My advice would be to find someone with a larger tank to take it.

Oh, forgot to mention, I had a good chunk of purple ogo in there and a few orange mushrooms. :-) Neat little tank on the kitchen table.

I was given a condy by a friend who wanted to get some actual 'corals.' I had the pico lying around from a previous purchase. I took rock and sand from a very well established 40. The light is a 70w viper. I did top offs daily and ~50% w/c using water from my reef every few days (more stable than fresh SW). Temps would swing but the condy seemed plenty happy. The tank stayed up for a few months until a friend wanted to put the nem in a display sump. Simple tank, but I would never have done it as my only tank.

Hehe... I get all giddy thinking about future builds... The nano will be a 14 or a 29 with LPS/softies. You can see a few of my typical nano mods in those pics. I'm planning on taking off the rim and lighting it with a single Kessil A150w ocean blue I picked up recently. The other mod I like is mounting a small koralia in the false wall for a pseudo-vortec. Beyond that, I just want it to look clean and be simple. I may do a faux sand bed with a sprinkling of real sand. Of course I'm planning on an ATO, JBJ AC jr, etc. The 40br will be a similar mentality, going with a maxspect razor (haven't decided on 10k or 16k), but with SPS. Details of that one are still coming together in my head.