madweazl

Poor man Legos! Going to start working out the aquascaping while I wait for things to arrive using 1/2" CPVC (1/2" outside diameter). I've decided to go with a standard 75g instead of using the current 50g.

Magic Erasers are abrasive and will scratch the acrylic too. You wont notice the swirls it leaves until it's dry but they'll be there.

My personal experience in the feeding department was the amount given, not the frequency. I was feeding my last anemone about once a week but had to work out of town for a month and my wife fed it every day while I was gone. It went from 2" across the oral disc to 6"! She was feeding it a small portion of shrimp each day, it never split but grew like a weed. The anemone I had in a tank prior split after I fed it a whole silverside (another can of worms) when it was about 3-4" across the oral disc and it split that night. I never fed that anemone again and it did great (we moved and I gave it to another reefer).

There are a couple schools of thought on why they split. Many believe it is because they're stressed and attempting to maximize survival prospects. My personal experience indicates that over feeding will cause them to split as well. Others believe they'll do it when everything is going well but that seems least likely to me. I'd investigate the first two theories a bit more.

You wont have an issue with penetration, just coverage. Might be a better idea to mount the light to one side like it would if you had two and start the aquascape accordingly so you can move forward in a modular fashion.

I wouldnt bother using it if you can move the carbon and/or phosguard into the sump. If not, just run as needed vice 24/7.

Vac out as much of it as you can get and as mentioned, prepare for some large water changes.

Are the fish sitting in the boxes for a prolonged period of time causing the death (24 hours shouldnt be an issue provided climate controlled environment)? I'm not advocating purchases from PetCo at all, just trying to narrow down why they are dying in the boxes.

The controller works pretty well. Initial setup takes some time and the remote isnt very good if you're trying to use it while sitting down (the light emitting from the fixture interferes with the IR remote LOL). Once you get it dialed in it works well though. I'd rather have full control from something like a RA or Apex but it's tough to beat this setup for the money. I've had good results with the fixture thus far but I havent had any of the super colorful SPS either. My monti cap grew like a weed with this lighting along with a green BTA. The two other SPS kept their color and were growing I didnt have themlong enough to provide any long term feedback (took the tank down when we moved from Japan to here). I thought the SuperLux had a controller?

Made a trip up to Exotic Reef Creations today and was very impressed. Beautiful selection of inverts that all looked extremely healthy and intense color. Cant wait to pick some stuff up! Thanks for taking the time to show us the goods.

Easiest but not a must, you can use a regular drill.

Yea, it sucks having to shell out the money for another fixture. I'm at the absolute max for the Photon24 on my 36" tank. It works out decent and creates some areas of lower light in the event I want to have something like that along the outside of the tank.

What is the correlation between dead fish in the bags and QT?

Just gives you the ability to create a fascia to draw the ques from the stand above the tank without dropping a canopy on your purdy rimless tank. The brackets in the pic I posted were boring but there are very nice looking units (or ones that pretty much disappear altogether). I just dont care for 5' cables hanging from the ceiling (different strokes like you stated).

Decorator crab?

It is my hands down favorite relationship in a tank, I just love shrimp gobies.

I agree with drilling the concrete but not so much on the sexy part, I think the long hanging fixtures are an eyesore.

If the 90 is a 48" long tank, it isnt going to remotely cover it. Getting coverage over a 36" tank isnt even adequate. Two would give you good coverage however.

I used drywall anchors and and mounted a couple brackets to the walls. If I remember correctly, each anchor was good for either 16 or 19lbs (3 per bracket). This held my Photon24 (12lbs) shortly after this pic was taken. You could also rotohammer into the contrete and drop small anchors in there that would hold the weight no problem. The holes are super simple to cover and paint when you leave but most places wouldnt hold it against you if you left them anyways.

28 Dec 2018 Equipment list: Marineland 75g (03 Mar 2015) Source: Quantum Reef Marineland stand/canopy (21 Feb 2015) Source: Craigslist (used) ModularMarine 1200gph low profile overflow (03 Mar 2015) Source: Ebay Kessil (2) A360WE Tuna Blue (9 Oct 2016) Source: Various (used) Kessil H160 and H80 (23 Jun 2018) Source: BRS AquaticLife 48" 2xBlue+, 1xABS, 1xP+ (23 Jun 2018) Source: BRS Eshopps R-200 2nd Gen (21 Jan 2014) Source: Amazon Deltec SC1350N skimmer (26 Oct 2016) Source: R2R member (used) BRS carbon reactor (9 Jun 2016) Source: BRS BRS dosing pumps (14 Jul 2017) Source: BRS Waveline DC6000 return pump (Mar 2015) Source: DCReefer Vortech MP40WES w/QD wets x2 (26 Jun 2017) Source: R2R member (used) Visi-therm 150w x2 (7 Dec 2016) Source: PetSmart Reef Angel + w/relay expansion (2 Jun 2016) Source: linkfalcon (used) Fish: Coral beauty angel (25 Jun 2016) Source: Incredible Corals Yellow tang (26 Sep 2016) Source: BRK Randall's goby (17 Dec 2017) Kaudern's cardinal (15 Sep 2016) Tail spot blenny (19 Jun 2017) Source: BRK Foxface Lo (14 Feb 2019) Source: BRK Sixline wrasse (14 Feb 2019) Source: BRK Inverts: Tiger pistol shrimp (8 May 2019) Source: BRK Tiger sand conch (19 Jun 2017) Reefcleaners CUC for 75g (continually updated) Corals: Meteor shower (26 Sep 2016) Source: BRK Monti cap (26 Sep 2016) Source: BRK Copp's rainbow undata (28 Jun 2017) Source: Epleeds Purple scroll (Jan 2017) Source: Tiki Corals Jason Fox Jack-O-Lantern (6 Oct 2016) Souce: Epleeds Acroporas: - Cali tort (28 Jun 2017) Source: Epleeds - Strawberry shortcake (17 Jun 2017) Source: BRK - ReefRaft Wolverine (25 Jun 2017) Source: CustomRide0105 - Wild 1 Pink with green growth (15 Oct 2016) Source: CustomRide0105 - Wild 3 Purple (25 Jun 2017) Source: CustomRide0105 - Wild 4 Tan w/purple tips and pink? Polyps (25 Jun 2017) Source: CustomRide0105 - Wild 5 Tan w/bright green polyps (25 Jun 2017) Source: CustomRide0105 - Wild 6 Blue bansai with green polyps (25 Jun 2017) Source: CustomRide0105 - Wild 7 Aqua (25 Jun 2017) Source: CustomRide0105 - Wild 8 Bright green (25 Jun 2017) Source: CustomRide0105 - Wild 9 Green smooth skin (28 Jun 2017) Source: Epleeds - Wild 10 Tan w/green polyps and blue growth (28 Jun 2017) Source: Epleeds Wild 11 blues with yellow tips (2 Jan 2018) Source: Darkseeker Vivid's rainbow delight (2 Jan 2018) Source: Darkseeker SC Orange Passion (1 Jun 2018) Source: Darkseeker Tyree's Pink Lemonaide (1 Jun 2018) Source: Darkseeker ORA Hawkin's echinata (30 Sep 2018) Source: Tiki Corals WWC Suicide Squad (1 Jun 2018) Source: Darkseeker Walt Disney (14 Aug 2019) Source: epleeds Green mushroom (2 Jun 2016) Source: Pets Plus Green pipe organ (23 Sep 2016) Source: Joshifer Revenue generated by selling corals/frags: $140 as of 29 Dec 2017 Rock/substrate: 5-6lbs Fiji live rock (2 Jun 2016) Source: Pets Plus 55lbs BRS reef saver dry rock (19 Feb 2015) Source: BRS 100lbs Black Nature's Ocean Bio-Active Reef Sand (19 Feb 2015) Source: DrF&S Useful Notes: 1ml muriatic acid reduces dKH of 5g Reef Crystals by 1.9 dKH (3ml mixes at 8.0 with 5g fresh Reef Crystals or 7.1 with Instant Ocean). PAR measurements (Apogee MQ500 with full spectrum sensor) Notes: 1) Location 3 is centered under one light right to left but not front to back (even with top of rocks on the back side of these two corals). 2) Locations 6 is very close to the center of the tank left to right (a couple inches closer to the front glass front to back). 3) The Kessils are centered over the tank front to back and 18.5" apart (9.25" left and right of center). 4) The fixture is mounted 6" above the water line. 5) There is a bit of light spillage on all viewing sides of the aquarium so the lights could be mounted closer to the water to increase PAR values without losing coverage. 6) PAR values were measured on our local clubs Apogee MQ-500 with full spectrum sensor using an immersion correction factor of 1.32. 7) Standard 75g Marineland aquarium 48"x18"x21" (LxWxH). 8) Two Kessil A360WE (60% color) with four 54w T5s in a 48" Aquatic Life Hybrid fixture (2 Blue+, 1 AquaBlue Special, and 1 Purple+) 9) 16" side rails mounted on the Aquatic Life to narrow the unit 2" from how it ships. 10) MP40s set to feed mode while measurements were taken. 11) Return from sump remained on but has fairly low flow and doesn't agitate water surface much. 12) Hybrid column represents the Aquatic Life fixture with only the T5 on. 13) LET column represents past results of the LET T5 retrofit kit for comparison. 14) The LET retrofit had two 54w T5s (1 Blue+ and 1 Coral+ at the time). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Original post begins here: First, a boring little back story. We recently moved back to the states from Okinawa Japan after retiring from the Marine Corps last year. While there, we had a 36x16x20 rimless glass tank that was going to be a mixed reef. It hadnt even been up a year before I decided to drop retirement papers and sold or gave away all the livestock. We made it out to VA not quite three weeks ago right on que, I got the itch. The ultimate plan is to have a 72x20x20 built but in the meantime, I'm setting up the 50g. Current equipment: Aquarium: Rimless glass (roughly 46g) w/cheap black stand Overflow: Drilling and installing a 6x4x5 four side overflow provided the tank isnt tempered (have Eshopps hang-on overflow from previous install if not) Lighting: Reef Breeders Photon24 Refugium: Eshopps R200 Return: Rio 2100+ Circulation: Jabeo WP25 Rock: 50lbs BRS dry reef rock Sand: Nature's Ocean Black Beach live sand Going forward: - Reef Angel controller - DC return pumps (dual for redundancy and prep for the 120g) - Vortech Quite Drives (provided they're actually quiet, if not I'll stick to the Jabeos) - Aforementioned 72x20x20 aquarium and stand - Possibly moving to a trio of Kessil 360xx This will be dominated by fish with a few corals. I'm a huge fan of butterflies even though I've never had one in the roughly 20 years I've been in the hobby; this is going to change. Wish list attached. Wish List.xlsx

Scientific names FTW.

My initials thoughts were that the pumps would never turn off, just spool down (cant have anything back syphon) as the other ramps up an equal (inverse?) ammount maintaining a constant flow rate. What I hadnt initially considered was the flow rate since I'm running a refugium; I'll probably be running somewhere around 500g/hr through it and that isnt going to do anything in the display. I dont want to buy another refugium right now (currently an Eshopps R200) but I have seen a number of prefabbed units that have a separate refugium area that might make this feasible down the road.

I keeps it real! 20" width.

I'm in the planning stages for a new tank (72x202x20) and was planning on using dual DC return pumps. The plan was two run the two pumps off a controler (Reef Angel more than likely) along with a level sensor, then drive them <50% on a daily basis with the ability to have one ramp up appropriately in the event of a single pump failure. My ideas started running wild while I was in bed last night and I started to ponder the feasibility of having the return pumps actually create the wave action instead of using separate pumps (Vortechs). It would keep the display free of anything inside and probably draw less power in the long run (not really a concern but always nice). Any comments on the feasibility of doing this?

Can you increase water movement in that area or move the coral to an area of higher water movement? Phosphates present? Something is feeding the algae.