Aquariareview

there are some good ideas here. Now for my opinion. 1: Add a 20 long with 2-4 inch Kent Bio Sediment. This stuff will stabilize you ca & alk a lot. 2:Do what prevyet recommends (empty tank clean and reset without crushed coral) however I would put 4-5 inch of southdown in the tank. 3: Load the refuge with macro (I will donate some starter stock & I am sure that a few others will jump in and help) 4: Don't be afraid of a few additives, just be careful. 5: Think about how old your bulbs are. sometimes algae increase is tied to shift in color temp. A strong refuge with a load of macro will make the system a lot more stable and a lot more forgiving. I have been running DSB in the main tank and macro/mud sumps for a long time and find the combination to be almost trouble free. I will say that if you are running a tank full of SPS you may need more calc added but for what you have it should be fine.

Crab vs. Pipe This is video shot from a robotic probe doing work on an undersea pipe...This is a video taken in 6000 feet of water. An undersea robot is sawing a 3mm wide slit (1/10th of an inch ... remember that width) in a pipeline. The pressure inside the pipeline is 0 psig, while the pressure outside is 2700 psi, or 1.3 tons per square inch. Then a crab comes along.... Go here to see the video

I have had a much better luck with the kent bio-sediment I have a tank with with some sps, clams and a lot of other stuff. My calc levels stay pretty stable. but I dont have as much sps hard stuff as some of the pics I have seen.

Yes they do The scwd is awsome,, I just installed two of them for a friend on his 125. He has a 2400 gph pump on a closed loop. We came off of the pump to a split, then 2 of the scwd then to 4 returns. In 3 weeks his tank looks better. Coral is more extended, and the tank is cleaner. I am going to do my tank in the next few weeks. This system cost a lot less than the swirl and seems to work well, so far.

Those of you that know me know that I am a big fan of the Mud based filter system. I have been doing a combination of deep sand bed in the tank and deep mud in the refuge for more than 10 years. Here is a plan to convert a 55 gal tank (that old scratched up acrylic tank you have in the garage) to a mud refuge that works so well that you may find that a lot of the other equipment in your system is unneeded. You can size this system up or down to fit any size tank you wish to use. My past experience has shown that the system/refuge size relationship must be at least tank=100% refuge=20% water. Your refuge is not going be full, a 55gal tank will have about 30-35 gal of water. That will filter a tank of 150-175 gal real well. You can go larger but not smaller. One more factor, a deep tank is not as good as a long tank. You need surface are for the substrate to interface with the water. I am using a 5 gal aquarium as a return chamber to keep mud out of the pump. This is cheap and easy to clean out. If you are doing a very small system you can sub this with a powerhead hung on the side of the tank. Here is a parts list Parts List 1- 55 gal tank 48x12x18 Plexiglas pieces 2- 12'x4' 1- 12'x15' 1- 5 gal aquarium 5 gal Mud. I like the Kent bio-sediment or Eco-System mud Putting it together 1: Clean the tank and glue in the Plexiglas pieces using aquarium silicone as shown in the image linked below. 2: Fill the intake chamber with bio-ball or some other media to break up the flow of water (I use whole oyster shells). 3: Place the mud in the main chamber. 4: Set the 5 gal aquarium in the tank at the far end from the intake side 5: Set pump into 5 gal and plumb to the return 6: Place some Macro algae into the mud 7: Start System 8: light this system 24/7 with white light NO or PC will work 9 Add crabs and snails to keep it clean. You can add a small fish or two to stir the mud a little. picture of refuge link to this article's webpage Interview with Mr. Leng Sy on Mud Filtration With the Kent Mud I run: Calcium levels of 430 mg/l Alkalinity 9.7 dkh Magnesium of 810 mg/L This is without a reactor and with almost no additives. The ocean has no high tech equipment yet the reefs look so good.

I have always ordered from us plastics They seem a lot cheaper than anything I have found here

That is a 2 speed fan white and red are the two hot connections for the two speed and black is the ground. That is a 5v dc fan. They really dont have the punch to cool a hood. Whisper fans that are 110v and dont require a power supply, are much better and are at most electrical suppliers. go with a 4 in and try to blow as close to the lights as possible. They will last and they are cheaper than a computer fan and the power supply you need to run it. Nathan

Most fans are 2 wire which can be wired to the two main pins on a 110 volt plug. If it is a 3 wire fan the 3rd wire is green and that goes to the ground pin (that is the center pin that is u shaped that is not shaped like the other two). I don't think you need a thermostat on the hood fans just put them on the same timer as the lights. Note:make sure that your fan is blowing air into the hood as this keeps the hot salty air out of the fan. Make sure that the hood has a way for air to escape from the upper areas, as that keeps heat from building up inside the hood. On the sump I run a fan 24/7 in the summer and I just shut it off in the winter

how much flow can it take

I have always used a piece of linoleum cut to about 3-4 inch larger than the stand on all sides (you can even go up the wall about 20 inchs to protect from spills). Match it's color to the room. Use a plastic threshold all the way around held down with silicone. This will totally keep the water from day to day use, off of the wood. and if you pick a good color it gives the tank more of a built in look.

Does anyone know how many photons are generated by the $5 airpump that runs the undergravel filter in my 2 gal betta tank. I think it needs new dylitheum crystals

A watt is an electrical unit of power. This term is commonly used to rate appliances using relatively small amounts of electricity. The standard formula is: Wattage = Amps x Voltage 2 amps X 120 volts = 240 watts hope that helps

I have pendent lighting now but I am getting ready to build a new hood and stand. here is a page from my site with a bunch of links to diy hood projects diy hoods

here is a another pic that has been light and white balance adjusted does anyone know what this thing is called

This is a very good Idea. what about Nano reefs, 5 -10 gal is not to hard to manage and can be given to many at a pretty low cost.

I use standard ballast's as I like the extra edge in the k it gives. I am using 14kk aqualine 250watts I ordered from germany I have seen the same thing sanjay's tests showed. 18 months and very little shift in color temp.

Has anyone here tried using a fluidized bed filter with aragonite sand instead of silica. I have a friend in Florida who has been. He says it breaks down fast and really buffers the calcium levels well. he told me that he has to replace about 20% of his sand every 6 weeks. He is not driving the chamber hard enough to blow the sand out of the system, so the only place it can go is to break down and feed its elements into the water.

I have had yellow tangs nip at stuff but my purple tangs never seem to

some of the pictures you see online have had the color balanced in a software app like photo shop or photo shop elements. There are many low cost photo editors that will do this. These two photos are the same photo but the 2nd is adjusted to bring it to what it looks like to my eye instead of what it looks like to a digital cam thru a glass.

Buy a tang. I have a red sea (purple) tang that is three years old. He has never bothered my coral, and I take a handfull of Caulerpa out of my sump and put in my tank once a week. He eats it all and is still hungry enough to eat any other kind of algae he can find. I have heard that some people have had a problem with tangs going after some poylps. I have never seen that happen

I collect unusal musrooms. I have been setting up small (20 gal) mushroom reefs for some school-room tanks. They are easy and they let the kids see the process of their replication. If you have too many, peel the foot from the rock with a razor blade and set in a low flow place like a small bowl of gravel set in the bottom tank. When they attach bring them to the next wamas meeting. I am sure you will have no problem finding a home for them. Many reef keepers love these little animals and have very nice reefs, that have them all over the place. They can be weeds however one mans trash.... Many of the members of this group would love to have cool and unique mushrooms in their tank. I will have a bunch at the next meeting to trade or give away. I wonder if they are edible.

I was at roozens sat. They did have a few of the hammer head Nudibranch in stock ($65). I saw them eating flatworms. they would solve your problems.

I thought thats what it was. This piece came from the Reef Tank in Northern VA. They had it a few months ago. It has opened 3 new heads since then. It is growing pretty fast and I would like to grow it out so I can frag it.

I have used "Miracle Mud" by Eco System. I have used the new Kent Bio-sediment. I have made my own mix. I have been doing this type of system for about 8 years. I am very sold. You can build a system that is rock solid and very forgiving. I have done systems with and without skimmers, with very high and very slow flow rates thru the refuge. At its worst I have had better luck than with any other type of system. I have come up with a setup that works well for me. 0 levels of bad stuff, very strong coral growth, and huge critter population. When I feed the tank, I dump in a lot of food, The Macro-algae takes care of the waste. I use de-clorinated Tap water and the Macro takes care of the phosphates and metals( you put iron on the lawn dont you) I have a little algae growth that springs up on the back glass once and a while. Then it dies for lack of nutrition. I harvest Macro algae and throw it away or feed some of it to my tang (it grows so fast if I could eat it I would not have to buy food). I know that this is not the only way to have a good system. Some people like to spend their time doing a lot of work on their system that I dont have to do. As you can tell I am very sold on this type of system. I am like an evangelist who has found the truth and wants to convert the world. If you want to try this kind of system I can help you with sources and information.

Does anyone have the species names for this coral . It has a stony skeleton,