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Here's my hints list for newbies


Aquariareview

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Here's my hints list

1. First Get A Turkey Baster!!!!    If you don't already use one, get a clean new TB; Jack of All Reef Tools! Blows detritus off rocks; sucks up unwanted "stuff"; use it to target feed corals; and the list goes on.

2. Dog toothbrushes are a reefers second best friend (see above for the first). Get the kind with a large and small end are the best, 2 in 1.

3. Want to vacuum the tank without having to do a water change?? Just get some 3/8" flex tubing....or whatever size you want and put a fine mesh bag or a nylon on the end of it and rubber band/tie it on. Then stick the end w/ the bag into your sump. Start the siphon as mentioned below and vacuum away! The bag will filter all deitritus /flatworms/ valonia/ whatever and let the water pass right thru.

4. Start your siphons by placing the submerged end of the hose in front of a power-head.

5. Vinegar is good for soaking pump/power-head impellers--it dissolves the CaCO3 that tends to build up on the internals.

6. If you have a venturi skimmer, drop the air tube into a cup of hot RO/DI water once a week to get rid of any salt creep into the venturi (remove the air line muffler if equipped).

7. I stick a scotch pad (synthetic 0000 steel wool) between my magnets (on the inside of the tank) which I rinse out frequently when cleaning my GLASS TANK.

8. The life of wooden air diffusers can be extended by heating them up in the microwave for 3-5 minutes. So when its time to change the diffuser,, pop it in the microwave and you'll be able to use it again.

9. You can make spray bars out of PVC instead of buying return nozzles.

10. Have clams for dinner. Wash shells, and use them to cover annoying algae patches on you rock...after a week or two the algae will be dead and gone for lack of light.

11. When catching a fish out of a tank use a rose vase. One of the big one's, for dozen roses, which has a large opening curves down for the neck, and then open back up. Put in a piece of food and set the vase on the side at the bottom of the tank. The curve in the neck will stop the food from floating out. Once the fish is in put your hand over the opening and pull it out. Most fish swim away from your hand so even if you are not fast enough to cover it they will probably stay in.

12. Place rubber matting underneath all of your equipment. It comes in 4 foot wide rolls at most hardware stores and is indispensable. It protects the floor beneath and helps isolate vibration. Its grooved surface helps control spills. You can curl it wherever it meets a wall to keep water from leaking out.

13. Save all the disposable plastic containers you get, eventually you'll find a reef use for them.

14. Put a piece of aluminum foil on top of your tank over your overflow to block light, keeps nuisance algae from growing in there and you don't have to clean gunk out of the overflow teeth.

15. If you have a deep tank, invest in a small step ladder. (2 or 3 steps) Instead of having a chair around, use the ladder to access your tank.

16. Finally, and this has been said before, keep a journal!! It doesn't have to be fancy or completely detailed, but one needs to record actions, observations, and perceived results. Water changes, livestock additions (or losses), bulb changes, etc, this things are forgotten and overlooked until something comes up, and then it's too late.

 

Feeding

Make your own food

• 4oz fish, shrimp, squid, clams, anything from the seafood counter

1/8 tsp CYCLOP-EEZE (Artemia Nauplii substitute from Jehmco)

2 sheets of nori

1/8 tsp Marc Wiess black powder

1/8 tsp Marc Wiess Spectra Vital Powder

1/8 tsp high quality flake food

1oz DTs

1/8 tsp Selco

3 drops free iodine

mix in a Food Processer with 1 cup tank water  and freeze in small Ice cubes tray (with saran wrap over it so you don’t smell up the freezer)

Thaw a cube and direct feed lightly over the coral

More Feeding Tips

1. Plastic onion nets...just replace the aluminum binders with plastic zips and stuff with "tang heaven" or other live, loose-leaf macro-algae that your tang likes. Tie one end securely to something so it doesn’t float all over the tank. If the algae pieces are large, tear one or two small holes in the mesh so the tang can haul out bites. Works like a hay bag with horses.

2. Pile up small pieces of rubble / shells / etc in a corner of your tank and just watch the pods multiply. It becomes an in-tank refugium. You may have to rebuild it every-so-often but I setup my pile 2 weeks ago and have TONS of pods of different types as well as worms crawling all around it.

3. For feeding clams with DT. Instead of moving the clams into a container outside your system and worry about temperature fluctuations, use a specimen container and hang that inside your tank. Then move the clams into the container to feed them therefore keeping the temperature constant.

4. Another tip for feeding. Get a 2 Liter Bottle. Cut the top 1/3 off. Drill a hole in the cap big enough to put an airline through. Silicon the connection of the airline with the cap. Stick rigid tubing at the end of your airline. Now, you can pour whatever you'll need to fit into the top 1/3 half of the 2 liter bottle and target feed wherever you point the tubing.

 

Electrical

1. Use timers on all your lighting; get the heavy duty variety with the grounded plugs.

2. A digital timer with a half dozen on/off settings works as a wave maker for smaller tanks.

3. Be sure to use drip loops on all plug connections.

4. I put labels on all my power cords, powerheads, heater, lights and the such, so I wouldn’t have to trace down each power cord to see what it was running,

5. Go to home depot, buy a GFCI outlet, junction box, 15-20 AMP cord with an outlet. Assemble them together and you have a portable GFCI outlet.

6. Computer UPS systems make a good backup power supply; you can usually get used ones for free. People toss them when the batteries die and buy new, check your local Radio Shacks or Batteries Plus or Battery Zone type stores & ask the manager to hang onto one for you, buy new batteries and presto you have something to run your pumps if there is a power outage.

7. Lights Of America outdoor floods are 6500k pc's and work great for refugium. Pick up a spare one and wire it to a switch to light your sump, it's easier to work there when you can see what you're doing.

 

Here some uses for 5 gallon pickle/salt buckets:

1. Water changes.

2. Mixing water for water changes.

3. Mixing kalk.

4. Large kalk dripper.

5. Holding tank for new specimens.

6. Holding tank when exporting algae.

7. Stool to reach into tank.

8. Seat when working on sump.

9. Bio-ball chamber of a trickle filter (or a past use for most of us).

10. Stand for kalk dripper.

11. LR curing vat (small batches).

12. LS cycling container.

 

Local Fish Store

1. If you know the employees at the LFS and they're reefers, bring them a frag or two once in a while for their own tanks.

2. Buy a bag of the crud on the bottom of the LFS rock tank to get critters to populate your rock and sand. They'll probably think you're crazy and give it to you. (esp if you've been giving them frags).

3. When you get really good service from a LFS or small MO place take five minutes to send the owner/manager a note telling him so, and mention the employee by name. A lot of people work in those places because they love the hobby (it sure isn't the money), and they deserve the recognition.

 

Also, here's a great source for test tubes, flasks, specimen containers, bottles, droppers, funnels, and all sorts of other lab equipment you wish you had from your chemistry classes:

 

Carolina Biological Supply

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Guest clownfish4
Excellent!  I would also add that you want to change your lights a few days before there max. life is up.  I recently replaced my bulbs and the difference is astonishing.  My tank looks cleaner, less algae grows, and it is much more brilliant.
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Guest goblinshark
That carolina Biological supply place is great, im gonna get me a cat in a jar...jk, but they are good, theyre the only place that sells the N. wennerae mantis shrimp
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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest clownfish4
Just one more thing I HAVE to add.  There is NO such thing as a False Percula clownfish.  They are Ocellaris clowns!
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  • 5 weeks later...
Guest clownfish4
Here is another big pointer I wish I didn't have to learn the hard way.  Get two good buckets with lids.  Instant Ocean buckets work the best.  Fill both of them with fresh R/O water and add salt to one of them.  You never know when you may have to do an emergency water change or something to that effect.  And waiting for your R/O unit to spit out 5 or more gallons of water isn't easy, or quick.
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  • 1 year later...

Nathan,

 

it isn't obvious to me.... why the toothbrush?

 

Thanks

Eric

 

Eric, a tool brush is an exellent tool to scrub stuff with a gentle touch. It also does wonder to clean pumps, powerheads. It is a multipurpose tool. If the inventor of the tooth brush would have had a reef tank, he would have patented it for generations to come :lol:

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hey Nathan I copy paste this post when it first came out a year ago. I have used so many of your ideas, and can't believe how easy they are.

 

For all newbies, I suggest you copy paste this to your PC or perhaps make a hard copy and keep it next to your system It does come handy down the road.

 

Jake

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What is nose bag fo tangs?

 

 

Reference to this in nathan's post.

 

1. Plastic onion nets...just replace the aluminum binders with plastic zips and stuff with "tang heaven" or other live, loose-leaf macro-algae that your tang likes. Tie one end securely to something so it doesn't float all over the tank. If the algae pieces are large, tear one or two small holes in the mesh so the tang can haul out bites. Works like a hay bag with horses

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  • 2 years later...
(edited)

RE: Rubber mats

#12 (above). Place rubber matting underneath all of your equipment. It comes in 4 foot wide rolls at most hardware stores and is indispensable. It protects the floor beneath and helps isolate vibration. Its grooved surface helps control spills. You can curl it wherever it meets a wall to keep water from leaking out.

****

QUESTION: Do people recommend rubber matting between the tank and stand, or just on the floor? (I'm thinking about setting up a 180 to 220 g). Also, I read somewhere that someonoe put a mat under live rock - do people do that?? Thx.

Edited by edfkbf
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Outstanding......thats going to the printer

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  • 10 months later...
Hi I'm Jan and I'm a newbie. I'll be asking a lot of questions....after I search for the answers in previous posts and can't find them, of course. How long can I keep mixed water in a bucket? Does it have a shelf life?

 

Jan, you should start another thread with your questions. (Mixed water can last a while - especially in the dark as it will grow stuff if left in the light. I've kept water mixed up for months: Use a little, mix more in the same can, use more the next week, and so on.)

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Jan, you should start another thread with your questions. (Mixed water can last a while - especially in the dark as it will grow stuff if left in the light. I've kept water mixed up for months: Use a little, mix more in the same can, use more the next week, and so on.)

I'll get the hang of this eventually. I'll start a new thread with the next Q. Thanks so much!

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  • 1 year later...

I've been keeping reef tanks on an off since the 90's....and I never once thought of using the power head to help with the siphon....wow. LOL

 

Awesome post!

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VEry useful!!

 

I'd like to share one with all of you. My wife is a nurse anesthetist, and I asked here to bring home some syringes.

 

3ml for dosing small amounts

20ml for target feeding

60ml for cleaning: I found that injecting the sandbed gently with tankwater turns the sand over very nicely, gets the detritus into suspension, and lets me get rid of it with the water change I do right after.

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  • 2 months later...

That steal wool won't do any damage to the inside of my glass tank, while in between my magnets?

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That steal wool won't do any damage to the inside of my glass tank, while in between my magnets?

 

I'm not really clear on what magnets that would go between. 0000 steel wool is pretty fine, but I don't think I'd do it unless I was having problems with something.

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