Lets talk

[timsVw]

Alot of us have shared our systems and how they are set up with each other. What I would like to see in one thread is how you set your system up, and why you set it up that way. It would also be nice if people talked about how they keep all their water perams in check, how often they test them, and what other things they do to their tanks on a weekly basis.

After seeing edwards pink birds nest, and my newly aquired coral tanking on me, I really think I need to step back and look at what I am not doing that I should be.

[timsVw]

Ok, it was not fair of me to start a thread and not post my tank and habits. I have a 30 gallon cube. I run a HOB ramora skimmer, a HOB filter for my zeo rocks, and I have 3 power heads to bring the flow up to around 700 gph. The power heads are in the back corner, two of the flows meet in the middle and one shoots forward to play off the front pane. I check my perams once a week and if they are not in check I dose to bring them up. I dose reef calcium, and kents mg. For my zeo I do 1 cup rocks, 1 drop start 3 times a day, and then 1 drop bac and 1 drop food twice a week. Once a week I do a water change where I syphon the bottom of the tank and blow the rocks off with a turky baster. That is about it, well besides looking at it for hours a day. My wife thinks I'm nuts .

-Tim

[invincible569]

Tim, we are all nuts! How long have you had your tank up? One thing i would recommend you do when you are ready is to install a Ca Reactor. A Ca reactor will give you more stability and extra elements such as strontium/iodine that your coral needs to grow strong and healthy when C02 dissolves the media. There is a lot of detail to my tank that i feel makes a big difference in the long run. One thing I do not do is take shortcuts. If i want the best results, I go after the best device/media to get the results i want. There are a lot of other details that we can talk about... like where to place a coral & how much flow. For example, I can place my birdsnest under 14K's.. but the color wont be a deep pink. It colors up better under 10k's. I always try and put any coral I have under med/high flow unless its a fast grower, then it doesnt matter to me. There are lot of things I havent touched and you learn all of these by trial and error and reading/researching. Good luck on your journey!

[timsVw]

My tank has been up for 7 mo. I had a tank before that that I ran for 1 year, but I moved so I had to break it down. The calcium sup that I use has strontium in it.

I guess I am just getting a little discouraged, like most of us do when we first start out. I have been in the hobby for 2 years but I still feel like my knoledge is at an benners stage.

Also are all calcium reactors good? I have seen some diy plans on them. Should I build one or will it be more hassel then help?

-Tim

[Diesel3443]

Tim, a calcium reactor was the best thing I ever did for my tank. I was very fortunate because I had one donated to me, and another friend gave me a co2 tank. To be honest, there was a couple corals that I thought were dead---tissue was there but no polyps or growth for months----I set the reactor up and I saw polyps---it was a great feeling. Although you replenish your elements with dosing its like nigh and day. Its about stability, some on RC has the sig---S.P.S Stability Promotes Success and I cannot agree more. This doesnt stop with SPS though, I have a derasa clam that hasnt grown for a while, then yesterday I saw that it had layed down about 1/4" of shell in the last 3 weeks.

As for my tank its a anorexic 55g I test my water Ca, Mg, Alk 2 times a week. Adding frags, calcification is going up and up.Its barebottom and I run a skimmer rated for 150g--siphon every week. 1drop AAHC every otherday, 2drops bac and 1 drop food twice a week, and 0.12 ml start2 twice a day. I also pump the stones 2-3 times a day.

---We are all anal about our tanks, thats just the name of the game.

Edward, im still torn on wether to go with the pheonix or not(stick with 10k)---how are they working out for you?

[Aged Salt]

Hi Tim, with my Oceanic mixing at KH-4.8, yes that correct, I Salifert's the KH 2x's/day[AM & PM]. If you are manually adding Ca/Mg/KH you will need to check your system's KH/salinity at least once/day for stability maintenance. One can be off on Ca/Mg somewhat, but salinity & KH must be monitored at least once a day. Remember, variances in salinity/temperature result automatically in variations in our parameters. Bob

[invincible569]

Edward, im still torn on wether to go with the pheonix or not(stick with 10k)---how are they working out for you?

I would only use it if it was a combination of 10 and 14K. Not 14K alone. Just my opinion.

[Aged Salt]

I agree, Edward, as this allows contrasting hilighting portions of one's reef with the 10K & 14K's. Bob

[Detritivore]

edward, do you run actinics? what bulbs do you use other than the phoenix, and what are the dimensions of your tank?
-thanks

[invincible569]

I do run actinics. I run 2 URI VHO 60" Super Actinics and 1 80w T5 Blue on an IceCap 660. They are on for 11 hrs a day.

I have an Aquaspacelight with 3 250w DE HQi as follows:
10K AB | 14K AC | 10K AB

My tank is 60". Im thinking of trying BLV's or Ushio's next time for the 10k's. Im a little scared to change brands as the AB's have been very good to me. I've seen an AB, Ushio and BLV next to each other and the AB was more yellow than the rest. For that reason I am scared to change since the yellow is probably needed for stronger purples.

[Detritivore]

i saw your post on another thread about different corals and different K temp...could you expound on that

oh, and im gonna need a full tank shot to see how your bulbs blend

[invincible569]

jonah, I will use this visual again as it may help you understand what the sun does and how we try to imitate it.



The shorter wavelengths are the reds, yellows, oranges and purples all represented by Kelvin, temperature of brightness. And the rest of colors are longer wavelengths. When light hits the water, it bends (refractions). Thats why when you look down into deep clear water, weak colors such as reds and orange's are absorbed while the green/blues are left behind.. therefore you see the greenish blue color of the water. Thats just the first part about light... and the next thing to think about is how it reflects off of a coral or fish.

[Diesel3443]

Thanks Edward, that just made my decision easier XM 10K it is . I did not want to go with the 14k b/c of loss of a lot of par on the 150w.

[Detritivore]

how deep are most SPS found?

[invincible569]

Sean, you're welcome.

Jonah, depends on what stony coral you are talking about. This one here is at 800m's. BUT.. it most likely does not get its food source from light and instead it gets it from left over food that slowly falls down from the top of the ocean. Stony corals grow best up to 30 meters but also seen at depths of 20,000 meters.