Thinking about switching to salt...
- Thread starter RNeiswander
- Start date
Well, I'm not sure how my cycle is going. I haven't got a new test kit for ammonia yet. I was throwing some flakes in there every couple days. With my live rock I'm sure the tank is getting established, and I know it's hard to tell without doing tests, but my tank should be close to cycled right? I meant to cycle the tank with pure ammonia but I never got around to it. I think my gha is getting better, I haven't been back to my gfs for the week. I've been sick with tonsillitis and a 104 degree fever, and an antibiotic that didn't agree with me. But I'm pretty much back to normal now. I cleaned all the gha off the glass, but it's pretty difficult to remove from the rocks since it was pretty short. My girlfriend says its longer now so it should be easier to remove. I guess it hasn't returned on the glass. Will anything eat this stuff?
depends on the species, gha is usually taken out by turbo snails, asterias, trochus, urchins, tangs, hermits, lettuce nudis. if it's not too bad I'd say an electric toothbrush will be your best friend. Even a cheap dollar store brush(non metal) will work fine in brushing it off. the algae will go down once the tank stabilizes, but also check your phosphate levels. If it's something like bryopsis, raising magnesium levels will kill it
Cool, I'll be getting at least a few of those for the cuc. And I figured it would go away eventually. Funny thing is on the 20th last month, there was just a touch of the algae. 3 days later it exploded. I assume enough debris in the dry rock finally made it in the water and caused the excess nutrients.
Well my tank is going well, I added a chromis a couple of weeks ago, and last weekend I went to a new lfs store. It's a tiny shop but it's sw only. Bought myself an occelaris clown pair and a koralia 1400 powerhead. They have great prices and I hope they stay around, I'll be doing my part to make sure they do. My gha is slowly getting better. Good news is some coraline algae is spreading, and the tank is looking more mature. I'm looking to build a sump soon, any reccomendations on overflow boxes and pumps? Thanks for any help, and I'll upload a few pics, either when I fix my computer or we get tapatalk on here lol
I love my eshopps pf-800 and Sicce Syncra return. The Sicce is dead silent and is adjustable which is perfect when using a HOB overflow box. Add a ball or gate valve after the pumps output and you can dial in the flow even better!
Most would say that the LifeReef boxes are the best out there and from the looks of them I would tend to agree. Very well built. Eshopps has the same design but the u-tubes are not as long (which can be easily fixed). Eshopps are roughly half the price of lifereefs and mine has worked very well for me. The pf-800 would be more than enough of a drain for your 60 gallon.
Most would say that the LifeReef boxes are the best out there and from the looks of them I would tend to agree. Very well built. Eshopps has the same design but the u-tubes are not as long (which can be easily fixed). Eshopps are roughly half the price of lifereefs and mine has worked very well for me. The pf-800 would be more than enough of a drain for your 60 gallon.
Thanks greech, what model pump do you have? I saw a few videos of them, they look nice. As far as the sump, I've been thinking of doing a refugium, With just a bunch of lr and macro algae. Is there any reason why I shouldn't do this and just go with a regular sump? I'm thinking of using a 29 gallon.
And since the lfs only uses led lights, all ecoexotic stuff, I'm now looking at their panorama strips. Does anyone have experience with these and how much light I'll need?
And since the lfs only uses led lights, all ecoexotic stuff, I'm now looking at their panorama strips. Does anyone have experience with these and how much light I'll need?
The panoramas are very nice and the Panorama Pros are even better. They are not 3 watt cree bulbs like everyone says you must use but they certainly will grow corals very well. I wouldn't choose them for a full blown SPS/clam tank but you can definitely strategically place these in your system. I have a Panorama and it lights up my entire 40B (36x18x16) by itself. Obviously I could only support corals under it but the one strip lights up the tank pretty good. For an entire tank you are better off using these as a supplement to T5s or halides unless you are willing to buy the entire Panorama fixture. I base that on cost alone. However you can add as you go if you like. Speaking of the fixture...
http://reefbuilders.com/2011/12/19/panorama-pro-fixture/
If you want to rely solely on algae for your nutrient export, you would probably do better with an algae turf scrubber versus a fuge but it all depends on how heavily you plan on stocking your tank with fish and how much you intend to feed. No reason you can't incorporate a smaller fuge into a sump with a skimmer, etc.
http://reefbuilders.com/2011/12/19/panorama-pro-fixture/
If you want to rely solely on algae for your nutrient export, you would probably do better with an algae turf scrubber versus a fuge but it all depends on how heavily you plan on stocking your tank with fish and how much you intend to feed. No reason you can't incorporate a smaller fuge into a sump with a skimmer, etc.
I don't plan on stocking heavily at all, maybe one more "all over" swimming fish, and a few bottom dwellers. There's a yellow watchman goby at the lfs that I have my eye on. Would making an ats defeat the purpose of having any macro algae? I'd like to make it look as natural as I can.
And with the LEDs, two fixtures running 1k dollars seems uneccesary for me right now, although I'm sure they're awesome. I was looking at the stunner strips, and maybe one or two in the 48" size would work. Although they are only 24 watts each. But when adding the reflectors and the power supply It's still a pretty good amount of money. But I'm sure it would look nice. Decisions decisions!
And with the LEDs, two fixtures running 1k dollars seems uneccesary for me right now, although I'm sure they're awesome. I was looking at the stunner strips, and maybe one or two in the 48" size would work. Although they are only 24 watts each. But when adding the reflectors and the power supply It's still a pretty good amount of money. But I'm sure it would look nice. Decisions decisions!
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I would be very surprised if stunners maintain/grow corals even with the reflectors. You would need need the panoramas at a minimum. Also might consider the PAR 38s. Like the panoramas, you can add these one at a time and they screw into a standard light bulb socket.
If you want it to look natural, definitely go with the refugium. ATSs are definitely not natural looking
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So what would your total fish load be? Can't recall what you have.
If you baffled off a significant portion of the 29, you would have a decent size fuge for macro growth.
If you want it to look natural, definitely go with the refugium. ATSs are definitely not natural looking
.So what would your total fish load be? Can't recall what you have.
If you baffled off a significant portion of the 29, you would have a decent size fuge for macro growth.
