Yes, for now. I've increased my lighting schedule, so I'll be monitoring how that will affect algae growth in the tank. My next step is to go back to adding chaeto in the tank. If, later, I see that there's excess algae growth, I'll reinstall the biopellets reactor.
Cheech's 90 g. build
- Thread starter Cheech
- Start date
Happy New Year Cheech... I was using bio pellets too and have decided to not use them. I have been had no luck with keeping LPS in my tank at all and I wonder if it is due to the bio pellets. I am also wondering if just having a few corals in a tank hurts their ability to survive versus having more and a diverse group of corals???
Love your set-up, I want to eventually build a system like that.
Love your set-up, I want to eventually build a system like that.
Thanks Benson, happy New Year!
My suggestion would be to check your levels, specifically KH (Alk), Calcium and mag. For the longest time I hadn't been using my KH test kit correctly. When I finally got it right I realized my levels were way below what they should have been. They were at 4. Should be at about 8 or a little higher. A few corals in a properly setup reef tank shouldn't have any problems growing (provided your tank is reef ready).
My suggestion would be to check your levels, make sure your tank is stable, proper lighting, etc.
Another reason I think my tank wasn't doing very well was my lack of water changes. I let it go for a while. Good quality reef salts generally have proper levels you need to sustain a reef tank. I'm up to a 20% water change every couple of weeks, and I believe this has helped as well.
My only issue right now is nitrates. They're still hovering at about 30ppm, so in addition to water changes, I'll be adding some chaeto to hopefully get those levels down.
Do you have a build thread? I'd like to look at your tank!
My suggestion would be to check your levels, specifically KH (Alk), Calcium and mag. For the longest time I hadn't been using my KH test kit correctly. When I finally got it right I realized my levels were way below what they should have been. They were at 4. Should be at about 8 or a little higher. A few corals in a properly setup reef tank shouldn't have any problems growing (provided your tank is reef ready).
My suggestion would be to check your levels, make sure your tank is stable, proper lighting, etc.
Another reason I think my tank wasn't doing very well was my lack of water changes. I let it go for a while. Good quality reef salts generally have proper levels you need to sustain a reef tank. I'm up to a 20% water change every couple of weeks, and I believe this has helped as well.
My only issue right now is nitrates. They're still hovering at about 30ppm, so in addition to water changes, I'll be adding some chaeto to hopefully get those levels down.
Do you have a build thread? I'd like to look at your tank!
Benson's 40 breeder build is here
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?251298-Benson’s-40-B-Build&highlight=
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?251298-Benson’s-40-B-Build&highlight=
Couple of updated pics: Still nothing too impressive, but I figured I'd post some pics. I got some pieces off a tank that was about to crash. I managed to save them, fragged them, and in a few days they opened up quite nicely. These include the different hammers and frogspawn.
Those are some happy looking euphyllia frags. Nice save!
Tank is starting to fill in nicely and all the corals seem fat and happy
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Tank is starting to fill in nicely and all the corals seem fat and happy
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Everything looks great! I really like the look of the tank as it has aged a bit and the corals are obviously responding well. Makes me want to start adding corals to mine again, but that would require getting it back up to speed, lol.
Thanks for the comments!
Yet another update. A friend of mine who's getting out of the hobby sold me 5 really nice SPS pieces. he also gave me some test kits (Elos KH, CAL and Mag). After testing with those kits, I noticed how off my levels were. My Cal dropped to 300 and Mag at 950! lesson learned, purchase good test kits when testing water!!! he gave me a bunch of brightwell buffer, cal and Mag bottles as well so I'm slowly bringing my levels to what they're supposed to be.
I'm still dosing voska. Levels slightly dropped. I'm hovering at about 20ppm, but it's better than it was!
I rescaped the tank, again. Tried to make some flat surfaces as well as lower the overal height of the rock work (hoping that when corals start growing it'll cover the area). Rock work still needs some tweaking but it's getting there. I tried to make it look less bulky, and I think it helps make the tank look larger by using the depth of the tank.
Yet another update. A friend of mine who's getting out of the hobby sold me 5 really nice SPS pieces. he also gave me some test kits (Elos KH, CAL and Mag). After testing with those kits, I noticed how off my levels were. My Cal dropped to 300 and Mag at 950! lesson learned, purchase good test kits when testing water!!! he gave me a bunch of brightwell buffer, cal and Mag bottles as well so I'm slowly bringing my levels to what they're supposed to be.
I'm still dosing voska. Levels slightly dropped. I'm hovering at about 20ppm, but it's better than it was!
I rescaped the tank, again. Tried to make some flat surfaces as well as lower the overal height of the rock work (hoping that when corals start growing it'll cover the area). Rock work still needs some tweaking but it's getting there. I tried to make it look less bulky, and I think it helps make the tank look larger by using the depth of the tank.
