FishChannel Forums / Saltwater Forums / For Reefkeepers

What salt mix do you use

tribefan — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 10:44:07 GMT

I was wondering if some of the less expensive salt mixes are as good as some of the more expensive ones. I'm using instant ocean reef crystals right now in my 46 gal bowfront tank. I just got a 90 gal tank that I want to start setting up but am looking for ways to keep down some of the montly expenses. What salt mix do you use for your reef tank and how do you like it?

What to get?

Dertotschlager — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:53:35 GMT

Hi, I am getting the Corallife HO flouresent lighting system and was wondering, What types of corals could I get?

Hammer distress

Narazbad — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:28:30 GMT

I recently purchased a colony of Hammer corals, (E. parancora or E. ancora, not sure which) which were doing fine at the store both and when i got them home. The first day they were fully opened, I fed them and they seemed happy. Second day, they started retracting into their colony and not deploying as much. I figured since it was later at night they were retracting for their sleep cycle. Third day, (today) they have almost fully retracted, I've fed them Cyclops to no avail and I'm noticing that several branches of colonies are starting to fall off. My reef store is closed on mondays as well, unfortunatley, so I couldn't go to them and ask. Any ideas what could be causing this? Maybe one of my fish or crabs is deciding they look yummy and trying to eat them? Any help would be appreciated. All levels are normal in the tank as well.

What is your favorite Coral?

j1zip — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:41:05 GMT

I was just wondering what Corals people enjoy, so what is you favorite and why? Do you or have you kept this coral in your tank? What kind of special husbandary was involved if any?

How do you "thin out" mushrooms that are over running your aquascape?

agarles — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:34:23 GMT

I am having trouble controlling my mushroom anemones!! They are over taking my 150 gallon reef....I have tried injecting them with Aptasia Control, manually cutting them as low on the stock as possible but they just multiply using these techniques!!!! Does anyone know of a successful way to thin these prolific creatures down without them multiplying every time one is removed?

Aiptasia Trouble

FishLover7 — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:32:11 GMT

I've tried everything to get rid of these Aiptasia anemones, but they always come back. So far, I've tried:

Joe's Juice, with the powerhead off, followed by a water change.
A peppermint shrimp, which ate the anemones and then got eaten itself.
Putting epoxy over the anemones to smother them.

These things always manage to bounce back! They have bergias at my LFS, but they would break my budget, and my tank won't fit another anemone eating fish in it. Does anybody have any reef-safe ideas?

If you want info on the tank, visit my profile FishLover7. Thanks!

Brown Algae

LongIslandFirearms — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:24:52 GMT

Im running a 37 gallon with a canister filter and 40 pounds of live rock. My cycle is completed. The tank has run for over 8 weeks now. I have some soft corals and 2 gobies, 2 clowns, cleaner shrimp and one feather duster. I have added them over time to ensure everyone's happy.

Lighting:Current USA Sundail T5HO. Running 5 hours on 10k and 12 hours on actinics.

The canister has PolyFil in it on the bottom (which turns brown when I last cleaned it yesterday) and I added a phosphate removal mix (brown stuff two tablespoons) which I put in the top basket along with the normal ecco balls in there as well.

There is a HUGE surge of dark brown algae on my top live rock and on the glass. I removed it from the glass with the magnet yesterday.

When I got home today, not too much on the glass. Same if not darker on the Live Rock.

What do I do?

The live rock with all the brown algae has corals living on it that I dont want to remove.

Need Help with Anemone Identity -PICS

dvine2us — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 09:06:36 GMT

Any one know what type nem this is ? Picked him up 2 weeks ago. He's doing great on QT, however I wanted to read up on his type so I provide optimum care.

glass cracked in my refugium

Sm0keCl0uDs — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:06:25 GMT

the glass cracked in my refugium, is there anything i can use so it won't leak, is there a glue or patch so that it is still useable???

Convincing others to spend more money on tanks!

afmweb — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 11:13:41 GMT

We’d like to give you a chance to share your thoughts and advice with fellow hobbyists in our annual magazine, Aquarium USA. Each week, we’ll post a couple questions you can answer—and your answer could get published in the next Aquarium USA! Question #9 is:

Sometimes, family members who don’t keep aquaria may not be too thrilled about spending money on more tanks, equipment, etc. What do you think a reefkeeper can say to convince someone to spend money on reef tanks?

Please reply to this post to respond. If you'd like to see all the questions posted for possible publication in Aquarium USA, all of them (freshwater and saltwater) have been posted in our Announcements forum.

Moving

agarles — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:54:40 GMT

I am going to be relocating 350 miles to the North it will take about 6+ hours to make the trip.

I have a 150 gallon reef setup that needs to go with me....I am familiar with all of the transporting aspects of livestock-what I am not familiar with is how to reserve as many of the bacteria as possible during the move.

My tank is heavily stocked with expensive and sensitive Acropora Sp., Symphilia Wilsoni, Acan. Lord.s, Montipora, Porites, Zoanthus Sp., misc. Polyps, "War" coral, and various other LPS corals. I am certain that there will be a spike in Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate upon setting everything back up upon arrival. I need help with controlling the negative impact this move will have on my H₂O chemistry?

Has anyone ever successfully moved a tank of this size? if so how and what was your success rate?

Do you spend a lot of time and money on your tank?

afmweb — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:48:23 GMT

Tell us all about why you feel it is worth it to spend time and money on your tank--and your answer could be published in the next Aquarium USA! Just go to http://board.fishchannel.com/Topic193916-11-1.aspx to reply!

If you keep reefs....

afmweb — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:32:58 GMT

Tell us what you think are the benefits of reefkeeping--and your answer could be published in the next Aquarium USA! Just go to http://board.fishchannel.com/Topic193915-11-1.aspx to reply!

Water Testing

Gunner — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:53:58 GMT

I have been using the API Reef Master Test kit to test my water for my nano tank. I have never had any conserns for my levels except over the past month. When I test for Carbonate Hardnessis off the chart. The correct reading should be between 143.2 ppm to 214.8 ppm. Mine is over that reading by two to three extra drops. Is this something that I should be concerned of? My Calcium readings are also a little high. I know low calcium could be bad but is too much a problem?

My live rock is turning green.

Chris the plumber — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:00:36 GMT

It is not hair algae. I cannot remove it with a bristled brush. It's only growing on the rock. I have metal halide lighting running 8 hrs a day. Nitrates and phosphate is at zero. I use ro/di water. Calcium is 380 to 400. Ph stays at 8.1 to 8.3. Snails graze on algae but hardly putting a dent in it. Other than the green rock everything is good. Corals look great. I have no fish in tank yet. Has been set up for about 6 months. Cylcled for two months. Added snails, a peppermint shrimp and hermit crabs. Added star polyps and a few frags at 4 months. Was getting ready to add a few fish when rock started turning green.

renewing intrest

trevrep — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:21:06 GMT

I have been in the hobby for 30 years and by no means am I any sort of expert I am still learning and consider myself a novice. About 20 years ago I got into reef keeping by setting up a 75 gal aquarium. It was up for 10 years when I had to downsize and sell all my corals and an anomie which I had for 5 years. I kept the fish from that setup but all but one has moved on. The sole survivor is a cinnamon clown who is at lease 15 years old now I just added a yellow goby, 2 peppermint and one cleaner shrimp living in the 20 gal long that I want to setup as a nano reef. I have kept all the sand and base rock that I had in the 75. I understand that I will have to cycle the rock that I add to the tank and I will be adding an inch or so of the old sand bed to the under gravel sand bed which is in place now, I will be removing the up tubes as to have a plenum of sorts. I will also set up the red sea Berlin protein skimmer. I want to add a calcium reactor with Co2 injection my question is do you see any problem with setting it inline prior to the skimmer or will that setup diminish the benefits of the calcium reactor? Now that I think of it would it be better to run the reactor inline from the skimmer effluent? That may give more contact time for the Co2 in calcium reactor.

I am not in any hurry to add the low light corals that I want. I am planning the setup as follows a plenum, live rock, protein skimmer, calcium reactor. The lighting will be 2: 20 watt N.O. (normal output) bulbs 1 aquatinic 1 daylight and 2: 9 watt power compact bulbs 1 aquatinic 1 daylight. I know this is under the 3 watt per gal for low light corals but it will have to do for a short time. I will be getting 2 more 20 watts the same type as are on now. The lights are 4 inches off the surface of the water. With the additional bulbs I could have the watts per gal at around 4.9

The only corals I want are polyps, mushrooms and the like with one exception, that being the elegance coral. What are your thoughts? Thank you in advance for your insight and experience.

Thanks Gene

Fragging mushrooms

Jtankred — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:48:26 GMT

I've been fragging some of my lavender mushroom corals and was wondering if anyone has a rough estimate on how long they can be out of water without adverse affects?

snail eggs and coral fragments

Arman — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:36:40 GMT

a little while ago i noticed this bunch of white "tubing" like stuff that was all in a mass in my tank, it was attached to a piece of rock and looked to me like eggs. then again today i saw a second one, but the only things that i know of that are in my tank are snails, hermit crabs, and a piece of coral. are these things snail eggs? and if so will they mature?

Also i was wondering what the best way of attaching coral fragments to rock was.

p.s. you can see the white squiggle of the egg mass in the center of the photo, sorry that its blurry, its the best i could get

Local Fish Store Advice, was it good?

Gunner — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:21:13 GMT

I am coming to all of you for advice once again. I apoligize for not coming to all of you in the first place but here we go. My LFS told me that they feed their fish only on Tues,Thur, and Sun. This not so frequent feeding cuts down on the waste so there are not a lot of algae blooms. Low nitrates, and minimal hair algae. To me this is not enough but I could be wrong. I will admit when I am. Is this good advice. I originally asked her about the green hair algae bloom that I am going through. She told me to bring in water for a test but to cut back on the lights and feeding. I only have the lights on for 8 hours a day. I feel that is plenty, I mean I want to enjoy my reef and all it's inhabitants and not to keep them in the dark. Would this less feeding be enough for my corals as well. WHo do I listen too?

Strange white growths in sump

Arman — Fri, 15 May 2009 17:58:28 GMT

Today when I got home i went to my room and started looking at my reef tank and my sump to make sure everything was ok with it, since it is newly set up. when i was looking at the sump i saw this strange white growth in my sump. when i looked closer i saw that it had formed around the end of the air line tube that drips kalkwasser into my tank. When i stuck my hand in the tank to pull it out it started to fall apart in crusty little chunks. what is this strange white growth? is it bad for my tank? is there any thing i can do to stop it or should i just ignore it?

Ugh, not again...

Hailey — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 15:08:07 GMT

Is it just me, or does it totally suck when you lose a tiny frag you really liked, rip the tank apart looking for it, and never find it? I looked up a couple hours ago to see my beautiful neon green tree nepthea not where it was supposed to be. I had glued it to the rock a couple weeks ago and it was staying put until one of my bumbling urchins managed to rub up against it and knock it under the rocks. I swear, those things are like little bulldozers.

Anyway, I totally destroyed my rock work looking for it (tore everything down to the sand) and couldn't find it. I did however find the giant bristleworms (about 12-18 inches long each) that have been fueling my husband's nightmares, and on the upside, I was able to remove them this time. I also found after I got done putting the rocks back together (which took hours because I kept having rock slides and not being able to get a secure stack) that I liked the arrangement better, so I guess there is a silver lining or two.

I just wish I could have found that coral...I guess I'll just have to go back to the guy I got it from and get some more, assuming he has more to spare. I also hope my other corals make it (some are looking very unhappy, especially some blue xenia I really liked). Anyway, thanks for letting me vent.

Green Hair Algae at .0 PPM?

sentco — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:01:52 GMT

Hello, I have been into saltwater reef tanks for a number of years and never really had problems with nuisance algae till now. I replaced my R.O. membrane 3 months ago , replaced the cartridges including the DI and even added a second DI cartridge. Also I have added mangroves and use a algae scrubber setup. I tried a phosphate reactor to, but no real results (media is spendy to). I do 10% water changes on my 120gal tank every two weeks. Outbreaks seem worse after a water change. My nitrate readings are 0 with three different test kit brands. My Phosphate is at .2-.25 with Seachem brand , .0 with Red Sea and Nutrafin brand test kit. The Tap tested before R.O was 2.5 on Seachem and .15 - .25 with the other two brands. Silicate tested 0 ppm also. And TTS on R.O. water output is 001 PPM. My lighting is two 14000k 250w halide bulbs. There about 2 months old. My lights are on for 10 hours a day. I don't overfeed. I only have 4 small 3 inch fish with the corals. I use a quality protein skimmer. Any Ideas on getting rid of this algae? Matt

GPH

clownfishkid — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:25:17 GMT

Hey evryone i figured this section needed a new post so here's one. I am looking to upgrade the power heads in my 55 gallon reef tank. I have a pair of Penguin 550's with around 145 gph each. Im thinking about a pair of nice hydor koralia power heads. my question is how high of a gph (gallons per hour) rating do I need? I only have soft corals in the tank so I probably won't need as high of a rating as say a tank with stony corals, right?

Bubble Algae

clownfishkid — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:43:19 GMT

I've been having a problem with bubble algae and I have no idea how to get rid of it. I have tried to pick and scrub it off the live rocks but i've had no sucess. Are there any fish that would eat it and that would fit in my 55 gallon. If not how can I manually get rid of it.

Over heating tank?

Arman — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:43:46 GMT

I have a 55 gallon reef tank and since my cycling has just finished, i turned on my 385 watt flourecent light fixture. i have found that when my light fixture is on it raises the temp of the water by two and a half degrees, from 77.5 to 80 degrees. is this bad? or will it be acceptable for my tank?

refugium light

Sm0keCl0uDs — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 06:24:56 GMT

I'm trying to bulid a little 5.5 gallon refugium for my 30 gallon tank as cheap as possible. Is there any light i can just get from Home Depot or lowes or something. I have one of those cone shape housings with a regular bulb socket i've seen people use here and there?????

mushroom polyp division!!

plecodiscus — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:59:41 GMT

Sorry, i just had to share my excitement somewhere.

when i got to my mom's house friday evening, i noticed that one of my Rhodactis mushroom corals had divided! when the new polyp was fully opened it was huge (about 4.5" diameter).

however, i noticed that my biggest mushroom had dropped off the rock. i moved it to the flat sand in the center of the tank, where it opened to a certain degree, and will probably somehow find its way to the 2 inch wide snail shell thats 60% buried in the sand. but, now everything's happy in the tank. yay!

WHAT CORALS WILL BE GOOD IN THIS LIGHT?

pond skipper — Sun, 24 May 2009 22:31:48 GMT

Hello,

I am new to the saltwater end of the hobby. what i have is a 55 G tank with live rock, "FOWLER". My lighting is two 18" 15 watt fluorescent lights that i changed the bulbs to 9325K 15W aqua rays bulbs. I also have a 36" odyssea T5 that has one 39W 12,000 K daylight and a 39W blue acentic. my question is what corals and anemones can i grow with this, if any and what would be a good upgrade that won't brake the bank? Any help would be great, Thanks

copepods

saltyfresh — Fri, 23 May 2008 18:22:38 GMT

Im just beginning to transform my 55g to be more coral and invert friendly but dont have the space to house a fuge so I went and searched the internet for live copepods and phytoplankton to seed the tank with and to my suprise i found an interesting alternative to the fuge, multiple sites encouraged hobbyist to establish "breeding tanks" and apparently there fairly easy to raise until i saw the price of live phytoplankton but raising phytoplankton doesnt seem too difficult either. does anyone have any experience with this method? Any tips ?

quarantine for invertebrates??

Corona — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 22:11:22 GMT

So fish has to be quarantine for a few weeks, but how long should inverts be quarantine for before they are moved over to the main tank? I cant seem to find any info on this. I'm gonna start stocking my tank in a few weeks or so and I'd like to make sure I know what I'm doing before I do so.

LED Lighting

jsmith11618 — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:23:38 GMT

I haven't found anyone or even read an article about LED lighting yet.

I was looking at them today as I don't like the quality of light from the PC's that I currently have, but I don't want to deal with the heat from metal halides or the energy consumption from them.

http://www.jlaquatics.com/product/pfo-s67112/36%22+PFO+Solaris-I5+15K+LED+Lighting+Fixture.html

I've got my tax refund coming, and was thinking about getting LED.

Easy corals to start with

Tigerpaw33 — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 07:59:12 GMT

I finally ready for some corals in my tank and was wondering what are some names of easy corals to take care of .

Thank you

Xenia coral smells so bad!

greenspottedpuffer — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 18:08:31 GMT

I ended up removing my xenia fragment from the tank today because it wasn't looking good. I took it out and put it in a quarantine tank. Well now my entire room smells horrible! Like this awful putrid sour smell. The smell actually made me gag a couple of times it's so bad! The odor is still coming from the quarantine tank too,and the xenia is still alive. Anyone else have this kind of experience with pulsating xenia? I'm never buying any kind of xenia again I feel so sick.

Return Pump Size

thirty0six — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 17:31:17 GMT

I just setup a new 76 gallon reef ready Oceanic half circle. I have been keeping saltwater fish and corals for over 10 years but never a reef ready setup. I am curious as to what size pump should be used for the return. A local aquarium store sold me a mag-drive 9.5 (950 gph). The overflow is keeping up but I get almost a wave action to the sump. The water comes to certain level in the overflow chamber and then rushes out with a gurgling sound to the sump (very noisy). It then repeats the process. If I kink the hose to slow down the flow things seem to settle down. I am thinking that the pump is to large and have ordered a ball valve for the pump so I can adjust the flow and hope to take care of the problem this way. Anyone know what the proper pump size would be for this size tank?

Transporting a 29g Reef Tank

Tate — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 06:27:35 GMT

Guys I need your advice transporting a 29g Biocube reef tank.
I planned to use a few 5gal buckets to transport all the coral.
I have xtra water already prepared for the setup. Looking for advice on
what to avoid and anything that would help make the move easier for the coral. its only a 15-20min trip.

Bloated Xenia coral?

greenspottedpuffer — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:59:19 GMT

I noticed today that the pulsating Xenia coral in my reef tank looks bloated. I tried searching on the internet on what it could be, to no avail. Maybe I've been over feeding it? Anyone know why it would suddenly get bloaty?

Test Kits

jsmith11618 — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 21:57:42 GMT

Besides the basic tests pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, Calcium, what other tests are needed for reef keeping.

I dont keep any corals on purpose yet, but do have a small colony of some sort of coral living on a small piece of live rock, and some random mushrooms on live rock as well.

Sometime next year I'd like to venture into keeping some corals but am just not sure what all I will need test kit wise.

My tank is a 40 breeder, contains 50-60lbs of live rock, not sure of the exact weight since I bought 70 pounds but did not use it all. I currently have 2 96 watt power compacts, as well as 2 39 watt T5 HO's. Houses 1 damsel, 10 hermit crabs, 3 peppermint shrimp and whatever else might be in there that hitched hiked in.

Tank is now 5 months old, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate all 0, Silica is 0 as is phosphate.

Everything appears healthy, and coraline is now taking off like crazy.

condy vs. new life form

10 acre woods — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:04:30 GMT

I had a condy wich was doing great untill I couldn't get silver sides any more at my lfs. The only thing they had was krill wich my seabea love but the condy didn't. The condy started to look very sick so I finaly found some silver sides but by that time it was too late it wouldn't eat anymore. I think it crawled in the back of the tank and died. Anyway I couldn't get it out and assumed that it had gotten eaten. I now have anemone looking like things in my tank, small but there. There are alot of them the bigest one being a quarter in diameter. But lots smaller. They don't like the light and have a tendency to hang out under rocks. If it would have been for the fact that I had to break my whole system down and move it I don't think that I would have found it.

so now the questions

1. Could the condy still be alive but broken down into smaller little anemones?

2. If not a condy what are these things?

3. Does this line of questioning matter to anyone?

Sorry but can not get good pictrues of item. seems too clear for a camera to pick up good or my camera just sucks

please respond

Lighting

jsmith11618 — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 16:02:50 GMT

I have a 40 breeder. No corals yet.

I currently light is with Power Compacts, 1 10,000k and 1 Actinic both 96 watts.

I also have a 36" T5 HO fixture with the same type of bulb just less watts, I think they are 39 watts each.

I was wondering if I should add the T5 fixture to the tank as well.

Eventually I want to get 1 T5 HO fixture to replace the PC completely since I am not a fan of it or the high cost of replacement bulbs.

I know its hard to answer without knowing the types of coral i am gonna keep, but I am just not sure yet.

Just wanted to hear an opinion or 2.

KH v.s. Calcium Ratios

Steads Aquarium Service — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:55:59 GMT

what have you noticed where you get the best results. if ur calcium is 450 you keep your kh at what. if ur calcium is 500 your kh should be? or at any other levels.