Hello

[DTECH07]

Welcome to rf!

 

[senji]

macro algeas: cheato ,flame, kalerpa, sea lettuce. they should have lighting 24hrs a day. that does 2 things helps keep ph stable overnight which typicaly falls, and prevents the algea from going sexual and spreading throughout the system.

 

[AngelaH]

Great, and thanks for all the good info. Im embarrassed to say that we have never cleaned the bio balls. I seem to remember when we were running our chiclids in our 55 uniquarium we were told not to mess with the bio balls, and when would rinse out the sponges we had to do it with water from the tank... something to do with killing off all the good bacteria. And obviously saltwater is considerably different than freshwater. This afternoon I will work on taking the bio balls out and rinsing them and then put enough to go just under the water line. And welcome Satlwater - girl! Do you have a uniquarium also?

 

[senji]

Episode 59 pt 1, Cleaning Bio-Balls in a Wet Dry Trickle Fil - YouTube this is a video on cleaning bio balls

 

[AngelaH]

Great thanks so much for all your help!

 

[bradreef]

there are people in san diego that primarily use sunlight for their reef. can you list the filtration again and figure out what skimmer you have? I think some changes in that area will help the future success of the tank and also flow and maintance you do.

any pictures of filtration?

Here are what I consider the standards of flitration
flow- Just guidelines (hoping to remove waste from your system and keep the coral happy)
2 to 3 three times turnover per hour on soft coral and LPS tanks. 100 gallons 2000-3000 gph would be nice
4 to 5 times or more on SPS 100 gallon 5000 gph would work.

mechanical fitration
Sump
with a sump many people use filter floss or filter socks- these need to be changed or cleaned regularly
No sump
hang on the back filter- or canister(not very popular in reefs)
same as above but with sponges

Protein skimmer
-for larger tanks the in sump models are far better than the hang on the back skimmers
-This is very important equipment IMO and you can run a tank without one but over the years I have seen soo much crud pulled out by these I wouldn't recomend putting it back into your tank

Reactors and media
CArbon-
used very often and help remove pollutants and clears yellow water
Gfo-
Phosphate remover that is best in a reactor
bio balls-
nitrate reduction and used also in reators
carbon dosing
nitrate reduction again similar to above

Natural FIltration

1 Water Changes
simply adding clean water I am including as natural filtration even though it is not.

Refugium
growing algae and plants to remove nutrients from the aquarium

Live rock
The live part is what can filter, sponges, worms, and many other things use the nutrients to grow.


I use High flow, live rock, decent sized protein skimmer, refugium, and carbon and gfo reactor in my tank.




Now onto fish stores
Clarimont area is where you want to go.
Check out Aquatic warehouse and AquaSD, there are two more stores in that area but not at the same level. also in Sports arena Area there is a store Pet kindom that is ok.

For coral I like the guy in encinitas- shipwreck cove.

 

[AngelaH]

Wow, thanks Brad, I had not even heard of those other stores. Especially the one in Encinitas. Ill have to find out where those are. Something else I know that I am seriously lacking are power heads. Ill have to wait till the 16th to get those. What kind of power heads do you recommend for a 90 gallon, with a few corals? And what is the difference between high flow live rock, and regular live rock? I added a bag of carbon into the first chamber of my uniquarium yesterday. I can work on getting pictures of the back where the protein skimmer/bio balls/ heaters and pump are next week. My husband is out of town, and the hood is too heavy for me to take off by myself. Im guessing the sump is what is built into the back of the tank. The protein skimmer hangs in the back there. There are specific holes on the acrylic going down that were made to attach the skimmer to. I really appreciate everyones responses, even though I still feel in the dark about a lot, I am getting a lot of questions answered. Sad to say that before being on here, I had no idea that I needed power heads. When we bought the tank/stand/hood/liights/skimmer at Encinitas tropical fish, we specifically asked what all we needed. And they had reassured us that for what we wanted to do (live rock/ live sand/ fish/ and a few corals) we were good. So even though the tank has been running for a while now, and everyone seems to be doing well, it makes me wonder how much better things could be in there. Thank God, we knew to have a quarantine tank. And even with that, when we bought the corals, and the cleanup crew, nothing was ever said to us about quarantining them. So we had just put them in the tank. Thank God.... so far.... no diseases on anyone. But I feel like now its a waiting game, just when will something happen since that stuff had not been quarantined. Im hoping that since that stuff has been in there for about a year now, we are ok... but I obviously have no clue.

 

[bradreef]

Powerheads depend on your long term goal IMO.

you could get away with two 800 gph(gallon per hour) powerheads or go with 4 that are 1500 gph.

i would probably say that starting with 2 would be ok for the long term.

On the budget end you have Koralia's like these (can find used all the time)
Water Pumps & Wavemakers: Hydor Koralia Evolution
or my favorite budget deal because it comes with a wavemaker(2 for 90 including wavemaker at marine depot)
Aquarium Water Pumps & Wavemakers: JBJ OceanStream Aquarium Circulation Pump


High end budget you could get these
Reef Aquarium Water Pumps & Powerheads: EcoTech Marine VorTech EcoSmart Propeller Pumps
or these
Turbelle® Tunze nanostream® 6055 (Controllable 264 to 1,453 GPH) - English


but there are so many things you can buy for a reef and not all are needed. i would figure out a plan on what you want to keep and an overview of you system and take in people recomendations and weight them yourself before you buy anything.

 

[senji]

if ur rich 2 mp40's i use 2 of these in my 90g 3200GPH Aquarium Dual Circulation Wave Maker Pump Powerhead Magnetic Drive Reef | eBay work great and quiet. just dont have them turn on and off. i u do want a wavemaker system get some koralias.

 

[Derbird]

Wow, thanks Brad, I had not even heard of those other stores. Especially the one in Encinitas. Ill have to find out where those are. Something else I know that I am seriously lacking are power heads. Ill have to wait till the 16th to get those. What kind of power heads do you recommend for a 90 gallon, with a few corals? And what is the difference between high flow live rock, and regular live rock? I added a bag of carbon into the first chamber of my uniquarium yesterday. I can work on getting pictures of the back where the protein skimmer/bio balls/ heaters and pump are next week. My husband is out of town, and the hood is too heavy for me to take off by myself. Im guessing the sump is what is built into the back of the tank. The protein skimmer hangs in the back there. There are specific holes on the acrylic going down that were made to attach the skimmer to. I really appreciate everyones responses, even though I still feel in the dark about a lot, I am getting a lot of questions answered. Sad to say that before being on here, I had no idea that I needed power heads. When we bought the tank/stand/hood/liights/skimmer at Encinitas tropical fish, we specifically asked what all we needed. And they had reassured us that for what we wanted to do (live rock/ live sand/ fish/ and a few corals) we were good. So even though the tank has been running for a while now, and everyone seems to be doing well, it makes me wonder how much better things could be in there. Thank God, we knew to have a quarantine tank. And even with that, when we bought the corals, and the cleanup crew, nothing was ever said to us about quarantining them. So we had just put them in the tank. Thank God.... so far.... no diseases on anyone. But I feel like now its a waiting game, just when will something happen since that stuff had not been quarantined. Im hoping that since that stuff has been in there for about a year now, we are ok... but I obviously have no clue.

There is no difference between high and low flow live rock, at least when you buy it. The differece is how much flow is going over the rock. The more flow it has the more bacteria will be in and on it and the more active they will be. For a refugium getting some live rock rubble is a good start and a lot cheaper then the big display pieces. Up in Oregon I can find live rock for $5 a pound and rubble for $1 a pound at LFS. Some of the rubble is nice enough I put in in my main display

 

[AngelaH]

Haha Senji, we are definitely not rich. Military single income for the time being....and we will be moving in a little over a year to MN. Thanks guys for the ideas on what to look at. Ill talk it over with my husband and go over the pros and cons of each.

 

[AngelaH]

Ok so on Ebay I found someone selling 2 1300gph aquarium wave maker/ power heads by Xcceries for 29.90. What do you guys think. Does anyone know anything about them?

 

[senji]

sounds a lil to cheap in this hobby u get what u pay for definately

 

[AngelaH]

ok good to know. thanks!

 

[senji]

here are all my tanks just to show u.

my 90g established 2 1/2 mos ago

my 20g

my 60g fw aggressive tank

my 34g solana end of cycleing

and wilson my red slyder had him for 20 yrs

 

[AngelaH]

Haha, those are awesome. Love the turtle pic too. Thanks! The first picture your tank has only been established 2 1/2 months? Wow how did you get all that coraline algae to grow so quickly. It looks great, I have some on my rocks and on my snails and hermit crabs, but nothing like that, and mine has been running a while.

 

[senji]

when the tank was first started cycleing i used jump start and purple up at the same time. i do that on all my tanks when they first start the cycle and i seed the crap out of them a week after the cycle.