3FordFamily
In Memoriam
Disclaimer - this is reflective of my 11+ years in the hobby and what I do and what works for me. Video at the end shows my setups you decide if I'm successful or not.
Ok you've gotten lots of opinion and advice, let me offer mine.
I don't spend a lot on this hobby except for fish, and when I buy fish I buy from petco (30 day guarantee) and live aquaria (superior fish and 14 day guarantee). They will refund you if fish die. It's the only way to go.
I have three tanks. All 6 foot long, but my 180fowlr is tough to clean because it's so tall (stand mostly).
Here's how you do this hobby affordably and properly:
1) don't buy used glass. Too many leaks in my experimence that did thousands of dollars of damage to my brand new house
2) buy cheap ebay leds. I've spent the 2000 dollars to light my tank. I've ran metal halides and t5ho and power compact fluorescents. I've been in this hobby a long time. Buy the aquamax leds on ebay. They have whites/reds controlled separately from blues/purples/greens so you can change color temperature. They're $98 shipped. I have three on my 180 and it grows everything. I had to turn it down to 70% power it was too much!
3) buy setups on Craigslist from people leaving the hobby. This is how I aquired so many pumps, buckets, water jugs, RO units, power heads, heaters, filters, sumps, live rock (that you can sell eventually once your tanks have enough) and I gut and take what I need and sell the rest. I generally get 80-110% of my investment back after three months by "flipping" these setups. You can get fish and VERY hardy corals this way--
4) if you're doing corals, get most ofthem from people leaving the hobby in the setups aforementioned. I say this because if those corals can survive in tanks where people are fed up and leaving the hobby- it's a safe assumption they were not maintained well and are tough as nails. They've already paid for the other 25-75% of corals that didn't make it and replaced Them. Now you're left with the hardy ones.
5) always, always have extra rerun pumps and heaters. I would personally sell used heaters and buy quality heaters. These are a source of much issues and deaths in this hobby. Not a place to skimp.
6) I only test nitrates, ammonia, alk, calcium, and magnesium. I buy gallon jugs of Aqua max part a and b off of amazon to dose. I dose kent tech m for magnesium. Also from amazon. For ph I use agrega milk (sp).
7) I put lots of live rock in my tanks but try not to restrict swimming space and flow (ie packing it in some areas). Live rock is good for your tank.
8) I use sand because I like wrasses. There's a debate as to what is the best substrate. I prefer the look and effects of sand imo
9) if you do sand, buy Cheap bag of whatever and get some sand from someone local to seed it. Doesn't take long.
10) buy used skimmers and clean them. I have asm G4 on my 180s and my 180 with the achilles tang and other tangs also has a swc 160 in the sump. So i am double skimming. Always over skim. Ebay craigslist and amazon will sell used skimmers I am a huge fan of asm G4 paid under 200 for each. My other 180 with only one skimmer has a large turf scrubber.
11) you need a large sump with a refugium or a pseudo refugium. Put some rock sand and lots of different macro algaes here. (Chaeto, caulpera (sp), etc). This makes a full ecosystem that will help keep your tank clean. These can be had inexpensively at any local fish store or fellow hobbyist.
12) research fish purchases. Don't add many fish for several months. Avoid damsels ever. Chromis are acceptable imo but avoid damsels you'll thank me later.
13) use this forum often to ask questions and read.
14) regarding ich and qt - I am one of maybe 25% that have thriving tanks that qt nothing and have ich in all three THRIVING systems. This is due to good quality water parameters and my fish building working immunities to parasites much like vaccinations. I do have a hospital tank on hand if needed for treatment but IMO ich takes hold badly and kills when something else is out of wack, it's a weak fish that wasn't going to make it anyway, or someone effectively kept ich out of their system for a long time and the fish was completely unprepared and had no working immunity to the parasite and got decimated. I've done both practices where I qt and treated everything. I ended up killing more fish with stress in qt and treatment than when I let them build their own immunity. Many will fight me tooth and nail on this but keep reading I'll provide you with a video of my successes on my three tanks.
15) feeding is critical for fish health and success. I mix several frozen foods. (Bloodworms, mysis, brine, spirulina brine, squid, emerald entre, veggie mixes, formula 2, krill, and several others). Once every week or two I make a batch of food. I microwave it all in a cup for 1:30. I drain it in a strainer to let the nasty water out. I put it in a cup, with garlicguard i buy by the gallon on Amazon, add several spritzes of selcon (amazon also) and add formula two flakes and a couple other marine flake formulas (one pinch each) and small pieces of nori and some pellets. I then feed two-three times small
Meals daily.
I don't have any super difficult corals and suspect you may not be ready for that either. For years I dosed literally nothing and set my tanks up as full ecosystems that required biannual (2x per year at most) water changes, dumping skimmer cones, and feeding fish. That's it. I was missing out on much coral growth but now I dose as above and in the past 6 months I've noticed healthier fish and corals, with more growth.
Here's my 3 setups. I do it the "easy way" and I would say that results can't lie.
http://youtu.be/8yhFjJEKpGY Put it on 720p HD. Each tank has 50 seconds or so dedicated to it. Some fish hiding but it's the best I could do.
Ok you've gotten lots of opinion and advice, let me offer mine.
I don't spend a lot on this hobby except for fish, and when I buy fish I buy from petco (30 day guarantee) and live aquaria (superior fish and 14 day guarantee). They will refund you if fish die. It's the only way to go.
I have three tanks. All 6 foot long, but my 180fowlr is tough to clean because it's so tall (stand mostly).
Here's how you do this hobby affordably and properly:
1) don't buy used glass. Too many leaks in my experimence that did thousands of dollars of damage to my brand new house
2) buy cheap ebay leds. I've spent the 2000 dollars to light my tank. I've ran metal halides and t5ho and power compact fluorescents. I've been in this hobby a long time. Buy the aquamax leds on ebay. They have whites/reds controlled separately from blues/purples/greens so you can change color temperature. They're $98 shipped. I have three on my 180 and it grows everything. I had to turn it down to 70% power it was too much!
3) buy setups on Craigslist from people leaving the hobby. This is how I aquired so many pumps, buckets, water jugs, RO units, power heads, heaters, filters, sumps, live rock (that you can sell eventually once your tanks have enough) and I gut and take what I need and sell the rest. I generally get 80-110% of my investment back after three months by "flipping" these setups. You can get fish and VERY hardy corals this way--
4) if you're doing corals, get most ofthem from people leaving the hobby in the setups aforementioned. I say this because if those corals can survive in tanks where people are fed up and leaving the hobby- it's a safe assumption they were not maintained well and are tough as nails. They've already paid for the other 25-75% of corals that didn't make it and replaced Them. Now you're left with the hardy ones.
5) always, always have extra rerun pumps and heaters. I would personally sell used heaters and buy quality heaters. These are a source of much issues and deaths in this hobby. Not a place to skimp.
6) I only test nitrates, ammonia, alk, calcium, and magnesium. I buy gallon jugs of Aqua max part a and b off of amazon to dose. I dose kent tech m for magnesium. Also from amazon. For ph I use agrega milk (sp).
7) I put lots of live rock in my tanks but try not to restrict swimming space and flow (ie packing it in some areas). Live rock is good for your tank.
8) I use sand because I like wrasses. There's a debate as to what is the best substrate. I prefer the look and effects of sand imo
9) if you do sand, buy Cheap bag of whatever and get some sand from someone local to seed it. Doesn't take long.
10) buy used skimmers and clean them. I have asm G4 on my 180s and my 180 with the achilles tang and other tangs also has a swc 160 in the sump. So i am double skimming. Always over skim. Ebay craigslist and amazon will sell used skimmers I am a huge fan of asm G4 paid under 200 for each. My other 180 with only one skimmer has a large turf scrubber.
11) you need a large sump with a refugium or a pseudo refugium. Put some rock sand and lots of different macro algaes here. (Chaeto, caulpera (sp), etc). This makes a full ecosystem that will help keep your tank clean. These can be had inexpensively at any local fish store or fellow hobbyist.
12) research fish purchases. Don't add many fish for several months. Avoid damsels ever. Chromis are acceptable imo but avoid damsels you'll thank me later.
13) use this forum often to ask questions and read.
14) regarding ich and qt - I am one of maybe 25% that have thriving tanks that qt nothing and have ich in all three THRIVING systems. This is due to good quality water parameters and my fish building working immunities to parasites much like vaccinations. I do have a hospital tank on hand if needed for treatment but IMO ich takes hold badly and kills when something else is out of wack, it's a weak fish that wasn't going to make it anyway, or someone effectively kept ich out of their system for a long time and the fish was completely unprepared and had no working immunity to the parasite and got decimated. I've done both practices where I qt and treated everything. I ended up killing more fish with stress in qt and treatment than when I let them build their own immunity. Many will fight me tooth and nail on this but keep reading I'll provide you with a video of my successes on my three tanks.
15) feeding is critical for fish health and success. I mix several frozen foods. (Bloodworms, mysis, brine, spirulina brine, squid, emerald entre, veggie mixes, formula 2, krill, and several others). Once every week or two I make a batch of food. I microwave it all in a cup for 1:30. I drain it in a strainer to let the nasty water out. I put it in a cup, with garlicguard i buy by the gallon on Amazon, add several spritzes of selcon (amazon also) and add formula two flakes and a couple other marine flake formulas (one pinch each) and small pieces of nori and some pellets. I then feed two-three times small
Meals daily.
I don't have any super difficult corals and suspect you may not be ready for that either. For years I dosed literally nothing and set my tanks up as full ecosystems that required biannual (2x per year at most) water changes, dumping skimmer cones, and feeding fish. That's it. I was missing out on much coral growth but now I dose as above and in the past 6 months I've noticed healthier fish and corals, with more growth.
Here's my 3 setups. I do it the "easy way" and I would say that results can't lie.
http://youtu.be/8yhFjJEKpGY Put it on 720p HD. Each tank has 50 seconds or so dedicated to it. Some fish hiding but it's the best I could do.
