JellyTheory
VP of FishTank Operations
Good thread! Lot's to think about as I contemplate starting over!
-Chris
-Chris
If you could start over?
- Thread starter fullmonti
- Start date
cwegescheide
YOU have been ignored!
Just set up my new system. Did just this..
I WILL NOT put anything in my new tank that has not spent 6wks in QT dipped every week for AEFW, flatworms etc.. I've killed about 10% of the coral that has went thru thus far but its FAR better in my opinion to kill em in QT than bugs kill em in the DT.
I WILL NOT put anything in my new tank that has not spent 6wks in QT dipped every week for AEFW, flatworms etc.. I've killed about 10% of the coral that has went thru thus far but its FAR better in my opinion to kill em in QT than bugs kill em in the DT.
cham
New member
The tank I have now is my "if I could start over tank". After 5 years in the hobby I've had plent of time for the "what if's" that I wanted and since I don't have a wife now I can do all the things that would have not been so kosher before. With this tank I:
-Plumbed the sump to the garage. All the noisey/smelly things are in my garage and I have unlimited equipment room. My tank also gets great fresh air intake, my PH has never run higher.
-Custom starfire rimless tank. I admired them for years but couldn't have one.
-Custom extra tall stand. I'm tall and hate leaning over to view my corals & fish
-Proper flow, the vortechs do such a good job with gentle random flow.
-T5's for unlimited color combos and since the light is spread out shading isn't nearly as much of an issue
-Giant skimmer so I can feed what I want
-Seperate frag tank plumbed to system so I don't have to see frag's that are being held all over the tank
-Water change system plumbed to the drain and fresh salt water storage. I can do water changes in under 2 minutes and I only flick switches.
-Safe auto top off system that automatically refills daily from Ro/Di. No lugging water to refill ATO.
I figured the simpler I made the tank and its maintenance the longer I'd keep it and the healthier it would be. It's truly a shame when you spend so much to get into the hobby and get worn out with maintenance and quit.
-Plumbed the sump to the garage. All the noisey/smelly things are in my garage and I have unlimited equipment room. My tank also gets great fresh air intake, my PH has never run higher.
-Custom starfire rimless tank. I admired them for years but couldn't have one.
-Custom extra tall stand. I'm tall and hate leaning over to view my corals & fish
-Proper flow, the vortechs do such a good job with gentle random flow.
-T5's for unlimited color combos and since the light is spread out shading isn't nearly as much of an issue
-Giant skimmer so I can feed what I want
-Seperate frag tank plumbed to system so I don't have to see frag's that are being held all over the tank
-Water change system plumbed to the drain and fresh salt water storage. I can do water changes in under 2 minutes and I only flick switches.
-Safe auto top off system that automatically refills daily from Ro/Di. No lugging water to refill ATO.
I figured the simpler I made the tank and its maintenance the longer I'd keep it and the healthier it would be. It's truly a shame when you spend so much to get into the hobby and get worn out with maintenance and quit.
Cham, boy how I would love to be able to do all of the things you have just described. My main criteria for my next house will be a wall in the living room I can take over for an in wall display, and a fish room behind it allowing the elements you have described (minus the fresh air from being outside).
Anemone0524
New member
start with all dry rock.
They're Ecofriendly and don't bring in untold amounts of phosphate that later will cause plague algae.
They're Ecofriendly and don't bring in untold amounts of phosphate that later will cause plague algae.
matt the fiddler
New member
As mentioned before, I am on my "next" startup.
one change- i figured my tank size as the largest I coul light on 2 halides (150g 5' x2' footprint) luminarcs can spread that.
I follow the 4-6" rock away from glass rule.
Now, I wish i would have just gone the bigger 6' tank, and not lit the outer edges, where no coral will really be.
SO... don't put rocks within 6" of glass, don't "light" that area either with intense lighting (it will get enough). It could also force corals to not grow into the glass.
one change- i figured my tank size as the largest I coul light on 2 halides (150g 5' x2' footprint) luminarcs can spread that.
I follow the 4-6" rock away from glass rule.
Now, I wish i would have just gone the bigger 6' tank, and not lit the outer edges, where no coral will really be.
SO... don't put rocks within 6" of glass, don't "light" that area either with intense lighting (it will get enough). It could also force corals to not grow into the glass.
Hey guys,
I'd just like to say I really appreciate all this advice. I love reading these things. I'm new to reefs, had my 92g corner set up almost a year now. I think this advice is great yet funny at points because it seems to counter what a lot of other people say. Ex? I'm glad you ask...
For one mentioning that you would only put in the corals you truely want and never do GSP things of that sort. I find that kinda funny because so many times I hear you "can't start with SPS, gotta have mushrooms and GSP, xenia, etc. etc. I understand the concept behind that theory, of start with the corals that can tolerate minor variances better than SPS, but also just find it funny when I read threads basically saying you'd start without any of those things in tanks.
For me when I bought this tank, in May 09, it had already been setup for a few years and had lots of softer corals in it. I've learned quite a lot from having it and especially reading on RC. My soft corals all did really well, were growing, my toadstool leather was a monster, my hammer head corals were splitting and growing like weeds almost to me at least. Although I had lots of problems keeping fish alive, most would actually just disappear. I won't go into it as I've posted enough about it, but all my corals were succeding and my fish wouldn't last more than 2 weeks, weird cause I always heard difficulty was the other way around.
My whole goal has always been to have an SPS tank and was even trying to figure out if I could have an sps tank with no fish at all since they wouldn't live but figured out that wouldn't be a very good idea. So, what to do? Rebuild, start over!
I tore down the tank mainly to see if I could find dead decomposing fish somewhere even though my parameters never suggested this, figure better do a visual test just in case my chemical tests are bad for some reason. And to redo my aquascape to free up room, make it more interesting, natural, better flow through and around, and more importantly lots of room for corals. I have a lot of horizontal places to watch corals grow. Also to level the tank perfectly.
So I sold off all my soft corals, except for a little thing of hammer coral that I and my whole family agreed we really liked and it'd be really easy to remove later on if it gets down to that. The hammer is already splitting and growing more after being the only coral in the tank now.
Bought a fish and after a frightful first day, (I'll spare you the long stupid story) the fish is now going on 2 weeks and looking better and better each day. A royal gramma, not the most difficult fish but hey, he's lasted longer than the others. Going this friday to try and find another small fish or 2 to add, maybe a couple chromis to keep thing simple. I've got a few other things to buy, I need to get a hanna checker now that they have one that's affordable. I use API tests, and test all parameters weekly which show very little variances thoughout week to week. They show I have 0 phosphates but I don't buy it totally, I have a very tiny bit of algae on the sand in the back, kinda low flow area so maybe that's the reason but I don't buy the fact that I have 0 PO4.
Need to bump flow some, have 2 tunze 6025s in the back and 2 K3s on the front corners, hope to bump the K3's for higher power tunze's. Can't afford vortechs. Think after I get flow up to 45-50x and after a few months with a hanna, just as long as it reads 0 PO4 still and my other params are stable then I will start my adventure into SPS!!!
Anyway, didn't mean to hijack things, I apoligize for that, just wanted to state my thanks and gratitude for threads like this and the people with successful tanks offering up so much wonderful advice to the newer guys out there. Guess I went into my tank to show you where I am coming from, where I'm going, and most importantly with advice I've read here. Patience is my key hopefully to success.
Thanks everyone!
I'd just like to say I really appreciate all this advice. I love reading these things. I'm new to reefs, had my 92g corner set up almost a year now. I think this advice is great yet funny at points because it seems to counter what a lot of other people say. Ex? I'm glad you ask...
For one mentioning that you would only put in the corals you truely want and never do GSP things of that sort. I find that kinda funny because so many times I hear you "can't start with SPS, gotta have mushrooms and GSP, xenia, etc. etc. I understand the concept behind that theory, of start with the corals that can tolerate minor variances better than SPS, but also just find it funny when I read threads basically saying you'd start without any of those things in tanks.
For me when I bought this tank, in May 09, it had already been setup for a few years and had lots of softer corals in it. I've learned quite a lot from having it and especially reading on RC. My soft corals all did really well, were growing, my toadstool leather was a monster, my hammer head corals were splitting and growing like weeds almost to me at least. Although I had lots of problems keeping fish alive, most would actually just disappear. I won't go into it as I've posted enough about it, but all my corals were succeding and my fish wouldn't last more than 2 weeks, weird cause I always heard difficulty was the other way around.
My whole goal has always been to have an SPS tank and was even trying to figure out if I could have an sps tank with no fish at all since they wouldn't live but figured out that wouldn't be a very good idea. So, what to do? Rebuild, start over!
I tore down the tank mainly to see if I could find dead decomposing fish somewhere even though my parameters never suggested this, figure better do a visual test just in case my chemical tests are bad for some reason. And to redo my aquascape to free up room, make it more interesting, natural, better flow through and around, and more importantly lots of room for corals. I have a lot of horizontal places to watch corals grow. Also to level the tank perfectly.
So I sold off all my soft corals, except for a little thing of hammer coral that I and my whole family agreed we really liked and it'd be really easy to remove later on if it gets down to that. The hammer is already splitting and growing more after being the only coral in the tank now.
Bought a fish and after a frightful first day, (I'll spare you the long stupid story) the fish is now going on 2 weeks and looking better and better each day. A royal gramma, not the most difficult fish but hey, he's lasted longer than the others. Going this friday to try and find another small fish or 2 to add, maybe a couple chromis to keep thing simple. I've got a few other things to buy, I need to get a hanna checker now that they have one that's affordable. I use API tests, and test all parameters weekly which show very little variances thoughout week to week. They show I have 0 phosphates but I don't buy it totally, I have a very tiny bit of algae on the sand in the back, kinda low flow area so maybe that's the reason but I don't buy the fact that I have 0 PO4.
Need to bump flow some, have 2 tunze 6025s in the back and 2 K3s on the front corners, hope to bump the K3's for higher power tunze's. Can't afford vortechs. Think after I get flow up to 45-50x and after a few months with a hanna, just as long as it reads 0 PO4 still and my other params are stable then I will start my adventure into SPS!!!
Anyway, didn't mean to hijack things, I apoligize for that, just wanted to state my thanks and gratitude for threads like this and the people with successful tanks offering up so much wonderful advice to the newer guys out there. Guess I went into my tank to show you where I am coming from, where I'm going, and most importantly with advice I've read here. Patience is my key hopefully to success.
Thanks everyone!
matt the fiddler
New member
the soft coral starting thing I woudl phrase like this.
if it is your first tank, dont' put sps in to start, if you want to try sps once your feet are wet, do
but be prepared to tear down and start over SPS style if you like it .
If you want a sps only tank. Dont' put filler corals in at all. be patient for several "bare" months until your tank is sps ready, then take it slow.
if it is your first tank, dont' put sps in to start, if you want to try sps once your feet are wet, do
but be prepared to tear down and start over SPS style if you like it .If you want a sps only tank. Dont' put filler corals in at all. be patient for several "bare" months until your tank is sps ready, then take it slow.
phenom5
Member
These kind of threads are always interesting.
For me, outside of my first tank when I had no idea what I was doing (of course, whether or not I have a clue now is debatable ), each new tank is planned out to fix all the problems with previous tanks. The problem is I usually fix a bunch of things i didn't like about previous tanks, but I create a whole bunch of new things that I don't like about my new tank.
Right now...
-More depth (front to back), less depth (top to bottom)
-Less rock, well thought out for easy coral placement
-Bigger skimmer
-No clowns
-More careful selection of corals
Lastly, and most importantly...ease of maintenance. I've gotten better with each tank, but I will do better on my next tank. Two completely removable doors, and no center brace on my 40" tall stand have made maintenance so much easier. And easier gets done. PITA gets put off.
For me, outside of my first tank when I had no idea what I was doing (of course, whether or not I have a clue now is debatable
), each new tank is planned out to fix all the problems with previous tanks. The problem is I usually fix a bunch of things i didn't like about previous tanks, but I create a whole bunch of new things that I don't like about my new tank.Right now...
-More depth (front to back), less depth (top to bottom)
-Less rock, well thought out for easy coral placement
-Bigger skimmer
-No clowns
-More careful selection of corals
Lastly, and most importantly...ease of maintenance. I've gotten better with each tank, but I will do better on my next tank. Two completely removable doors, and no center brace on my 40" tall stand have made maintenance so much easier. And easier gets done. PITA gets put off.
heranatomy
New member
phenom5
Member
I'm just curious as to why "no clowns"?
Those little buggers are mean, and they cause too much of a mess. My tomato pair constantly dig/ move stuff, constantly harass other fish, and bite me. :sad1:
heranatomy
New member
Awww lol. Mine have never bit me. I have ocellaris though. My lawnmower has bit me though! hahah
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