New tank

[dirt1008]

New tank

I thought both of these are LPS, a Favia and a Candy Cane, I don't plan on any SPS for quite a while. I have a wife that is all over the ATO, because she stays at home and loves messing with the tank. As far as tests I bought the really expensive tests for everything you mentioned and I've kept all of my parameters right where I've wanted them. Oh never mind just re-read your post, you said stony corals, not SPS. You're right it may be early, even though I've maintained good perimeters to this point I could be rushing it. I hope not.

 

[dirt1008]

IMO, and I stress IMO , it's about cost containment and the KISS principle. This hobby is expensive enough, and costs can really balloon quickly. In place of a controller, I have BM doser and a Tunze ATO. The lights already have a built-in clock/timer, and the heater rarely goes on in the winter, never in the summer. That's probably all my tank requires and way cheaper than getting a controller. Now, If you want to get fancy and have a controller control your lights, chiller, heater, hood fans, ATO, some reactors, etc., while keeping an eye on pH, ORP, temperature (all with graphs, too!), then that's fine. But it goes against the KISS principle. IMO, anyway . Now, if they have a controller with a probe that will continuously monitor alk, cal, and mag, I might reconsider

I agree. My lights are on timers and I have two heaters, one for backup, that rarely run. And like I said, my wife is home all day and loves keeping an eye on things.

 

[dirt1008]

Excited to see the progress here - keep us updated. If you add stuff to the fuge, take pics of that too...

When your tank gets going for awhile, I'd add some scuds and other pods as well. My tanks always seem to do 10x better with them

What are scuds, and other pods?

 

[Palting]

I thought both of these are LPS, a Favia and a Candy Cane, I don't plan on any SPS for quite a while. I have a wife that is all over the ATO, because she doesn't work and loves messing with the tank. As far as tests I bought the really expensive tests for everything you mentioned and I've kept all of my parameters right where I've wanted them.

LPS are stonies. True, they are somewhat more forgiving than SPS, but they do have similar requirements.

Scuds and pods that he refers to are copepods, amphipods, even phyto, I believe. They are the bottom of the food chain, providing food for filter feeder feeders, and for fish like the mandarin. When I started my tank, I seeded both the tank and the refugium with live phyto and live copepods. I will occasionally feed both tanks with phyto, but there is a healthy live population of rotifers, pods, etc, which helps keep the tank and occupants happy. Certainly keeps my mandarins and 6 line fat!

 

[dirt1008]

New tank

LPS are stonies. True, they are somewhat more forgiving than SPS, but they do have similar requirements.

Scuds and pods that he refers to are copepods, amphipods, even phyto, I believe. They are the bottom of the food chain, providing food for filter feeder feeders, and for fish like the mandarin. When I started my tank, I seeded both the tank and the refugium with live phyto and live copepods. I will occasionally feed both tanks with phyto, but there is a healthy live population of rotifers, pods, etc, which helps
keep the tank and occupants happy. Certainly keeps my mandarins and 6 line fat!

I did before I added anything buy some algae from the LFS for my refugium and it's loaded with copepods and amphipods. I edited my post above, after I read again and realized you said Stonies not SPS

 

[uny2bld]

I agree. My lights are on timers and I have two heaters, one for backup, that rarely run. And like I said, my wife is home all day and loves keeping an eye on things.

if your wife keeps an eye on things then you should be fine without one. I would only suggest getting one if you plan on stocking your tank with super expensive stuff if that's the case (just to be safe)

 

[cugly]

I use my controller for safety net like if a heater fails or my calcium reactor solenoid gets stuck..it can shut things off before its to late..it can also notify me when im away that sonething is wrong..there's more pros to having one In my opinion the cost is worth it with the money invested in our tanks I dont think I can go without one ..just my opinion.

 

[dirt1008]

These are very good points that I will certainly take into consideration. Thanks for the input

 

[dirt1008]

 

[Palting]

Looking good!

The hammer coral, Euphyllia ancora, can be fine where it's at, but it usually does better with it's stony base on the substrate. I forget offhand what lights and flow you have, but so long as the lights are moderate and the flow is moderate, I would put it on the substrate. Mine has more than doubled in size in a year.

 

[dirt1008]

New tank

Looking good!

The hammer coral, Euphyllia ancora, can be fine where it's at, but it usually does better with it's stony base on the substrate. I forget offhand what lights and flow you have, but so long as the lights are moderate and the flow is moderate, I would put it on the substrate. Mine has more than doubled in size in a year.

Thanks, I just moved it down to the sand yesterday. My lights are Reefbreeders LED. I've see a bunch of pods on the glass lately and caught my clowns eating them right off the glass. Crappy pic but here it is

 

[dirt1008]

 

[herocero]

lookin good! always nice to see successful startups.

 

[dirt1008]

My candy cane and leather have really grown
Before:

After:

Before:

After:

 

[dirt1008]

My new clown loves my Hammer.

 

[dirt1008]

Candy canes still growing great

 

[dirt1008]

No replies?! I'm disappointed