Newbie Corner Feedback Thread

[WaterKeeper]

Hi Zydrag
[welcome]

For a fish only any light that pleases you is fine. As I said in this month's column-

This is fine if your marine tank will be a fish-only (FO) system because saltwater fish are no more demanding in terms of light intensity than their freshwater cousins.

On the other hand, if you plan to latter change to a reef tank then you are wise to use more intensity from the onset. T-5 lights should be fine on a 75 gallon. I would try to use a combination of 30% actinic and 70% daylight T-5's that total about 300-400 watts. That should handle most corals you latter purchase.

If you didn't read this month's column you can find it here- Lighting

 

[kidako]

excellent column,looks like everyone likes to have fun,very informative site. well done

 

[WaterKeeper]

Tis a Hobby Kid and it is supposed to be fun. Otherwise not too many people would chose it over going to work.

BTW-

 

[ozyreefa]

hi, a newbie to the site with a quick question,
i have a hairy red hermit (Trizopagurus strigimanus) about 30mm in length, which has been peacful and left all fish and inverts/softcorals alone for the past nine months. So my problem, i just moved a juvenile checkerboard wrasse from my quarantine into my display after 4 weeks and two nights after he went in i wake up to find my hermit snacking on his body on the spot the wrasse had been burying himself in for the past two nights. My question, was it likely that the wrasse was not in good health and therefore not fast enough to realize it was being eaten or is my hermit going through puberty or something? Wrasse seemed to be in good health but i guess it's hard to tell with wrasses sometimes. Any help will be much appreciated.

 

[Magic Hook]

Xmas Nano

Xmas Nano

Okay I will take the plunge and ask a few questions. We have had a 135g set up without live rock, just fish and artifical coral for a year with limited sucess. Little did we know we lacked basic onfo on live rock. We bought the tank and got all info from our local fish store. After reading here we added LR and the tank is doing much better the last six months or so with the exception of NO3 being at 40.

We received a 29g nano for Xmas. Reading here (vast info) it seems that the "bio balls" create NO3 that are in a wet dry filter. Huh, go figure our 135 has a bunch of them! Do I not put them in the Nano? I have ordered 40# of LR for it and have 40# of sand in the bottom now. Will the LR with good water movement be enough for a reef nano? Mostly coral, and such, with a a small fish or two? I have purchased the matching nano skimmer for this tank as well. Right now the tank just has the sand, one LR about a pound, and one snail just to the the "cycle" going.

Should I phase out the bio balls from our 135? If so any suggestion on how? It also has a canister with chemi pure and phos zorb in it, and a UV light. The wet dry has a built in skimmer.

Thanks

 

[WaterKeeper]

I'd ditch the bioballs if it was my tank. LR and, even better a DSB,will get those nitrates under control. The other method is to have a refugium with macro algae growing in it. Keep things natural is the best design for any system. I won't even joke about that plastic coral.

and--
[welcome]

I need to have us get a new welcome banner as this one is over used.

 

[Magic Hook]

Thanks, I appreciate your time and knowledge.

I have ordered the LR for the nano and more for the larger tank. Do you think the LR in the tank alone is okay on the nano? I was reading here and see that some fill the empty bio ball area with LR rubble as well. How much sand is a DSB in it?

I have also been reading about converting our wet dry on our 135 to a refugium. I read it needs a light, timer, and not to sound to ignorant but can I purchace macro algae? This tank does have a DSB. BTW, the coral is not plastic, its very expensive plaster that I am sure the LFS made a killing on! LOL

 

[susz]

Thanks WATERKEEPER your articles are very informative. I am setting up a 75 gak reef tank and the are coming right on time. I also love using my chemisty/ physics classes I paid so much for in college lol, I do have one question, I assume all "lights" and ballast run a 110 reguler house socket, I know this sounds stupid but stupid is as stupid does/ also on a different note I just obtained a leather corol I beleive a finger or colt for my nano tank, and it has multiple small (need a magnify glass )creatures that look like brittle stars on it ? I think most brittle starts are non-toxic to a reef , could I be right??

 

[Robgixxer]

hey hows it going all? new here and looking for some advice. I just purchased a 150 gallon tank with a single corner overflow. it is the taller tank not a 6' wide. i was out of the loop for a while since i had moved i never set up my tank again. i had a 55 gallon before, and wanted something bigger. so now i need to know what type of filtration ad pumps and all that sort of stuff that any may recomend. i had a regular wet/dry system before. but was looking into a refugium setup. one brand that i was interested in was the ADHI model 45 with an AQUA C 180 or a ADHI G2 protein skimmer. also i need recomendations on a pump brand and size preferably external. i want to make this a reef tank. but i also have no experiance with refugium setups anything that i should be aware of?

 

[WaterKeeper]

Sorry to be so long in replying folks. A friend of mine broke her ankle and I've been helping to get her about and not been on-line.

Magic

Sure you can go with LR only in a nano. One thing about small tanks is water changes are easy and inexpensive. If you have a problem with nitrates a few 25% water change over the course of a week will bring them down fast. If you do use a DSB you want at least 4" for it to work properly.

Macro algae, such as Chaeto, is available from many of the on-line livestock providers. If there is a reef club near you then join and I bet you can get some for nothing as you harvest it regularly to provide nutrient removal.

Susz,

All home aquarium ballasts are usually 110-120 volts. Commercial ballast come in 177 and 220 volt varieties but they are overkill for most tanks and you probably would be challenged finding the proper light K values with commercial ballasts anyway.

Rob,

It just so happens our guest columnist this month is Marc Levenson and his article is on Sumps. He also talks about in the sump refugiums and briefly on pumps. I usually always tell people to select a return pump with a rating of 15-20X flow of the size of the tank. Marc makes a very good argument for using lower pump speeds for a sump and instead using powerheads or a closed loop to provide additional flow.

 

[Paul B]

She dident break her ankle changing your water for you did she?

 

[WaterKeeper]

:lol:

No; but I'm changing her water. About every two hours.

 

[steaminmikado]

waterkeeper... what will putting tap water in your tank do? i've never had a ro/di unit and i've only put that water in my tank 2 times... seems like this could be the prob i'm having

 

[WaterKeeper]

[size=]OK Newbies, the purpose of this whole thread is for those of you that have read this month's column. I guess I need to instruct your rear ends by telling you we started in October with Water! If you can't figure it out from that article I suggest you consider getting a cat.[/size]



I think that article will explain it to you Steamin.

 

[Paul B]

Is it OK to wash that cat in tap water or would RO be better?

 

[steaminmikado]

so what exactly happens when you use tap water? makes levels go up? i can get my levels down and stay down, but if i don't keep a close close eye on it they'll go shooting back up. i only have a 55g is it possible that i can buy a brita water filter thing since i only top off maybe a gal a day at max? or is that not sufficant enough. the prob i'm having is my tank looks like crap. i've got nice stuff... but nothing looks nice. that's the only thing i havne't done yet is buy an ro unit.

 

[steaminmikado]

oh yeah, before i forget... i've got six dar n cats... or my g/f does. i can't stand the smelly bastards.. why can't they keep their smells in a tank like my fish instead of ****ing on my boxers when their mad at me for punishing them like the pusses they are the night before. all the dogs and lizzards want is to be fed and maybe held everyonce in a while. the don't give revenge. if it wouldn't kill my tank i'd try drowning 3 cats at a time in my tank.. stupid pussies!!!!! =(

 

[Paul B]

Waterkeeper is sleeping so I will answer your question.
It is possable to use tap water depending on where you live. I used it for years. Then one day my water company put zinc orthophosphate in the water to control corrosion in the pipes.
Corals turned to Jello.
Also tap water usually contains high amounts of nitrate and phosphate most of which came from laundry detergent that over the years got into the tap water. It makes it hard to keep an algae free tank. A Brita water filter is just carbon which will make the water taste better, I don't know if the fish mind the taste. It will also remove some metals and insecticides but it will not remove phosphates or nitrates.
About cats, so many cats, so few recipies.

 

[steaminmikado]

thank paul b. that answered my question perfectly. could i buy a ro/di unit from home depot? or where would be the place to buy one that's decent? can we say spegettie and furballs?!?

 

[steaminmikado]

one more thing, does this eliminate all algae? or reduce it? if it does, does that mean that "diatos" algae is out of the question?