OK! Enough chat...Starting a 1000g+ Reef

[cbui2]

i called it sometimers

 

[purebullet417]

thanx couldnt find the pics garage but got it now

 

[nyvp]

even when your tanks not at its peak it beats most

 

[Sparkss]

save me from digging back through everything Jonathan... what are the dimensions of your tank again ?

 

[jnarowe]

Thanks, I appreciate that quite a bit. Had some guests over yesterday and they all remarked about how colorful the reef is. I am also personally very happy with the health of the fish. They are all in very good shape and I think that counts for something.

Still so much to be done.

Tom: tank is 8' x 5' x 35" and...you bring up a good point. I should probably post system info. on my web page!

 

[Sparkss]

our fish are like pigs with fins . Very healthy also, so I know what you mean about being happy with that piece of the puzzle .. but I am pushing for more color from our corals currently... I am going to be pulling the tripod and a better lens out for our camera this week to see if I can get pictures that better represent the state of our reef, then you will see what I mean . Wish you were a little closer, I would love to swing by and see your tank in person .

I also should check out your web page.. I admit to not having made it there yet . How are things going with your Ca reactor ? I seemed to recall that you had an alk spike or something along those lines ? (*too lazy to click back through the posts*). Has everything stabilized ?

8 X 5... drool. I look at the bigger tanks (than ours).. like yours, Barts and a few others and I get a little envious.. but I stop and realize that with our setup I couldn't have gone with a bigger tank if I wanted to (Without going with a bigger house). That helps to curb my envy a little (since reality is just that, reality , and I gave up "wishing on a star" ages ago ). But one day we may have a place that would allow us to have a tank like yours . My wife already talked about wanting to build an addition onto the house just for a bigger tank *hehehe*.. but I think we will wait until we move into a new house to upgrade tanks again (one of these days). Until then I get to live vicariously through your reef

 

[jnarowe]

I remember when there was no "Far East Bay"! :lol: I grew up in Redwood City. I get visitors from out-of-town occassionally, and I love to talk reefs.

My alk spike has been resolved as has my RO/DI debacle. t was down below 9.0 dKh last night and I found my recirc pump had lost its prime for the second time...not sure why that is happening but I have to keep an eye on it.

On the whole, the reactor is working great and I got some good advice on managing that whole part of the system from Steve Weast. And when I look at yours and others' tanks I get fish envy! I see tanks with swarms of fish and they look so nice, butI have been very gun-shy of adding too much bio-load. That of course, could be a key reason why my corals have nice color. (not that you can tell from my pictures! )

 

[Sparkss]

actually I heard that fishless or fish poor tanks usually have less colorful corals, since the fish inadvertantly feed the corals. So long as good nutrient export is occurring, more fish should equal more color, but you could be right

 

[jnarowe]

doesn't make sense to me then why we spend so much energy skimming our tanks...I think the less waste in the system the better chance for a low phosphate & nitrate environment. But, each system has its quirks. I also don't have a Volcano!

 

[melev]

We want to remove the DOCs before they can break down. If we didn't, our corals would sit in quite the soup. Softies don't care about water quality as much as SPS do. So while they eat, they don't eat 24 hours a day.

 

[gkarshens]

Anthony Calfo says the best SPS food is fish poop. He also is a big fan of a good skimmer and huge regular water changes. I think the key is that the corals benefit from the fish poop before it breaks down. So whatever is not used by them needs to be removed before it turns into Ammonia.

 

[jnarowe]

Hey Gabriel, what up?? Well, my orange shoulder alone could provide all the fish poop my corals need! :lol: I think he has the runs...

 

[gkarshens]

I hear you! Between mine and the Sailfin sometimes it looks like it is snowing in my tank!

 

[cbui2]

Tagamet HB 200 Tablets, smash up some pc's hopefully it will cure the stomach acids.

 

[Sparkss]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10127856#post10127856 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cbui2
Tagamet HB 200 Tablets, smash up some pc's hopefully it will cure the stomach acids.

Did I miss the post that this is in answer to ?

 

[jnarowe]

:lol: yeah, I am sure my fish will like the Tagament...takes like chicken!

 

[mrcrab]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10128876#post10128876 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
:lol: yeah, I am sure my fish will like the Tagament...takes like chicken!

Sure it doesn't taste like chicken? :lol:

 

[jnarowe]

Hey guys...just checking in. I did a water change and cleaned out my skimmer today. I keep dreaming about a wash-down system for the neck!

So now I am dealing with low alkalinity. I just can't seem to get the system stabilized in that respect. I made some adjustments while Steve Weast was here, and I think I over-did it.

I also checked my SW and found it had an alk level of 2.9 dKh...seems to be very inconsistent so I brought that up quite a bit before doing the water change.

Tomorrow I will change out the media in my multi-media reactor and maybe increase the volume of Ca media a bit.

Hope you all are having a nice Father's Day/or Drinking Day...Sherman and I had some nice Crater Lake last night, and mmmmm, it was goooood!

 

[jnarowe]

BTW, I could use some input on what people would be inetrested in seeing listed on my equipment page.

Any suggestions would be welcome!

 

[cbui2]

:beer: had some myself today, new page looks great but i will look into more this week.