Reef advice/opinions

M

Makled24

New member
Hello all. This is my first post on the site and my first reef tank. It is a 50 gallon sump-less breeder. I have a Hydor Koralia 850 running on the right side and am adding a 650 to the left side tomorrow to increase the flow. I also have an Aquaclear 110 HOB filter. For lighting I run Aquatic life T5s. There is about 25 pounds of rock in the tank along with 2 corals, 4 fish, and 3 cleanup crew members.

After 2 months in the hobby my tank has been running pretty smoothly. My current concerns would be how to make my water changes/top off more accurate and if I should add more rock. I prefer the simplistic look, but have thought about adding a piece as a bridge in the middle gap for more filtration. I am also looking for some direction on what to do next in regards to adding coral. All thoughts and advice are greatly appreciated. Look forward to being more active around here!

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IMG_4410_1.jpg
 
Is there a question, or are we supposed to just give out random advice? If so my advice would be to ask a question!
 
OK, enough making fun of the newbie.

To the OP (Original Poster), please try again. Most of us, even some of the people teasing you or making fun of you here, would really help if they knew what kind of help you want.
 
this is another post where they linked to something external,etc.. and this board "jails" those posts until the moderators get around to unlocking it..

I'd guess the "anyone" was an attempt at a bump even though we haven't even seen the first post show up yet..

I wish they would just turn that function off...
 
Well. Now that there is text and a couple pictures maybe I can take a stab at this for you!

A good rule of thumb for rock is ~1 pound/gallon although depending on the density/porosity of the rock that amount can be greater or less. It will also depend on what look you are going for. I like what you have, but I would be tempted to add another piece or two as well.

If you are planning on stony corals, you will want to up your total circulation quite a bit. For LPS you should aim for something in the 30-40x range, for SPS, 80x is not unreasonable. In my 120DT, I'm someplace north of 80x and I'm thinking of adding a little more just to make sure there is adequate flow.

Topoffs can be made quite precise using a ATO, but with no sump there won't be much room for error. Even with a sump, I prefer to manually add as needed for evaporation. As for water changes, as you do more they will become easier to manage. After nearly 30 years for me, Sometimes I don't even bother to check the specific gravity of the make up water - I know how much salt to add to my barrel - 1 x 50g bag + 2 x 12oz jif jars full gives me 1.025. Every time.

hth
 
I just saw that too. Good catch! You need to angle the power heads up to agitate the surface. That is where, especially in your case, most of the oxygenation occurs
 
I always figure that people who stuff their tanks full of live rock must have little confidence in their ability to grow corals :lol:. Start with less rock .... takes more time then for the thing to get overgrown.
 
mcgyvr said:
this is another post where they linked to something external,etc.. and this board "jails" those posts until the moderators get around to unlocking it..

I'd guess the "anyone" was an attempt at a bump even though we haven't even seen the first post show up yet..

I wish they would just turn that function off...
Click to expand...

Yes lol now I understand all the trolling. Thought my OP with pics and a couple paragraphs wasn't enough 😕
 
billdogg said:
Well. Now that there is text and a couple pictures maybe I can take a stab at this for you!

A good rule of thumb for rock is ~1 pound/gallon although depending on the density/porosity of the rock that amount can be greater or less. It will also depend on what look you are going for. I like what you have, but I would be tempted to add another piece or two as well.

If you are planning on stony corals, you will want to up your total circulation quite a bit. For LPS you should aim for something in the 30-40x range, for SPS, 80x is not unreasonable. In my 120DT, I'm someplace north of 80x and I'm thinking of adding a little more just to make sure there is adequate flow.

Topoffs can be made quite precise using a ATO, but with no sump there won't be much room for error. Even with a sump, I prefer to manually add as needed for evaporation. As for water changes, as you do more they will become easier to manage. After nearly 30 years for me, Sometimes I don't even bother to check the specific gravity of the make up water - I know how much salt to add to my barrel - 1 x 50g bag + 2 x 12oz jif jars full gives me 1.025. Every time.

hth
Click to expand...

Yeah I guess my attempt to bump was taken as my OP. I think I'm going to add some more rock just to help the system out. I've also added a powerhead to the left side and aimed the right one upwards. As for water changes I've marked off a few buckets so I know exactly how much water I'm taking out. Top offs would be my least accurate thing as basically I just eyeball and add the same amount of water each day. I use the waterfall on my filter as some type of a guide.

I plan on adding about 10 snails this weekend, is that a good idea? I don't really have any algae issues and even feel as if I'm struggling to see coralline growth. I haven't cleaned the back of the tank and only see some white fuzzy algae growing.
 
what are you running inside your Aquaclear? you have enough space in there to put in a bunch of Siporax so you dont have to add more rock into your display.
 
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