Just can't get them to survive

Don't get it. Very glad I only got a firefish this time over - but it too lasted a bit over a week before coming out and seemingly just passing away of no identifiable causes. Had to grab it away from the shrimp, which was at it during the last living moments. Tank parameters seem OK even though it's a small tank of 10g. Usual salt fluctuations but never more/less than 1.024 and 1.028. Water changes once per week of about 20%. Ammonia is zero. Nitrates/nitrites either zero or close enough to it, at least according to the tests.

Corals seem all fine (gonopora is the only one that hasn't opened lately.) The scarlet cleaner shrimp is his usual active self. The 2 porcelain crabs are their usual active selves, waving their fans for food. Hair algae is less than I'd expect, which is quite good. Using Purigen and Phosguard, which seems to work, in a mechanical filter. So now a purple firefish, two red firefish and a Rainford seem to have just expired after about a week - yet everything else seems to be fine. Wondering if I should try another hardy fish of a different sort or just give up trying to have fish with this tank.

1st Tank

Hello all!

I have decided I want a saltwater tank, putting in all the proper research before I jump in. Pretty sure I want a 75 gallon bow front reef ready. I am a Disabled Veteran and I think having a tank and new hobby will help keep me occupied, and look great for sure!

Diy ATO

I'm making a diy ato with float switches ran in series... but have ran into an issue... one works fine... but when I wire two in series I run into some issues... when one drops it turns it on even though the other should still be off...

Tank Mid-Cycle, a few questions

Hi, I've been away from the hobby for about ten years and am in the process of starting a new tank.

It is a 40 gallon Bare Bottom with a 20 gallon sump. I've got about 20lbs of base rock in the sump with more on the way.

Three weeks ago I got the plumbing sorted, added some Instant Ocean, then a piece of shrimp from the deli counter. Most of the shrimp is still there, slowly rotting in the sump.

Here are my current parameters:
S.G. 1.024
Temp. 77.5
PH 8.4 +?
Ammonia .25-.50ppm
Nitrite 5ppm
Nitrate 40ppm

The testing is a bit tricky for me as I am slightly color blind, so I may be a bit off on my readings.

I've got a tiny bag of carbon in the sump to clean out any plumbing glue residue. Is this good or bad for the cycle?

Should I get my skimmer going?

When should I do my first water change?

Is it time for a piece of live rock yet?

What can I do to control the PH?

Thanks everyone. I'm starting from scratch here and re-learning as I go.

My end goal here is to have a frag tank starting with zoas. I plan to get a black molly to control the hair algae that I hear is going to grow on my eggcrate and a small clean up crew, but that is further down the line.

Thanks again! Take care.

Kissing blue green chromis?

Hello I have a 30 gallon FOWLR tank with 50 kinds of sand,and about 40 pounds of rock.We started out with 1 firefish,1 ocellaris clown,3 blue green chromis and one diamond watchman goby. I've had them all about a week and 2 days and everyone's been doing really well. But yesterday morning I noticed one of my chromis must have jumped out of the tank :/ then today I noticed my other two "kissing". I read that could mean fighting?!? Was curious what your opinions were? !?!?

My tang collection

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rovd...nnel=bingosh27

my build thread: http://ift.tt/1VZwucn

What's in My Reef?

Hello friends,

My reef is 6 years old. I haven't added anything to my tank in almost 2 years. Cleaning my tank today, in my overflow box I see these "octopus" looking things. they are about the size of a quarter/half dollar when fully extended. i was looking for a comparison and seen a bristles star. Is that what they are?

Hope the pictures are clear enough. They just appeared in my overflow. I have about 6 that I can see.

Next, are they harmful?

Thanks friends,

RJ

Daily microbubble tank treatment?

So I've seen some interesting things floating around Facebook of all places on a couple different Reef pages. There seems to be quite a few people who are running air stones right at the return pump in the sump to create essentially a skimmer out of their whole tank for a set amount of time every day. In theory it makes a lot of sense, but I can't seem to find much on any forums. I've always been told to AVOID microbubbles? Does anyone do this or have any input/knowledge on it?

Thanks in advance,

Blair

New 29 gallon reef setup.

Hey guys, I'm new to the forum and the reef community. I have a couple of questions. I have live sand and Caribe sea dry rock in my one week old tank. One small clown and I have been keeping the lights off to help cut down on algae during the cycle period. Should I not do any water changes until the cycle is complete ? Also when do you recommend installing a protein skimmer? Any help would be appreciated. Ty.

New Tank Inhabitants

Looking for an order to add these fish to the tank. Wondering which one is the least aggressive so I can start with them. Also an overall order would be good. Fro that matter any input would be appreciated.

Tank will be a full reef. In a 55 gallon tank with a 28 gallon sump, HOB overflow and skimmer, refugium in the sump, including a DSB and some Chaeto.

2x Ocellaris Clownfish (Would consider Percula, couldn't really find much information on the differences)
1 Coral Beauty Angelfish
2 Neon Goby
1 or 2 Bangaii Cardinal
1 Yellow Tail Damsel

Also considering a Foxface Rabbitfish.

Thank you for your help.

Happy Reef Day

I am James from West Michigan and I am new to the reef. I have done some work in planted tanks but this is my first adventure into the full saltwater world. I have even ran slightly brackish planted tanks.

My first project is a 55 gallon reef with a 28 gallon(20 gallons of water/substrate etc) sump. So far we have cycled with live rock and some Molly fry. About ready to add my first real fish.

Happy Birthday InvisibleEmpire /4/30

Happy Birthday InvisibleEmpire!!!!

Bay Fest Saturday!

Good morning TRT friends, and.....HAPPY SATURDAY! Yeah, I managed to get to 'boogy-bug' from the Mrs. so off today from the boatyard. It's Bay Fest over in Somerspoint where I work......A street festival they throw WAAAAAAY too early every year to kick off the summer season. So Somerpoint is a blockaded city for this.....kinda like every day at the South Jersey Shore during the summer months.:rolleyes: But staying home I have time to have a relaxing breakfast with my family.......so dippy eggs over medium, thick sliced apple wood bacon, white toast, and of course plenty of coffee and pink milk. Hope all are well, and 'booger-bug' free on this wonderful day, and all the best,
Hack

Unhealthy wellso?

I bought this coral a couple weeks ago and noticed a white-ish ring around the inside and on the underside. Not sure how well you could see from the pic but I'm just hopeful that it is healthy or at least will be... First brain (heard it) so any help is appreciated.

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VIDEO: Lower Your Nitrate with a BioDenitrator

How to Lower Nitrate (and Phosphate) in a Reef Aquarium using BioPellets

Little white star fish???

Every day in the morning I find little white star fish on my glass of my 29g nano tank. Where do they come from and are they hurtful to the tank?

Another round of guess that hitchhiker

Same Kenya tree coral frag, another hitchhiker. This one is directly at the base of my tree coral and may or may not be a type of anemone. It isn't an aptasia, or a majano(I actually have two majano anemones in my tank and they look nothing like this) When closed, it takes on a bubble shape, it has a stock about five cm long, inside is a pale purple color and the tentacles are only around the outside of the cup and green. I've added pics of various stages of open and closed.

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ID possible hitchiker coral?

I bought a Kenya tree coral about a month ago and I noticed there was this bright green speck on the frag it was on. Didn't pay it much attention. Buut, I definitely am now. Not only has the green speck tripled in size, but it has about a dozen or more orangish red... things(for lack of a better term) sprouting out of it. Very pretty, just no idea what it is.

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-STOCKING SUGGESTIONS- 28g JBJ

Ok, so a lot has happened since my last post. I have purchased a jbj 28 gallon tank, with the jbj nano skimmer, a filter basket(with 3 compartments, I have floss only in it now, waiting to do a water test), and a calcium supplement gadget. I currently am cycling the tank with the water I made with my new RO/DI, and the reef crystal salt. I have about 20 lbs of sand and about 25 lbs of base rock I am waiting to cycle and turn to live rock. I am new to salt, and primarily want to make it a reef tank, but I would also like to have a few neat looking fish swimming around maybe 3-5? I don't really know what to get besides maybe some clown fish, but any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

new flame hawk being bullied

I have a 29gal biocube with a purple firefish, green chromis, and a starry blenny. These guys have formed a pretty tight bond and finished off a flasher wrasse about a month ago and I've been pretty nervous about adding anything else in. But the flame hawk is the fish we've been working up to getting, so I bit the bullet and got him last night. I added him into the tank and immediately the chromis started checking him out, got a little frisky with him, but the hawk stood up to him and I think they are okay now. But the starry blenny is still being a little aggressive. We mad a new little cave when we added the hawk to give him a new territory and the blenny has even tried to run him out of there. I'm hoping things will settle down..... I'm wondering how long I should give it? or if it really will get better? I really want this fish... but I'm scared it's just not going to work out. This is my first saltwater tank, and everything else has been good to this point. It's just like I have a tank full of mean girls!

Stocking up!

I just bought a 125 gal tank all set to go, all I need is to decide which fish to put into in. I would love some suggestions!

From my old tank, I will be transferring over

3 pajama pants cardinals
3 green Chromis
1 coral bueaty
2 mocha clown fish
1 bubble tip anemone
1 urchin
1 engineering goby
1 lawn mover blenny
1 brittle star fish
1 neon dotty back
2 emerald crabs
couple of giant turbo snails

I am thinking about butterflies, dragonets, filefish, foxface, hawkface, puffer and tangs/surgeons.

Any thoughts?

Too many clown fish?

I just purchased a pre owned 125 gal reef tank. With it, comes a bubble tip anemone and two mocha clown fish. In the tank I already have, I have a ocellaris clown fish. Can I keep all three in the 125? Should I keep them in separate tanks?

Fabulous Friday

Morning all. Still wired from the 14 hours behind the wheel. Tomorrow is a leave the car in the valet area day, and we will travel on foot and see the Alamo and riverwalk.

Nice 90 degree day in the forecast for San Antonio. Shorts and flip flops are uniform of the day.

Coffee is on. Time to see if a nap will happen before breakfast.

Mated pair of scissortail dartfish?

Hey there, does anyone know if you can keep 2 scissor tail dartfish together if they are NOT a mated pair, or do they need to be a mated pair?

Microbubbles that swim?

So my tank is nearing day 60. Ammonia and nitrate is zero and nitrate is still going down and is at 15ppm.

Last week I added two fish. The tank was started with BRS reef saver dry rock and I used the red sea reef mature to get the bacteria going.

I added a 1.5 inch piece of dead coral frag that was 100% covered in coraline to seed the tank. about a week ago my glass was covered in little white guys crawling all over and I assume they were copepods.

The water has been crystal clear until 3 days ago. Now it turned slightly cloudy and it looked like I had millions of little microbubbles everywhere.

I had to turn the flow off 100% to add some new plumbing and what I saw was so weird. All of the "microbubbles" were in suspended animation in the water column just sitting there. So I thought it was debris. Well some of them started swimming around. They are so tiny, the best I can describe it looks like small dust particles that can swim. They are so small you can't even see the appendages move.

What can these be?

ATO ideas?

What is some good ideas for an auto top off container for a smaller tank? I'm getting tired of dragging 25ft of rodi line across my living room floor every couple of days just to top of my tank so I would like to add a top off container but I don't want any float switches inside my tank if I don't have to. It's a 48 gallon tank with no sump. I've seen some people have ATO set up on dosing pumps, is this a good idea?

Six Line and melanurus wrasse

So I was telling my LFS about my six-line Bering a complete jerk to any other fish I try to add to my tank as well as my issue with flatworms. He suggested adding a melanurus wrasse for the flatworms and said the the six line shouldn't really bother him. Well....

I added him to my tank and the six line has been chasing the melanurus relentlessly for about thirty minutes.

Will it eventually stop pestering him or is my melanurus pretty much dead? :(

The AutoAqua Smart ATO Micro with a DIY Twist!

The AutoAqua Smart ATO Micro with a DIY Twist!

Reef hobbyist and engineer Randy Lindsay returns with this guest post about his experience swapping out the built-in pump of Autoaqua's Smart ATO Micro with a peristaltic pump.

10% off Frozen Food

10% off Frozen Food

We ship frozen food anywhere in the contiguous U.S. for a low flat rate!

Save 10% on your order until midnight Sunday w/ coupon code FROZEN



Feed Frozen Fish Food to Increase Fish Color and Vitality

American DJ Power Strps

Anyone ever have issues with them? I've had 2 fry in the last 3 years, yeah like an electrical fire fry.

Happy Birthday Electrobes!!!/4/28

Happy Birthday Electrobes




:fireworks::Bdaycake::fireworks:

Yes it is Thursday!

Good morning TRT friends, and.....HAPPY THURSDAY! I see we have a new sheriff in town.....I wish the new folks well, and hope our forum thrives under their care.:beer: Spring has sprung, and retreated....dreary, damp, and cool....boy it was nice while it lasted...before you know it it will be time to send the kids back to school. :nuts: Jen got slammed with the flu, or some other nasty bug...tried shaking it on her own the last couple of days, but it's the doctors turn today to earn their new set of clubs.:rolleyes: AND I wonder why all of a sudden my nose is starting to run now? Dippy eggs and bacon for breakfast to go with our coffee and pink milk, though the Mrs. will be sitting this one out. A few boat rides to get under my belt today, and a little more yard shuffling. Hope all are well, and safe,
Hack

LED's... Evergrow vs. Current Orbit

I love my 40B, but am upgrading to a 75 acrylic. Picked up a new tank and stand on the cheap (needs a metric fork ton of sanding, polishing etc, but worth it).

As you can see my 40 is getting a bit crowded and I just so happen to have the wall space + found a killer deal.

Debating on the new setup.
Currently have:

Bean animal C2C overflow w/ home made 30 CREE LED (full spectrum) 3 dimmable channels (moon, blue, white(w/ red and green).
Extremely simple sump w/ Mag7 return pump

Upgrading to the 75 w/ stand and 2 smallish sumps that I plan to plumb together. I'll Probably do a wet/dry filter (with reef rubble not bio-balls) in one and a fuge in the second. Don't have it all worked out yet because you can't really do a wet/dry w/ the C2C but I'll figure something out.

Definitely doing a C2C on the new 75. But NO CLUE what lights to go with.

Who likes the evergrows (the ones off eBay with bridgelux LED's)? Who likes the Current USA Orbit?

I spent $300 on parts alone for the DIY lights for my 40B which work awesome, but Love the programmable nature of the ready built stuff and have ZERO time or motivation to do a new light build.

Want to spend in the $150 range on lights. So leaning towards the Current's. The 75 is a shallow tank at 16" tall. Anyone think the Current's will do the trick?

Attachment 124137

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Adding a new PJ Cardinalfish

I have a 65 gallon FOWLR with a relatively small bioload. I have a PJ cardinalfish that's about 2 years old. I love this fish. My LFS has one of about the same size and I was wondering if, after all this time, a new one would be accepted? TIA

ISO powerheads, wave makers, or water pumps.

I accidentally killed three powerheads last night. I have a massive wave maker on my tank right now, but it's too much flow. before I bite the bullet and buy something online. I wanted to see if anyone had any used equipment that moves water.

I am looking for anyone with extra powerheads, wavemakers, or water pumps they don't need. They don't need to be fancy, but just something that works for now. They can be any size.

On a side note I am also looking for anyone with HOB filters for another project I have going on.

Also looking for a skimmer for either a 125G reef tank, or a 40B.

let me know what you have and how much you want for them. Maybe we can help each other out?

Is this normal??

I got my bubble tip anemone about a week ago and he seems to open up for a while, shrink in, move than open up again. Now he is under a rock and has this odd white "film" over where I think his mouth is. Is this normal? Is it waste?
He is in a 40 gal tank. All parameters are good, PH was a bit low but I took care of it.

Help!

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Tank, stand and ATI light

I have changed tanks so I need to get this out of my garage.
All less than an a year old and in perfect condition.
Tank is 80 plus gallons 24" by 48" by 18" tall.
Oak stand made by local cabinet maker.
6 tube 48" ATI sun power with 1-1.5 month old bulbs.
48" led bar for for sun rise and sun set.

$450 must move by Saturday or I am giving it to a school.

Winging it Wednesday

Morning everyone.

Like an idiot got to the airport two hours early. Oh well, time to get some breakfast.

Got a lot to do today. Taking the wheels and tires off my car and leaving it up on blocks, then loading up my engine project and all the other things. Also bringing tools and spare parts.

Headed to San Antonio tomorrow super early, with all that good stuff loaded up in a rental car.

A couple of friends are coming by this afternoon to give me a hand.

Coffee is on.

Possibly Dying Rose Tip Bubble Anemone

Hello again. I have a Rose Tip Bubble Anemone that I purchased about 2 weeks ago. I was inexperienced and purchased a bleach Rose Tip because I thought the pink and white looked exotic. I now know this was a bleached anemone. For the first few days it opened up daily, but also deflated completely each morning. A did a drip acclimation over an hour or so, have a Photon-V2 24" LED Fixture which runs max at 40% currently as I'm acclimating, 2 koralia 240's, marineland heater, NO HOB filters or skimmers (daily 1 gallon water change). 40lbs dry rock, 20 lbs live sand. Cycled the tank fishless with liquid ammonia. The tank is now about 3 months old. I currently have a damsel, a maroon clown which decided to host the anemone and still swims around it and in it, 1 margarita snail; other coral, mushrooms, acan, a white anemone (which I now know is also bleached- but very healthy looking), and 1 gorgonian coral. All the other coral are opening up beautifully.

Here is a photo of the anemone a few days ago and then just now after the lights have been on for about 4.5 hours.

I need to know if I should pull it out because I don't want it to nuke the tank.

Water parameters:
Temp: 79
pH: 8.1
KH: 8
Calcium: 300 ( i know its low but since i changed to 1 gallon/day water change it's slowly rising)
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0.00
Nitrate: 10

Can anyone ID this anenome?

Hope this is an adequate place to post this. I got a purple trumpet frag about a month ago and this tiny guy (maybe half the size of a dime) was on the frag. Once it was in the QT tank it separated and floated around the tank and reattaching to the glass or pvc pipes. The frag has been moved to the main tank but I left this guy in the qt to monitor it's behavior and see if it grew (it didn't).

Was hoping someone could tell me what it is and if I should throw it in the main tank (small 5g tank with zoas, trumpets, gsp a yellow clown Goby and hermits/snails) or remove it.

Any help would be appreciated.

http://ift.tt/1WonYT2

http://ift.tt/1YSlw6i

Serpent Starfish Asexual Reproduction?

I came in to work this morning and first thing I noticed was that my serpent star looked like something had ate it's central disc overnight... I had seen that something had shortened a couple of its legs the past week but had not witnessed anything picking on it so not sure who it might be... I figured the starfish is already dead by looking at this picture...



Every now and then I see a leg twitching which I figured was just nerves like how their arms can still move after they detach to distract predators... well now I just noticed there are little internal anemone type of fingers that I assume is what they use to process their food that are still moving around, so now I'm wondering if maybe it is dividing itself up in an asexual reproduction? Has anyone experienced this? I'll document the outcome one way or another just kind of went from being disappointed to maybe being a little bit excited that maybe it's not dead and I'll end up with a clone...
https://youtu.be/blgzZZH1-wA

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Diamond watchmen goby concerns?!?!

Hello,I am very pleased to say my tank has finally finished cycling and we added dork fish yesterday :). Firefish, diamond goby, three blue green chromis,and an ocellaris clown. All have been doing very well,as soon as the goby go into the tank he immediately started making his den. Now I have a question about the diamond goby. He was out for about an hour or so yesterday after we out him in the tank, made hiss. Urrow and swam for a bit. But I have not seen him yet today. And I see some of the sand has manged to fall back into his Den. There is still an opening but should we worry about him not being able to get back out? ??

Too much lightning Tuesday

Crazy storm outside. The thunder made it impossible to sleep after 4 am.

Still in Cleveland leaving tomorrow. Put some coffee on.

Enjoy your Tuesday everyone.

Any good flow meters out there that is reef safe?

Eventually when I get my 180gallon ready to fill, I would like to find some type of flow meter so I can keep up with how many gallons I am adding to the tank plus the sump. I am not looking for GPH, I just want to keep count of how many gallons I am putting in the tank. I know it sounds crazy and it will take a long time but I do want to fill the tank from my ro/di system and then mix the salt water inside the tank. If I could find a 1/4" digital meter it would be nice.

I finally got fish.

Yeah!! It's been 4 months since I started the Saltwater Journey, I have been patiently waiting for the uglies to dissipate, and for this tank to look like something I want to stare at. I have been nervous about purchasing fish and making the right choices to go ahead with. Several false starts and plenty of research; I have spent some late nights reading this forum and researching the things talked about here (and elsewhere). Unfortunately I am limited in my options as there is very few places where I can buy marine livestock that I am comfortable with locally (I'm just not ready for the online order yet). My LFS for freshwater is great and the one employee is very knowledgeable about marine, and their livestock and rock is top notch in comparison to the other options in town, but they are a FW store and have very few marine choices and rarely have any stock. Long story short, I finally have a clown fish pair (shocking I know), and a Coral Beauty. They have added some great colour and movement to the tank and for the first time I caught my kids staring at the tank. I am glad I found this forum and the levels of experience and amount of sharing here is invaluable to me the newbie.

So one quick question, how long do fish take to get comfortable in a new tank? How stressed is too stressed? I'm not really too concerned more curiosity than anything.

• 45 gallon tank, aqua clear 110 filter (500g/hr, sponge, 3lbs of LR), Hydor 450 external canister (Bio balls), Aquatic Life Mini Skimmer, 50 lbs LR, Live sand substrate, 2x 650gph power heads, Fluval T5HO quadx39W.
• Water parameters, 78 degrees, 1.023-1.025sg, Calcium 420-450, DKH 6-8, Ph is 8.0, phosphate and nitrates both zero.
• 2 clowns, 1 Coral Beauty (Mysis and Pacifica Plankton to start)
• 1 Torch Coral, 1 Paly (with 4 heads, oh yeah), 2 small SPS frags from a friend and a colony of wavy green fingers that came with the rock.
• Drip acclimation
• Nuisance algae is negligible
• RO water with 5 gallons a week change.

Should I pull the shrimp?

Kick-started my cycle with a raw shrimp. I put it in two days ago and I'm already at about 2.5 ppm of ammonia.

I started the tank with 50 lbs of cycled dry rock and 2 pounds of live rock. As far as sand, I went with about 20 lbs of Tropic Eden Reef Flakes in my 36 gallon BF.

Is his enough ammonia to get the cycle rolling? From what I've read it appears anywhere from 2-4 ppm is a good time to pull out the shrimp.

Still getting algae growth and slow coral/coralline growth..

Hey guys! Ok... so I am still getting algae growth (not crazy at all but still annoying) in my tank and sump... here is my water parameters..

Ammonia:0, Nitrite:0, Nitrate:0, Phosphate: 0
Ca: 450, Mg: 1350, Alk: 9
SG: 1.026

I use RO/DI water (0 TDS) and do 20% WC weekly and 40% WC monthly. I use Reef Crystals. I have Chaetomorpha tumbling in my sump. I know with a reading of 0 phosphate there are still organic phosphate present being broken down so I decided to experiment with LaCl to really get rid of any phosphates I could, I used a 10 micron sock to catch the precipitate and exported it when water was clear. Made sure to keep an eye on Alk.

So my question is with my water parameters being ideal, very low phosphates which were lowered even further by LaCl, and 0 nitrates, why am I not seeing the coral/coralline growth, and why am I still getting annoying algae like some hair and bubble (which I export by taking the rock out of the tank, manually picking the bubbles off without popping them, then rinsing the rock in tank water in a bucket before returning to the tank)???

My coralline algae is in patches and hasn't grown in a while, and my nutrient levels have been extremely low for a while. The only coral that has grown is my brown zoas colony. I'm just frustrated because I've witnessed the speed at which my coral/coralline can grown, so I'm not just not understanding how slow it grows... YES I need better lights, which I'm getting very soon, but under these same lights I've witnessed way better growth than I'm getting now. I feed my corals a diverse array of foods regularly and even my red acan has not grown, which is surprising. I just want my colonies to stop looking like frags and start looking like a reef (lights will help, but like I said, I've seen them grow way faster than this under the same lights). What do you think...

Corals: Red Acan, Aussie Hammer, Green Goniopora, Brown Zoas, Kenya Tree

Anemones: BTA, Maxi

Inverts: 2 Skunk Cleaners, a bunch of hermits, diverse group of snails, Feather Duster Worm, and 2 Emerald Crabs

Fish: Coral Beauty Angel, Melanurus Wrasse, Leopard Wrasse, Blue Chromis, 3 Fire Gobys, mated pair of Ocellaris Clowns, Sailfin Blenny

What size UV watt for 90 gallon

I'm starting up a 90 gallon reef tank. I watched some BRS videos about there UV sterilizers. I wanted to get the 90 gallon one 25watt Emperor aquatics...but the guy helping me with the UV sterilizer set up talked me into getting a 18 watt one. He claims that a 25 watt would be over kill and that the UV should be based on the amount of overall water volume in the tank. Essentially he is saying that with LR and everything it will not be 90 gallons of water in the tank, therefore only needing the 18 watt. Anyone have anything to add to this. Should I get the 25 watt. I plan on running the sterilizer on the low gph end...not the higher flow as well if that helps.

Miss RAP Orlando? Here's what was in our booth...

Miss RAP Orlando? Here's what was in our booth...

PLUS filtration and media deals, plug & play tanks and new calcium reactors!

Refugium w/DSB ? for 125g with 40g sump

I currently have a 125g that has a 40g breeder for the sump that I just switched to a few weeks ago from a 29g. The new sump has 3 chambers since I wanted to add a refugium... Thinking I was doing the right thing I added 3" of sand to the center and LR rubble. I have done loads of research and some advocate for sand and some advocate for BB. My question is since the new sump has only been up and running for a month can I safely switch to BB? My old sump was BB but only had 2 chambers, 1 for the skimmer and 1 for the return... I plan on keeping LR and Cheato in the fuge... So do I need/want sand in there? Or can I siphon in out and slowly add it to the display which could use a little more in the front?

Background info:

125g 4 years old, all sand replaced last August due to a move from Texas (which is why I still need more in the front)

Help! Mini Cycle in 14g Nano

I currently have a 14g nano reef tank that was/is undergoing a mini cycle. Just this morning I had a reading of 0ppm Ammonia. I will continue to check the water parameters for a few more days. You see, I was a little over zealous in my cleaning of the tank this week because I was headed out of town for a couple days and I siphoned more of the sandbed than I normally do. I have 2 small clowns and a warpaint clown goby that inhabit this tank, they were all showing signs of distress when I returned which is how I noticed something was wrong. I found out that my Fluval Nano Skimmer also quit while I was gone so I did a 3g water change on Wednesday evening and the smallest clown perked up and did take a couple pieces of food, the other 2 however did not. Ammonia read .25ppm so I did a second 2g water change on Friday and added 3 pieces of LR rubble from my 125g. Last night Ammonia read between 0 and .25ppm so I did another 3g water change and this morning I'm reading at 0ppm for Ammonia. I am unable to find my nitrite test since we are under a basement completion project to build my 125 into the wall with a room behind so some things are misplaced at the moment.

So with all that back story here's the question I need help with. I removed the warpaint goby and placed him in my refugium on the 125 because he looked to be the worst one. Should I wait a few days to return him to the nano tank? I have a new skimmer on the way. Oh, and I did not remove the skimmer housing for the one that is not working because I figured it has beneficial bacteria on it... Should I wait a few more days before returning the goby to his home and is there anything else I should do to speed up the full cycle process?


14g Fluval Nano w/built in sump
0-.25ppm Ammonia for the last week (until today)
??ppm Nirtites
0ppm Nitrates
Tank is 2.5 years old (although the sand is only 8 months due to a move)
Weekly water changes of 1 gallon
1.024 salt content

Other inhabitants are: (no signs of distress)
Emerald crab
Several Blue-Leg Hermits
1 Striped Leg Hermit
Snails
Bristle Worms
Bristle Stars

Brine shrimp hatchery

Im thinking about regularly producing brine shrimp in large quantities. I know my clown goby likes live brine shrimp, and im sure my other fish would benefit from it as well. I have the extra space in the last chamber to fit a 2 liter bottle, and placing it in the sump will keep the temperature stable. I ordered the brine shrimp eggs online, and im wondering how I could keep the brine shrimp alive long term? A couple 5 gallon buckets could generate some revenue, and it would ultimately go towards my tank. I work from home so I definitely have the time to do this. + The wife would be happy with the idea of not having to spend money out of my paycheck for fish stuff.

Ive read a couple ideas on keeping them alive long term. Some say they like dirty water, and some say the holding tanks require regular water changes? Anybody have experience with keeping brine shrimp alive long term.

Im just estimating but maybe $10 for a quart of brine shrimp............idk. Im always looking for ways to fund my addiction to fish tanks. I used to sell aquatic plants online, and did pretty well. I was selling pogostemon helferi or downoi for almost about $5 a plant. It did pretty well, but couldnt keep up with the demand. I guess I would start small with the brine shrimp. Its cheap to get started, and if enough people bought brine shrimp regularly I could upgrade to something larger in my garage. Maybe even sell to LFS.............What do yall think?

Last edited by andrewq; Mon, 25th Apr 2016 at 09:12 AM.

Hitch hikers inside live rock making a mess

There are some hitchhikers inside my live rock that every so often emit a jet of detritus into the water.
This makes it impossible to get the water totally clear.
It clears up from one and another messes it up again.
Should I try to do something about this.
I have a large number of filter feeder that came on the rock. Feather dusters, sponges and corals. It doesn't seem to bother them and some might feed on it, I don't know.
Should I wall them in their holes?

Happy birthday to dylwhitley on 4/25!

And here's the Official TRT Chorus® to sing......

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOOOOOO YOUUUUU!!!!

*onday Again, Hot coffee and donuts.

Good *orning all,


Coffee and donuts.


Back to work , rain in the forecast all week . I was hoping for dry, rainless weather.


Have a Great *onday.

Hi :)

Hi y'all,
I have had a fowlr tank for a little over 10 years. You would think I would have learned something by now..uhm nope. I'm still a newb. Seriously!
I do have a clown fish that is 10 years old, Elmo, and a brittle star that is 10 years old, Star. I know real original on that one, lol. Maxine, the clown fish, is 5 years old. They are are called "The Indestructibles". Sounding good so far, right? Haha, they are the only fish in a 150g. Star was a hitch hiker and about an inch and half big. Now we are estimating she is about 21 to 22 inches. She is huge!!
I went through a long term illness and the tank got neglected bad. On top of that I didnt realize the ro/do filters were way over due for a change. You guessed it, now I am battling the dreaded green monster! GHA!!
So now to get my tank all sparkly so I can have some more wet pets :)
I look forward to reading all I can and learning from y'all.

TBS LR and LS

Hi all! It's been quite a while since my last post, but I have to share this awesome experience. I've owned saltwater tanks for 12 years now and just picked up an order of Live Rock from Tampa Bay Saltwater. The rock and sand are absolutely amazing. Tons of life along with several hitchhikers, including an awesome clinger fish, pink urchin, starfish, crabs, snails and filter feeders. The rock is full of coraline (purple, green orange) and filter feeders. This stuff is awesome and the best part is that it is packaged in saltwater so it's truly live. I attached some pics. The tank is 108gal and I went with a 65gal "package" plus and additional 50 gal of LS for a. The pictures show only 65 lbs of the LR. The remaining 65 lbs gets shipped once the tank is cycled. Cool thing is it looks like I may avoid a cycle (or really just have a mini cycle) due to limited die off as the rock and sand is shipped in water. Ammonia at 0, Nitrite at 0, Nitrate at 2.

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The best lighting for 20g nano reef tank

I have 18"x18"x18" so about 20 gallon nano tank. I want to put bta in the tank. The set up right now is 20 lb of live rock and bak pak 2 protein skimmer (on the side). I'm looking for clamp led lighting on the back because the skimmer took the most space on the left side of the tank. My budget is up $100. What clamp led light can you recommend for bta?

I have found this and not sure if it is enough:
http://ift.tt/1qJbxoQ

NSW to feed corals

I have the ability to have a couple of gallons of NSW brought to me from the near shore reefs around seven miles out in the Gulf of mexico off FL pretty much every day. I could never get enough to have a total NSW tank but I am wondering if adding a gallon or two to my home reef once or twice a week would serve to feed my corals SPS in particular.

I would assume the water would be llive plankton rich and also assume this would be a great food source for my corals. I could even go as far as to filter this water through a carbon GFO mix to remove any possible impurities but dont know if the plankton would make it threw. I understand that this is live water but I could introduce it to the tank within a matter of a few hours but 24 would be more convenient.

I know; strange question but I would appreciate any input or even wild speculation:agree:

new to the topic / buying an red sea max series / open vs top

Hi folks
I have been looking for a saltwater aquarium for some time... (previously only freshwater)
I am looking for: mixed fish and corals (soft and stony)
I'm in doubt between a nano (to learn, cheaper - -though harder to maintain) and a mid-sized one (circa 50g)

-- I guess for me now a "plug and play" would be an easier way to start.

One BIG question I have is "open vs closed" top. I could not find much about the topic, I hear open is better, but suicide fishes and evaporation can be a pain..

So far I am about to purchase the "RED SEA MAX E SERIES 260", including the additional filtering and automatic top off - seems pretty nice and of good quality...

I have not yet thought about the corals.. (any ideas??)
I was told that one should plan ahead for which fishes to have before buying an aquarium... so my candidate list of fish and invertebrates (potential to have) are:

FISH
OCELLARIS CLOWNFISH
Jawfish
Flameback Angelfish
Orange Stripe Prawn Goby
Orange Spotted Goby
Wheeler's Shrimp Goby
Yellow Stripe Clingfish
Royal Gramma Basslet
Blue/Green Reef Chromis
Yellowtail Damselfish
Bicolor Blenny
Sailfin/Algae Blenny
Linear Blenny
Midas Blenny
Neon Blue Goby
Scissortail Dartfish

INVERTEBRATES
Banded Coral Shrimp
Blood Red Fire Shrimp
Spiny Star Astraea
Brittle Sea Star
Serpent Sea Star
Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
Peppermint Shrimp
Feather Duster
Electric Orange Hermit Crab
Electric Blue Hermit Crab
Bulb Anemone

Any thoughts / ideas / suggestions would be great!!

Thank you!!

Sunday and a real beaut!

Good mawnin', TRT!

Coffee is ready. Scrambled eggs with cheese, Texas toast and cowboy taters. Nanners and early local strawberries. OMG I love our local berries.

Hack - Thanks for the photos of your tank. Cool about the morning stretch for one of them (can't remember which, now..)

Perry - You? Bored? Never thought I'd hear that.

Wups! I have to head out for choir practice before church.

Lots of love and hugs and peace to everyone.

Elephant Snail

After some research I have found what I believe to be an Elephant Snail in my tank. Only comes out at night it seems. What kind of experiences have you all had with them? I am readin mixed reviews as to whether or not they are reef safe.

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20 to a 72, finally making the big jump

So, I have had a 20 gallon for about 5-6 months now. I started it up just to see how i did at saltwater after a 10 year break, and with the only casualty being a monti who fell on my frogspawn I feel like i am ready to go bigger. I began the 20 extra high with a very basic setup of a emperor 400 for filtration and 2 power heads for flow. The upgrade components are as follows:

72 gallon bowfront
25 gallon sump
protein skimmer(cannot remember the make but it is rated for well over 72 I believe)
1 Ecoray 60D LED for now, another once i pick up the tank
stand

The current inhabitants of my tank are as follows:

fish:

1 gold striped maroon clown
1 yellow banded possum wrasse
1 bi color blenny
1 wheelers shrimp goby

inverts:

blue and red legged hermits
emerald crab
feather duster
tiger pistol shrimp
all sorts o snails
cleaner shrimp
3 sexy shrimp

corals:

lps:
2 hammer corals
1 frogspawn
1 folded brain
goniopora (i have no clue how it has done this well for the last 3 months, i didn't realize that it was supposedly so difficult!)
1 metallic green trumpet

sps:
1 monti who is struggling after being beaten up after falling on my hammer
1 birts nest
1 unknown monti like coral

gorgonians:
1 rusty
1 purple

So, that is it for my current inhabitants. The tank that i am moving this all to is actually one from the LFS which i scored an awesome deal on. Because he is moving to a smaller location, he needed to get rid of it. I am moving and will be able to set it up on the 14th so ill be able to have pictures of it then, but in the meantime i can keep my tank set up at my current location.

With the intro and the specification on what I will have and what I currently have in terms of gear, I am looking ahead to consider livestock. I have been doing a bit of research and would really value your input on what I can/shouldn't/cant have in this tank. If there are some fish whom would demolish the sexy shrimp, no problem as I know someone who would be interested.

Future Livestock(?):

Gold striped maroon(currently have)
yellow banded possum wrasse(currently have)
bi color blenny(currently have)
wheelers shrimp goby(currently have)
Dusky wrasse
Carpenters flasher wrasse
Banggai cardinal
Kole/squaretail bristletooth tang and(ideally/or/absolutely neither) a CB Butterfly
Yellow clown Goby
Red Mandarin (currently working on plans for a refugium)


Well, that is all that ive got in mind so far. I would love to hear your input, criticism, and ****-talk ;) I work with fishing guides and firefighters so any bad mouthing you can throw at me wont be a problem :cool:

Hi there!

I'm returning to having a tank after over a decade. I was very well versed in aquariums and their maintenance back in the day, I also have a dual degree in marine bio and aquaculture so that helps some. There's some new technologies that I'm not well versed in that I will probably want to upgrade to. My tank is only 29 gal and most of it was parts from my previous tanks all of which were smaller. Ummm I think that's it!

Devil's Hand turning yellow

Hi everone! I recently aquire two large devils hand leathers, they were both lightpink/tan one had some extended polyps when I got them. Since (about 3weeks) the polyps are not extending and it is turning a yellow/green (same color as my very happy toadstool). My water parameters are good and I have 2x40w t5 as well as a strip led fixture. It is the only coral in my tank doing odd things. Everyone else is very happy and open...any thoughts? Thanks in advance

Help Parasite on Tuxedo urchin

I just bought a little tuxedo sea urchin this morning. Everything doing great until now as I looked at him and sore what looked like a dark coloured bristle worm. :eek:
I managed to get it off with a pair of tweezers. It was running around his spines and his little mouth. Does anybody now what this thing as I have never seen this before.






Sorry about picture quality I took it on my Lumia 640.

New tank cycle- clear water with high in ammonia

Hi,

I have been doing new tank cycle 10 days ago. I had bacterial bloom with cloudy water lasted about 5 days or so..water is getting clear but I still have high ammonia and 0 nitrite and 0 nitrate...

I did few water changes in first week because smell was like crazy. Its gone now and water is clear..

What do I do know? IL afraid I will remove some good bacteria if I do water change now..

Should I just leave them as is and hope high ammonia will go away?

Porcelain Crabs killing gobies?

I don't know if it's possible. Having a problem keeping firefish and small gobies alive in the small tank (10g). I don't think it's a water problem as I do regular changes of 20% once per week, levels seem fine, everything else lives fine including shrimp and corals. Problem is that after a few days I find that the fish no longer comes out or appears ill or just not well. I have 2 small porcelain crabs that seem to do nothing other than filter feed. I have never seen a porcelain crab get aggressive and they are afraid of almost everything, scurrying out of the way. They seem to completely leave anything else alone, even sleeping firefish in their caves. I think it's farfetched and there might be other explanations but has anyone really seen porcelain crabs go after fish that are larger than tiny?

Other livestock - 1 remaining Scarlett Red Hermit crab and a skunk cleaner. I doubt either of those two are responsible even more.

Tunneling Worm ID?

I am fairly new to the hobby and noticed a thin tunnel along the glass in the sand bed today. I purchased a few corals last weekend and even though I used a coral dip, it would seem a few hitch hikers made it into the tank. The day after putting the corals in, I had a very small red fancy brittle star climb out of the star polyp frag I added while I was feeding the tank.

The brittle star sticks a couple of arms out of a tiny hole in the live rock while I feed now and I am not worried about him but I know less about inverts that live in the sand bed so I was hoping someone could potentially help identify what is making the tunnel in the attached photo. I can see whatever it is pushing up individual sand grains from time to time but it seems tiny, about 1/8th of an inch long probably.

The only guess I have is that it could be a spionid worm but I honestly have no idea.

Thanks for any help in advance!

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help!! my anemone only comes out at night!

I need some help! I am a newbie. I got a bubbletip annemone about 1.5 weeks ago and it only comes out at night when the lights are off. When I turn the lights on in the morning it gets short and stumpy. I read it will find its own spot but has never moved since I put it in. It planted it's foot right away. My salinity is .024 ph is 8.0 everything else is 0. I have a 29 gallon tank it sits on live rock. I feed it twice a week. I have 120 watt blue and white led box dimmable hanging above the tank 7 inched from water and 17 inches from the live rock and anemone. It. Doesn't hide all the way inside rock but it just gets short and bubbly instead of letting it's tenticles stick out for my clowns

Chiller setup questions

My small 40 gallon tank just wants to hang out at 83 with my house ac on at 79. Its not near any windows and all pumps in it are small with a 96w LED only on at 40% power now

So when I do increase the LED's more heat may increase more.

I will be getting a small coralife chiller thats good for up to 55 gallons. My innovative marine tank does have a 476GPH pump. I was planning on plumbing from this and then hooking up to the y adapter that sends the water back into the display tank

Is that a problem?

I do not know if chillers send back very cold water or just water at the preset temp. Obviously if it sends back very cold water, going right back into the display is probably not a good idea

100 clowns in 500 litres(video)

Youtube video




Youtube video

Happy saturday folks

Good morning TRT friends, and....HAPPY SATURDAY! Cloudy with drizzles off and on, but still spring feel in the air. The floor of Hotel Hack is covered with short bodies as 'Lil' Hack and his friends crashed mid play sometime in the wee hours this morning and fell asleep where they fell. Mrs. H., called it quits around 4:30 also, so a bachelors' breakfast for my offering today....assorted cookies to go with the coffee, and if you feel the need, the pink milk is in the fridge. Off to work this morning, with a few odds and ends for me to accomplish over there. Two small boats to launch, a turbo clamp to replace, and docks to check. NORMAL! Hope all are well, and wish all the best,
Hack

sponge like substance growing on my live rock

Hey my names Keith and I'm new to the forum. My refugium has a sponge like substance growing on my live rock and on the glass. Anyone know what this is and whether or not it can harm my salt water tank? Its all the white on the rock in the picture. Looks kind of like spider webs..

What is this stuff

https://youtu.be/N1QoZCRMGDU I was doing my cleaning and had 100s of these weird things, I got rid of most of them but the rest are very hard to get rid of since they get stuck really tight

Marco Rocks

Just received a shipment yesterday. Their description states the rocks are already pre-cycled.

Do you think just rinsing them in some ro/di will suffice?

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Platinum Orange Ricordea Bleaching/Losing Color

I've had it over a month now and seemed happier when i first got it. Never really opened all the way up and seems to have lost some color on one side. Moved it around a couple times to lower light/less flow and nothing really changed. Ive been told its almost impossible to bleach a mushroom with too much lighting so i dont THINK thats the problem.

Water has been tested and nothing is out of whack. I also have Gold Mushrooms, Hammer Coral, Frog Spawn, Zoas, Bubble Tip, and Montiporas. Evertything else is looking excellent. I cant call it.... Anyone?

Dinos vs Diatoms vs Rusty Cyano

I have a 180 Mixed Reef in my basement, but decided to set up a 65 all SPS in my living room.

This is a new tank, 3 weeks old. Cycled with new Live Sand, mostly dry rock and then a little live rock. Used a filter pad from my old tank. Watched my cycle, tested twice daily, been zero's for a week. Still light feeding every day.
Currently at Trip O's (Didn't check my PH yesterday)
Running a junk skimmer to get going
I made a GFO And Carbon Reactors, and both have been running for a week.
I put two corals in the other day to see how the water was. Corals seem fine, but over two days I've either had a Diatom Bloom (new tank), Dinos, or a combination of Cyano and Diatoms.

On the bottom of the tank to the mid way up, I'd say it was 100% Diatoms. There are no bubbles at all. It looks like standard Diatoms to me, rusty brown.

Towards the Top on the Live Rock, there's some bubbles, so I was wondering if it was Dinos.

I was leaning towards Diatoms at first because of the new tank, but, some of them have bubbles towards the top. I killed all the lights and checked this morning and it appeared all the bubbles went away, which leads me to believe it could be Dinos now.

What do you guys think? I'm wondering if my LED's are too powerful, causing the Dino's to come?

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Alk spike problem

Hi all,
I have been having a spike in my alkalinity recently (which I think is due to doing 2 large 50% WC after aquascaping and trying to revive tank after some neglect). The tank has a few fish and soft, LPS SPS (acros, staghorn which seemed to be doing well before alk spike)
Parameters:
- Tank set up for almost 2 years – 40 gallon long tank
- Temp: 78
- Salinity: 1.025-1.026
- Nitrates: 0-5
- PH: ~8
- Phosphate: less than 0.10
- Magnesium – 1300-1400
- Calcium (400-420ppm)
- Alkalinity – used to be running it 8-9 now it spiked up to 10-11
- Using Instant Ocean reef crystals
- Dosing: I have been dosing 2 part and i think part of the problem is that i should have turned off doser after those 2 large WC but i didnt :bawling:
Damage:
- lost 2 acans which i though is due to making water a lot cleaner after water change but i guess it was due to alk spike
- Acros have started RTN i lost like 2 small frags and staghorn colony is started to slowly stn (like .3-.4") at the bottom.
- even poccillipora seemed retracted for half of the colony yeterday

What i have done so far:
- turned of all dosing, not doing WC until things stabilize (reef crystals has alk of 11) so i think wc will make things worse.
-as of yesterday slowly dosing calcuim (like 3-4ml) in an attempt to drive alk slowly, will test every 24 hours. I know that my calc is fine but i thought i would push it slowly up to bring alk down gradually.

all input welcomed
Thanks

Hello friday!

Good morning TRT friends, and.....HAPPY FRIDAY! One more wonderful spring day at the shore, leaning towards showers tonight. Man this is better than winter....except I have to work. Buttermilk waffles, and some fresh strawberries and home made whipped cream to go on top if you like. And of course plenty of nice dark roast coffee and pink milk to wash it down. Hope all are well, and have good things happening today, all the best,
Hack

Low range chlorine tests for ro/di

What is a reliable test kit to monitor chlorine on my ro/di?
What is an acceptable range and at what point is the carbon considered exhausted?

Salinity help.

Hi, so, I think I've messed up really badly. My salinity is very high. I didn't do enough research about salinity, and how to maintain it. I thought my lfs told me everything I needed to know. They never told me to top off with RO. When water evaporated, I've been topping off with salt. Now my tank has ich, and my clowns and pseudochromis aren't doing so well. I'm trying to lower the salinity at a safe speed, but I'm not really sure what else to do. My anemone isn't happy with the change, but I'm not sure my fish will make it through the night. I was told that raising the temp would help, but it's at 80 degree. Is that too high? Should I lower it? Any advice would be appreciated.

55 gal.
Phosphates: 0
Nitrates: 0
Nitrites: 0
Ammonia: .25
Ph: 7.8 (Added buffer)
Salinity: 1.030
10 gal sump.
Skimmer.
About 4 month old.

Cleaner Shrimp
2 Midnight Clowns
Psuedochromis
Watchman Goby
Possible Pistol shrimp hiding in the rock.
GBTA.
Emerald Crab
Turbo Snail
2 Astrea Snail
2 Nessarius Snail

Whats wrong with my coral beauty?

Everything in water is fine but my Nitrate where its 40, I'm doing a quick water change right now.
Coral beauty is just lying on the floor but then he tries to swim then back on the floor, he's breathing still though, what should I do to treat him? what cause this? was it my Nirtate? All my other fish (1 clownfish, 1 cardinal fish, 1 filefish, and 1 mcoscker) are doing fine

Announcement to TRT Members

Hello TheReefTank.com,
We have some exciting news: effective today, we have transferred ownership of TRT to a new owner. TRT is now part of a family of websites owned by VerticalScope Inc. This is a great thing for the forum members. VerticalScope brings capital, staff and marketing to really take the site to the next level. This means more options and more opportunities for TRT members.
A quick THANKS goes out to the mods here, as they are the ones who really keep TRT running on a daily basis.

How does this affect you?
The beautiful part is it doesn't affect you at all. All the mods stay just as they are and our devoted members continue to enjoy the site as always. Other than a new admin behind the scenes, TRT continues as it always has. VerticalScope will take over the hosting, technical support and financial stuff related to the site.
VerticalScope has a huge network of sites- over 200, and the resources to support and maintain TRT and keep it running and updated as needed.
With the resources available to VerticalScope, we are sure the site is on the cusp of great things.
We loved our time with TRT and we wish you all the best..!
Sincerely,
Aviv Eliezer, CEO
Keebali Media

Filter gunk?

I recently bought a Reef Octopus Classic 100-HOB filter. It has accumulated some brown gunk at the top and inside the filter of the tank. What is this? How do I make it go away, and stay away?

need advice on drilling my 125g

I have researched this over and over and I know this subjects been brought up constantly! Please excuse me this is my first post and would really like assurance on this!

Now I have drilled a small 29g multiple times year's ago. So I have SOME WHAT experience with this. Drilling is not my concern,minus being super nervous! Haha.

Here's my question, I have a Jebao WP-5000N
That has a head of 15ft. And 1500gph.

I originally had a Aqualine PF-1000 HOB overflow box running with the jebao (with a ball valve of course). I had to have the ball valve closed nearly 3/4s of the way just to "gain match".

Here I am years later planning to start this system back up (the most efficient/affordable way i possibly can at the moment)!

I ordered x4 1" bulkheads and x2 45mm diamond bits. Are 4 holes too much?should i go "2's for the drains for less holes? I'd also like to drill for my return line(s) also. With a 1" pvc return line full throttle that pump REALLY pushed water(enough to make waves and full grown Oscar's blow away). This tank started out as freshwater and the sump was built around that kind of environment.

Second question is, can I or should I make the return Y off for a dual return?

There will not be a overflow box for now (unless I bite the bullet and get one or 2 to do it all at once).

1" pvc or 3/4"? From what I understand you want some pressure on the pump ,so I wouldn't go any larger than 1". I'd like to Y it off so I can spread return flow to multiple area's of the tank.

I have nearly a 2.5"-3" sand bed and guessing 150-200+lbs of rock. The live stock I currently have in a friend's 60g is a red volitan lionfish,niger trigger,snowflake eel and chocolate star fish. All extremely small compared to their adult size. As of now this will be a fish only ,but eventually want to try some coral's ( I know about the chocolate star and potentially the ttigger). I do not have efficient lighting to even consider coral at the moment.

Keep in mind eventually I will be replacing the pump and want to leave room for a bigger one. More importantly in the event a drain gets clogged im safe!

Thank you for your time and I'm looking forward to sharing the build and my experiences with y'all!!!

Stocking 100 Gallon

Alright! So i finally have my 100 gallon reef tank going. Im not adding anything to the tank just yet because im giving it time to do its thing and settle completely before doing anything to it... just to be safe lol but i have an "idea list" of what I would like to stock it with eventually, yet of course i know some of these fish may not be compatible. I also understand that some are "with caution" in a reef set up. So I want your opinion, and if you have a better idea for one, please let me know :) i love color and I do want at least a couple "bigger" fish instead of having so many tiny ones.
So I currently have:
2 ocellaris clowns (mated pair yay!!!)
1 diamond watchman goby
1 yellow tang. I am completely willing to trade in my yellow tang if he is not compatible with the others, or if i need to trade him to get something else

Here is what i want...
1 coral beauty
1 flame angel ((i would introduce the flame and beauty at the same time and make them the last fish to enter))
1 foxface
1 royal gramma
A couple wrasse, id love a leopard wassre but ive heard theyre a bit harder, so im also interested in a orange-black fairy wrasse, flame fairy wrasse, and a green wrasse ((i wouldnt have more than 3))
2 kauderns cardinalfish ((im ok with skipping these if need be))
and 1 or 2 firefish (they do better in pairs???)

The fish i would LOVE to add, and willing give up others to trade out if needed...
Powder Blue Tang
Twopost OR whitetail Bristletooth tang
And id love a snowflake eel, but this would be a far fetch hope lol ((i have a got a covered lid for no jumping out))

So what do you think??? What can i have out of this list, what should i not have, and what could be better???

Thanks!!!

BTW here is a photo of my current tank ((i do plan on getting one more powerhead for the otherside because mine isn't THAT strong. It was for my 55gal))