Reef Central Online Community - Blogs

ASM G2 protein skimmer

Madjamey — Sat, 19 May 2012 00:19:23 GMT

Quote:

Originally Posted by Madjamey

I have a ASM G2 protein skimmer for sale , clean and in perfect working condition ! Willing to ship ! $200 ( plus shipping fees )

ASM G-2 Protein Skimmer w/ Sedra 3500 Pump Information
Product Manuals & Documentation

ASM protein skimmers deliver when other skimmers fail. ASM harnesses a patented technique of needle wheel technology. Built from top to bottom with high quality scratch resistant extruded PVC tubing and the injection molded plastic acrylic provides you with not only a skimmer that will perform day in and day out, but can withstand the wear and tear of every day use in the reef aquarium. They are made at a lower cost, which will not affect the performance or quality, yet pass the savings on to you. These hand-made protein skimmers are easy to install, simply place inside your sump, plug it in, and adjust the out pipe flow rate. The out pipe on these skimmers is fully adjustable, it is merely a brisk up and down motion to raise and lower the height of the outlet pipe to dial in flow rate precisely with ease and accuracy.

ASM�s come complete with a Sedra pump or G series pump which is modified to create and produce some of the highest amount of bubbles per square inch of water, on the market today. They perform best, when placed directly in your sump.

ASM skimmers are offered in many different sizes to meet your aquarium needs. Sizes may vary, depending on your bio load and reef size. ASM skimmers will bring your Biotope to life, as your nutrient levels begin to come within proper ranges for optimal health and coloration of your tank mates. Ask one of our Technicians for advice on choosing an ASM for your aquarium.

G-2

Specifications:

Body Size: 6 ��
Height: 25
Foot Print: 10�X11�
Pump: Sedra 3500
Tank Size (Gal): 200 Gal

http://reefcentral.com/forums/attach...1&d=1337381399

Cyano, i'm finally rid of you

IridescentLily — Wed, 16 May 2012 21:41:28 GMT

Cyano looks like algae but it is actually a bacteria. Let me describe my cyano issue and how we managed to eradicate it.
I think the red slimy cyano began because of two things; Nutrients (excess food), and the changing of my hqi bulb.
I've always fed the corals 1-2 times a week. I've been feeding this way for about a year. I had no algae issues. No diatoms, no cyano, no hair algae no byropsis, no valonia. Thought i have had aiptasia.
When i feed i always blow the rocks off afterwards with a plastic turkey baster. It blows all the leftover, rotting food into the water all around, so it can all be removed by my Tunze skimmer. I couldn't believe the crap that blew all around when i did this the first time.
This worked well for 10 months because i had no issues. No nuisance algae, no nitrates, no phosphates.
Until....
I decided to change the bulb in my light fixture. The Oceanic biocube hqi came with a coralvue 14k bulb. Since it was 9 months old i decided to order a new bulb and i decided on a Phoenix 14k bulb. Same wattage, same color temp, and both are double ended bulbs. I had read numerous good things about the PAR that the Phoenix bulb is capable of. And after reading the high rating it got on Sanjay Joshi's site i knew that's the bulb i wanted.
So we installed the new bulb, and they were right, it was hella bright, and more of a blue color. The extra blue temp made the corals really pop.
....Then i noticed my trachyphyllia radiata (Brain coral) was getting lighter and paler in color, and it was looking smaller. I soon realized the new light was so much stronger that it was bleaching my brain coral (Area 51).
So...we bought some window screen and decided to cover the top of the tank with the screen, so it would help diffuse the light.
By the way we had no top on the tank the whole time we've had the tank.
So, after the first couple of days Area51 looked better. But i also noticed this dark red cyano forming on the very top of the higher rocks.
I had never dealt with it before but i had read about cyano and i knew it was going to be a pain to get rid of.
So everyday the cyano growth would get thicker. And it was spreading. But still only on the top rocks.
I tried blowing the rocks more often and manually removing the cyano with a small (new) artists paint brush. It was good for getting into crevices but it was gentle so it wouldn't scrape any corals.
I kept up with the cyano, but it would never go away. Everyday i would get up and it would be there for me to brush off.
Once i tried taking the screen off for an extra hour or two everyday. The cyano looked like it was getting better, but then my trachyphyllia started bleaching again.
Then we decided that the water flow in the tank needed to be increased. The flow that the tank came with (It's an aio) was not bad. It moved the water pretty darn good. But i thought maybe we needed the kind of flow that moved the whole water column, through the rocks. So we thought we'd get a tunze nano wave maker. Then we realized it wouldn't fit. So we decided on a vortech mp10 which i got for Mothers Day :)
It has a wave making algorithm setting.
Doug installed it and when he turned it on i couldn't believe the amount of detritus blowing around :-0
When we saw how much detritus it moved from the rocks into the water, we knew we made the right decision. We turned it down a bit because it was too strong for some of the lps corals. That's one of the reasons we got a vortech, because it is fully adjustable with a programmable controller.
That was three days ago. As a test, we decided not to brush off the cyano bubbles so we could tell if the added flow was helping with the cyano.
As of yesterday we (finally) have no more cyano. Within three days we have No red slime, no cyano gas bubbles. Nothing.
The tank, rocks and sand look so clean and all the corals look visibly better :)

Divorce sucks

bigevill1 — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:53:53 GMT

My wife filed for divorce last week. I am going to try to buy her out of her share of the house and keep the tank, but its future is in doubt. I may have to down size at the least to help control my bills.....

Area 51 is getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger

IridescentLily — Tue, 15 May 2012 06:05:59 GMT

I'm SO glad i was able to get my tank lighting to a a good balance. A sweet spot where my trachyphyllia Radiata (who we call 'Area 51') is no longer bleaching and pulled in, yet still have the higher light needs met for the other 90% of my softy, lps and sps corals.
Well, i was successful and now the radiata is doing a very quick turn around. When a coral is healthy again, it starts to grow, the colors are more vibrant, and the polyps are let out, puffy, and relaxed.
So is Area 51 now.
In fact he's getting so much bigger he is now 6.5" in diameter, and 3.75" high.
Now i have a different challenge. Keeping it from moving into other corals' existing space.
He looks like a little girls Easter bonnet when he's relaxed.
A nuclear, tie dyed, Easter bonnet
from space....who just ate thanksgiving dinner.

My own little lazaretto

Spaced Cowboy — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:38:03 GMT

Wow! was it really over a month ago that I last posted here!

Ok, well things have been happening, but just much more slowly than before. Before I started stocking the tank, I wanted to get a quarantine system up and running, and that took longer than I thought it would.

The plan was to use the garden shed as the location (since we're, ahem, space constrained) and I thought I'd set up another identical auto-water-change/topoff system as I have on the main tank, so that if anything broke on the main tank, I could steal parts from the quarantine tank until I got a replacement.

So, first the shed had to be built, then have power routed to it (including permits etc.), then the parts had to be ordered and installed. Now, though, I'm getting there.

Since where I wanted the shed to sit has an easement across it, I had to get creative ... The shed was built with wheels (4 x 2000 lb capacity) so it can be jacked up and moved, if the power company ever want to get at the lines overhead. It also "plugs in" using a trailer-park junction-box. The electrician and the city all signed off on everything so it's all legit :) Here's a couple of shots of the shed and its wheels...

And inside it looks like this (left then right shots). The goal was to set it up so I could have somewhere for my electronics-type hobby stuff while we re-purpose the garage more as storage, since we've just lost a room...

In fact above left you can see some LED strip-lighting I'm trying out for macro-algae lighting over the sump. It has a colour temp of 5500K, so ought to work reasonably well. We'll see.

Finally, to the right of the desk in the above-right picture is the quarantine tank itself, and a close-up of the water-change system. I ran another 3 lines (waste, new salt water, new fresh water) from the main tanks to the shed and buried it in the ground while we were laying power to the shed...

So, now the quarantine tank is up and running, I can start to think about actually adding some fish :)

LEDs and PAR/Quantum Meters Part 3: Quantum Sensors and LEDs

GeorgeMonnatJr — Wed, 02 May 2012 16:17:09 GMT

I've finally reached the meat of my blog where I post the stuff that I find myself repeating in multiple threads, continuing from my general thoughts on technologies (Part 1) and the definition of PAR (Part 2).

As before, this blog is as much a place for me to keep my thoughts straight and engender discussion and something to refer to instead of retyping the same material a lot as it is a place to share information.

I'm not even close to being an expert on reef tanks, yet (maybe in a couple of decades), and I'm not a biologist or botanist. If you are an expert and you see something factually wrong please let me know, and I'll correct it. (Comments on my grammar and citation style will probably be ignored ;) )

I do know LEDs and silicon-based photometers/photo-sensors (my title at work is Optoelectronic Engineer). I find myself re-posting the same graphs and explanations, so I figured I'd put it all in a blog that I can refer people to as needed.

Quantum Sensors and LEDs

The Apogee Quantum Sensor

As discussed in Part 2, Photosynthetically Useful Radiation (PAR) is defined as all photons, or light, in the range of the visible spectrum, 400nm-700nm, because that is the light energy needed for photosynthesis of all types to occur. Silicon-based light or photon sensors, like the photo-diode, have a sensitivity or response to light in that range, but the response is not uniform. Photodiodes are much more sensitive to amber or orange/red (600nm-650nm) than to blue (400nm-480nm). Apogee's SQ line of quantum sensors is calibrated to make the photodiode curve more uniform, but it still isn't perfect (and can't be close to perfect for less than $1,000's) [10].

Here again are the spectra for my TMC AquaRay LEDs (based on CREE LEDs) [4].

If you overlay the blue-driven white LED spectrum over the curves for chlorophyll, it looks pretty much like this chart from MARINELAND [11]. (I call them blue-driven white LEDs instead of just white LEDs as a reminder from Part 1 - it's very important.)

The two major things that I notice from that graph are:

1) the high AquaRay blue and MARINELAND white LED peaks line up very nicely with the ~460nm chlorophyll b blue peak and the high AquaRay white LEDs line up nicely with the ~440nm chlorophyll a blue peak (without either creeping below 400nm into the dangerous UV-A) and

2) the Apogee SQ-110 quantum sensor [10] that I own is only about 80% "sensitive" to blue light around 450nm.

Here's the crux of my discussion: If the lights over the aquarium are blue and blue-driven white LEDs with the majority of light energy around 450nm and the quantum sensor only reads 80% of photons with wavelengths around 450nm, then the PAR meter reading for those LEDs must be multiplied by a 1.2 correction factor.

To back that up, I'll quote a second-hand email that a friend posted in my local forums, Austin Reef Club (ARC) [12].

Quote:

Originally Posted by victoly in ARC

Email from Apogee Instruments on Measuring LED with Quantum Sensor:

"In regards to measuring LEDs with our quantum sensor, there are some caveats to doing so. The following link shows the spectral response of our quantum sensor (http://www.apogeeins...alresponse.html). As the graph shows, Apogee quantum sensors underweight blue light, and as a result, photon flux measurements for blue LEDs will be too low. They also overweight red light up to a wavelength of approximately 650 nm, above which they do not measure, and as a result, photon flux measurement for red LEDs will either be too high (if the LED output is all below 650 nm) or too low (if a non-negligible fraction of the LED output is above 650 nm). Additionally, LEDs often have a very narrow spectral output, with a sharp peak of only a few nanometers. So, unless the quantum sensor has a perfectly flat spectral response, meaning it weights all wavelengths of light exactly the same, there will be errors. Electrically calibrated Apogee quantum sensors will likely provide a reasonable measurement for white LEDs because they are broadband, and because electrically calibrated quantum sensors are calibrated under CWF lamps. However, for narrowband LEDs, like red and blue, Apogee quantum sensors will not provide an accurate measurement.

As a less accurate method you can use the same spectral response graph as mentioned above to get a relative idea of the error. For example, a 450nm blue LED will have a relative response of approximately 0.8. Therefore, you can figure that the photon flux reading from the sensor is reading approximately 20% low. Just remember, this approach is only relative so give yourself a wide margin of potential error. A blue/white configuration should give you reasonable accuracy, particularly from the broadband spectrum of the white.

It would be more accurate to figure out the non-blue component of the LEDs and multiply that by 1.0, then figure out the blue component of the LEDs and multiply that by 1.2. That is a lot of work I'm not currently equipped to handle. I've chosen to multiply the total by 1.2 for the main reason that it's conservative and helps prevent bleaching of corals and others due to light shock or too much light.

One thing to remember is that pretty much any quantum sensor you buy for < $500 will be based on the same technology as the Apogee SQ-110 and will have a similar response curve, meaning that the rough factor of 1.2 still applies.

I've noticed a lot of posts here on Reef Central and elsewhere where people complain about corals and/or others bleaching with the root cause of too much light discovered later. A perfect example is
is it just me or it seems many LED users get coral bleaching/ lightening?

Quote:

Originally Posted by kevensquint

I hang out in 3 forums in different parts of the world and everyday there is a new thread or two with coral bleaching under LEDs. I myself have been frustrated with the same situation under my Radion. Some may blame poor or lack of acclimatizing the corals to the light, maybe the case sometimes. But I'm going to propose an idea based on what I have experienced...

How I Put Together My Equipment

Instead of paying hundreds of dollars on a PAR meter, I bought an Apogee SQ-110 sensor (click on "Order Sensors" on left) and borrowed the digital multimeter (DMM) from work. As long as your DMM reads in millivolts (mV), or thousandths of a volt, then you can use it with the SQ-110 quantum sensor to get PAR readings. There are a lot of cheap DMMs available that will work just fine. You simply multiply the mV reading (or thousandths of a volt) by 5 to get the PAR value. As a bonus, you have a DMM that can be used to test for stray voltages, grounded circuits, live wire and many more things, too, instead of just a more expensive meter that only reads PAR.

The gain/output on the Apogee SQ-110 is 5.00 �mol m-2 s-1 (or written as �mol*m2*sec) per mV, so if you get a mV reading of 20mV (0.020 V) that's 100 PAR. Since I have LEDs, I then multiply it by 1.2 for 120 PAR.

(20 mV) * (5 �mol*m2*sec/mV) * 1.2 = 120 PAR

or

(0.020 V) * (5000 �mol*m2*sec/V) * 1.2 = 120 PAR

Note: Don't make the same mistake I did of paying for a Fluke 113. I spent the extra money ($95), because I wanted accuracy and needed to use the DMM for other, non-aquarium things. Unfortunately, the Fluke 113 doesn't work with the SQ-110. It's a low impedance DMM for better accuracy and doesn't have the option to change its impedance. The sensor was built to work with a standard voltmeter.

Part 1: Technologies

Part 2: PAR

References

[4] Quality Marine: AquaRay USA, Spectrum of Marine White and Reef Blue LEDs [pdf], 02MAY2012

[10] Apogee Instruments, Inc., Quantum Sensors and Meters: Spectral Response, 02MAY2012

[11] MARINELAND, Light sustains life, 02MAY2012

[12] victoly, Austin Reef Club (ARC), My First Coral and Clam post #9 on 29APR2012, 02MAY2012

LEDs and PAR/Quantum Meters Part 2: PAR

GeorgeMonnatJr — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:06:20 GMT

This is the middle part of my experiences so far with reef aquarium lighting continuing from my general thoughts on technologies (Part 1) with the end goal of how I measured my LEDs (Part 3).

As before, this blog is as much a place for me to keep my thoughts straight and engender discussion and something to refer to instead of retyping the same material a lot as it is a place to share information.

I'm not even close to being an expert on reef tanks, yet (maybe in a couple of decades), and I'm not a biologist or botanist. If you are an expert and you see something factually wrong please let me know, and I'll correct it. (Comments on my grammar and citation style will probably be ignored ;) )

I do know LEDs and silicon-based photometers/photo-sensors (my title at work is Optoelectronic Engineer). I find myself re-posting the same graphs and explanations, so I figured I'd put it all in a blog that I can refer people to as needed. You can skip to Part 3: Quantum Sensors and LEDs if the background info is too boring.

Photosynthetically Useful Radiation (PAR)

So I wasn't interested in LEDs initially - until I learned about PAR (Photosynthetically Useful Radiation). I saw graphs for chlorophyll spectrum used in numerous places, like this one [5].

The first thing I noticed from the graphs is that very little of the green and yellow portion of the spectrum is used. That started me leaning towards LEDs, because they are ideal for hitting peaks and not emitting in "dead zones" like on the previous graph. The areas where chlorophyll doesn't use light, mainly 475nm to 625nm or green to orange, is used by things we don't want growing in our tanks. "Cyanobacteria and red algae have phycocyanin and allophycocyanin as accessory pigments to absorbe orange light. They also have a red pigment called phycoerythrin that absorbs green light and extends the range of photosynthesis [6]."

Apparently chlorophyll c is a bad thing as only unwanted pests like algae, cyanobacteria (cyano) and dinoflagellates (dinos) use it. "A third form of chlorophyll which is common is (not surprisingly) called chlorophyll "c", and is found only in the photosynthetic members of the Chromista as well as the dinoflagellates [7]." Apparently another concern is fucoxanthin, "the brown pigment which colors kelps and other brown algae as well as the diatoms [7]."

I hadn't found an absorption spectra graph for chlorophyll c (to avoid those frequencies/wavelengths), but then I stumbled on an awesome chart [8]. It shows chlorophyll c (pale red trace) in the bottom, middle graph with a peak to the right of chlorophyll a (black trace). It looks very close to chlorophyll b, so I'm guessing I can't filter it out. The chart also clearly shows that fucoxanthin used by algae and diatoms is in the green range and algae in general needs the green to orange light for photosynthesis, including phycoerythrin and phycocyanin.

Here's a question for you expert reefers: Do coral use phycoerythrin and phycocyanin or another chlorophyll accessory pigment? (feel free to post below) Phycocyanin especially seems useless to species living deeper than a few meters, so I'm guessing no. If not, then eliminating the green, yellow and orange light will help eliminate cyano and nuisance algae, because they do depend on those proteins, right?

Eliminating those colors, or wavelengths, means uglier coral that looks more bland - like most of my crappy dive photos with my cheap, little flash.

Just to see more than one source, here's another chart [9].

I don't want to go deeper into photosynthesis, because it's not my field. From what I've seen, I prefer lots of blue light (400nm-480nm). Some red (640nm-680nm) may also be useful, but species that live deeper than about 3m/10ft never see red anyway. Surface species like floating algae are more apt to use the red light to grow, which I don't want. The stuff I don't like uses the green to orange (480nm-640nm) light, so I only want just enough green/yellow/orange/red for color rendering to make my livestock look pretty to the human eye while maintaining healthy coral, anemones and clams.

After all that, I finally get to the purpose of this whole blog. How I use an affordable quantum sensor to more accurately measure the PAR of my reef aquarium LED fixtures.

Part 1: Technologies

Part 3: Quantum Sensors and LEDs

References

[5] Light In Lakes, 01MAY2012

[6] Hyperphysics, Pigments for Photosynthesis, 01MAY2012

[7] University of California Museum of Paleontology, Photosynthetic Pigments, 01MAY2012

[8] ATJ's Marine Aquarium Site, Photosynthesis, 01MAY2012

[9] Steve Berg, Winona State University, Chapter 15: Photosynthesis, 02MAY2012

LEDs and PAR/Quantum Meters Part 1: Technologies

GeorgeMonnatJr — Wed, 02 May 2012 14:59:42 GMT

This three-part blog article is a summary (after some introductory information) of my experiences reading PAR values of LED aquarium fixtures and how to take and adjust them. This blog is as much a place for me to keep my thoughts straight and engender discussion and something to refer to instead of retyping the same material a lot as it is a place to share information.

I'm not even close to being an expert on reef tanks, yet (maybe in a couple of decades), and I'm not a biologist or botanist. If you are an expert and you see something factually wrong please let me know, and I'll correct it. (Comments on my grammar and citation style will probably be ignored ;) )

I do know LEDs and silicon-based photometers/photo-sensors (my title at work is Optoelectronic Engineer). I find myself re-posting the same graphs and explanations, so I figured I'd put it all in a blog that I can refer people to as needed. You can skip to Part 3: Quantum Sensors and LEDs if the background info is too boring.

Part 1: Aquarium Light Technologies (General)

Most of what I've learned recently concerning how corals and other photosynthetic reef life uses light from metal halide (MH), T5 fluorescent, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), or any other light fixture technology comes from Carl Strohmeyer's "AQUARIUM LIGHTING" article [1]. He runs American Aquarium Products and is trying to sell fixtures, but I continued reading numerous articles and have not found any errors with his logic and findings. I'll quote him from time-to-time, especially for PAR and PUR, but want him to get all of the credit he is due.

Working with LEDs I already knew they are horrible for color rendering, because each LED is a color spike meaning you don't get a broad range, or spectrum, of colors illuminated. LEDs can make clothing or other items look like a completely different shade or color to the human eye. I knew T5s and MH lamps are vastly superior to LEDs for color rendering, but florescent bulbs don't have the focused power to penetrate into water and MH lamps waste a ton of power as heat (a huge concern in Texas).

Metal Halide (MH)

Here is a typical MH output spectrum as seen on Wikipedia's Metal Halide page [2].

Notice MH is heavy in the green, yellow and orange and not so much in the blue and red. That becomes obviously important later in this discussion. The spectrum "curve" changes with different phosphor coatings to get different "color temperatures", and MH lamps for reef aquariums are better optimized than the chart above. Here's another that I found that is specifically for reef lighting from a great series of articles on MH for reef aquariums [3].

You can see how the higher color temperatures shift the peaks into the blue, but there are still significant peaks in the green, yellow and orange. One troubling aspect of MH is on the left side of the graph where there is a significant amount of Ultraviolet A (UV-A) energy (315nm�400nm) which can damage coral, fish, people and equipment.

Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs)

Here are the spectra for the TMC AquaRay LEDs that I'm currently using. They are based on high-quality/power CREE LEDs and are typical for blue and white LEDs from all manufacturers [4].

You can see the high blue peak on the graph for the "white" LED. That's because white LEDs are typically blue LEDs with a phosphor coating to make "white" light. Different phosphors give the different color temperatures. These are called blue-driven white LEDs which so far are the only kind of white LEDs I've seen for reef aquariums (the other type is an array of multiple, single-color LEDs like RGB or RGBA which can lead to really bad color rendering).

A few notes on the LED spectra of which importance becomes apparent later. Note the high blue peak around 440nm-460nm, the lack of UV-A energy (315nm�400nm) and the lower levels of green, yellow and red. LEDs are also much more efficient than MH in that more of the electricity gets converted into useful light and not useless light (as discussed in the next section), or worse, heat. The MH lamps still do a better job of rendering colors for human eyes (broader spectrum), and people have been successfully using them for reef aquariums for decades.

Part 2: PAR

Part 3: Quantum Sensors and LEDs

References

[1] Carl Strohmeyer, AQUARIUM LIGHTING (Updated 4/03/12), 01MAY2012

[2] L. Michael Roberts, Wikipedia, Metal-halide lamp, 02MAY2012

[3] Sanjay Joshi, Ph.D. and Timothy Marks, Spectral Analysis of Metal Halide Lamps Used in the Reef Aquarium Hobby Part 3 � 250-Watt Metal Halide Lamps, 02MAY2012

[4] Quality Marine: AquaRay USA, Spectrum of Marine White and Reef Blue LEDs [pdf], 02MAY2012

Photographic guide to Fish disease, Parasites and common issues.

bnumair — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 02:03:28 GMT

Hi
there are beautiful forum here on RC for every type of imaginable questions but i noticed there was a need for a photographic guide to disease and parasites in marine/aquarium fish.
Some of the following is my own personal research and some taken from other websites. I personally thank everyone here at RC and respective authors of websites from where i was able to gather this information to help everyone.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2162217

These are few on top of my mind, if i missed something or there is some other disease or parasites that someone wants to know about please feel free to post.
Thanks
Mike

Yet another TV show about tanks.....

bnumair — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 02:00:48 GMT

Hi Guys.
like we dont have enough problems setting records straight yet we have another TV show (FISHTANK KINGS) on our hands..starting May 12th, its about a company that makes impossible tanks in short times.
I like to let all Newb known that TV and this hobby DO NOT mix. Please DO NOT follow anything you see on such shows on tv. Those shows are produced over time with lots of editing that you and i are not aware of.
Proper procedures of setting up a tank and cycling a tank and then stocking a tank are clearly mentioned in sticky's on our Forums.
Please i advice all new people in this hobby to take time out and read through those sticky's.
Those sticky's are there for your convenience. We/Team RC write these sticky's for new people through our personal experiences where we learned from trial and error and sometimes took great losses BUT we dont want that same for you.
Protect your investment and read and follow the stickys.
there is no short cut in this hobby.
there is no magic potions in this hobby.
there is nothing good that happens in this hobby fast.
LFS (sometimes) dont give u right advices, remember they are in their shops to make money.do ur research.

The only thing you need in this hobby is patience.
The ONLY thing that happens fast in this hobby is disaster. Save your money and time and save the livestock from going down the drain the FIRST TIME.

Please feel free to ask as many questions you feel like and remember there is no stupid question except for the one never got asked.

Biocube 14 replacement ballast needed

HurricaneSystem — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 23:34:19 GMT

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeremy0322

Title says it all, reply or shoot me a pm with a price and we will go from there.

I have one, how much are you looking to pay for it?

Understanding damsels: chromis, clowns, and others

Sk8r — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 00:12:32 GMT

Understanding damsels, chromis, clowns...
These are the professional 'little guys' of the reef.
They require much more space than people realize: 100 gallons is good...for most.
They're also good 'dither fish,' who reassure other fish the coast is clear.

You can see dozens of them about a reef. Let a predator swim by and---boink!---if you blinked you missed it. They've all vanished.

WHere? Each fish individually has a tiny hole somewhere in the corals. No room for two. There's an ideal spot that's 'home', and it'll go there. It'll stay there til the predator shadow passes. They're also in that hole at night.

The size and type of refuge is closely dependent on species. And these fish don't usually share. It's THEIR hole, and they'll kill any fish that keeps trying to take it over. Who's likeliest to try? One of their own species, same size, same fit. This is a life and death thing: this involves safety. They can't be shoved out to be eaten. So if you have a small tank with minimal 'holes', you'll find damsels of the same species or of close size requirements getting ripped up and eventually disappearing.

Big enough tank, everybody's got a home, everybody's cool.

Clowns happen to do this hiding-number in anemones, and change sex to pair up. This is why they're so popular. You can't go wrong mating them.

I say---MOST are small fish. I've seen a domino damsel the size of a dinner plate. And clowns can reach five inches---that's saucer sized. The red clowns get that big. Clarkiis nearly. These have teeth, quite visible teeth, and bite, I'm here to tell you. The smaller clowns are ok in a smaller tank, and the chromises and the azure and yellow tail damsels can go in a 50 just fine. I recommend 1 damsel of a kind in a 50---they don't like to be crowded up---but they adjust quite handily. The little clowns are ok in anything that makes their nem happy: that's kind of their permanent hidey hole.

Damsels up and politicking with each other convinces everybody on the reef that it's safe to come out.

If you HAVE the right tank, and want fish to school up and swim---well, damsels won't quite do it, but you won't notice that much---because they herd one another into motion, so there's a constant game of bumper cars going on, a streamer of fish going round and round your reef. Because they pick mostly on their own rivals, and nobody gets nipped much except if you've got too little room for them to hide in, they're color, motion, and a lotta fish for a little money (except for the orange Garabaldis, which are another whale-sized damsel anyway.) THey don't eat corals, they don't bother other species, and they're easy keepers. They're healthy fish, come in many colors and patterns (like angelfish, they sometimes change color and pattern as they grow, so look at what the adult looks like to be sure that suits you.) They're really compatible with just about everybody, blennies, gobies, tangs, angels, and whatever: they don't bother anybody but their own species.

Just be sure you have plenty of hiding spots (branching coral is a favorite) and that you've got a good variety of types.

Of all the tanks I've had, I think my damsel-100 was my hands-down favorite.

more trouble in fish tank land

bigevill1 — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 18:02:27 GMT

All of my anthias died one at a time after being happy and seemingly healthy for over 9 months in the tank. First the male died, then the super female changed into a male, then the other females died one after another every few days and finally the new male died at the end. I dont get it. All of the other fish in the tank are healthy and doing well.

Acclimation of new Corals and water parameters

bnumair — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 17:28:09 GMT

I felt the need to write this as there are sticky's for proper acclimation on fish and inverts but not much detail on corals along with maintaining a proper chemistry in the reef.
I hope my years worth of knowledge is good enough to put newbies in right direction.
if there are any flaws in this write up please notify so it can be corrected.

First thing to remember is acclimation should never be rushed. Patience is very important in this hobby.
Also some people like to QT their new corals some dont.
I personally dont i use a coral dip and move them to DT.

There are 3 different methods i seen in many years of my reef history. i will explain both, thus helping new people to chose the way they like.

FLOATING METHOD

Turn off aquarium lights.
Never open the box in bright light - this can cause stress or trauma.
Float the sealed bag in the aquarium or sump for 15-30 minutes
Dont open the shipping bag at this time. This will allow the water in the shipping bag to adjust slowly to the temperature in the aquarium, while maintaining a high level of dissolved oxygen.
After floating the sealed bag for 15-30 minutes, cut open the bag and roll the top edge of the bag down one inch to create an air pocket within the lip of the bag. This will enable the bag to float on the surface of the water. For heavy pieces of live coral that will submerge the shipping bag, place the bag containing the coral in a plastic bowl or specimen container.

Add 1/2 cup of aquarium water to the shipping bag.
Repeat this step every four minutes until the shipping bag is full.

Lift the shipping bag from the aquarium and discard half the water from the bag.Float the shipping bag in the aquarium again and proceed to add 1/2 cup of aquarium water to the shipping bag every four minutes until the bag is full.
Remove the filled shipping bag from the aquarium and discard the water. Never release shipping water directly into the aquarium.
Place the coral on the bottom of the tank while keeping the lights off for the day. Give corals atleast 12 hrs before turning lights back on.

DRIP METHOD

this is a more common method people use.
Turn the lights in ur tank off.
Always start with floating ur purchase for 15-30 min in the sump or aquarium to bring temperature equal to ur tanks water.
Then cut open the bag and remove as much water that coral just remains bare submerged. Take airline tubing with a ball valve and start a siphon from ur main display tank and let it drip into the bag at the rate of 2-4 drips per second. When the water volume in the bag/bucket doubles, discard half and begin the drip again until the volume doubles once more � about one hour.
After this coral can be transferred to the main tank.
Again place the coral on the bottom of the tank while keeping the lights off for the day. Give corals atleast 12 hrs before turning lights back on.

CORAL DIP METHOD

Lots of people including me are beginning to adopt this method.
I use CoralRx so i can explain its method.
Turn the lights in the tank off.
Start off with floating the bag in your sump or aquarium for 15-30 min to bring temperature equal.
Once the temperature is matched then prepare a bucket with 1 gal of your tank water mixed with 20ml or 4 caps full. mix it well.Using a small power head, keep the water moving and place coral in the coral dip. If you do not have a power head, gently shake coral in the coral dip. Keep coral in the coral dip for 5 � 10 minutes. After 5 � 10 minutes, remove coral and discard the coral dip. Do not reuse the coral dip as parasite may release toxins. Rinse coral with clean saltwater and transfer to aquarium. Do not add Coral Rx directly into aquarium.
Place the coral on the bottom of the tank while keeping the lights off for the day. Give corals atleast 12 hrs before turning lights back on.

Now lets talk about parameters and their acceptable ranges.
Temperature: 76-84 is the wide acceptable range but i like to keep mine between 78-82 range.
Salinity: across the world salinity ranges from 1.021-1.027. A domestic reef should be as close to 1.025 as posible. i keep mine at 1.026 (35ppm)
Ammonia: always needs to be Zero
Nitrites: Always needs to be Zero
Nitrates: 0-20. i keep mine at zero by using a sulfur denitrator. there are other methods to keep nitrates under control starting with simply water change etc.
Calcium: 420-480 is the most acceptable range. i keep mine at 440.
Alkalinity: 7-11 dkh. i keep mine at 10.
Magnesium: 1300-1450. i keep mine at 1350.

How can one achieve there perfect levels. there are several methods.
I am going to post a Link from Randy's article to explain chemistry in detail.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php

Acclimation of new Corals and water parameters

bnumair — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 17:28:09 GMT