Easy Reefing, Reef,fowlr. For The Beginners/minimalist

[grantm91]

That's where I got my green BTA a buy and sell for £20 that's cheap here I seen them in the shops from £60 to £100 il be checking some stuff out over the next few days.

 

[stella1979]

Funny MightyNanoTank ... I just watched a vid about rainbow shrooms yesterday, seems like some are priced as high as $10,000

grantm91 I think it would be worth a visit just to get the famous fish sandwich from Islamorada Fish Company... now I'm drooling.

 

[grantm91]

Funny MightyNanoTank ... I just watched a vid about rainbow shrooms yesterday, seems like some are priced as high as $10,000

grantm91 I think it would be worth a visit just to get the famous fish sandwich from Islamorada Fish Company... now I'm drooling.

I can see me doing Florida seriously, every where I've been its been with the army, never actually been on holiday, been abroad a lot but never to the USA I've always dreamed about it, Jamaica,Egypt,Dominican Republic are another 3 id love to do.

 

[Nart]

stella1979 I know. I saw the same one too. That one, like Jake from ReefBuilder said, it's going to one of those serious aquacultured facility where they are going to grow and propagate it and hopefully in a few years, it will be cheap enough, where we can afford it too.

Hey... so something interesting here that I was listening to. (I like to listen to fish related to sometimes while I work) is about some asking Than from Tidal Gardens about using tap water to start a reef tank. Also involves a bit about RO and RODI, thought ya'll might be interested too. Pay attention to his cost savings comment and about the heavy metal build up.

Jump to 2:29:20

Sorry for taking over your thread grantm91 I'll digress elsewhere lol.

 

[grantm91]

I don't mind mate il give that a watch too, share anything good I'm not bothered.

 

[stella1979]

I know that digression is frowned upon but I really love the side conversations... I've learned a lot from them. MightyNanoTank , you're closer to FL now than you will be in CA... I would highly recommend a trip to the Keys to anyone that is able. I don't actually live there anymore, but I'm close, and luckily the 'rents are still down there so I can visit. Thanks for the interesting video!

OMG Nart... you have to stop! Now I want Joker Favia!

 

[Nart]

HAHAHA! Good listen and good eye candy too yeah?

Now the question is... what's the next coral purchase? I'm telling you... once you catch the coral bug... it doesn't ever go away lol.

 

[grantm91]

Dropped this on my mates thread sorry greenbonsai

Finally decided to banish the sponge from my hob and replaced it with the macro algae.

And in other news.

 

[Nart]

Don't warm up the Jack Daniels!

Have you used macro algae before Grant? If you haven't. It works....!

 

[grantm91]

I got it because you was always on about it lol and your tanks good, I knew the sponge was a phosphate factory but I thought it was helping with water polishing and I did keep it clean but this is better by far it has to be. Looks like a pro set up too

 

[stella1979]

Congrats on the upgrade Grant! Still thinking on how to do that for myself in an AQ... The difficulty being in how to block the tank's light from getting in when we want the fuge light off.

 

[Nart]

Haha. Since it's just a bit of chaeto, it'll help a little less, but hey. Every ounce of chaeto helps right? Chaetooooooo MVP! Good move on the sponge man. Filter floss and toss all the way.

stella1979 a bit of light leech into the AQ fuge won't matter too much. I converted my AQ once upon a time to do one. Lichi87 has my AQ70 now

 

[grantm91]

I need to do more research I did this on a bit of a wI'm ie parts were cheap etc, I'm weird me in like if something works don't fix it kinda way, but this was a no brainer.

 

[grantm91]

MightyNanoTank it appears in this amount it will do next to nothing, but.. it can be left alone without being detrimental like the sponges lol. New purchase! A present off the lady its half the size of the NEWA I had in there and about 2.5x better in every way. At £60 brand new I really feel like Jabeo have done the reefing hobby a favour, this wave maker is the best you will get at a good price. Quality and reasonable pricing have been intertwined here lol. I just don't like how the light sensor is on the controller because some people will want the controller where I have put it (in the stand) and we don't all have a lit sump. All in all though amazing. Lol she got me a rw8 a few months ago but we had to return it as I put it in the 16g plugged it in and it turned my living room in to a beach at high tide literally everything got blew everywhere.

She worked it out with everything that's been bought and sold since I started out I'm at a total of about £320 with everything give or take £30. The new tank threw me in to the green so to speak costing only £40 !!! Also been scoping one of these guys out. still not sure yet though.

 

[Nart]

You'd be surprised with the chaeto Grant. If it's growing each week, then its helping absorb the excess nutrients. Do you test your Nitrates and Phosphates normally? If you do, I think for you, by the end of week 3, you will really start to notice the difference.

Niceeeeee! Always love new equipments. Have you figured out how to use the nightmode yet? apparently it has the ability to sense when the lights are on or off and you can make the flow more. I didn't bother to, but was curious. Speaking of new equipment, I just ordered 2x Spinstreams, we shall see how those perform. Lots of mixed reviews on them, so I'd thought I would give it a shot.

I'm personally not a fan of those fishes. Not enough coloration or patterns to go in my tank, but if you love 'em... do ittttttt!

 

[grantm91]

apparently the light sensor on the controller takes it out of night mode, you put night mode on by holding the mode button. I'm scared of googling that spinstream as when I googled the mp10 you mentioned I got heart palpitations off the price lol. I know what your saying about the colours but I don't know this fish just appealed to me for its behaviour and I know il get to watch it 24/7 need to do more research as it dosent look built for the amount of flow I like to have.

 

[stella1979]

Duude, sweeeet! Sweeet duuuude! (but what does mine say?!?!?!?!) Sorry Such a nerd... Anyway, congrats on the new toy Grant! Party like a rock star! With your amazing girl of course.

I like the stark contrast in coloration on the cardinals... not great color but amazing finnage!

 

[Nart]

grantm91 . Spinstreams aren't that expensive. It's like $20. Jeez, not everything I mention is expensive! I really do believe in quality products sometimes though. Like the Jebao power-heads for instance, I notice on mine, I have to clean about twice a week now otherwise the bio-film slows down the flow drastically. I think this is due to the lower-grade motor and magnetics used to propel the impeller, whereas the Vortech MP-10 utilizes better material for the parts.

I think my ultimate goal and set-up in the future with my bigger tank is automate as much as possible with good quality parts where I can just maintenance like once a month and be done with it.

 

[grantm91]

MightyNanoTank your going to have a big tank one day? I couldn't do it I have a 120 and 55 fresh I upgraded the 16g sw by chance because I seen the clear seal and I was sick doing maintenance on this you can imagine how awkward it was right there next to the tv and sofa in the living room where we all sits. The 32 is just right for me, I can't test as accurate as you because I only have the api. Another thing I seen of yours which I now know is the best lol that super accurate nitrate test kit !! stella1979 that's what got me the finnage, soo ornamental and majestic but I don't know about the flow yet. Going to take a look at them spin things MightyNanoTank. Also drop me the name of those test kits !! stella1979 id highly recommend the sw4 maybe the mr has his birthday soon lol ?!

 

[stella1979]

I've had quite the experience with different test kits lately.... Red Sea is great, totally user friendly and not so much guess work like API. It seems quite pricey however. Salifert is the other brand I trust, and MightyNanoTank appears to have a bunch of these, but do be gentle with the plastic vials. I broke one the first time I used it! Salifert tests are sold individually so seems less expensive than Red Sea but I don't think it really is if you add up all the individual prices compared to a red sea kit. Of course, prices may be different in the UK... Salifert is in Holland so maybe it's cheaper across the pond? At least, you may be able to get it quicker, no 2 day shipping on Salifert for me anyway.

Nitrates = 0.2 Wow! That's the lowest it's been with this many fish in this tank and crazy feeding. (Yes, that's 0.2 reading!)
View attachment 326302

Phosphates = 0.00 is this even real??
View attachment 326303

My full range test this morning
View attachment 326304

KH = 10.5
Calcium = 440
Magnesium = 1290 a little low. Will see where it's at after a water change. I normally keep this 3 times my calcium.

If you look at the first pic, for Nitrates, that's the kit I have and broke the vial. Just trying to cap it with my thumb at the bottom and I heard a crack. Still a great test though.

The second pic, for phosphates, is a Red Sea Pro kit and those are awesome for comparison/taking readings! No guessing, yay!

 

[grantm91]

Thanks stella1979 for explaining that for me, those are what I meant, il be doing some shopping very soon haha.

Cant wait to test my tap more than anything just out of curiosity as the apI says its coming out at 40!

 

[Nart]

grantm91 Yeah - API is good for a rough baseline. Once you start getting into the smaller details, you want to know a more precise value with a test that can test in the lower-range. I use Salifert for my Nitrate tests, I got it off eBay for $15, it's a good alternative as oppose to one of the most expensive brands. Red Sea's test kits are like easily in the $30, balling stella1979 The Salifert Nitrate test will give you a better reading than the API for sure, since it'll show you from 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, and 5 PPM range. I will say though, when using the Salifert, it's hard to differentiate between 0.5 and 0.2 PPM, but at least you know it's less than a 1PPM value, which typically is what you'll need to know.

By the way, I officially hate you guys! Since seeing all your new tank set-ups and rockscaping. I have a gnarly itch, I mean GNARLY itch to completely re-do my entire scaping with PukanI rocks... ugh. I think I mentioned that I've been unhappy with it since day 1 because I had to rush the process. Lesson learned for everyone out there, patience is key, and do it right the first time!

But anyways, I think the wife would probably kill me at this point in wanting to re-do my whole rock work.
I think I am going to keep myself busy with something else lol.

 

[stella1979]

grantm91 My tap is at 40 too! That's why the RO system was a good investment, I needed it for Freshwater too! Though Freshwater must be remineralized, I use SeaChem Alkaline Buffer, Replenish and Fresh Trace. The Red Sea kit doesn't test that high but you can always use it to do a dilution test so it's still quite handy. I now have API, Salifert and Red Sea for nitrates and found the original tap water API test results to be true. 40ppm out of the tap, smh I think in my area it's due to fertilizer run-off, there is actually quite a bit of farm land south of Miami.

Not exactly ballin' MightyNanoTank We're still slowly switching out and so far I've only got Red Sea for nitrates and phosphates. Currently still using API on a few and I'm starting to hate it for SW. I'm not so sure that Red Sea is that far off Salifert with pricing, though I haven't run ALL the numbers. I know the Red Sea Reef Foundation Pro kit tests for alkalinity, magnesium and calcium and sells online for $50. Three tests from Salifert will run into the $45-$50 range too for me, so it's a matter of preference I guess. The foundation kit is next on the supplies wishlist.

 

[grantm91]

Thankyou both for the brake down of the kits from your first hand experience its really appreciated, @stell1979 do you just dilute your tap water with RO to combat the nitrates because that's what I was thinking I could do ? Or do you use full RO and buffer it up?

 

[Nart]

Hey - I was also curious, what's the TDS on the waste water? Have you ever checked yours stella1979 , specifically for Nitrates and TDS?

 

[grantm91]

Not even got a tds metre lol I'm a salty cow boy all I need is a parrot and a patch il be a pirate I'm pulling it together now, just been looking at the salifert test kits on amazon only £10 but I feel like getting them all haha. I'm ordering a tds metre now too any recommends quickly lol or what to look for in one any key words?

 

[stella1979]

Hahahahahaha! It's great to see the jealousy going both ways MightyNanoTank I hate you both too... for your lights!!! But I can't afford the Radion that I really want so I'm looking at upgrading my T5's.

So, grantm91 I thought I would dilute too. I tried that in buckets and ran a few tests. Finding that a 60% RO mixture still left 10-20ppm nitrates, and that I was dealing with an incredibly high GH, I went for it, started using straight RO, and gave Seachem a little more of my money. I use their Alkaline buffer to raise my KH, Replenish to raise GH and Fresh Trace to replace healthy minerals. It's not for everybody but I like that I can get GH and KH levels right where I want them for FW. Thanks once again to Miss CindiL , I feel like I kind of know what I'm doing here and I'm thinking of one day setting up a soft water tank... maybe.

MightyNanoTank - I've never checked my waste water but now you've got me thinking...

 

[grantm91]

Thanks again stella1979 your on the ball man.

 

[Nart]

grantm91 so I don't have a hand held TDS meter. I have the TDS unit that hooks into my RODI unit and that's what I'm using to monitor it. I was overwhelmed when I did look at the hand held TDS meters on Amazon though lol.

stella1979 yeah I was really curious what the waste water was coming out as, because you might be able to reuse as your freshwater tank water changes without needing to put too much stuff into it. Just a thought

 

[Nanologist]

Not even got a tds metre lol I'm a salty cow boy all I need is a parrot and a patch il be a pirate I'm pulling it together now, just been looking at the salifert test kits on amazon only £10 but I feel like getting them all haha. I'm ordering a tds metre now too any recommends quickly lol or what to look for in one any key words?

The HM tds-3 or HM tds-4tma are the most trustworthy, lower cost handheld tds meters. They're the same brand as the inline tds meters that MightyNanoTank has on the RO/DI unit. I think most people get the model 3 because it can be recalibrated using this: C-342 – HM Digital.

 

[grantm91]

Thanks greenbonsaifunny enough the one I was looking at, cheap too lol.
Guess who has came to live at my house... picked him up this morning acclimated him just now he appears to be coping well with the flow to my surprise. Hopefully he can stay. He was a little sheepish toward my neon gobys warm welcome haha.

 

[Nanologist]

Thanks greenbonsaifunny enough the one I was looking at, cheap too lol.
Guess who has came to live at my house... View attachment 334139View attachment 334140 picked him up this morning acclimated him just now he appears to be coping well with the flow to my surprise. Hopefully he can stay. He was a little sheepish toward my neon gobys warm welcome haha.

You sure didn't sleep on that purchase long!

Love that wicked finnage.

Thought I should mention the COM-100 – HM Digital too. It's the company's higher end tds meter and is very accurate, waterproof, and doesn't need to be calibrated as often (if ever). They are much more consistent, but 2-3 times the price of the other models I linked in the last post.

 

[grantm91]

The finnage really did it for me and the colour, I like bright primary colours usually but he is actually pearlescent. Really has added variety this guy I have the dippy mad clowns and goby he is my mr majestic. I thought about it and the only thing was the flow worried me, but the only way to find out was to get him, did all the reading I could but the opinions out there were so mixed literally all I could do was try for my self. Il just have to see how he does. I think I'm going to get the cheap tds just to have some physical experience. How good are the digital ph meters are the worth the money ? You guys used them??

 

[Nart]

I've never used the digital PH meters. I rarely check my PH anymore. Since it can fluctuate throughout the day... it's a parameter I do not want to chase for, if that makes sense.
I just use the API test kit for that, so I would save a few bucks and skip on that if I were you.

 

[stella1979]

Yay Grant! You'll have to let us know how he does...

I hate testing pH and have been wondering the same about digI meters... if you find someone with good experience with one brand or another, I'd love to hear about it.

Edit: I agree MightyNanoTank - I don't want to chase either but it would be nice to have an easy way to check if I'm ever in that desirable range. I don't usually have a hard time with colors but that high range API kit frustrates me.

 

[grantm91]

Yes il let you know how he does, I don't check ph much really too I just seen them cheap and if its just a case of dip it in and its accurate why not for the price but il skip for now.

 

[Nanologist]

Yes il let you know how he does, I don't check ph much really too I just seen them cheap and if its just a case of dip it in and its accurate why not for the price but il skip for now.

Yeah I would save your money on that since the API works well enough. I'm sure you noticed that same brand, HM Digital makes digital pH meters. Some even do pH, tds and temp: COM-300 – HM Digital.

They also have one for salt measurements: SB-1500H – HM Digital

 

[stella1979]

I actually don't mind running tests... even bought better test tubes and a rack for doing it. But, I'll say it again... I HATE the pH test. I think I'll start a thread asking for people's experience with digI meters.

Edit: Same time posting as you greenbonsaI I'm starting to wonder if I'm the only one who feels like the high range pH test is often guess work.. as in, I'm often guessing which color my test is closest to. Admittedly, this is often in FW.

 

[Nart]

So one thing came to mind a while back... you know, with all the water tests, especially to those who test daily and then you use tank water for feeding. Just becareful, especially if you use or plan to use an ATO in the future. It's not dire, but a 5-10ml drop in water is enough to trigger my ATO to put fresh water back in the tank. So over time it has a potential to drop your salinity slightly and raise calcium if you dose Kalk in your ATO. What I do to combat this, is I have some extra fresh Saltwater mix that I put into the tank before I take the tank water out to use. In a smaller system this might affect you a bit more than others. Anyways, just my random OCD thought process lol.

 

[stella1979]

Good thinkin' MightyNanoTank...

 

[grantm91]

That sounds ocd but your tanks the best nano I seen so carry on, I can pick loads of faults with mine little bits of algae come and go, I just have to control my ocd and not start messing all the time,il never win lol. The only thing I do is top off my self with straight RO and I check salinity a lot, especially when I got a mix going ready for a change I don't want fluctuations as I think it makes my bta go walking round the tank and its not good for anything in there.
@greenbomsaI the multI test ones jump massively in price lol. Il get two cheap ones and tape them back to back .

 

[grantm91]

Look at that surface agitation in the mix bucket now I got the big dog doing my mix

 

[Nart]

I'm not sure the exact method ya'll use for freshwater top offs, but my guess is, you have a water line indicator, and you replenish as you see it drop.

I am just more aware of it because of my Smart Micro ATO that's really sensitive in water level changes. Back when I started the IM25 Lagoon and it was brand new, I was testing every 1-2 days to track what was changing and how fast and what I needed to dose and how often. Every time I was drawing 5ml water or more, my ATO kicks on and dumps water back in. If I took some tank water out for my frozen Mysis shrimp, it kicked on and put some water back in as well... then I'm like wait a minute... if I am doing this daily or every 2 days... an accumulation of 7 days.. will equate to... in a total volume of 17 gallons, is not a big big deal, I mean it could ever so slightly drop the salinity, but what I was worried about was, I used to put PH buffer into my ATO and now Kalk in my ATO. That could slowly raise it to levels where I don't want it to be. If you have a smaller systems... It might not be an ideal "stable" parameter. Just a thought.

grantm91 Do you have a clean up crew in your tank? I really recommend trochus snails. They munch on anything and everything.

Oh yeah - BTA's don't like fluctuations at all, it actually stresses them out and causes them to split too.

 

[stella1979]

Here's me getting Freshwater ready... the additives mix in much easier than salt so I'm all about that surface agitation/gas exchange to quickly stabilize GH, KH & and pH

 

[grantm91]

No I don't I only have a few hitch hiker snails and 2 red leg hermits, il be getting some of those 100% not seen any at the store yet but they will be my next thing. I'm extra strict with the top offs since I got the bta, the condy can take it or leave it he does not give a hoot about anything except the rock he stands on lol. that's the sponge from the funnel and the hairs and stuff I just caught whilst putting the sw back in the tub after mixing, nothing to be proud of I shouldn't have them in there but that bottle with the sponge is great.

 

[grantm91]

Mr majestic is doing well, he is more of a night lurker, took those last night after lights out, he has been exploring in the day a little too but spends most of the day in this corner behind the nem.
I may make him a little cave there lol.
Really happy with the set up at the moment just need to give the glass a clean.

Also get a decent clean up crew and maybe a new shrimp. And maybe a qq1 lol.

 

[stella1979]

Looking good Grant!

 

[grantm91]

Looking good Grant!

Thanks stella we are enjoying it very much lol. Should get some wide angles of yours on your thread too id love to see.

 

[stella1979]

Ha... I'm a little shy to show off my mostly empty tank and I am having a bit of a diatom issue as well. However, I'm excited that new bulbs should be here tomorrow or the next day so maybe I'll have a few proud pics to share then. There is so much old information available and we just picked up T5's that were available at Petco to begin with, thinking it would be fine... Turns out we're not getting the PAR or coloration that is desired for this tank but I'm trying to correct that.

 

[Nanologist]

Ha... I'm a little shy to show off my mostly empty tank and I am having a bit of a diatom issue as well. However, I'm excited that new bulbs should be here tomorrow or the next day so maybe I'll have a few proud pics to share then. There is so much old information available and we just picked up T5's that were available at Petco to begin with, thinking it would be fine... Turns out we're not getting the PAR or coloration that is desired for this tank but I'm trying to correct that.

Haha! Did you not see my downright dirty looking empty tank. I'm sure your tank looks like heaven compared to mine at the moment. I'm starting to see a little hair algae too now... Don't be ashamed and post those diatom pics!

Here's a reminder of what you have to compete with:

You can see what the pure white base rock looked like before, on the far right. Also can see it in comparison to the little chunk of live rock from the LFS.