Tank Journal Archive

[rockerpeller]

For CUC I have a few hermits, 3-4 Trochus snails, untold amount of Turbos (they keep breeding), and 2 Pep shrimp.

I'd definitely recommend Turbo snails. They'll breed in captivity which is a good thing as you'll have a constant supply.

Also something that can go through the sandbed like Nassarius snails will help too.

 

[chimaera]

With credit to lgreen of nano-reef, here are fish suitable for your size of tank. With two clowns and a sleeper goby already I'd recommend being careful of not overloading ... and do try to be patient in adding another, you have a lot in the tank already after only a few weeks.

[edit]okay that copy and paste didn't work very well so check out the post linked above!

By the way I don't want to keep banging on about bad buys ... but a Sleeper Goby really needs a bigger, stable tank. As they feed by sifting the sand, it won't be long before the volume of sand you have is clean. Does it eat food you give it? Sometimes they do in which case it might be okay, but often they starve in smaller tanks.

 

[michaelstank]

:) Thanks guys

 

[michaelstank]

My sleeper goby is a really really good eater :)

He sifts thru the sand bed mostly all day and when its feeding time he eats ALL the brine shrimp that fall to the floor, he seems very happy and content.
I know all too well regarding the over feeding and water para so I feed only enough for them to eat everything in under about 1 minute,

 

[webber555]

Regarding the temp issues - 27c sounds fine. I run in the 26's the majority of the time. Occasionally drops to high 25's on a very cold night. I'm using a 100W heater in a 70L tank. I did have a 75W in there but it ran 24/7 to keep up and let the temp drop too much at night. If you have a heap of heaters, try running 2 - a good failsafe if one stops working,

 

[michaelstank]

Hey guys :)

over the past week or so I have collated a few questions that I would love your advice on :)

Skimmers
Currently I am running a small RESUN SK-05 skimmer (mind you this is SHIT from what I can see) I had to basically DIY this skimmer so that it would actually stay together. Most parts wernt connection tightly enough so I has to glue some of the parts together to ensure they wont float away. The airline tube that came with this skimmer acutally doesnt fit the skimmer..... so I grabbed some air tube I had laying around and very carefully glued this to the air inlet as it just kept coming loose.

Turned it on and all seemed well, the air was churning like a tornato and the skimmate has started to develop :) all good and well bar a few micro bubbles
UNTIL MORNING! so basically now the skimmer doesnt seem to have airflow thru it..... I can blow down the airline and the tornato will start again but as soon as I stop blowing the air also stops..... any ideas what to do here??
Is it actually possible to manually skim this small 75ltr tank myself rather then using a skimmer?

Wave makers/Powerheads

Too much flow....?
Ok so I got myself a new wave maker (sun sun 5000ltrs ph) to replace the old powerhead that was in the tank. Now im wondering if I have too much flow. My Duncan seems to like the flow and opens fully, my xenia also in rather high flow towards the top of the tank doesnt seem bothered. My sand bed seems to be fine with no movement or stirring up so the lobos will also I guess like the low flow at the bottom of the tank, the fish seem to love the high flow in some parts of my tank.
The reason I ask this isnt cause the tank inhabitants seem bothered its more me being worried LOL. When I feed these guys the food gets blasted around the tank at quite a fast pace, but the clowns seem to love the chase and the sleeping goby seems to get heaps off the sand bed.
The wavemaker is placed mid tank hitting the back of my live rock stack, this seems to create a random flow of water thru the tank not uniformed.
ideas thoughts?

Sand Bed

Ok so my new DSB has been in place for about 2 weeks now :) looks awesome! only thing I notice is the sand bed isnt really level.
My mates tank has a DSB and his is mostly flatish where mine is alittle more terrain lol, I understand there should and will be some uneveness in DSB but I have small mountains and little gullys LOL.
I was thinking this could be due to the flow in my tank but the DSB doesnt seem to be affected by this flow from what i can see. Should a sand bed be more even all over or is this just nature with fish keeping?
Was also wanting to know if I could add more sand slowly? I would wash and zip lock the sand in a bag (small amount weekly) and add to the tank trying not to create a sand storm. is this the correct method for adding more sand slowly to build up the sandbed alittle more?

Maintenance Dosing

This concept im totally at loss with.....
How do I create or start to work out what my maintenance dosing for this tank would be? I assume its testing and watching those tests closely over a period of time.
Once this has happened I will know what my tanks required in terms of calcium, phos, alk, salinity ect ect are over time.
Is this correct? Are there other methods to help a new reefer here?

Ok guys
looking frward to all your replies :)

Michaels tank

 

[michaelstank]

:worship

 

[NiCd]

Skimmers

Check the venturi for blockages, it may have a calcified build up, rouge snail etc, if it has a build up soak in vinegar overnight, rinse with ro and put it back in place if all looks well.

As there is no surface skimming, removing the oilly slick that you will see on the waters surface after you turn the power heads off will remove alot of waste.

Flow

Yes there is a thing as much flow, it cannot be assessed on a X per hour basis, it needs to be judged on visual observation, if things are looking happy as the tissue isnt being torn on the LPS etc then I would hazard to say you havnt hit that thought.

Sandbed

Your flow will shape your sand bed, I am personally against psydo deep sand beds in this style of set up but I will keep my mouth shut here.

Maintaince dosing

Save your money for the time being and do lots of water changes (read 20% per week) keep an eye on you salinty and when you visit your LFS get them to test your water. Once you are more confortable and have done a bit more reading, purchase high quaility test kits and assess your water yourself. establish base line parameters, your desired parameters and build a structured method to achieve it.

But I really dont think you will be achieving anything out of this set up that 20% a week water changes wont keep in check.

 

[michaelstank]

:) Thanks heaps for your reply :) The skimmer is literally only 2 weeks old so the buildup couldnt possibly have taken place yet right?
The problems seems to be more with the actual skimmer I think.... I will pull it out check it over and replace it hopefully this will boot it back again :) ps this is the second time this skimmers air has just stopped working for no reason...

I currently own all the tests required myself and have tested for most thing amo, nit, cal, kh, ph.
I will do as you said and do 20% water changes weekly, I think I was doing around 10%-15% anyway.

Regarding the DSB I would prefer if you didn't keep your mouth shut LOL ;) this is how we learn!
I thought that by changing from a cc bed to a dsb I was doing a good thing for my tank...? I beleive the CC holds lots of extra debris and nitrates which mine did due to the cc being very corse and changing it out would help lower nitrates ect ect.
Are you more refering to DSB in my size tank or in tanks in general?

cheers

 

[michaelstank]

PS - Confused about his

"As there is no surface skimming, removing the oilly slick that you will see on the waters surface after you turn the power heads off will remove alot of waste"

Are you saying I should turn off my wave makers/powerheads and manually remove the oilly slick or that my protien skimmer is doing this and removing alot of waste?

 

[Joshwaaaa]

Regarding the DSB I would prefer if you didn't keep your mouth shut LOL ;) this is how we learn!
I thought that by changing from a cc bed to a dsb I was doing a good thing for my tank...? I beleive the CC holds lots of extra debris and nitrates which mine did due to the cc being very corse and changing it out would help lower nitrates ect ect.
Are you more refering to DSB in my size tank or in tanks in general?

cheers

A DSB is just that a DEEP sand bed atleast 6" deep to begin to have any real profound effect, which by the looks of it you do not have. Hence DSB are really a thing for sumps etc where looks mean nothing. There is a lot of thought put into DSB by some people,with different grain size dependent on depth etc more then just dumping sand in and being done with it. In saying that I myself have never had anything to do with them just done a lot of reading

PS - Confused about his

"As there is no surface skimming, removing the oilly slick that you will see on the waters surface after you turn the power heads off will remove alot of waste"

Are you saying I should turn off my wave makers/powerheads and manually remove the oilly slick or that my protien skimmer is doing this and removing alot of waste?

The first one, turn your power heads off and manually clean the surface scum, thats where a lot of waste ends up naturally. Hence why most weirs are setup the skim this stuff away first and foremost

 

[NiCd]

Yup josh has sum it all up pretty well.

The depth of sand bed you have will be a nutrient sink hole with insufficent depth to anaerobic to give you denitrifcation, crush coral has the same issues but you moved from one to the other without much improvement.

If the sand is for athetics 1-2cm is best as it doesnt act as so much of a sink hole, if its for denitrication, do alot of reseach but you will generally need 150mm+ in depth with a 1mm or finer grain size, with no surface obstructions (another reason why its put in the sump)

 

[NiCd]

I actaully stand correct I have just had a look at your photos, you do not have a deep or psydo deep sand bed

 

[michaelstank]

Ok guys thanks heaps for the heads up :)

Regarding the manual skimming of my tank, how would I go about this? What would I use to get the oily slick off the waters surface? I would assume a fish net isnt appropriate?

I am going to buy myself some marinara mix from the fish markets this weekend, once I buy this mix do I need to do anything like blending it before I can feed it to the fish? This may seem like a silly question but I dont know what Marinara mix is but if its what I think, its a mix of full prawns, clams, muscles ect ect and they would need to be blended for my little guys to fit it in there mouths.

Back to the sand bed (not deep sand bed)
Should I be vacuuming this sand bed at all or leaving the basically hermit crab shit on the sand to take natures path?

 

[firebird]

You'll get different answers on this one- some people swear by vacuuming and others don't-however- if you see any surface crap I would remove it.

By the way-there is a summary of DSB's in the wiki;)

 

[rockerpeller]

I was manually skimming the surface of my holding tank with those tough paper towels. Basically I just turned the powerheads off, lay the paper towel on the surface for a second or 2 then removed the paper towel.
It soaked up all the crap on the water surface pretty well.

 

[michaelstank]

Hey everyone :)

Ok now I want to pick all your very knowledgaeble brains for a minute for some options :0 Exp yours firechild! thats one impressive light setup you got there!

Ok so I am about to inherit an Aquaone AR620 tank that I would like to mod and then transfer everything from my existing AR510 into it eventually.

So I am thinking to remove the 2 boxes on top of the tank and making it a rimless tank, problem is that the filter and the light are both housed in the hood!
When collecting some peppermint shrimp last night from Webber555 - thanks again mate :) I noticed he had what I beleive to be called a fuge... hanging on the side of his tank. Will something like this be sufficent for this size tank or would a better option be to have a hole drilled (if possible) and design a sump and stand to suit?

I am also wanting some light options, this whole lighting thing has me lost, TOTALLY LOST!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the look of LED lighting and I would like to know if it would be better or possible to refit the existing lighting unit with LEDS ( I would also like to do this to the AR510 I am currently running) or to just do away with it and get a hang on lighting unit? What are your thoughts? Ps I have a very handy electrician mate who can help me with the lighting, im just awaiting him to arrive back in Aus from os holidaying.

 

[firebird]

i can't remember if the AR620 etc has tempered glass- as far as i know if this is the case you can't drill it-I could be remembering incorrectly though-senile moment and all that
had the same 2 tanks as you-fitted my aquabeams in the hood
Took off the filter part at the back completely so that it was open. used a modded hagen aquaclear filter for a fuge hangon

 

[firebird]

This is how i did mine
http://www.thereefuge.com.au/board/threads/90-litre-nano.448/
post #19
I drilled big holes in the lid part of the hood because I wanted more air to get in and i wasn't really concerned about the aesthetics-gave it a bit of the scifi look with the lights on

 

[firebird]

Talk about a monologue:)
anyway- I think that with this type of tank and depending what LEDS you've got it would be more aesthetic to suspend them and remove both the hood and the filter part