Reef nutrition

Kyle's 40G sps Reef

Hi Kyle. Congrats on the new house.

I am a believer that you cannot eliminate algae from your tank, just manage it. So this means controlling the nutrients the algae use. The usual choices of feeding less; feed a lot but skim and change water a lot; use GFO and carbon; and a refugium are the steps I take. And since I have a UV, I'd run that too.

Also, I like having a diverse bacterial population. So I would use a couple of different sources to seed the tank.
 
I have been using brightwell microbater 7 with good result, I believer it is cheaper and you can dose daily. The instruction for start a tank is two week dosing cycle, after that you can switch to low dosage till you feel comfortable to cut it.

BTW, you can ignore the part in instruction of tuning off skimmer after dosing, no need to do that.
 
sid700 said:
Hi Kyle. Congrats on the new house.

I am a believer that you cannot eliminate algae from your tank, just manage it. So this means controlling the nutrients the algae use. The usual choices of feeding less; feed a lot but skim and change water a lot; use GFO and carbon; and a refugium are the steps I take. And since I have a UV, I'd run that too.

Also, I like having a diverse bacterial population. So I would use a couple of different sources to seed the tank.
Click to expand...

+1 Algae is everywhere.
Almost impossible to be 100% free of it.
 
Thanks for the suggestions folks! Sergio, good point about diversity, I may have to consider adding some rock and/or sand from a known established tank. Just a week left until we close! Hoping that the tank can be set up by end of Feb or early March!
 
Yep - King of Prussia Mall is just 5 miles from my new place. Unfortunately, I like most of the stores better at our old Stanford mall, and even downtown Palo Alto, e.g. Restoration Hardware. Oh well!
But yes, with the weather being oh 5 degrees today, I bet folks were at the KOP mall staying warm!
 
Hey there Kyle. Hows the kid doing?

Why not run a white starboard bottom instead of sand. That should help keep your nutrient levels lower and looks pretty good too if you keep it clean.
 
OK - no real changes in the tank, in, I hate to admit it, the past 5 months. The tank is standing in the bedroom, the dry rock has been aquascaped, but no water, no power, etc. We've come to realize that there is a small dilemma...our house only has 100 amps, and our bedroom is only run with 15A of power. We already have a window AC unit that is a must during the late spring and all through the summer and some of fall, so...to get the tank running, I need to run a new line. Unfortunately, we dont have a full basement, but the crawl space is about 4-5 feet, so its more than ample. However, the panel is out of space, and I cant just install a new breaker. I can consider installing a double 15A breaker, and run that the 100 feet or so needed to the bedroom, but I am hesitant to load the old 100 amp panel with too much more power. Soo...I'm at a point where I dont know where to proceed. We would like to do a remodel on the house, and at that time, would install a new 200 amp panel, etc. The wife is in full support of setting up a spot in the house to place a 200-500g tank, and that I can set up the space for a few 20amp circuits. However, this is years away...

So, for now, the tank sits empty...:(

I hope everyone is having a great summer!
 
Yeah, might as well wait till you do the remodeling to get everything that you need to be installed. It makes more sense. Your family will keep you busy as your child gets bigger :)
 
we might have a potential breakthrough...the wife misses the tank and thinks that our little boy would really like it.
We have a friend who is an electrician and he came to take a look at the panel and there is a shot that we may just run two outlets, 15 or 20A each to the tank, and might actually get this running :) *hopes*
 
Heh - if it happens, my build will be here...my first and only true reef home! Plus, I'm going to have a ton of questions to ask you folks, so that I get this right the first time! I'll just build out my 40g and hopefully grow a few nice corals and keep a trio of fish. Then, maybe in a few years, be able to transfer all to a bigger tank - still hope that something in the 500g range will be possible!
 
ok - let's get back to real discussions - hoping to get lines run in the next 2-3 weeks...Tank is set up, just needs power....
So, back on the real issues.
1) How to cycle since all the rock is dead.
2) QT for fish and/or corals
3) Fish selection
4) coral selection
5) placement of powerheads and such for aesthetics.

1) Do I get some live rock/live sand from a friend here? use some product, like "cycle" or "probidio" products
2) Do I use the "frag tank" as a stand alone QT for my fish, at least for a week or two period, to be able to medicate, etc? Or, since there are so few fish and it's such a small tank, no big deal?
3) I loved my last setup - pair of clowns and a trio of gramma. I'd happily do that again. However, other options.
a) Pair of mucullochi dottybacks, and pair of bangaii
b) harem of flame angels
c) Pair or harem of yellow assessors
d) other suggestions :)
4) I'd really like to plan the corals to the "T" using the color wheel theory, place a blue with a green with a redish, etc. I'd like to get a combination of encrusting monti's, stags, and some bottlebrush type, e.g. lokani and echinata...I dont really have room for tabling corals in this tank, unfortunately.
5) - for those who remember this tank, I had the powerheads on the short sides of the tank, blowing towards the front center of the tank. The powerheads were stacked ontop of eachother. I think this time, I will put a PH on each side of the overflow, pointing to the outer corner, and then the two stronger tunze on the rear wall, pointing towards the center front panel. It's not ideal, but should do better, so I dont have to look at that mess!

Going to snap some pics, and get this rolling :)
 
Ok - good news, power lines are now run - I have a full dedicated 20 Amp for the tank and a second line that I can also run to, i.e. keep at least one powerhead on another line, just in case!

Messaged my local reef board and will have a few folks donating a piece of LR/sand/chaeto to get things running.
Will order new filters for my spectrpure RO/DI and should have water this weekend! yea!

Going to add 3 hospital tank filter pads to the tank as well, and get them cycled and will prep the 20g tank for a hospital tank. Will treat with Prazipro for worms and probably copper as well, just to get rid of any ich.
 
Heh! Tank is up and running, and even has a few corals in it! Typical though, my little one is taking up all the time, and the tank is getting very little attention. One of these days I'll get the pics loaded and get some shots on here.

Since the tank is fairly stable, and my test corals are doing well - it may be time to get some real corals in there soon too! Yea!
 
Hey Kyle, if you ever want a pair of sunrise dottybacks in there to remember the 'ol days, I know where you can find them! Glad to hear the tank is moving along and all is going well.
 
Thanks Robin, been meaning to contact you...want to decide on a nice pair/trio of fish for the tank!

The recent news is that we had a baby girl - she turned 1 month on the 25th, so I am not getting a lot of sleep...My pumps have both recently failed, so I have replaced them with the replacement pumps...LOL...It's high time to get some eheim pumps that will be reliable and quiet. Also, probably need to redo the plumbing with a manifold so I can get all of the dang maxijets out of the tank...Tired of cords all over the place!

Anyway, I have taken some pictures - I will try to upload them one of these evenings when I am up with the baby! Just got a few corals into the tank, and rescued a few LPS from some friends...Hoping that these doing well and that I can truly start planning the tank out for some real corals!

Hope everyone is well!
 
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