Neptune Aquatics

Ryan’s 40G first reef

Qwiv said:
How many fish you planing for a 40 gallon?
Click to expand...
Not many more. I’d like a Yasha shrimp goby so my pistol shrimp has a buddy. Possibly a pink streaked wrasse.
Current stocking:
2x frozen frostbite clownfish
Bicolor blenny
Royal gramma
Geometric Pygmy perchlet
Cleaner shrimp
Tiger pistol shrimp.

A current total of 4x 1 inch fish and 1x 1.5 inch fish. Everyone fully grown should be under 3”. They all occupy different hides and don’t seem to compete for territory.
No mini cycle yet either. I put in way too much ammonia to cycle my tank so my bio filter seems capable. I have 1kg of ceramic media in the AIO also.
 
rdriggett said:
I'm just going to ignore my fish budget and get the hanna ALK checker.
Click to expand...
Hanna Alk checker and Inkbird thermostat are my 2 favorite pieces of equipment that are not crazy expensive. I haven't used it in a while, but I'd never get rid of it as it is such a clutch piece of gear. And do you have your notebook for writing down your numbers yet? It is all messing around until you write it down, then its science.
 
H2OPlayar said:
Hanna Alk checker and Inkbird thermostat are my 2 favorite pieces of equipment that are not crazy expensive. I haven't used it in a while, but I'd never get rid of it as it is such a clutch piece of gear. And do you have your notebook for writing down your numbers yet? It is all messing around until you write it down, then its science.
Click to expand...
Love my inkbird heater/cooler controller! My maintenance app logs but I usually forgot to use it. I’ll start logging.
 
I really like having the physical notebook to look back on to have a hard copy of the data. It was always easier for me to write it down with a pen then put it in my phone. You also can take notes on things like when you change your carbon or if equipment is on a preventative maintenance cleaning cycle. For example, I like to clean my main pump once a year, but I never remember when I did it last, so I write it in my notebook and can always look it up.
 
Like this?

BEB8AB40-4B35-4351-A128-BB4BEEAB1D50.png
025F508B-A6CA-4989-B6F8-527B33921343.png
 
But one that can't be wiped with a magnet :)


If you actually write it down, this format is fine. I am just an "old school" guy and like taking notes with a pen
 
I'd like to get serious about cyano management.
Flow to the point my sand is blown around didn't work. Dosing 1-3ppm nitrate didn't seem to do anything. Overfeeding seemed to make it worse?
Other than chemi clean which I'm trying to avoid, what can I do?
 
What do you think about only having sand in strategic places for visual effect, but then not elsewhere so you can crank the flow. Or changing to a coarser sand that can withstand more flow? That is a big perk of the crushed coral is I can crank my flow way higher than I could with sand.
 
H2OPlayar said:
What do you think about only having sand in strategic places for visual effect, but then not elsewhere so you can crank the flow. Or changing to a coarser sand that can withstand more flow? That is a big perk of the crushed coral is I can crank my flow way higher than I could with sand.
Click to expand...
My fish seem to hate flow, is that normal? I currently have 2 jebaos, a -10 and -30 wave maker. My fish seem much happier since switching to the -10. I could use the -30 opposite of my return and the -10 on the back wall.

I like my fine sand but if it needs to go, so be it.
 
How do you see that they hate the flow? A general rule of thumb is to make the flow as strong as possible while not damaging the corals. Things can be done by varying the angle or position of the flow stream to shoot across the tank, or point down at the rocks to get what you are looking for. Fish can take pretty extreme currents and be just fine. Check out swells on a reef, they can have huge surge forces.
 
I put my oversized -30 jebao back in its original spot and put my -10 on full power random mode at the bottom shooting between my rockwork. I hope this will cut down on my cyano.
I currently have my small wavemaker running @ 30-100% (1000gph) random mode. My large wavemaker is doing 30-50% (1700gph) random mode. My return pump feeding 2xRFG nozzels is running 600GPH.

D6A4D194-A810-48AC-98AD-3EEAAC1FD7C8.jpeg
D0484DDD-AB93-4923-9987-93CC82C40A09.jpeg
 
Last edited:
H2OPlayar said:
How do you see that they hate the flow? A general rule of thumb is to make the flow as strong as possible while not damaging the corals. Things can be done by varying the angle or position of the flow stream to shoot across the tank, or point down at the rocks to get what you are looking for. Fish can take pretty extreme currents and be just fine. Check out swells on a reef, they can have huge surge forces.
Click to expand...
My purple firefish only comes out when my pumps are on feed mode. And my clowns get shot a good 8+ inches when my wave pump hits the peak of random mode.

So far everyone is tolerating the increased flow. I'll know tomorrow if it helped with cyano.
 
@rdriggett every surface in your tank will be covered with something living (Bacteria, algae, a coral, etc.). For the Cyano Bacteria to go away something needs to outcompete it for that space which takes time especially when a tank is new and the pest are better at taking over. Your job is to create the environment where the desirables can flourish with the softest touch you can. Its why chemical solutions are a poor solution as something like chemiclean may wipe out the problematic Cyano, but what else does it kill? There are tons of different Cyano bacterias, we just refer to the problematic one is Cyano, but there are maybe 100 other types of Cyano in the tank. Not sure the #. But say ChemiClean just targets and kills all the Cyano bacterias and leaves all the other bacterias alone. Now you have an opening in in the ecosystem where all the cyanosis existed. What do you think will most likely fill that void?

Wait it out. Let the bacteria fight their war for space and just provide the best conditions for the desirables to thrive so they can win. It will happen.

When is that fancy Live Sand off back order? Knowing you have all the desirable bacteria in the tank to fill the void is still important.
 
Qwiv said:
@rdriggett every surface in your tank will be covered with something living (Bacteria, algae, a coral, etc.). For the Cyano Bacteria to go away something needs to outcompete it for that space which takes time especially when a tank is new and the pest are better at taking over. Your job is to create the environment where the desirables can flourish with the softest touch you can. Its why chemical solutions are a poor solution as something like chemiclean may wipe out the problematic Cyano, but what else does it kill? There are tons of different Cyano bacterias, we just refer to the problematic one is Cyano, but there are maybe 100 other types of Cyano in the tank. Not sure the #. But say ChemiClean just targets and kills all the Cyano bacterias and leaves all the other bacterias alone. Now you have an opening in in the ecosystem where all the cyanosis existed. What do you think will most likely fill that void?

Wait it out. Let the bacteria fight their war for space and just provide the best conditions for the desirables to thrive so they can win. It will happen.

When is that fancy Live Sand off back order? Knowing you have all the desirable bacteria in the tank to fill the void is still important.
Click to expand...
I have yet to get an email from them but I will order it ASAP when it's available. I think my tank craves diversity so it can achieve stability.
 
rdriggett said:
I have yet to get an email from them but I will order it ASAP when it's available. I think my tank craves diversity so it can achieve stability.
Click to expand...
you can still get LS from local reefers. Whatever is in their sand is in the frags. I would say more stuff lives on frags then sand actually.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top