The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread

[Wolfgang]

I doubt I will be able to catch either of them. On a good note. The Angel is poking in and out of rocks this morning. Looks happy and healthy. I have had this problem before with a kole tang and they are supposed to be the most peaceful (hah).

I will pass your winnings on to the troops. Thanks for playing. Next contest you cant play :-P

[Blueface]

Originally Posted by Wolfgang

I doubt I will be able to catch either of them. On a good note. The Angel is poking in and out of rocks this morning. Looks happy and healthy. I have had this problem before with a kole tang and they are supposed to be the most peaceful (hah).

I will pass your winnings on to the troops. Thanks for playing. Next contest you cant play :-P

Note what I just posted on catching them in a reef.

[Wolfgang]

So noted. From what I can tell The tang was just establishing its territory. They seem OK now but maybe its just the angel Is smaller and faster. Oh well. I should have pictures tonight. I gave them lights out early to calm everyone down.

What are "denitrators"? I use algae removal from the refugium, I think. Does the skimmer remove nitrates? I know they get metabolized into plants. I never have seen significant (or even barely detectable) levels in my tanks unless something bad happens.

[Blueface]

Originally Posted by BC-Axeman

What are "denitrators"? I use algae removal from the refugium, I think. Does the skimmer remove nitrates? I know they get metabolized into plants. I never have seen significant (or even barely detectable) levels in my tanks unless something bad happens.

Skimmers won't do it.
The jury is still out on refugiums but if if it contains live rock in it, I would argue it functions as a denitrator to some degree.

A denitrator needs no light, very low oxygen and extremely slow water flow.
You can have it contain rocks or it can contain any type of media that has nooks and crannies for the bacteria to form. It is a different type of bacteria than what thrives in your typical tank filters.
Not too many companies make them.
I experimented with the one pictured below in black, on the left side of the photo.
After a year of it functioning, the nitrate levels were quite low in this system, which is not typical in a fish only tank that needs water changes to lower the nitrates manually.
About a year after doing this installation and a couple of others, I got out of the business due to having to travel so much for my primary job and frankly I have not stayed up with the technology but I can tell you this one worked well.
I also built my own one time using large PVC with end caps. I filled it with media, ceramic type cylinders, and ran water through it slowly. I worked well until it ended up getting clogged.
What I do for mine is I have many bags of media, stuffed tight, sitting in my wet dry, right below the bio balls. Since the media is packed so tight, water flow is quite slow through it. Since it is in a dark enclosure (furniture), seems to help me quite a bit but then again, I have not tested my nitrates in 5 yrs.

[/quote]

Deep in the live rock and the live sand probably does the job in my tank, based on your information. I stopped measuring when I stopped getting readings. I still check calcium levels, though less often, to make sure my calcium reactor is dialed in.
I have a downdraft skimmer about twice the size of the one in your picture. I wish I could hide it somewhere.
It's far to clean under that tank in your picture. I have dust, salt creep, tools, fish bags...

[Blueface]

Originally Posted by BC-Axeman

Deep in the live rock and the live sand probably does the job in my tank, based on your information.

Absolutely!!!
That is why a reef is so self contained. Those nooks and crannies in that rock are natural denitrators. I would only use one like I did in fish only systems that don't have that natural effect you do.

I stopped measuring when I stopped getting readings. I still check calcium levels, though less often, to make sure my calcium reactor is dialed in.

Absolutely. Great regimen.

I have a downdraft skimmer about twice the size of the one in your picture. I wish I could hide it somewhere.

I have an ETSS twin tower on my system but I built the stand very high enough to fit it in there.
The bigger the skimmer, the better!!!

It's far to clean under that tank in your picture. I have dust, salt creep, tools, fish bags...

In time, mine did too.

In bold.

[shilala]

I think I've decided to go with no refractometer.
I'm worried it'll talk me into doing really dumb ****.

[Blueface]

Originally Posted by shilala

I think I've decided to go with no refractometer.
I'm worried it'll talk me into doing really dumb ****.

You know what I use?
A cup.

[Blueface]

Originally Posted by Blueface

You know what I use?
A cup.

Have to run so don't want to leave anyone scratching their heads.

I use a cup and a 5 gallon bucket of water.
A heaping cup, two times, with 5 gallons of water = 1.019 salinity.
Want less salinity? Do two level cups and you get 1.016-1.017.
Want more, like 1.023? Easy. Just do an extra half to 3/4's cup.
Very scientific.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by Blueface

Have to run so don't want to leave anyone scratching their heads.

I use a cup and a 5 gallon bucket of water.
A heaping cup, two times, with 5 gallons of water = 1.019 salinity.
Want less salinity? Do two level cups and you get 1.016-1.017.
Want more, like 1.023? Easy. Just do an extra half to 3/4's cup.
Very scientific.

I do the same thing when I mix my water, but I have a dip tester thingie.
I try to keep it in between the lines.
I've always tried to keep it in the middle of the lines, but I'm going to start keeping it on the upper end from now on.
It's been a little high for a long time and a little low for a long time and I've never noticed any difference in anything at all.
If a little more salt will help the corals, I'm sure it won't hurt anything else, so I'll give it a shot. I'll probably have to add a cup of salt.

[taltos]

Scott, as an after thought to this conversation, I agree with Carlos on recommending the good Doctors. I do not keep an aquarium at this point in time but I have relied on the Doctors to keep my cats healthy going back as far as when I was breeding Himalayans and also showing them. I still rely on these folks for products for my strictly house cats. The products are as they state and you can actually get a real person on the phone if you have questions. The final straw is that shipping is reasonable and quick. This post might be off topic and in that case, I am sorry but these are my 2 cents on suppliers to the home pet keeper.

I just got back from the LFS withe some critters. A couple of peppermint shrimp, a cleaner shrimp and a dozen snails (so the hermit crabs will have something to play with). I traded in a clump of Xenia, a candy coral frag, three green hairy mushrooms and a leather coral. Snails never seem to last more than a year, but a long as it was part of a trade I'll try again.

[Blueface]

Originally Posted by BC-Axeman

Snails never seem to last more than a year, but a long as it was part of a trade I'll try again.

I use to have a Harlequin Tusk that was cool to watch with snails.
He would flip them over and nail them with those tusks.
I wish I could say they lasted a day.

Great fun to have a "violent" tank. You could have your mantis shrimp fight with lobsters and see which one the trigger got first, etc.

[Wolfgang]

I want an Aussie tusk. Correct me if im wrong but arent tusks semi reef safe only because thye will eat inverts not so much coral. I sure do want one.

Would it be a problem with any of my stock?

Maroon Clown
Kole Tang
Flame angel
Zebra Moray
Clown Goby

[Blueface]

Originally Posted by Wolfgang

I want an Aussie tusk. Correct me if im wrong but arent tusks semi reef safe only because thye will eat inverts not so much coral. I sure do want one.

Would it be a problem with any of my stock?

Maroon Clown
Kole Tang
Flame angel
Zebra Moray
Clown Goby

Not at all a problem.
They are quite safe for reefs as long as you don't have crabs/snails. Man do they love that stuff.
They have a tendency to go blind with time. I saw that in at least 10 in various tanks. However, the ones in reefs faired much, much better and remained more vibrant in color.
It is well worth the money to find a New Caledonian one. Much deeper color than the Aussies. Their teeth are also a deep bluish color. Really, really cool looking with more of a maroon color rather than the more common orange like.
Had one for about 5 yrs. before he went blind. Hand fed him for about another year and then ended up losing him. Miss that fish. Loved the way he would run from my big angels and at a certain point, he would do a sudden stop, turn around and open his mouth huge wide to scare the crap out of them with his teeth. Very docile overall although I would occasionally find one of his teeth embedded in one of my angels. They deserved it. Would fall off them. He would grow another. They would do it all over again.

[Wolfgang]

Thats what I thought. The Aussies are ~$200 I ant imagine what a Caledonia would cost. Im a collage student lol. Ill probally settle for the more common one anyways. But that will be a while since Ive already added too many fish this month. Gottle let everything stabilize then WC then Ill think about one of those guys and that would be My final addition. Much prettier than a Hippo Tang :-)

Sand in! Water in! Whoo...



Cycling the sand

Cure tank:

Ammonia 0.25
Nitrites 2
Nitrates 5
PH 8.4
Salinity 1.023

Thats it for now. Oh and walking out of meijers with 30 gallons of water gets you massive funny looks.

Brad

[Wolfgang]

Looks Awesome! Congrats on the setup! Let me know if you would liek to upgrade the lighting.

Im looking to sell my 20" sunpod will accommodate up to a 24" tank. 150watt 14k Halide. New bulb. Asking $200. Used less than 6 months.

Reason for selling: Upgraded from the 24 gallon tank to a 90 gallon tank. Tearing down the 24 gallon.

PM if interested.