My reef tank sucks.

[Ben1]

I am in agreement with the more current crowd. I have a 75 with a Mag 9.5 return and 3 hagen 802 powerheads on a wavemaker and I think I could bump it up much more.

On my upcoming 150 I will have 3 3/4" seaswirls for circulation, one on the mag 9.5 and two on a Mag 24 return. This is for a SPS tank though.

On my 40 tall softie display, most everyone like this one better, I use a Hagen 402 and a Maxijet 600 for circulation. I also have a hang on skimmer which provides some circulation on this system. I never have the problem of too much circulation. In all fairness your mag 3 probably does like no return flow, meaning less flow through to your sump, which means less of a chance for your skimmer to filter your whole tank.

What type of skimmer do you have anyhow?

All that actinic lighting has got to cause some problems in its own. Why do MH are you planning on SPS? VHO is fine for most other corals like softies and LPS.

HTH

 

[trigger0214]

I'd skip the testing kits and put all of the money into lighting and filtration. The RO will be a big help too.

Just to rapidly change the subject.....but i was going to set up my 125 gallon with no filtration. Just the live rock in the tank and a pre-filter for the refugium....I had planned on converting my FOWLR 125 gallon into reef with a 40 gallon (30-35 actual volume, (2) 55 watt PC's) refugium, pumped by a little giant p-3 (i think) in the basement. I think the actual volume with head pressure will be atleast 600 GPH. I had also planned on cutting down on the crushed coral from about 100 lbs to like 50 lbs or so (I do want to get a jawfish). Other specs are (2) 250 watt 10K metal halides, (2) 96 watt actinic, kalkwasser drip system, 75 lbs ive rock (going up), DO top off and water change, Amiracle portein skimmer (I might hook my 25 mg/L ozinzer back up (massively undersized), and refugium is only cruched coral and calupra.



OK?

 

[saltcritter]

I did what Louey said 17 yrs ago and my other took the gold and left me the tank, empty!

I think beeting the problems would be a better lesson.

Sucks is such a harsh word.

Lets say if the Cow ain't producen, lets get it better grass.

If'in you know waat I's mean? :roll:

 

[danmhippo]

Oh yeah, another thing that I was thinking. While this is not the cheapest idea, it would be the funnest.

Take all of your coral, clams, fish, and inverts, back to the LFS for a store credit. 8O

Give your significant other :!:

Restack your rock in some more appealing way.

Give your significant other :!:

Increase your DSB, if you haven't already.

Give your significant other :!:

Start shopping for new coral, fish, etc, etc.

Give your significant other :!:

It should be just as exciting as the first time for you and yours :!: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Louey

Down boy, down.........

 

[SPC]

Posted by Louey:

I am have!

8O
Steve

 

[Anonymous]

Okay. So far I've got the following to accomplish this week :

Upgrade the Mag 3 to a Mag 9 return pump, and adjust my overflow accordingly.

Put one Maxijet 1200 on the left glass and one on the right glass, pointed at each other.

Move the 200gph powerhead into the refugium, with a prefilter sponge on it.

Make certain the Mag9 has a prefilter sponge on it.

Do weekly water changes of 5gal each.

Put as much lighting on the tank as possible immediately (it will be two VHO 10,000k daylight bulbs and two VHO 50/50's for now) until I can upgrade to a MH/actinic combo light.

Prune out as much 'good' macro algae left from the refugium and get the refugium as a whole 'cleaned up.'

Anything else anyone would suggest?

I really appreciate the support and suggestions. Thanks everyone.

Peace,

Chip

 

[Ben1]

Did I still miss what type of skimmer do you have?

Also WHY MH are you planning on corals that need MH or what? DID I miss something?

 

[Anonymous]

Did I still miss what type of skimmer do you have?

The skimmer on the system for most of it's existence was an Aqua-C Remora Pro. For the last 5-6 months, it's hardly been pulling out anything, even after being thoroughly cleaned, so I've put that on the 110-gallon triggerfish tank instead. Now there's a Red Sea Berlin skimmer on it, and it too pulls out only a little bit of stuff.

Also WHY MH are you planning on corals that need MH or what? DID I miss something?

Yes, I like Acros, Clams, and all the MH-light-needing animals as well, and want diversity in my tank.

Peace,

Chip

 

[Anonymous]

Repair of the Reef : Part 1

- Replaced the one 50/50 three 03 actinic lighting configuration with four 50/50's. It's all I have right now, but still 440 watts of VHO.

- Moved the 200gph powerhead to the back center, pointing at the front of the glass.

- Added two Maxijet 1200's, each on the sides pointed toward the middle and angled toward the surface.

- Hauled about 5 lbs. of half-dead & burnt macro algae out of the sump, added some fresh water and a couple more pieces of live rock from another tank.

- Ordered a Mag 9 before I left the store tonight.

Immediate observations :

- Yellow, yellow, yellow tinted light. I hate it.

- Everything is blowing around like nutbusters! My poor LTA is getting hammered, the banggai cardinal is fighting to stay in one place, and the green hairy mushrooms look like their about to come off the rock they're on. Only the pom-pom xenia is standing upright, and the polyps are pulsing. A few of the small frags of various things I have in the tank are still in their places.

Looks like El Crappo so far, but I guess you have to cut in order to heal. I'll try and grab something to diffuse the force of the water tomorrow, but I have no idea what to get.

Anyone have any comments on this? Thanks in advance.

Peace,

Chip

 

[elpescado]

The average hight that a pump pushes from inside a cabinet stand to the tank is about 4.5 feet. A Magdrive 3 will come out of the return tube at about 270 to 290 gallons per hour depending on how many turns it must go thru. I follow a simple rule of thumb. Multiply your tank size by 15 and use that figure as the minimum total flow rate inside the aquarium (that figure includes the total sum of all devices pushing water). In a 75gal tank I would use 4 to 6 smaller power heads to equal the required flow rate, and use a return pump that pushes between 700 and 1000 gallons per hour (dependent of course on the diameter of the drain pipe feeding back to the sump, you don't want to flood your overflow.). With multiple pumps you can dirrect current where you need it most.
The other problem you are probably having is your lighting. I have seen beautiful reefs lit only by VHO (110watts) tubes, I suggest 2 actinic 03 (7100K to 7500K with the peak arround 420nm), and two 10,000K whites (Actinic Sun). This will enable shallower water corals to thrive in the tank as well. At present your tank probably looks rather blue. Also, change VHO tubes every 6 months religiously. They loose there "UMMMPHHH!" after 6 months and undesirable algae starts to grow. If you wish to upgrade to halides then I would recomend two 175 to 250watt halides and two Actinic 03 blues (VHO). Halides on for 8 to 10 hours and blues on for 12 to 14 hours.
Older tanks that don't see much for water changes tend to decrease in pH., and trace element levels become eratic and unballanced. Might I suggest a series of water changes (25% twice a week for a month or two, and once every two weeks after that.). Also changing out some of the substrate once a year will help to maintain good buffering capacity.
Finally, if you are unhappy with the way it is decorated, by all means rearange things, and even add some new pieces of live rock.
As for things blowing all over the place, if the pumps are angled properly you shouldn't have that problem. Also, some corals spread faster when subjected to higher currents.
Good Luck!

 

[Anonymous]

Bumped, thank you.

Peace,

Chip

 

[Anonymous]

Chip,
I am in the same boat as you, although my tank looks bad because of a minor crash. It was doing so nicely, and now i only have one coral left (green hairy shrooms) I just have to wait and sink my cash into new corals.

For your turbulance issue, try putting one of those 1200's on a spraybar. In my 7 gal mantis tank I have a mj600 on a spraybar, it gives me the flow, but doesn't blow all the sand around. And i have a little rio 50 for more cross-wise flow. I am waiting for it to cycle a little more, before I start adding corals. but it seems okay for now.

for lights I have a 6500 LOA on the 7 gal, and beside that tank is my 15 gal. On it I have 32w 10k, and a 32w 7100 blue. The 7 gal is SO MUCH more yellow. Yellow enough I am thinking about building a hood to retrofit the same pc setup as the 15. I hate the yellow too.


HTH
Brett