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bfessler

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I am setting up my first reef. I am currently gathering all the pieces which will consist of:
1. 28G JBJ NanoCube CF-Quad
a. 28 g nanocube
b. Quad 10,000K/7100K compact fluorescent lighting
c. 2â€
 
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Anonymous

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bfessler,

:welcome:

I realize you posted this not wanting a 'bash session', and I applaud your wanting to experiment with different things. However, you'll have to put me in the skeptic's corner. Since you have obviously read up on it, I won't go into explaining my thoughts (conventional wisdom backed up by decades of watching 'miracles in a bottle' fail) as to why this system won't work any better than sufficient time+quality live rock as far as results.

I am skeptical of any bacteria additive that says it is not unduly effected by copper or other known treatments that kill bacteria, can support a full bioload in 24 hrs as well as the assertion that water changes and/or skimming are unnecessary. The necessity stated that one must use special carbon and a filter of sufficient size to contain same for this miracle to work also should raise some doubts.
(climbs down off soapbox)

Anyway, post up your results :D so we can follow along.
 

Ben1

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I started typing up my doubts and reasons a few days ago and stopped becuase I decided you have already made up your mind, and I sounded like I was bashing.

Just remember nothing good happens fast in this hobby, only bad things happen fast. A reef is a long term project that needs to be planned and thought out that way.

Good luck with your new hobby.
 

bfessler

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Sea Turtle":3dwql53w said:
bfessler":3dwql53w said:
Here are some pics of Dads Tank, Red Sea Max 130D :D http://www.flickr.com/photos/burts_pics
Nice pics. A little small for that yellow tang though.

This reef was setup partly for my mother who has poor vision and is house bound. We want some fish she will not have difficulty seeing and have no room for a 100G tank. When the Tang or others get to big will trade back to LFS for new stock.

Experiment

I don't plan on going striaght to a full load of fish coral and live rock immediately. Limited finances and time constraints. I plan to see if this system will work over the long haul. I plan to add a few fish and live rock immediately but will build the system up over time. Most of the threads that I have read regarding this system snowball into a huge fight and get pulled from the board before long term results can be documented. My hope is to build this reef up over 6 months or so and then maintain it using only the Right Now System.

As for water changes I do still plan on changing 5% of the water every 2 weeks but will not be using a protein skimmer. I also plan on having a couple 10 gallon tanks handy incase the system goes south.

If the system works to get a tank started in 24 hours it may encourage others to try a reef. I was follwoing another thread about why people leave the hobby and one of the reasons is they purchase a system for the Kids and the kids loose interest before the tank is cycled and fish can be added. Imagin if Junior wants a little nemo and can take it home that day.

If long term success is not a reality perhaps the system could be used to start up the aquarium and gradually reduce the carbon bed for the right now bacteria and let the normal bacteria slowly take over. Other possible uses could be to set up a quarantine tank quickly for new fish or for a failure in the main tank. It just seems that there may be a place for this system in maintaining reefs.
 
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Anonymous

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He makes a lot of products for fish and reef aquariums that claim to do things that seem out of reach or impossible. On the BB's his products are generally considered snake oils. JMO. I find the 24 hour cycle very hard to believe. Let us know how it goes though.
 

bfessler

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Can anyone identify the creature living in the little cave of live rock in picture labled Dads Tank 3 at the follwoing link? http://www.flickr.com/photos/burts_pics 8O

It looks like some type of small clam or something. We just saw it yesterday. I think it stowed away in the piece of live rock we put in the tank. It is well camoflauged by the coraline algea growing on its shell.

IMG_0190.jpg
[/img]
 
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Anonymous

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ANEMONEBUFF":ve2ill14 said:
Smells like Marc Weiss......................

Nah. Marc Weiss has not, to my knowledge, ever threatened to beat up people who weren't impressed with his products. Snake from Hyatt Industries though....

Bfessler:
Good luck with your experiments, but no, I don't expect to be wowed by the results. I ran a similar experiment over a decade ago when Snake sent me product samples for testing. I gave it a resounding 'meh' :D
 
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Anonymous

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bfessler":1h03vd4c said:
Can anyone identify the creature living in the little cave of live rock in picture labled Dads Tank 3 at the follwoing link? http://www.flickr.com/photos/burts_pics 8O

It looks like some type of small clam or something. We just saw it yesterday. I think it stowed away in the piece of live rock we put in the tank. It is well camoflauged by the coraline algea growing on its shell.

IMG_0190.jpg
[/img]

It's a bivalve(clam/oyster).
 

bfessler

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I picked up my tank from UPS today. They were holding it while I was out of town last week.

IMG_0197.jpg


Here are some of the features.


IMG_0198.jpg

Chiller

Lights
IMG_0199.jpg


Moon Lights
IMG_0200.jpg


ATO Had to modify the mounting bracket to get the sensor high enough.
IMG_0201.jpg


Its driving me crazy that i wont be able to set it up till this weekend.
 

bfessler

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cjdevito":23ka7e5p said:
Bfessler:
Good luck with your experiments, but no, I don't expect to be wowed by the results. I ran a similar experiment over a decade ago when Snake sent me product samples for testing. I gave it a resounding 'meh' :D

Can you tell me if the Right Now system performed as claimed? Since you have tried the product I am interested in your experiance. Did the bacteria cycle the tank in one day and how long did you test it?

Was it possible to gorw corals with this system? That is my biggest concern that the bacteria are so agressive that there are no nutriants left for the coral. According to what I have read you have to decrease the amount of the TBC bed to limit the number of bacteria in order to grow corals.

Since you have had first hand experiance with the procuct I am very interested in your opinion.

By the way My dad bought a fairly large plate coral that had problems in his tank. It was dying and fowling the water so we had to take it out and throw it away. I was thinking if I had a small quarantine tank that was set up for the right now system we could have removed the coral from the tank and tried to save it.

Anyway we should have done more research on the coral before purchasing it. The salsman at the LFS said it should be fine in his tank but didn't tell us how delicate this coral was or that it should be placed in the sand instead of on a flat rock. I found out a lot about the coral after the experiance. It was a hard lesson but in the future I will research the corals and fish before purchasing them.
 

Ben1

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The ATO should be mounted in the back of the tank in the filter compartment. My son has the JBJ 29 HQI and as the water evaporates, it goes down in the sump not the main tank. It goes down on either the left or right return compartments depending on which of the return pumps is on.
 
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Anonymous

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bfessler":croq1558 said:
Can you tell me if the Right Now system performed as claimed? Since you have tried the product I am interested in your experiance. Did the bacteria cycle the tank in one day and how long did you test it?

It's a long time since I poked around with it (I ran into Snake at MACNA in '98 and the product testing came about soon afterwards as a consequence) and my memory isn't what it used to be, but the short version is that I set up two five gallon tanks side by side. Both got five pounds of fresh from LAX Walt Smith fiji rock, uncured and poorly handled. One used the TPC and RightNow bacteria, the other just used the rock. I monitored ammonia, nitrates and nitrites, and both tanks used natural seawater (Catalina Water Company) from the same collection batch that was itself tested before beginning the project.

It's important to realize the rock was the rankest I could get my hands on.

Was the tank with the rock and the Hyatt products cycled on day one? No. It took, in fact, nearly about as long as the tank without the Hyatt products. But, the important bit: levels of a/n/n in the Hyatt tank were lower consistently throughout then the tank without them. It did have an effect, just not enough of one. In the end I concluded that it in a tank with live rock, it really didn't serve a purpose.

As a follow up I restarted one of the five gallon tanks with no rock, using the Hyatt products and adding a small clownfish. The Hyatt products had no problem maintaining that tank for the month or so it was set up. So in a tank without live rock, I can see the product having some value. It does nothing other systems don't already do, though. Hence the 'meh' result of my experiences. :D

It's not snake oil. It's just something with, in my experience, limited utility in the context of a reef tank.


Was it possible to gorw corals with this system?

I didn't try, so I can't directly answer that. But to be very honest I'd be shocked beyond words if it really caused a problem.

It was a hard lesson but in the future I will research the corals and fish before purchasing them.

FWIW, that's probably the most important lesson in the entire hobby. Good on you for picking it up so quickly :)
 

SnowManSnow

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Good luck. Move slow and methodically :) Don't be offended when ppl disagree with you.. there ARE a lot of unconventional ways to do things, but are also some proven methods that shouldn't be overlooked :) Kinda like body building... everyone knows how to get big.. but hardly anyone has muscles haha.

GL! Keep us posted!

B
 

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