recent photo of my tank, with questions! (1 Viewer)

[Guest]

This is a recent photo of my 46 gal JEBO bowfront, that I've had since June.

I've had a number of problems with the initial setup, but I've gotten past them.
I have a custom light setup with one MH bulb and two blue Coralife flourescents. It's 20K, not sure if that refers to the MH or flourescents.

I don't have any type of sump, just a 5 inch sandbed (give or take).
I test about every week, and I've never had any type of measurable fluctuation. I try to do water changes every month, but sometimes I get a little behind. I top off daily with fresh RO water from Kroger's.

I'd like to start keeping some SPS corals. I've got some orange montipora cap frags that I rubberbanded to a large live rock last weekend, and a few of Leslea's frags that I picked up at the Christmas party.

I don't know much about SPS keeping, just that i need to keep my calcium and alkalinity in line.

Every two days, I dose 10 drops of liquid Aragamilk.
Weekly, I drop in a capful of Kent Iodine.
I'm running an AquaC Remora skimmer, that doesn't pull in a lot. I wash it out weekly.
Not including the skimmer pump, i have two powerheads, one is a Rio and one is a cheap PowerSweep (that doesn't sweep).

Cleanup crew:
35 or so hermits of assorted sizes (generally small)
around 20 assorted snails that I constantly replace
1 queen conch
1 large brittle star
1 slipper lobster
1 coral banded shrimp
2 green hitchhiker slugs (tiny, move like inchworms)

Fish:
1 blue damsel
1 very small yellow tang
1 cardinal fish
1 true percula
1 yellowheaded jawfish

I feed a cap of DT's daily.
I feed 1/2 cube frozen brine shrimp daily, and target feed my sun coral the other half (daily).
I have minor green algae that grows on the glass that I clean off with a mag float or putty knife.

I'm still very new to this (obviously) so any suggestions/comments are very welcome. Let me know if I left anything out.

Thanks!

 

[dillo]

what is the wattage of your metal halide? And how long is your tank.?

 

[Guest]

not sure. I picked my lighting up at a sidewalk sale at VT.
He said it was 20K and one month old.
The length of my tank is 30 inches, width 16, height 19.

 

[dillo]

If you can look at the bulb it will usually say what the wattage is. It's probably atleast a 150w since it's 20k. The lighting you have shoud be fine in my opinion- I have a 125 gal. that's 6 feet long and I use three 175/ 20k and two 5 foot blue flourescents. It would be even better if there was a 175w in there.

Also- I don't know how long you have had that brittle star but I had one that got rather large and he started taking a liking to my fish in the tank. I had to get rid of him. Yours may not do that I do't know. Just beware.

 

[Guest]

DT

If I were you I would stop the DT feedings to once a week, a day before your water change, also cut the feeding back to 1 cube of brine every other day or less. Then I would get some maxi jet 1200 and cut the ends off and stick them on a wave controller so they spray in all directions. Then I would watch to see if my frags are growing, and the rest is water changes. You might want to try Tropic Marin bio-calcium powder for calcium and iodine, it has worked really good so far for me and a few others reefers I know.
Good Luck !!!

 

[Guest]

Thanks very much for your input.

I'm giving away the brittle star (though it is one of my favorite inhabitants!).

When you mention a wave controller, are you talking about an electronic gadget that will be heavy on the wallet, or just something that breaks up the singular flow of the powerhead? (if I'm convinced that I need one, I'll buy it.)

Another question- if the minor algae outbreaks mean that I'm overfeeding, how can I know if I'm underfeeding? Also, will cutting down on feeding hurt my invert population?

 

[Guest]

Another quick question:

I have four small orange montipora cap frags (not shown in the photo) that I have rubberbanded to a section of live rock close to the light. Is this an acceptable way to mount frags- will they settle into the rock this way?

 

[KarenB]

I'm thinking the rubber band may irritate the cap where it covers it. I'd get some super glue GEL and attach it to the substrate that way, being careful to keep the glue off of the top side and edges if possible. I had a small area of die-off on one of my caps where the gel touched the edge and a little of the top once. If you can get one of the edges to just touch some of the rock, it will encrust faster, too.

 

[Guest]

Thanks! Any more suggestions?

 

[Guest]

Question actually, is that shadow really like that all the time?

 

[Guest]

Honestly, yes, but it looks more severe in the photo.
My MH bulb is right above the center brace. Sometimes I will alternate the placing of the hood, shifting it more to the right or left.

 

[lesd]

Dillo - was your brittle star a green brittle star? I have heard that the green ones will hunt fish as they get larger.

However, I have had numerous other brittle stars (non-green) that I've never had a problem with. It may be premature to ditch a brittle star out of fear if it isn't a green one.

-- Les