So I just wanted to introduce myself as a new member. I think its great to find a group of people who are as passionate about the hobby as I am becoming. This may turn into a bit of a story but growing up I never had any passion for fish... Parents always were the types who would Have a tank and never moniter anything just put some gravel and a HoB filter and toss the fish in with some tap water.... needless to say, we never had much success in keeping things over a few months to a year. Recently (about 2 months) I began to become curious about keeping a salt water tank... I was always amazed by the under water world that people could create, but never had anything to go upon it other than "its really hard to maintain.
Thus began my research and read i did.... For hours then days and weeks and finally I plunged into a Little biocube 14G tank. (even though every article said don't start with a small tank... I'm happy I did because the mess I made wasn't as bad as it may have been with a large setup). A condy anemone later (yeah impulse stupidity) and a chromis who wasn't so lucky swimming across the condy + small clean up crew and I began looking for something bigger....
Now I have setup at the moment a 60G corner setup with 20G sump SWC 120 skimmer (phenominal by the way), running biopellets in a reactor (read much about these as well and I must say my phos/nitrate levels have been excellent) about 80-90lbs live rock + 30 lbs live sand 2 maroon clownfish who are full of personality and 2 yellow tail damsels which I would like to move to another setup once I can find one to my liking and if I can ever catch them, a watchman goby with his tiger pistol shrimp, and a cleaner shrimp + sand sifting star and clean up crew consisting of red/blue leg hermits, couple mexican turbo's, chaeto+live rock also in sump... I was obsessed with the aquascaping but now I am holding off as I know its going to end in tragedy eventually with someone getting crushed. Everyone seems to be doing fine! I removed the previous owners actinic/compact flourescent lights from the canopy and am using the marineland reed LED's which give everything a beautiful presence.
A few questions… My return pump from the sump is making an INCREDIBLY loud noise as of the past week. Any suggestions? Or a good replacement? Im not familiar with the plumping aspect too much and piping etc I would need? I have a check valve on the current one and the flow is great… Its just god awfully loud.
I have 2 koralia 750’s alternating everything 15 min placed toward the top of the tank (its about 2 feet in height. The current at times seems a bit harsh for my little maroon clowns as the smaller of the two is always within the rockwork hiding. Should I downgrade or purchase maybe controllable pumps/wavemaker? I have been reallly debating on a neptune system but I hear so many advise against it initially, but wonder if I begin to invest in ph probes/refractometer/ other timers… all in all would it not just be feasible to make the steep investment? Or even the reefkeeper? Although I have been reading much better things about the neptune systems aquacontroller.
Finally I have been trying to delve into the reef keeping aspect next. I wanted to get a M.H. light setup, but worry about warping the top of this tank as it is acrylic and having a canopy there it just seemed like a disaster waiting to happen. I purchased some softy frags, but I’m still not sure if the light was too much or too little or maybe they had not been properly acclimated to the light, but for now I have them doing wonderful in my biocube, until I do a bit more research.
I know I have more questions, but for the moment this seems to be what comes to mind. Of course the advice I’ve gotten from a few great sources is the same “do what works best for you” advice, but I’m always looking for input and I think I have evolved a bit to the stages where I can get some good critique. I will post some pictures later today when I get home! Thanks so much and I look forward to meeting everyone soon!! Can we buy frags at these frag swaps as well?
The return pump noise might be something in the return pump, a broken impeller or the plumbing could be sucking air. Depending on the return pump I would lean towards an impeller issue. Your going to need to shut it off and open the impeller housing and check. Its not uncommon for a snail to go into the tube (especially if not covered) and get stuck/damage the impeller.
For a 60g I dont think the 750 (750gph) is too much but it may need to be bounced off the glass to difuse the flow. Some like to create a vortex (kind of like a whirlpool) and rotate the tank water counter clockwise. Others go for random flow and aim towards objects to bump and make random water movement.
The tank should not warp due to MH lighting because normally they are elevated above the tank. A lot of reefers are using Led’s to light their reef tanks. Do you have a link to the fixture you have now or know the specs? You could be ok with the led fixture to start with the softies.
Softies are usually great coral for lower light, newer tanks and new reefers. What corals did you already purchase?
Hi and Welcome to the club and the addiciton hobby.
I’ll answer the easiest quesiton first. Yes you can buy frags at a frag swap - you can also buy them at our monthly meetings. Generally about 2 weeks before people wil start posting what they have for sale. You can also post and ask for specific items of interest, xenia, gsp, sunset monti, etc. etc. if anyone has anything they’ll let you know.
I would not reccomend starting corals under the Marineland LEDs, they’re good for fish but really aren’t going to give you enough light to keep anything other than green star polyps and maybe a kenya tree.
You’ve already accomplished 3 of the most important aspects of this hobby -you started reading, you started asking quesitons, you’ve seen how NOT to do it.
Your pump may just need to be cleaned. Overtime the shaft will get buildups of items on it and need to be cleaned off, if it’s a really loud clacking noise it may be a snail shell stuck, either way, take it out, take it apart, and look at it. While it’s out, soak it in white vinegar for an hour or 2, scrub it with a bottle brush, rinse it really well and put it bag. This should be done twice a year at least anyway to keep flow where it’s supposed to be.
Sounds like you’re on the right track -just keep reading and asking questions, and you’ll be fine.
Great! These are the types of answers I was looking for Just a heads up the hair algae on the rock was being taken care of by my seahare in the maintank but in my little cube it started growing like crazy again. Ok so I have been on for about 2 hours now so i just erased my “I will post pics/videos later” here is the link to youtube video lol. Pics attached
You can just search my username on youtube to find it “ahsan111222” The return pump is completely random… Today as i just took these pictures It was completely silent… So even though it is covered on the intake something must have gotten in there… I will have to take it all apart when I do another water change. Here is a link to the marineland reef ready LED’s
I would definately like to stick with the LED and have been reading about the high output CREE led’s which can be expensive – anywhere from 400+ but the PAR ratings are equiv to 250w MH lights. Obviously a lot of this is new tech coming out and not everyone who is established is going to toss the already expensive fixtures you have to pay out another 400+ for these but I figure I will keep reading until I decide on a solid performer.
As you can see though in the main tank there is endless hiding places thus my watchman goby/pistol never really make an appearance… So glad I paid for them to hide… I hoped once paired the goby would be a bit more social but it was funny when I put my pistol in the goby immediately came out and they kind of greeted each other and off into the caves they went hand in hand so to say haha I think for my next tank I will definately go for a MUCH larger setup so I dont have to cram so much rock into these corners.
A bit of background info : about half the rock and all of the sand came from an established tank (had a clam, crabs, all the mushrooms you see ran through my initial cycling which wasn’t long at all). The other half I also found on craigslist from a guy who had taken down his tank so it wasn’t live rock so to speak. The red spots on the rock are also somewhat concerning me… Its like a red hairy type of algae? There was a very knowledgable young guy about my age at something fishy who told me to try and remove it with my hand… I read thatAnyways thanks for the advice so far and critique away/suggest/etc I have repositioned the koralia’s since yesterday before posting (read some info about a clickwise flow working best) but it seems to have my little clowns out and about all the time now with the one nipping away at me any chance he gets.
ALSO… Do you see how much bigger one of the clowns is than the other? This did not at all seem to be the case a few weeks ago when I purchased them. I know mated pairs the dominant female becomes much larger? have not read about it happening when they are still so young? Honestly the little one has me a bit worried… In the video on youtube it almost seems like the overflow is sucking him back… and he could quite possibly fit through there… I’ll have to run out and get some type of screen to cover it. So I’ll be waiting for more tips =) I’m off the next few days so I’ll be reading non stop i’m sure. Anybody else heading out to “thatfishplace” on the 16th, 17th? I was in heaven when I visited about a month ago to buy this larger corner tank from someone who lived int hat area… I think after 3 hours I realized I needed to pull myself out as I had a hour and half drive home lol. But the one worker, she was telling me about the huge sale they have and I am looking for another tank for my bedroom - more of a cube setup (honestly I would have just bought my tank there initially had I even known about it…)
Also i posted an aerial view so you can see what I am working with incase you have suggestions on the aquascape… The overflow makes the tank an awkward shape… I played with the rock setup endless times and finally just left it hoping that once I fill the rocks out with corals it will look much nicer Sorry for writing so much… This is typical me when I get a hold of someone who knows saltwater i tend to talk for hours…
[quote=“ahsan111222, post:5, topic:4081”]
This is typical me when I get a hold of someone who knows saltwater i tend to talk for hours…[/quote]
Yeah I have the same problem - just ask anyone who comes to a meeting ;D
Clown fish don’t have to be a mated pair to sex. They just have to be in the tnak together. One will become the female and grow larger than the other. That appears to be what has happened with yours.
Overall this looks like a very nice set-up. Corner tanks are notoriously difficult to aquascape and light. Looks like you’ve done a nice job so far. Now when we can get some corals in there to fill in some space it will look even better.
Thanks so much its hard to be patient with these things but I’m sure it will look amazing eventually… only bad thing I’ve stopped saving money lol… every week its something new for the tank … what else can I get for the tank hahaha I’m really pushing myself for that apex controller but five hundred is a lot… I like to be thrify and find good deals
yeah i def don’t want to be cheap with important items i felt that sting when i paid the 230 for the skimmer lol but it was well worth it the way this guy works ::
welcome to the club and the addiction. your noise could be check valve or propeller on pump. should be a swing check and not a spring type ,if you can change it out at some point i would. where are you located? i am near dover out by marydel. i have a lot of corals i am looking to prune. assorted leathers, shrooms and palys, zoos, anthellia ect
Hey you really think so a1amap? I put some phosban in my cube the other day it seems like its kind of diminishing… Hopefully its nothing serious but thats why I have my cube mainly as my backup/sick tank so if it is hopefully it stays contained in there for the time being until i can get rid of it, but its not slimy at all? Its like a fuzzy patch?
I live about 30 min outside philadelphia… actually right near king of prussia cant wait for the show there. But I have been driving alllll over the place buying things for my tank everytime i see a place on my places app on phone i find myself driving an hour to check it out lol. I have found some nice places!! There is one guy in NJ who has TONNNNS of frags 5-10 bucks i still have his contact info if anyone wanted. He has a nice little business i think its paying some bills for him he was saying very nice guy. You go bag your water and pick your frags he just hangs out and talks lol Any good sites you guys suggest for learning about corals?
Also which site should I register for this or delvalreef? Is it one in the same or diff clubs?
Different clubs. But I’d suggest registering for both. In this hobby it’s never bad to get more than 1 set of opinions. You’ll find that as information get s passed around all of the members of a club will generlaly start giving out the same info - most of the time it’s good - often times it’s not. I belong to 3 or 4 different fish forums just to make sure I am getting well rounded answers to my questions.
also IDK but he is like the total opposite of me… he said he never tests his water and he just supplements magnesium… but his tanks look immaculate i must say. Nothing huge, he had a nanocube 14g another 30g and then a 40g for his frags and a sump 10-20g? and another 2-3 tanks small also but i think everything is connected so his total volume of water his probably somewhere around 80-100g… I must say I was envious
Just a heads up the hair algae on the rock was being taken care of by my seahare in the maintank but in my little cube it started growing like crazy again. Ok so I have been on for about 2 hours now so i just erased my “I will post pics/videos later” here is the link to youtube video lol. Pics attached
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I put some phosban in my cube the other day it seems like its kind of diminishing… Hopefully its nothing serious but thats why I have my cube mainly as my backup/sick tank so if it is hopefully it stays contained in there for the time being until i can get rid of it, but its not slimy at all? Its like a fuzzy patch?