Yep.
When I used it (the caribsea b&w) the tank had serious algae problems like I had never seen and I couldn't figure it out. Then a friend of mine who has been at his longer than me (sold me my 1st coral in '83) told me to try the magnet thing. So I pulled the sand out and replaced with regular aragonite and my troubles went away.
I've seen tanks with black sand that did not seem to have any problems so you might just leave it but keep that in mind if the tank does not behave as it should.
When I used it (the caribsea b&w) the tank had serious algae problems like I had never seen and I couldn't figure it out. Then a friend of mine who has been at his longer than me (sold me my 1st coral in '83) told me to try the magnet thing. So I pulled the sand out and replaced with regular aragonite and my troubles went away.
I've seen tanks with black sand that did not seem to have any problems so you might just leave it but keep that in mind if the tank does not behave as it should.
Well hopefully the black sand won't cause too many issues. I do frequent large water changes so that should alleviate any potential issues.
Since I used fully cured rock that I've had for over a year now, I added coral rather quickly. I think it was a week or two after adding the rock. Here's a shot from earlier today. You can see the red Favia and the orange Acanthastraea subechinata.
Issues so far. The tank had a slight leak in the front upper right corner. Tank manufacturer's fault, not mine. :evil: So I had to resilicone that with half the water drained out. Another one that will be a constant maintenance issue involves the auto topoff line. It's something I'll need to monitor carefully. I really wish I had thought it out better. The kalkwasser precipitates slowly in the line because the saltwater is in direct contact with the kalk. Eventually this causes the line to clog, and the dosing pump blows the line out because of the pressure. It happened the other day when I happened to be there. Damn good thing, as it would have drained my entire tank if I hadn't.
Only solution I can think of for this one is to dose B-Ionic rather than Kalk or to just constantly clean out the line.
Since I used fully cured rock that I've had for over a year now, I added coral rather quickly. I think it was a week or two after adding the rock. Here's a shot from earlier today. You can see the red Favia and the orange Acanthastraea subechinata.
Issues so far. The tank had a slight leak in the front upper right corner. Tank manufacturer's fault, not mine. :evil: So I had to resilicone that with half the water drained out. Another one that will be a constant maintenance issue involves the auto topoff line. It's something I'll need to monitor carefully. I really wish I had thought it out better. The kalkwasser precipitates slowly in the line because the saltwater is in direct contact with the kalk. Eventually this causes the line to clog, and the dosing pump blows the line out because of the pressure. It happened the other day when I happened to be there. Damn good thing, as it would have drained my entire tank if I hadn't.
Only solution I can think of for this one is to dose B-Ionic rather than Kalk or to just constantly clean out the line.
Looking good Oh on that sand thing dont know if it will help but, I remember seeing something about some black sands causing trouble. However there is a aragonite sand that is somewhat black that might not be as probematic as the all black (Volcanic?) iron sand.
Oh on that sand thing dont know if it will help but, I remember seeing something about some black sands causing trouble. However there is a aragonite sand that is somewhat black that might not be as probematic as the all black (Volcanic?) iron sand.Colors are so hard to capture with this phone. But here it is.
The purple coralline under the 20000K MH is intense! I almost want to leave a lot of rock exposed to show the different colored patches. Just noticed the first patches of coralline on the glass today, so all seems to be going well.
I like this Favia on the right but it's so damn big I want to frag it. Len, want some?
The purple coralline under the 20000K MH is intense! I almost want to leave a lot of rock exposed to show the different colored patches. Just noticed the first patches of coralline on the glass today, so all seems to be going well.
I like this Favia on the right but it's so damn big I want to frag it. Len, want some?
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This is a really nice tank Matt.
I'm wondering....how possible do you think it is for me to set up a either a 2.5 or 5 gallon reef in my office, knowing that I might spend 3 days at a time away from the tank on a regular basis (I don't usually work on Mondays :lol: ) and no one is there on Sautrday or Sunday to top off? I might be able to hid a small auto top rig attached to a wall behind a file folder tree on my desk. Should I even try? I want a tank at work so damn bad it's killing me. :lol:
I'm wondering....how possible do you think it is for me to set up a either a 2.5 or 5 gallon reef in my office, knowing that I might spend 3 days at a time away from the tank on a regular basis (I don't usually work on Mondays :lol: ) and no one is there on Sautrday or Sunday to top off? I might be able to hid a small auto top rig attached to a wall behind a file folder tree on my desk. Should I even try? I want a tank at work so damn bad it's killing me. :lol:
manny":29nra5w9 said:
Just get a dosing pump. They are expensive as all hell but worth every penny, even when you are around to take care of your tank. I highly recommend SpectraPure's Litermeter III. GregS is a real big fan of it too. On this tank I just mix up a gallon of Kalk once every 3-4 weeks, set it and forget it.
Going fishless certainly helps too, unless you get a tiny predator that doesn't need to be fed too often. A 5 gallon with a dwarf golden moray would be pretty sick. :twisted:
So I made a huge change to this tank yesterday. Drilled larger holes, installed two bulkheads, and upgraded to an external (rather than submersible) pump and an in-line (rather than under gravel) heater. I also made the auto topoff much easier to perform maintenance on.
Here is the bare bottom tank getting it's paint job.
Here is the closed loop assembly. The heater is just before the pump intake. The white tee after the pump outlet is the input from the dosing pump that tops off the tank. Removable so I can clean out the precipitated kalkwasser that builds up in there.
And, of course, the finished product. You can see the intake for the closed loop on the rear right side.
Here is the bare bottom tank getting it's paint job.
Here is the closed loop assembly. The heater is just before the pump intake. The white tee after the pump outlet is the input from the dosing pump that tops off the tank. Removable so I can clean out the precipitated kalkwasser that builds up in there.
And, of course, the finished product. You can see the intake for the closed loop on the rear right side.
It's a Quiet One 1200, about 300 gph. It's a straight shot in the return, so there's not much friction loss. I do have it dialed down with the ball valve though, otherwise it'd be blasting the rocks around in there. :lol: I'm guessing it's about 150 gph or so.
if i buy a malu anemone for my tomato clown will it move around my 2ft nano reef as it is full of frags iv been growin and i dont want the anemone to sit on any of them because last time i had an atlantic that killed my xenia what other anemones would you advise keeping for a clown
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