Jump to content

blusafe

SRC Member
  • Posts

    170
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    3

Posts posted by blusafe

  1. I have a separate refugium with 3 inch sand bed. From what I read, the minimum for DEEP sand bed is really 7 inches. Also, it will take one year before it fully matures and gets all the right organisms at each depth. Sand sifters to aerate the top layers are a must, unless you want detritus settling and contributing to long-term nitrates. A DSB long term goal is for natural nitrate reduction, but you need proper particle size, depth, sifting, and patience. If I were you, I'd go refugium with DSB unless there's a compelling reason not to.

  2. Everything in your set-up should be corrosion resistant. The evaporation is not a concern (only pure water and volatiles evaporate), but salt water splashing around will corrode things. If your cabinet is good enough for a display tank on top, it's good enough to have a tank inside.

    As for the fuge light, as I said before, everything should already be corrosion-resistant. Don't use those cheap dinky $10 lights. There's that electricity mixing with splashing water thing to consider.

  3. Bristleworms - reef safe unless you get the large fish-eating type (which these are NOT). These worms grow everywhere to include macroalgae. They are detritivores eating the gunk and stuff, and also eating the stuff that eats the gunk and stuff. This is your real "clean-up crew." Impossible to completely remove unless you have a sterile tank with no live rock or flora.

  4. There is nothing nowhere that will fully cycle a sterile set-up in two weeks (now four weeks?). There are organisms dying off inside your live rock that will cause spikes of nutrients for the next several months. There is no amount of bacterial additive that can control this die-off. It just happens. Live rock will take months to fully "cure." With the turnover that an LFS has, it's doubtful the die-off is complete in any retail live rock.

    BTA is not suitable for a new tank because of the rapidly fluctuating water parameters in the first few months. How is it doing now? Most definitely not happy, and probably has a fungal infection (highly prone). Has your GSP opened up yet? If the purple mat is peeling away and looks dry and hard (not fat and fleshy), then it is dead. The best you can do is frequent, small water changes and hope for the best.

    First picture looks like Aiptasia. Does it retreat quickly or rather slowly? Quick is worm, slow is Aiptasia but it depends. The blurred pictures look like it has a mouth so I am thinking Aiptasia. Second picture is definitely Xenia. They will start reproducing under good water conditions.

  5. Unless they're large and green, no need to worry. Those may eat fish but the rest will not harm anything in the tank. If you really want to get rid of them, need to look for underlying cause. Scavengers don't just magically spawn all over your tank unless there is mass die-off from cycling or you're just feeding too much. If you get rid of good scavengers, something else will take its place. Maybe some nice, brown diatoms covering every square inch.

  6. Wonder if use ATS and refugium can share same light? Kill two birds at the same time.I hv huge area in my sump. So wana mk full use of it. Unfortunately iwarna don't build algae scrubber. My concern is ATS needs pump+light=higher pub bill. I'm trying to source for smthi that can remove bad algae(lower or zero no3&po4) and at the same time doesn't increase our pub bill. Smone suggested bio sphere to me. Anyone tried this product?

    What kind of ATS are you looking at? There are infinite ways to build an ATS and fuge. ATS is used ONLY to grow and harvest algae for nutrient export. A fuge serves multiple purposes depending on how you build it. Both ways do not always require separate equipment. If you have a large, fixed sump that you do not want to move, then ATS is probably the way to go. The best fuge IMO provides algae harvest, water volume, and extra food and plankton. You generally can't get extra food if you have high flow, which means you have to install baffles in your sump - and can't do that if it's filled.

    If you are not looking to add to the PUB bill, why not install a small fuge inside of your display (how big is your tank) that shares the same lighting? You can also try deep sand bed (6+ inches of sand), more live rock, or try adding DSB to your sump.

  7. I have five small ones in my tank. They get along but the big ones still nip at the small ones. No signs of gross injury. It's how the social structure is formed. The picking is normal and healthy so long as the junior fish are not being seriously injured. The bigger clowns will slowly develop male gonads, then the biggest one will turn the male gonads into female.

    If your clowns have been together this long, and the small one is still alive and eating well, I recommend just watch for secondary diseases from stress.

×
×
  • Create New...