Toblkflys

Hi, I'm from Arizona...looking at this forum because my brother wants to start a sw tank and he lives in Portland, anyway, I've been in the hobby for ten plus years and have a lot of experience with the good and the bad. I've had lots of failures and successes, trials and errors. My two-cents; 1. I would NEVER use tap water with an additive for my salt mixture. RO/DI from a reliable fish store is imperative! 2. Never add anything when things a dying! Stabilize the tank first. 3. Nanoboxreef.com has the BEST LED lighting for the budget and Dave's customer service is outstanding! There is a link to email him for questions on lighting for your tank. 4. I use Aquavitro additives. Seed is wonderful to add good bacteria. Remediation helps with waste/detritus 5. Filter socks are great...add Matrix to the socks as well as the appropriate size bag(s) of Chemi-Pure 6. Be sure to stock your fuge with live rock rubble. I also put cheato in the fuge with a small coralife light to keep it growing. 7. Seed your cheato with Tigger-Pods from Reef Nutrition. 8. Poly-Filter pads are a must in my tanks...they do an awesome job controlling phosphates, ammonia, nitrites/nitrates, etc.! 9. Personally I never use carbon. If you use number 5 & 8 you really don't need to. 10. As you add the above, test water weekly and adjust. You may need to beef-up the Chemi-Pure and don't skimp on the Poly-Filters (by the way, don't throw out the PF unless they turn a color like red, just rinse when dirty and put back in. 11. Feed your fish quality frozen food like Bio-Pure or Hikari and always add Selcon. I make up a batch of frozen, soaked in Selcon (one dropper full) and keep it ready in my fridge in a sealed container. 12. Invest in some Reef Nutrition food/additives like Oyster Eggs, PhytoFeast, RotoFeast, etc. Very concentrated so add to tank sparingly WHEN you are able to add corals. 13. I firmly believe in naturally occurring organisms like bristle worms, spaghetti worms, etc. They are essential to keep a healthy tank. I hope this helps, if I think of more I'll post. I'm available at lysamgarcia@gmail.com.

Hi all! I actually live in Arizona but my brother is in Portland. He would like to set up a tank; 29gal-60gal. Where is the best place to purchase? Does this forum have a buy/sell section? Is there another site/forum for the area where there is a buy/sell section? I am fortunate to have a reef club on reefcentral.com. Unfortunately, there is not a club listed for the Portland area. Any suggestions would be helpful; such as good saltwater stores, etc. Thank you for your time in reading this!

Great post! All new tanks go through this. You will see a spike of Nitrates which is normal for a new tank and contributes to the algae. I have found that adding Matrix helps as well as dosing with Aquavito's Remediation and Seed. You can also use a toothbrush on the rocks, scrape off the algae on the glass then use a siphon to suck up the algae on the sand, This will result in about a 1/4 of a water change. I set up my 28gal a month ago and had the same issue plus a small outbreak of cynobateria (red slime looking algae that is difficult to get rid of once it takes hold...suck it out as soon as it starts!). I used this method earlier this last week and my tank looks great now. As far as fish/inverts I added: A lawnmower blenny...he does a great job with hair algae, etc. About 7-8 turbo snails Two hermit crabs Macro algae like cheato...compeats with algae for nutrients I've been running saltwater tanks for over ten years and have had many trials and errors. I've found that with saltwater, a stable tank is a slow and gradual process...a problem tank comes on fast. With a new tank I test the water parameters on a weekly basis. As it matures you won't have to test as frequently. My 29gal was up for 7 years before I had to sell it (long story). By the second year I didn't even own test kits! Of course you do need to watch the salinity and I had a pH probe. Good luck!

If you are talking about filter socks; I take them outside, use a hose with a power washer/spray head and start from the top, slowly spray across and down. I would NEVER use bleach or any other cleaning chemical. They are not going to be pure white but they don't need to be. Just spray all the gunk out. If you are very particular do the outside then turn it inside out and spray again. Once they have been sprayed and are clean, I shake them out using a strong arm throwing motion until little water is coming out when you shake/whip the sock. Or you can rinse them with RO/DI water after spraying. Hope this helps!