MadReefer

Happy New Year!!

Yep. I think it is because fish will take care of them. I have them in great numbers in all of my tanks and I don't have any wrasse or the like.

Looks like a well thought out and well put together setup. Very nice.

I always have frags of the xenia. If you want one, it will be freshly ripped off the rock and bagged. But hey, it is free.

If anyone wants to pickup the order on Tuesday Jan. 6th and pay for by tomorrow the 1st, please send me a PM. I would like to take advantage of the sale on clams. http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=747+2663+585&pcatid=585 Thanks

Does your mandarin eat frozen food? If so, it is probably fine. I think the lighting should be good for anything, with proper placement. You might want to add some actinic T5s, VHO, or CF. 20" might not be the easiest to work with, maybe http://www.hellolights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=73

This setup is much quieter than my HOB overflow was. Until I dump in a half gallon of top off water quick, it doesn't make much noise. I don't have teeth on the overflow, so I added the eggcrate to prevent snails and fish from getting in.

It is a small tank for a mandarin, it's not likely to get the food it needs. Sea hares can be fragile and not beneficial. I don't see the point of the green starfish, actually I don't know exactly what starfish you are talking about, but I would still leave it out. Just my opinion.

I would leave out the manderin, green starfish, and sea hare.

I drilled glass with a bit from ebay. I made this simple overflow. It's good for at least 300 GPH.

Nitrite 0 Ammonia 0 Phosphate 0 Nitrate .5 or less but not deadly if over so not biggest deal PH 8.2, give or take .1, reverse daylight photoperiod helps Salinity in S.G. 1.025 Alkalinity 8-12 Calcium 400-450 Stability is best, find what works and keep it the same.

Nothing but a Petsmart gift card. So now I have to figure out if Petsmart has anything I use.

It's good to always be aware of temp. A bad heater is an easy way to lose stuff. You need to check for S.G. from time to time and while doing water changes. While cycling and diagnosing problems you should test ammonia and nitrite. You should check nitrate from time to time and figure out what needs to be done to keep it low. Alk and Cal are big ones to test regularly, and figure out how to keep them where you like them. pH should fall in line if alk and cal are good, same with mag. But if you add CO2, you need to know pH all the time. Anything else, if you add it, you should test for it.

Thanks pledosophy, but it's a 24" tank so 36" 96 watts wouldn't work as well as I would like. I would have to make a canopy for it and put in two 96 watt quad bulbs. I don't have a great shop to work in at the moment, so I think it might be best if I just wait for the time being. I might change my mind and I always have beer. I'm just a clam newb and I worry about these. The first clam I got died and I was told it was not my fault so I got two more. They are doing much better. They are getting better color with time, but after the first 3 days change has slowed, so I wonder if my lights could be better. Am I being impatient? Or should my light be stronger? They are derasa clams that are about 2-2.25". I've had them for 12 days now. Here is a picture of day one and day eleven. Day 1 Day 11

LPS- duncans

If I only had a place to put it, it would be my shark tank. If I move and have a place for it I'll look this up.

I have 96watts from CF on it now. They are derasa clams and are coloring up under this light so maybe I don't need more.

If you just have 4 48" T5s for light than I would avoid anything that needs high lighting. But it is possible to make your light work for this; you would have to put things right in the middle near the top. Anything that needs moderate or medium light should work near the middle of your tank as long as nothing is blocking the light. Anything that needs low light should work on the edges and bottom of your tank.

Medium and low would be middle to lower in the tank while high is nearer the top. The middle can be brightest, the sides might be low, between rocks might be low. It all depends on the setup of the tank. You can get a PAR reader to test your tank. I have never done this so I don't know much about them. If a coral looks happy and has good color than it's probably in good light.

What are the dimensions for (One single 250W Pendent Light (single ended) with two CFs.)?

I have a 20 gallon with some clams and I think they could use more light. Looking online I can find some good stuff that is $200+ and I am hoping to only spend $50-100. Let me know if you have anything you want to sell or trade. For trade, I have some corals, a HOB overflow, macro algae, and maybe a nano heater or something else I can't think of right now. Thanks, Jesse

My wife's family is from Corvallis. She wanted to move, my job wasn't too great, so I thought what the hell. I miss my friends and family. WMAS is great also. I owe a lot of what I know about reefs to Utah Reefs (WMAS). I'm really glad I found PNWMAS. I'm hoping the zoas will grow onto the rocks around them, and then I can trade those rocks without having to cut the zoas off rocks.

I avoid using fertilizer, but have used miracle grow and some phyto fertilizer that I bought from another reefer, not sure what it is. I think it's from a phyto company based out of Florida. So mainly I just add kents iron for the algae. As soon as I get a stable place to live I'm going to start working on a seahorse tank in a 40 tall.

Beautiful algae tank! I'm jealous. I guess I just hope that phosphates and nitrates are used up by the macro in the display and fuge, and phosphate will be the limit. Then a DSB will do the trick if there are any left over nitrates. My current systems are not the way I would like them to be, but I'm sure they will be happy short term with nothing but live rock, shallow sand, and macro. Some corals take nutrients pretty fast as well. I flush a lot of xenia. You are totally right about the mangroves, but I really like them and I know the bigger they get, the better they do for nutrient removal. I just have to watch my magnesium and make sure that it doesn't bottom out. I think most people have little luck with mangroves because they don't give them enough light. F2?? Fluorine gas? lol jk. What do you mean by F2?

Nice pics and corals!