InLikeFlynn

Thanks for holding this raffle. 5 + 1 member ticket: 3 to Nero 5 3 to MP 40

There also seems to be an issue with the plastic cracking being reported by many owners: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/cracking-radion-g5.706240/

Some nice pieces up for sale. Is there anything extra one must do to get the 15% off? I am thinking about making a purchase, but "SOFT-OP15" is not accepted as a discount code when I tried just now:

Nice. I read Planet Aquariums is made up a of a lot of former Oceanic guys, and they used to make pretty solid tanks back in the day. I was thinking about them for my next build if I go glass. Another one I was checking out was Crystal Dynamic Aquarium, who are also doing direct-to-consumer sales now and do pre-built setups. They were an offshoot of LeeMar who used to also be pretty good back way back when, though they seem to be pricey.

Wow, looks great. I'm saving a few pics of your tank for inspiration. I love how even though its big, with the steel stand, it looks like it is floating there on the bare steel stand with remote sump. I'm thinking about starting a tank in this size range, but still locked in negotiations with the wife. If I get approval, I think she sorta wants it to look like nice furniture on a quality wood stand, but I think your tank looks less intrusive in the room with nothing under it! I shall show her these images. Bravo. Looking forward to seeing how your tank grows out. 😀 Just curious, did Custom Aquariums advise if they will honor their "Lifetime" warranty with your setup? I know they do for their wooden stands, but this one looks stronger and more likely to stay level.

They seem to be more into freshwater than marine there, though I go there sometimes because it is the closest LFS to my house. I kinda agree their marine systems tend to look a bit dirty, and their selection is not so great. I cannot speak to fudging water test results as I've never observed that, but they have a guy there who seems to really enjoy BS-ing a bit to newer hobbyists from what I have overheard. I got bad vibes from the fellow, but some of the other employees seemed genuinely helpful from what I've seen. Now that Cuttlefish and Corals is out here on the west side, and only 3.5 miles from Wet Pets, I really don't see myself going there much anymore...

Hi and welcome! Lighting and flow are the biggies that are typically needed to be upgraded when going from fowlr to reef. If you can swing it, I would get some reef-spec lighting (LEDs) and flow that can both be turned down while you are running fowlr, and turned up when you start adding corals. Well-sized protein skimmer is probably helpful for both.

Wow! Looking good! I've always wanted a split system like this a single sump. Would put non-reef-safe fish in one tank (angels), and corals in the others. Your tank(s) give me inspiration for what I might do some day.

I have no information, but I'd be curious to know about this as well.🤔 I had something similar a few years ago. I cycled a tank from dry rock and was fish-only and only fresh-mixed salt went in--never took water from any other system. Then randomly, like 6 months in, a single aptasia just popped out from a crevice in the rock as if immaculately conceived. Hitchhiking in the frozen food mix was my only theory at the time.

In case you did not see it, MD has the AquaMaxx branded dry Fiji rock in stock, which is supposed to be the real ripped from the ocean stuff like BRS used to carry. https://www.marinedepot.com/AquaMaxx_Fiji_Premium_Dry_Live_Rock_25_lbs_Dry_Rock_for_Saltwater_Reef_Aquariums-AquaMaxx-UJ2225-FISSLR-vi.html http://aquamaxxaquariums.com/reef-rock/fiji-premium/

Nice tank. I've never owned one myself, but Biota Captive Bred Court Jester/Rainford Gobies are available. They are small and are supposed to graze on hair algae. Supposedly the captive-bred ones also take prepared foods better than the wild-caught ones which do not have a great survival record.

Not sure if you carbon dose, but I got this lethargic swimming from the two most active fish in my tank when I started dosing Red Sea NoPox. I used their recommended dose, but I think it made the aerobic bacteria so active it drove down the O2 for the fish. They did not have labored breathing that I could tell and I never got the cloudiness of a bacterial bloom, but they did swim that way and sometimes just laid there on the sand/rock. I reduced the dose, and increased surface agitation for more gas exchange and they returned to normal the next day. Might be something to look at if you do. Good luck, I hope you are able to save your fish.

When I had my 5ft tank, I would use a maxi-jet and just go over the rock. These days turkey baster, since I don't have as much square footage to cover. I did see Ryan at BRS showed a simple way in yesterday's live stream that I'm definitely stealing next time I go big (https://youtu.be/y3_9Ju8_esw?t=3362). Ziptie a utility pump to an acrylic rod or other reef-safe material like PVC pipe, then you can aim your blasting without getting your hands wet.

Nice on moving to RODI filtering at home--so much better than lugging around 5gal buckets from the LFS. There is probably no such thing as absolute best, but when I was attempting to rely only on water changes for my nano, I had decent results with Red Sea Coral Pro (Black bucket). It has extra elevated Ca and Alk levels over the blue bucket, so if you are not dosing, it might keep your levels up with consumption better. Red Sea does recommend black bucket for the "Mixed Reef" Reef Care Recipe. That stuff is spendy though. Right now I am using LiveAquaria Professional Reef Salt, which is rumored to be re-badged Fritz RPM, which has gotten decent reviews itself. I could not resist the black friday deal they were offering it at, I think $33 for the Box or bucket. At $50, its still not a bad deal. I have not had any issues with it. Good luck! Edit: One difference I should note if it means anything to you is mixing time might vary a little bit. In my experience Red Sea salts mix really fast, in fact, I believe their documentation mentions that you should just mix it, raise the the temp, then use it within a few hours. I have noticed some buildup would precipitate out of RSCP if I left it mixing too long and leave a brown residue in my mixing bucket. I used to use Instant Ocean and it would remain cloudy for hours and I believe they would advise to wait 24 hours after mixing for it to stabilize, though I don't think it precipitated out much if I left it in the mixing container.

From Tunze (https://www.tunze.com/US/en/products/catalogue/categories.html?user_tunzeprod_pi1[predid]=-infoxober010): So it is fairly submersible, but heats the water a bit when running submerged. I love the marketing talk: its not a bug, its a feature. Its not that it increases the temperature of your water when submerged--no,no, it actually "relieves pressure from your heater". But at this wattage, it might not add up to much in larger system volumes. Also, I imagine in the submerged application, there will be a lot less light lost upward because it won't be reflecting off a water surface. I had a fuge-type light I in my old system that I ran off-hours at night, but just the reflected light spill coming from behind my cabinet made my living room look like some sort of a grow-operation to my neighbors. Thanks for the write up. If this light fits the budget for my next build I might give it a try--seems to be a really good size, clean and unobtrusive.