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DaveZ

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Posts posted by DaveZ

  1. @Oelyk welcome to the group and the SW WA reefer crew! I’m in west Vancouver right off 500 and I5. I still have my original IM Nuvo20 up and running 6 years now, gotta love those nano tanks. 
     

    I’ve got a handful of beginner corals for zoas and bright GSP you can have. Always happy to have people over and answer any questions and talk about the hobby. 
     

    Relatively recent pic of the Nuvo attached. 

    IMG_3186.jpeg

    • Like 2
  2. @islandVib3s the only thing you’d want in your ATO would be Kalk. Even then that’s not really the best way to dose it as ATO amounts change with weather. 
     

    best practice is dosing through a doser. Even a $30 Jebao doser that’s calibrated is better than trying to guess right amounts through ATO. 
     

    Do your tank a favor and use proven methods to keep it stable. 

    • Like 2
  3. 40 minutes ago, Jordan said:

    Do you have any Berghia left ? Looking for 6 of them large 

    Hey. All berghies from this batch were sold. They usually sell out in a couple hours. You’re welcome to shoot me a DM with your contact info and I can put you on a wait list but for 6 large ones it’s going to likely be a month minimum. 

  4. 19 minutes ago, NanoNerd said:

    Thanks all! It's been a busy few days so haven't been able to reply.

     

    I have looked into the smatfarm brand, since I have heard good things, despite the weird name lol. I also heard good things about this light: https://noopsychereeflight.com/products/k7mini The controls sound maybe annoying, but honestly the ones we have right now are not great anyhow. So no difference.

    Dave, thanks for your great reply! Ill probably take you up on PMing you. Today will be our weekly water change for the three nanos, so we'll do some testing first too and see where the numbers are. As fsr as flow, yeah my sandbed has been blown all around, and i worried it was TOO much flow, so was going to look into that too (I tried to find thenl smallest power head i could for this tank). Ill take a pic later once the lights come on.

    I think this tank wont be much of a mix, just almost all sps and MAYBE 1 or 2 really hardy corals who are ok with the flow and the bright lighting (GPS, e.g.).

    Good stuff. I haven’t personally used the Noopsych light I would say any of these lights are good. Not sure what your budget is for lights but I’m super curious on the Chinese near 1 for 1 knockoff of the XR30 for only $250 with a mounting bracket:

    A8se Smart Full Spectrum 215W WiFi APP Programmable Saltwater Aquarium Coral Reef LED Light
    https://a.aliexpress.com/_mMEQY94

    Keep in mind with budget lights that have an app, it’s likely to be total crap. But for a set/forget one time thing I’m sure this $250 instead of Ecotech $1100 (with mount), the juice could be worth the squeeze.

     

    Another Chinese option is the Kessil knockoff for $125 with stand: A7 2.0 Generation WiFi App Control Full Spectrum 100W Marine Led Aquarium Reef Light
    https://a.aliexpress.com/_m07ABYm

     

    But for 5g tanks, these lights are way overkill. You would absolutely need to get a par meter to make sure you’re not destroying them with 600+ par  

     

    And as for flow and SPS, there’s no such thing as too much flow. The only thing you don’t want (and a major challenge in nano’s) is not blasting them with insane direct flow or you could blow tissue off. You want to think “raging currents”  

     

    • Like 1
  5. As someone who has successfully kept acros in nano tanks, I will tell you that lighting with sps should be lower on the list of things to concern yourself with. Flow, major/minor elements uptake and replenishment, and nutrient stability and export are for sure more important for sps in a nano.  
     

    Your Nicrew should be totally fine to start. Most lighting can provide for any corals needs and a good aquacultured sps pieces will settle far quicker. Par and spectrum matter but shooting a bit lower in the par range 150-200 is still perfectly fine for most sps and having a full spectrum is a good starting point. Par and spectrum are useful but it’s usually not life and death for most sps, they’re pretty good at adapting to different light. They might not reach optimal or peak coloration possibilities but also remember to not overhaul the whole system and create mass instability for all the other animals to accommodate one or two pieces  

    Flow is always the biggest and most critical aspect with making the jump from softies/LPS tank into sps…most especially in a nano. There’s typically nowhere near enough flow in a LPS/Softie nano tank to support any sps. A good sign that flow is adequate is that your sand bed is getting blown around. If your sand is still, then there’s not enough flow for sps.  

    Naturally the trade off is that most LPS will suffer with that high of flow. It takes an incredible amount of zonal planning for the LPS to make sure they’re both acclimating to higher par and not getting must direct force of the flow. 

    Most jumping from LPS/softies to sps is not being ready for the elemental uptake of Alk and calcium. Tough part of a nano with low water volume buffer is that the uptake can happen fast to insanely fast. Water changes are great and I really am a big proponent of water changes for nano reef keepers but it’s for sure not enough to keep up with stability when doing an sps mixed reef. Likely a two part or 1 part solution for consistent daily dosing is great. 
     

    Most sps can adjust to higher nutrient tanks but the key is stability and smaller fluctuations. If the tank has good husbandry schedule; then it will be fine for sps.
     

    now, to help provide some validity to what I’ve shared I will showcase my results (as that’s the only thing we can really do as reefers to make our points more valid). I will post a picture below of my Nuvo 20. It’s become an acro dominant mixed reef display over time. It’s 6 years old, lit by an old and crappy Nanobox Quad not running even running 50% and a 24” custom spectrum LED bar I got a company in China to make me through AliExpress. Most of the top portion of water column where the acros are has par around 300-375 and bottom/sandbed is 200-250. It is also running dual Jebao SLW 10 and SLW 20 for flow. The 10 is running 100% on a constant and the SLW 20 running near full power on a pulse. 
     

    I do weekly 25% water changes and only have 3 fish in the system. Just two bags of Chemi-pure blue for media. No skimmer or any other filtration. This tank is just heat, lights, flow, carbon, sand, rock…and lots of coral. 

    Im always open for DMs or texts if you have more questions or want to chat/ come see the tank. 
     

     

    IMG_2740.jpeg

    • Like 4
  6. Hey reefers, I’ve had another wave of hatching of the Berghia nudibranchs farm. I’ve been waiting a bit longer than normal to get most of them to a nice big adult size.

    $15 each with a minimum of 3 per order. 
     

    I have about 8 to 10 available but tons more eggs are laid and waiting to hatch and grow.

    located in Vancouver Wa right off I5 and 500. 
     

    also, if your tank is overrun with aiptasia, I will always take any live rock that is overran and give you cycled live rock from my 250g sps system. Or I will always accept donated rocks as well. 

    IMG_3071.jpeg

    • Like 1
  7. 1 hour ago, Rugops said:

    Heyo!

    So I am looking for live rock and maybe sand if you have extra.

    Maybe like 40-70 lbs. If you got a little less I don't mind but I would prefer it live.

     

    Lemme know 

    Should have asked while you were over picking up the 40b. I have a couple bags of unused Arag-Alive sand that I am not going to use. It’s going to be retail price as that’s what I paid but would save a trip over the bridge. 

  8. Not sure what happened to my first post but here’s a free 40b setup for the first person to come pick it up. 
     

    Comes with a drilled tank and bulkheads with an H2Overflow and 3/4” locline return. Home made 2x4 stand with light hanging mount.
     

    Tried to razor blade it as clean as I could get when emptying it. Plumbing not included but can include it for $$$. 
     

    located in Vancouver Wa (near I5 and 500)

    IMG_3015.jpeg

  9. I would love to take all of the aiptasia you have for my Berghia nudibranch farm! I seriously want aiptasia significantly more than the coral. 
     

    I do have an AI Prime over the farm tank so it can keep corals alive until the nudibranchs pick the rocks clean. 
     

    I also live in Vancouver WA (westside by I5 and 500). I can shoot you a message to work out details. 

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1
  10. I think it depends largely on what the long term goal is for the corals of this tank. 
     

    If you were going with LPS and corals that encrust / grow close to rock and do not require much flow, then I think you’re good with either of these.
     

    But since you said the goal is to go with SPS, it is really important to keep in mind that these branching style corals take up a lot of water space over time with growth. You don’t want rockwork of aquascapes for sps to take up much space from the start as the corals themselves become the aquascape over time….as you can see from Lex’s picture examples above.
     

    IMO the goal for SPS dominant tanks should be as little rock as possible. More rock distracts from acros and can really break up the cool shapes of growth patterns found in acros. Plus this wall of rock style scape as the corals grow I think will cause big flow issues annd dead spots over time as the acros grow in. If you want SPS with this scape, I’d go with minimum of 6 pumps in this setup. 
     

    I will post some pics of my mixed reef (that’s become acro dominant) that had a scape not designed for acros and then my new Tonga scape for I am making for the 75g Acro only display that’s tied into my 250g acro grow-out system (fyi, I’m going to be throwing 4 MP10s and 2x gyres when I get corals in there).
     

     Hopefully this can give you some ideas. 

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    • Like 3
  11. Got a few more acros frags still around for those interested in getting some new stuff at affordable price per frag. All acros have been cut and growing for awhile. Most fully encrusted on frag plugs but can do fresh cuts on the band saw if you don’t want plugs 👍

    Location: Vancouver WA (right off I5 and 500)
     

    (SOLD) Acro Pack: $180 (average $22.50 per)

    Row 1 (left to right): Pink Lemonade, Tierra del Fuego, bubblegum digi, Battle Coral (name unknown - XXL)

    Row 2 (left to right): GB Blue Thunder, Neptune Fruity Pebbles, PC Rainbow, ORA Frogskin. 
     

    Mini-Colonies:

    GB Blue Thunder #1 - $150

    GB Blue Thunder #2 - $120

    Malaysian Smooth Skin - $100


    ***no post edits done to photos. Taken with iPhone and a basic yellow filter to show closer to what corals look like in person.***
     

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    • Like 1
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