bboileau92

Can you video your tank and post it? I'm a sucker for flowy corals.

1 member ticket to paradise corals please

I did start dry. I'm using blue iquatics. No carbon dosing source. Rather than getting an airstone, I think I'll probably just open the plug on the skimmer cup. Any reason not to do that? Is there anything to be done about the bloom?

Hey everyone, I have a red sea 525 xl that has been up since October. I've been slowly adding fish and am up to 2 clowns, a blue tang, a purple tang, solar wrasse, and 2 firefish. I run a skimmer 12 hours a day and a carbon reactor that I replace rox media on once a month. I have no measurable Nitrate via Nyos kit, and no measurable phosphate via hanna ulr checker. I get a bit of algae on the glass and a bit on the sand, but this is the most minor ugly phase I've had aside from the bacterial blooms. They go in and out but the water never gets completely clear. When I feed less, the bloom seems to get better, but I've always fed more to increase nitrate and phosphate. So... 2 questions. Any ideas what's causing the bloom? If it is the food, how should I get nitrate and phosphate up? Other parameters: Salinity 1.026 pH 8.1 Alk 8.2 CA 420

Well that leads me to another question... Should I assume that I'll be getting another $1400 stimulus and pre-spend that as well?

So I have never actually done a YouTube live sale... How does this work?

Seriously. Jim personifies successful reef keeping IMO. Huge, fat, happy fish. Beautiful healthy coral colonies. On top of that, he wants to share that with this community. Keep up the good work!

This was awesome! It was great to meet you. Your display is truly inspiring. Thank you so much for the awesome frags. I hope the rest of your sale goes well this weekend. Get out there people! There are fantastic deals to be had.

Haha, thank you. He's a tiny purple tang, so it's all good.

Well, after the light came on this morning it decided it was fine. It's back to harassing the solar fairy wrasse. I'll be keeping an extra close eye on him to be sure he's doing well before he goes in the display.

Api liquid test kit for ammonia. It didn't seem too rapid, but it was strained.

Hi all, I have a purple tang 30 days into qt using the humblefish copper, prazi, and metroplex method. It seemed healthy and was eating yesterday and today it's just laying on the bottom of the tank not swimming well. It's there anything I can do to help this fish? Parameters: Salinity 1.0265 (usually 1.026, but I must have put too much saltwater in after the water change on Sunday) Temp 79 Ammonia undetectable Nitrate 20ppm pH 7.85-8 depending on time of day Copper 2.05ppm

I can pick up this weekend.

The citric acid clean did the trick on both fronts. The microbubbles have subsided and the skimmer is no longer overflowing. Thank you!

Thanks all. It is a pretty new tank, but haven't used any prime or the like. I cycled the rock in a brute can and haven't had any detectable ammonia. It is a new skimmer, which I figured was causing the excessive wet foam production, by I didn't realize it would cause the microbubbles. This is actually the first unused skimmer I've bought. I didn't give it a good clean, just a rinse before putting it in. My mp40 wet sides could use a cleaning so I'll do a good soak tonight to see if it helps. If it's normal, I won't worry about it unless it doesn't subside after awhile.

I've been out of the hobby too long. I'm trying to set up my first skimmer since I've been back and am having a bit of trouble. The skimmer is an aquamaxx cones 2. It's, at some point, going to be running on my red sea 525 xl. When first turned on, it overflowed like crazy, so I lowered the water level to the minimum in the skimmer chamber and opened the skimmer outlet all the way. I also put 2 layers of eggcrate to lift it up a bit. It's still foaming too well, so I just pulled the plug on the collection cup to let it drip back in to the sump. With that said, I'm going to assume that's just part of the skimmer break in. My biggest issue is the excessive output of microbubbles. I don't remember my past skimmers putting out this much. Is there anything I can do to reduce the microbubbles coming out of the skimmer? 20201231_152628_1.mp4

I'm glad you like the recommendation. That'll be perfect for running the DOS lines to the mixing station too. I am getting a bit ahead of myself, since I don't have a DOS yet...

Got a BRS gift card in my stocking so I ordered the ice cap cell phone filter set. We'll see how much that helps. I got a coral and invert QT set up and have a few corals in there. Tried to get pics, but it doesn't really look right. I lost one zoa frag, but everything else is looking good now. I had a peppermint shrimp in qt that molted, so it's in the display now. The rest of the snails and the corals will go in on 1/30.

I ordered a clearview. It should be here January 14th if I'm counting the 77 day lead time correctly. The wrasse and firefish will be ready to go in on the 19th, so I'm hoping there aren't any delays.

Hahaha. Thank you. The fish in QT agree. That pipe is the main object of aggression, hence the wrasse guarding his domain.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R1XJNT9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_ys94FbSWKSE3W?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 I highly recommend the lights above for stand lights. Super cheap, bright, and the adhesive seems quite strong. The chord situation hadn't stressed me out in real life too much, but looking at this picture makes me want to tidy up the sump a bit.

So my goal for the tank is to have 5 year success. For me, success looks like a tank with minimal, if not 0, fish mortality and a thriving mixed reef, predominantly LPS, Zoas, and some mushrooms. I don't have enough self control to not at least grab a couple sticks, but I haven't reached stick head status, so there will, most likely, only be a couple near the top of the rockwork for this tank. Fish Stocking list: 2 Clowns - In DT Blue Hippo Tang - In DT Purple Tang - In QT 2 Purple Firefish - In QT Solar Fairy Wrasse - In QT Black Leopard Wrasse Canary Wrasse Any more fish would be considered after I see how the tank stabilizes with the list above. As far as equipment goes, I was able to purchase quite a bit of it from folks on this forum. Display lighting - 3 AI Hydra 26 with standard mounts Fuge lighting - Currently a Kessil H80, but I have an H160 that I'll upgrade to once bioload gets high enough to require better fuge lights Return Pump - Jebao DCP 8000. I have been running this on the 3rd flow setting and it's been plenty so far. I'm thinking of picking up 2 smaller pumps for redundancy. Powerheads - 2 MP 40's with battery backup, plus 1 aqueon for flow in the fuge to try to prevent a detritus trap Carbon Reactor - BRS standard reactor with ROX carbon, sicce pump Skimmer - Aquamaxx ConeS 2, turned on a couple of times when the pH dropped a little to see if I could get some more oxygen into the water, but I'm not registering nitrates yet. I'm honestly considering downsizing, as this may be more skimmer than I need anyways. Heaters - 2x Eheim Jager 300w Dosing pumps - 4x BRS dosers, got them when they were $60. This will probably be one of the first upgrades I target. It'd be great to have a DOS for AWC, and then either 2 more DOS for triton dosing, or the 4 pack Versas. Gotta start saving. Control - Apex with 1 EB832 and 1 EB8. I bought the AFS and LDK to go with it as well. I plan to run "Triton Method". The quotations are there because I still plan on weekly 10% water changes, but I do want to rely on fuge and skimmer filtration, so the idea of dosing specifically to feed chaeto seems intriguing to me.

Sorry for the crappy phone pics btw.

So I'm actually doing quarantine this go around. I am currently using a red sea 170 with a large marinepure brick and filter sock for filtration. At this point it is cycled and I haven't seen measurable ammonia in some time. I have a frostbite clown, a Wyoming white clown, and a blue tang that have made it through qt and are in the display now. Currently in qt are 2 purple firefish. I love how they constantly look upset. There's also a solar fairy wrasse and a purple tang that do NOT get along. I will actually catch the fairy wrasse harassing the purple tang too. I haven't noticed any fins damaged yet and they're eating well, so I'm staying the course for now.

I am following humblefish qt using copper, metroplex, and prazi. Honestly, this is my first time doing a qt process at home. So far I have the healthiest looking blue tang I've ever owned and 2 clowns, so definitely a small sample size. Keep in mind that inverts and corals can bring in ich, velvet, etc. I have a 10 gallon qt for inverts and corals in addition to the fish qt tank. Check out this link: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/coral-invert-quarantine-time-frames.334584/