bboileau92

If we're talking nitrifying bacteria, I feel that the sand, along with some rubble in the sump will be plenty. With that said, I've seen some traffic on here about microbiome, but I'm not up to speed and don't understand what the impact of this rock vs something like reef saver would have. I suppose only time will tell. When I was cycling these in a brute can, I did get some bacterial film on the rock like I have in the past.@Aerixxare you seeing a similar effect on the stuff you have going?

I'm planning mostly lps, zoas, and mushrooms, so I don't think that'll be a limiting factor. Honestly, I didn't much consider whether the coral would encrust on it. I've seen plastic frag racks covered in cyphastrea and montis so I didn't even think about it. What would be the driver for preventing growth?

Yeah. It's Blue iQuatics. I love the way it turned out. The only problem i have is that I keep convincing myself that the paint on them is real coraline. 😅

Hey all, I've introduced myself before, but I wanted to give a bit of back story to explain why I'm so excited for this build. I'm originally from Colorado, and moved out to Oregon 5 years ago for work after graduating from college. MASC (the Marine aquarium society of Colorado) was a great group of people that got me hooked in this hobby when I was in high school. While struggling through my junior year, working 40 hours a week, I upgraded to a 150 gallon tank and dove head first off the deep end. My wife won 2 Wyoming white clowns at reefstock, back when they were $200 a pop. She loved those fish, and they're what got her to finally appreciate my tank. I also got my dream fish, a purple tang. What happened next? You guessed it... ich. It wiped out every fish in the tank. We were both devastated. I stayed in the hobby, but never quite committed. Then when I moved out here, it took awhile for things to get settled in to the point where I could get back in the way I wanted, but now is that time! After starting out waiting on a neptunian cube for nearly 3 months, I decided to go with a Red Sea 525xl. And, due to my outstanding luck, the weight bearing side panel came in damaged. I will say that I was incredibly disappointed in red sea's customer service, but Jeff @CuttleFishandCoral was great through the whole process, and kept me just sane enough for when the side panel came in and I could finally set this up back in November. Needless to say, I'm terrible at updating my build thread and will get more details added, likely during my upcoming long weekend. For now, here's the tank just a couple days after setup. I am so excited to be back in this hobby. I look forward to meeting some of you one of these days.

Please put me back on the list. Frag tank is ready now.

I've got some snails, a peppermint shimp and 5 small frags in QT. I think I'm going to maintain 82 for now and see how everything takes to the elevated temp.

I'm interested in taking a look. Can you post a link?

I'm interested in taking a look. Can you post a link?

I am a supporting member.

I need some help deciding if I'm being ridiculous or not here. My question is this: Can I get pests, i.e. aiptasia or vermetids, when purchasing a clean up crew? I believe this answer to be yes, but let me know if I'm overthinking it. But assuming I can, what can I do to avoid this? I'd like to do everything I can to avoid introducing pests, so I'm QTing my fish and will dip corals before addition to the tank, but I'm at a loss for how I can protect my tank from hitchhikers on the shells of clean up crews. Thanks in advance for your input.

Will you please put me next in line?

How does the lid close on the 55 gal drum?

Message coming on hydras.

I have a clown with a swollen cloudy eye. What would that be? Luckily he's still in quarantine, but I'm not sure the correct treatment. Any help would be appreciated. Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

Couple big updates. First, I went on vacation and when I returned, one of the clowns had died. Before I left, it seemed the two had stopped fighting and they were both eating well. Ammonia at 0, Nitrite was 4ppm, Nitrate was 25 ppm. I did a 15 gallon water change, keeping copper at 2.0 ppm. I've read info that would suggest the nitrite wouldn't kill the clownfish, but I'll be doing more regular water changes either way. The remaining clown has a swollen cloudy eye. What would that be? Luckily he's still in quarantine, but I'm not sure the correct treatment. Any help would be appreciated. Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

Random question... In the small media reactor cube section, if you remove all of the cubes, are there still baffles remaining, or would it be an open chamber at that point? Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

I would recommend googling humblefish quarantine. He has a great post on r2r that is a great guide. Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

Wow. Thank you very much. I've been out of cell range for a few days and this was a nice surprise. I would like a Cuttlefish gift card please. I'll swing by this Saturday! Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

That looks awesome. How do you plan to use the apex vs. the cade outlets? Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

I haven't updated in awhile, mostly because nothing exciting has been happening. The QT is getting ugly with algae, but my next QT fish will be a purple tang, so I'm hoping it will give them something to graze on. I think the clowns are past the psycho murderers phase and both seem healthy to me. Copper is at 2.06 ppm and I did my first dose of metroplex. The bottle says to dose every two days for up to 3 weeks, but that seems like a lot. Has anyone used metroplex prophylacticly? How many doses should I really do? Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

I am a sponsoring member Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

Alkalinity for sure. Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

This is currently my qt setup. The display tank hasn't arrived yet. Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

I really appreciate that. I'm sure I'll take you up on that in the near future. I've already been reading up on your stuff and it's been very helpful. Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

Got the ATO hooked up. It's pretty tiny. I feel like I'm going to have to fill it basically everyday. We'll see how it looks tonight. Clowns are eating just fine and seem to enjoy their pvc home currently. Are there any triton method fans out there? I'm curious to see if anyone is using it and if they're happy with the results. Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk