psychofireman

3 hours ago, Lord Snow said:

Hello Everyone,

   I have been in the hobby from over 30 years but started my first marine tank about 4 years ago. Through growing pains I have wiped out my share of life. Because of this I choose for my Senior Project at Oregon Institute of Technology a web application that allows people to build an entire tank before buying anything. So I might be reaching out for some test users lol.

My hope is to have some people give advice on coral placement and meet some awesome new hobbyist. 

Thanks,

Bobby

I would suggest placing the coral inside if the tank. They Always seem to dry out and die if left outside of the tank.

I don’t have a test kit. used to but got lost in the move and was too lazy to get another one for it. Going to get a Hanna one soon. Been just doing water changes and monitoring what I can. Been judging by growth on my walls. Also have those stick thingys to measure what ever the measure and my nitrates are almost on the white box. My water level is near the top... I know that’s not what you meant.

14 hours ago, SuncrestReef said:

Welcome to the club!

I'm the resident Apex guru and have written extensively on the subject.  (see https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/authors/suncrestreef.93940/)

While the Apex will help you to monitor your temperature and pH, and the Trident and DOS can help you maintain stable alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium, it sounds like your current issue with algae is more related to nitrate (NO3) and phosphate (PO4) levels.  The Trident cannot test or monitor those parameters, so your best bet is to get some reliable test kits for NO3 and PO4, and if those numbers are higher than recommended then use a combination of water changes, mechanical filtration, and possibly chemical additives to reduce the nutrients that are causing the algae to thrive.  Additionally, be sure you have enough cleanup crew members (snails, hermit crabs, emerald crabs, conchs, algae-eating fish, urchins, etc.) to peck away at the algae to keep it under control.

Post some photos of your tank when you have a chance.  We love photos here!

My tank ain’t purdy, but I still enjoy watching it. Not pictured are 3 fire fish, engineer goby( aka my none spicy noodle) and a recent addition a lawnmower blennie

Should I be concerned about these dots on a couple of my clowns? Or is it “normal”

Suncrestreef, 

you’re  the reason I found this forum I saw a post from or replied by you about some lighting thing or something on I think it was r2r and while trying to find out more about it and I got to your YouTube and then ultimately this forum. I’m going to be getting a Hanna pho’s meter( sounds easy, and I like easy) so right now I honestly don’t know my pho’s or nitrates. Currently I am running 2 canister filters with 2little fishies pho’s filter pads in them and other filter media. 

15 minutes ago, Higher Thinking said:

Sounds like you have a great attitude to find the long term success. Sometimes you gotta roll with the punches. If you can do that and press on, you'll be able to make some progress. 

You mentioned wanting to keep some torches and frog spawn. What's your setup like? Sump? Protein skimmer? How are you with water changes, testing, and dosing?

The Trident and DOS should certainly introduce a new arena of stability you may not have experienced before, but I'd still recommend having a real thorough understanding of parameters (what they should be, why, how best to maintain, etc.). 

5 years in the hobby means you have to have some level of patience, or at least commitment. Post up any questions. Welcome to the club!

I have a octo 90 hob skimmer. No sump. I’m trying for 8.3 ph, around 8.5 alk, 1350 mag, calc is 330ish. Never used to wc, just topped of with rodi. Am thinking about getting a hang in tank refuge. Run 4 kessil cans(2 on each side of a rectangle led (around 2’x 1’)in middle of tank giving 250-360 par currently. Have been doing 10gal changes once a week. Everything looks good but have more hair algae than I would like to have. Not dosing currently since I mainly have fish and mushrooms/Zoas 

On 1/15/2021 at 9:32 PM, Matteo said:

🤢🤢🤢

What would you use for a base instead of sand? To keep the live rock from slipping?

Hi y'all, 

Currently reside in Salmon Creek area. New to this forum. Been really successful at reefing unsuccessfully for a really long time (about 5 yrs). Have a lot of patience issues so have killed more things than I care to remember. My main goal is to be able to have frog spawn, hammers and torches thrive in my 55 gal tank (cause those are my wife's favorite). Wife got me the Apex (which I'm sure i'm not using to its full potential), PH and Temp probe, Par Meter thingy, trident and DOS (not currently DOSing) for Christmas. In the past I have been really successful growing unwanted hair algae. Funny thing Is I got a salt water tank to help with my depression/anxiety issues, which it has....but not in a good way. So, hoping to learn more in these forums and be able to grow corals my wife would love to have. Also, any advice is welcome.