Hello fellow reefers - newbe here

fishguy242 · Feb 2, 2020

welcome to the reef going to love it here

AllSignsPointToFish · Feb 2, 2020

Sounds like an adventure! Welcome!

Jagg · Feb 3, 2020

Hi guys so much has changed in reefing in the last 18 years. I am learning all over again. Interested in peoples views on various issues.

1) current/ flow. I hate pumps and wires and anything that isn’t natural in my set up. I’m thinking of drilling a series of inlets either side of my 2700 columns - say 3 inlets a piece towards the front and rear, left and right side both faces of each column so I will have 6 inlets to front and rear of both sides of each column. I plan to run 4 pumps from my sump and mix up the inlet connections between the pumps alternating them to switch on and off at different periods using a controller to create a random and fluctuating current. Has anyone tried anything like that? Any ideas and thoughts most welcome.

2) sand or bare bottom. I’m a deep sand bed guy. There’s anaerobic benefits which will assist with nitrate control but the dreaded build up of detrius is a major concern especially as I won’t be cleaning it myself 2.7 meters down. Previously I had a couple of large blue cheek gobies . They were about 8” long and they loved turning over my sand bed..... played havoc with my tank and caused some blockages a couple of times. But boy did they keep the sand clean constantly shifting it through their gills. Planning on maintaining a deep sand bed with a couple of gobies in each column. Any feedback welcome.

3) fuge and cheato. This is all new stuff to me. But interesting as it the way I plan to go. Anything that mitigates against constant water changing it a benefit and will help maintain a stable environment. But how big a fuge? Too big and it will be over capacity and risk dieing back, too small and I will be constantly harvesting. I want to maintain a position where I won’t be harvesting it more frequently than once a month. I appreciate its relative to population and feeding but some of you guys will no doubt have some experience I can tap into.

4) lighting. My house is all wired up for low voltage LED dimmers using clipsal cbus which I can fully automate and programme/and auto control to switch from an external sensor which senses day and night. I am thinking of hooking my reef lighting to it using a series of different led strips each light channel can take a combination of 1 or 2 amps max. Anyone sufficiently versed in led tech to offer some advice on the way to go for my reef bearing in mind I will have two deep columns 2.7 meters and a shallow section 600mm deep. Thanks heaps.

fishguy242 · Feb 3, 2020

hello just going to chime in on one from experience ,no sand,especially deep,just my opinion ,would love to see some pics

fishguy242 · Feb 3, 2020

and welcome to the reef going to love it here

Jagg · Feb 3, 2020

Thanks. I’m still a sandman from aesthetic point of view. More natural looking. There’s loads of sand critters, snails, urchins and some stars that should take care of the detritus. I don’t think there’s anything that will disturb sps save perhaps some worms which I may stay clear off.

vetteguy53081 · Feb 3, 2020

Welcome to the R2R community and we’re glad you joined us !!

DMG Reef · Feb 3, 2020

Jagg said:
Hi guys so much has changed in reefing in the last 18 years. I am learning all over again. Interested in peoples views on various issues.

1) current/ flow. I hate pumps and wires and anything that isn’t natural in my set up. I’m thinking of drilling a series of inlets either side of my 2700 columns - say 3 inlets a piece towards the front and rear, left and right side both faces of each column so I will have 6 inlets to front and rear of both sides of each column. I plan to run 4 pumps from my sump and mix up the inlet connections between the pumps alternating them to switch on and off at different periods using a controller to create a random and fluctuating current. Has anyone tried anything like that? Any ideas and thoughts most welcome.

2) sand or bare bottom. I’m a deep sand bed guy. There’s anaerobic benefits which will assist with nitrate control but the dreaded build up of detrius is a major concern especially as I won’t be cleaning it myself 2.7 meters down. Previously I had a couple of large blue cheek gobies . They were about 8” long and they loved turning over my sand bed..... played havoc with my tank and caused some blockages a couple of times. But boy did they keep the sand clean constantly shifting it through their gills. Planning on maintaining a deep sand bed with a couple of gobies in each column. Any feedback welcome.

3) fuge and cheato. This is all new stuff to me. But interesting as it the way I plan to go. Anything that mitigates against constant water changing it a benefit and will help maintain a stable environment. But how big a fuge? Too big and it will be over capacity and risk dieing back, too small and I will be constantly harvesting. I want to maintain a position where I won’t be harvesting it more frequently than once a month. I appreciate its relative to population and feeding but some of you guys will no doubt have some experience I can tap into.

4) lighting. My house is all wired up for low voltage LED dimmers using clipsal cbus which I can fully automate and programme/and auto control to switch from an external sensor which senses day and night. I am thinking of hooking my reef lighting to it using a series of different led strips each light channel can take a combination of 1 or 2 amps max. Anyone sufficiently versed in led tech to offer some advice on the way to go for my reef bearing in mind I will have two deep columns 2.7 meters and a shallow section 600mm deep. Thanks heaps.

Hi @Jagg! You will get more experienced eyes on your questions if you break your post up into 4 questions and post in specific sub forums. For example, question #4 would be seen by members who are experienced in lighting issues if you post in the lighting sub forum. They are likely to miss it here in the welcome forum. Good luck.

Jagg · Feb 3, 2020

Thanks that’s helpful. Not got my head round the forum and where to post what but I’ll get there eventually. I’ve already moved away from fuge and cheato. Plan to go with a DIY algae scrubber can build one for fraction of the cost to buy one and it’s easy enough to scale up.

rodney · Feb 3, 2020

Welcome to R2R!

Scrubber_steve · Feb 3, 2020

Welcome to R2R @Jagg ,,, & WOW, what a build coming up

Its extra super awesome that you’ve joined, & I hope you have a super professional level camera to provide a few thousand photos of your build?

No doubt you’re already a reefing expert PLUS & you’ll fit straight in here with all the super friendly, super awesome & super knowledgeable, smart & clever participants that R2R is,,,,, there’s no bad or misleading advice given out around here.

C U round

Steve

Zos4me · Feb 3, 2020

Jagg · Feb 3, 2020

Scrubber_steve said:
Welcome to R2R @Jagg ,,, & WOW, what a build coming up

Its extra super awesome that you’ve joined, & I hope you have a super professional level camera to provide a few thousand photos of your build?

No doubt you’re already a reefing expert PLUS & you’ll fit straight in here with all the super friendly, super awesome & super knowledgeable, smart & clever participants that R2R is,,,,, there’s no bad or misleading advice given out around here.

C U round

Steve

Thanks Steve. Sure thing. Lots of pictures of my house build if you want to see those? Actually I’ve only ever kept fish, inverts and anemones before but this time I want to go all out a do the whole eco thing, cultivation, propagation, bio filtration.

Scrubber_steve · Feb 3, 2020

Jagg said:
Thanks Steve. Sure thing. Lots of pictures of my house build if you want to see those? Actually I’ve only ever kept fish, inverts and anemones before but this time I want to go all out a do the whole eco thing, cultivation, propagation, bio filtration.

Sounds full on. I'm guessing you have a 'fish room' ?

Jagg · Feb 3, 2020

Scrubber_steve said:
Sounds full on. I'm guessing you have a 'fish room' ?

Hah no. It’s my lounge or as my daughter says ‘ I’m not living in the sea life centre’

Scrubber_steve · Feb 3, 2020

Jagg said:
Hah no. It’s my lounge or as my daughter says ‘ I’m not living in the sea life centre’

Your daughter will become a reefing tragic before your eyes once she sees the magic of the reef.

Jagg · Feb 3, 2020

Scrubber_steve said:
Your daughter will become a reefing tragic before your eyes once she sees the magic of the reef.

Haha you don’t know my daughter.... she’s 21 and doesn’t do animals. In fact she doesn’t do dad anymore either. My youngest is more mailable but even she doesn’t approve of my current plans ..... of course they both run off to mum to complain.... and she only wants to know what I’m up to. She’ll find out after I’ve started building it. Did the same with the house! Works for me! Only way it works.

Scrubber_steve · Feb 3, 2020

Jagg said:
Haha you don’t know my daughter.... she’s 21 and doesn’t do animals. In fact she doesn’t do dad anymore either. My youngest is more mailable but even she doesn’t approve of my current plans ..... of course they both run off to mum to complain.... and she only wants to know what I’m up to. She’ll find out after I’ve started building it. Did the same with the house! Works for me! Only way it works.

You can never tell, that's for sure. My son, 23, mechatronic engineer, just flew over to the U.S. yesterday for work, has no interest in my reef, or even the gizmo's attached to it? My daughter, also 21, is an animal lover. If she had her way the house would look like a zoo. But even though she likes my reef, she shows little interest in it? Takes it for granted I guess since its been around since she was young.