my 30g w 20g sump

[cliferton]

Haa saw the I just saw the thread for the contest to post pics of your tank, so I guess Ill do some before and after. This is me first reef and really first saltwater. here it is as of about 3 months in I have new lighting on the way ill post more pics after

 

[TechDiver]

Thanks for sharing, Clif. Post some photo updates to show growth and as you add to your reef.

 

[SNAKEMANVET]

Looks like your off to a good start.

 

[revsgirl]

Lookin' good! Thanks for sharing!!

 

[cliferton]

ok i finally went and got my light today. its way brighter....can't wait for my bulbs to arrive. but with the extra light i noticed a lot of tiny bubbles coming up from the sandbed. its all the little white dots in the pics.

 

[TenUhC]

Looking good. Is that really a 30 gallon tank? It looks bigger.

 

[Singlefin]

Does look bigger. Right on.


...Layered in salt....

 

[cliferton]

lol honestly idk. I was told when i got it that it was a 40. It fit in the space i had perfect ao i paid and came home with the tank and metal stand. I was at my buddies house and I found the sump tank in his garage. size was never discussed I assumed it was a 29 since i had a 40. Then I was at BSL talking about upgradeomg my lighting and after having one of his 40's pointed out to me. I got to wondering so I came home and did some math. the tank measures 36''x12.5''x16''. and by my math and unless the converter was wrong that comes up to somewhere around 32 us gal.....LOL so as of now I assume I have a 30 gal tank unless again corrected......so what about those bubbles are they good, bad, dont matter?

 

[TenUhC]

I really didn't notice the bubbles, and I'm not sure what causes it. Maybe the sand bed is still settling. Do you have any critters that hide in the sand bed, i.e. sand-sifting starfish, or snails that burrow?

 

[cliferton]

I have a few sanils and a choc chip star

 

[cliferton]

ok i got a question. my tank seems to be doing ok I tested it today my ph was a little low 8.0 (lights were off though). my amonia was at .25ppm, no2 was at zero, no3 was at 0, and the calcium was off the chart of the test sheet. I got like 31 drops in before it turned blue so minus 2 29 drops had it to proper color. Thinking I will do a 25% change tomorrow. corals are wide open , shrimps and crabs seem to be doing fine, fish seem great, but I seem to have trouble with snails. I have had 4 turbos die one got stuck upside down and the cleaner shrimp got him . And the other 3 have seemed to die upright. I did see the cleaner crawl up in one and pull it out, but I dont know if it was already dead or not. had a couple of the smaller snails die Anyways I seem to be having a problem keeping turbos alive. Not enough food? Bad water levels? killer shrimp?

 

[TenUhC]

Ok, this is what I think, but others chime in if I'm wrong. High calcium could be one of 3 things. The test is bad or old. User error. Or it really is high. The good news, as far as I know too much calcium is not toxic or life threatening. If your dosing calcium i.e. Part A and B mixes, Calcium reactor, etc.., lower your dosing till your levels come back to your likening. As far as the snails go. Be very careful with acclimation. Snails and shrimps, imo, are very susceptible to rushed or wrong acclimation practices. The fact that you have a shrimp alive makes me think that the water is ok. Also the lack of food could be the problem. I once ordered snails online and the amount of them that lived was less than 20 %. There could be bad snails. That's my 2 cents.

 

[cliferton]

now for my latest update and issue. Since I got my 4x36'' t5 setup I have had a brown algae outbrake. its on the sand and some of the rocks now starting to spread to the glass. I kinda think the lack of lighting before was why I havnt had this happen yet(when I was first getting going I had a little brown but it soon went away). as of right now I have the 6,500 lights. My ATI 2xblueplus, 1xpurpleplus, and 1xcoralplus will be here tommorow. I also did notice I initially set my timers wrong I was getting 12 hours with the moonlights total and 2 bulbs were comming on for 10 hours and the other two were on for 12 hours. so at 3pm the moonlights and 2 t5's come on then at 4pm the other 2 t5's come on then at 2am 2 t5's go off and then at 3am the other 2 and the moonlights would shut off. I cut it back to 3pm moonlights,4pm 2xt5's, 5pm the other 2 t5's, 1am 2xt5's off,2amthe other two off, 3am moonlights off. will this be ok for when I get my good bulbs? Also I am not just asking totally blind here. what should I do bout the algae? the choc star seems to be on it. I have read everything from water change, leave the lights off for 4 days, to putting a few drops of vodka in the tank every day. water test seems ok. ph a tad lower than I would like. just a little amonia. no2 and no3 at 0. forgive my grammar on this one I was in a hurry and I'm more of a numbers guy not a speller, and Ironically I suck at chemistry (I know what a hobby to pick lol)

 

[Mr.BAdams]

If it were me, I would grab a dimond sand sifter goby and some mexican turbo snails... leave the vodka out of it for now unless your phophates are crazy high. The lighting you went to was a great choice. although, I am getting good with the led (halide look) plus t5 mix :) Keep us updated, I would love to know the outcome.

 

[TenUhC]

The brown algae will go away. The new bulbs mean you need to shorten your light amount time even more than you did and gradually build them back up. My lights are on for 10 and a half hours total. I run my Moonlight 24 Hours a day and have no problems. It's mostly personal choice. But I would take my lights back then gradually build them back to your desired target time.

 

[Mr.BAdams]

good idea, that didn't cross my mind..... duh, Brian!!!!!!

 

[cliferton]

Well for the latest update. the algae problem seems to be correcting its self. The lights look great compaired to what I had. the ''neon'' colors really pop now, and everything is opened way up.....lol I had no idea that the candy canes opened up like that they were way smaller at the lfs. which brings me to the question do I have enough light for a clam? I'm thinking about breaking out the hako and building me a narrow led setup to go with. I'mgoing to do some research I got an idea about it. I'll get some pics up of it later. Thanks for the help everyone

 

[Raquel12771]

Did you find out about the "bubbles"? I can't tell for sure, but could they be copepods?

 

[cliferton]

I think it was the sand bed setteling. I get a few here and there every now and then. Got a few more pics Moved a couple things areound and added some things too thanks to TenUhC. Here are a few pics.....I got to get a better camera

 

[cliferton]

Well I came home thursday and couldnt find my fire goby. I didnt think much about it cause he likes to hide sometime then when I got home friday I was picking up a bit and i found him on the floor 10 feet from the tank. Guess I cant complain too much 6 months into my first tank and I have lost a chromis (week after he went in) and now the fire goby.