Birthday gift

[merk1_99]

Hi,
Currently I have a 36''x12''x24'' tank. Yetserday was my birthday so I feel like I need to go and buy something to add to the tank. Currently all I have is 90lbs of LR, 40lbs of LS, and 1 rock with 5 green mushrooms. My lighting is 2 96 watt PC's. I would like some suggestions on some corals/ rooms that I should look into buying tomorrow. I need to add some more character. Any suggestions are welcome. In the next month I will be upgrading too either a 4bulb 39w Tek hood or a 6bulb 39w Tek hood so I will be able to keep high light corals. Please help...I want to buy myself something nice that I won't kill with my low light PC's, or kill with my upgrade when I get my T5's.....


Thanks
Rick

 

[Moe_K]

How long has the tank been set up?

You may wan to pick up a hammer, anchor, or frogspawn coral (Euphyllia species, all of 'em). Get the branching varieties - they grow fast and are easy to frag.
As long as your tank has been up and running several months, and your water parameters are nice and stable, you should do well with one of these LPS corals in the current and future lighting schemes. They're very pretty, look great with a bit of actinic light, and are usually welcome in frag swaps.

 

[merk1_99]

My tank has been running for 4 months. I just switched it from FO and have decided to dedicate it to a mixed reef. pH is 8.2, Am is 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 10-20ppm, Calcium is 430ppm. My concern is the nitrate. I test right before the weekly water change and get 10-20ppm is that too high? i am going to buy a HOB CPR refugium so maybe that will help. Last week I disconnected the canister filter which was justa nitrate magnet so hopefully over the next month nitrates will drop to < 10ppm. What are people's nitrates running at? Am I concerned about nothing?

 

[Steve H]

Like Moe said some LPS or a nice rock of zoos will be fine in either light, I did the same thing you are and my corals did fine. I currently have the 6 bulb 39 watt fixture and have softies, LPS, and SPS and clams. Nitrates should be as close to zero as possible, try doing a few more water changes.

 

[Moe_K]

Yeah, I agree, nitrates should be zero.

What's your substrate? How many fish (and which kinds are they) are in the tank? How big a tank is it? I see you have 90# of LR.

 

[merk1_99]

I have 40lbs of live sand. The tank is 55 gal. Only one fish a Yellow Tang, about 20 blue leg hermits, 12 narcissus snails, 4 turbo snails, 10 Astrea snails, 8 scarlet hermits, and 1 common cleaner shrimp. I do wonder if it may be the test kit. I am planning on purchasing a Salifert kit soon. I just can not fathom how the nitrates are high. I only feed the Tang once a day, with a pc or two of Nori in a clip. My Remora skimmer is clean and pulling off some skimmate nothing too extreme. I change the water every week at least 10%, some weeks I'll change it twice just for giggles. Like I said I had a canister filter on it. I took it off last weekend so that might help. i am going to add a refugium soon too so the export of itrates will increase. I am using distilled water for all my changes.

 

[merk1_99]

How do you like your 6 39 watt system. Which one do you have? Are you running all six bulbs, or just 4-6. Any thoughts on the T5 would be appreciated....

 

[Moe_K]

I have 40lbs of live sand. The tank is 55 gal. Only one fish a Yellow Tang, about 20 blue leg hermits, 12 narcissus snails, 4 turbo snails, 10 Astrea snails, 8 scarlet hermits, and 1 common cleaner shrimp. I do wonder if it may be the test kit. I am planning on purchasing a Salifert kit soon. I just can not fathom how the nitrates are high. I only feed the Tang once a day, with a pc or two of Nori in a clip. My Remora skimmer is clean and pulling off some skimmate nothing too extreme. I change the water every week at least 10%, some weeks I'll change it twice just for giggles. Like I said I had a canister filter on it. I took it off last weekend so that might help. i am going to add a refugium soon too so the export of itrates will increase. I am using distilled water for all my changes.

Live sand and 90 lbs of LR in a 55 should handle the denitrification. Hmm, the cannister filter is gone now, eh? Any bioballs in your system? If so - get rid of them. If you're going reef, then do yourself a big favor and get yourself an RO/DI unit. They have some down in price since I first started. I hear there's a decent unit on e-bay. I love the Air Water Ice RO/DI unit I bought. Many of the better LFS in the area sell RO/DI units. Check them out.
You're certainly not carrying a heavy bio-load. So I have to think your nitrates are coming from your source water or residual nitrates from the cannister filter.
Good luck, and please keep us apprised of your progress!

 

[Steve H]

I have the Sunlight TEK light and run all 6 bulbs. I have mixed feelings about how I like the T5s. The low heat output and fact the bulbs are supposed to last a year or two is nice, I'm just not sure I like the way the light looks, its very bright. MH tanks I've seen have a nice realistic, crisp look to them with shadows and shimmer lines, you seem to lose some of that with the T5s, it could also be my bulb configuration. I don't know where your located but your welcome to come by and see my fixture and the way the light looks

 

[merk1_99]

No bio-balls those are long gone. I do have a RO/DI unit but I need to plumb it. Living in an apartment and not having access to a hose its hard. I can run the unit but the pressure is not high enough to do a good job. I have it tapped into the sink 1/4 pipe but it doesn't get enough pressure to make it do its 5 gpd. Also I need a way to plumb it into the sink disposal pipe...eh pain in the a**...doesn't DI from the store do the same thing? Or am I missing something. I hoping for residual nitrates from the canister filter.

What bulb configuration are you running? I hear 3 aquablue +'s, 1 11000 bulb, 1 ge 6500, and 2 true actinic bulbs make a good color combo. Shimmer lines are deff almost non-existant I hear from the T5's. I can live without those since it is more energy effective, longer lifed, and less heat. Where is Hanover? I am going to Skipton's tomorrow apparently they are switching to all T5's. Anything has to be better than just two 96 watt PC's.

 

[Steve H]

I have from front to back 1 atinic, 3 aquablues, 1 11,000k , 1 atinic. I have 2 6500k suns I took out, they were too yellow for me. Hanover is about 1/2 hour south of Boston

 

[Moe_K]

No bio-balls those are long gone. I do have a RO/DI unit but I need to plumb it. Living in an apartment and not having access to a hose its hard. I can run the unit but the pressure is not high enough to do a good job. I have it tapped into the sink 1/4 pipe but it doesn't get enough pressure to make it do its 5 gpd. Also I need a way to plumb it into the sink disposal pipe...eh pain in the a**...doesn't DI from the store do the same thing? Or am I missing something. I hoping for residual nitrates from the canister filter.

I hear ya. Plumbing in an apartment is tough.
I had bad luck with "distilled" water. Kept causing algae blooms.
You may want to consider buying RO/DI water from an LFS.