Even though I planned for my reef tank I still am making mistakes

[seldin]

This year I converted from FOWLR to reef. I tried planning and still think I made many mistakes.

After reading about JustJoe looking at some carefully thought out Nano tanks that had a lot of pre-build in's. I think I am jealous. I have a 55 gallon and I did plenty of research on my skimmer, MH/T5, sump, chiller, overflow, UV, pumps, etc.

I think it would have been magnitudes cheaper to buy a reef ready nano tank. I spent a fortune and while I tried to buy the best in class from each piece of hardware, I can see so many mistakes.

I can see why it would be awesome to start over with the hardware end. Even though I spent a good deal of time in research mode.

To my credit, I did try to wait to stock coral, until I thought the tank was ready.

The last tidbit was when I had to get rid of a number of fish, to lower my nitrates and make a nice home for my corals. So now, I have a few fish and have been populating the corals.

The surprise for me, was the frequency in trying to make the corals happy where being placed.

My MH/T5 is from Aquactinics and is supposed to sit directly on the tank. So my lighting is very, very strong. So even if I get corals from a fellow reefer, my lighting is much stronger (it seems). Presently, almost all coral is placed on the bottom. I have T5s on 10 hours per day and MH on 4 hours per day (believe it or not, I think I am pushing the lighting on my 55 gallon with the MH).

After I saw an interesting article on pegging from this website, I took my tank down and drilled 1/4 inch holes on all of my rock, so I can place corals wherever I want them. Still seems like a good idea, however, it's just one more thing that I did "after the tank was in place".

I did research on light requirements for each coral piece that I acquired. However, my lighting is very strong, so no piece is able to go to the top of the tank. Now, I understood that, if I bought stuff from LFS. However, all my coral is from LIRA members with good lighting.

BTW, I get a lot of satisfaction from trading with LIRA members. Prices are great and you guys are friendly and helpful. I also feel a certain satisfaction without having to take stuff directly from the reef and like stuff from local guys. I feel like I am helping to not strip the reef (somewhat).

Anyway, so far my reef is going well. However, I have only started stocking corals a short time ago. I was surprised with the huge diversity of corals available from LIRA members. For me, I am seeing no reason to run to the LFS when LIRA members have such a great selection. However, I do spend a good deal of money on the LFS, so I don't feel bad.

One tidbit. a while back, I placed my chaeto in the display tank. It grows moderate and does not get "everywhere". I had previously by accident had some Calerpa. I only had in the tank for a short time. It still went everywhere. Took months to finally get it out. As I read about "it's evil" (ha,ha).

I am looking forward to my sump/refugium from LifeReef which I am told is being built this week.

PS. I am looking forward to Friday's meeting.

PSS. James, thanks again for being a great host. I have been to your place and you are very nice to allow the meeting. Much, much appreciated.

[Jcohen9999]

The one piece of advice that I heard over and over when I first started out was to go slow and that nothing good happens in a reef tank quickly. I would say the same to you.

Anyway, I was curious about this statement:
"My MH/T5 is from Aquactinics and is supposed to sit directly on the tank. So my lighting is very, very strong. So even if I get corals from a fellow reefer, my lighting is much stronger (it seems). Presently, almost all coral is placed on the bottom. I have T5s on 10 hours per day and MH on 4 hours per day (believe it or not, I think I am pushing the lighting on my 55 gallon with the MH)."

What wattage hood did you get from them because I have the 175W MH with twin 24W T-5s sitting on my 26G BF and I never had the issues you seem to be describing and some of my corals are no more than 6" from the bulbs (and some are even closer).

Can you better describe what's happening to the coral under your lights?

Jeff

[seldin]

Jeff,

I have a 55 gallon with 2 175 MH / 2 T5s. This fixture sits right on the tank. Remember, most people who have MH fixtures have them sitting a couple of inches (at least several) above the tank and not sitting on the tank.

So anyway, I received some corals from a local reefer, who I had checked with and he had 3 175 MHs on a hanging fixture.

I figured that since he had strong lighting, I can place my coral at midway in tank. The coral did not look well. So I placed in at the bottom of the tank, and they did much better. This same thing happened with another reefer.

So I came to the conclusion, that even though the reefers that I had received coral from did have MH lighting, that maybe my MH seemed stronger. My reasoning, is that in both locations, their MH was more than several inches above the tank, where mine is sitting on the tank.

So my point, is that on the coral that I have in my tank, the majority look like they do better at the bottom of the tank.

I had heard that LFS keep lighting low, so I should keep their coral at the bottom until they get used to my tank. However, I thought coral from a tank that had good lighting I would not need to do this.

PS. I did contact Aquactinics and they seemed to agree that a 175 mh is stronger sitting on the tank, than sitting several inches from the top. To me, this makes sense.

- Larry

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11838755#post11838755 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jcohen9999


What wattage hood did you get from them because I have the 175W MH with twin 24W T-5s sitting on my 26G BF and I never had the issues you seem to be describing and some of my corals are no more than 6" from the bulbs (and some are even closer).

Can you better describe what's happening to the coral under your lights?

Jeff

[teen]

im running 250w MH on my 30 gallon. about 6" over the water surface, as low as i could go IMO without making it hard to get in there. even when i get a coral from similar lighting or from a vendor where its under something like 400w MH, i always start the coral at the bottom. its on the sand bed at least a week, usually 2, then move it to the middle for another week, and then to its final spot.

[seldin]

Constantine,

My comment is that if I receive a coral from a local reefer with MH, why should I put it on the bottom of the tank. Well, I know from my own experience, that you seem to be correct, because the 3 different reefers that I received corals from that had MH, each of their corals looked better when started on bottom of tank. However, I would have thought, if the lighting was strong from MH from someone else, I could start my coral where I thought they belong. I seem to be wrong...

So as you suggest, all corals received from anyone, will be started on the bottom. Your suggestion of 2 weeks, will be used.

Thank you for your benchmark.

[greggnyce]

Water circulation is also important, some think more than lighting. Some corals need strong random and chaotic flow.

[seldin]

Greg,

I have very strong flow 40 times gph. This has improved my skimmer tremendously and also my live rock does not have so much junk on it.

However, I would not call it chaotic since I don't have a wave maker.

Thanks for the tip.

[teen]

most likely, my pH, alk, calcium, magnesium, and flow are different than yours. say we traded corals, its sressful enough for them to have to go through all those changes. i know any coral has more than enough light at the bottom of my tank, so id rather not blast them with light at the top, even if they're coming from similar lighting conditions. idk, thats just my take on it.

i agree with the flow part. 40x is definetly a good amount of flow if you have a mixed reef. it'll keep sps happy for the most part (until they reach large "full" sizes) and isnt too much for most LPS or softies.

im at about 96x flow and i still cant seem to keep stuff from building up on my monti caps.

[seldin]

Constantine,

Your comments on lighting makes sense, since I can see that not placing new additions on the bottom of the tank seem to cause stress. Your 96x flow is a "wow". I thought my 40x flow was a lot. I had to bump my flow significantly when I started to convert from FOWLR to reef.

So as your suggestion, all new additions will be started on the bottom of the tank for 2 weeks. I like the 2 week benchmark.

Thanks much,

[teen]

i dont really see any of what you did as a mistake. there is more than 1 way to do things that will yield the same or similar results.

i know i could have done lots of things differently, but to say that i would have been better off, isnt neccessarily true.

[DEXTER SOLIS]

although wattage plays a role in light penetrating water, so does "Kelvin" the lower it is the "yellower" it looks the more it goes through your tank, the higher it is the "bluer" it looks (more pleasing to the eyes) but the lesser it goes down.

[seldin]

Constantine,

I am only speaking for myself. The price I paid for my lighting is astronomical. The price I am paying for my sump / refugium is also way up there. Obviously, I had a choice.

However, knowing how I spent for the individual items what I thought "was a perfect fit for my needs", is way more than I could have, if I had more experience or if I just bought a great nano all in one kit.

Again, this is just my own opinion.

Here is what I would have done differently...

- Buy all in one really nice nano kit. I can get them really cheap when you shop around. Buying items from reefers than from a store is tremendously cheaper. Pennies on the dollar.

- Then, I would not need lighting, skimmer or overflow.

- Knowing what I know now, I would have bought an ATO and sump.

- Fill tank up with salt water, buy live sand and live rock and let it sit for a few months with no fish. This would require great patience on my part. Not sure I could do this ( but this is my dream).

- Add critters. Let this population build up my bio diversity.

- Add a couple of fish and really make the coral the focus of the tank.

I did follow these steps, just in some crazy order that I learned from lots of research and experience. And today, I can still attest that I am a total beginner, even though I did fresh water since I was a kid and did salt water fish for many years. I would classify myself as a newbie who has been doing this a long time and made a ton of costly mistakes.

Knowledge for me, has come from this forum and reading lots of books. However, I have been only doing this kind of research for less than 2 years.


- LarryTAKEOUT@seldin.net


<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11840345#post11840345 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by teen
i dont really see any of what you did as a mistake. there is more than 1 way to do things that will yield the same or similar results.

i know i could have done lots of things differently, but to say that i would have been better off, isnt neccessarily true.