7 mos but whose counting

HI,
Checked some of the water chems today, ca 567,mg 1365 , phos 0
every one is doing great. I can actually see an improvement in the water clarity lately, its super clear.




In the last picture my LTA seems to be splitting down the middle is that some type of asexuall reproduction?
doug

every time I get a camera out my coral beauty hides in the rock, camera shy..
I guess I should thaw some myosis he's a sucker for that..

 

Very nice tank!

 

whats up with your sand bed, its half black and half sand?

 

cringes as he responds

HI,
I believe that dark area is under the under gravel filter maybe some of that aneroboic bacteria growing in the dead space of water,I wrapped the under gravel in fiberglass screen, a custom flume. All I know is after about 2 weeks nitrate and nitrates are zero. Some people use PVC pipe I used that under gravel filter I hated to toss it.
It is a little dark down there but heck it works better than one of thoses denitors that can go bad in a heart beat.
doug
I was having problems with hair algae until I bought a little 2 fish phos reactor, and put some of that iron phos material. Phos has been zero since and the hair algae on the rocks is thining away the tang and the angel help. and mr LM blenny.

 

Very nice clear clean tank. Think that ca is kind of high - are you using additives?

"...7 mos but whose counting?..." - apparently you are my friend. ;D

 

So your using a Plenum. I've always wanted to give it a try. One of the LFS around here swore by them and I have a friend who used one for years without any problems. Several years ago, I took my kids to Disneylworld and they had an aquatic display and some of the tanks had Plenums in them and I spoke with one of the Marine Biologist there who liked them. I wonder if we have any other members using Plenums with or without skimmers.

 

I use plenums without skimmers.

 

It seems to work for me

HI,
I have two dsb/plenum systems one in the tanks and one the sump/reforgium. Its over kill, but it really seems to work.
As far as skimmers I bought a small coral life the 60 gal model it worked great so I bought the bigger model, they are also running in the sump, I had a slight algae problem so I added a cheep 2 fishes phos reactor,.
My systems are small compared to many ,both tanks share a sump and water column .
My skimmer are fairly clean. The reforguim has active growth.
As far as CA, goes it seem to be used up fairly quickly in my tanks and I don't have alot of coraline alage, my guess it all the snails, shrimp,maybe some of that coral.
If I drop to 400 they seem to dull a bit. I ve checked my CA on a rather expensive Chem analyzer and have found huge ranges in those so called water test supplies they sell in lfs they are off by 20% usally low.
I also use two marineland filter to help polish the water, they are cleaned/rinsed with well water almost weekly. I don't want to sterilize them.
The main tank has a large dual pad hang on filter this polishes the water even more.
I rinse those pads weekly too the smaller tank has a large dual pad wisper hang on.
My lights are on timers and I add CA with kalkwasser , so I haven't seen any drop in my KH to date it hangs in 12-14 range. Here's the article
An Improved Do-it-Yourself Two-Part Calcium and Alkalinity Supplement System by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com
I haven't checked PH in about 3 mos, I only check KH it seems to be the controlling feature to PH.
Mg is critical if you maintain high ca, I keep mine about 1200 with that dead sea CACL that I buy in a 50 pound bag for 12 bucks. 3 cups of cacl to 1 gal let it sit a day or two and pour off the clear and add a cup of the supernate as needed go slow cause its loaded with mg. Avoid some of the other mag items due to adding sulfate to water column.
Hey got to cut the corners when you can.
Doug

 

my 55 gallon system has a plenum,skimmer,and a 29 gallon sump with cheato.water is perfect.my daughter has a 10 gallon with a plenum and a hob aquaclear filter with just a clown and some mushrooms that are healthy.the 10 gallon tank would not keep fish alive until i added the plenum.since plenums are so easy to set up,i can't see why not use one.