Recent content by RedTornado

IMO if your already have a skimmer running on the system there is no reason to use a canister filter in the first place. Canister filters are well known to cause nitrate problems in salt water systems. They are fresh water technology that just dosnt translate well. As far as UV goes some...

Pretty much a canister filter does not remove the gunk from the water column it just gets stuck in the filter and it is then allowed to break down there instead of in the tank causing nitrate problems. A skimmer is the best cause it completely removes the waste from the water column and does not...

Personally i would utilize them by putting them on craigslist or something. I say this cause they are known feed nitrate problems. Not saying you cant use them but if you do i would clean them often (at least once a week if not more). Sell them and put the money towards a good skimmer. Thats...

The cycle is the worst cause all you can do is sit back and wait and wait and wait. You might see some algae pop up. I would personally run your lights as well that way once your done cycling and you first turn them on you dont end up with a huge algae explosion like i did. Other then that its a...

I have mine down in the sump. I have tried it in high and low flow and it seems to grow best in high flow. I keep the fuge light on 27/4 and I have to rim it every week. Not sure if this helps at all but i bet others will chime in.

Got mine from BRS, its great. Other wise for a RO/DI system you should have 3 pre flitters a RO membrane then a DI stage to bring it all the way down to 0 TDS. I do believe it is worth the extra money to get a In-line TDS meter. It tells you how well the system is performing and when to change...

From what i have read about them it seems they only get bad once they get big. Is this right?

So i was checking out the tank a little bit ago and i saw what i think is a bristle worm of some kind. It is about a inch long vary thin and it goes from red to white every 8th inch or so and seems to have spins down the side of its body. Any thought on what this is and if i should remove...

You need to watch your ammonia and nitrites and nitrates because once the cycle is finished both ammonia and nitrites will read 0. That is when it is FINALY okay to add fish to the tank. If you haven't read this yet. You should...

+1 Amber Setting a budget is huge! Other wise i would be spending hundreds every couple weeks. This hobby is expensive if you haven't figured that out yet. I say just get used to it. I personally have never looked into what i have into my tank. I have all the bills in a file but i am to scared...

Just got my refractometer yesterday from BRS. i checked the hydrometer to the refractometer and it was off but not enough to make me worry. It is nice to now have a tool i can truly trust!

+1 on the water changes Coraline will spread just give it time and light soon enough you might even be hating it cause you will have to scrap it off the glass. I did what BL1 said and scraped some off it off and its now ever where 3 months later.

I am currently in the middle of a upgrade on my sump to make it bigger and i plan on doing it the way you are talking about. I don't see any problem with having the return in the middle. From what i have read you want to have the water to come straight from the DT to the fuge if you can do it...

So i am planning on moving my tank here in a couple weeks and just wanted to get some thoughts on what the best way is to go about doing this. For starters i am thinking i am going to be moving all my fish and inverts and a 100 pounds of LR into a 55 gallon tank that i have laying around...

+1 on what little fish said. After all my parameters were 0 it took another 2 months for them to go away for me. It sucked and made me hate my tank! What i ended up doing was just letting it be other then every 2 weeks during the water change i would take a power head and a tooth brush and...