reeffreak
Reef pro
Hoooney,I ain't gay!!!
My First Reef Tank! Photos.. 46 gal Bow Front
- Thread starter kmckienz
- Start date
dustin_P74
Reef enthusiast
wow reef what a lulz i just got there
Piggy
Reef enthusiast
Tank is looking good. The seahorses are so cute.
Bifferwine
I am a girl
That's a great picture of the mandarin! Thanks for sharing.
Piggy
Reef enthusiast
Great pics. Everything looks great.
dustin_P74
Reef enthusiast
do you have alot of pods or is that mandarin eating other food
yote
In Memoriam
Im betting that between the horses and the mandrine,that there aint NO pods.But the mandrine looks as healthy as a horse so all is good.
Awesome pics too.
ccCapt
Reef Hacker
The pics look nice and you got alot of positive comments, but......
This tank just isn't going to work. Where to begin. The tank is very new. I can tell by the algea growth and presence of diatoms. A mandarin should only be in a well established tank with lots and lots of pods. I doubt you have enough to keep it well fed and unless it's eating frozen, it won't last. The seahorse also eats pods, so it's competing with the mandarin. They are also very passive feeders and should be in a tank by themselves. Even if you get them on frozen, the other fish in the tank will aggressively go after the food and leave nothing for the seahorse. And the hippo doesn't belong in that small of a tank.
Sorry, I can't gloss over what I see as a tank destine to fail. :(
This tank just isn't going to work. Where to begin. The tank is very new. I can tell by the algea growth and presence of diatoms. A mandarin should only be in a well established tank with lots and lots of pods. I doubt you have enough to keep it well fed and unless it's eating frozen, it won't last. The seahorse also eats pods, so it's competing with the mandarin. They are also very passive feeders and should be in a tank by themselves. Even if you get them on frozen, the other fish in the tank will aggressively go after the food and leave nothing for the seahorse. And the hippo doesn't belong in that small of a tank.
Sorry, I can't gloss over what I see as a tank destine to fail. :(
dustin_P74
Reef enthusiast
well capt like doc said in another posts hippos grow so slow that i think its will be ok for just a little longer in that tank
Well, the mandarin has been eating well on copepods because I buy copepods and restock the tank when I don't see any more copepod blooms occuring. The seahorse's main diet is frozen mysis which they eat well and with the other members of the tank with no problem. I watch them closely and they get more than their share and amount necessary. They do forage on copepods between meals, which is why a restock copepods when I see numbers dwindling.
The tang is destined for a friend's 300 gallon tank when it outgrows mine, but until that time I will enjoy him in my tank where he is getting along great with everybody for the time being.
The tank is young, going on 4 months but my levels have all been good from the very beginning. It cycled very quickly I presume because of the ammount of live rock and live sand.
I moved my frogspwan and hammer coral to another tank to not risk a sting to my seahorses. I miss having them in there though. I will replace their spots with something else eventually.
One think I have been wondering is why everyone seems to do so much water changing to get keep their levels down? I have not had to do a water change yet. I do keep my lid open for cooling via evaporation and add back fresh bottled water to top it off... but other than that have not had to actually change gallons at a time like many on here. Why would that be?
P.S. I put algae sheets in the tank to encourage algae growth (by leaving the sheet in for too longnone of my fish will actually eat off of it directly)... I have a lawnmower blenny and he would starve without some algae. Also the diatoms are a result of me over feeding. I have had to play with the amount a bit since getting the horses. At first I wanted to make sure there was more than enough, and the diatoms are a result of that.
The tang is destined for a friend's 300 gallon tank when it outgrows mine, but until that time I will enjoy him in my tank where he is getting along great with everybody for the time being.
The tank is young, going on 4 months but my levels have all been good from the very beginning. It cycled very quickly I presume because of the ammount of live rock and live sand.
I moved my frogspwan and hammer coral to another tank to not risk a sting to my seahorses. I miss having them in there though. I will replace their spots with something else eventually.
One think I have been wondering is why everyone seems to do so much water changing to get keep their levels down? I have not had to do a water change yet. I do keep my lid open for cooling via evaporation and add back fresh bottled water to top it off... but other than that have not had to actually change gallons at a time like many on here. Why would that be?
P.S. I put algae sheets in the tank to encourage algae growth (by leaving the sheet in for too longnone of my fish will actually eat off of it directly)... I have a lawnmower blenny and he would starve without some algae. Also the diatoms are a result of me over feeding. I have had to play with the amount a bit since getting the horses. At first I wanted to make sure there was more than enough, and the diatoms are a result of that.
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dustin_P74
Reef enthusiast
even if your not having problems with the water you should still do a water change atleast once a month. and the algae sheet is good thing to put in there because the tang and blenny both love to eat algae
RyanG
Reef enthusiast
Preventative maintenance. To steal Yotes line "Would you wait until you have a rod knocking to change your cars motor oil?" By the time you realize you have a problem it can be too late.
Bifferwine
I am a girl
It's much easier to prevent water quality problems by doing regular water changes than to deal with parameters that are out of whack.
Not only does doing a water change take out bad stuff, but your corals and other animals are constantly consuming minerals and elements from the water column (ever see test kits for iodine, iodide, molybdenum, magnesium, etc and wonder "what the heck are those for?"). Synthetic salts that we use to make our water contain a balance of those minerals that are required for coral health and growth. Without water changes, those elements get depleted, but doing a water change replenishes them.
Not only does doing a water change take out bad stuff, but your corals and other animals are constantly consuming minerals and elements from the water column (ever see test kits for iodine, iodide, molybdenum, magnesium, etc and wonder "what the heck are those for?"). Synthetic salts that we use to make our water contain a balance of those minerals that are required for coral health and growth. Without water changes, those elements get depleted, but doing a water change replenishes them.
yote
In Memoriam
Plus the more often you do water changes,the fewer chemicals you have to dose to keep everything where it should be.
Marke86
Coral Junkie
It looks really good I only got to take a look at the pics but I do like the fake plants they kinda blend in with everything.
cthegame
Reef enthusiast
Those are some nice rocks you have. Very nice looking tank. I would not keep a hippo tang, but everything else seems to be great.
