Wedge's 46g Bowfront Reef

[little_fish]

Hydrometers are notorious for giving false readings, a refractometer is a much better instrument to measure salinity. They are pretty cheap, you can get a good one for $20 on ebay, which will pay for itself in a year because you need to replace hydrometers every 6 months. Also you should raise your salinity to 1.025, that the salinity of the ocean and 1.020 is much too low for any invert to survive long term. Just top off with saltwater until you get your salinity to where it should be.

Also what are the exact number of the tests you performed, what is normal might not be normal and healthy to someone else.

Finally, what sort of lighting do you have? Nems require very high lighting conditions, more than corals do.

 

[slwedge71]

Lighting is a T5 ZooMed 36" Double light hood.
1 - 6500 bulb
1 - 420 actinic bulb
:bounce: will be buying the Marianeland LED hood after christmas :bounce:

Tank Lvls

Ph - 8.4
Ammonia - 0
Nitrate - 0
Nitrite - 0
Calcium - 240 :grumble:
Spec Gravity - 1.024

These are today's readings. Raising the Spec Gravity up slowly as to not throw the tank in shock. I will have it up to 1.025 by tuesday. Will be doing another water change on Sunday and will make sure the water is a bit more salty to help with the process.

If anyone wants I have built an excel file that, where you can record your tests and it also averages out your readings :D

 

[little_fish]

As long as you dont have any hard corals, that low calcium reading isnt a big deal. I would also go much slower on raising the salinty, nothing good happens fast in our tanks.

Also that light isnt enough to keep most corals and definitely not a nem. I have a 4 bulb fixture over my 46 and I wouldnt trust that light to keep a nem happy and healthy. The jury is also out on the marineland LED on larger tanks like we have. Honestly, i would return that nem or make sure you get a light that is capable of supporting a nem, and sooner rather than later.

 

[slwedge71]

Here is some more pics of stuff in my tank. Sorry, photos are with my phone cause I need to learn how to use the camera I bought my wife for her birthday.

 

[Smitty]

Your tank is looking good so far bro...keep up the good work.

 

[slwedge71]

The LR you can get here in Fl is amazing. After I get my LED lights I will start planning and external filter system and get rid of this hang over filter. I want to start a aquascape that goes up the back of the tank on the right hand side where the filter sits. Been getting lots of ideas from all the peeps here !!

 

[little_fish]

Make sure you have the proper permit to collect rocks and stuff, the fines if you dont are pretty awful.

 

[slwedge71]

Make sure you have the proper permit to collect rocks and stuff, the fines if you dont are pretty awful.

The LFS I go to has a supplier that has a LIC. I won't ever get anything directly out of the ocean. You never know what your getting. The supplier for my LFS has been farming the ocean for over 20 years now. All the small shops in Fl get checked 1-2 a month on the stock they have and have to keep records of all the LR, coral and fish they purchase and sell. It almost as bad has having a liquor lic.

 

[little_fish]

Good! We get a lot of people on here who just take stuff, it drives me crazy besides being illegal.

 

[slwedge71]

Good! We get a lot of people on here who just take stuff, it drives me crazy besides being illegal.

Remember, karma is a bitch and Mother Nature is Queen Bitch and together they will take back that which is stolen from them !! Yes yes I'm a goof ball. To much AD&D when I was young :D

 

[slwedge71]

Been fighting the dreaded HA this last week or so.:frustrat: It went from just being on my tonga rock to all over my tank over night. To make matters worse I ordered some new fish, coral and misc stuff right at the begining of the bloom. So I have cut back on lighting, feeding less and went and bought new lights.

Running a 10000k single light and a 420 actinic light. Dropped the light times down to 8 hours of actinic and 6 "ocean sun". Also did a 15% water change on Wed and will do a 10% on sunday. Noticed my nitrate lvl has not dropped down to "0" like had been less then a month ago. So I hope that my tanks Christmas present will be a "0" nitrate lvl :question:

Will post a few pictures tonight. Happy Reefing everyone and Merry Christmas !!

 

[slwedge71]

Here is the new coral

Coral i got 3 weeks ago

Coral that just grew out of the rock 1 week after putting the all the new LR in the tank

Not hiding anymore

Urchin pissing off a clam

 

[little_fish]

The corals look good, but 3 of your picture show a pest nem. I would take care of it before it spreads.

 

[slwedge71]

The corals look good, but 3 of your picture show a pest nem. I would take care of it before it spreads.

How are they pests ?

 

[little_fish]

they spread like crazy and deliver a nasty sting to corals and fish. I believe that variety is a manjo nem

Majano anemone control, removal, and identification

 

[slwedge71]

I'll talk to my local fish expert and see what he says. All the new rock I have is native to Florida so the creatures that live on it will be native too. I will most def. have them checked out though.

 

[Sir Alex]

I'll talk to my local fish expert and see what he says. All the new rock I have is native to Florida so the creatures that live on it will be native too. I will most def. have them checked out though.

I was snorkeling in a crummy little mangrove in Key Largo and there were aiptasia everywhere. And even though it's natural you wouldn't want it in your reef tank...

 

[slwedge71]

It's been a little bit since I have posted any pics or progress on my tank so wanted to update the peeps here on some stuff that has been happening.

1. work work and more work (can't seem to not work)
2. was fighting a hair algae problem with the tank and finally got it under control.
3. did a different aqua-scape to the tank.
4. changing the lighting around some.

Will post a few pics as soon as they upload to photo bucket.

 

[slwedge71]

Here is a few pictures of the new layout and light.

Here are some new corals

 

[slwedge71]

A friend of mine has a 30gal tall tank and bought the JBJ lighting system so I thought I would try it out on my tank since the dept is the same. Not working out as well as I wanted it to. so will be changing to this.