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Blacking it out won't hurt the soft corals. If you feel the need, you can run the lights for a little in the morning and in the evening... but probably no more than an hour each time. This would be the perfect time to feed your fish, but meager portions only. Vodka dosing is a form of carbon...

Excellent! By adding tiny fish, the biological filtration system can grow as the fish grow. Not much chance of overloading the system that way... lol!

I don't know what those are, but I had a brief case of them on the overflows and return line in my 40B. They disappeared after a few weeks, and I haven't seen any flatworms in the tank. If your find any, Flatworm Exit or a Sixline Wrasse will make short work of them. What would be ideal is to...

+1.

Water changes will bring it down, but as I described earlier, it will still creep back up due to leeching. I don't trust API tests, so there's no telling if it's accurate or not. No matter what, you want Phosphate as close to zero as possible. Algae loves Phosphate. The only advice I can give...

Green star polyps is an extremely easy coral, but can spread like crazy. Once it covers your rocks, it can be hard to remove. Rhodactis mushrooms are good choices, too. Actidonis and some Discosoma mushrooms can reproduce quickly, which may not be a good thing in a small tank, unless you plan to...

I have ordered from SWF as well, and as you said, shipping kills you. There is one (small) state between where I live and FL, and it costs a minimum or $35.98 to get overnight shipping. Another site charges $59.99, and another charges $76.49... and these last two are on FL's west coast! I think...

The thing about phosphate is that it will normally register low. Because it's consumed by the algae as it becomes available, it's not in the water column, so most of it doesn't get detected. For instance, if it tests .04 while algae is present, and then you remove all of the algae, the next day...

Looks like you have a case of hair algae. EEK!!! :eek: Strange to find it growing in the sand, but anything's possible with HA. It's fueled by nitrate and phosphate, and even when those are eliminated, it takes a long time to get rid of it. You can try blacking out the tank for a week, stop...

Robert, every once in awhile an old fart like myself who doesn't mind stretching the rules, will post links to other sites. I generally try to post only what's not available through SWF, which in my opinion, shouldn't be a violation of any rules. As you mentioned, most other forums do allow...

Once you get a fair amount of live rock in your tank, I think it's kind of foolish to pay over a couple of dollars for so-called live rock. The last few batches I bought were reef saver base rock. These rocks don't come with any "surprises", but they don't come with any nuisance hitchhikers...

My thoughts on a canister filter? I have none. I looked into those when I first started, and realized that it was not going to be a cost-effective method of filtration. Filters have to be changed regularly, and that adds up. Changing filters has a way of altering parameters, as a good bit of...

I love it when a plan comes together. Congrats on streamlining your operation. It's always nice when basic things like water changes become simple... lol! I keep a siphon hose in my tank. It's simply a piece of 1" acrylic tubing that I bent to form a U, attached to a 1" flexible tube that is...

Depends on the type and quality. Pukani is a good bit more expensive than base rock. For $5 lb, I'd expect it to be pretty much loaded with goodies from the ocean. For basic "cured" rock with few (or no) goodies, yeah... that's way too expensive.

About 15-17% every couple of months or so. It's been almost 3 months since my last water change. However, this isn't really possible with a new system, and it's recommended that you change about 5% weekly, 10% every two weeks, or 20% every month. It's easier to change small amounts frequently...

Sounds like you've got determination, and that's a good thing. I think you'll be fine with whatever size you go with. Just wanted you to be aware of the challenge. At least the HOB will offer a little extra volume... lol! And thanks for your condolences...

Most live rock is simply rock that has been colonized with beneficial bacteria, and normally covered with coralline algae. This is the typical rock found in most LFS stores, as well as many online stores. Unless your rock comes directly to you fresh out of the ocean, the odds of it being covered...

That's exactly what I'm saying. My tank is starting to run out of room to put new corals, and I have never dosed iodide. I don't dose trace elements, either. I only dose Alkalinity, Calcium, and when needed, Magnesium. All other elements get replaced when I do a water change. Yes, corals need...

Hair algae is a PITA. I have had a case of it for over a year in my 125. I have a large skimmer, refugium with chaeto, 6-stage RO/DI, a remote deep sand bed, and dosed NO3:PO4-X for close to a year, and nothing seemed to help. The only way I could "maintain" it was to manually pluck it from the...

Is it a clicking... or perhaps a "popping"? You may have a pistol shrimp, which makes a popping noise to scare off anything they might consider a predator. They sound identical to a mantis. Just a thought...