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is surrounded by fire. So far the building is ok and the animals are ok also. The only air breathers are the penguins and they have filtered air. So as long as the building is sound and has power the animals should be fine

I vote for a refugium with macro algae. back in 2003 when I started here DSB's were all the rage. then after a few years there were reports on DSBs crashing/failing after 5 years of operation. Plenums were popular before that to help take care of nitrates. but reports surfaced that nitrate...

I like the idea of starting a new saltwater tank with macro algaes right from the start. For much the same reasons as FW planted tanks. I think you may be wanting a few too many fish for a 12g. Finally, I recommend you use a common FW male molly to start off the tank with. If you can...

at our building:

cute fish. Why is he climbing the vertical wall? :D

looks like your chaeto is working and the spikes (except nitrate) have passed. What may be happening now is the chaeto may be consuming ammonia for nitrogen (which it actually prefers for nitrogen). An in that process the chaeto will not consume as much nitrates hence the nitrate "spike". If...

As part of your research I suggest you include macro algae, refugiums, in tank refugiums ,and algae turf scrubbers. The idea is to get the macro alage growing only protected (fish eat them) for much the same reasons as live plants in FW setups. that way the tank will start out balanced and...

:D

dern this is an old thread. I'm voting for Gary Johnson. LOL

I did use the diy 2 part for calcium alk and mag plus no hard corals were there. fish and soft corals seemed to do fine though. (fwiw water changes will reduce but not eliminate build ups (nitraes) and depletions (calcium, alk) in our tanks) IME (before I used macro algae) nitrItes would peg...

Actually for a 55g fwlr plain old cheapie 6500k fluorescents will work. Fixtures are around $12 and 2 tubes around $7 or so. So you could get two sets for $40 and produce about 120W. But you wouldn't have the flexibility for future corals. my .02

IMHO macro algae is the way to go. Do anything you can to establish a good growth until nitrates drop to unmeasureable levels. If you don't have a refugium, consider an in tank refugium. What I did in my ole 55g was cram in 1/4" plastic grid (egg crate) lighting diffuser about 3" in front of...

I bought two similar for e-bay for refugium/algae turf scrubber. Very red blue light IMHO not suitable for the main display. Also I not sealed and water resistant. (at least mine). I though it would be sealed like cfl spots but that is not the case. If you going to use IMHO you at least...

IMHO the "danger" of prime and other ammonia locks is you test ammonia, treat and still test ammonia. then treat some more. The danger is that they also lock up (reduce) oxygen in the system and the fish can suffocate while showing the same symptoms as ammonia shock. You could try resetting...

+1 but that would figure. LOL

hi there

IMHO if you start the tank with an algae turf scrubber (ats) or macro algae (usually in a refugium) it is possible to cycle the tank with no measureable ammonia spikes. Because the algae will consume the ammonia before nitrates. So at first, you can get a minor (20ppm or so) nitrate spike...

IMHO any refugium with macros or ats is 1) easy to make and 2)very effective. You can have the same effect by just partitioning your tank with 1/4" square plastic grid (egg crate) sold as lighting diffusers for dropped ceielings. (4'x2' is like $13 or so). I put one 3" in front of the back...

My advice is to start the tank with macro alages then do the rest. (in a refugium as most livestock eat the macros--the refugium can even be just a simple tank partition) That way things will be balanced and stabilized by the algae making it much easier to maintain. I also use a male molly to...

Never!!! (causes more problems then just letting it alone) Of course you can always suck out anything ugly at the surface. Just don't stir up the sand. IMHO my .02