Another new guy to the hobby. Need suggesstions.

[deejeff442]

you dont have enough water movement on the top.it should have a good ripple up there.on a 30 i would just add a #3 to the tank.you need to point a ph toward the top to get the gas exchange going .or you will get that slime up there.i would just add some rock and the #3 for now.put the #3 on the back pointing to the front.i like a double bio wheel for smaller tanks.salt creep is a pain but they work great and with the carbon pads will clean and debris .

 

[mmyuki]

I was thinking of adding a marineland penguin 350 dual bio wheel power filter, or maybe even two, and I was thinking of adding 2 #3s and point one from the back middle to front left and the other from back middle to front right and leaving the other two pointing slightly upwards from the sides...

 

[deejeff442]

the two #3's in my 30 qt really blow the water around.4 ph's might be overdoing it.you probably dont need the hob if the tank has been running a while and the bioload is light.but it sure has benefits.added filtration and the floss screening for debris.really i would just get a #3 and a single biowheel hob.that will be plenty.if you didnt have lr i would go with the double.but lr is by far the best filter there is.

 

[mmyuki]

I know but if I got the dual for what 40 bucks or so? and one number 3... the added bio wheel would churn some more water as well... Oh and the reason I do not have one pointing upward right now is when i tried to aim it upward a couple weeks ago it broke the plastic piece right off the magnet so its just sort of sitting in there at the moment. Still works so no need to replace it yet.

 

[deejeff442]

i know the feeling of over doing it believe me.i have been at this since i was 14 and now i am 41.i have so much fish stuff in storage.i rarely toss anything.actually i threw out a skimmer i bought 20 years ago recently.you need to find a way to spend money wisely.lr is always a good place.doing a double wheel sounds good but the system will only make as much good bacteria to eat what bioload is in there.in a 30 you cant really pack alot of fish.so a double wheel would be way overkill with lr in the tank.
you need to get the girl friend into it ,then find a nice 90 on craigslist :O)
i have a mantis in a 33 gallon.just have 4 inches of sand/crushed coral ,small hob filter ,two ph 's one a #3 korilia and a small rio with 10lbs of lr .thats it she is a big eater and the water is always good.

 

[mmyuki]

She is into it, partially... when friends come over she thinks it her tank, but she doesnt do any of the cleaning, maintaining, or testing of the water. I just look and laugh... She wants a bigger tank because she wants her powder blue tang, but if I go any bigger it will be too much hastle to move it when we buy a house in the next year or so. That and I would need to buy myself a nice RODI unit because buying 100 gallons of water from my LFS would be expensive, plus the water changes... ohh. I really don't mind spending the money as long as the shit is going to last I do not like buying cheap stuff and seeing it break in a week or two. My uncle has a saltwater tank, which is the reason I got into it, always wanted one but seeing his made me take the leap. So he told me the basics and I jumped right in with this 30 gallon for cheap. One day down the road I will throw together a 150 or 220 and really get it together, but for now since I'm still very green to this hobby..I'll stick with this size and learn a lot more before I jump any higher.

 

[mmyuki]

I had a nice frag of monti on a piece of my LR but went to move it one day and it broke right off and lost it inside the tank, and it was growing slowly but surely under my old PCs. I still have about 75% of the frag stuck on the rock so I'm thinking with the new lights it may take off again, which would be nice.

 

[deejeff442]

try moving a 250 twice.plus a 90 and a 33 and my qt tank.i dont mind though.as long as you plan ahead with buckets and extra water .i have an 8 inch across monti sps .and i moved it over a few inches and broke a small piece off.i thought being a hard coral it was hard?
nothing wrong with a 30 gallon.my first tank was a 45 .i still have it from 28 years ago and use it everyday for mixing water.i have resilicone it 4 times at least.
it takes years to keep upgradeing tank.unless you win the lotto .if you plan to get a bigger tank later i would keep the 30 simple and maybe buy some things for the bigger tank as you can afford it.my plan now is for a 600 gallon next winter.so now i am buying small things like a big skimmer,metal halide lights pendants,things that i can use on my 250 but also can use on the bigger tank.then iu wont have to lose my ass when i buy the tank.i will already have most of the equiptment.
so get yourself some more rock.it adds up way too fast .some here and there .then when you get the bigger tank you have a bunch already.maybe the mp10 power head.they do the work of 2 #3 korilias.just a thought.
my wife could care less about my tanks,she just gets pissed when i "kill a fish"of course i do what i can to prevent it.

 

[mmyuki]

I would not like to move that size tank even once. I'm going frag shopping tomorrow if this guy gets back to me tonight. I will think about getting that MP10 I was checking it out and seen it was roughly $220 but that seems like a heck of a lot of money for a power head.... Do you think I can keep a healthy monti-pora in this tank with 5.2 watts per gallon? I was thinking about adding some more lighting to the tank but there is no more room...I'm not sure if I could even add a PC to it. This quad takes up almost all the top of the tank. I may have enough room for a 2 bulb PC but that wouldn't help to much would it? I've been keeping up on craigslist to find a nice 100+ gallon tank with a stand and hopefully some equipment with it. I have some cash saved up for a new one but debating on getting either the new tank and stand and starting up a freshwater tank just until I get some more equipment to go salt... I don't know there is just so much you can do with these things.

 

[mmyuki]

Jeff I know you feed your tank homemade food, I went to my LFS and picked up San Francisco Bay Brand...reef plankton, cyclops and brine shrimp, I mixed some of each together and spot fed my zoas, shroom, and fish...They seemed like they enjoyed it and I was just wondering what you have for your reef and what you might suggest?

 

[deejeff442]

i have about 25 different things .from shrooms,zoas,clams,polyps,sps,hammers,frogspawn,torch, .just about everything .i have never spot fed.i am a big believer in big time metal halide lights and alot of flow.
i run 3 250watters plus 4 96watt compacts.i make my own food because it costs $25 for 5 or 6 months worth

 

[mmyuki]

If you don't mind letting me in on what you put inside of it, you could send me a pm with ingreds. Also just got some good news, I may be getting a 90 gal and stand for free, friend from work is moving and might just give it to me to get off her hands! That would be one nice upgrade heh. Also checked out the MP10s you suggested... seem pretty nice but then I seen a nice MP40 if I get that 90 I will either get two 10s or one 40, heh.

 

[deejeff442]

i run a couple mp40's they are just awesome.i had a 90 gallon tank for 20 years.you can really do alot with that tank.
as for food.i just go to a local oriental supermarket and get uncooked seafood like silversides,shrimp,mussles,crab also nori.put it in a food processor and chop it up.not too fine though.chunks are still good.then put in small zip lock bag and smoosh flat and freeze.sometimes i like to get some zoe vitamins and add it too.

 

[mmyuki]

You pretty much just get all that stuff raw then, break it down freeze it and break off a piece when needed? Sounds like a good idea do you use anything like reef chili, marine snow, rods or any products?

 

[deejeff442]

yup,just put it all in the food processor and chunk it up .heads ,tails and all.dont let it thaw from the store.buy it then put it to your freezer untill you are ready .dont add water .
no marine snow is junk,never heard of chili.i have heard rods is great stuff but i dont bother.i have been making my own for 10 years.i bought a clown and sailfin tang 5 months ago .they were 1.5 inches now they are doubled in size.so the food must be good .plus when i go to the oriental supermarket i get myself some clams ,just put them on the bbq till they open add some frank red hot and go to town with some coors light.

 

[mmyuki]

That's rad man, Just got myself a cleaner shrimp and a new clownfish. Been thinking about building myself a tank from scratch.. like a 150 gallon... Once I get the glass ill start cutting it and putting it all together, just not sure how much a sheet of half inch glass is hah. dimensions are 72" x 18" x 28" all glass needs to be half inch. I will throw something together in paint with what I am planning on doing to the tank with overflow, drains and what not for the sump. Thinking about a 55 gallon sump / fuge. I will draw that up tonight at work and ms paint it tomorrow hah. Then I will start gathering parts needed for everything and let it sit for a while untill all parts are in house. let me know what you think I should need going for pumps, lighting, filters, skimmer, whatnot if you have time to link me some that would be nice to since I am very new to the big tanks. Will be going reef with that as well.

 

[travelerjp98]

Wow MMyuki, it was REALLY interesting to read this whole post from the beginning!
Sorry I know that's irrelevant but it was still so cool to see some one start all confused and then wanting to get all kinds of diff. tanks and fish and corals!

 

[mmyuki]

Thanks travelerjp98 it's nice to see some interest in my topic here. I tell you it has been a journey thus far and I know there is lots more I need to learn before I even begin hah. I am going to hold off on that 150 for a bit though, came across a pretty good deal on a 75 gallon with stand, pc lighting, decent filter, pretty much all ready to go just is fresh atm and guys wants 150 for it all. I can trade the fish to my store for saltwater stuff and I will turn my 30 gallon into my sump / refuge once I get the new one cleaned up and buy some live sand for that one, I will throw the crushed coral from my 30 and throw all that in the refuge part of the sump, unless that's a bad idea... I was going to toss some macro algae in there as well with some live rock.
Anyway I'm going to get onto ms paint here and draw up what I want to do with this tank once I get it next week, I'm planning on drilling an overflow on it, and 3 more holes in the back for powerhead usage. So I don't need koralias I will just use a submersible pump as the power heads, unless I need more movement then it will be time to buy an mp10

 

[mmyuki]

 

[mmyuki]