Building my 56 gallon Column reef tank

monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sparty059 http:///forum/thread/380344/building-my-56-gallon-column-reef-tank/60#post_3311891
Should I be testing my water every day for the first few weeks? Or is once a week good enough?
I am testing every 12 hours to monitor the cycle. Once I get 0 ammonia for a week straight, I will add the CUC and continue testing. I will probably be testing every 12 hours for however long the cycle is + another 3 to 4 weeks just to monitor the tank. Once I am sure that the tank is stable, I will problably test once a day to every other day. Not sure really so I will await input of others.
 
The aiptasia-x seems to have worked as the instructions said. The little buggers acted like they were eating until they realized that their mouths were glued shut. Crossing fingers and will relay results as soon as I can tell that they are either dead or alive.
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
no, before adding stock. I've re-evaluated this whole fish tank thing and I think I'm getting a bit stressed on how much time it will take out of my day having many fish or many corals. So I think when I decide to get fish (in about a month) I will be getting 2 clowns and a few corals that don't need manual feeding. I have a full time job, and am still rather young (25) so I do enjoy going out after getting out of the office... it seems if I get a ton of coral and fish I can kiss my night life goodbye... is that fair to say?
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
LOL...NO...You will have plenty of free time once everything is up and running....I have 2 jobs etc and handle all my tanks
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
I think a lot of it has to do with the water changes. I still haven't gone out to get a big tub to hold a lot of spare water so I have to do these water top offs and changes and wait a few hours for the water to come out. So really I get home from the office and start the water fill up and sit on the couch until it's finished. It bugs me sometimes, but I think once I get the big tub it'll take a lot of the time consumption off my back. Do you have to spot feed a lot of fish too? Or do you just typically just drop a cube in and call it a feeding?
 
gemmy

gemmy

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sparty059 http:///forum/thread/380344/building-my-56-gallon-column-reef-tank/80#post_3311908
no, before adding stock. I've re-evaluated this whole fish tank thing and I think I'm getting a bit stressed on how much time it will take out of my day having many fish or many corals. So I think when I decide to get fish (in about a month) I will be getting 2 clowns and a few corals that don't need manual feeding. I have a full time job, and am still rather young (25) so I do enjoy going out after getting out of the office... it seems if I get a ton of coral and fish I can kiss my night life goodbye... is that fair to say?
Nope, that is not fair to say. I am your age, have a full time job, have not compromised my social life and have a reef tank. It is all about the balance and proper planning. I have a schedule set up for my tank maintenance. I use test strips to test the water on an almost daily basis and test with the drops about two times a week. The strips are just a guide and to see if any craziness is going on.
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
Where can you get the strips? I might PM you down the line then since you can relate (Not saying that you can't meowzer! :) ). But I might pick your brain on how you handle your feeding sched, water change, water testing, etc. That is... if you don't mind. I was sitting down looking at my tank last night debating if this is really something I want (assuming I have to devote my nights to this)... since you guys have said I don't need compromise my nights, then I do indeed want it still!
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
the test strips are usually found next to the test kits. they are not as accurate and should be used as "guidelines" as posted above. I can say that the strips are really not that accurate as I use them on my daughter's FW tank and it always says that there is a ton of ammonia in the tank yet i now have 3 fish and a snail happily living life fine as can be. I should test it with the drops to verify but the fish look good and the snail is fine.
 
BTW, every 12 hours is for me. I am a data whore and am placing all the info into excel so i can graph it. I want to see the various effects on things. So far, the conclusions i can come to is this
 
Lights on = higher PH
Adding LR = ammonia
Leaving the tank sit with nothing done to it over long periods of time = less ammonia
 
So now that i am done with rock, and killing aiptasia (i friggen hope), I should see things start to fall into place soon. *fingers crossed.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
One you get your tank up and running, you don't need to test daily.....just have some ro water made for your regular top-offs......water changes can be done every other week and 10-15% is fine
 
ONCE in a while you may have an issue, and have to spend a little more time on things.....but this is not the norm if you go about things the right way, which you are doing

 
I feed my fish (cubes) every morning (ALL TANKS) give algae sheets 3-4x a week....takes 2 seconds to attach to a clip....I purposely do not have any corals that have to be fed specifically....BUT....it is my understanding that you DO NOT have to spot feed them daily....maybe once a week
 
Once you get stuff in your tank, and learn about your fish/corals......you will get to a point that you can look at your tank and tell if something is out of whack
 
gemmy

gemmy

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sparty059 http:///forum/thread/380344/building-my-56-gallon-column-reef-tank/80#post_3311925
Where can you get the strips? I might PM you down the line then since you can relate (Not saying that you can't meowzer! :) ). But I might pick your brain on how you handle your feeding sched, water change, water testing, etc. That is... if you don't mind. I was sitting down looking at my tank last night debating if this is really something I want (assuming I have to devote my nights to this)... since you guys have said I don't need compromise my nights, then I do indeed want it still!

The strips are found right by the testing supplies (in some stores like pet smart they are found in the freshwater section). And feel free to pick my brain away.
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by meowzer http:///forum/thread/380344/building-my-56-gallon-column-reef-tank/80#post_3311975
Is this the tank thread that is supposed to have the results

 

I went to the store to pick that up yesterday and used it on my "whatever those things are called". The guy at the LFS said, you can use this (pointed at Joes Juice) or you can use this... which people say they get better results from (points at a different juice product). Price difference? You guessed it! The better results one was something like $23... Joe's Juice... $10. Naturally I went for the less expensive
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sparty059 http:///forum/thread/380344/building-my-56-gallon-column-reef-tank/80#post_3311988
I went to the store to pick that up yesterday and used it on my "whatever those things are called". The guy at the LFS said, you can use this (pointed at Joes Juice) or you can use this... which people say they get better results from (points at a different juice product). Price difference? You guessed it! The better results one was something like $23... Joe's Juice... $10. Naturally I went for the less expensive

Obviously I have to order mine online....lol
 
SOOOO Did it work for ya????
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
Well, I didn't really want to say because I don't want you to yell at me ... but I was using it and tried to get it into the base of the thing and when I started to push the juice out the thing came flying off the rock... oops? Or was that supposed to happen. I didn't do the other one because I assumed I did it the wrong way.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
LOL....Why would I yell at you

 
The one thing about the Joe's Juice is it is thick.....I just put the tip of the syringe right on top of the aptasia, and squirt a little on it
 
works every time....just do it slow so it doesn't close up, but I have had it work that way too
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
Speaking of which and Monisour I do not mean to hijack your thread at all... but I noticed what I'm guessing to be more of them COVERING this rock... or are these something else? (For the sake of my sanity maybe you should just say they're something else
). Also, just before I took this picture I saw a little bug running around on the rock... it was indeed alive and looked like a very tiny beatle... any idea what it could be? If you can't see them there are about four of these things in the picture... all four right in the center area of the picture.
 
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sparty059 http:///forum/thread/380344/building-my-56-gallon-column-reef-tank/80#post_3311994
Speaking of which and Monisour I do not mean to hijack your thread at all... but I noticed what I'm guessing to be more of them COVERING this rock... or are these something else? (For the sake of my sanity maybe you should just say they're something else
). Also, just before I took this picture I saw a little bug running around on the rock... it was indeed alive and looked like a very tiny beatle... any idea what it could be?
 

They are something else!!! Nah, j/k...your rock is full of em. Better stock up on the juice, Bud!
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
You should try Meowzers trick with the gatorade bottle top, so you can trap those suckers from flyin away.
 
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