Melev's new 280g Starfire tank thread

[melev]

I guess two years now.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/author/ml.php

[bklynmet]

Originally posted by melev
It looks like bklynmet tried to post to my thread around 9:01 pm, but it never appeared.

I did wierd... to sum up what I wrote..

I had just finished catching up on the last 10 pages since Christmas.... I was congratulating you on your speaking gig in April. I also was sorry to hear abou tthe heater but it was cool learning about tankless heaters and the real benefits of solar power.

finally I worte Happy New Year!

-Joe

[melev]

Thank you Joe. Same to you.

I'm excited about the Marine Aquarium Expo in April. I'm going to fly in a couple of days early, so I can visit some of these stores I keep hearing about, and hopefully get to see a few tanks as well.

[melev]

Today as I was cleaning the reef, my suncorals sensed food for some reason and opened up several hours earlier than expected.

[Micki]

Marc, do you think sun corals would be fine in a seahorse/pipefish tank?

[Alaska_Phil]

Marc, just finished reading your article on sumps. Good timing since that's the next upgrade on my list

One question though. You recommend a return pump rated for 3 to 5 times the display tank volume. Is that actual return flow, or the zero head pump rating? Thanks.

Phil

[michika]

Is the Marine Aquarium Expo worth it for foreigners? I've been asked to go with someone, but I'm unsure if its worth my time/money.

[Stile2]

I would go to socalireefs.com and ask them. They are not involved in organizing it, but it is in their area and they would know more about it.

[melev]

Originally posted by Micki
Marc, do you think sun corals would be fine in a seahorse/pipefish tank?

I don't think it would be a problem because they aren't so sticky that they can hold onto a seahorse. A pipefish might need some help though, perhaps.

A seahorse tank tends to have lots of food so the suncoral would get a good meal, but it also has low flow so it would be very important to avoid letting cyano build up on the coral as it would kill off areas otherwise.

[melev]

Originally posted by Alaska_Phil
Marc, just finished reading your article on sumps. Good timing since that's the next upgrade on my list

One question though. You recommend a return pump rated for 3 to 5 times the display tank volume. Is that actual return flow, or the zero head pump rating? Thanks.

Phil

Hey Phil - it would be actual return flow, and you can go faster with some sump configurations. On a 120g tank, most people would consider the Mag 7 to not be enough of a return pump, and would opt for a Mag 12 instead. If the sump is tiny, the Mag 7 is the better choice because it reduces the flow and thus microbubbles are less of an issue.

[Micki]

Originally posted by melev
I don't think it would be a problem because they aren't so sticky that they can hold onto a seahorse. A pipefish might need some help though, perhaps.

A seahorse tank tends to have lots of food so the suncoral would get a good meal, but it also has low flow so it would be very important to avoid letting cyano build up on the coral as it would kill off areas otherwise.

Thanks, I may give that a try this year.

[msuzuki126]

Hey Marc, can you give me some tips on getting this bleached RBTA I got from my friend back in good shape? It seems to be splitting and it moved about three inches from its normal spot. Its foot is no longer deep inside the rock and the foot appears to be cutting in two...

[melev]

Originally posted by michika
Is the Marine Aquarium Expo worth it for foreigners? I've been asked to go with someone, but I'm unsure if its worth my time/money.

It is a fun event that lasts two days, and it doesn't matter what country you are from. Not only do you get to wander around and see all kinds of vendors showing off their products, but you'll get to learn from various speakers on a variety of topics. With the entry fee being so low, I don't know why anyone would skip it.

Plus I've not been to Southern California in a very long time, so it will be nice to visit it again. I used to live in and around Los Angeles growing up.

[melev]

Originally posted by msuzuki126
Hey Marc, can you give me some tips on getting this bleached RBTA I got from my friend back in good shape? It seems to be splitting and it moved about three inches from its normal spot. Its foot is no longer deep inside the rock and the foot appears to be cutting in two...

If it is splitting, there is little you can do about it. What I would do for now is maintain the best water quality you can, and try to squirt some meaty foods toward it (garlic soaked mysis for example). If you want to feed it some meatier food, get a couple of raw shrimp from the supermarket deli, cut each one up into 5 equal sized pieces, and feed one piece of that shrimp to the anemone every two or three days. They don't need a lot of food, and if you see them expel a blob of waste you've over fed it.

Your lighting will play a key role in its healing.

I've not fed mine any type of food in years. They just catch particulates during the nightly feeding of the fish. Water quality, lighting, and light snacks seem to do fine.

The two RBTAs in the angled tank are enormous, and all that tank gets is two squirts of mysis and cyclop eeze each night from a tiny pipette.

[msuzuki126]

It will eat during a split? It has seemed to be splitting for the past three days.

[melev]

During the split, yes. After the split, it probably won't eat for about 3 days because the mouth has to form anew.

[Alaska_Phil]

Originally posted by melev
Hey Phil - it would be actual return flow, and you can go faster with some sump configurations. On a 120g tank, most people would consider the Mag 7 to not be enough of a return pump, and would opt for a Mag 12 instead. If the sump is tiny, the Mag 7 is the better choice because it reduces the flow and thus microbubbles are less of an issue.

Thanks, that's what I thought. I'm trying to figure out what return pump to use for a 20 gal sump on my 20 gal display. 3' of head, so looks like a Mag 1.5, or 1.9 would work. I've also got a Maxi-Jet 1200 I considered using.

Phil

[melev]

The MaxiJet 1200 might be able to pull it off. The smallest mag pump would do it as well.

[mrkalel]

Hey Marc, I know it might a little off-topic, but I have looked up alot of info on skimmers and I know you have pretty much great advice on everything reef related, so here I go....

First off I have a Corallife Superskimmer (125gal rated & pretty inefficient). This is essentially the last piece of equipment that needs to be upgraded. I know u dont remember my tank but essentially a 144 Gal Display, 75 Gal Fuge, and ~ 50 gal sump. Also about 300lbs of live rock & 5-6 inch live sand in both tanks. Pretty good natural filtration so I have no mechanical filtration except the skimmer.

It barely fill 1/2 the cup a week (which I run pretty dry). I want to upgrade to a much better skimmer and use a submerged pump in sump...

so making a long story short, I calculated a 400 gal rated skimmer with a 60% offset to compensate for a high bio-load would be sufficient.

I do have about 18" next to the sump to fit an external skimmer

What I have seen is the Tunze Master DOC Protein Skimmer 9420 or the Euro-Reef RC180. What are your feelings on these and of course if you know of something better (or cheaper ) for what I need I would greatly appreciate the advice as I have always listened to you in the past.... Thanks once again...

[melev]

Cheaper would be anything purchased used, as that tends to save you 50% off retail.

How much space do you have in the sump to squeeze in the skimmer? Knowing what footprint size fits, as well as how much vertical height you have to work with, makes it easier to make a good recommendation. Or are you set on an external skimmer? Floods happen with external skimmers.

The Euro-reef RC-180 has a pretty big (or should I say long) footprint. I would want a skimmer that could skim 300 to 400g with the real system adding up to 270g of water. I didn't quite understand the 60% offset comment. Do you prefer to under skim?

[mrkalel]

Well actually I meant that I would get a ~400 Gal rated skimmer so that about 60% of that would be ~240 gal which is my setup size due to a pretty high bio-load.
I have pretty much unlimited vertical space and older pic of my sump is to show my space availible...


So I think I have a pretty decent amount of in-sump space as well.

But like I said I could also hang it on the outside on the left (which is what I am doing with my Super Skim right now) or just sit it on the outside to the left...

So I hope this helps....

[melev]

If you really want to put it next to the sump, I would put it in a tray on a stand. If the skimmer overflows, it would fill the tray and then a bulkhead from the tray would pour the water back into the sump.

Almost any skimmer out there would be an upgrade from that one. The ATI Bubble Master might be a good fit.

The RS-250 might work.
http://euro-reef.com/rs250specs.shtml

[mrkalel]

Sounds good... and are all of those pretty good with micro-bubbles?

[melev]

Do you mean "can they make tiny bubbles and skim like mad?" Yes.

Do they create microbubbles in your system? Only if you haven't set up your sump correctly or have too much flow moving through the sump. Check the recent issue of Reefkeeping for my article on sumps.

[mrkalel]

I did read it and very informative as usual. And do you thing the tunze (smaller footprint I think) is overpriced?