So you got a new fish tank Newbie - Page 12

thewuf · #**276** 07/30/2004, 11:34 AM

In all honesty - Thanks! That was insightful reading. You learned me a little bit today! (as we say in the south).

Now, where did I put that hot plate and those nitric and perchloric acids....

WaterKeeper · #**277** 07/30/2004, 11:38 AM

Start messing with that perchloric and I bet you get a visit from someone from the Office of Homeland Security.

crazyfingersmike · #**278** 07/30/2004, 01:29 PM

Heck, we'll all probably get a visit just for reading about them

SOMEthinsFISHY · #**279** 07/30/2004, 01:43 PM

oh i have the guts alright but i also have so much hair algae that it is killing me !!

WaterKeeper · #**280** 07/30/2004, 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by crazyfingersmike
Heck, we'll all probably get a visit just for reading about them

Especially when reading about them from a guy from Ohio, home of G. Frederick Smith Chemical Company, the main manufacturer of perchlorates in the world.

Johnboy,

Give me a little more info on the hair algae. Has it been around since your tank cycled? Is the coralline on your LR doing well? What type of nitrate levels do you have?

SOMEthinsFISHY · #**281** 07/30/2004, 06:07 PM

do not know nitrate or nitite levels at the moment the coraline is all over but hair algae is creeping over it at times i will syphon some off as soon as i can but my big problem i feel is the actual sunlight that comes into tank at times MY bedroom and house is mostly glass !! Later man !

mderemick · #**282** 08/06/2004, 11:55 AM

Bump! This thread should really be pinned at the top of the forum somewhere. Much thanks to WaterKeeper for all of the knowledge...

While im here, id like to know if WaterKeeper (or anyone else) has had any experiance with Homemade Live Rock. I am finishing up on the stocking period of a 5G Hex, but i won a 90 gallon tank that I'm going to start out as a FOWLR, but i'd like to make some of my own rock to lighten the expenses a little.

Any info or a point in the right direction would be greatly appreciated!

markfsanderson · #**283** 08/06/2004, 12:03 PM

Is there someone to contact or a means to vote to pin this thread? This one has been great . . . It has been the most help to me of all the researching that I've done.

Regards,
Mark F. Sanderson

mderemick · #**284** 08/06/2004, 12:10 PM

It actually is pinned, heres a link.
I didnt realize it until i started searching for other threads by WK!

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...87#post1337387

markfsanderson · #**285** 08/06/2004, 12:15 PM

mderemick,
Thanks! I've never been able to get any kind of search to work . . it appears that for the most part that searching is reserved for paying members.

Regards,
Mark F. Sanderson

JohnM99 · #**286** 08/06/2004, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Thanks! I've never been able to get any kind of search to work . . it appears that for the most part that searching is reserved for paying members.

That is odd. Before I became a contributing member, I had no problem with searches - you just have to be registered (as you appear to be). What happens when you click on the Search button?

There is so much info on this board it is mind boggling - and hard to find sometimes even with the search tool. I would bet that most of the questions I have asked had already been answered more than once (but I couldn't find them, or was too lazy)

This thread has a lot of good info (other than this post!), and making it "sticky" would save a lot of searching.

SOMEthinsFISHY · #**287** 08/06/2004, 01:56 PM

search would be nice !

markfsanderson · #**288** 08/06/2004, 02:04 PM

When I click on the search button on the very top of the web page (between the F.A.Q. and STAFF button) I receive the following error when I attempt a search:

Quote:

Sorry. The search function has been temporarily disabled due to high server load. Please try your search again in a few minutes. Other site features will still be functional.

Check out our Premium Membership Program for higher priority access to the search engine as well as other nice features.

Tips & Trivia:
Use your glass algae cleaning magnet for holding nori.

I have always received this error when attempting searches - it seems to be always busy!

When I use the 'little search' button that is on top of each posting, I do get some joy . . . Perhaps I'm doing something wrong?

Regards,

Mark F. Sanderson

mderemick · #**289** 08/06/2004, 02:18 PM

Yeah i get that too, just click the button over and over till you get the page. Even then when the server tries to execute your response you can still get bounced to the server full error, but i can usually get it in a few minutes. It really depends on the instant you hit the button how many other people are hitting the webserver at the same time.

JohnM99 · #**290** 08/06/2004, 02:29 PM

Aha - that must be new. I know that the search engine busy message used to be very frequent - this must be one way they have tried to "solve" the problem - which isn't a bad way to raise money I guess - servers co$t money.

When I look at all the various books I bought, and consider what I spent on them to value received, and then do the same for this website - NOLO CONTENDRE - this is a huge bargain. Well worth supporting.

Two monetary facts -
The cost of your tank is only about 1/8th or so of the cost of your system.
The money it costs to support RC is peanuts by comparison.

Ciao

SOMEthinsFISHY · #**291** 08/06/2004, 02:43 PM

i think i paid 29 bucks but i would have paid 59 bucks i learned so much and i save lots of fishies lives !

jeffbrig · #**292** 08/06/2004, 11:00 PM

I agree,

Money for a RC premium membership is well spent. I paid up immediately when I started getting the search disabled messages regularly. Haven't seen one since...

WaterKeeper · #**293** 08/07/2004, 12:49 PM

Hi Gang,

The deal is with searches is that any registered member can do a search. You ability to search does increase if you are a contributing member, Team RC, Mod, Staff etc. but only during peak times when the server is highly loaded.

The RC staff keeps working on improving things but with the phenominal growth of RC it is a neverending story (and WK does not contribute to this effort).

I only do some heavy researches after 3 A.M. when only the Aussies are on-line.

mderemick,

Sure you can make your own LR it just takes some time. Making the rock is the easy part. Basically you get some Portland cement, a mix of aragonite sand and maybe some crushed coral. I think the ratio is one part cement to 2 or 3 parts of the aragonite and CC. You then make a mold where you have a base of aragonite and CC, scoop out the shape you want, pour in the CC, aragonite mortar and let it cure.

You then soak it in FW water for a couple of weeks, with frequent water changes, until you leach out any harmful components from your manmade rock.

Now comes the long part. This rock is "dead rock" and you need to seed it some way. If you have an active tank already just take some pieces of rock frags and add them to a saltwater rock culture tank. Otherwise buy some LR to act as seed. The culture tank needs lighting and good circulation. Ten to twenty percent weekly water changes are in order but use water taken from your main tank, if you have one, when you change it to replace the water in your culture tank.

After about 4 - 6 months you should have well established coralline and other critters growing on your fake rock. Try to get a seed rock that is diverse it what is living on it.

There are various recipes for making the rock so look around for one you like.

truespirit · #**294** 08/07/2004, 03:26 PM

WaterKeeper, thank you so very much for all this great info. I see I am still a long way away from getting my tank up and going but I now know what to start getting and buying for that day. This is infact a great thread with a lot of good stuff/tips.
Thanks again.

Rick

SOMEthinsFISHY · #**295** 08/07/2004, 05:08 PM

tom u are worth your weight in live rock thanks for being on RC 4 us !!

RayLovesNemos · #**296** 08/07/2004, 05:45 PM

I think u can help me waterkeeper from reading ur post i believe u are a person full of knowledge. 25 gallon tank setup for about..4 and a half weeks. Nitrate is at 0 and so is ammonia. Can u give me a fish list or fish for noobs that wont kill each other...? I have 1 False and one Perc clown 9 hermits and 14 punds Fiji LR. Thanks

WaterKeeper · #**297** 08/10/2004, 10:38 AM

Hi Ray,

I'm somewhat worried about having fish in a tank under 30. You already have two fish and that is really a load on a tank that size. As the tank shrinks in size so does the surface area of the sandbed. If you do keep fish frequent water changes are about the only sure way to control nitrate levels. On a 25 I'd do about five gallons every five days to a week. I suppose you could try a drawf angel like a Coral Beauty, Centropyge bispinosus, but it may be pushing it. Why not stick with mainly corals in that tank until you move up in size?

WaterKeeper · #**298** 08/10/2004, 10:58 AM

Ok, you all know that pH is the negative logarithm of the hydrogen ion concentration in an aqueous solution. WHAT, you don't-

Then DROP and give me TWENTY!!!

Well you don't really need a pHD to understand pH. It is just a scale to measure how acidic or alkaline a solution is and with a reef tank you only need to know about a little bit of the entire scale.

Ideally your tank pH will be between 8.0-8.3 and, hopefully, will seldom venture outside the range of 7.8-8.5. When the pH gets outside that range you need to take corrective action. Now if you have a FO tank pH is not as critical. Fish have a circulatory system and their blood lets them maintain a fairly constant internal pH, not dependant on outside conditions. Those of you that have had a FW tank probably kept South American Cichlids in tap water that was much more alkaline that the low pH Amazon river water from which they hail. You probably had little or no problems except if you bred them in which case you may have had high mortality rates among their fry.

Now if you plan a coral reef things change. Corals don't have a true circulatory system and depend on the surrounding water to maintain pH. Wide swings can be the cause of many problems, including death. We are there fairly limited in the range we can allow are tanks pH to waver.

Over the next couple of days well look at some of the methods to measure and control pH and talk a little about the equipment needed to accurately measure it.

RayLovesNemos · #**299** 08/10/2004, 02:02 PM

Great idea im thinking of just keeping the fish i have right now get a few corals like polyps and just add mabe 2 rose annemones. Right now i have 2 perc clowns and 1 False clowns and 1 purp firefish i might add a lawnmower blennie but like u said might be pushing it and i have 10 hermits. Well thanks for the suggestion when the money comes exactly what im gonna get.

WaterKeeper · #**300** 08/10/2004, 05:13 PM

I'd love to be more encouraging Ray but small tanks do limit your choices.

The RC Nano Reef Forum has a lot more info for the reefer with the small tank.

Also check out Host Anemones for advise on how to maintain these delicate critters.

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