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Old 02/10/2007, 10:55 PM
Jesse-KT Jesse-KT is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: New Jersey
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General Questions-Need Help.

I'm pretty young for asking all these complex questions at 14, but I have learned quite a bit in a couple years. I have learned about wet/dry systems, protein skimmers, powerheads, hundreds of fish, subtrates, frozen foods, and much more. I have set up about 10 tanks with my dad, ranging from 10 to 110 gallons. But I have not gotten these questions answered, nor have I found the answers.

1) What is the difference between starphire tanks, and glass/acrylic tanks?

2) What do calcium reactors do?

3) How do people keep their water so clear other than having a wet dry and a protein skimmer? I have set up 1 tank with my dad that had an overflow box and that tank seems to be much clearer and has better flow than my 55 which has a wet/dry box.

4) In a bigger setup somewhere around 250-350 gallons, would you prefer a overflow box over a wet/dry box? Also, how much water should pumps circulate around the tank in a size like that?
  #2  
Old 02/10/2007, 11:34 PM
shag26272 shag26272 is offline
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1. starphire is glass, its just much clearer then normal glass (used mostly in larger tanks because of the thickness; acrylic is plastic

2. calcium reactors add calcium to the water, alot of corals need this calcium and they use it up when growing

3. I dont understand your question

4. what do you mean by wet dry box , like one that hangs on?, its preferred to have an overflow built into the tank and holes drilled for the water to drain and return to the tank.
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  #3  
Old 02/10/2007, 11:35 PM
Trilithon3 Trilithon3 is offline
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Well let's see, Starphire is a type of glass. A very clear glass that some people are willing to pay alot for. Glass is heavier than acrylic but acrylic is very easy to scratch.
Calcium reactors are a means to add calcium and alkalinity to a reef tank. They use carbon dioxide to disolve calcium corbonate in a reaction chamber.
Very good filtration makes for clear water and protein skimmers help.
In any tank if you can run a sump that's a good thing, and you need an over flow for that unless the tank is pre-drilled. Most people try to stay away from wet/dry's with a reef tank as there is a concern of it being a nitrate "factory".
For flow it depends on what's in the tank. Opinions vary, but if you go with 10X the tank volume you should be OK with SPS. Less is OK for LPS and fish.
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  #4  
Old 02/10/2007, 11:49 PM
Henry Bowman Henry Bowman is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: VA
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Hope I can help.

1- Starphire is a low iron glass that does not have as blue a look as other glass. Upon looking at an empty starphire tank, you can tell how clear the glass is b'cause the sides and bottom are generally not made of starphire.

2- Calcium Reactors are "basically" an enclosed chamber that very slowly dissolves a coral skeleton type pebbles so that calcium and alkalinity are added to the tank. The reactor dissolves the media by running C02 into it thus lowering the pH of the water being circulated wihtin the reactor. The lower pH is what dissolves and or melts the media. Check here http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/20...ture/index.php

3- Water clarity can be a couple things. First, great protein skimmers do most of the work. Second, most folks run carbon in a canister filter. Your wet/dry will NOT really help your water in general. The bio balls tend to produce nitrate in the long run and that's not good....

4 - Again NO WET/DRY ! Most successful reefkeepers use a sump (what I think you are calling an overflow box). This "sump" is nothing much more than a smaller aquarium under the main tank. Some folks actually use smaller aquariums to do this, others make them from plexiglas and or you can buy them premade. FYI and overflow refers to a small box that is either built into the tank and or hangs on the back, this box is where the water flows out of the tank into a sump.

A pump does not need to circulate much more than 3-5X the tank volume. Example a 50 gl tank would need 250-300 gl of flow. BUT ! If you are keeping corals, you need about 10X the tanks volume in water movement inside the tank. The best way to do this in the 50 gl example above is to get a pump that will do 300 gal per hour through the sump and add a few powerheads inside the tank to increase the flow up to 500 or so gallons per hour (GPH)

Hope this helps.
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