Stevie nice thread.

Stevie T Shepard of noobs.

Great guide StevieT!!!

I like the looks of that refractometer...What's the make/model and where you bought it if it was online?

Also, when I'm in the first few weeks of cycling a new tank would it hurt to do these water changes?

Thanks,
Gil

Right, no windex on a plasma or LCD .

But for a tank, come on are they serious. Now I have a CLOSED TOP tank. But even if I had an open top, would still use glass cleaner to whipe. Now if you have an open top, you need to be spraying the windex on the cloth, not directly on the glass just incase some gets into the water. I have been using windex since I started keeping fish tanks and have NEVER seen any issuses. Now i don't dump the windex in the water but who does? I use to clean my hood, glass, and stand.

There was some discussion here about this and most have said you have to be kidding. Some use RO water or a micro fiber cloth for securtity. seedemtais said she does her nails right next to her open top tanks with no vapor issues.



NO water changes durning your cycle. Let your tank cycle fully before you change a drop.

The refractor came from premium aquatics

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/m...Code=Hydrometer

make sure to pick up calibration solution




Good fact! I turn my heater of on my FW tank but not this SW tank. The reason is becuase the heater never runs druing the day!!!! The heat from the lights prevents the tank heater from needing to turn on. Most heaters in this hobby need to be underwater at all times. If they run "dry" it can damage them or even crack the glass. That being said, my heater, even druing a water change is not above the water very much. With a smaller tank this is much more important if you have it vertical.

I agree. I think I could have figured out how to do this on my own, but it is great to be able to cross check my plans against StevieT's routine to make sure I haven't overlooked anything.

Thanks!

You are very welcome guys!! This one is more for the beginner but you never know when you can learn a new way of doing things!

Cool just wondering because I have always used windex on tanks before but I always just spray directly on a cloth to avoid it going in the water.

i use windex on my glass about once a week for the last 2 years and havent seem any problems. think of it like this if windex could seep in through the glass then why wouldnt the water seep out of the glass.

Wow! I never knew a water change could be so beautfifully and clearly explained!

1 tip that I found really useful is to just use airline to pull the water out, no wide thing at the end. You get much more control this way, and will loose less sand (because sand is heavier than algae, if you restrict the flow the sand will sink in the tube, but the algae will continue to rise out of the tank.

I shall give that a try and report back. it would be nice to get into the sand for a good cleaning or under a few rocks as well.

thanks for the tip!

Hey Stevie, im new here, but ive been browsing here for a few months. I was wondering if you could update the beginning parts of your guide and elaborate a little bit more on what types of water to use, where do you get the water, and if you are using RO or RO/DI, where do you buy the RO filter, what types of RO filters are common, and what types do most ppl here recommend.

Only reason im asking this is b/c i personally havenn't found much information on what people recommend as a lower maintainence high quality RO filter. Thanks in advance

I will look into that, I have a uniuqe situation and get my water delivered.

There is a lot of info here about RO filters and what water to use. Search mighty mite

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...2&hl=mighty

most get their RO filters on Ebay for around $120

oh. !

I do this on my black substrate in my office tank. Just spot suck all the garbage up.

you have the same color buckets as meee!!!! i have a white and same green one TOOOOOO!!!!!

haha, nice! I like the different colors, that way I don't switch them up, green is waste, white is fresh, no mistakes. I wouldn't want to make up new water in the waste bucket

For those of you like me, that don't always try scraping the coralline out of the rounded corners till it becomes hard to remove, I've found that the spoon end of a stainless steel tablespoon does a great job in getting the hard coralline out of those round corners, and much easier & quicker than a SS bladed scraper or razor blade. Of course if you don't want to put your gloved arm in the tank it's not a good idea.

Awesome idea! I think this is the best thing I have heard yet about getting coralline off of curved glass. I will give it a try today since I have a nice buildup. Thanks for sharing!

Send me your feedback when you get to try it. I always wished someone made a curved SS scraper for those rounded corners, and then I had the spoon brainstorm one night LOL. Works for me!

I have a plastic spoon here at work, I will see if that works, I do a water change every Friday when the day is over. I forgot to get a metal one from home.

Maybe I can try bending one with all the acrylic I have laying around....

I doubt the plastic spoon will do it but worth a try. That coralline is tough stuff! The bent acrylic is also a good idea - another StevieT invention in progress? Even the acrylic may not be able to keep an edge though. I wonder if I could patent a coralline cleaning tablespoon?

Ok, so the plastic spoon sucked. I tried bending a long piece of acrylic and it worked ok but getting the correct bend of the glass was tough.

So I made a mold of that bend with aquamend putty. I will form another piece around that, try and give it an edge and see what comes off next time this stuff grows back, which will be in about 30 mins.

I think you should try the spoon patent

I love how a tank looks shortly after a water change, it is like brand new again!

Good luck with round 2 of the acrylic scraper. If you get the right curve see how well it does and how long it lasts. Scraping coralline is similar to trying to scrape a layer of limestone off the glass, and I think you can relate to that!

good point. Maybe I would need to melt some sort of "tip" into it. Something strong that doesn't wear as much as acrylic can.

Those corners are a pain in the butt sometimes!

Try melting the round end of a SS table spoon into it LOL!

dang, now that is an idea!

Thank You, Thank you, ThankYou!!! Just did it on my BC 14 and it worked like a charm. Great tip!

James

You're welcome! Sometimes the best things in life are free! I'm glad this simple idea has helped someone else, and nothing to buy since the spoon can be washed & used for what spoons are normally used for LOL!

mmmmmmm coralline tasting spoon, yummy!

I have a question

You can make salt water in one day? Or does it take a while?

I usually make mine the same day that I do a change.

Now there are a few factors that will regulate if the water is ready:

1. Temperature
2. PH

You need to wait for the water to match the tanks temperature. That will take a few hours depending on what size heater you are using.

Also, you may have an issue with the new waters PH. It may be lower than in the tank. To solve this add an airstone to the bucket. My PH is usually matched without using any kind of air stone, just good circulation is needed when mixing the salt. I have gotten in the habbit of opening the pumps air valve since it is an old skimmer pump, it seems to help with oxygen exchange and PH.

Thanks StevieT I used to get water from my LFS but after reading your guide I think I want to make it myself

you're welcome.

I find it so much easier to make your own, plus there are no travel expenses and impulse buys at the LFS!

You also have 100% control over the water, salt, and mixing quality.

are there different quality salts?

oh yes!

plenty of debate on this one too

http://reefsaltanalysis.googlepages.com/AW...alysis_0208.pdf

So that's another + about doing it my self. Im sure the LFS uses the lowest quality since it's free.

Well maybe not IDK.

They use instant ocean.
What do you recommend for a reef tank?

You should write a book. I guarantee you can get it published

I really like Red Sea Coral Pro, it has worked well for me.

on the book....I hate reading I am into making equipment right now, maybe I'll get to that book one day, there needs to be more out there for nano reefs.

It would be a great idea. You pretty much have it all written just need to make it longer. You can make good money.

Be careful with that AWT salt analysis - it's a good guide but the results are flawed. They tested at a certain level to determine salinity strength at the beginning, but never adjusted any of the levels in the following tests to make up for varying salinities. So the results aren't totally reliable. It's still a good reference though. Instant Ocean isn't a bad salt. Each salt is a bit different for Ca, Mg, alkalinity & trace element amounts. One is better for one thing, another is better for something else. I switch around between IO, IO Reef Crystals, and Red Sea Coral Pro, and whether one is better I cannot tell from the health of the life in my tank - they all work for me. But, I add a trace element additive, coral vitamins/amino acids, just to be sure. And I track my Ca and alk and add a 2-part and a pH buffer to my ATO water to keep everything in line. Water changes are important in helping keep the water parameters in line too. As StevieT said you can find debates, and conflicting opinions all over the place on what salt is best!

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...amp;pcatid=4671

How is that pump? What model should I get?

for mixing salt? that pump should do fine, anything cheap will do the trick, but don't get something too weak since it will take forever to mix and can leave salt undissolved at the bottom of the bucket.

Look at a Maxi Jet to compare prices, they have air hose intakes so you can inject bubbles into the water.

I just found a kit on Drs.F&S for $90.
Refractometer
Pump
Siphon
Thermometer
Heater
Some chemical

do you have a link so I can look that kit over?

their site is going slow for me once it come up i will post it

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...mp;pcatid=14675

I believe this is what Horton is referring to

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...fm?pcatid=14675

HORTON16 On the F&S kit it looks like the siphon is just 10 feet of 1/2" tubing - if that's true there are easier to start siphons available - with just tubing you'd have to suck on one end to get it going. JMO but I wouldn't care to be doing that. No idea what that Neutralize chemical is, but I doubt it's needed. The other stuff is OK. Just my opinions.

I already have a siphon I wouldnt need that. The main things i'm buying it for is the heater, pump, thermometer, refractometer

props on another awesome thread StevieT!!!

this and the how to glue thread should be stickies on this site!!!!

this is a sticky

thanks