3 foot long Mr. Aqua 12 Gal. With Sump. (MEDIA REACTOR HELP!)

[BOBBARKER68]

Nope. I will in the future. Not much to loose right now. Everything in my tank is basically from 2 tanks. I will definitely in the future as I've added pretty much most everything I plan to for awhile. I just use the standard setting on my CurrentUSA LED. Sunrise at 8am sunset at 6pm and then actinic stay on for an hour.

 

is that M1, M2, M3, M4

[Najay343]

is that M1, M2, M3, M4

well now it is on M3. Not sure what is was before lol. Ill see if my added Actinic is still on tonight

So this morning I looked more closely at my tank than usual and saw millions of tiny white specs on the glass. After staring at them a little bit I saw they were moving around. Everything has guided me to think they are pods. and that they are safe.

[Najay343]

Frogspawn is AWESOME today! I am really satisfied. Lets hope it stays this way.

[Najay343]

Water parameters,

It has been 8 days since my last water change. My last change was because I was starting to get a very low ammonia reading after adding my 2 clowns. My changes consist of 6 gallons of RODI Saltwater from my LFS. 6 gallons is about 25-30% of my total system volume. Given that it has been 8 days, my water is ok across the board. Salinity 1.026 Ammonia 0 pH 8.2 Nitrite 0 Nitrate <1 Phosphate <1 Temp 78.5 Cal. 460 kH 10 Mag. ?

 

I'm not doing a water change as long as the water is all acceptable as I hear having too clean of water is bad. What is the longest I can go without a WC as long as my parameters are good? I do add 1-2 pitchers a day of filtered freshwater every day or so to keep up with evaporation.

[Najay343]

well now it is on M3. Not sure what is was before lol. Ill see if my added Actinic is still on tonight

So this morning I looked more closely at my tank than usual and saw millions of tiny white specs on the glass. After staring at them a little bit I saw they were moving around. Everything has guided me to think they are pods. and that they are safe.

No one ever replied to what these are, hopefully they are just copepods but I have found out the reason my clowns are never hungry is because they have beed eating these little things all day long every day. Now, my question is what do I need to do to sustain them if anything?

[Cencalfishguy56]

No one ever replied to what these are, hopefully they are just copepods but I have found out the reason my clowns are never hungry is because they have beed eating these little things all day long every day. Now, my question is what do I need to do to sustain them if anything?

Nothing really lol they feed of off the micro algae in our tanks and multiply like crazy my clown and purple firsfish eat them all day long

[Najay343]

Month 5.

 

Been a long time since my last update. Honesty, I had given up and put the tank up for sale at one point due to frustration. Anyway, since my last update, everything was perfect, two clowns were doing great. after having them for about two month, my tank started to develop a sever green hair algae problem. I had no idea why as i had 0 ppm across the board. Anyway, long story short I got 6 gallons or RODI saltwater from my LFS as I had been doing, Did a 40% water change, and within 24 hours my two clowns were dead and my BTA and Frogspawn were struggling BAD. No idea why this happened or what caused it. Salinity was good, 8.1 pH. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrate, temp was fine. Just Prior to the clown dying they seemed to be disoriented beyond belief. They couldn't swim straight, they were on the bottom of the tank all the time breathing really fast. Any idea what could have caused this?The BTA made a comeback and I gave it away as it was given to me and the frogspawn has been slowly recovering.

 

This week I have really gotten back into things with the tank, I went back to the LFS and got RODI water as i did before as well as two firefish and a CBS. They seem to be doing great. I have had fire fish and know they are super resilient so lets hope they don't have any issues. On a positive note most all my frags are doing awesome now, even the frogspawn is looking way better. Frags are propagating surely but slowly.

 

I have had a leak with the plumbing nearly the entire 5 months so I will completely redoing the plumbing, I am painting the back of my tank black, I purchased a UV sterilizer I plan to use on a timer for 12 hours a day, and phosphate remover pads to hopefully kick this hair algae problem in the butt!

[Najay343]

tank is going great! again… many ups and downs but for the most part as I approach my 6th month mark I feel the tank is leveling off. I am unsure of some of the species of corals in my tank as I got some of them on a $5 dying frag rack and they have made a come back. For the most part I think I am approaching my max stocking as everything will grow out.

 

I found another LFS near by. this makes number five within 10 minutes. It is brand new and it is also my favorite. they have the most variety and they have the best prices by far. I picked up a Hammer coral from there a little over a week ago and got home to find it has 5 heads on it and it had only cost me $20 for the whole thing. only downside it I still have to get my RODI water from another place. I would ideally like to only use one place.

[Marc.The.Shark]

Who knows when the LFS changes their RO/DI filters. Do they give you a TDS reading from the water you purchase? If not, at the very least I would purchase one & check it myself. You can usually get a decent Milwaukee meter pretty cheap on fleabay. You really could have issues with the water. I didn't see a phosphate reading either, that's what's contributing to your algae issues. At this point algae is using the avail phosphates, so you most likely would get a lower than actual reading anyway. I remember way back when, before I bought my own Ro/DI, I was using grocery store RO water, finally bought a meter & TDS was like 160! Who knows what all that was! Now with my own system, I'm at 0 and if I get to 3 or 4 I start to panic! Lol. We spend a lot of money on our systems, but sometimes forget the building blocks that make it successful. I have a lot of money wrapped up in my coral & would hate to lose it over a water issue that I could easily solve. I'm not suggesting go out & buy a RO system, but you'll get to that point eventually when you get tired of lugging buckets or jugs of water around. Lol. I'd also get a PO4 test kit, it's a staple in this hobby. PO4

should be < .03.

 

Other than that the tank looks great. I love the Mr Aqua Longs, that's gonna be my next tank. Just can't decide if I want the bigger one they just came out with.

[Najay343]

Who knows when the LFS changes their RO/DI filters. Do they give you a TDS reading from the water you purchase? If not, at the very least I would purchase one & check it myself. You can usually get a decent Milwaukee meter pretty cheap on fleabay. You really could have issues with the water. I didn't see a phosphate reading either, that's what's contributing to your algae issues. At this point algae is using the avail phosphates, so you most likely would get a lower than actual reading anyway. I remember way back when, before I bought my own Ro/DI, I was using grocery store RO water, finally bought a meter & TDS was like 160! Who knows what all that was! Now with my own system, I'm at 0 and if I get to 3 or 4 I start to panic! Lol. We spend a lot of money on our systems, but sometimes forget the building blocks that make it successful. I have a lot of money wrapped up in my coral & would hate to lose it over a water issue that I could easily solve. I'm not suggesting go out & buy a RO system, but you'll get to that point eventually when you get tired of lugging buckets or jugs of water around. Lol. I'd also get a PO4 test kit, it's a staple in this hobby. PO4

should be < .03.

Other than that the tank looks great. I love the Mr Aqua Longs, that's gonna be my next tank. Just can't decide if I want the bigger one they just came out with.

Thanks for the info! I use the API testing kit for PO4. I was always getting 0ppm on it. I hVe a Red Sea test kit on the way. Obviously since I had alge there was more than 0. I have since used a PO4 remover pad and a 9watt UV light and have had no alge problem since. I have also killed the UV light this week and still doing great. I also have a lawnmower blenny in there now so I do want to have just a little but nothing as overwhelming as I have had. I do know my LFS changes their filters once a month. I did come to the conclusion my clown deaths were a result of me not properly preparing the water before I added it. I now increase the hardness and leave a air stone in it for 3 hours before I add it to tank. No money for my own RO system but that would be ideal.

[Marc.The.Shark]

That's good to hear, glad its better. Your rock could be leaching a little PO4 into the water as well. Red Sea test kit will defniately help, those API's are worthless for advanced readings like this. I'd still pick up a cheap TDS meter from ebay, they're less than $10 bucks shipped & then you'll have piece of mind on your RO water source. Unfortunately its been my experience that LFS's tell you what you want to hear (most of them anyway). When I see someone walking out with a dry aquarium, salt mix, sand & a clownfish in a bag, I have no confidence in what they tell me! lol

[cmac23]

where did you buy your stand

[Cencalfishguy56]

Thanks for the info! I use the API testing kit for PO4. I was always getting 0ppm on it. I hVe a Red Sea test kit on the way. Obviously since I had alge there was more than 0. I have since used a PO4 remover pad and a 9watt UV light and have had no alge problem since. I have also killed the UV light this week and still doing great. I also have a lawnmower blenny in there now so I do want to have just a little but nothing as overwhelming as I have had. I do know my LFS changes their filters once a month. I did come to the conclusion my clown deaths were a result of me not properly preparing the water before I added it. I now increase the hardness and leave a air stone in it for 3 hours before I add it to tank. No money for my own RO system but that would be ideal.

+1 on stand

[Najay343]

where did you buy your stand

+1 on stand

Petco online. In January it was on sale. It's too bad I had just deleted all my info from my main post on where I had purchased everything and the prices included. It's a great stand. It was $70. It's very sturdy and easy to put together. I was a little worried how it would hold up getting in contact with water as it is made of partical board and manufactured wood but it is coated with a water resistant fisish kinda like it is rhino lined and that is holding up great. I have about 4 inches on the front/back of the tank and 1.5-2 inches on the sides of extra space. I'll try and find brand.

Petco online. In January it was on sale. It's too bad I had just deleted all my info from my main post on where I had purchased everything and the prices included. It's a great stand. It was $70. It's very sturdy and easy to put together. I was a little worried how it would hold up getting in contact with water as it is made of partical board and manufactured wood but it is coated with a water resistant fisish kinda like it is rhino lined and that is holding up great. I have about 4 inches on the front/back of the tank and 1.5-2 inches on the sides of extra space. I'll try and find brand.

"Aquatic Fundamentals 30/38/45 Gallon Upright Aquarium Stand" Petco online

[Cencalfishguy56]

 

Petco online. In January it was on sale. It's too bad I had just deleted all my info from my main post on where I had purchased everything and the prices included. It's a great stand. It was $70. It's very sturdy and easy to put together. I was a little worried how it would hold up getting in contact with water as it is made of partical board and manufactured wood but it is coated with a water resistant fisish kinda like it is rhino lined and that is holding up great. I have about 4 inches on the front/back of the tank and 1.5-2 inches on the sides of extra space. I'll try and find brand.

 

"Aquatic Fundamentals 30/38/45 Gallon Upright Aquarium Stand" Petco online

Awesome thanks man

I hate the fact it has an open back

[cmac23]

Thanks for stand reply. What size sump and can you take a pic of plumbing

[Najay343]

Thanks for stand reply. What size sump and can you take a pic of plumbing

Sump is just your basic 10GAL. Tank. I purchased a sump kit on eBay and did a halfass job silicone it in. I am in the middle of repluming. The return line is the Black line and the drain line has the white valve which I will be redoing next. My sump consist of the 3/4" drain going directly to my filter sock into the first chamber where I keep my heater, 1 large Pukani rock, my airstone and a 9watt UV light I use for one week a month. It then passes over my 4x4x10 bio-sponge then going through a phosphate and nitrate remover pads and then to my 420gph rio pump back up a 3/4" return line.

[Cencalfishguy56]

Sump is just your basic 10GAL. Tank. I purchased a sump kit on eBay and did a halfass job silicone it in. I am in the middle of repluming. The return line is the Black line and the drain line has the white valve which I will be redoing next. My sump consist of the 3/4" drain going directly to my filter sock into the first chamber where I keep my heater, 1 large Pukani rock, my airstone and a 9watt UV light I use for one week a month. It then passes over my 4x4x10 bio-sponge then going through a phosphate and nitrate remover pads and then to my 420gph rio pump back up a 3/4" return line.

I plan on buying that kit, was it easy to put together? Any cutting needed?

[Najay343]

I plan on buying that kit, was it easy to put together? Any cutting needed?

It was the "sump kit for 10 gal" it was $36.00 +$11.99 shipping. For some reason I had thought it was an entire 10 gallon tank already set up to be a sump being as this was the picture seen below. But turned out to only be 4 acrylic pieces. No cutting but you do need a tank and devise a way to silicone them in there level on all sides without making too much of a silicone mess. Long story short I complained to the guy and said his picture was misleading and he refunded me 50% of my purchase price. I didn't think $36 was too odd of a price for such a small sump, especially since the shipping was $12. But no, it was just 4 pieces to build a sump.

[Najay343]

Looking for some opinions on my hammer and frogspawn. Do they look normal? Some concerns of mine are I believe my hammer is very very slowly loosing it's flouresence color, it kinda seems patchy. Also they tinticals on the hammer don't seem to be very plump. Kinda thin. The Frogspawn on the other hand has had some rough times, not nearly as large and sprawled out as when I first got it. My pH stays around 8.0-8.1 lately. Salinity 1.025-1.026. dKh 11.4. Calcium 400 Mag. 1200. Nitrate 0 ammonia 0 nitrite 0. Every other day I do 5ml phytoplex, 5ml reef snow and 5ml of reef trace. I also do one drop of Iodide supplement every 2 or so days with biweekly water changes and daily top offs.

[Najay343]

Hey all, just purchased the Innovative Marine Desktop Media Reactor. Wondering if anyone has any words of wisdom about it or what I should run for media in it. Looking for it to take the place of my nitrate and phosphate sponges.

[Najay343]

Month 10.5. For the most part, the ups and downs are over! The tank has been very stable for the last three months. Been doing regular daily feeding and water changes once every 2.5-3 weeks. Only fish I currently have in there right now are two mated clowns and a lawnmower blenny. (Two Firefish mysteriously went missing. Could not find the bodies anywhere. Dont know if they jumped out or what. They did not get along great with the clowns so I believe there may have been some territorial issues so I have not added any fish. The clowns I have had in there since early June replacing a previous pair I had that lasted a month more towards the beginning. Test the salinity every few days but I just got a Hydor Smart ATO so that will no longer be a concern. Other new equipment I have been running is desktop reactor with activated carbon, 9watt UV sterilizer and still using phosphate pads. No longer using nitrate pads. Future plans is to just let is ride until the one year mark. I may be prospectively looking into a larger tank after the 1 year and do a full swap over. Use the same Sump, Filter, LR and substrate. Thanks for looking!

[HarryPotter]

Hey all, just purchased the Innovative Marine Desktop Media Reactor. Wondering if anyone has any words of wisdom about it or what I should run for media in it. Looking for it to take the place of my nitrate and phosphate sponges.

 

Some Carbon and GFO tightly packed would be nice, no?

 

Month 10.5. For the most part, the ups and downs are over! The tank has been very stable for the last three months. Been doing regular daily feeding and water changes once every 2.5-3 weeks. Only fish I currently have in there right now are two mated clowns and a lawnmower blenny. (Two Firefish mysteriously went missing. Could not find the bodies anywhere. Dont know if they jumped out or what. They did not get along great with the clowns so I believe there may have been some territorial issues so I have not added any fish. The clowns I have had in there since early June replacing a previous pair I had that lasted a month more towards the beginning. Test the salinity every few days but I just got a Hydor Smart ATO so that will no longer be a concern. Other new equipment I have been running is desktop reactor with activated carbon, 9watt UV sterilizer and still using phosphate pads. No longer using nitrate pads. Future plans is to just let is ride until the one year mark. I may be prospectively looking into a larger tank after the 1 year and do a full swap over. Use the same Sump, Filter, LR and substrate. Thanks for looking!

 

 

Looks really nice!

[Najay343]

Hey everyone, I will no longer be posting on this thread. I have transferred everything to my new build which can be found here The Man Cave 30g Shallow Lagoon

 

Thanks!

[holy carp]

Oh, man. I just came across this thread from the gallery and love the look of your (former) long tank.

 

Good luck with the new one.