Official Lifegard Aquatics Crystal (AIO) Aquarium Club!!

[Daniel92481]

Hey, sounds good! Every tank is different. You will definitely get a feel for how your tank and corals respond to different levels of the big “5” parameters we test. 
 

Red Sea Blue has been good to me. I’ve never gotten an 8.0 ALK or higher on any batch I’ve made, for over a year. I think the bucket states that ALK is supposed to be in the 8’s. The point of this nonsense haha is that natural seawater ALK is about 7.0, which works out great for my current, and past tanks. It just seems so simple here. Basically, regardless of the corals I have in it, when an ALK reading is below 7.0, I dose accordingly to raise above 7.0. Luckily, for this 4.1, no dosing has been needed with biweekly water changes. 

[dwdenny]

12 minutes ago, Daniel92481 said:

Hey, sounds good! Every tank is different. You will definitely get a feel for how your tank and corals respond to different levels of the big “5” parameters we test. 
 

Red Sea Blue has been good to me. I’ve never gotten an 8.0 ALK or higher on any batch I’ve made, for over a year. I think the bucket states that ALK is supposed to be in the 8’s. The point of this nonsense haha is that natural seawater ALK is about 7.0, which works out great for my current, and past tanks. It just seems so simple here. Basically, regardless of the corals I have in it, when an ALK reading is below 7.0, I dose accordingly to raise above 7.0. Luckily, for this 4.1, no dosing has been needed with biweekly water changes. 

That is what I am shooting for the IO starts off high 12.2 is what I was reading on fresh mix a week in the tank it dropped to 9.2 not sure how other than most people say IO has to mix for longer 

[dwdenny]

7 hours ago, Daniel92481 said:

Could be testing error. Try testing again with some freshly mixed water to compare. Try the caribsea life rock if you can find some. Looks nice and easy to bust down into smaller chunks.

Double checked Ca and still 300 maybe 330 so definitely need to make a change on salts. Have to drive 45 miles to get Red Sea or 6 miles for aquaforest. With the inconsistency that I have read about on aquaforest I might be driving the 45 miles one way to get Red Sea or ordering it on Amazon we will see. 

[Summyfield]

So I have a 14.26 and I feel like the bottom strainer makes it hard to pack my filter correctly. Should I plug it? How do you get the strainer out? How do you have your side chamber filled? There isn’t much room.

[Daniel92481]

11 hours ago, dwdenny said:

Double checked Ca and still 300 maybe 330 so definitely need to make a change on salts. Have to drive 45 miles to get Red Sea or 6 miles for aquaforest. With the inconsistency that I have read about on aquaforest I might be driving the 45 miles one way to get Red Sea or ordering it on Amazon we will see. 

I would go for the Red Sea for sure. 
 

Buy a few buckets if you go out there and you should be set for a long while. 

[dwdenny]

Well checked petsmart and they had the Fritz RPM for 11.99 with the reorder set it for 9 months. It has the numbers I want to be at in the end when I add some Montipora's and birdsnests around august or so. We will see might switch later on but the 55gal bag was to cheap not to try lol.

 

Second question when you do water changes on the 4.1g are you doing 100% or something different? I was thinking weekly 1g water changes will keep up in the beginning but might have to go 2g later on. What are you using to mix water in? With the life rock coming in I might go through a mini-cycle so going to wait another 2 weeks after I put the life rock in to add corals. 

[Daniel92481]

Fritz is good. I’ve used it before, but started hearing about different inconsistencies in parameters per batch. I used it for about a year with no issues though. I do about 80% water changes biweekly. 

[dwdenny]

Was reading on that other forms about fritz not doing well with a lot of acros and Monties and that has me a little worried. We will see might be switching to Red Sea regular but I’m a ways off for sps corals anyway 

 

itching to turn the lights on but I don’t have anything in the tank. Ugh patience is killing me. 

[Daniel92481]

I wouldn’t sweat it too much. Turning the light on for a little while every day won’t hurt anything.👍

[dwdenny]

7 minutes ago, Daniel92481 said:

I wouldn’t sweat it too much. Turning the light on for a little while every day won’t hurt anything.👍

Was thinking the same thing maybe 2-3 hours in the evening. 

[dwdenny]

Dang it I need to get a mag cleaner 🤦‍♂️ The glass is a little hazy on the inside. Oops with the lights off I couldn’t tell hahahahaha 

[dwdenny]

Just got my tracking number the life rock will be here Thursday. Hopefully I will be home before it gets here but I bet my wife gets it first and says dang it more fish stuff hahahahahaha 

Time to stop at Lowe’s for the JB water weld just in case I need to connect pieces. 

[dwdenny]

Working on the aquascape what do y’all think. That’s about 6lbs of the life rock I had to hammer and chisel a couple of pieces. Nothing is epoxied and holding pretty tight.  

[Daniel92481]

Looks fancy. Make sure you leave some space between the rock and glass for some good flow. I love the way life rock looks. 👍

[dwdenny]

Changing it up made change water this morning before work so I could change out the rock and water at the same time but the darn little heater took it 83.5 so now I’m waiting for it to cool off so I can check parameters. Needless to say this heater is going back to petsmart tomorrow morning. Down to 79.8 after an hour and a half 

[dwdenny]

Alright here’s the final design well over 1.5” around the front and sides. Plus a little room to the sides and front at the sandbed in case I want to put some bottom dwellers. 

[Daniel92481]

Nice! Don’t sweat the heater too much. My Eheim does the same thing when mixing water. Freeze a bottle of water in case it happens again. It will cool down quicker. 
 

[Gup2636]

I purchased the 24 gallon yesterday. Can anyone suggest a replacement for the pump? I’ve seen a few suggestions but I didn’t see anything that was confirmed to work. Also, what is everyone doing with their heaters? I was planning on placing one in the back but wasn’t sure if it would affect flow.

Thanks!

[dwdenny]

8 hours ago, Gup2636 said:

I purchased the 24 gallon yesterday. Can anyone suggest a replacement for the pump? I’ve seen a few suggestions but I didn’t see anything that was confirmed to work. Also, what is everyone doing with their heaters? I was planning on placing one in the back but wasn’t sure if it would affect flow.

Thanks!

I think the hydor centrifugal pumps will work. I have the pico 260 in my 4.1 and it works great. Just need to measure the chamber and look to see which one will fit. 

[danieyella]

Just pulled the trigger on a 4.1 to upgrade my little betta cube that was transformed into a pico reef.  Got tired of the curved edges in the front being impossible to clean.  I recognize a few of these tanks from another forum!  

 

From reading through seems like I should go ahead and order a better pump off the bat.  I won't taint this thread with a non lifegard photo but once the new tank comes in I'll start a thread with before & after photos from the upgrade or something.  Excited to get this ball rolling. 

[dwdenny]

36 minutes ago, danieyella said:

Just pulled the trigger on a 4.1 to upgrade my little betta cube that was transformed into a pico reef.  Got tired of the curved edges in the front being impossible to clean.  I recognize a few of these tanks from another forum!  

 

From reading through seems like I should go ahead and order a better pump off the bat.  I won't taint this thread with a non lifegard photo but once the new tank comes in I'll start a thread with before & after photos from the upgrade or something.  Excited to get this ball rolling. 

Welcome to the club. Great little tanks as you can see. I have the Hydor Pico 260 and it is dead quiet in fact I hear the fan from the AI Prime 16HD more than the pump. 

[Daniel92481]

3 hours ago, danieyella said:

Just pulled the trigger on a 4.1 to upgrade my little betta cube that was transformed into a pico reef.  Got tired of the curved edges in the front being impossible to clean.  I recognize a few of these tanks from another forum!  

 

From reading through seems like I should go ahead and order a better pump off the bat.  I won't taint this thread with a non lifegard photo but once the new tank comes in I'll start a thread with before & after photos from the upgrade or something.  Excited to get this ball rolling. 

Awesome! Glad to hear that you’ll be joining the 4.1 club. These little tanks are so nice! Low iron glass too! I’m excited to see you get started on it! 
 

The stock quiet one 200 is ok, but you will definitely want to upgrade. There are a few nice options for this tank including the Newa MJ606, Sicce Micra plus, the quiet one 400, or the Hydor pico like @dwdenny has. All great options! Keep us posted! 🙂

[dwdenny]

Anyone ever use an RFG on their tank? I ordered from Vivid Creative Aquatics the conversion from 1/2” to 1/4” and I choose the dual RFG. Also got their lifegard 20mmX 1/2” push fitting. We will see what happens. 

[Daniel92481]

13 minutes ago, dwdenny said:

Anyone ever use an RFG on their tank? I ordered from Vivid Creative Aquatics the conversion from 1/2” to 1/4” and I choose the dual RFG. Also got their lifegard 20mmX 1/2” push fitting. We will see what happens. 

I’ve never tried them, but have heard good things. I bought a set for the 40 when it was set up, but never installed them. 

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

You all need to stop.

I took down my 4.1 for a reason and I already want to set it back up again 🙈