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05/12/2006, 08:30 PM | #1 |
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Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 3
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water changes and food amounts
please tell me how many water changes per gal. per time also how much food for 2" tang + 1" clown + 1" puffer + 2" urchin + 2- 3" serpent stars + 1" emerald crab + 2- 1" snails in a 44 gal
thanks for the help |
05/12/2006, 08:46 PM | #2 |
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Join Date: Mar 2006
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To Reef Central With that bio-load (which will be high very soon, if not already) I would suggest 10% each week. About 5 gals, can use a clean, unused 5 gal. bucket to mix the saltwater in. |
05/12/2006, 10:19 PM | #3 |
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Location: Nottingham, NH
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The tang and possibly the puffer will quickly outgrow your tank and due to stress will most likely not survive. I would suggest returning both to an LFS. Water changes, 25% per month minimum depending on livestosck and bioload.
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-David- President - New Hampshire Reef Club There’ll be no one to save, with the world in a grave Current Tank Info: 100 gal lagoon/seagrass, 100 gal sump, Lifereef 72" skimmer, 180 inwall, 125 inwall seagrass/lagoon in progress |
05/12/2006, 11:04 PM | #4 |
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Welcome. Your tank size is pretty close to mine. I change out 5 gallons a week. The easiest way is with a maxijet 900 pump lowered into just the top of the tank with a hose going to a 5 gal collection bucket. Don't throw this water out until you've mixed your new water and got it into the tank---in case you mismeasure and have to add some back. This means 2 buckets.
To mix your salt, add 1/2 cup per gallon of water. Use the same little pump to mix with: just drop it in the bucket with the water and salt and let it run a couple of hours to get it mixed and dissolved. Test the salinity of your tank (refractometer recommended) and match it with your new water. Warm it to something close to your tank water. A second heater will help here. This all gets a lot faster as it becomes routine. Keep towels handy while you're figuring it out. You asked about feeding: it sounds like way too little, but honestly, if each fish gets one good mouthful a day, that's it. They'll beg until they're stuffed like turkeys, but it will do them harm: what goes into the fish goes into the tank, and if the tank can't handle it, it will throw the entire tank chemistry into a fatal tailspin. If you ever have to leave your tank and let someone feed your fish, parcel out the food for them. Everyone responds to the begging and overfeeds, and it's terribly bad for the fish. The urchins will eat what passes through the fish and ends up as algae (fish poo and lost food = phosphates, which act as algae growth booster). Your inverts are in there as cleaners and sanitation engineers. They don't need fishfood of their own. Good luck to you.
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Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%. |
05/12/2006, 11:05 PM | #5 |
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Location: Eagle River, Alaska
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With that bioload, I'd be changing 10 gallons probably every week. You need a skimmer rated for, oh, a 100+ gallon tank with that many fish. Your problems with that many fish will be too many nutrients in the water and not enough oxygen -- a beefy skimmer will go a long way toward both of those causes.
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Unattended children will be given double shot espresso and a free puppy. Current Tank Info: 125g FOWLR -- Conversion Back To SPS In Progress |
05/13/2006, 10:48 AM | #6 |
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And if you have the space it's much easier to use a brute garbage can and make up 44 gallons or so of saltwater in advance. Doing it with 5 gallon buckets will get old real quick.
You could have another for top off water although with 44 gallons your evaporation is probably not that great. I would really look into the skimmer issue. It will save you a lot of headache in the future. Regards, Pat
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90 AGA Megaflow (Setup 1-24-06) 120 Lbs. Liverock EuroReef RS 100 Skimmer 2 X 150 MH 2 X 96 watt PC Actinic 2 Clarki Clowns (31 months old) 1 Niger Trigger (Owned 6 months) 2 Tunze 6055 PH Current Tank Info: 90 AGA Megaflow To Be Mixed Reef |
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