almost 35 year old reef pictures - Page 31

woodiecrafts · 11/06/2008, 05:07 PM

Congrats on the spawning Paul. That belly sure does look hefty in the picture. I am trying to get my dragonettes to spawn, but as usual, they are more interested in eating than spawning. The male glides by and the female just turns her head and pecks...haha

Paul B · 11/06/2008, 05:26 PM

Good luch with the mandarins, I never tried to breed them. This one Ihave I doubt the eggs will even hatch, these two seem to ignore each other and in my tank there are a lot of very old rocks and too many hiding places for me to find the eggs. I have another larger pair that I know keep laying eggs but I think they are underneath a large rock where I would have no luck getting to. I don't have time anymore to collect the eggs and raise them.
If they were in an easy place I would raise them but I doubt it.
I used to do that years ago but I seem to have had more time then

Paul B · 11/06/2008, 06:16 PM

A lot of people were telling me that that picture of the whole tank looks like it is full of cyano, and in the picture it looks like that but it is not. I use Long Island Sound water and sometimes this short red algae grows just like it grows in the Sound.
In person you would see very short algae. It will leave soon to be replaced by something else, probably green algae. There are always cycles.

Micki · 11/06/2008, 07:12 PM

Very cool Paul!

Paul B · 11/19/2008, 03:33 PM

I added a few pictures,
Love these gobies.

Micki · 11/19/2008, 03:36 PM

Very nice! How about a video?

Paul B · 11/19/2008, 03:41 PM

Micki, just look at the picture and make believe the fish are swimming

There isn't much else in there to move right now.

Rae C. · 11/19/2008, 04:16 PM

Looks great! Do the bottles collect gunk inside? Do you have to rinse them out ocassionally?

Those gobies are so cute.

IslandCrow · 11/19/2008, 08:31 PM

Very nice! I love that little clown goby.

Paul B · 11/20/2008, 05:41 AM

No the bottles are fine. Some of them have large holes in them but even the whole ones are no problem. The fish like to hide in them and some of them have ben in there for decades.
You are not really supposed to see them like that, they are usually covered in corals which they used to be and it will take a couple of years for that to occur again.

Like this

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/13094Bottle.JPG

dwd5813 · 01/03/2009, 04:54 AM

Paul, how fine is your substrate, and how fine a substrate do you think would work with the rugf?

Paul B · 01/03/2009, 06:11 AM

My substrait is dolomite which is like crushed coral. It is about as large as rice. I don't know if you could get dolomite anymore but so far mine is working fine.
You could kind of see it in the pictures I posted

rkg · 01/03/2009, 04:38 PM

PaulB

I just finished reading this entire post. A fascinating read to say the least, not only from the historical standpoint, but also, very timely and on point for me. I recently decided to get back into the hobby and set up my 55g SW again. I had it set up when I was in college back in the mid 1980's. At that time I was using an undergravel filter powered with airlifts. Later I added an Eheim canister and a UV sterilizer and used a diatom filter for periodic cleaning. I had the same type of limited success/failure that most others were having at the time. Eventually I moved off to law school, put the tank into storage and left it there until about four years ago. At that time I got the bug to set it up and actually moved the setup into my office, bought an inexpensive HOB skimmer and fluidized sand bed filter and some other stuff. It has all sat in my office empty for the last four years!

With my renewed interest and recent research I see that some of the new equipment that I bought is not very highly recommended. Oh well. Since my sytem will be in my office I am wary of setting up too elaborate a system (sump, fuge, tall skimmer, etc). Anyway, that leads me to this post.

I am very intrigued by the idea of setting up a (an?) RFUG system along the lines of yours. In that regard, I have several questions that perhaps, when you have time, you could answer.

1. Do you think I could use the Eheim canister (appr 115 gph) to supply the RFUG? That would appear to be approximately the same flow as your sytem adjusted for size. Also, it would satisfy the goal of sending clean water into the RFUG.

2. If I do use the Eheim, what would you recomend be inside the canister?

3. I see that you recommend that RFUG still use live rock to remove nitrates. Given that you are using live rock, and it appears from the photos to be a considerable amount, how much do you think the RFUG is really contributing to the removal of the nitrates? Especially in light of the fact that you stir up your gravel, which I would think would cause die-off of the anaerobic bacteria in the gravel bed. (Or is live rock really not much of a nitrate remover?)

4. Since I would be using commercial salt mixes for the water, what do you recommend that I use to get the the small critters into the system? Will that all come on the live rock, or should I purchase some live sand or other starter products? I would prefer not to hhave to buy live rock right away.

4. I plan to get a RO/DI filter and will look into ozone, which I know nothing about.

5. Mu initial plan would be to set up a mostly fish system with possibly moving into some inverts later if the system is succesful. However, i will not be getting any MH lights, so I realize there are limits on inverts.

Sorry for the long post. But, I do appreciate all of the time you have put into this post and others, and hopefully you can help me with some of these basic questions.

Paul B · 01/04/2009, 08:38 AM

Quote
"I just finished reading this entire post. "

Really, thats a lot of reading.

I am all excited that there will be one other person out of thousands with a RUGF.
To answer your questions you can certainly use a canister filter to slowly power the UG filter. You would need to somehow build a manifold to pump the water into from the canister so that your UG tubes receive the same water flow. The canister should have some type of filtering element in it. You can use filter floss although I am not crazy about it. Some canisters use a cleanable membrane which would be better. Anything that you could clean is desirable. It should be cleaned as often as you can, every two weeks is fine unless you notice it filling with crud earlier.
I can't be sure how much my rock contributes to nitrogen removal but I do know that the tank has 15 gallons less rock than it used to have. I gave that much away (three 5 gallon buckets) I wanted more swimming room and more water flow.
A system like this will not start reducing nitrates immediately and will take a few months, maybe six (guess) before it works properly. I would not clean the gravel for a year or so.
After that, stirring up the gravel and remove the floating particles with the diatom will keep it going and will not substantially harm the bacteria. Bacteria will not easily wash off gravel and will settle down again in a few days. I have never noticed any difference in my typhoons and I overturn everything sometimes to the point that no grain of gravel is untouched.
Ozone is helpful but needs to be added to a skimmer which in your case would need to be a HOB (hang on back) as mine is.
Ozone is just a gas that is generated in an ozone generator and it is put in series with your skimmer so the bubbles in the skimmer are ozone instead of just air.
You do not need live rock. Anything you put in there will become live but you should at least put in some to start. You could use base rock which is a lot cheaper. All of my rock I bleached before I put it in my tank because I collected it and neeeded to clean it to bring it on the plane, besides we diden't know anything about live rock then.

As for the critters, it would be great if you know someone on the coast to mail you some, if you don't, I will mail you some bacteria and critters as I want to se this tank going.
Lighting in a FO is a non issue. You can light it with anything just so the fish see the food. Home Depot lights will work. Yes I know all about the spectrum and intensity but you need not worry about this for fish. I also don't believe algae cares about the spectrum.
You may get algae in the beginning, we can deal with that then.
Good luck.
Paul

johnny313 · 01/04/2009, 10:46 AM

Paul,
How many new species of fish and corals have you seen being introduced into the hobby???
Im sure 35 years ago there woudnt be as much since there werent too many hobbyists and pet shops carrying that much salt water items.

Paul B · 01/04/2009, 02:00 PM

Quote:

How many new species of fish and corals have you seen being introduced into the hobby???

All of them.

1971 is when salt water animals became available in NYC and that was in Aquarium Stock Company a couple of blocks from the Trade Center. The place was huge and spaned two blocks. The first saltwater fish were blue devils, dominoes, and seargeant majors. That was it and they were $7.00 each which was a lot of money then. They all had ich and were very hard to keep.
We had to use 20 penies to the gallon to cure them until they came out with liquid copper and test kits. All of the "Experts" you know of today were not yet in the hobby or not even born yet.
Then came arrow crabs and coral banded shrimp.
I remember amemones came early and French Anglefish.
Eventually a few more stores carried salt water fish and when they did, they had a huge sign outside. When I would go into a store to buy a fish the salesman would say to me.
"These are salt water fish and you probably can't keep them alive"
In the eightees many stores had salt and new fish were introduced all the time. Unfortunately the knowlege to keep the animals lagged far behind. Many times the stores called me for information on caring for them.
I helped start the tanks on one of the oldest and largest fish stores in NY and they are still in business. I also started an entire store with NSW. I had a smaller boat on a trailer then and I filled the boat with plastic garbage cans and collected water in the Long Island Sound. I drove the boat on the trailer to the store and pumped the water into the tanks. That store never had a problem keeping fish alive.

Garage1217 · 01/04/2009, 03:22 PM

OMG *LOL* This has to be the most classic quote I have ever heard on this forum. Hats off to you! Your the man!

"We had to use 20 pennies to the gallon to cure them until they came out with liquid copper and test kits"

Paul B · 01/04/2009, 04:23 PM

Quote:

"We had to use 20 pennies to the gallon to cure them until they came out with liquid copper and test kits"

It was either that or tiny tweezers

pennies are copper and will kill ich. They will kill everything else also as there were no test kits. Since you like that cure i will also tell you about the copper scouring pads. It was a 2" pad to the gallon.
That worked also, with the same result.

If your interested here is a link to a Bob Goemans site, he visited me about 15 years ago and published some of my articles. One of them is the history of the hobby and my tank. This article is on RC somewhere but I have no idea how to find it. It is probably in this thread a hundred pages back.
I don't even know if this link works
http://www.saltcorner.com/sections/g...ssanointro.htm

OceanLover2 · 01/04/2009, 07:47 PM

I have so much enjoyed reading this thread several times but have never posted any response before. I was studying marine biology in college in the 70's and some of the things you mention bring back "the good old days" to my memory. After school I moved on to ocean work so I didn't keep tanks at that time as it was a nightmare trying to keep the fish alive. It is so much easier these days. And that is because people like you kept learning and spreading the knowledge! Thanks so much for sharing.

rkg · 01/04/2009, 10:13 PM

Paul,

Thanks for the detailed response. I have a few follow up thoughts and questions. I know that I said I was planning on starting with a fish only tank, and may just keep it that way, but I have been researching lights and it appears that possibly I may be able to utilize some compact flourescents or equivalent at an affordable price. That may open up the possibility of eventually keeping a pair of clowns with an anemone such as a quadricolor or sebae. That has always been my ultimate goal but I thought the lighting requirements would hold me back.

1. You may have already discussed this, but I have read so much stuff over the last few days I am starting to fog up, and its not like it would be easy to re-read this post(!), but what has your experience been, if any, with anemones such as bubble tip (quadricolor) types and the RUFG? I belive the sebae likes to anchor in the sand base, the quadricolor not so much.

2. What type of HOB skimmer do you use. I thought i saw a home made standing skimmer in one of your photos. I have heard nothong but horrible reviews about the cheap one I have (never used it yet) so I probaly will have to upgrade at some point, maybe before I even start.

3. It turns out that there is an internet company right here in Wisconsin (Dr. Foster and Smith) that distributes cultured live rock (made out of cement, sound familiar?) I may pay them a visit and see if I can not pick some up direct, which I would then use to start up the tank. Is my regular actinic flourescent tube (2) lighting sufficient for that? I am not sure of the wattage anymore. I will probally need to replace the bulbs anyway, but will I need to upgrade the whole light system for the rock anyway?

it is late and I am starting to ramble, sorry. I am researching all of these questions elsewhere also, but I am curious what you think about the RUFG and anemones, and the skimmer. Thanks for your help.

Paul B · 01/05/2009, 06:10 AM

Yes you can easily keep anemones and most soft corals with regular flourescent lamps. I always uses 50/50 actinic and white.
(something like that) I think I used two of those lamps and two super white aquarium lamps. We diden't have PCs then but they would be even better, taking up less room.
I used 4 40watt lamps for years. Clams grew very large and I never had problems with anemones or soft corals.
This picture was taken in probably the eightees when I had that type of lighting. See that large leather, it had offspring all over the tank and the anemones would reprduce by splitting down the middle.
You don't need to fry the tank with lights for many corals and anemones. SPS reef building corals would need brighter lighting.
My skimmer is about 4 or 5' and is a homemade venturi unit. My company was "Urchin Searchin, Enterprize" because I also had an urchin collection business. I would get the largest skimmer I could fit on the tank and if you could afford ozone, that would be great but not a necessity. The ozone generator probably costs more than the skimmer. Just use it with ozone proof tubing, vinyl tubing will rot in a few weeks.
This tank has always ran a RUGF, Some of the larger anemones would dig down to the filter plate which was no problem.

Here is my skimmer with the top off for the picture, The ozonizer is the blue thing on the wall (actually the bottom of the stairs)

And a piece of my cement rock which I have a lot of.

woodiecrafts · 01/07/2009, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Paul B
Quote
I am all excited that there will be one other person out of thousands with a RUGF.
To answer your questions you can certainly use a canister filter to slowly power the UG filter. You would need to somehow build a manifold to pump the water into from the canister so that your UG tubes receive the same water flow. The canister should have some type of filtering element in it. You can use filter floss although I am not crazy about it. Some canisters use a cleanable membrane which would be better. Anything that you could clean is desirable. It should be cleaned as often as you can, every two weeks is fine unless you notice it filling with crud earlier.

I run a RUGF on one of my 75's and have a manifold made out of pvc running to each of the plates tied in a the center with an old Magnum 350 filter. I use the sock filter fittings inside of it and clean it out about once every 2-3 weeks and it works fine. I keep it throttled back to about one quarter of what it should run.

I didn't mean to just step in, but I thought that might help with him setting up his manifold that you had mentioned to him.

Paul B · 01/07/2009, 06:29 PM

Thats great, there are three of us. How long has it been running?

woodiecrafts · 01/07/2009, 06:55 PM

This tank I completely tore down about a year ago and redone it, so it is just about at its 1 year birthday once again. I started my first tank back in 1990 with the crushed coral and reversed flow and have always been hooked on that. Even my 10 gal is set up that way. I have another 75 as well that has always had black and white sand mixed in it just to see what a difference it would make, and between you and me, and I suppose everyone else that reads along, I have always had better luck and tanks with the crushed coral and plate filters.

rkg · 01/07/2009, 07:26 PM

Since I havn't set mine up yet, what would you guys recommend -using the ehiem canister filter or a powerhead. Seems like the power head would be easier, and I am notusure what advantage there would be to using the canister. I have a suitable powerhead and canister. Will I need extra flow inside the tank besides what comes up from the UFG?

Also, I am sure you discussed this previously, but what do you recommend for substrate. I currently havd some new, unused crushed sea shells (not crushed coral). I would say the particle size is on the large side, bigger than the crushed coral I used 20 years ago.

11/06/2008, 05:07 PM	#751
woodiecrafts Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Jonesboro, AR Posts: 414	Congrats on the spawning Paul. That belly sure does look hefty in the picture. I am trying to get my dragonettes to spawn, but as usual, they are more interested in eating than spawning. The male glides by and the female just turns her head and pecks...haha __________________ Always remember, no matter where you go, there you are. "Buckaroo Banzai" Current Tank Info: 2-75 Gal Mixed Reefs / with T-5 Nova Extremes // 1-10 gal nano reef w/ PC's

11/06/2008, 05:26 PM	#752
Paul B Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15,549	Good luch with the mandarins, I never tried to breed them. This one Ihave I doubt the eggs will even hatch, these two seem to ignore each other and in my tank there are a lot of very old rocks and too many hiding places for me to find the eggs. I have another larger pair that I know keep laying eggs but I think they are underneath a large rock where I would have no luck getting to. I don't have time anymore to collect the eggs and raise them. If they were in an easy place I would raise them but I doubt it. I used to do that years ago but I seem to have had more time then __________________ I used to get shocked when I put my hand in my tank. Then the electric eel went dead. Current Tank Info: 100 gal reef set up in 1971

11/06/2008, 06:16 PM	#753
Paul B Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15,549	A lot of people were telling me that that picture of the whole tank looks like it is full of cyano, and in the picture it looks like that but it is not. I use Long Island Sound water and sometimes this short red algae grows just like it grows in the Sound. In person you would see very short algae. It will leave soon to be replaced by something else, probably green algae. There are always cycles. __________________ I used to get shocked when I put my hand in my tank. Then the electric eel went dead. Current Tank Info: 100 gal reef set up in 1971

11/06/2008, 07:12 PM	#754
Micki Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Ohio Posts: 7,163	Very cool Paul! __________________ Micki... Western Ohio Reef Club Click the red house for my 125 progress! Current Tank Info: 125 gal. reef, 90 gal. sump, 10 gal. fuge, 40 gallon. 150 gallon fish only.

11/19/2008, 03:36 PM	#756
Micki Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Ohio Posts: 7,163	Very nice! How about a video? __________________ Micki... Western Ohio Reef Club Click the red house for my 125 progress! Current Tank Info: 125 gal. reef, 90 gal. sump, 10 gal. fuge, 40 gallon. 150 gallon fish only.

11/19/2008, 03:33 PM	#755
Paul B Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15,549	I added a few pictures, Love these gobies.

11/19/2008, 03:41 PM	#757
Paul B Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15,549	Micki, just look at the picture and make believe the fish are swimming There isn't much else in there to move right now.

11/19/2008, 04:16 PM	#758
Rae C. Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Colorado Posts: 916	Looks great! Do the bottles collect gunk inside? Do you have to rinse them out ocassionally? Those gobies are so cute. __________________ Rae C It's 8:30, kids. Turn off the tank and go to bed! Current Tank Info: 65 gal, softies, 1 mandarine, 1 clown

11/19/2008, 08:31 PM	#759
IslandCrow Reef Monkey Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Rockledge, Fl Posts: 5,759	Very nice! I love that little clown goby. __________________ All opinions in the above message should be taken with 35 ppt salt. -Mike C. Current Tank Info: I have a reef screen saver on my phone, does that count?

11/20/2008, 05:41 AM	#760
Paul B Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15,549	No the bottles are fine. Some of them have large holes in them but even the whole ones are no problem. The fish like to hide in them and some of them have ben in there for decades. You are not really supposed to see them like that, they are usually covered in corals which they used to be and it will take a couple of years for that to occur again. Like this http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/13094Bottle.JPG

01/03/2009, 04:54 AM	#761
dwd5813 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: 813 Posts: 2,827	Paul, how fine is your substrate, and how fine a substrate do you think would work with the rugf? __________________ order some golf shoes, otherwise we'll never get out of this place alive. what can i say? in dog beers, i have only had one. - dublo8 Current Tank Info: 40B aiptasia farm

01/03/2009, 06:11 AM	#762
Paul B Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15,549	My substrait is dolomite which is like crushed coral. It is about as large as rice. I don't know if you could get dolomite anymore but so far mine is working fine. You could kind of see it in the pictures I posted __________________ I used to get shocked when I put my hand in my tank. Then the electric eel went dead. Current Tank Info: 100 gal reef set up in 1971

01/03/2009, 04:38 PM	#763
rkg Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Rock Springs, WI Posts: 24	PaulB I just finished reading this entire post. A fascinating read to say the least, not only from the historical standpoint, but also, very timely and on point for me. I recently decided to get back into the hobby and set up my 55g SW again. I had it set up when I was in college back in the mid 1980's. At that time I was using an undergravel filter powered with airlifts. Later I added an Eheim canister and a UV sterilizer and used a diatom filter for periodic cleaning. I had the same type of limited success/failure that most others were having at the time. Eventually I moved off to law school, put the tank into storage and left it there until about four years ago. At that time I got the bug to set it up and actually moved the setup into my office, bought an inexpensive HOB skimmer and fluidized sand bed filter and some other stuff. It has all sat in my office empty for the last four years! With my renewed interest and recent research I see that some of the new equipment that I bought is not very highly recommended. Oh well. Since my sytem will be in my office I am wary of setting up too elaborate a system (sump, fuge, tall skimmer, etc). Anyway, that leads me to this post. I am very intrigued by the idea of setting up a (an?) RFUG system along the lines of yours. In that regard, I have several questions that perhaps, when you have time, you could answer. 1. Do you think I could use the Eheim canister (appr 115 gph) to supply the RFUG? That would appear to be approximately the same flow as your sytem adjusted for size. Also, it would satisfy the goal of sending clean water into the RFUG. 2. If I do use the Eheim, what would you recomend be inside the canister? 3. I see that you recommend that RFUG still use live rock to remove nitrates. Given that you are using live rock, and it appears from the photos to be a considerable amount, how much do you think the RFUG is really contributing to the removal of the nitrates? Especially in light of the fact that you stir up your gravel, which I would think would cause die-off of the anaerobic bacteria in the gravel bed. (Or is live rock really not much of a nitrate remover?) 4. Since I would be using commercial salt mixes for the water, what do you recommend that I use to get the the small critters into the system? Will that all come on the live rock, or should I purchase some live sand or other starter products? I would prefer not to hhave to buy live rock right away. 4. I plan to get a RO/DI filter and will look into ozone, which I know nothing about. 5. Mu initial plan would be to set up a mostly fish system with possibly moving into some inverts later if the system is succesful. However, i will not be getting any MH lights, so I realize there are limits on inverts. Sorry for the long post. But, I do appreciate all of the time you have put into this post and others, and hopefully you can help me with some of these basic questions.

01/04/2009, 08:38 AM	#764
Paul B Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15,549	Quote "I just finished reading this entire post. " Really, thats a lot of reading. I am all excited that there will be one other person out of thousands with a RUGF. To answer your questions you can certainly use a canister filter to slowly power the UG filter. You would need to somehow build a manifold to pump the water into from the canister so that your UG tubes receive the same water flow. The canister should have some type of filtering element in it. You can use filter floss although I am not crazy about it. Some canisters use a cleanable membrane which would be better. Anything that you could clean is desirable. It should be cleaned as often as you can, every two weeks is fine unless you notice it filling with crud earlier. I can't be sure how much my rock contributes to nitrogen removal but I do know that the tank has 15 gallons less rock than it used to have. I gave that much away (three 5 gallon buckets) I wanted more swimming room and more water flow. A system like this will not start reducing nitrates immediately and will take a few months, maybe six (guess) before it works properly. I would not clean the gravel for a year or so. After that, stirring up the gravel and remove the floating particles with the diatom will keep it going and will not substantially harm the bacteria. Bacteria will not easily wash off gravel and will settle down again in a few days. I have never noticed any difference in my typhoons and I overturn everything sometimes to the point that no grain of gravel is untouched. Ozone is helpful but needs to be added to a skimmer which in your case would need to be a HOB (hang on back) as mine is. Ozone is just a gas that is generated in an ozone generator and it is put in series with your skimmer so the bubbles in the skimmer are ozone instead of just air. You do not need live rock. Anything you put in there will become live but you should at least put in some to start. You could use base rock which is a lot cheaper. All of my rock I bleached before I put it in my tank because I collected it and neeeded to clean it to bring it on the plane, besides we diden't know anything about live rock then. As for the critters, it would be great if you know someone on the coast to mail you some, if you don't, I will mail you some bacteria and critters as I want to se this tank going. Lighting in a FO is a non issue. You can light it with anything just so the fish see the food. Home Depot lights will work. Yes I know all about the spectrum and intensity but you need not worry about this for fish. I also don't believe algae cares about the spectrum. You may get algae in the beginning, we can deal with that then. Good luck. Paul

01/04/2009, 10:46 AM	#765
johnny313 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: New Jersey Posts: 649	Paul, How many new species of fish and corals have you seen being introduced into the hobby??? Im sure 35 years ago there woudnt be as much since there werent too many hobbyists and pet shops carrying that much salt water items.

01/04/2009, 03:22 PM	#767
Garage1217 GET OFF MY LAWN Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Globally Posts: 5,863	OMG LOL This has to be the most classic quote I have ever heard on this forum. Hats off to you! Your the man! "We had to use 20 pennies to the gallon to cure them until they came out with liquid copper and test kits" __________________ No great genius has ever existed without some touch of madness ~ Aristotle If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it? ~ Albert Einstein I'm just as bent as ever. Hellishly so ~ Captain Jack Sparrow Current Tank Info: Systems and goodies by Lee-Mar / Coralvue / Neptune Systems / Jager / Spectrapure / Cree / Meanwell + more!

01/04/2009, 07:47 PM	#769
OceanLover2 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: San Francisco Bay Area Posts: 306	I have so much enjoyed reading this thread several times but have never posted any response before. I was studying marine biology in college in the 70's and some of the things you mention bring back "the good old days" to my memory. After school I moved on to ocean work so I didn't keep tanks at that time as it was a nightmare trying to keep the fish alive. It is so much easier these days. And that is because people like you kept learning and spreading the knowledge! Thanks so much for sharing. __________________ 90 and 140 gallon reef tanks with friendly fish (midas blennies, bs jawfish, colorful WRASSE, etc.) and softie corals (no acropora for me) Current Tank Info: 90 gallon reef & 140 gallon reef

01/04/2009, 10:13 PM	#770
rkg Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Rock Springs, WI Posts: 24	Paul, Thanks for the detailed response. I have a few follow up thoughts and questions. I know that I said I was planning on starting with a fish only tank, and may just keep it that way, but I have been researching lights and it appears that possibly I may be able to utilize some compact flourescents or equivalent at an affordable price. That may open up the possibility of eventually keeping a pair of clowns with an anemone such as a quadricolor or sebae. That has always been my ultimate goal but I thought the lighting requirements would hold me back. 1. You may have already discussed this, but I have read so much stuff over the last few days I am starting to fog up, and its not like it would be easy to re-read this post(!), but what has your experience been, if any, with anemones such as bubble tip (quadricolor) types and the RUFG? I belive the sebae likes to anchor in the sand base, the quadricolor not so much. 2. What type of HOB skimmer do you use. I thought i saw a home made standing skimmer in one of your photos. I have heard nothong but horrible reviews about the cheap one I have (never used it yet) so I probaly will have to upgrade at some point, maybe before I even start. 3. It turns out that there is an internet company right here in Wisconsin (Dr. Foster and Smith) that distributes cultured live rock (made out of cement, sound familiar?) I may pay them a visit and see if I can not pick some up direct, which I would then use to start up the tank. Is my regular actinic flourescent tube (2) lighting sufficient for that? I am not sure of the wattage anymore. I will probally need to replace the bulbs anyway, but will I need to upgrade the whole light system for the rock anyway? it is late and I am starting to ramble, sorry. I am researching all of these questions elsewhere also, but I am curious what you think about the RUFG and anemones, and the skimmer. Thanks for your help.

01/05/2009, 06:10 AM	#771
Paul B Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15,549	Yes you can easily keep anemones and most soft corals with regular flourescent lamps. I always uses 50/50 actinic and white. (something like that) I think I used two of those lamps and two super white aquarium lamps. We diden't have PCs then but they would be even better, taking up less room. I used 4 40watt lamps for years. Clams grew very large and I never had problems with anemones or soft corals. This picture was taken in probably the eightees when I had that type of lighting. See that large leather, it had offspring all over the tank and the anemones would reprduce by splitting down the middle. You don't need to fry the tank with lights for many corals and anemones. SPS reef building corals would need brighter lighting. My skimmer is about 4 or 5' and is a homemade venturi unit. My company was "Urchin Searchin, Enterprize" because I also had an urchin collection business. I would get the largest skimmer I could fit on the tank and if you could afford ozone, that would be great but not a necessity. The ozone generator probably costs more than the skimmer. Just use it with ozone proof tubing, vinyl tubing will rot in a few weeks. This tank has always ran a RUGF, Some of the larger anemones would dig down to the filter plate which was no problem. Here is my skimmer with the top off for the picture, The ozonizer is the blue thing on the wall (actually the bottom of the stairs) And a piece of my cement rock which I have a lot of. Last edited by Paul B; 01/05/2009 at 06:17 AM.

01/07/2009, 06:29 PM	#773
Paul B Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 15,549	Thats great, there are three of us. How long has it been running? __________________ I used to get shocked when I put my hand in my tank. Then the electric eel went dead. Current Tank Info: 100 gal reef set up in 1971

01/07/2009, 06:55 PM	#774
woodiecrafts Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Jonesboro, AR Posts: 414	This tank I completely tore down about a year ago and redone it, so it is just about at its 1 year birthday once again. I started my first tank back in 1990 with the crushed coral and reversed flow and have always been hooked on that. Even my 10 gal is set up that way. I have another 75 as well that has always had black and white sand mixed in it just to see what a difference it would make, and between you and me, and I suppose everyone else that reads along, I have always had better luck and tanks with the crushed coral and plate filters. __________________ Always remember, no matter where you go, there you are. "Buckaroo Banzai" Current Tank Info: 2-75 Gal Mixed Reefs / with T-5 Nova Extremes // 1-10 gal nano reef w/ PC's

01/07/2009, 07:26 PM	#775
rkg Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Rock Springs, WI Posts: 24	Since I havn't set mine up yet, what would you guys recommend -using the ehiem canister filter or a powerhead. Seems like the power head would be easier, and I am notusure what advantage there would be to using the canister. I have a suitable powerhead and canister. Will I need extra flow inside the tank besides what comes up from the UFG? Also, I am sure you discussed this previously, but what do you recommend for substrate. I currently havd some new, unused crushed sea shells (not crushed coral). I would say the particle size is on the large side, bigger than the crushed coral I used 20 years ago.