The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread

[Wolfgang]

Im kind of on the fence Scott. You have such a large system that a few forzen blocks / week shouldnt make a HUGE impact. I have a setup pretty similar to yours but in one of my smaller tanks it became a nightmare. I always just used one of the fish nets I had laying around to rinse off the frozen foods even if you put the blocks in the net and run tap water over it it will significantly reduce the nitrates and phosphates you are putting in the tank and after that the coral, fish get fed. With the phytoplankton dont go overboard. When I used it i would fill a 3cc syringe and target the sps and gorgonians (with the pump off).

BEFORE


After

[shilala]

I use a great big syringe and target the critters directly with the food soup I make. I feed every other day. All my pumps and power heads turn off with one switch. When I find time to hook up the wave maker I got, it has a feeding button on it that shuts everything off.

How'd you kill all your stuff, man?

Originally Posted by Wolfgang

Im kind of on the fence Scott. You have such a large system that a few forzen blocks / week shouldnt make a HUGE impact. I have a setup pretty similar to yours but in one of my smaller tanks it became a nightmare. I always just used one of the fish nets I had laying around to rinse off the frozen foods even if you put the blocks in the net and run tap water over it it will significantly reduce the nitrates and phosphates you are putting in the tank and after that the coral, fish get fed. With the phytoplankton dont go overboard. When I used it i would fill a 3cc syringe and target the sps and gorgonians (with the pump off).

BEFORE


After

[Wolfgang]

feeding too much with frozen cubes. This tank was a 23 gallon tank. Algae grew and whe i went on vacation the fish sitter didn't understand my instructions and double fed. when i got home the rocks were not visible underneath all of the algae. the lack of light killed everything.

Currently I only feed Spectrum pellets to both the fish and my coral. Im adding a solid media reactor to my tank this weekend. Next reef SMR1. Wonderful product.

[shilala]

That's painful.
I'd like to put a stock tank under the steps in the basement for a sump, something that'd give me a nice 2 or 3 hundred gallon buffer. Just jam it full of sand and plants.
I just worry that the more equipment you get going on, the more chance for problems there are. I'll give it some time and see how things go. I think I'll be fine once the ro/di guts get here. That should put a halt to the little trouble I do have in a month or two. If not, I'll start thinking about options.

[Wolfgang]

Hows this for a sump?

Originally Posted by Wolfgang

Hows this for a sump?

Part of it needs lighting to set up a refugium.

Just kidding.

Not that refugiums aren't a good idea. They act as a nutrient stripper and 'pod breeder so if you have one in your system they're great.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by Wolfgang

Hows this for a sump?

That is exactly the nightmare I had imagined, I just couldn't put it to words.
If you took off all that stuff except a hose coming in and one coming out, and add a light, that's what I want.

[OLS]

Man when I think of the trouble and automation I had going on my 40 gallon. Now I am 1/4 the power
consumption, but twice the work. Fair trade, I guess. I DO miss my auto top-off a little. And I miss
the extra 20 gallons of sump capacity. And the space. And my wrasse.

I've always wanted my sump/cooler/refugium/etc. in the basement. Then there would only be the two pipes and a lot less electrical stuff.

[shilala]

Lance, my basement is nice and cold. That's kind of a concern. I'd probably end up having to add a heater to the sump, and insulate and cover it, whereas my tank holds perfect temp right now.
Come summer, I'll re-evaluate and see if it gets too hot. If that be the case, I'll just raise the light and take off the glass tops.
Keeping stuff warm here is far more difficult than keeping it chilled.
I'm with ya, though. Just a refugium to make critters and plants and get a real biocycle going. I could get the skimmers and filters off the back of my tank and there'd be less noise. That's all I'm looking for. I have a perfect place to do it, too. Right under the steps in the basement.

[shilala]

I never thought to ask you guys about this, my bad. My brain doesn't put the ends of the spaghetti noodles together very good some days.
I just offered this stuff yesterday on my reef club's site, had no takers out of 24 lookers.
I just jammed the food in a small priority box and it fits great. I can send it asap if any of you guys can use it, or if you just wanna try it, or you know someone who will put it to use, whatever. I'll even send a treat for your troubles, I think I can get something else in there.

Here's the text of the ad...
"Hi Guys,
I have posted for free some Instant Ocean Herbivore Diet Seaweed Blend and Seaweed Grazing Block. Both are brand new and unopened, I pulled them out of a couple buckets of salt yesterday.
I read them, they look neat and all that stuff, but I'm not going to put them to use.
If you're not familiar, they're single serving no-spoil feed. The big pack has packets like ketchup packets, the grazing blocks are little short cans that put you in the mind of a votive candle (but bigger around) with a lid.
If one of you guys can use them and want to stop by and pick them up, they're all yours.
I'm in Streetsboro, my number is 814-771-09 one two. Feel free to call or text, my first name is Scott.
Thank You!!!
Here's a pic, the embedded image is too big to post and I'm on the run, no time to resize it...
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad96 ... f606f8.jpg
...and here's the pic...

[Wolfgang]

Sending pm

[shilala]

Originally Posted by Wolfgang

Sending pm

You forgot to send it.
Make sure you send me your address, too. The most recent I have for ya is Cherry Hills.

[shilala]

Tonight I'm gonna tape a toothbrush to a yardstick (or my yard long baster/feeder) and clean my thing that looks like a blue gorgonian but it's not. It's pretty badly hair algae grossed-up and I'm afraid if I don't clean it, it'll be dead. THAT, I do not want. It is an amazing catcher of hair algae, just by it's form and nature.

My radioactive eagle claw south dakotan burger king palythoas are changing color, as I guessed they would. They are turning from all brown to what appears to be a purple center, yellow cat-eye slit, with red fringes.
I'll tell ya, if they continue to get colored up the way they look like they're gonna, I will have the dead sexiest mat of squishy things you ever laid eyes upon. I'm bigtime stoked.
Everyone gets fed tonight and they're all staring at me. I'm the most popular guy in the room right now. Actually I'm the only guy in the room, but by the look of all these critters, I'm DAMN important.

Marc, I checked out all the NextReef stuff. It seems like really well built stuff. I have a canister filter and I keep some ceramic media and floss and foam. I just keep that for a biofilter. How's come a fluidized bed is better? Because of all the extra surface area of the media?

[Wolfgang]

the surface area and because they are constantly moving the nasties dont build up in them like it would in filter floss or bio balls. The owner of the company is a personal friend of mine. If you (or anyone else are reading along) even are thinking of adding one to your system let me know.

[shilala]

I want one, bud. An MR1Monster Complete with 2 gallons of media.
Can you score that stuff? I know Next Reef doesn't handle the media, per say, but it said they built their stuff around some Dr.'s media design. That's the stuff I want. I figured since they're in cahoots and used that media in design/build, they probably have tons laying around.
4' of tubing sounds a bit light on the "complete" side, too. (The complete package gives you tubing and pumps and I assume some over the back j bends and down tubes and stuff.) This is gonna go under my tank and replace the canister. 4 feet of tubing doesn't seem like that's gonna get it, ya think?

The reason I picked the big one is for volume and surface area. I figure that way, there's plenty of reactive bacteria to instantly take care of my feedings ( I plan to jam this tank slap full of corals, to the hilt).
If that doesn't fly because the bacteria needs food to stay alive, I get that, too. In that case, I have a 90 gallon undrilled, and I'd like as much ass as I can get benefit from without hurting the system's process, if that makes sense?

[OLS]

If the gorgonian is worth it's salt, you should be able to remove it in the morning and gently scrub the
hair off of it. They should be fully sucked in in the morning, and if not, pulling it out of the water will do it,
haha. But a gentle rub with a paper towel should do it. GENTLE. Others may disagree, and I would
certainly err on the side of caution, but they are reasonably tough. You an also cut an arm off and NOT
rub that one and you'd have transplant stock were something to go wrong. Simply scrape gently with a
razor blade along the length of the bottom and expose 3/8 of an inch of skeleton and super glue that to
a chunk of rock. It will quickly grow over the wound and the rock and be a new piece. Super glue a dab,
stick gorgo to rock, hold and immerse in water after 5-10 secs.

[shilala]

I cleaned her up with a bottle brush and it's all good to go. It deployed all it's polyps before dinner. I'd have just let it be, but I really like it and didnt want to take a chance. I knew it was tough and I wasn't afraid to clean it at all.
Thanks for the fragging procedure, I'll want to grow a nice stand of this stuff. It sounds super easy.

On another front, my gloves are no good. I made sure they were unpowdered latex. They still had stuff that came off of them in the tank. I'll get some better ones that actually fit me.

Last night I flushed a giant killer/bulldozer hermit crab. Today saw theendof two giant bulldozer snails. There's a couple more crabs that gotta go cause they're too big, I'll catch them when I see them.
There will probably be something in the paper tomorrow about all the manhole covers in Streetsboro being moved. I'm just gonna stay quiet.

[OLS]

I need to post a pic of the snail I banished a few months back. I had seen a pic of the
Zoanthid eating snails, but could never catch the one that was eating my prize specimens.
I looked at night for a slug or snail, no luck. Then one day I am rooting around in the
early morning and passed the tank and see this ping-pong-ball-sized snail MOVING like a
jet over a rock, and SHOCK!...it was one of the bad snails. I skanked it and threw it in my
live rock punishment tank. That killed it, it had no zoanthids to eat. But I kept the shell,
as I like to say, as a warning to others. I'll snap a pic for your IDing purposes, Scott, just for
the future health of your Eagle-Eye Cherry delights.

[Wolfgang]

Gorilla grabs are the common ones that are hitchhikers on live rock. I absolutely hate them. I have about 30 red leg hermits in my 90. They love when i remember to feed the tank all of them come scurrying out.