Benjamin Slade
June 27th 04, 01:16 AM
I have a 15 gal reef tank which isn't doing so well. I've been having
problems with the pH and with various weed-like things growing. I
change the water on a pretty frequent basis, but it's hard to keep up.
You can see a picture of it here:
http://www.benslade.com/misc/img_1905.jpg
You can see the various red hair like sea weed, as well as the more
conventional green seaweed (which grows pretty fast)
The tank has no sand bed and no protein skimmer. It uses an AquaClear
300 filter hooked into a surface skimmer (see
www.oscarent.com/productspages/surfaceskimmer.html ). There's also an
additional Penguin mini filter just for cirulation. A float switch by
AquaDevices (aquadevices.50megs.com/order1.htm) automatically adds water
to compensate for evaporation.
Anyway, I'm moving (getting married!) and I need to plan a new tank.
So this is my opportunity to atone for my sins and start fresh.
Which is sort of intimidating.
"She who must be obeyed" has granted me a corner of a room that permits
a tank with floor dimensions of roughly 3 x 1.5 feet (a 30 gal tank?)
I also have a bunch of personal desires for my tank:
* It must run very quietly. Only quiet protein skimmers. No chillers.
* Nothing hanging from the ceiling (no metal halide hanging hoods)
* No protein skimmers that pump bubbles into the tank.
(which I think is more of a problem with small tanks)
* It must run cool. Fans, if any, have to be quite (eg. Icecap fans)
* It must be easy to get at the corals to diddle with them, and to clean
the glass.
* It should look cool.
For the protein skimmer, I've used several different kinds and I've
never been completely happy with any of them. I'm going to post a
separate message about my ideas for the perfect protein skimmer. I
guess for this tank, I'll try and pick a quiet yet effective one that
sits in a sump.
I know there are maybe a few hundred reference sources for this, which
is just a little overwhelming.
I'm thinking about a 2 inch sand bed, maybe some egg crate plastic to
hold the live rock off the live sand, maybe a two tier shelf of egg
crate plastic to give a nice coral cliff effect. A narrow but quiet
overflow box that feeds into a sump. Probably a reed switch to control
evaporative water replacement in the sump. Maybe using hang on the
back filters for water circulation (heat is mostly dumped into air, not
into the water). I'd like some sort of lighting system that easily moves
out of the way so I can clean the tank.
Also, how do I tranfer all my existing corals to the new tank, but not
transfer the annoying weed-like things? Do I just take each live rock
in a bucket and scrape off everything I don't like?
So those are my thoughts and questions. All advice appreciated.
Ben Slade
www.benslade.com
(include "030516 at the end of the subject line to bypass my spam filters)
Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence in society.
Mark Twain
problems with the pH and with various weed-like things growing. I
change the water on a pretty frequent basis, but it's hard to keep up.
You can see a picture of it here:
http://www.benslade.com/misc/img_1905.jpg
You can see the various red hair like sea weed, as well as the more
conventional green seaweed (which grows pretty fast)
The tank has no sand bed and no protein skimmer. It uses an AquaClear
300 filter hooked into a surface skimmer (see
www.oscarent.com/productspages/surfaceskimmer.html ). There's also an
additional Penguin mini filter just for cirulation. A float switch by
AquaDevices (aquadevices.50megs.com/order1.htm) automatically adds water
to compensate for evaporation.
Anyway, I'm moving (getting married!) and I need to plan a new tank.
So this is my opportunity to atone for my sins and start fresh.
Which is sort of intimidating.
"She who must be obeyed" has granted me a corner of a room that permits
a tank with floor dimensions of roughly 3 x 1.5 feet (a 30 gal tank?)
I also have a bunch of personal desires for my tank:
* It must run very quietly. Only quiet protein skimmers. No chillers.
* Nothing hanging from the ceiling (no metal halide hanging hoods)
* No protein skimmers that pump bubbles into the tank.
(which I think is more of a problem with small tanks)
* It must run cool. Fans, if any, have to be quite (eg. Icecap fans)
* It must be easy to get at the corals to diddle with them, and to clean
the glass.
* It should look cool.
For the protein skimmer, I've used several different kinds and I've
never been completely happy with any of them. I'm going to post a
separate message about my ideas for the perfect protein skimmer. I
guess for this tank, I'll try and pick a quiet yet effective one that
sits in a sump.
I know there are maybe a few hundred reference sources for this, which
is just a little overwhelming.
I'm thinking about a 2 inch sand bed, maybe some egg crate plastic to
hold the live rock off the live sand, maybe a two tier shelf of egg
crate plastic to give a nice coral cliff effect. A narrow but quiet
overflow box that feeds into a sump. Probably a reed switch to control
evaporative water replacement in the sump. Maybe using hang on the
back filters for water circulation (heat is mostly dumped into air, not
into the water). I'd like some sort of lighting system that easily moves
out of the way so I can clean the tank.
Also, how do I tranfer all my existing corals to the new tank, but not
transfer the annoying weed-like things? Do I just take each live rock
in a bucket and scrape off everything I don't like?
So those are my thoughts and questions. All advice appreciated.
Ben Slade
www.benslade.com
(include "030516 at the end of the subject line to bypass my spam filters)
Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence in society.
Mark Twain