uwish

I use a nitrifying bacteria like this one: http://www.drtimsaquatics.com/freshwater-aquarium-products#one he did his PHD on nitrifying bacteria and you can download his paper...I used it in my tank for an instant cycle.

Very nice and yes I agree CO2 is your friend....

while I am currently not running a reef tank I am running a FOWLR. I would tend to agree with all the statements above, you should use RO water and you could get away without a skimmer. But that really depends on bio load and how much you feed. Skimmers in general are not cheap, and they take some tuning and can be finiky to set up. Some other things to consider: 1. are you going to run carbon? GFO? If you are then there is a higher degree of success without a skimmer as the chemical filtration will pull allot of the unwanted organics (once converted) out of the tank, the nice thing about a skimmer is it pulls all that crud out before it breaks down and starts to pollute the tank. 2. what type of coral? Some require very little added neutrients, some require specific lighting, dosing etc for growth. I know plenty of people who have successfull tanks without RO and skimmers, but I find their maintenance schedule is much more intense than those that do. They tend to have higher algea growth, higher nitrates etc which means more frequent water changes. Since I like to reduce maintenance, I run GFO, Carbon and a skimmer through my sump and have 250lbs of rock. I only have to scrub the glass once a week and I could go longer but I am anal about clean glass. You will LOVE having and RO/DI unit on hand. It's well worth the investment. Now all you need is to consider how your going to handle water changes (RO/DI storage and then salt water mixing).

They are the prize posession in my 100Gal planted tank. I have 12 of them ranging in size from 3 inches up to 13 inches and ages from 2 years up to 12 years. My loaches don't touch any of my live plants, nor any of the equipment and I have been keeping loaches for well...12 years.

looking good I like L shaped tanks, such a nice change from the standard, I think an L shaped peninsula tank would be kewl...hum.......

I will second that, I have been keeping BR for over a decade and when their time comes, they always seem to get a swim bladder infection or they turn very dark and become lithargic and stop eating. It's usually in about 2 to 3 years after introduction to the tank. I have never been able to medicate back to health and once they become sick there seems to be a 100% mortality rate (from my experience).

Riverfront has hit and miss selection of marine fish and corral. If you go last saturday of the month they have 30% off all marine livestock. I did manage to get a fantastic deal on my Triggers and Puffer fish because of this deal, and i would say Riverfront pricing is much better than Big Al's (in general) but they may not have the selection you want. Pisces is usually pretty good as with Golds.

I researched every aspect of the Saltwater hobby. I wanted a FOWLR but with the possibility of having corral in the future. I went through everything about water (RO/DI), ATO, salt types and quality, sump designs and types of overflow's, what type of plumbing, return pumps, fuge or not to fuge, skimmers, LED's, sand...DSB or not and type of sand, type and kind of rock, live or dead. It seemed the list was endless. I have never heard of GFO or 'reactors' before even after 10 years of keeping planted tanks. Then, fish types and compatiblity. Yeah talk about a learning curve and it felt like I was drinking from a fire hose! So after all the research I went completely custom tank, and stand designed by me from the ground up. I took most of the best practices I could find, read lots of the horror stories and "I wish I have done.." threads and integrated them into my tank design. So far, I am very happy with my salty!

GFO is Granulated Ferric Oxide and is used primarily in a reactor to reduce phosphate levels which in turn will control unwanted Algae. Just to chime in on some other things you brought up. Skimming IMHO is one of the most important aspects of REEF tanks. Does that mean you can't have a tank without one? No, BUT if you want to keep corral, it is highly recommended. I am of the thought that no matter what skimmer you use, it's size etc you will never 'remove all' the nutrients from the water. Mother nature's Oceans are significantly more efficient than we can be in removing nutrients from the water so I am NOT of the thought line that you will remove too many if you use a skimmer. If you choose NOT to have a skimmer, and there are many reef keepers that do; you can expect (in general) slower corral growth and likely larger and more frequent water changes. As for water, I would agree with most of the comments so far, you can used treated tap water BUT you will likely experience issues down the road with algae and poor corral growth. If you want a FOWLR salt tank, then many people have success with using treated tap water. Saltwater tanks don't have to be more consuming of both time and money but, from my experience saltwater tanks are less forgiving of poor water quality than fresh water tanks. The livestock are not only more sensitive to water parameters, but they cost more too! So crashing a saltwater tank can be more expensive than crashing a fresh water tank (I am speaking generally of course). I have a 250Gal FOWLR peninsula tank...I run GFO, Carbon, Skimmer. Started with dry "dead" rock and sand, RO/DI water and used a bottled Nitrifying Bacteria (Dr. Tom's one and only). My tank uses dual Dorso overflows into my sump filtered mechanically by filter socks. I find when I don't run carbon the water turns slightly yellow and never as clear and I won't risk running without GFO, it's just too large a tank to deal with a significant algae blowout.

I my opinion, I would use dead dry rock and sand. No need to spend the extra money and then you may get unwanted guests like parasites etc. I would use Ro/Di water with dry rock and sand, mix the salt in the tank and then add a nitrifying bacteria (like Dr Tim's one and only). I my experience, smaller tanks (under 40 Gal) are typically more difficult to maintain just because of the smaller volume of water, it is much less forgiving in temp, ph, toxisity and salinity levels than tanks with larger volumes of water. That shouldn't deter you however, just be careful with tank parameters. I would say temp and salinity could have large swings in a tank that small, I would recommend and ATO and a 'good' heater.

Some general comments of 'live' rock and sand. I know many people use it and it is very common in the reef community, especially when starting a new tank. In my opinion, you don't need it. The great thing about setting up a new saltwater tank is you get to start from scratch. That means you can put in a SSB (shallow sand bed) and reef rock, and fill with RO/DI water and mix the salt right in the tank. Using dry sand and rock guarrantees you wont' have any unwanted paracites, pests or stowaways inside your rock. AND, it's signifigantly less expensive than the equivelant live version. For tanks under 75Gal I recommend a fishless cycle with a bacteria enabler. If you have 75Gal and larger you can put in 'a' fish (one) with the enabler and your tank will be fully cycled in a matter of days (and yes I know enabling bacteria in itself is a contraversial topic in itself which is another discussion, happy to engage in if needed). From my experience, I would NOT use crushed coral as a substrate, I would go for a 1 to 2 mm aragonite, if you get anything finner it tends to get blown around and makes the water look cloudy. As others have mentioned, do lots of research and you will find trends that most reef enthusiasts do and for the most part they generally are good practices, I simply point out the "live" rock and sand as I think it's really not need.

Just a quick note on PO4. I don't think many people know that there is actually two types of phosphates, Soluble reactive Phosphates (SRP) and Organic Phosphates. When you are measuring the PO4 levels in your tank you are really only measuring the SRP phosphates, which are NOT the phosphates that 98% of algae like to eat. Those are the Phosphates that are dissolved in the water column, the 'bad' phosphates are the Organic Phosphates which are bound to the organics in your tank (ie rocks, sand etc). Those you cannot measure with any simple home test kit. So just because you have a 0 or very low reading on your phosphate test kit, does not necessarily mean you have 0 phosphates. That being said, if you are not having an issue with algae now, as long as you don't over feed your tank, do regular water changes you should be fine. No reason to add another piece of equipment that will likely have little value overall to your ecosystem. I do urge (strongly urge) you to look at getting RO/DI water, there are many RO/DI water treatment systems you can easily install yourself and some are 'relatively' inexpensive. I live in Tuscany in a house less than 10 years old and when I set up my 100Gal I had massive algae problems that I never had before. RO/DI water is quite simply the very best you can hope for, and with any problem algae, the real solution to extinguishing this issue is prevention. The other thing you may want to look at, if in fact RO/DI water system is not in your cards is trying GFO in a reactor. No better method (other than large water changes with purified water) to remove phosphates (both kinds) from your tank.

Greetings, My wife and I are having our basement renovated and after a nice diving trip to the Maldives, she really wants a nice salt water tank. Our basement is not huge but I was thinking of having it as a room break, behind a couch that seperates our bar/tv room and our workout area. I am thinking 180 up to a 300 Gal would be the likely size. We are at least 3 months from being finished but I wanted to get a jump on some ideas since all my experience is with fresh water (2 tanks for over a decade). I know that at first, it will be a fish only tank but I want to be able to grow into a reef system in the future. Hence, a sump would be my first choise for a filtration system. My basic question is who is a 'good' custom builder in Calgary? I have heard horror stories from Bow and I see there is another one called Concept Aquatics. We need to keep in mind, it will likely have to be built in house as I do not think getting a tank of this size down our curved basement stairs is possible. Since it will be a room divider, a plywood tank is out, it will have to be glass (preferably, not a fan of acrylic). There will be a subfloor over the concrete with engineered hardwood in the work out area that the tank will sit on so weight is not a significant issue. I have zero experience making tanks though I am an engineer my ability tends to be in concept and design and not the hands on execution. Thoughts and comments are welcome.

Overnight my thermometer broke and was floating around the tank. Of course my fear now is the beads of mercury that are "somewhere" inside the tank. I vacuumed as much of the gravel as I could but since mercury is heavy it won't be removed by the vacuuming process. I have some obvious concerns. 1 fish health and 2 general environmental health of the substrate. Anyone have any suggestions?

yes, ordering from the website is your best bet for the XP tubing. I called the Big Al's store here in Calgary, Riverfront, Petland and Gold's and none of them carry the tubing for the RENA XP line of filters. Though after a discussion with the staff at Big Al's, they said they will look up the part number and start to carry more XP parts. Their current selection is not that great. I just finished building my Rex Grigg's CO2 reactor but can't hook it up yet because I am missing a couple of feet of 3/4 diameter XP tubing.

picked one up from Riverfront's new store yesterday. Will mod it to be my CO2 diffuser in my smaller tank. PS the new Riverfront store looks very nice, large and lots of room. Still lots of work going on inside but it is open for business!

I agree, a bowl is a bowl... I do not know much about Betta's however, I know fish like to swim an just because you 'can' keep one of these in a tiny bowl doesn't mean you should. The lack of heat issue to me isn't a problem to much. Most buildings and residences are at least 20 C in the winter or more, if you find it comfortable then likely the fish will as well. Water temperature will not fall below the ambient temperature of the room. I still think it is pretty sad, I don't like looking at them at the pet store, they usually keep them in a clear cup!!

thanks!

Anyone know where I can pick one up? I have visited my usual sources and no one seems to carry this small filter. Which works very well as a CO2 diffuser.

I have never had much luck with welding supply shops. I have not been able to find a price less than $130 for a regulator, needle valve, and sol.

I have been running pressurized Co2 in my large tank for over a year. I cannot believe I waited so long before switching over from a DIY setup. Yes it can be somewhat pricey to get the equipment initially but it is well worth it. Now I am looked at swapping out my DIY Co2 in my upstairs (35G) tank. I am looking around for a 5lb tank and the required regulators etc. So far, I have found the Milwaukee regulator with solenoid, needle valve and bubble counter from Mops.ca for $131 which is by far the best price I can find. I have ordered from mops before and have always had good service / products. Anyone know of a better price for a similar setup? http://www.mops.ca/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/sk...4b4e+1259341654 $131 http://www.jlaquatics.com/info/156/CO2+Equipment.html from Jand L but higher price and you still need to add a bubble counter. http://www.bigalsonline.ca/BigAlsCA/ctl366...tssolenoidvalve $150 Ebay is hit and miss, there are good deals IF you look for them everyday. I have a 'bid' in for a 5lb tank for $35 US and $10 shipping. I am pretty sure I won't beat that price for a new tank.

very well done! Fantastic!

Can I ask where / which company this site's domain name is registered too? I am taking over another non fish site and need to register.

wow, lots of 'oldies'

yup me as well. I used to get really stuffed and my hands would turn red and start burning. For some reason I seem to be building a resistance to it now. Have not had a flair up in months. Strange...