chatfouz

really? honestly that doesnt sound too suprising but where was this? 3 days, shoo.. is that 3 days in water or 3 days in air? 3 anything?

?? are you talking about activated carbon, the black stuff? if so then how often it needs to change will depend on your specific tank. factors in how long or how often the carbon should be replaced, the first part that is probably most important is understanding how it works. activated carbon is just that a lump of carbon. i believe most used is originated from wood that is burned at extreme heat without oxygen. (i really am not that great at chem so if i messed this up please say so.) that lump then when exposed to elements, air water etc it begins a chemical reaction. it has all these electrons it swaps around and bonds to all sorts of organic chemicals. this is why you really should never buy carbon that is exposed to air. always buy it sealed. so like those penguin filters where the carbon is just istting in the box, that carbon has been reacting from the time they shipped it from the plant. buy carbon that comes sealed in little bags or in those vacum sealed tubs. also keep in mind that the carbon get exhaused or used up when all the free sites on the carbon have been taken up by organic compounds. then that is when it needs to be replaced. on a side note about carbon keep in mind carbon only deals with some organic compounds. i really have to be honest im not sure which but i believe it will not react with nitrites, nitrates or even amounia, just with the organic waste of the animals so if you depend on carbon as the main filtration of your system realize what you try to accomplish, you are trying to absorb all the poop and biological waste before it turns to ammonia. the rest after that is up to biological filtration. zeolite a common chemical filtration used in freshwater tanks to absorb ammonia will not function in salt water. the salts present reverse the process so its no good in salt water tanks. it does nothing but grow bacteria. back to carbon. there are a few factors that influence this need to replace the carbon. -amount of carbon if you use a lot of carbon it would not need to replace it so often because it has not exhausted yet. the idea is if you use 2x the amount than needed it takes 2x as long for all of it to be used. -size of tank\ bioload bigger tanks have a larger volume of water. this decreases the ppm or concentration the same volume of waste. basically this means it takes a lot more waste to build up to be noticable, also the carbon is going to last longer. the same is said for bioload. the more bioload the more carbon is needed. or the larger the bioload for small tanks the quicker the carbon gets used up because the concentration of waste is higher and increases faster -brand of carbon not all brands of carbon are equal. the biggest point is if the carbon is vacum sealed. if not then that carbon has been reacting and is already partly used up. its like buying used batteries, no idea how long they will last. not to over exaturate this reacting with air is a much slower and lesser process than water, so it will last a while but it has reacted some. some of my favorite brands are the aquaclear carbon packs. they are cheap, come presealed in nice little bags that are great for packing cansiters, piling in sumps, slipping into HOB filters, putting in internal filters, just so versitile. -purpose of carbon this basically is what do you want to do with the carbon. is it a part of a filtration system, used to skim off some discoloration, smells, or bits of waste or is it the main focal point of the filtration system. if it is the main point i would not suggest waiting more than a month to change it to be absolutly sure. if it is a side note dont worry so much. this really is as much an art as science. you cant visually tell if the carbon is used up or not. "scientist" or "researchers" according to the web articles and company websites suggest that if you use little carbon for large bioload, or have a very large bioload with carbon being the focal point change every 2-4 weeks. if carbon is part of the filtration and a strong bioload 4-5 weeks. if carbon is something that you add just to kill some coloration, random chemicals or light bioload it will last well into 2 months. best of luck! and if you were not talking about carbon... i apologize for rambling on in your thread.

YES!

anenomes are simple creatures. well not really simple but thier systems are not that complex. thier bodies are mostly water. thier main body cavity is where everything happens. this may sound off but try to find a zoology book and check out the chapter on em. understanding how the creature works may help you more than anything. this is my experience and what i remember from the zoology lab. another good place to check out is about.com. they have a good collection of articles. i dont remember how recent but i so far havve had great luck with thier advice. but here is what i have come to understand. light is important but not THE most important, they get a majority of thier energy/nutrition/etc from feedings not the light. water quality is everything with these systems. they do not do change well. let it be. one of the best things you can do is keep the water at the cleanest properties it can be at. if the light is too strong try adding a screen above the animal to cut some light. whatever you end up doing letting it rest is probably the best. any change you do do it slowly. shock is really something that will kill this creature. best luck.

research is the best friend in keepin salt stuff. about.com i think has a bunch of decent info. articles are well done. corals i dont think are terribly easy. some are pretty simple but others can be really delicate and rather expensive. check over there. personally i think it is easier on yourself and pocket book to start small and easy and upgrade. use a setup that will accomodate a moderate level of stock and start with the easier end of the corals and just get the more expensive and delicate ones as you get a hang of the whole deal. as long as the equipment is abe to handle the transition the only factor is your experience. mabye for that 28 gal a small canister, heater, PC light, sand, live rock. after cycled try some zoo's and if those are alive for a month start uppin it from there. but then again i really dont like jumping in the deep end of the pool. i worry to much about crashes. best of luck! and again welcome to the forum.

Welcome to the school what you need as far as filteration in my opinion is in my view dependant on what you want to do. if you only want to keep salt water fish, salt water invertabrates, corals, live rock etc. if it is your first time always concider what you want to keep. if you just want fish and live rock you could get away with a much more simple filtration type, like hang on back or canister. if you want to do plants like the macro algea and sea grass then go for deep sand bed and lights. if you want corals etc that is when you need to go high tech. powerful lights, top level filtration like the refugiums etc unless your going for the corals, clams, special inverts etc then keeping saltwater fish is like fresh water fish. just keep in mind your filtration needs to keep the tank a lot more stable than in fresh water.

do you have to have frags to attend? do people trade other things etc or this a coral people only thing?

i dont really have some of those options. the light i use is actually the desk light built into the desk here in the dorm. so it is a switch. i have nothing to regulate it with other than myself. so i can leave it on or off. evaporation is minimal. very very very very little. ok so i definantly need to buy a new bubbler. well then i guess ill leave the lights off but the window open. ambient room light will have to suffice for 3 days. how bad could a tank turn in three days. i dont feed it or anything yet. just turn light on and off. thanks for the advice

question on the ph swings etc on tanks. the light on or off has effect on growth ph and stimuli on a tank correct? i will be gone for labor day weekend. so im thinking about leaving the light on for the whole time. i believe it will spur the growth of the macro algae, production of pod population and hopefull growth of coraline. also in the buckets i have green water with pods trying to culture them. i believe if i leave the lights it will be easier or more productive on the system. right now the tank is bare, just some live rock plants. and only thing i have seen come out of the rock are a few pods. thiink it be better to leave lights on or leave em off?

ooh! right. yea no im talkiing about the colored sand you buy from petsmart etc that is called calci sand etc. they are in the lizard section of the store. its nothing but reef sand blasted with reallly hot food dye. and supposedly the salt water disloves the dye off the sand. not that food dye sounds like super harmfull but still... altho i believe that brand uses the same method so why one is safe the other isnt i dont know. the lizard stuff may of not been tested so the company just tells people dont try it. heavens if only i understood business.

i appriciate the advice. i am an active member on seahorse.org. love it. have to admit it is a lot more fun here knowing the post do not come very far away.

the white and black sand mix i am told actually is a new and rather athetically pleasing look. or if the sand bed is shallow you could just pile the black on top of the white and have a deep sand bed, just be carful not to mix it. Entropy is right, black sand does get ugly. i had black sand in a tank and how i dont know but it got dirty looking. it goes against logic, we usually buy black so it doesnt show dirt but the black sand turns grey dusty etc. Headless donkey how do you have blue sand?? are you using that colored sand sold for reptiles?? if so i was told by the company that is not tank safe, least not in salt water. the dyes leech out. it isnt anything more than food dye but still.. if you have another source please share, i have never seen colored sand tank safe. I would love to set one of those up!

i agree with shallow beds. if you have stuff sitting on top of the sand then how deep it is doesnt matter. you have filters to clean your water. now if you plan to put in macros or seagrass then look into a deeper sand bed. i used to have a deep sand bed and it killed my seahorse herd when the sand got stirred up.

you can get a long handled scraper from petsmart for about 4$ but honestly i would give up on trying to keep the filter tubes clean. IME those grow the stuff faster than anything and its a losing battle, save your elbow grease.

just finished putting up a dwarf seahorse tank with sand lights and filters. before i put in ponies does anyone have any sort of macro red green or brown they are about to throw out or extra live rock? i have no problem driving 60 miles for it. im in san marcos i do have some cash i am more than willing to pay. i just dont like what they sell at the local stores, it looks so unalive..

mabye i should elaborate. the tower speakers, in the left one a reciever is built in. and the right rear output is not functioning. the speaker works. noise comes out of all speakers in the center and rear left slots but not the right rear slot so what i was trying out was putting the center 120w in the back to see if that made a difference and i think these little 60w just dont hack it as a rear thing. what i was going to look at is make the left rear the center back. so mabye try to find a powerful speaker and make it rear... idk. because i think the actuall reciever is bad and those cant change.

i have a sony sava 500 i picked up. and somehow the rear right speaker no longer works. so only the left rear speaker functions. sony says i need service, flat 140$ plus anything they charge me they think is wrong. and to get it back i have to pay MORE $$. will when watching movies work if i just have that one rear speaker or will it make the sound feel off set? can i put it in the back and upgrade the speaker to something a little more powerful?

do you know how much that cools the tank? like what would it be without the fans?

try an ice probe. i know you dont want to spend a ton of $. but ive seen em as cheap as 70$. its a small chiler that will cool a small tank a few degree. i need to buy one personally.

that is awsome beyond awsome. i thought i would never be able to keep em. is there places in austin to get these??

i thought those quickly outgrow a ten gal. plus the clubber mantis will crack the thinner glass of a ten.

ive kept 5 gal for a month without problem. but it was in a bucket with a lid kept in the closet. so air tight in a cool place. i just stirred it up before useing it and i never noticed any spike or harm. but i am not a big coral person so i couldnt say past it didnt hurt my seahorses.

does that count when purchasing coralife because it has free tee shirts?

i may be slightly confused. why is floss so bad? just so i get this right because it mechanically filters out stuff that stuff rots and as it rots it adds nitrates?? but isnt that slightly to be expected? if you dont use floss how else do you mechanically filter the water? can there be any way expected to filter the water without the downside of the caught stuff rotting? but i love the idea of a hob as a mini refuge. do you actually use this or this just an idea? because many or most small hob have high flow rates for the small space, and that would not be a bad thing? mabye it would be great because the bacteria is well oxygenated. but cant there be too strong? i really want to try this. i have so many penguin filters that i have nothing to do with and i cant stand buying those overpriced replacements.

if you want seahorses check out seahorse.org it is the best source to check out that area of intrest. in a ten gallon you are restricted to dwarf seahorses that require live food. enriched brine. my question is "are there corals that will do well in such a small tank with those cheapo lights?