FarmerTy

It's like admitting you're an alcoholic while standing in a bar. Nobody else in there thinks there's a problem. Haha. New goal is to keep it under 100 species... I'll give stuff away for frags of people's wallets!

The forum software bleeped "dang it"? That's hilarious. Thanks Victoly... it starts with admitting a problem. At least we aren't all collecting like 100 cats or anything... does this qualify all of us to be on that show "Hoarders"?

Don't give me any ideas Timfish! I'll go with the let everything grow out approach and stop collecting any more varieties. Chris, I got one frag of king midas I'll trade you for some mohawks. Wait, ******, I said no more varieties! You guys are enablers! Okay, I'll trade you but I'm selling another species of coral this weekend and removing it from my system entirely. Deal! -Ty

I figured if I posted it somewhere public where I could be held accountable, it would make me realize I have a problem and stop buying coral. I'm going to institute a coral species exchange program from this point on. If one species comes in, one must leave! I'm at 120 different species of softies, LPS, SPS, and anemones! Who else has a problem??? Kind of redundant to ask on a reef site but jeez, I never counted the number out before. I'm actually quite shocked by my own number. Please tell me someone has it worst than me? -Ty

I thought I saw some Mag pumps at Fishy Business. I would give them a call.

I check the following parameters in my tank, now on a monthly basis: pH - Apex probe Temp- Apex probe Salinity - hydrometer and refractometer Ca - Red Sea Test Kit Alk - Hanna Meter Phosphate - Hanna Meter (sometimes test every 2 weeks) Iron - Red Sea Test Kit (rarely test) I like the Red Sea test kits, so ditto to what RobR said. It all depends on what type of tank you are running. Personally, when I first started, all I tested was temperature and salinity. I also only kept softies and LPS but kept them well for 6 years with regular 2 week water changes. Once you go SPS, you test a whole lot more than the average reefer, I'd say... but at least my water changes have changed from 2x a month to 2x a year now! Woohoo!

Thanks Clint for the awesome frags at the great price. -Ty

Funkness, I have 3 Coralvue 250-watt ballasts. I'll sell them to you for $100 for all 3. One is actually dimmable. PM me if you are interested. Thanks. -Ty

Bige is all over it. Thanks man.

Yeah, removed the bottom disk, replaced it with the part from the silly putty (concave half of ball), then cut notches in the tubing (like a cross), added some tubing to extend the tube to touch the bottom, and presto, nice tumbling reactor mod for $4.

+1 I also overfeed as well and use aminos periodically. I modded my TLF 150 with parts from a silly putty ball from Target, which kept the pellets tumbling more consistently for me.

I got cyano when I first started using about 1 year ago but then after dosing a bacteria source, it slowly went away. Like everyone said above, just make sure you feed your coral, don't let phosphate get too low, and add more and more biopellets slowly. -Ty

I uploaded some tank pics. I'll work on uploading a youtube video or two of the tank and providing a link when I get back in town.

Chase is a great guy. Nice seahorse setup too... I envy anyone with a tank in their room... nothing like laying down and staring at your tank. Nice meeting you Chase and thanks for the great stuff. Let me know how those frags do in your tank. -Ty

Interested in the pH probes and module. You got PM. -Ty

The short video is like 100mb. Is that going to be okay? I'd upload the longer video but that's really huge.

I have a really short video of my tank, where should I send?

+1 I had a nano tank (12 gallon) and the heater didn't turn on until October but ran off and on until February. This was in a house away from windows, however, I don't run my heat very often in the house. The small body of water changes temp really fast so the heater is def good insurance. Give it a 6-8 degree sudden drop in a couple of hours and consider your corals nuked. Also, have you read up at all about cycling your tank? Did you buy live rock? Add any bacteria starter doses? I think the main difference from starting a predator tank versus a coral tank is the cycling of the system. With the predator tank, its just fish. So, as long as your salinity and temperature are correct, you're solid. Then all you have to do is have the appropriate filtering devices in place to remove the biological load and add some water changes, and you're good to go. With a coral system (particularly a nano) you have live rock and water changes as your main combatants against your biological load. Even if the live rock has already been cured and good to go, either way you would have to wait to finish your cycle before adding corals and fish, unless you dose some kind of bacteria head-start stuff (e.g. Dr. Tim's). I may have missed that you've already cycled your tank (typically 1-3 months) but if you haven't yet, expect a cycle to be hitting you soon if you just set up your tank. You'll probably get a ammonia spike and higher levels of nitrites/nitrates and phosphates while your system is balancing out, which usually results in some type of algae growth or cyano. The conditions in your tank may be detrimental to the inhabitants of your tank which is why you usually leave the tank empty with just the liverock and sand until the cycle is complete. The main reason I mention any of this is to prepare you in case you start noticing algal growth and your corals looking really ticked off.. then you may have an answer as to why. Also, seems like you're still shopping around for that perfect piece of liverock to be the centerpiece of your tank. When you add the new large piece of liverock to your system, it will cause another cycle in your tank. To avoid that, most people aim to have all their liverock in their system at the start and allow it all to cycle first, before putting anything in the tank. These were the same stepping stones that I tripped on when I first started and wanted to share in case it helps. This hobby is such a rewarding one that I don't want anybody new starting out with a frustrating experience and be turned off by the whole thing. If you have any questions, ask away as you'll get some pretty good responses from the club. If you already know everything I said above, then ignore and maybe it'll help someone else who is reading your post. Good luck! -Ty

Sorry to see you go man. You were a wealth of good information on the board. Hopefully you'll be back one day. -Ty

Supposedly it is as easy as donning some polarized sunglasses and looking for the honeycombed effect on the glass. If it is honeycombed, then it is tempered. As I have read, not experienced myself so don't quote me. Nice grab btw, I was asking the owner of that exact tank if they would sell without the stand, but they wouldn't so I passed. Definitely liked the dimensions on that one! -Ty