Newbie here. Read online that people hand feed their soft corals like polyps with mysis shrimp. I’ve even seen pictures of corals trying to swallow a small hermit crab and trying to eat a fish that died and fell on it.

LFS says only feed the corals the filter foods and they’re good with photosynthesis (sp?) but online many people say feeding them brine shrimp or mysis shrimp, even blood worms makes the coral grow bigger and faster.

What is your take, do you hand feed your soft corals? Pros? Cons?

Thank you

whats up guys ive been lurking around here for awhile, i just started up my 40 Gallon Fluval osaka reef tank two days ago, i set up the Fluval 205 canister filter that came with it, have my powerhead running with 2 heaters, i have about 40lbs of base rock, and 10lbs of live rock and slowly am adding more LR i have table shrimp in a net bag sitting in the water as well..

now its been filled since about 10pm 2 nights ago, the filter will have been running for 24 hours at about midnight ET tonight… but since it STUNK alot due to cycling, i changed about 35% of the water this morning…

problem is the water is still pretty milky and has been since i first put water in the tank 2 days ago, i used instant ocean salt, at the correct gravity. but the water doesnt seem to be clearing up, i cant tell a difference.. i just want the water to be clear so i can at least have something better to look at, any reasons after 2 days and almost a full day of filter running water should still be so milky?

im going to buy a piece of plexiglass to sit on top of the tank temporarily so itll help decrese the smell in the house until the cycle is complete

any help is appreciated

Alright so I have a question, I have a ten gallon tank I used for FW that is now taken down so I can put up my 55 gallon FOWLR, my question is, can I use this tank for saltwater in the future? I would have to replace the light, the filter with a skimmer, the gravel with sand, buy some LR, but would it work?

I went and got a 55 gallon tank, two power heads, a 200 watt heater, a aqueon 55 filter and 6 extra cartridges today and they are sweet!
I tested my power heads in regular tap water (not unchlorinated nor Ro) and they work awesomely. But should have I unchlorinated the water first?
So, should I do the same with my heater? (ive been testing them in a 5 gallon bucket that i use on my fw tanks to do water changes.
But, my filter is to large to test in the bucket, I won’t have all the stuff for awhile so when should i test it? now or later and how? I want to test it asap so if i need to return it i can.

Ok I get the DA award… Seems my overflow drain to the sump backed up because the filter sock seemed to start to restrict the water flow…. The water backup and leaked out all over the base of the cabinet, under the cabinet and all over my wood floor… Lovely.

Hey guys..

I’ve got a 8 gallon bio cube, and I had a question about the filter cartages. Everything is going fine, but I have a question about the filter cartages..

If I run without a filter cartage(which I do from time to time), what happens to the loose junk when I scrape the glass? I’d go 100% no filter cartage, if I could find another solution to the heavy particles when cleaning off the glass..

I was thinking about running a small powerhead filter in the tank for a few hours.. or using a filter cartage for a day or two… Or even make some kind of simple poly type filter to drop in the back that I can reuse just to collect debits on cleaning day.

I do water changes every week. 1 gallon worth, but with my live rock I have about 6.5 gallons, so I’m turning just over a healthy gallon per week.

im curently selling a 175gallon salt water tank. has coral. 2- 3 foot dual bulb lights. the filter heater and all is included. tank is custom. and is very beautiful. has stand. give me some offers.it wont go cheap i was made aware of how much it was bought for brand new. and it is still in great condition.soo no low ballers.. this is a aquarium techniques tank out of fair lawn nj. the demensions are 6foot x 18 inch wide at corners and 24 at center. i think its 18" high it could be 24 i have to double check. the filter im still not to sure about. look at the pics and tell me what kind of filter it is.. it also has a white canister that goes with the filter box.is no longer running it was taken down by me yesterday. april 12th.the tank had 3 fish living in it when i took it down so it was running well.. just owner had no time to put more fish back in and start mantaining again.

i have a mature or very close to mature reef tank…..i just upgraded my filter….do i need to keep my old one that has been on the tank since i started it running while my new one establishes the bacteria or can i just run the new one without any trouble to my reef or inhabitents?

Hey everyone,
So i was pretty optimistic starting out with a new reef tank and I enjoyed it for a while, it was quite beautiful, then I had a hair algae outbreak. I scrubbed, water changed, the whole lot, and eventually it started to go away only to be replaced with Red Slime Algae. I am getting ready to throw in the towel because the tank is starting to loose its visual appeal. Is this normal?

I am going to list my complete setup in hopes that someone can pinpoint what is wrong and what is causing the algae to spiral out of control.

Equipment
20 Gallon Tall Tank (Not near a window)
Lighthouse Light by Catalina Aquariums (Dual 35 Watt I believe?) – On a timer from 8-6
Marine Land Bio-Wheel Power Filter 150 w/ Chemi Pure and Filter Floss
Whisper 5 Gallon Internal Filter with Poly Filter Cartridge
Aquatech Power Head 170 GPH
75W ViaAqua Glass Heater

Livestock –
2 Clowns
1 Green Mandarin
1 Yellow Watchman Goby
2 Emerald Crabs
20 Nassarius Snails
6 Turbo Snails
1 Red Starfish
I had a sea haire who ate quite a bit of algae and died a couple days later – Cause unknown

Corals -
Galaxia Coral
2 Kenya Trees
1 Medium Red Sponge Tree (Becoming covered in hair algae)
Medium GSP Frag
1 Toadstool Coral
1 Small Zoa Frag (Keep having to clean the red algae off of it)
1 Medium Mushroom
1 Small Mushroom

I am doing a roughly 20 – 30% water change once a week with RO Water and IO Seasalt and Kent Osmo-Prep and Calcium supplements.

My current water conditions are
20 Nitrate
0 Nitrite
120 Alkalinity
8.4 PH

Please someone tell me there is hope!