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

Im sorry, Im comfused too where I should had post this.

Date of minor stroke 5/02/2010

Date I began this message 5/27/2010

Due to the minor stroke, I knowingly began this message knowing it would take me a long while to complete it, while each time reviewing this message, I was editing it due to the many errors made, so hopefully when posted, this message will be clear enough for all too understand. For im only able to type a short while depending on my physical strength and disabilities that was cursed by the minor stroke on 5/02/2010. My doctor advised that following the minor stroke I should remain hospitalized for close observation due to any further complications. I was told that I was at risk of a possible full blown stroke in the next few days to a stronger and more serious stroke.

Since 5/02/2010 I only seen my grandchildren I think three times, im unable to help with the kids as I done so sense almost eight years ago following their birth. Im sleeping a great deal these days for which im feeling extremely over tired much of the time and due to the stroke im left with a content piercing headache with a lost of vision and im setup with a specialist for as well, my hearing I feel has as well been damaged. As well im mostly always feel with extreme confusion and so, most of the time im staying home now for I now only try driving when its only a must.

I just remembered that im with numbness feelings on the left side of my face and left leg, it was hard to know this after the stroke because I was with great deal of confusion.

The reason for this message is that im very sad to say that I am force to quit the hobby after so many enjoyable years of tis marine hobby. And now im looking for what else I might do in the place of the marine hobby and im thinking of going back to oil painting and as for reading, it will have it difficulties for I been trying to read much at this time and I find myself falling a sleep and always awaking feeling confused, and I remember little at time of what I readied before falling a sleep.

I can say that im for the first time after so many years is feeling extremely scared, with fear to what if this disability becomes much worst.

I will be looking to sell my tanks and books and such, put I first need to put the time into it to taking pictures of everything and hopefully most items will be pick up in person, if I need to ship certain items, I will need the time to get a proper box for that shipping, put the tanks are to be pick up only.

I also almost forgotten that im with a strong numb feeling inside my skull, you know, like a feeling after some ones head struck a hard floor. I guess I cannot exactly explain that as well as I would like too.

So there be three large tanks, the two tanks I had setup as my eel tanks has been setup as one system. It’s a 70 and 120 gallon tanks with a 40 gallon sump I think it is with a euroreef skimmer and under the other tank stand is a UV with a chiller.

The other tank was to be my dream SPS tank, but I see now that it will never happen now, I waited so long and paid so much and now im with no choice but to call it quits. But rather then to say im quitting, im retiring from the hobby. Also I have the equipment I brought, the chiller for the 240 and skimmer with a calcium reactor. There be books and a few hundred lbs of aragonite sand, its clean and in 5.5 gallon pails.

Pictures of everything when I can manage it, will be taking of every item. Its funny, I bought a Macro lens a few years ago believing that I will have this reef tank up and running. Now I will either trade it in or I do some other hobby with it taking photos of butterflies and such.

On my computer, I had my computer guy make larger and have a magnifier for other wise I have for more greater problems to read anything. I do hope that this message is fully understood that im with no choice to retire from this marine hobby. I will retake up oil painting and take photos outdoors when im able too. I been typing a little ever so on and had been editing often for there would be many more errors.

After making a personal decision to retire from this marine hobby and I waited a few weeks so to know for sure my decision to leaving the hobby was a right choice to make. The thing here is, im napping much of the day off and on, for most days im taking three too four long naps. Im very tired at most times and I fall to sleep now quite easily, with that, im up most of the night, were as I sleep much of the day.

The one other thing which troubles me is that I wish to be always able to fend for myself, but it is much difficult now to manage cleaning house, I can not do as well in this as I done before the stroke. You all can see why im with much concern and is also a reason to wanting to move from this house in which the nearest house is about a few hundred yards down the road, so im with no one living near to check in on me, or my condition. And so im hoping to move from here somewhere after 18 months and I of course would need to find a walk in apartment.

I been also during these past two months, working on the list of items to sell. It isn`t the much typing I done, but rather was difficulty, much more difficulty then its ever been. I deleted the hundreds of files and everything totaled more then a thousand links for a few hundreds a lone were articles.

Sincerely,
Buddy

Hey guys quick question

Im running a 20 gallon long fish tank with 30 pounds of live sand, 20 pounds of live rock, 2- 30 gallon filters, a CPR BAK-PAK protein skimmer, 2-20 gallon Rena heaters, and a powerhead. (Running a Coralife Aqualight 30 inch light)

My Peacock Mantis Shrimp is being delivered to my house tomorrow. The Size is little under 3 inches, so lets say its 3 inches.

I have a Small yellow Tail damsel and a Small clown fish in there, I made a cave for the mantis shrimp, and i will be feeding it my self in the beginning with sticks. Is it a bad idea, to keep the two fishes with it? Because i took the clownfish out my 30 gallon because another clownfish was beating on it. Any ideas? Thanks =/

Hey guys quick question

Im running a 20 gallon long fish tank with 30 pounds of live sand, 20 pounds of live rock, 2- 30 gallon filters, a CPR BAK-PAK protein skimmer, 2-20 gallon Rena heaters, and a powerhead. (Running a Coralife Aqualight 30 inch light)

My Peacock Mantis Shrimp is being delivered to my house tomorrow. The Size is little under 3 inches, so lets say its 3 inches.

I have a Small yellow Tail damsel and a Small clown fish in there, I made a cave for the mantis shrimp, and i will be feeding it my self in the beginning with sticks. Is it a bad idea, to keep the two fishes with it? Because i took the clownfish out my 30 gallon because another clownfish was beating on it. Any ideas? Thanks =/

So spring and summer are coming and I live in Orlando. I’ve had the tank up for six months with no problems, but these have been the cool months. Lighting should not be providing heat (Just ordered my new T5 light!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), and I am willing to keep the a/c turned to 78. What will happen if say the a/c goes out and it takes a day to fix-the temp in the house would hit like 85. A/C units if FL go out at least once a year.

My electric bills are killing me, I’m at ~300% of baseline. My power company jacks the rates up x2.5 for use over 200% of baseline and x3 for use over 300%. So I need to get my use down to under 200%.

I recently got a watt meter and I’ve been measuring everything in my house to figure out where all the power is going. Based on my analysis so far, I think my reef tank is consuming ~20-30% of my overall power right now. So I need to figure out how to make my reef tank more efficient.

My tank is ~110g (48w, 24h, 21d) + ~25g sump.

Power usage data I have on my tank so far is:
516W = Lighting used by two 250W HQI MH lights, runs 10-12 hours.
430W = 1/4HP Chiller while running, I’m not sure yet how much this runs per day, probably ~3 hrs.
81W = Main pump (Iwaki MD30RLTX external), runs 24×7.
61W = protein skimmer, runs 24×7
32W = Secondary pump for chiller (Mag5), runs 24×7
13W each = Two Hydor power heads.

So I’m thinking of getting rid of the MH lights and going with T5′s. For example, I could install a set of retro 4×36 inch 39W T5 lights which would use ~160W vs the 516W I run now. Specifically, I’m considering, one of these two:

- http://www.championlighting.com/prod…cat=913&page=1
- http://www.championlighting.com/prod…cat=913&page=1

I realize that I won’t be able to keep any hard corals or clams. I’m perfectly fine with that and I actually think I may like this better, because I have observed that many soft corals extend themselves more and look more attractive with lower light.

Reducing the light, will likely also mean my chiller will not have to work as hard with less heat load.

Another idea is to get rid of the dedicated chiller pump and just add a Tee & valve on the output of my main pump to drive the chiller. This will cut 32W and also the heat load created by this submerged pump on the chiller.

I could also try to plumb the skimmer pump to be outside my sump so that it’s air cooled instead to cut down on the heat load.

So I was wondering of anyone has feedback on the choice of lighting or other power savings ideas?

Thanks!

Hello Everyone,

I’m currently in the process of starting a company that sells coral frags online. I’m joining these forums in hopes of meeting new people in the hobby as well as sharing and gaining knowledge from the group.

A little about me…

I purchased my first 12 gallon saltwater aquarium about five years ago and since then, I have expanded to a total of over 300 gallons worth of aquariums in my house. It all started when I went to a friend’s house and saw a beautiful aquarium they had spent a fortune on for a company to come in and setup/maintain. I started looking online and found a low-cost saltwater setup that I went ahead and purchased. Long story short, I outgrew one tank after another and have constantly upgraded over the last several years with no end in sight!

Not long ago I started to realize that some of my corals were overrunning their tanks and rather than upgrading again, I decided to purchase a couple frag tanks and get a business license. I just finished building a custom frag tank setup (DIY posted on my website) and I’m currently in the process of setting up a website and getting the frag tanks cycled.

My goal here is to disseminate some of the knowledge I’ve learned over the course of several years and several tanks… learn new tricks that may help me out with the frag business… and obviously, try to meet new people who would be interested in purchasing coral frags!

I have had several fish only tanks is the past. The most recent was a 150 in-wall that I lost when job transfered me and I had to sell the house. I had over 3000 invested (acrylic tanks and I bought all the accessories. This time I want to do DIY projects for the tank especially making my own live rock and seed it. I am aware that this takes sevral months to cure before I can put in my display tank. I am also aware that seeding this rock could take up to a couple of years. My goal is to have a self sustaining eco system were the only thing I need to do on a regular basis is to add DI water. I have several years of experiance with fish only tanks but little knoweledge of a reef tank. I also know alot of changes (tricks) that people have found in the past couple years and with all the forums I would hope to pick up on some of these so called tricks of the trade. I have found a used 120 gal tank with CF lights, 30 gal long sump(would like to make my own from rubber maid containers, protien skimmer (I would like to make my own), 100 lbs of live sand (the tanks has been dry for almost a year so i guess that it would be dead sand?, and a UV sterlizer. Here are some pics of the tank. He is asking $650 for everything. Is this a good deal or should I continue to look around? Sorry for the dublicate post but I am unable to post pics. The size is right.

Pete

Where should the water level be in my sump? i understand i need to allow enough space at the top for a power/pump failure so i don’t flood the house, how do i calculate this?

Terry.