BEEN USING REEF STATUS MADE BY SEACHEM TESTER. WHEN I DO TOTAL ALK IT IS 2.5meq/l AND WHEN I DO BORNATE IT IS 1meq/l THEN IT SAYS TO SUBTRACT THE BORNATE FROM THE TOTAL AND THIS GIVES U CARBONATE ALK DONT KNOW WHERE OR HOW TO GET ALK IN LINE IS THIS LOW.

I am the owner of ReefCavern.com. We recently created a College Support Fund in which we hope to award $$$$ to at least one student this year and more in the future. Our goal is to promote the reef keeping hobby and provide opportunities for college students to generate formal research associated with the reef keeping hobby.

Our goal is to raise $10,000 this year and more in the years to come. We have initiated this fund with a $1000 contribution ourselves. 100% of the money collected will be given to student(s) selected from essays submitted to us for evaluation.

http://www.collegesupportfund.reefcavern.com

Please consider making a contribution. Also if you find other methods of funding college for students specific to the reefkeeping hobby (marine biology, biology, etc), let us know and we will post that information on our site as well.

I just upgraded my reef tank to a 125g, the tank is 6′ by 24" deep. Currently I am running a 72" Current USA DE MH 3x150w fixture with 14k phoenix bulbs on the way. I was just curious what coral I should stay away from with this lighting and if it was possible to keep low light clams under this lighting setup. The sand bed is approx. 24 inches from the lighting. The tank is cycled and running currently with 60 pounds of live rock and 90 pounds cycled getting ready to go in the tank. Any recommendation are appreciated.

Thanks Matt

Last saturday I performed a tank swap and upgraded the reef from a 90 gal to a 120 gal.. I used some new crushed coral and new live sand….. I added maybe 40 gallons of new water. My in sump skimmer is only 2 months old.. Eshopps model…. Since the new tank all it is doing is filling with fresh clean water and creating large suds like bubbles…. I thought maybe it was do to the sump water levels and evaporation because i am losing a lot of water daily but tonight i set just as it was in my old tank and it is still acting stupid…

Could the tank be too clean right now??? what could i have damaged when i rinsed it, if anything.

Thanks all.

I am about to transfer my reef from one tank to another and i have been fighting aiptasia with Joes Juice… Is there a way I can do something with the rock out of the tank that will kill them all off once and for all and not kill or disturb my coraline growth…

thanks all.

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?

I just set up my tank two months ago I have yellow and blue tangs and two clowns I would like a professional opinion on what species Of fish to introduce next.I am new at this should I just build my reef first.help

I was wondering if anyone knows of any great sand sifting fish. I have a goby that looks like an engineer goby, but it has more tiger-like stripes. Any way, he does a good job but mostly behind the reef. I am looking for somthing for the sand bed.
*and, does anyone know what that eel-like goby could be?

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!