Who's Into Saltwater?

D.O.G.

Goblin 380 Supporter
If I had a fish tank, it probably wouldn't have any fish in it. Maybe those plastic fish they have for the tanks. That way I know they will survive.
 

Tony

Staff member
ah, it's not that hard to keep a tank. Just do the things that need to be done once a week, and keep the filters changed.
 

Tony

Staff member
Oh, I'm still a little upset over that one.... And I will make a post soon about it. Until then, you have to wait since you have not been around..... :evil:
 

Tony

Staff member
Alright, it's Sunday and I just finished a 10 gallon water change on the tank. As stated earlier in this thread, I do not feel that I need to continue with the 20 gallon changes since my phosphate and nitrate are quite low. So, I made up 20 gallons and used 10 of it this weekend and will use the other 10 next weekend. Saves some work, and measuring this is super easy this way.

So lets chat about what has me Happy, Sad, and a little worries.

I had a chat with Matt and I'll admit it, I pretty much dropped the aquarium hobby like it was hot, and I did not research anything for a very long time. Well, in this time, some major changes have happened. The one that I'm referring to is the decision of Hawaii to stop ALL outbound fish shipments. This means if you wanted a fish that was caught in Hawaii, that fish just got VERY expensive.

Case in point, The Yellow Tang was a $36 fish. Since this has come down from Hawaii, the Yellow Tang that was caught in Hawaii is now $450. Don't believe me, check out THIS LINK to Live Aquaria. Just in case the price changes in the future, and it likely will, I have taking an image of the page for the price....

Stupid_Expensive_Yellow_Tang_Price_LA.PNG

So that has me happy since I own a Yellow Tang. I can sell him for a profit (I can, but I won't). I'm sad that after decades of people owning this very hardy fish, now it is just stupid expensive. And I'm worried because this could happen to any other fish out there which would push out a lot of people from the hobby. I know I'm never going to spend $450 on a fish or coral. With that said though, if you REALLY want a Yellow Tang, They are very likely to survive in your tank unlike other expensive fish that are for experts only.

So enough about the bad news, let's move on....

Today I did my water change as stated above, but yesterday I checked all of my parameters. And, I took pictures because I'm just not believing what I'm seeing.

Here is my Alkalinity test. I did not dose anything since last weekend so that I could see what the tank was using up. Last weekend I tested the Alkalinity and it was 8.9dKH. When I checked it yesterday, it was 8.0dKH. I'm just going to round that off to 1.0dKH a week as things are always growing. Using Soda Ash to dose, I will need 10.2ml each day. This would be easy enough with a 1.1ml/min dosing pump and I can dose it throughout the night so that the PH doesn't spike like it did last night when I tested it lol. Dumping in 70ml of soda ash raises the tank about 0.2ph, which is the max you want to raise it. So I will just invest in a doser and do it that way.
Alkalinity.jpg

The Calcium last week was 477, which is a little high. I checked it this week, and it's 450, which is perfect. I did not dose any Calcium this weekend and I just let the water change add a little to the water (if any as it should also be at 450, but I have not tested it yet since I'm about to change salts).
Calcium.jpg

Next are the two that I'm not really believing, but back to back tests have provided the same results.

First is the Nitrates. I did a test last weekend with the Low Range (LR) tester, and that tester is horribly complicated to test, but I did it just to see what it said (all of this is above as well, in detail). The LR checker gave me 1.25. The next day I received my new High Range (HR) tester and I did another test. On this test I received a 2.0. Still VERY good from what I'm used to. So I tested it yesterday, and I received a 1.2, right there with what the LR showed last week (there is a pretty broad margin for error). Anything under 5 and I'm happy!
Nitrate_HR.jpg

And last is Phosphate. This is a LR checker and when I tested last week, I received a reading of 0.00. Matt straight up said that was impossible, and I advised my other kit was showing the same thing. So this week I tested it and I received a 0.04. Note, I have fed the fish every day rather than every 2 or 3 days like I usually do. But I'm happy to see that I do have some phosphates now so that the corals can feed on it to color up nicely.
Phosphate.jpg

So all in all everything about the tank is doing fantastic now. Fish are happy, corals are happy, sand and glass are mostly staying clean and I have to do very little to the tank. I did purchase a new glass cleaner called a "Flipper" which has a pad on one side for regular algae, and a blade on the other for coralline algae. The blade also has an extended reach, so I can reach above or below the trim on the tank to clean there as well now. I used to have to do this by hand. Definitely worth the $37 I paid for it on Amazon.

Amazon product
So, that's this weeks up date. I'm still pondering what I'm going to do about a sump because I find it quite hard to let go of over $500 for a plastic box...
 

callsign4223

Staff member
Every 3 days?????

No wonder you have no phosphates LMAO

Quit starving your fish you heathen ;)

You know, everyone is just gonna switch to foxfaces and kole tangs.
 

Billwoodward

New Member
A few years ago the wife and I decided to switch from fresh water to saltwater for our tanks. At this time she was working at petsmart so we could get some discounts on some things. But it was all fresh water. We found a store that specialized in reef tanks and the colors were awesome. I knew I had to get into it.

We took all of the stuff out of the 55 gallon and stuck it in a 20 gallon and purchased the live sand and live rock. Our first fish to help the tank cycle was 4 Blue Devil Damsils. Let me tell you, these fish will cycle your tank quite quickly and are very hard to catch lol. They are pretty aggressive so we had to remove them from our tank to introduce other fish.

We had this tank up and running for two years. I went from HOB (Hang On Back) filters to a full sump system I designed. It was great. However, 2 large pumps, two power heads in teh tank, heaters, and T5 lights takes it's toll on your electricity bill. So we made the decision to sell it.

And now I miss the tank.

I still have a 55 gallon tank out in the cellar and I'm really thinking about setting another one up. I was just wondering if any of you have been interested in saltwater or if you have your own setup in your house or office? If you do, post up some pics, I would like to see it.

also if you know where to get some live rock or live sand, let me know. I want 80lbs of each.

Here are some pics of my old tank. I want more lol.

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- - - Updated - - -

Here is some newer pictures of the tank just before I sold it. These are the pictures I used to actually sell it. I think it looked better when we set it up in the new house lol.

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Tony

Staff member
I have always liked those shrimp, and if I ever do a pico tank, I may get one.

Matt, you are likely correct on the Foxface and Kole. But they still are not a Yellow Tang. That fish is just iconic in any saltwater tank. Glad I have one!

Nothing much going on with the tank at this time. I have cleaned the glass with the new Flipper algae scraper and I'm starting to like it more than the MagFloats. Once I get a good Nori clip for my Tang, I will be pulling both magfloat's out of the tank. I say both because one is what I use to clean the glass. It has the strongest magnets of the two. The other, I superglued a suction cup to that holds my Nori clip for the tang lol. I mean, I wasn't using the magfloat anyway, so why pay $50 for a clip when I could make one for free. And bonus, the place where I move the clip was ALWAYS clean lol.

But, everything is going good. The wife is wanting a new TV for the bedroom because I get pissed off at that POS just about every night, but I really want to get the new sump for the tank instead. I may just take a drive up to Regal Plastics here in OKC and see what they have for cast 1/4" sheets. Just need to decide on colors.
 

Tony

Staff member
Heater died in the tank today and I cannot find my backup heater. Tank is getting cold...
 

Tony

Staff member
Not a dumb question at all. Would this help, yes. Would it be effective for a tank this site, probably not on top. And I don't want to heat the side glass. If it was under the tank, that would be best (heat rising and all). Honestly the best thing you can do is pull some water out of the tank, heat it on the stove and slowly pour it back in. Will take about an hour to bring the tank up a few degrees properly, but will work. Great reason to have gas stove.

I called the wife and had her pickup two 100 watt heaters from Walmart on her way home. I had a 300 watt heater, and yes, even with dual 100w's, you can definitely see the curve is more slanted when it has to heat up the tank. We are discussing purchasing dual 500 watt heaters to use with a heater controller that is double redundant on the temp probe as well as the relays to turn them off, plus it will be plugged into my Apex which is a third redundant step to keep it from killing the tank. The heaters that I'm going to get have no thermostat built in, so it needs a controller, and I'm tired of wearing out the outlet on my apex, so I will get a heater controller to help out.

Added everything up last night on what this tank needs to get back to what it was in its peak, and we are looking at ~$3500. This may be the end of the tank, but I have not 100% made up my mind yet. Trust me, there will be more to come.
 

James M. Lewis

Armed Forces
OMG & Awesome Tony !!!!! One of my grandsons is coming over this weekend and this is his passion. He'll freak out when he see's these photo :hdbng:. Now this is living 3D art at it's best.
 

Tony

Staff member
Thanks James. When it is running smooth, it's amazing to have in the living room. When things are not running smooth, it can be frustrating. Still trying to decide what direction we are going to take on this one.
 

D.O.G.

Goblin 380 Supporter
Tony's tank is awesome. Fish tanks are cool to look at as long there someone else's to take care of :).
 
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