sharing :)

[Brownbear88]

Well i haven't been on maast in quite some time, finished my last year of college so now have some more free time to reef, just thought id do an update on my tanks. My 36 gallon bow front reached its 3 1/2 year mark last week and i couldn't be happier. Went threw some growing pains with stock and over stocking ( had a anemone pistol shrimp eat my entire clean up crew :/ and lost 4 fish due to lack of lid, rookie mistake) however everything has balanced out and stayed that way the past year. As you can see in the pic my frog spawn has blossomed massively in the 2 years i have had it, going from two heads to 16 now and still growing. Residents are a pair of clowns one orange and one onyx's, royal gramma, 6 line wrasse (https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=6+line+wrasse&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8) who is a model citizen, war paint goby and my elusive green mandarin. Also have a pom pom crab i hardly ever see along with my fire shrimp who also only comes out at night. I had a sea hair about a month ago disappear on me, but i think I'm ok since i do weekly wc's of 30% so NO PROBLEMS AS OF YET. Also started a small 5 gallon beta tank and a figure 8 29 gallon puffer tank with 5 bumblebee gobies( brackish ) so now i have all three stages lol.

As of right now looking to expand my cuc and also add a Cleaner shrimp to the mix ( the skunk cleaner i had was seriously big but ended up dying due to high nitrates about a year ago, another rookie mistake). Also am thinking about adding more sand to the tank and any information would be great on the safest way to do that. Like i said the take is 3 1/2 years old so last week i went out and grabbed a beautiful RBTA from the guys over at elegant reef. she is doing great and i am HOPING the clowns will host her asap! Any and all comment and thoughts are welcomed form you guys and girls!

Also if anyone has some suggestions on how to get rid of my Hair algae problem please share. Taking it out by hand is a pain in the $%^* and hour and a half water changes suck!. Im using a canister filter and have NO room for the preferable sump. Thanks y'all!

[Dean]

Very nice tanks. Glad to have you back on MAAST!

[CoryDude]

Personally I'd take the canister filter off line to help with the algae problem. It looks like you have a fair amount of rock for biological filtration. Maybe even run a bio pellet HOT reactor to help reduce dissolved organics.

What light are you using? Love the frog spawn!

[Brownbear88]

You mean just run the tank without a Filtration system ( minus the rock and sand? ) The lights are from a whole seller i picked up form a local fish store about 2 years 3 years ago, there 55 led grow lights with blue and white options, works great and wasn't too expensive. Thanks for the comment about the Frog spawn, I'm thinking about giving fragging a go with it, gonna do some more reading before i attempt that, very hardy colony!

[CoryDude]

Do you have a protein skimmer on the back? If you do, yeah, just use the rock and sand for the biological filtration and the skimmer. Next time you're at elegant reef talk to Louis about a hang on tank bio pellet reactor. It can help reduce nutrients in the tank to slow your hair algae growth.

[Brownbear88]

Ya I have a reef octopus 100 with auto top off , works freaking awesome. I'll defiantly ask about that later this week, I've wanted any type of alternative to the canister for awhile just have no room for a sump.

[slm222]

instead of canister can you get an aquaclear filter and use the intank llc media basket

[Brownbear88]

I have one on my 29 gallon figure 8 puffer brackish tank, rated for a 50, are the not BASICALLY the same set up as a canister filter just hob? The only reason I want to get rid of my canister is that I'm hoping this will help control my phosphate and nitrate problems that I'm currently having. I use rodi and do weekly wcs I also use supplements at the moment to reduct the phosphate and nitrate levels and with every wc take out one rock and scrub the mess out of it to get the algae off.

[Dean]

I am running a 2LF reactor on my biocube 29 along with a small hob skimmer and it works great for keeping phosphate and nitrate numbers in check.

[slm222]

The aquaclear with the media basket allows you to run a carbon bag or chemipure and put live rock rubble in there for more biological filtration. in the last chamber you could possible put some chaeto with a little light from InTank llc to keep those in check.