My 1st 55 gal reef build

[LaWoWee]

I just bought 5 mid sized turbo snails anf within a week my hermits had killed, eaten and moved in...lol. I was not impressed...lol

I try not to get turbos anymore. Unless you have algae, theyll starve to death if they dont die first from flipping upside down. lol

 

[jjamontan]

Take a look at reefcleaners.org they got cheap CUC's when I say 50 they are tiny.

 

[daney90]

Yeah I wanted to buy from them but they won't ship here to Canada boo!

All of a sudden my only trochus snail died and 1 margarita... Mmm

 

[daney90]

I hate to see my medium size trochus died and my nassarius, crabs and shrimp are having a feast.

 

[daney90]

Im backkkk! After almost a month of crazy busy schedule (work and school) I'm finally back

Tank update:
I lost a cleaner shrimp for whatever reason maybe 5 days ago and my red algae and clean algae are still there. Both algaes aren't that bad but they are still on my rocks. I figured its my ro filters that needs to be changed because the resin bead changed colour. Anyways tds meter and filters are on the way

 

[daney90]

How many more fish can i add ti my tank?

I'm planning to add more fish in the near future. Im thinking of getting 4 chromis and maybe 2 anthians.

 

[LaWoWee]

How many more fish can i add ti my tank?

I'm planning to add more fish in the near future. Im thinking of getting 4 chromis and maybe 2 anthians.

Chromis are really cool looking. I never had luck keeping them because they like to pick on the smallest/weakest one until it dies then the chain goes on. Supposedly anthias need a really big tank if keeping more than 1.

 

[daney90]

That's very true. I've read threads about em and yeah they like to nip their mates. I wanted to get them because they look nice when you have 4 or 5 but yeah.. Anyways I went to my lfs yesterday and you know you can't go home empty handed lol!!! So I bought solar wrasse this fish is my new fav

 

[daney90]

Anybody here using the taotronic LED lights? 120w? I just got my 2 fixtures a week ago and both dont have the same brightness. One is brighter than the other one.

 

[LaWoWee]

Hmm. im assuming they are non dimmable? If its really noticeable then i'd contact the seller. Did yours come with a warranty?

 

[daney90]

Mine is dimmable and it says there's 30 days warranty. Yeah its really noticeable when i have both blues set to minimum.

 

[LaWoWee]

Wow thats a big difference. The right side actually seems pretty bright for being at a minimum setting. What do they both look like at max? Id let them know ASAP. Seems like something is off. The dim side seems right for a min setting.

 

[daney90]

Yep, i just emailed the seller. Hopefully I
can still return it.

How much percent of light do you use? Right now run 50% blue and about 30% whites.

 

[LaWoWee]

I have mine set at 100% blues and 80% whites. If you want to go higher, just increase them a little bit every couple of days

 

[daney90]

I have mine set at 100% blues and 80% whites. If you want to go higher, just increase them a little bit every couple of days

Aren't the lights too bright? Lol!! I feel like they are too bright even if its 50% blue and 30%whites. My dad said theyre painful to the eyes lol!!

 

[LaWoWee]

Your corals will let you know if theyre too bright. Some of my corals have been under that % for about a year and love it. Of course I had to first acclimate them to it first though. I just throw in all my new editions with no choice but to accept the lighting. They are pretty bright to the human eye. I try not to look at them too long or i start to see blue spots everywhere. lol

 

[daney90]

Your corals will let you know if theyre too bright. Some of my corals have been under that % for about a year and love it. Of course I had to first acclimate them to it first though. I just throw in all my new editions with no choice but to accept the lighting. They are pretty bright to the human eye. I try not to look at them too long or i start to see blue spots everywhere. lol

Lol!! Exactly! He keeps telling me they're too bright and yet he's the one who keeps insisting to get corals lol!! At one point I was going yo say wear your sunglasses when looking at the tank

Right now I still battling with diatoms and red algae due to bad ro filters. Filters arrived last week and I just did 30% pwc. Do I have to completely eliminate those algaes before I can start adding corals?

 

[LaWoWee]

You can probably just remove the algae by hand and as long as you keep the nutrients in check then it wont grow back or atleast slow its growth. The red stuff (cyano) you should definitely remove or kill or else it will smother your corals quickly. I used to just suck it up or blow it off with a turkey baster. I think i should probably invest in an RO/DI unit because i spend lots of money buying gallon jugs of distilled water from the grocery store.

 

[daney90]

I scrubbed some cyano off when I was doing my weekly water change yesterday and ohh lord! They are back again on my rocks! This is frustrating. I don't have any clue whats causing them to grow...

 

[jjamontan]

I scrubbed some cyano off when I was doing my weekly water change yesterday and ohh lord! They are back again on my rocks! This is frustrating. I don't have any clue whats causing them to grow...

I went thru the same thing not long ago. I was using one of them cheep eBay RODI fixtures my lighting was running for 10 hours and was running the BRS GFO thru my reactor. I stpoed using the RODI fixture from eBay, started getting eater from the vending machine. Cut my lights back to 8 hours and changed from the BRS GFO to the Kent's marine. Three days later all of the Cyano was gone. Not sure what of the three things did the trick but everything is looking great now. Good luck