Carey's LAST Build- 125g Reef

[0o.Kelsey.o0]

Wow, one or two cubes? LOL

I must be a stingy feeder. Maybe that's why i generally have 0 nitrates? hehee...

lol I only feed every other day (not right now though since the fish have ich) and there is like 14 fish in there! It doesn't have nitrates or too much of an algae problem so it's all good I also thaw the food in tank water and strain it before I add it, all that gross junk that causes algae and nitrates is usually thawed into the water.

edit - I actually rarely feed them a full two cubes, usually thaw out two cubes for the seahorses since they need to be twice a day and then feed my nano from that also and my pico, then I give the leftovers to the big tank and sometimes add an extra cube if there isn't much left. I keep any leftovers in our basement fridge for later use.

 

[carey]

I'm gonna have to find a happy medium somehow. I'm gonna figure out how to throw one power strip and kill the powerheads so at least the fish can see the food. I'm not gonna kill the return pump just for feeding, that'll drive me nuts. lol

I'm also worried about my new flow rate. Right now I only have one of the tubes in the overflow with siphon so I have the return pump throttled back at the ball valve i installed. BUT today when I install the new overflow it's rated for 1200gph and I'll be almost letting the return pump go full throttle. I can't imagine what thats gonna do to the fish.

 

[Gti_Leo]

i thaw my food in RO water befopre i feed it to my fish. i feed mysis shrimp to them two tiems a week and NLS marine pellets every day

 

[carey]

My tang is spitting out the nls pellets. :-(

The clowns caught a couple of them though. I haven't seen the blenny eat yet either but I'm sure he's fine. I left an algae sheet out too

 

[RandJ]

In the 180 I feed 2 cubes every other day. Or 1 cube and part of an algae sheet. That's for like 12 fish, 4 shrimp, and the dendrophelia (he's the only coral I spot feed)

 

[carey]

My new overflow just arrived!! Yay!

I'm trying to set it up but I forgot to have my b/f help me move the lights off the top so I'm kinda dead in the water. I turned everything off too so theres like no flow in the tank until he gets home. :-(

On a brighter note ALL the fish are now out and swimming. I think I might have too much flow in there for them. They are all eating flake right now and just swimming everywhere.

I have the return pump @ about 1200gph and 2 Koralia 1400's. Do you think thats too much flow? This is the first I've seen the gramma or the blenny since they went in last night so it's gotta be the flow.....

 

[0o.Kelsey.o0]

My new overflow just arrived!! Yay!

I'm trying to set it up but I forgot to have my b/f help me move the lights off the top so I'm kinda dead in the water. I turned everything off too so theres like no flow in the tank until he gets home. :-(

On a brighter note ALL the fish are now out and swimming. I think I might have too much flow in there for them. They are all eating flake right now and just swimming everywhere.

I have the return pump @ about 1200gph and 2 Koralia 1400's. Do you think thats too much flow? This is the first I've seen the gramma or the blenny since they went in last night so it's gotta be the flow.....

Maybe, I only have two Koralia power heads on our 260 tank and then a wave box, I don't know how powerful the Koralia's are. You have four power heads?

 

[Sarcothelia]

Maybe make it so the powerheads are pointed at the glass first rather than going straight across the tank? I don't know if that's what you're already doing but worth a shot. Or point them more towards the top of the tank too.

 

[carey]

I'm just running the 2 1400gph koralia's and the output of course. I still have 2 750's I could use but I was thinking that wouldnt be enough flow.

I got my new continuous overflow working all by myself! I should have just gotten this one at first! I'm such an idiot sometimes. LOL But it's simple as pie to use, no sucking on an air hose and it's quiet.

I've been searching the LA site and am trying to narrow down what I'm gonna buy. They just got back in stock the lyretail anthias in both male and female and I was wondering if I should add them first? Then maybe add the 3 tangs at the same time? I changed my mind about the sand sifting goby, I think I can keep a clean sandbed without him, I hope anyways. But I have really wanted a midas blenny for my cube but now that I am getting a mandarin instead I figured maybe I could add the midas to this tank.

Will the midas and my lawnmower get along ya think? i could order the anthias and the midas at the same time I guess along with the inverts i want for the pico.

 

[nxb161]

Pics???

I'd return the kenya tree, once happy they drop arms like crazy and will very quickly take over your pico, or any tank haha. The xenia is fine but should be kept isolated to one rock because it will also grow quickly and can take over tanks.

Xenia is hit or miss, with me, didn't matter where I had it, it is everywhere, even have to scrap it off the back glass sometimes, I wouldn't take the chance. I have it in two of my 3 tanks.

 

[0o.Kelsey.o0]

Midas and lawnmower should get along, I researched it before I added my starry blenny (which was going to be a lawnmower at first). There was quite a few people who had both midas and lawnmower, my midas didn't even acknowledge the starry blenny when I put him in, first thing he went and sat right beside the midas's rock too. They now are usually always very close to each other, never acknowledging each other though haha.

 

[carey]

Ok cool. Then maybe I'll order them together.

I'm having another problem with the return pump....I have the new overflow which is rated for 1200 gph going and the return pump still has to be throttled back almost halfway to keep the chamber full enough.

Looking at the inlet pipes it doesnt look like a ton of water is going through into the filter sock. My hoses from the overflow to the sump are about a foot too long each, could this have something to do with it? One is actually kinda sideways almost. Also, does the water level in the tank have anything to do with this?

Thanks looking forward to some enlightening answers!

 

[Space lord]

Can you adjust your overflow up and down ?

 

[carey]

Can you adjust your overflow up and down ?

Yep. Does that matter?

 

[Gti_Leo]

yeah it slows the flow rate and raises it so you aren't killing your return pump.

midas blenny is so perdy i want one

 

[RandJ]

Leo- can you expand on what your saying about the overflow. I have the same problem of having to throttle way way back but I have the built in overflows. Are you saying this will hurt my return pump in the long run?

 

[carey]

yes, elaborate please, I don't get it.....LOL

 

[Greenmaster]

RandJ you are best to put a Y on your return pump and have at least one side of the Y all the way open (probably the one going up) and then you open the other side until you reach the desired flow rate... or you start with them both open and you close the "sump return" until the "tank return" is at the right flow rate. It's better for the pump that way... but If Leo has a way to increase your overflow rate and you want more flow in your tank (most tanks do) you should do that first and then if you still need to slow down the flow to your tank, you should try my suggestion.

 

[Gti_Leo]

you shouldn't really have an issue throttling back the pump. if anything the propeller may not last as long but also you're forcing your pump to pull more power and its not pumpign at its full potential so you are creating wasted electricity.

RandJ - how come you have your pump dialed down if you have gravity over flows? are they not rated as hig has your pump can do?

carey - in your case its the same thing ony you can adjust the flow rate of the siphon, so why not use the pump to its full potential and get the max flow rate to the wattage you're using

 

[carey]

How do I adjust the flow rate of my overflow though? Thats what has me stumped.