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Those dimensions sound more like a 50 gal to me. My 55 gal is 48” x 13” x 18"

Start slow. Add a little and let it run a few days, then add a little more, etc. I made the mistake of adding all at once and had a major bacteria bloom that took a week to clear up and killed my sand sifting sea star. That being said, I highly recommend npx bioplastics. I have been running...

I like to buy 5 gallon buckets from amazon.com. They have most of the brands at better prices than I’ve seen just about anywhere else, and if you have Amazon Prime they ship it for free. Easy peezy.

I agree with everyone else, damsels are just too aggressive. I had an azure damselfish when I first started, and he went after everything (including my puffers)! I have had green chromis successfully, and I have seen those blue reef chromis online and wanted them because they are really pretty...

55 gallon upgrade complete. New additions: Melanurus Wrasse and Orange Sea Star

After a couple years with my 38 gallon reef tank, the time has come to upgrade. We just moved to a new house and I figured it would be a little easier, and very convenient, to upgrade to a larger tank as long as I was going to have to move everything anyway. Things haven’t gone as smoothly...

Having a 38 gal reef tank myself, and thinking seriously about upgrading in a few months since I am going to be moving to a new house anyway, I am going to be watching this thread with great interest. I have been contemplating a 90 or bigger, but when I start adding up the cost of all the...

I would ditch the Emperor 400 ASAP. Great filter for a freshwater tank, but in a saltwater reef it will just be an unnecessary source of nitrates. Just get your protein skimmer tweeked and working properly and it should do the job. If you still have nutrient issues then you can always add a...

Just a heads up, clowns can be jumpers. I lost two of them before I added a mesh top to prevent any mores suicides in the future. Just something to think about. If you really have a hard time keeping the temp down you may need a chiller. Certainly not the least expensive option, but it would...

I found that Purigen has a tendency to clump up, which I think caused more problems than it was worth. I ended up buying a new media reactor from Bulk Reef Supply, in which I am running Chemi Pure Elite, and I am running 400ml of NPX Bioplastics in my Phosban Reactor. After a year of...

So far my only issue has been that you have to keep the flow extremely low. It only takes a light flow to fluidize this stuff, and it's so small that if you have it a little too high it will get blown right out into your tank. I tried to prevent this by using part of the bag the Purigen came in...

This happened to me too. All you can really do is make sure you have enough oxygen in the water (your protein skimmer should ensure this) and wait it out. Mine lasted about 6 days. My fish and corals were not affected, but I had a sand-sifting starfish that didn't make it. The good news is that...

Has anyone ever tried to use Purigen in a media reactor? I have been running NPX Bioplastics in my reactor for about a year, but I decided it was time to change the media, and thought I might try using the Purigen I had sitting around. It takes almost no flow to fluidize the Purigen, and I...

The stunner is just a supplement to the existing T5 HO's already growing my coral very well. They should add a little shimmer and more color to the tank, as well as a slight increase in the total light going into the system. Since it's only a 38 gallon tank, 16"-18" at the most, the amount of...

I just ordered an Ecoxotic 36" stunner strip to add to my existing 36" Coralife 2-bulb T5 HO fixture. I'm hoping that the extra light will be enough to start to keep a few SPS corals, and to make my LPS corals even happier (already growing and spreading really well). I'm going to start a thread...

I just ordered a 36" Ecoxotic stunner strip to add to my existing 36" T5 HO 2-bulb Coralife fixture. I'm hoping to be able to start keeping some SPS corals with the extra lighting power this will add. I plan to start a thread with pics once it arrives to document the setup and difference in...

Salt mix is usually plenty. My peppermint shrimp and coral banded shrimp molted all the time, and all I did was regular water changes.

Thanks. That is the mode that interests me most, so I am glad to hear from someone who uses it and like their results. I do work from home, and the tank is in my home office, so the noise is a relevant issue as well. But I don't think the MP10 will be any louder than my Reef Octopus HOB protein...

Looks good. You may want to step up your filtration to a protein skimmer at some point. I started out with a penguin hob filter like that too, and it really is nothing but trouble. They're made for freshwater tanks, and really can't do the job well enough for a reef tank, even a small one.

I don't know of any similar freshwater gobies. Back when I had a freshwater tank a long time ago I had a few bumblebee gobies, which are cool fish, but they don't do the same things for your sand that a watchman does, and they're really small.

Agreed. You just have to be careful that your rocks are stable on the glass and not just on top of the sand. I had one who liked to make a pile outside of a cave, then sit in the entrance (now smaller with his sand pile) and look out at you. It was entertaining, and I even posted a YouTube video...

Hydors are great. I have two Hydor Koralia 425's and they have worked great for nearly 2 years now. Excellent pumps.

Place it wherever it will keep your water moving without dead spots. Be willing to move it and experiment until you are happy with it. The only proper place for it is where it does the job best.

I have the BH-1000 on my 38 gallon reef tank and it is excellent. Pulls out lots of dark green gunk a couple times a week. Nice and quiet, and not bad-looking either. If you have to go HOB, like me, this is an excellent choice.

I had a couple of peppermint shrimp and every time they molted (which was often) I had to look twice to make sure nobody was dead. It can trick you. Same with the coral banded shrimp I used to have.