Greetings

[Seriak]

Just wanted to introduce myself as the latest reefer in Cow-town. I have a 90 gallon RR Oceanic tank with the following

25 Gallon Sump
Aquamedics Turbofloater Skimmer
4 MaxiJet 1200
4" DSB
140# Live Rock
A few crabs and snails

If anyone has any advice for a beginner who is taking this hobby very seriously, please feel free to share.

[AJ_77]

Glad to hear of another Cow-towner. Welcome! Is your tank a new set-up? Where do you shop?

I have only one piece of advice: beware the phytoplankton plague! (My tank is currently green through and through - my own particular algae outbreak at the 3-month stage.)

Cheers,

AJ

[Delphinus]

Welcome to Canreef. I hope we can entice you to come to one of our meetings some day.

The only generic advice I offer to you is: take it slow, and enjoy the ride. Sounds like a great setup you will have there.

[Seriak]

My tank is covered with a brown algae and I have some small stalk looking things that are green. As you can tell I am really new at this hobby. I have been running my tank for a little under 2 weeks now.

[Seriak]

I actually researched for about 6 months before I actually bought anything. I probably need to get a book on corals and such now for a little more detail.

I just have one question for you,

Anyone know how to cool down my tank without a chiller. It is running in the low 80's right now. I believe it is our weather and the fact that I am running two submersible pumps. My 2 MH probably impact it to. I have 2 fans running 24X7 in the stand and one built into the lighting system. I cannot lift my lights off the top of the tank as my girlfienf would kill me. Any other suggestions?

[Aquattro]

Seriak, how low in the 80's is it? My tank is 81 all the time so if it goes to 83 or 84, it's no big deal. If I get up in the morning and it looks like it will be really hot, I unplug one of my MHs for the day.

[DJ88]

Seriak,

Turn off one of the MH's and see if your temperature keeps a bit lower. Best way to do it. I have been for the last couple of days. As well I have been putting a large house fan blowing onto my sump.

hth

[Seriak]

My temperature ranges between 80-84. I would try the MH route but it is a little more difficult for me as mh MH are tied together and I heard you shouldn't leave and empty socket with the power turned on. Either way it would be a lot of work as I have to remove some screws and the the top sheet of plastic to unscrew one. I heard if you rotate bottles of frozen water in your sump it may reduce the temperature. I am going to try that as well.

[spikehs]

I heard of someone who had a closed loop that ran through a small beer fridge! Supposedly it worked pretty well, if you have an extra fridge lying around............

[Bob I]

Seriak, I have a nice big Coral Banded Shrimp available. It is currently in my nano. I would like to get rid of it before I go on vacation on July 17th, so I will not have to feed the nano. It might do well in your empty tank.
Bob

[AJ_77]

Originally posted by Seriak:
As you can tell I am really new at this hobby. I have been running my tank for a little under 2 weeks now.<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Bob - your CBS will likely bite the dust in his tank.
Anybody Else - does the Coral Banded earn its nasty reputation honestly? And how might it get along in my 90 with a cleaner shrimp (two eventually)? Maybe I can provide a home.

CHEERS!

[Delphinus]

Uh ... your fans are running 24/7 and still the temp is >80? Something doesn't sound right there. Is the tank near a window getting sun? On a hot day my tanks can hit warm temps but never when the lights aren't on. If it's warm when the lights are off, the heaters are set too high or the pumps are pumping against too much backpressure or something like that.

[DJ88]

Alan,

CBS' can be hit or miss. I had one that would clean my fish and was never a problem with any other shrimp. It had it's hangout and everyone kept a small distance away. But some can be as mean as they come. The only drawback with mine was that if I didn't feed it I would catch it eating bristle worms from time to time. So, hit or miss.

[spikehs]

i recommend getting some good books, they will pay for themselves in no time at all. If you are going reef i DEFINATELY recommend

Aquarium Corals - Eric B.

[Seriak]

Bob,

I would be happy to take your CBS off of you. However, I would have to wait until closer to your vacation date as it would probably die in my tank right now.

As for my heating problem. I unplugged my heater completely. (Just to make sure) It seems to be the hot weather we have been getting. My house has a lot of windows so it heats up pretty quickly. I need to get some blinds or something.

[Canadian Man]

A happy belated welcome to Seriak!
I was on vacation so that's why i am here to play catch up. anyway glad to see a new face and hope to see you at our meetings. new faces are great!

[Bob I]

Alan, my CBS at one time was together with my Cleaner Shrimp. It did not cause any problems. He is actually not agressive at all. I just got back from the long weekend, and things are calm at my house. I have stopped using the MH, as it was really getting dull. I am back to using the PC over the two tanks, and things are looking much better. I have problems finding a spot for the Colt, as it grows very fast.
Bob

[ 02 July 2002, 17:05: Message edited by: Bob Ipema ]