Share Your Random Tips

[GrimReefer]

Just like it says. I'll start, and I have lots of these but nothing's really coming to mind.

Today I realized I could make water changes a lot easier on me and my reef inhabitants by simply moving my top-off pump from fresh water to my saltwater reservoir. Then I could remove water by siphon and it would slowly refill with fresh saltwater.

[Quagmire]

If you have a mag-float type algea scraper,try to get in the habit of cleaning the glass every day or 2 ,and you wont have to break out the blade scraper on the weekend for the built up coralline.

[kwirky]

If you have a mag-float type algea scraper,try to get in the habit of cleaning the glass every day or 2 ,and you wont have to break out the blade scraper on the weekend for the built up coralline.

yeah as soon as I see the slightest film on my glass I attack it with the hammerhead.

Here's one of my own:

A 6g glass jug (for winemaking), a cheap air pump, and an electronic timer equals a quite safe and very cheap auto top-off unit.

[andsoitgoes]

yeah as soon as I see the slightest film on my glass I attack it with the hammerhead.

Here's one of my own:

A 6g glass jug (for winemaking), a cheap air pump, and an electronic timer equals a quite safe and very cheap auto top-off unit.

I like that one - how do you fit the air pump in the jug, though?

ANd do you set the timer for how long, 30 minutes or so?

[fishface]

how do you fit the air pump in the jug, though?

:lol: :lol:

[GrimReefer]

for the beginners:

-when selecting LR, choose pieces that are porous and have a lot of holes. not only is it cheaper, but a porous piece provides more surface area for biological activity.

-when designing a system, don't forget flow. it's almost as important as light. and with the new affordable flow pumps on the market, there's no excuse for lack of it.

[Phanman]

For a cheap but effective source of Blue light, try Ikea's LED strip lights. 4 strips in a box for $40. You can also connect them together to make 1 big strip. I do this for my 10gallon nano, and my friend does this on his 90gallon tank and it looks beautiful.

[SuperFudge]

There`s a bunch of good idea`s in this thread aswell,
Its 7 yrs old....but there`s a few that some may use anyways.

http://216.187.96.54/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=389&highlight=tips+tricks

[fishface]

For a cheap but effective source of Blue light, try Ikea's LED strip lights. 4 strips in a box for $40. You can also connect them together to make 1 big strip. I do this for my 10gallon nano, and my friend does this on his 90gallon tank and it looks beautiful.
you don't happen to have a name or link to these do you Phanman?

[bassman]

When making water for your water changes adjust the chemical balance before adding it to the tank. I struggled for months with low calcium and magnesium levels in my tank. I tested my makeup water one day and realized that my calcium and magnesium were too low, thus I was actually depleting the levels in my tank each week with my water changes. Once I started adding calcium and magnesium to my makeup water my tank levels were rock solid. I was even able to remove my kalk reactor all together.

[Phanman]

you don't happen to have a name or link to these do you Phanman?

Here you go :)
I found that the blue LED's are rarely in.

http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?topcategoryId=15579&catalogId=10103&storeId=3&productId=11158&langId=-15&chosenPartNumber=50098184

[fishface]

excellent, thanks alot! can you run just one strip at a time or is it all or nothing? it's difficult to see if they can be disconnected at the junction box.

[Jaws]

Here you go :)
I found that the blue LED's are rarely in.

http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?topcategoryId=15579&catalogId=10103&storeId=3&productId=11158&langId=-15&chosenPartNumber=50098184

I use those on my 180G too. I only used two strips since they can be pretty bright but with the surface agitation I have it's amazing how it gives the tank that shimmering moonlight look. You're able to see all the night crawlers way more too. I love it.

[Phanman]

Yup, you can connect as many as you want or run 2 parallel to each other and not have them connected to each other.
For my nano I just run 2 parallel to each other during the day for more blue and at night just run 1 as it gets a crazy deep blue color, lol.

[christyf5]

There`s a bunch of good idea`s in this thread aswell,
Its 7 yrs old....but there`s a few that some may use anyways.

http://216.187.96.54/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=389&highlight=tips+tricks


Man I wish I had read this one before I moved :

Always leave enough room behind the tank for YOUR arm to fit behind. If and when the time comes that you HAVE to put your arm back there, its too late

D'oh!!!

[andsoitgoes]

:lol: :lol:

HEY!!! :P

I'm serious!! :(

I have those 5g water jugs from purifed water, and man - I'd have to jam it in good!

I'm making myself seem even more stupid, aren't I?

[04scoobysti]

you have to have a sealed jug/container and drill 2-1/4" or whatever holes into the lid then put 2 rigid (can be non-rigid) air lines into the holes. One airline comes from your air pump and pressurizes(sp?) the container and the other one should be as close to the bottom of the container as you can without preventing flow into it. Water will be forced thru the second line and can be fed right into your tank/sump. I imagine he puts it on a timer on intervals that match his evap rate. A float switch is safer, but is more complicated to setup due to the fact that it requires low voltage.

[BCOrchidGuy]

If you get one for wine making it's called a carboy, get the rubber stopper that already has two holes in it, one for air line in (from an external air pump) and one for an airline out (water that is pushed out of the carboy from the airpressure that the air source creates.

Doug

[kwirky]

I like that one - how do you fit the air pump in the jug, though?

ANd do you set the timer for how long, 30 minutes or so?

lol.

I completely disassembled the pump, then put it inside the jug, then reassembled the pump using 24" forceps. (lol j/k)

If you get one for wine making it's called a carboy, get the rubber stopper that already has two holes in it, one for air line in (from an external air pump) and one for an airline out (water that is pushed out of the carboy from the airpressure that the air source creates.

Doug

I didn't bother with a two hole rubber stopper. I just forced the two 1/4" flex pipes into the single hole and sealed it with silicone. Worked for me and cut down on the running around to find stuff.

the yellow hose reaches all the way to the bottom of the jug, and it's the one taped to the 2" pipe. Water comes out of that.

the white hose coming out of the plug with the green airline tubing attached only goes about 1" into the jug. The other end is attached to the air pump with a check valve. THE CHECK VALVE IS ABSOLUTELY IMPORTANT! When the pump stops, the pressure in the glass jug will force the water into the air pump if you don't have the check valve.

The timer supports two separate on-off times. I run one at 3pm for 15 minutes, and another at 9pm for 15 minutes. I like the system because there's no float valves to break down, and if the pump stays on by accident, it's only 6g of water or less that goes into my 33g sump.

I fill it up every 2nd day for my own tank (120g with 8 bulb T5 lights).

The great thing with this system is that you can dose kalk with it if you wanted with zero worry about wearing any pumps out. I don't dose kalk any more though, but for those who do it's a great little thing.

For those in cities, almost all of this should be available without having to order a single thing online. The whole unit cost me just $20 for the jug, $1 for the plug, and I used an air pump that was just lieing about the house. Oh and a $3 check valve.

http://www.kwirky88.com/images/aquarium/07-04-27/topoffclose.jpg

http://www.kwirky88.com/images/aquarium/07-04-27/topoffwide.jpg

[X-Treme]

Looks ALMOST identical to mine, but my Carboy is smooth sided. And my digital timer can do up to 14 presets PER day. VERY cheap and worthy set-up IMO.

[Okguy]

For those in cities, almost all of this should be available without having to order a single thing online. The whole unit cost me just $20 for the jug, $1 for the plug, and I used an air pump that was just lieing about the house. Oh and a $3 check valve.

http://www.kwirky88.com/images/aquarium/07-04-27/topoffwide.jpg

Sweet! I've just recently finished building an acrylic Sump\Fuge and I didn't make the return chamber large enough so I am only able to leave the tank alone for 3 days max. I made this Auto top off last night and have bought myself an extra 5 days! And it cost me nothing!!!!! :mrgreen:

I guess it's my turn. For those of you who put paper towel into you're Remora to reduce noise. You can cut out a piece of plastic (I used a margarine container) using the bottom of the collection cup as a template and then glue air tubing to the outside. This can replace the weekely paper towel changes. Here's the link where I got the idea from.

http://www.aquariumpros.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=25389

Works really well!

[justinl]

right i got two tips:

1)quarantine. I thought i could skip that part and now it's costnig me. i hate ich.

2) RESEARCH DAMMIT! don't assume you can care for anything, do your research, and save the environment. (ING direct voice) and save your money.