Parrothead's 55 gallon Reef

[Parrothead]

Per your request

Sorry about the glare, that time of day here. took a couple of extra to show the color I was talking about.

Tanks,
Robert

[Ninong]

Ninong,

Do you know of any ill effects of mixing rock from differnt parts of the world. eg - gulf rock mixed with some asian stuff?

Tanks,
Robert

Robert,

Haha! Good question but you're asking the wrong guy because I don't like Gulf of Mexico aquacultured live rock so I'm definitely prejudiced.

The Gulf of Mexico is not in the tropics; therefore, you can't get tropical species to colonize your heavy chunks of limestone in the first place. What you can get is a lot of stuff that you may not want in your aquarium. Examples: Aiptasia, temperate species clams and oysters and mussels and barnacles, Caribbean fire worms (Hermodice carunculata), mantis shrimp, and various macroalgae that you may or may not (probably not) want in the first place in your reef tank.

So obviously I'm not the one to ask about Gulf of Mexico aquacultured live rock, whether you already have some or whether you're planning on getting some. The biggest negatives (IMO) are density, scary hitchhikers and undesirable epifauna. In other words, it's too heavy and not porous enough and the stuff that comes on it may not be stuff you really want in your aquarium.

[Parrothead]

Ninong,

Prejudice aside, any down side to mixing the rocks, see above pics, it's all ready in the tank and has been since January 09. Most of the nasty's have been dealt with, didn't have alot to begin with.


Tanks,
Robert

[Ninong]

It's perfectly okay to have live rock from places like Fiji, Marshall Islands, Tonga, Indonesia, etc., in the same reef tank. In fact, having rock from different places will add diversity to your tank. There are a lot of little critters that come into your aquarium both on the live rock and inside it and the more diversity the better. I'm just not a fan of Gulf of Mexico aquacultured live rock. I think the aquacultured live rock from Walt Smith would be better for people who prefer aquacultured live rock.

[Parrothead]

it's not that I prefer aquacultured rock, it's I just stumbled across a cheap source of rock and I used to have true gulf rock back in the day when it could be legally collected, You are right it is heavy, and I'm not sure about the limestone, especially if it came out of a florida quarry(phosphates)

[Parrothead]

Charlie,

here's some shots of the soon to be sump, dim. 24" long x 12" wide x 16 high, as you can see in the pics this somehow happened to get drilled, this was actually a fuge for the client that I set the 90 up for, he didn't want it, so how would be the best way of setting the baffles up to be a sump/fuge, my thought is use the drilled/bulkhead as the connection from the overflow box, correct me if I'm wrong, all thoughts are welcomed and needed.

[zhenya]

Hi Robert,

Sorry I missed most of the fun stuff in your thread... But here's where you can get a good idea on the sump and it's workings.
Melevsreef.com | Acrylic Sumps & Refugiums

[Parrothead]

pH - 7.8
alk - 4.57 meq/L
cal - 400

it'll get back to where it needs to be

Tanks
Robert


P.S. HI Gene

[Parrothead]

here's the latest test results, I'm scared to check the pH in the morning, base on the fact we know it shifts throughtout the day.

Cal 390
alk 4.23 meq/L
pH 7.9

these results are as of 7:45 p.m. est

My LPS are not looking their normal self, will check the nitrate after I wash off 3 cars worth of goo.

Back in a few

Tanks
Robert

[Parrothead]

Nitrates are undetectable,

Charlie, we had discussed a nutrient issue regarding the pH, and that ball of hair algea, I do have it on another piece of rock, not bad, scrubbable, if nutrients are whacked wouldn't I see a flux in the nitrates, cal is a little lower, actually has dropped alot of the last few weeks, coraline algea has gone wild, is that eating my cal, my little hammer and trumpet I don't believe could eat that much, but hec, I've been wrong before, ask my wife, she'll telll ya, let me know what ya think.

Tanks
Robert

[charlie]

The coralline is munching the calcium. I think we were just grasping at straws on the ph issue. It looks to be a little low, but not out of the realm yet. If you could get at the one rock, yeah, take it out and scrub it in your WC water, then we can watch to see if it comes back. Make sure to rinse it well before going back in the tank.

[Parrothead]

I've changed out 18 gal. over the last 2 weeks, not sure about doing another this weekend, might just for the gp of it, haven't decided, usually do it every 2 weeks, might let it rest for a week, thoughts????
Tanks
Robert

[charlie]

Have you ever checked the Ph of the water change water?

[Parrothead]

Not since I switched back to IO, will mix a gal. on the morning to see what it is. I'm out for the night, later all

Tanks,
Robert

[Parrothead]

Mixed a gallon of IO up, tested pH, 8.2 straight out of the jug

Tanks,
Robert

[Parrothead]

Since I've been working on my 180 build, and have been doing the math, I realize it's gonna take awhile to put it together right, and that's how it is gonna be DONE, and to get the family moved to a structure that will support the beast, so I'm resurrecting this thread, as the wife has suddenly, god love her, took a major interest in the hobby, can we say major dig, so I'm gonna turn my current 55 into a softie tank with the exception of a cute little 2 head hammer coral acquired today, along with a little 5 or 6 polyp zoa, pics to come acclimating as I type. So we now have 2 threads to discuss important stuff without getting into trouble, you know, nascar, a.b.'s, a.c.'s and all other important guy stuff

So pics will be posted alittle later after the new adds are in the tank

[Parrothead]

Well here's a pic of the hammer frag, as I said, it has two heads and is way better than the one I had back last fall, the skeleton on this one is perfect, the zoa's haven't opened up enough for a good pic, so for now heres to the hammer

Also, this is my first frag that came with a disc, should I just leave it be or ???????????