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Dorfman

Dorfman

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Hey all -

Just joined BAR Forum (BARF?) and am really excited to learn form all of your hundreds of years of collective knowledge and hopefully contribute something of my own some day.

A brief history... I have been up and down with a little 30 gal salt tank for over 10 years. A friend gave it to me when he was moving and I loved the idea of a thriving salt tank but knew very little about what I was doing and didn't have the time to take the hobby seriously until COVID struck.

I had a 50 gal tank sitting in my garage that I picked up on Craigslist a number of years ago. With a lot more time at home, I drilled the bottom of the tank, drilled a few holes through my wall in my living room, installed a shed in the back yard outside where the tank sits and ran all the plumbing for a sump out the bottom of my tank, out the wall, and into the shed. I made my own ~15 gal. sump/refugium, which I think turned out pretty cool and am currently half way into a 4-month cycling process.

I have a 5-stage RO system feeding a saltwater premix trash can and an ATO reservoir (0 TDS currently).

I have a Benggai Cardinal, a yellowtail blue damsel, a lawnmower blenny, a blue chromis and a yellow tang contributing to the cycling process.

My first question for you all is regarding the refugium. I have put two batches of cheato in one of the sump chambers with a "grow light" (not necessarily designed for refugiums) I bought off Amazon a while back. Within a few weeks both batches of cheato have "wilted" and died. I tried reducing the time the light was on in case I was frying the stuff but to no avail. Any ideas as to what could be going on here?

Thanks for your help and looking forward to looking around at the posts and learning more!
 

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Hmmm... trace elements should be good (I think but I'm a newb.) since this is new water and nothing in the tank is consuming trace elements yet but could be low nutrients. Any idea what a good level would be for Nit/Phos to sustain cheato?
 
Dorfman said:
Hmmm... trace elements should be good (I think but I'm a newb.) since this is new water and nothing in the tank is consuming trace elements yet but could be low nutrients. Any idea what a good level would be for Nit/Phos to sustain cheato?
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if you're still cycling, the live rock, or more appropriately, the stuff growing on your live rock is consuming elements. I personally think you're too early for chaeto - you wouldn't want it to compete for the elements with more the desirable things you want growing which will mature your tank.
 
OK, good thoughts. I'm just eager to try out all this new stuff to make sure it works before I introduce light/corals but you make a good point. Thanks.
 
Dorfman said:
OK, good thoughts. I'm just eager to try out all this new stuff to make sure it works before I introduce light/corals but you make a good point. Thanks.
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I've been there! I'm too embarrassed to share the amount of $ (and life) I could have saved if only I took my time :)
 
Yep, I'm already proud of myself for waiting this long to buy and turn on lights on the tank. REALLY trying to avoid an algae bloom right off the bat.
 
Dorfman said:
I will test my calcium and general hardness (water, that is ;-)) to see where I'm at.
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personally if you are half way through your cycle, I wouldnt test calcium or alkanity. dont waste your time and effort until your tank is fully cycled. your big 3: calcium, alkanity, magnesium wont be consumed until you start introducing some corals. based on what type of corals you will be growing and what type of salt mix, weekly water changes might be enough until you have to start supplementing. have you thought about what type of corals you'll be doing?

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
 
OK, makes sense. Since I've never done corals before, I was going to start out with some easier, relatively inexpensive ones to see how I do:
- Pinwheel Plate Coral (Fungiidae)
- Caulastrea candy cane coral (Faviidae)
- Pom pom xenia (Xeniidae)
- Palauan Zoa (Paraxoanthidae)

What do you think about these choices? Are they heavy mineral-suckers?
 
Dorfman said:
OK, makes sense. Since I've never done corals before, I was going to start out with some easier, relatively inexpensive ones to see how I do:
- Pinwheel Plate Coral (Fungiidae)
- Caulastrea candy cane coral (Faviidae)
- Pom pom xenia (Xeniidae)
- Palauan Zoa (Paraxoanthidae)

What do you think about these choices? Are they heavy mineral-suckers?
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Those should all be easy to maintain the major 3 with just water changes. Be careful with the Xenia as it will quickly spread and can take over a tank. Most people suggest placing it on an island so it can’t spread, although I believe they can also break off into the water in order to spread, but it is an awesome coral to start with. I had a big chunk for awhile.

if you’re near SF I can get you some zoas to start with if you become a supporting member
 
max_nano said:
Those should all be easy to maintain the major 3 with just water changes. Be careful with the Xenia as it will quickly spread and can take over a tank. Most people suggest placing it on an island so it can’t spread, although I believe they can also break off into the water in order to spread, but it is an awesome coral to start with. I had a big chunk for awhile.

if you’re near SF I can get you some zoas to start with if you become a supporting member
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I actually did literally just become a supporting member (before I saw this). That is really cool of you to offer. I will hit you up in 47 days (not that I'm keeping track or anything) when my tank is done cycling and I have my lights on and ready to receive my first corals.
 
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