FarmerTy

Looking good bud! That's commitment right there! Posting from across the world! Sent via Tapatalk

Dance polyps... dance!

Fascinating! The underside of the anemone has light green spotting! Gen 2... really gen 3 All wired up for the initial test run Fat fish $15 score at a LFS... I actually hope it dies so I can try to make more fungia babies! What's left of the purple stylo, post cutting Holy meteor shower batfishman! Polyps in the night Sent via Tapatalk

Frag swaps, fish sales, and mentees (just teasing Shawn)... oh my! They've taken me away from updating my build thread! Nothing new other than I got in my vent fan and looking to wire it up and give it a test run sometime next week. I'm also hoping I get a chance sometime this weekend to prime and paint everything so that it is ready to go for final assembly of the stand/canopy. The frag swap allowed me to pass along some corals I had in abundance and clear out my tank a bit for the final aquascaping. I have a ton of live rock just cycling away in a brute trash can and I'll be ready to pull out some pieces to finalize my tank. Last note, I officially shut down the old CaRX and running the new one in the sump. It's keeping up with the alk/Ca usage just fine. Here's some fun pics I took tonight because if I babble too much and don't show any pictures, everyone will zone off fast!

Sold!

Well, this one is a tough one. It's a very often debated topic and there's still no clear answer for which method is the best. First off, sometimes I feel like I don't state this enough, but I am definitely not the end all, be all as far as opinions or advice should go. I guess I don't really feel the need to say that with you Shawn because I think you have a pretty good understanding of that and you often like to do your own research either way before coming to me to bounce things off me, like you did here. I'll give you my 2 cents on it, because that's what you pay me for. I've run a deep sand bed before (generally accepted to be >4" deep) and I've run a shallow sand bed before (approx 2-3"). I generally prefer to run the shallow sand bed. Most actually consider that to be the worst of the options (no sandbed, shallow sandbed, deep sandbed). Oddly enough, I mainly run it because of aesthetics. Your research is correct, deep sandbeds (DSBs) have the ability to process both ammonia/nitrite via nitrification (ammonia/nitrite to nitrate) in the upper portion of the sandbed. The lower portion is typically anoxic (lacking oxygen) and is the perfect environment for denitrification (nitrate to nitrogen gas). Obviously that is an overly simplified version of it but it works for this discussion... plus, I'm doing this as best I can from memory so forgive any lapses. DSBs do generally process ammonia/nitrite/nitrate very well. To me, it's like having that much more live rock in your system. The live rock functions in much the same way. Bacteria living on the outer layers of the live rock will perform nitrification and convert your ammonia from the breakdown of food/wastes to nitrite and in turn, nitrate. The inner core of the rock, where oxygen has a more difficult time penetrating to will have the perfect anoxic environment for denitrification, the conversion of nitrate to nitrogen gas. For me though, DSBs are not aesthetically pleasing. which is why I personally don't run them. I know... very shallow of me (pun-ny)! I also have had systems where I've employed some version of solid carbon dosing (vokda, biopellets, vinegar, etc) to assist with the removal of nitrates. What is interesting and what I observed with the 215-gallon tank is that initially, I ran biopellets immediately. I however did take them offline in chasing what was killing my SPS. Since my system hadn't had the ability to adjust to the new bioload, my nitrates shot up to >50 ppm in less than 2 weeks. Fast forward to now and I currently don't run biopellets. My nitrates are currently being maintained below 5ppm without any form of carbon dosing. Now, I have to give some credit to the giant ball of chaeto I have in my sump, as well as my over-sized skimmer (rated for 550 gallons), but I honestly believe the main reason my nitrates haven't shot to the moon again is because my population of denitrifying bacteria increased within my new live rock and that has tipped the scale in my favor. My theory is the new live rock I had added to the tank when I first upgraded did not have the population of denitrifying bacteria established yet (it was dry BRS pukani rock). That's why it was not helpful in removing nitrates when my tank was first setup. Fast forward to the present and a good colony of denitrifying bacteria has established itself in the inner core of my live rock. A point to note, the dry rocks I added are huge! 50lbs distributed in only 3 rocks... and that's dry weight. I feel like just the sheer mass of these rocks allows for a much higher ratio of denitrification areas in the inner core of the rock... being that one large rock has the ability to have more anoxic inner core rock than an equal weight of a bunch of smaller rocks. The ratio would be skewed higher for more surface area to inner core area on the smaller set of rocks than the one large piece of rock. Now that I totally digressed away from the sandbed discussion, let me come full circle back to it. DSBs are nice for the fact that they will assist in not just nitrification, but denitrification to help remove nitrates from the system. Shallow sandbeds don't have that ability (or more so reduced) but at least aid in nitrification. The general theory is that eventually, there is a saturation point where the sandbed can no longer absorb nutrients out of the system and process it. This goes for both DSBs and shallow sandbeds, which some associate that with the dreaded old tank syndrome. Then the sandbed will start leaching back nutrients into the system. Whether I believe this theory... well let's just say the jury is still out. I haven't run a system past 3 years without upgrading my tank so I haven't ever gotten to a point where I could see any negative effects from long-term usage of a sandbed. Part of me feels like old tank syndrome is really just the apathy a tank owner has towards his tank from running it that long. You get more lackadaisical about water changes, maintenance, and your husbandry practices... my theory is that that's the real truth to old tank syndrome and why tanks go crashing down after 4-6 years. I just keep running off on tangents, don't I? You can probably blame the benedryl I had to take tonight. I'll just summarize it up real quick before I start trailing off again. Ideally, I don't think it matters what sandbed you run. DSBs are nice for the extra help with denitrication in the anoxic areas in the lower portions, but to me, aesthetics leave more to be desired. Shallow sandbeds are aesthetically pleasing to me, but they don't aid in denitrification as much as the DSBs. No sandbed doesn't obviously doesn't aid in either, but some SPS-dominant tanks like to run them to remove any potential effects of nutrients building within the sandbed from the accumulation of detritus/rotting food/wastes. That to me is a little too much work, trying to suck up any detritus that accumulates, or any grain of sand that happened to work itself out of the liverock... can be very tedious indeed. I think it was a fad during the hay-days of trying to make these totally nutrient deficient SPS tanks... in which you dose what you needed on a base platform of removing all nutrient sources. A kind of, suck it dry, then add back what we need mentality. I'm sure that probably didn't clear up much, you probably have even more questions. Hopefully it was a good read and that you got at least something out of it.

I'm on the no water changes team. I do think a large volume of water definitely helps with that. I didn't do water changes on my 125-gallon other than a couple at the beginning of its 3-year history. I maintained low nutrients via biopellets, GFO, carbon, and a large skimmer. I added elements back in via my calcium reactor and dosing amino acids... and on occasion iodine. Here was the end result before I upgraded to my 215-gallon. I kept a mix of softies, LPS, and mostly SPS.

Welcome to the club! It's nice to have some younger members!

I know, I know. Probably next month I'll read some article about not doing water changes and go cold turkey. Would you like me to write an article Richard? :-) Sent via Tapatalk

I wouldn't worry too much Kim. Bpb hit the nail on the head when he said it was mainly acro related deaths. I don't think I lost a single softie or LPS. Sent via Tapatalk

I love that Red Sea stuff too! I only use the Energy Part B and don't really use the Part A. Purely speculative but I felt like I got better colors when dosing it 2x a week. Plus, it looks like I'm running a crazy science experiment when the water turns radioactive green. Sent via Tapatalk

Want! Sent via Tapatalk

You're right! With the way Richard has been selling frags, we should just get it zoned commercial anyways! Sent via Tapatalk

Nice! Maybe you should run some hoses outside the garage for RO and DI and install a money operated saltwater/RO dispenser. Just pull your car up, insert cash or swipe your credit card, and presto, the pump turns on and doles out premixed saltwater and RO water. You could even run a 3rd for drinking water or make super clean ice. The skies the limit Richard! Sent via Tapatalk

Look at it this way, you can't do any worse than Bpb, Ol' Aggie, or me! Sorry to throw you guys under the bus fellas. At least you're in good company. :-) Sent via Tapatalk

Put on a mask and a respirator and get me some Deepwater zoas! Sent via Tapatalk

Awesome! He's in a much better place! Sent via Tapatalk

Sold. Sorry Mark. Sent via Tapatalk

Don't worry, I'm like one of those new hybrid models that can run on beer only if needed. :-) Sent via Tapatalk

Welcome Vu! Pretty sweet design you have there. Sent via Tapatalk

The red stuff looks like ogo (gracilaria parvispora). The brown stuff looks like some type of brown ulva or brown sea lettuce, if there is such a thing.

You're on your own for macros I think the first coral is a hydnophora possibly, or some type of favite. The 2nd one looks like a lepestrea. BTW, I charge for non-mentor advice posts. Only the one's in the mentor thread are free Shawn.

Pending

$10 takes him. PM is the key. No pics because he's hanging out in my overflow. Thanks! -Ty Sent via Tapatalk

Jake is the owner of River City Aquatics. He's on the forum but if you want to reach him, it's probably more efficient to call the store. Sent via Tapatalk