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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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]

Originally Posted by kwirky

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]

Originally Posted by andsoitgoes

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

[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/showt...ht=tips+tricks

[fishface]

Originally Posted by 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.

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.