Reef Keeping advice

[StirCrazy]

one thing about the cycle part is you may or may not see a cycle depending on how much and what kind of live rock you use. If you use 1.5 lb/gal or more live rock that is fully cured then you will probably have an instant cycle. I have seen this is 2 of my tanks now, and even adding a bunch of shrimp to rot never produced any amonia.

As for the sand bed part, I think it would be better to let them decide befor anything else weather they want one or not. list the benifits (which realy isn't much but visual apearance,) then list the problems that surface down the road. DSB don't work in our tanks as it is impossable to get the bio diversity in captivity to make them work on there own, other wise you have to replace it and than means tank teardown.

I was caught up in DSB when it was all the crazy after the good Dr S posted his write up on them, 2 years later I tried it again, and now I will never have one again. the short tearm benifits don't come close to justifying the long term problems.

you could maybe offer some substitutes to sand, like that marble like rock that is very pourous (can't spell it LOL)

also befor you even get to putting water in the tank you need to think about a lot of other things, what you are going to put in the tank, lighting, water flow, sump or no sump, ect.. putting togeather a guide for some one isn't a simple task and a major undertaking, which is going to bring heat from anyone who does something that you didn't mention, thats why when a good guide is made it is usaly a substatual book listing all the option and then discussing the pros and cons to each.

Steve

[sphelps]

Have to agree with Steve there, my nano never cycled, I had livestock in it instantly so it is possible to avoid a cycle depending on how you do things. Also with the DSB, you may want to list some of the negative consequences which come after time, most people who go with a DSB regret it later. Beside in order to get the benefits of a DSB you need a carbon source and unless you're adding it manually you tank likely doesn't have it.

You need to be more clear on that the information you're providing is opinionated and instead of telling people how to do it maybe just try and provide information and tools to assist them. Tell them about your experience and what you find works best. Also if you ask for feedback don't get so defensive when you get it. If you want people to take you seriously you'll have to drop that high ego and defensive attitude.

[StirCrazy]

also blogs seam to be backwards from the way stuff is entered, so it looks like your putting water in befor you even look at the equipment.

I think the lighting section needs to be revamped, trying to group LEDs MH and T5s togeather doesn't work as they are still very different lights and intensities, SPS will grow under a NO bulb if you saet it up right, so saying you need this or that isn't realy accurate with out more explanation.

you could talk about Floressents and then go through the types starting with NO, VHO, PC, T5
then talk about HID and there different sides and types,
and finaly mention LEDs

I still have not seen anyone with a sps domanated tank using LEDs only or have heard no feed back at anyrate, so I don't even know if I would mention this in a newbe guide.

Are you doing advanced or newbe, you don't need a phosban reactor, heck they wern't even invented untill my tank was running 5 years already, do I have one... yes, do I use it no.. I am converting it into a CO2 reactor for my fresh water planted tank.

for flow wiseI would say for a SPS tank 20X flow rate is to little, that would be a min for a softy tank. IMHO, for SPS 50X would be a min, but how are you making that flow how much is through the sump or do you even have a sump as a choice?

Also getting back to the advanced/newbe you start talking about all this other stuff Zeo, ect... Keep it real simple, tank, lights, flow, skimmer, and some way of maintaining Ca, Alk, Mg ect.. ,mention that you can dose them as required, then mention that a Ca reactor and Kalk can work, if you go right to the advanced stuff it will discourage a lot of people because of the work involved and the cost. there are ways to have very low maintenance tanks that are very nice.

Steve

[Pan]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

also blogs seam to be backwards from the way stuff is entered, so it looks like your putting water in befor you even look at the equipment.

I think the lighting section needs to be revamped, trying to group LEDs MH and T5s togeather doesn't work as they are still very different lights and intensities, SPS will grow under a NO bulb if you saet it up right, so saying you need this or that isn't realy accurate with out more explanation.

you could talk about Floressents and then go through the types starting with NO, VHO, PC, T5
then talk about HID and there different sides and types,
and finaly mention LEDs

I still have not seen anyone with a sps domanated tank using LEDs only or have heard no feed back at anyrate, so I don't even know if I would mention this in a newbe guide.

Are you doing advanced or newbe, you don't need a phosban reactor, heck they wern't even invented untill my tank was running 5 years already, do I have one... yes, do I use it no.. I am converting it into a CO2 reactor for my fresh water planted tank.

for flow wiseI would say for a SPS tank 20X flow rate is to little, that would be a min for a softy tank. IMHO, for SPS 50X would be a min, but how are you making that flow how much is through the sump or do you even have a sump as a choice?

Also getting back to the advanced/newbe you start talking about all this other stuff Zeo, ect... Keep it real simple, tank, lights, flow, skimmer, and some way of maintaining Ca, Alk, Mg ect.. ,mention that you can dose them as required, then mention that a Ca reactor and Kalk can work, if you go right to the advanced stuff it will discourage a lot of people because of the work involved and the cost. there are ways to have very low maintenance tanks that are very nice.

Steve

As per the 20x flow rate part etc....there was actually a few articles in various reef magazines (which i will attempt to find) that suggested how much flow was not nearly as important as how it was actually flowing.
When it comes to this hobby we think we know a lot, when we really know very little. (I mean everyone including the ``experts`` I think even the RC chem guys have stated more than once they really have no idea on the actually chemistry of a saltwater aquarium...

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by 'Ol Nobodaddy

As per the 20x flow rate part etc....there was actually a few articles in various reef magazines (which i will attempt to find) that suggested how much flow was not nearly as important as how it was actually flowing.
When it comes to this hobby we think we know a lot, when we really know very little. (I mean everyone including the ``experts`` I think even the RC chem guys have stated more than once they really have no idea on the actually chemistry of a saltwater aquarium...

yup, both are very important, thats why a lot of though goes into how to set up flow in the tank. but a good compromize is to stuff as much flow as you can with out blasting anything, so lots and lots of dispursed turbulant flow.

I had about a 120X turnover in my 94 gal, but you could put your hand anywhere and it was just a gental flow which also kept stuff in suspension which is the key.

Steve

[rocketlily]

Since we are talking about flow here, would you all recommend the Red Sea WaveMaster Pro / Maxijet Powerhead Package - Regular http://www.jlaquatics.com/product/wm...-+Regular.html for extra flow in a 90 gal.
this would be on top of 2 Hydor Koralia - 4 Water Pump (1200 GPH)

[Pan]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

yup, both are very important, thats why a lot of though goes into how to set up flow in the tank. but a good compromize is to stuff as much flow as you can with out blasting anything, so lots and lots of dispursed turbulant flow.

I had about a 120X turnover in my 94 gal, but you could put your hand anywhere and it was just a gental flow which also kept stuff in suspension which is the key.

Steve

Yep, good points.
Same reason I have a huge flow through the sump, it was desinged and partitioned for it

[dabandit]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

also blogs seam to be backwards from the way stuff is entered, so it looks like your putting water in befor you even look at the equipment.

I think the lighting section needs to be revamped, trying to group LEDs MH and T5s togeather doesn't work as they are still very different lights and intensities, SPS will grow under a NO bulb if you saet it up right, so saying you need this or that isn't realy accurate with out more explanation.

you could talk about Floressents and then go through the types starting with NO, VHO, PC, T5
then talk about HID and there different sides and types,
and finaly mention LEDs

I still have not seen anyone with a sps domanated tank using LEDs only or have heard no feed back at anyrate, so I don't even know if I would mention this in a newbe guide.

Are you doing advanced or newbe, you don't need a phosban reactor, heck they wern't even invented untill my tank was running 5 years already, do I have one... yes, do I use it no.. I am converting it into a CO2 reactor for my fresh water planted tank.

for flow wiseI would say for a SPS tank 20X flow rate is to little, that would be a min for a softy tank. IMHO, for SPS 50X would be a min, but how are you making that flow how much is through the sump or do you even have a sump as a choice?

Also getting back to the advanced/newbe you start talking about all this other stuff Zeo, ect... Keep it real simple, tank, lights, flow, skimmer, and some way of maintaining Ca, Alk, Mg ect.. ,mention that you can dose them as required, then mention that a Ca reactor and Kalk can work, if you go right to the advanced stuff it will discourage a lot of people because of the work involved and the cost. there are ways to have very low maintenance tanks that are very nice.

Steve

Some good solid advice I totally agree about the lighting section. This blog ended up so long I didn't really want to go into detail on anything, rather put an idea in their head they could then talk to an lfs or reefer about it,i'm allready getting complaints about the length. I wanted to merelly point out that they could use the cheaper light on fowlr and softies,but would need something stronger like t5,halide or even l.e.d(which nano reefers use for sps). I will have a go at rewriting it for I totally agree with you I dropped the ball in the way I worded much of the blog.
Thanks for looking
Would it kill you to click a sponsor link lol

[dabandit]

I worked with some suggestions I got from here and a few other sites and added some eye candy. I tried to adress everyones concerns and reworded the parts in question. Thanks for lookingwww.reefbuilding.blogspot.com

[Skimmerking]

If you have stupid things to say or you can only quote people, then do it in a PM don't waste banwidth and waste Bandits time clogging up his thread..
sorry bandit about some of the people here clogging up to dum quotes here.
'Ol Nobodaddy mister QUOTE guy you have a PM