Your favorite tip or trick...

[HARRISON]

I thought about this the other day while answering a question in a post.

What is your favorite little trick that would be cool to share with some of the people here. You could also share a cool tip if you have one.

I am sure you saw where I answered the marathon post about growing brine shrimp in a holding cup so I thought I would add a different one. Like putting the tip of the siphon hose up to the powerhead to start the siphon. (learned that here) Think about this one. It could be anything, a gadget you like or whatever. If this post goes long enough and gets enough responses, newbies and pros alike could read through and get all kinds of info that would take months of skimming posts to get.

Hope you dig deep and share...

 

[HARRISON]

^ I know you can do better than this...

 

[davelin315]

Calgon..... Ancient Chinese Secret.

Sorry, I've been trying to think of a trick since I read this post the other day and can't think of a damn thing. Will post when I remember one.

 

[Rich-n-poor]

O.k. saw my LFS do this once on a jumper, I found the fish on the floor

He wasnt gasping, he wasnt even moving

He took the seemingly dead percula stuck his head into the output of a powerhead, held him there about 90 secs and the little bugger swam away

Fish CPR apparently this forced water over his gills and revived him, which was hard to believe because IMO he was a goner. Never would have believed it if I hadnt saw it

_________________
Mercedes Benz A Class

 

[WWiley]

The 44gal rubbermaid brute holds just about the right amount of water for a 50gal bag of IO. WW

 

[SPC]

Getting rid of small apstasia can be done with a Python type water changer. Here's what I do:
1. Use a section of 1/2" pvc about 18" long.
2. Place a syringe body over the end of this (sorry, don't know the size). May have to sand the end of the pvc just a bit to get it to fit inside the syringe.
3. Place the other end of the pvc inside the Python hose.
4. Turn the water on full blast, place the end of the syringe against the apstasia, and watch him disappear.

The suction at the end of the syringe is quite powerful and can pull the entire apstasia out of its hole.
Steve

 

[Mac1]

THanks SPC, I think I might have to try that one!

Best trick/Tip - New tanks or overcrowded? Gut Loading Live Brine Shrimp with Selcon (feeding it to tangs and other herbivours via Algae is equally easy). Keeps Ich away every time.

Not a good substitute to a well balanced ecosystem, but it gets the job done.

- Mac

 

[rwing]

This one is for working with PVC.

When cutting PVC pipe with PVC pipe cutters, pierce the pipe with the blade until it passes the inside wall. Then twist the pipe in a circle. It will cut a straight line every time, no matter how short the piece is you are cutting.

Bob

 

[newreefman1]

Aquamend from HD is the same stuff for 1/3 the price as the stuff in the LFS for underwater epoxy.

Its My best friend.


Hello Harrison. Hows the tank coming? We should get together soon. My tanks moving along nicely. Aquired some more live rock, and a bunch of SPS frags thats fillin in.

Drop me a line sometime.

J

 

[HARRISON]

Now we are getting somewhere!!!

Jason, I will get with you soon. Was wondering how your tank was doing the other day. Ron has been getting in some nice frags lately...I picked up a new gorgonian today. My tank is getting full, I need to frag like crazy

 

[Super Len]

Probably not my favorite, but the first that popped in my head. If your skimmer is located in your cabinet, run your skimmer's air input outside the cabinet. It makes significant improvements, especially if you're having low pH problems.

 

[Anonymous]

When feeding an open brain or other LPS I put a strawberry basket with a small rock on top over the coral to keep the fish and large inverts away from the food!

How's that!

[ January 04, 2002: Message edited by: GDawson ]</p>

 

[jimbo]

When I feed flake food, I take a pice of rigid air tubing, wet it in the tank, dip it in the food, and swish it around in the tank. This gets the flakes under the water surface so they don't get sucked down the overflow.
The bigger rigid air tubing is great for vacuming the little debris piles in my cup coral. I cover the end with my thumb, put it over the debris, take my finger off and whoosh! It's in the tube.

 

[danmhippo]

The fish CPR is great, I have done that on an arrowana that decided to go carpet surfing. It was all dried up on the outside and stiffed. The forced CPR revived it.

The fish eventually made another daredevil attempt a couple months later............He wasn't so lucky that time around.

 

[Broke reefer]

When you have to move your sand bed you can minimize your loses with a brand new plastic dust pan.

 

[Clearblue303]

Newreefman 1
Can you please tell more about the Aquamend?
I don't see it at HD at the adhesive section.
What package,size,colour,brand?

Good idea!

 

[newreefman1]

Green package. In the plumbing section. Small plastic tube. Its green and white substance but you cant see it till you open it. Mix it together and viola. You have epoxy. I even use it Underwater in my tank.....its fine!

J

 

[ravenmore]

Pickling Lime and Kalkwasser are the same thing (calcium hydroxide). The thing is pickling lime is $1.50 for a 1 POUND BAG.

There is an outdoor home flood light sold at Home Depot made by Lights of America. The 65watt version of the light is actually a 6500k Power Compact light that is "weather resistant". Works great over smallish/micro reef tanks.

Tufa rock is made of calcium carbonate(great stuff for a reef tank) and is a great/cheap way to supplement your live rock.

 

[Shamrock317]

when adding new sand into tank, i use a piece of 2" pvc, and pour sand down the tube. This does not let all the sand powder foat all over the place and lets you "target" specific areas where you need to add more sand.

 

[Yam]

That previous tip works great, except with SD sand, prerinsed or not. Heres my tip.

Microwave a full cup of water and allow you venturi skimmer to suck it all up. Do this once a week and you'll never have any salt buildup.

Works especially well w/ turboflotors which are excellent skimmers but get clogged easily thus diminishing their popularity.

danny