Recent content by gwilcom

My LFS doesn't sell these so I have been researching this all morning. I believe I understand the concept. I either need to supply water into the top or I connect a Tunze on the bottom and use the Wavy as a rotating device with no control of the amount of water that is pushed around. I don't...

I'm setting up a separate refugium and wanted to know if using the return water is better or using overflow water is better. I have the option to do either. I have a filter sock which both overflows currently feed into which removes the larger solid pieces of waste and was thinking to either...

Any advice you guys can share on the use of charcoal?

Fair enough. It sat in a box with no light for 4 days and looked great. I suppose it can cycle in the dark as well and still have a family when all is said and done.

Thanks Brandon. I'm curious about the lid though. Why am I sealing the container? There is some awsome coraline algea growing on this rock already and wanted to try and preserve it so I was thinking that maybe some indirect light (lid off) would be adequate to accomplish that.

I did some research and saw the process by which I have to cure the cured LR I'm having delivered but I don't have an additional skimmer to use in my impromtu curing container. I have the powerhead and heater but no way of removing the organics from the water. Any other suggestions on how to do...

Can I filter my water through charcoal constantly or should I do it on a schedule like 2 weeks on 2 weeks off? Does it remove the trace minerals necessary for a healthy reef tank? Should I supplement those minerals more often if filtering through charcoal? Are there any downsides to this...

Due to some recent and still persistant problems with cyano bacteria I have been researching sumps with refug's and I have stumbled on yet another topic that no one seems to agree on. There is a camp of people who say the socks breed bacteria and other nasty things and that they shouldn't be...

Due to some recent and still persistant problems with cyano bacteria I have been researching sumps with refug's and I have stumbled on yet another topic that no one seems to agree on. There is a camp of people who say the socks breed bacteria and other nasty things and that they shouldn't be...

In a recent post I thought I had brown algea when in fact it was just the first stages of a cyano bacteria outbreak. The stuff started to turn maroon red and spread across the entire bottom of my tank developing large bubbles of gas on top. Further research today on this site outlines many...

Since I started in this hobby 3 months ago I have been looking for ways to automate as much of this as possible as I have limited time and sometimes no time. Being a gadget kind of guy I have been looking at controlers since day 1 and researched them all. I came across the ReefKeeper line...

I have well water that i pass through an RO unit. Do i just let it grow or should i mix up the sand a bit to break it up?

Wait, as in it goes away in another week or two or that this is the begining of something much worse to come? Is there no way to accelerate it so it goes away faster? Should I be doing different maintenance on the sand bed to remove whatever is feeding it?

My tank is almost 3 months old and recently, past month, I have been having a brownish looking algea growing on my sand bed. I have been changing my water once a week for the past 3 weeks to try and control it but it doesn't seem to be helping. Any suggestions on what I can and should be doing...

24 hours is what I have been doing in spite of what I have read and I have to tell you, there are many references to week old water for changes in printed books as well as online. I was amazed and confused and for the life of me couldn't figure out the logic. Could this be an "old school"...