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goisles1

Experienced Reefer
Manhattan Reefs
Location
East Meadow
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Hi All..

Just wanted to introduce myself.. My Name is Rob. I just stumbled onto this board.. Nice to deal with local people!

Long story short is my 3year Old leaned on the middle support brace on my African Cichlid tank while we we feeding them and it cracked (the support not the tank). I had to empty the tank to repair it and the wife and I decided it was time to go SW.

I have a 45gal Tank, 60lbs of LiveRock, 80lbs of fine Aragonite, AquaC RemoraPro Skimmer, 10g sump. My Lighting is the 36inch Current Nova Extreme Pro T5HO(6x39w)
I just bought a 20gallon Long to replace the 10g sump. Getting the baffles cut tomorrow and will make at least half the Tank into a Refugium.

Tank has been running for 3+ months now and all has gome quite well. I cycled the tank with the LiveRock and now I've got 2 False P Clowns, a Coral Beauty, 4 turbo's, some Margaritas, and some Hermits. Coraline Algae is starting to come back on the rocks and the tank is looking good.

My plan is to slowly add Corals once I know my tank is stable.

Anyway.. Hello All.. Looking forward to picking all your brains!
 
G

goisles1

Experienced Reefer
Manhattan Reefs
Location
East Meadow
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Yes.. For the first two months I tested during every weekly water change. I'm still doing weekly water changes, but I skipped the test last week :).

I only have the Master API SW test Kit and all tests are perfect. I have some Nitrates(or is it Nitrites, I always mix them up) but from what I read, that's expected. When I test it, it matches the first non-zero color on the card. I forget the value. Hopefully the refugium will drop that down to Zero over time.

I've been reading like crazy. This hobby is addicting!
 
M

masterswimmer

Old School Reefer
Vendor
Manhattan Reefs
Location
NY
Rating - 99.6%
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Welcome to MR. Your nitrates will likely never reach zero, so don't look for it.

As Josh said, you've started nice and slow and controlled. I'd think you can start adding corals at this point. They don't add much to your bioload anyway. The fish will be your biggest waste producers.

Good luck with the reefing venture and nice to have you on board.

Russ
 
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charlie1225

Advanced Reefer
Location
East Meadow, LI
Rating - 100%
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For those that have experience with tanks, I have a question myself. You mentioned the center brace was damaged. I don't think a center brace is even necessary? I've seen tanks stand on concrete bricks just on the two sides on the tank. Theoretically, isn't the weight on a tank strictly on the sides? For example, I could take a business card and slide it under the tank up until I reach the edges.

Anyways welcome to MR!
 
M

masterswimmer

Old School Reefer
Vendor
Manhattan Reefs
Location
NY
Rating - 99.6%
448   2   0
charlie1225 said:
For those that have experience with tanks, I have a question myself. You mentioned the center brace was damaged. I don't think a center brace is even necessary? I've seen tanks stand on concrete bricks just on the two sides on the tank. Theoretically, isn't the weight on a tank strictly on the sides? For example, I could take a business card and slide it under the tank up until I reach the edges.

Anyways welcome to MR!
Click to expand...


If you can start your own thread, that would be advisable. However, briefly, the center brace is there for a reason. It is necessary and should not be overlooked if it is damaged. I've seen tanks completely fail and crash due to the excessive load improperly distributed without the center brace in place. Take care of it before it becomes worse.

swimmer
 
G

goisles1

Experienced Reefer
Manhattan Reefs
Location
East Meadow
Rating - 0%
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Thanks for all the welcomes!!!

Charlie / Center Brace - When it cracked, I went down to the LFS thinking I was going to need a new tank. So I was ready to spend upwards of $100 for either another 45g or a 30g. The guy showed me a bunch of their display tanks where the brace was broken and you could see how the glass was bowing out. He ordered me a new collar for $15.

JOSH / API Test Kit - Agreed .. Some of the results are difficult to read. The 1st 3 colors on the Nitrate Test all look exactly the same to me. PH, AMM, and Nitrite are OK though


More more note on Myself - I'm an Avid Homebrewer(beer). Been brewing since college. Alot of things I've wanted to purchase for my homebrewing may actually translate to this hobby (Ro/DI, Refractometer).
So, I will gladly trade beer for FRAGS... :birthday:
 
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