From: shawn@novell.com (Shawn Nunley)
Subject: Re: Establishing a Reef
Organization: Novell Inc., San Jose, Califonia
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 19:27:34 GMT

I wrote...
 
>>I have been slowly trying to establish a reef tank since January.  The setup 
>>includes the following:
>> 
>>6 9" high output florescents. (3 actinic blue and 3 broad spectrum)
>

I guess I should have been more clear about the lights.

>What is a 9" fluorescent light? how many watts is it rated at?  
>I would want around 400 watts of fluorescent light on your setup.

They are BioTope lights.  Shaped like a U and rated at 9 watts.  They claim
to be equiv. to a 40 watt bulb.  They are small but produce a lot of light.

So, according to 'their' rating, I have 240 watts of light.  Looks like I
need more.

 
>>(I've tried, but can't figure a way to get a protein skimmer in this thing, 
>>which I've been told over and over is very important)
>
>Run one out of your prefilter box and have it return directly into the tank.
>You can keep the skimmer behind the tank.  You want an external model.
>> 

I just purchased a Skilter 250 which may be the answer to my question, I hope.


>>Nitrates are at a constant 20 to 30. and other tests come out at 0.  SG is 
>>at 1.024.  I change about 10 gallons a week just to be safe, but I'm sure
>>it's overkill.  
>On a healthy reef, nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, and PO4
>are undetectable using ordinary aquarium test kits.

Well, it's not quite a 'reef' yet...

>>What steps should I take to get to reef-ness? (lot's of live rock, plant 
>>rock etc...)  Add all the live rock at once?  I really want some good advice 
>>because I've spent a fortune so far and want to have some results to show 
>>for it.
>If you want to quickly establish your tank you will need lots of live rock.
>If you purchase rock with lots of creatures you may want to add it piecemeal
>to avoid a huge ammonia spike.  If you are adding base rock with not much
>life on it add it all at once.
>
>Preferably no gravel.  Add your rock and let it cycle before adding any coral.
>Add lots of algae eating snails BEFORE algae becomes a problem.  Get a good 
>(HUGE) protein skimmer.  Shop around and talk to lots of people before 
>purchasing or making one.  Some models work much better than others.
>
>> 
>>I've just recently had a few things die for no apparent reason (probably 
>>light related).  One beautiful ($85) purple lipped clam died along with 
>>several damsels.  The gobie was unaffected (supposedly frail?).  Help Help 
>>Help.
>
>Do you mean a tridacna clam?  They like lots of light.  I lost the first one I
>bought years ago, but since then I have purchased three different clams, a 
>T. squamosa, a T. Deresa, and a Hippo species and all are growing and thriving.
>

Yes, it was a tridacna, sorry for not knowing the technoname off the top of
my head 8).  I'm beginning to suspect the NovAqua which I use regularly.

>Good luck
>
>Greg Smith

Thanks, I'm going to need it (along with lots of money, time, patience...)

Shawn
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