[rlcline76]

Who is this Alex? And what has he done with Brian????!!!!!

[Mattfish]

Busted - shows what happens when I have two pc's open - one for work, and one for the important stuff - fish. Sorry Brian!

[pogodzib]

No problem. When I feed cubes, I only use 1 cube, once a day for my 220 setup, and when I had my old setups, I shared a cube between my 125 gal and 45 gal tanks. Fish total in my 125 was 11 fish and 5 fish in my 45. My 220 isn't fully stocked yet so there is only 8 fish in there. I'm not even going to comment on my thoughts on having 22 fish in a 125 gal reef tank, but keeping your nitrates under control may be tough.

[Mattfish]

Forgetting the fish count for a minute (no one seems crowded, but I get that it's a lot by general standards...), I can't see how the fish can survive on that little food in our system. I keep falling back on "I've got a lot to learn", but I can't get my peabrain around that little food for our tank now with now other supporting life for it to thrive on (pods, algae, etc).

But the Nitrate issue is one we're watching closely now, and will keep doing so. With less rock than normal, although very nice looking, I suspect we'll always have to monitor this.....

[pogodzib]

I recommend 2+ Lbs/gal in reef tanks. I like having close to 3Lbs/Gal in mine, but that is tougher with narrower tanks. A 24" wide tank allows much more room for stacking rock, although a 18" wide tank isn't bad. 12" wide tanks are nearly impossible so it is tough to get over 1.5Lbs/gal in those tanks.

Believe it or not, there are many people that only feed their fish 3 times per week, although with your tank's fish count, I'd recommend every day since there won't be a lot of extra critters or algae for your fish to munch on.

[rlcline76]

Mike did you say you have Tullock's book about water parameters? Does he say anything about overcrowding, oxygen depletion, ammonia and carbon dioxide spikes, the role of overfeeding?

[Mattfish]

I do have that book. I've only read the cover and it says nothing about any of that. It talks about the colors of fish, properties of natural seawater (mine's all tank-made so it doesn't apply), and something about charts, tables, and illustrations, which frankly all sounds very confusing......

OK, seriously, yes, I've read it through once, glanced/referred several times, but need a few more readings to make sense of it/internalize it.

[rlcline76]

I am waiting for that book at the moment...I sure hope I am not disappointed. I understand your angst, I need to have a full pot of coffee in my gut prior to reading up on chemistry (I am getting a little better about it though).

I don't want you to think that we are beating up on you. You know how we are about the LFS. I like a couple of the owners around here, but I try not to ask them for their opinions. When I first started, I did take their words into too much account. Wasted a lot of money in the process. I've wisened up a little, changed a lot of crap around. Now when I go in and they ask me about my set up they tell me I was smart to upgrade here and there. They don't even try to recommend anymore.

Yes, test...YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN DOING THAT WITH THE LAST SYSTEM!!!!! Read.

[Mattfish]

The book's really good - it's just like going back to school - for example, until I realized that a pH drop was caused by corals sucking magnesium and causing the drop, I chased the problem with buffer. I wish I paid more attention in high school chemistry, but then this is pretty specialized, and I'd probably still need to learn just as much.

And nobody's making me feel beat up on - I appreciate all the help. No one here does the holier-than-thou, everyone gives good advice based on their years of experience and knowledge.

And some lfs' are better than others. The folks we go to these days have been a great help, and have immense experience - I suspect there are several ways to create good closed-loop systems, and so far, everything's working for us. But I'll never stop learning, asking questions, and looking for another/different/better way. Particularly if the way I currently use doesn't work. For now, it is, which is cool, and hopefully, and expectedly, will continue.

And, I also came home with Salifert Nitrate, pH and Magnesium test kits to add to the Ammonia and Nitrite ones from last night. These folks are doing weekly maintenance for us and check the Clacium, Alkalinity, etc, so I'll add the Alkalinity, Calcium, Iodine, and Strontium next week. My wife does all the testing (strategic division of duties), so I figure a good ramp-up is needed. But we do plan to start regular testing of every major parameter, and I keep meticulous records.

Finally, see the next thread on Live Rock issue - I think I came up with a revelation this morning.

[rlcline76]

You need to be cautious with revelations in reefing. The last guy who had too many revs on this site had to be escorted out in a straight jacket. lol

[Mattfish]

I'm prepared - I've got my straight jacket in the closet. It was one of my wife's conditions of marrying me. Besides, me and Revelations? Wasn't that in the "newer book"? I haven't read that one....

[jimw369]

Hey Mattfish! I just saw this thread and thought Id post. Sorry so late.

Looks like a great set up. Right in the middle of everything!

MMMMmmmm....but all the fish....all the dosing? Dont care who set it up or what they told you. Its too much unless they designed the system for that much bio load with a way oversized skimmer and some serious flow to get the crap to the overflow with no dead spots in the tank. Let me tell you IMO whats going to eventually happen. With all that dosing and feeding, over time, you are going to get a build up of phosphates in your LR and substrate. You will think everything is going along fine for 5-6-7-8-9 mos until those phosphates are going to show up and then all sorts of bad stuff is gonna show up. You will be helpless in the effort to rid your tank of this. It will run its course. Thats just my thoughts on the subject of all the dosing and feeding. Are you running any phosphate removal media? Could be totally wrong. I am by no means an expert but I do hang out on some other forums and belong to a couple large clubs with a few thousand members and...I see or hear of this happening at least once a week. I know of a couple people here that you would respect their opinion that would concur with what I have said if they would be bold enough to say whats happend to them in the past.

Hey I dont have a perfect tank either. I battle some of the bad stuff like others here too