I have heard that the salt you use should be able to meet water parameter requirements without dosing needed. I’ve been using the coralife salt sold at Petco and this stuff has been garbage. Using the recommended dosage per gallon doesn’t even come close to the advertised water parameters. After mixing, my parameters have consistently been around Ca 500, Mg 1150, pH 7.4, dkH 7, and salinity 1.030. Yes I am using reverse osmosis water. These readings are with no other products added, just the salt. The advertised parameters are Ca 380, Mg 1260, pH 8.2, dkH 8, and salinity 1.026.

What am I doing wrong? Is this salt not worth a shit? Am I supposed to be dosing from the get go?? Better salt recommendations that actually cover your parameters? What products/salt do you guys use to make your water?? Help!!!

Been out of the hobby for 15 years. Bought a 16 gallon tank because my wife wouldn’t let me buy one for our home yet.

Been through a lot of ups and downs. They turned off the air conditioning to our office for one weekend which crashed the tank and killed 80% of my corals. Think temp got to 90 degrees for 24 hours, while I was on vacation of course. Had to walk my assistant through how to cool the tank slowly and almost cried thinking I killed everything.

I now have a chiller, back up battery, two heaters and just about everything I can get to protect my tank.

I come by the office every Sunday to check on the tank and maintenance. I’m pretty sure my wife thinks I’m crazy but man do I love this hobby.

I appreciate the all the advice on here. This is one of the nicest communities on Reddit. Thank you all.

I know that the test kits aren't super accurate but was curious how you guys bump up the nitrate levels safely.

We are just fighting off a big green hair algea bloom after the hurricane hit us in (WNC) levels are all great and coral is bouncing back well. Our first big order for this tank of coral/fish are coming so I want to make sure my levels are ready. (Got a killer deal on a used tank, it has been a pain in the ass but is finally ready to grow)

We lost my 10 y/o male clown and a few others that came with the tank. Was out of town when the storm hit and couldn't contact anyone to hook the tank up to the generator. 24 hours no power and half of our fish lived and almost all coral is making a comeback.

Hi everyone!

I’m really new to the reef-hobby. I’ve had numerous tanks before but as freshwater, I have a approx 15-16 gallon tank that I’ve been cycling for the past month or so with help of live rock and sand and also bacteria and I have tested all the parameters and everything checks out so I’m planing to add fish in the near future. My question is: could I do a single percula/ocellaris clownfish only in a tank that size? Or even a pair? Because I want a fish only tank with maximum two clownfish. The guy at the pet store said it wouldn’t be any problem, but I wanted to make sure.

Hi all, I’ve had an outbreak of large cell amphidinium dinoflagellates which are staying on the sand bed and turning it brown.

I’ve tried Dino-X which seemed to have no impact.

I was wondering whether adding something like a sea cucumber would eat the dinoflagellates as it cleans and filters the sand?

What are your thoughts?

Hello everyone. Rappin with Reefbum is live streaming his last podcast tonight. He will have Chris Meckley on from ACI Aquaculture.

If you have never heard of the Reefbum podcast, i cannot recommend it more. He has interviewed all the big names in the hobby from CEO’s of the companies we support, to charity organizers, to fellow hobbyist that have been doing this for a very long time. He is also Reef2Reef tank of the month winner and until recently a well regarded online SPS seller.

The podcast has always be a font of knowledge for the hobby getting information directly from the people that are innovators in it.

I highly recommend every check out his final show tonight on Youtube at 7:00pm EST. And his back catalog for more information you are curious about in the hobby. It is also a great to listen to during those weekly maintenance / water change days.

https://www.youtube.com/live/f8a1WHN8LxI?feature=shared

Going to have to move in about a year (to a more permanent spot) so I'm trying to keep it simple for now, so I'm thinking I'll make it a species tank for the time being. But what species? I had a mantis shrimp tank before so that's a possibility, but I'm looking for other ideas too. Is it too small for a dwarf lionfish? Open to any and all suggestions and advice!

The LFS said it was a bristletooth. Looks like a yellow tang to me.

Taking down one of my nano tanks and want to keep the live rock in a bucket going with a powerhead, heater, few hermits, and a peppermint shrimp in the bucket, I want the rocks to grow coralline so im gonna put a light on it but dont want algae to get out of control so what intensity and how long should i put the light on for?

I’ve been looking on BRS and I really don’t want to overspend on a pump I don’t need or buy a pump with not enough flow

Any advice on a protein skimmer for 35 gallon tank? That doesn't break the bank.

Here is the place to post questions about pest ID, coral/fish ID, your cycle, or any other questions that generally wouldn't start up a conversation. If you have an interesting or unique question please create a new thread so everyone can discuss it in length!

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Pest ID guide

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BRS pest guide

BRS beginner resources

BRS 52 weeks of reefing YouTube series

Hi yall. I’m looking for a rimless tank that is 48” by 30” deep and 18” tall. Not looking for specifically a pre drilled option, I’m fine doing all the plumbing and such myself. I just can’t manage to find any options fitting my criteria.

PFA! For context, I’ve been running a 20Gal/75L nano tank for the last couple of years, and have just finished setting up my new 185Gal/700L tank (scape is in, wet, salted, and I’ve just starting cycling with Dr Tim’s One and Only, adding Ammonium Chloride up to around 1ppm)

I’ve come across a number of posts recently suggesting that ammonia doesn’t affect corals in the same way it does live stock, with many people adding corals during the cycle stage.

My question being, I have a large Neon Green Cabbage Leather sat on a single small/medium sized piece of rock in my existing nano tank, and I’ve also got a Mushroom sat on a very small piece of rock - Is there any benefit in moving either/or both corals/rocks over to my new tank, mid cycle, to speed up the cycling process? Or am I better off sitting tight, and letting the cycle complete over the next few weeks, before moving anything over?

Hi all! Finished setting up my tank over the weekend and started filling it! 60 gallons down, 100ish more to go!

Hello,

My friend gave me some free corals - really sweet - but it’s crawling with aiptasia, bristle worms, various pest algae and who knows what else - I did a coral rx dip but I just spent 200+ dollars on some new corals in my QT tank - I QT everything and my friend doesn’t - I don’t know what to do - the corals don’t look in very good health, dull colors - I feel like a huge jerk but I spend so many long hours QTing everything and carefully stocking my DT tank - what should I do?

Who needs a Christmas tree when you can have a Christmas wall?🎄

Hi all! I've had a fluval sea evo for about a year and would like to buy a better light now instead of the one it came with. I'm looking for something that will fit the size of the tank nicely but has more options for controlling the lighting and will be better for my corals. I only have soft and LPS corals, so I don't need anything super powerful. Looking forward to hearing your recommendations!

I'm sure it's expensive...

Thanx in advance, Mert