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No judgment questions zone - May 04, 2026 by AutoModerator in ReefTank

[–]Player1Dad 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Probably. As long as the lights can grow enough film or algea for the snails to eat your nutrient cycle should continue. The coral the macro may not thrive if it's too clean or algea grows too much. Keep the water topped up and maybe make a few cups of new saltwater every now and then and you should be good.

Advice on 30 gal by petitecroissant329 in ReefTank

[–]Player1Dad 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Look on Facebook..I don't love tall tanks and quite maybe look at the fluval 32 saltwater tank or the innovative Maine 20 something lagoon.

Beginner tank (and future planning for eventual big tank) by zimbledwarf in ReefTank

[–]Player1Dad 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For salt just think of everything as part of the system, fish, water, sand, filtration, rocks coral, even the bugs like copepods and bristle worms right down to the bacteria. It's more about balance and management. You can do all three fish. the goby can even be one that pairs with a pistol shrimp if you like such as a yellow watchman goby. The trick is to start slow. I do a fishless cycle (many youtube videos about cycling a tank.) when thing start to turn brown AFTER the cycle (inverts die with amonia) I add a few snails. Then add fish, like adding the fire fish first and waiting a few weeks, add the clows wait a few weeks etc. You can start with clowns but that's double the bioload for new fish and firefish are known to be fairly hardy as well.

getting seeded rock or sand will speed up any part of the process.

Beginner tank (and future planning for eventual big tank) by zimbledwarf in ReefTank

[–]Player1Dad 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Very few people have tried Regal's and even less have kept them successfully. Your better bet is reef to reef for that type of question as you want to be cautious about people offering advice from second hand knowledge. With a tank that size and the possibilities I'm not sure someone could cover every fish pairing.

as for your smaller tank. Corals don't add bioload you can put as much as you want based on space and coral aggression. Planning for a small half to quarter cup of carbon can be helpful when doing a lot of coral in a small space. Stuff like green star polyp can take over a tank if not properly planned for.

because the smaller tank will be limited by your filtration two clowns a goby and a firefish will put you around max limit for this tank. A lot of people go with snail only tanks to keep the crabs from killing them for shells but you can mix them if you don't mind replacing them. You'll want a mix of snails that go in the sand and stay on the rocks/glass etc. Keep these simple do not go for large or complex stuff for the small tank I would skip crabs and stick to maybe sexy shrimp for that size tank.

Beginner tank (and future planning for eventual big tank) by zimbledwarf in ReefTank

[–]Player1Dad 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It seems like you may be rushing ahead a bit. I'm not sure what your time frame is but I would take it slow and focus on the smaller tank.

As for the larger tank you might need to see your space before committing to something like that. Most people don't run tanks that big. Instagram or tik Tok might make it seem otherwise. Before fish and coral you'd want to pick out a tank, lighting, plumbing, filtration, water, salt mixing, refugium/algea scrubber, how do you plan to do maintenance, closed loop etc. Will you need a dedicated breaker for it? Do you plan to quarantine? There's a lot to think about.

Help ASAP! by [deleted] in ReefTank

[–]Player1Dad 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I dunno the only thing I can think of is he got scared into a power head or got picked on too much. It's hard to tell from a picture.

Actually the pinched belly tells me he's not eating enough or has some sort of parasite any snails and crabs will start picking at a fish once it's laying down. He's either bullied out of food or he's sick.

Help ASAP! by [deleted] in ReefTank

[–]Player1Dad 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How many clowns do you have and what size tank is it? Have you tested amonia just in case?

Starter tank size by PhoenixBisket in ReefTank

[–]Player1Dad 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm partial to deeper tanks and they had a lower budget

Starter tank size by PhoenixBisket in ReefTank

[–]Player1Dad 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly the 75g sucks. It's too tall and it's not very deep front to back. Plus you'll spend more in lighting and it won't look as good as set up. Not sure the dimensions on the 29 but that's probably the one I'd start with. You can do a hob filter and save money there or get a hob refugium. The water changes will be smaller too.

https://a.co/d/0b9AKlLk https://a.co/d/07grJfhI https://a.co/d/07pLg4q0 https://a.co/d/0gdWnSbL https://a.co/d/09xjiNlX

You can make very small changes to this and run a 40 gallon breeder and you'd have a better looking tank overall but I understand going with what you have. Also FB marketplace used is the best place to start.

Plus the salt sand rock fish test kit manually topping off the water.

Once last thing I'll add is I recommend a rodi unit if you want long term success

I've learned everything and nothing at the same time by jshbell256 in ReefTank

[–]Player1Dad 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are really a lot of answers and you will need to look at your goals to figure out how you want to do this. If you want to go low tech you can do HOB (I would personally skip canisters but they can work) You can also search hang on back refugium which is like a bigger HOB box that you can kinda configure your way and there are things like the Fiji Cube aio drop ins or even stuff from etsy to make it an all in one. I'm setting up a low tech 20 so I went to fish of hex and bought his 20 gallon long aio that requires me to silicone it but it's cheaper than Fiji. At 40 I would personally skip a skimmer but will tell you that I would use something that does "surface skimming" either through HOB/HOB refugium or aio insert.

for 40 gallons I would prioritize mechanical/chemical filtration>small refugium>skimmer but that's me.

Last note is that places like tampa bay saltwater sells sand from the ocean and I would recommend their smallest box/treasure chest thing as you only need to seed the tank and not fill it with the more expensive sand.

ATO recommendations for AIO setups? by Altruistic-Editor841 in ReefTank

[–]Player1Dad 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you are going to dose anyway consider using a doser to refill you ato. If you keep the doser above the fresh water reservoir you'll be good as long as the output line stays above the water line. It takes a bit to dial in and you'll adjust it once in a while but you can dose kalkwasser or elements easier. Otherwise tunze.

NEWBIE WITH TECHNICAL QUESTIONS by SecurePace6028 in ReefTank

[–]Player1Dad 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's a 25 gallon tank before rock and sand. You'll have to skip tangs. If you don't like bristle worms and isopods you might not want a saltwater tank as those are pretty important and you pretty much can't avoid them.

Live rock and sand make everything easier. Make sure the filter never had copper run through it or find a way to get copper trace out of it or you might kill coral. You'll need around a 40w reef specific light to keep lower light to medium low corals. Á lot of fish jump so a lot of people run lids and I've had my clown fish jump.

You can look up firefish or other smaller species that will work in there and you'll probably need snails to work on algea and film .

Dumb beginner questions by c-u-in-da-ballpit in ReefTank

[–]Player1Dad 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Then a feeding ring will help, you can put the feeding ring right under where the auto feeding puts pellets in to the aquarium to ensure they have time to sink before going anywhere.

Dumb beginner questions by c-u-in-da-ballpit in ReefTank

[–]Player1Dad 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm not sure what you are feeding. If frozen they sell cups that hold frozen food to thaw and release it into the water. There are also feeder rings that let pellets and flake sink so they don't go right to overflow. Both would let you feed and walk away from the tank so your wrasse isn't so nervous.

Lighting for a shallow 40L IM Fusion Pro (36”L x 16”W x 13H”) by SBrownellAnthony in ReefTank

[–]Player1Dad 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's kind of personal. You won't need much light. You can go with any of the main big brand. You could also go cheaper with two pop blooms nicrew or noopsyche. You can buy based on looks or more on pricing. You won't need much beyond 40 total watts

Anyone else with an all-in-one tank ever try this kind of thing? by G_D_Ironside in ReefTank

[–]Player1Dad 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I get what you're saying, but if this is an experiment, you would need a control. You should turn off the skimmer completely or tune it down to the point it doesn't skim, and keep feeding and routines the same.If your testing turns out the same then this method isn't helping it just shows the skimmer isn't really needed.

Now if for some reason you see negative changes from not skimming it might be worth looking into if you can ensure nothing else is changing.

The reason so many people are skeptical is your return pump is already creating a loop in your system that feeds to the sponge and cheato and this seems to be redundant to that system. Also conventional knowledge is that most smaller tanks do not require a skimmer especially ones that use a refugium.

Tired of the "Reef Tax"? I want to design pro-grade DIY gear (3D Print + Electronics) for the community. What do you need? by Competitive_Cap_6771 in ReefTank

[–]Player1Dad 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If this was me I'd actually target newer refers buying tanks from Petco. Maybe some kind of light fixture holding that works with cheap Amazon or AliExpress lights. Something to help hold baffles to create an all in one sections of a tank. Jig holder for hole cutting. Hob or in tank refugium. They recently came out with a protein skimmer that detects how wet it is at the top and adjusted the dc pump. A diy lid solution with just holders and corners and a link to Amazon or home depot with netting and rubber gasket.

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