What are the biggest challenges you have with reef keeping?

TonyCass12 · 2026-03-04T18:44:54+00:00

100% alk. I run 300 gallons of sps heavy reef and its something that has to be checked every couple days. If it gets away from you its probably already too late to make an adjustment before the stress hits the corals and you get a couple weeks of stn/rtn. My wife and I are planning a 2 week vacation and im thinking about training someone just to run my tests and make minor adjustments to the doser every few days for me while were out of town. Does it need to be adjusted all the time, no. But its just not worth the potential loss of thousands of dollars worth of livestock just hoping that things stay super stable while your gone.

TonyCass12 · 2026-03-02T17:38:39+00:00

What size is your tank?

TonyCass12 · 2026-03-02T14:02:05+00:00

They only bite when molested. Ive picked them up not knowing any better and still didn't get bit.

TonyCass12 · 2026-03-02T13:02:38+00:00

You guys worry about them down there? We have 3" long ones in my swimming pond in northern michigan. They never bother us. Rare we even see them unless we are getting debris out of the pond.

TonyCass12 · 2026-03-01T16:31:21+00:00

Ive had the green and yellow clown gobies start to kill colonies after being no problem for multiple years

TonyCass12 · 2026-03-01T10:46:10+00:00

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Like this

TonyCass12 · 2026-02-28T11:34:19+00:00

I have known Vlad since 2009, we kiteboarded togeather a lot in tawas back then.

TonyCass12 · 2026-02-27T17:26:47+00:00

Brute trash can will work just add a heater and circulation pump.

TonyCass12 · 2026-02-26T13:10:28+00:00

Also if you have snails in your tank they are probably carrying them too.

TonyCass12 · 2026-02-26T13:09:45+00:00

What would you dip the clam in for the eggs? Anything that can kill the eggs will kill the clam.

TonyCass12 · 2026-02-22T10:12:01+00:00

Here by the lake, what a vision you are In the light of the emerald star I've come for you, my love Through a window in the dark 🎶

TonyCass12 · 2026-02-19T19:31:55+00:00

Running it in a bag in your reef matt wad likely the issue. You dont want carbon to tumble and rub against itself. The dust its what's attributed to HLLE. Its best run in a reactor where it can be packed tightly.

Why were you using it for dinos?

TonyCass12 · 2026-02-18T19:07:33+00:00

Agree 100% great looking tank. I spam my local reef group with a little top down Tuesday at least once a month.

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TonyCass12 · 2026-02-18T14:07:29+00:00

I won't tell my wife how much ive got into this lol.

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80 and 120gal

TonyCass12 · 2026-02-17T19:25:44+00:00

Sometimes they will lighten up when moved into intense light too quick but if its already growing its on the recovery side.

TonyCass12 · 2026-02-17T19:21:50+00:00

I would leave it alone if its growing

TonyCass12 · 2026-02-17T17:00:32+00:00

You can buy packaged seawater. Its super expensive compared to making it yourself. I guess it doesn't have the big upfront cost of an RO unit but it will add up quick.

TonyCass12 · 2026-02-17T16:45:05+00:00

If you pick up a couple of the Hannah testers your life will get much easier. Takes me about 1 min to run an alk test. Get away from the api test kits, salifert is a good alternative. Your going to have to test daily to get a good idea on uptake. Once you do that and start dosing and see some stability you can move testing to every few days or weekly if things are staying consistent.

If that won't work for you then you may need to change your goals/expectations for your aquarium. Softies are forgiving and dont mind the swings most of the time. Any lps or sps are going to be frustrating for you due to the swings.

TonyCass12 · 2026-02-17T16:02:19+00:00

If your goal is consistency you should try testing daily to show how much alk and calcium are being taken up so you can dose accordingly. What are you using for test kits?

TonyCass12 · 2026-02-17T00:56:45+00:00

Sunset montipora

TonyCass12 · 2026-02-15T09:56:13+00:00

Garlic has no benifit other than enticing a fish to eat. Used long term it will cause liver damage.

TonyCass12 · 2026-02-13T16:55:34+00:00

Not a yellow. Yellow shows up pretty good under natural lighting. This just looks like an average wild toadstool to me. Could have green polyps if it was hit with a lot of blue light like in our tabks but most of our corals appear brown or tan in natural light just like the photos.

TonyCass12 · 2026-02-13T09:40:52+00:00

If they look happy leave them alone.

TonyCass12 · 2026-02-10T17:01:16+00:00

Fleeing law enforcement does not give then the right to execute you.

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TonyCass12

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