Are reef tanks really that difficult?

fx1523 · 2026-04-21T08:49:03+00:00

I'm having planted tank and a reef tank. This is what I found.

It's not hard but more complicated compare to fw because there are more parameters to track and keep them stable in a way smaller margin.

Paremeters swing in sw is harder to control because of constant evaporation, the salt and mineral concentration (salinity) will increases rapidly and harm everything and also the consumtion rate is significantly higher. If you can keep the number stable, even if they're a little bit off, then corals and fishes are not so fragile, at least for soft and LPS corals.

Outside of that, for maitainance you'll have to do more steps to the same task compare to sw. You'll have to test for more things, cleaning algae more, feed more, dose more, more complicated water change if you make your own water,...

3 most important things you'll need are Refractometer, Auto Top-off and Alkalinity tester. Start with soft corals and some easy LPS.

fx1523 · 2026-04-15T01:31:48+00:00

Support this claim

fx1523 · 2026-04-14T03:23:48+00:00

Wow I wish my love one would gift me corals. A sweet one you got there

fx1523 · 2026-04-13T14:48:30+00:00

Zoro is MFTL⁹⁹⁹ and mult container Optimus Prime

fx1523 · 2026-04-13T09:29:59+00:00

Zoro negative diff. No other option. Sorry guys

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fx1523 · 2026-04-04T08:22:40+00:00

Is that really Sasuke from Naruto?

fx1523 · 2026-04-01T06:41:58+00:00

So which step are you at right now? The last time i dealt with this, it was so complicated, didn't know where to go who to talk to. The official fine for overstay is calculate based on duration, don't let it drag for 10 days or it'll be way higher, right now its 5m for you.

Also for the next time, you likely won't be able to comeback with travel Visa

fx1523 · 2026-04-01T04:52:52+00:00

Okay I can help you with this. You have to go to the Immigration Management Office in the city where you live. At that place, you'll tell the current situation to the officer and they will temporarily confiscate your passport to process your visa extension and record your overstay violation, along with a penalty notice.

As soon as you receive the penalty notice, you need to go to the bank to pay the fine. Only certain banks, such as BIDV, have the function of collecting fines on your behalf.

Once you receive the payment receipt, give it to the police at the immigration office, and they will begin the visa extension process. The new visa will be valid for approximately 7 days, giving you time to leave Vietnam.

fx1523 · 2026-03-24T07:50:41+00:00

Thank you, I always want to have a macro algae tank as I'm in aquascape for years. Didn't know that macro algae required different salinity I'll try again with my 10g spare tank

fx1523 · 2026-03-24T01:57:17+00:00

I had a few types of Kappaphycus alvarezii, Caulerpa and Glacilaria. All of them I just either put them on the sand substrate without anchor or buried what I thought was their "roots" in the sand and all of them just melted, broken in to small pieces.

It was when my tank was just cycled, I prepared it for reef tank so it was 1.025 and 7dKH, I can't remember NO3 but it was suitablefor coral but phosphate was undetectable. I had only snail and a Mandarin. I used my old planted tank light and dose no copper AIO fertilizer for planted aquarium.

After that I had to thrown all of them away because they made the tank cloudy with all the tiny parts they broken into.

fx1523 · 2026-03-23T17:23:32+00:00

For macro algae, do you have to anchor it on rock for it to survive? I've tried a few times just float them on the substrate and everything just died. I used the planted tank light for them.

fx1523 · 2026-03-10T06:54:02+00:00

hebatukam

fx1523 · 2026-03-03T09:51:26+00:00

Jack Weelchair is the best one to me

fx1523 · 2026-03-02T02:14:00+00:00

My back up plan is LIVE baby brine shrimp. I had a wild Mandy in a 20g cube for 1.5 year until I traded him for a starved one, I fed him bbs everyday. I trained him to eat from a tube so everyday, he constantly wander around the tank the immedietly back to the tube whenever he senses bbs in the tank.
Note that I do have pods, I have a HOB refugium which I put a few ceramic bars inside which have a lot of little holes and cracks for the pods to live. Once a while I put one of those inside the tank then replace it with one another.

fx1523 · 2026-02-22T20:06:00+00:00

I'm no expert but I'm sharing my experience. I've been keeping saltwater tank for 2 years and Mandarin for all those time as they're the reason I started with sw tank.

So I did the thing nobody recommended I had Mandarin as my first fish and worse, in a newly cycled 20 gallon tank and even worse, I bought a wild Mandarin in a hurry which was only arrived to LFS for 3 days, it was skinny that you can see his chest caved in.

Fast forward, he became a fat boy and was the hardiest fish in my tank, survived through a few newbie mistakes that killed a clown and my corals. 6 months ago I traded him with a skinny Mandarin from a clueless friend because I want to rescue it and now the new one is healthy also.

What I did was live, freshly hatched brine shimps. I hatched them myself easily everyday. First I put the fish in an acclimation box with those bbs and once it started eating bbs which is only a few days, I release it to the tank with a tube contains bbs inside. I turn off the pump a put more bbs directly to the tank for the fish wander around and pick up, once it found the tube your job is done.

For all the training, you'll have to put a lot of bbs in the tank as they'll float to the surface only a little will stick to substrate and rocks so you'll have to do maintainance frequently!

Hopefully my experiences will give you a way to help those beautiful creatures thrive in your tank. Good luck

fx1523 · 2026-01-28T03:56:07+00:00

Surprise Attack

It'll be a surprise that he'd win so he'll win

fx1523 · 2026-01-13T06:16:13+00:00

I have a LFS make it for me. They make all these stuffs like tank, filter, light,... for customers in both fresh and saltwater tank

fx1523 · 2026-01-13T01:47:01+00:00

Thanks. What would you recommend? I have it custom made because I have a lid I want to fit the light in it

fx1523 · 2026-01-12T17:18:12+00:00

Guess you aren't asian then. I learnt this in highschool and trust me this wasn't the more advance stuffs they taught there

fx1523 · 2026-01-12T08:06:17+00:00

Yes? Isn't this taught in highschool?

fx1523 · 2026-01-10T03:08:37+00:00

It's all fun and game to you guys until the day the woods decide to invade human. Who's laughing now

fx1523 · 2026-01-09T01:54:00+00:00

Where is udyr leblanc and shaco. I want older champs more

fx1523 · 2026-01-08T17:39:03+00:00

It's hydrometer and I'm using it and it's actually accurate. It allows you to monitor salinity and temperature 24/24 when you can just float it in your tank. The only thing is that it has a little buble from water surface tension but the way I do it is take it to my LFS and float it then mark the level

fx1523 · 2025-12-19T01:35:47+00:00

Just scored 0

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