I got a duncan freshly fragged for me from a lfs and it needed not time at all to heal, it was opening up immediately and grew fast! Sometimes theyre just cool like that
Really, what's that got to do with new corals and RODI units. Maybe watch the video again bud. Quarantine yourself in copper treatment. Keep you mouth closed and it taste mank😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Completely agree. If you're going to instruct beginners, then this is best practice. This would be my #1 mistake even "experts" RU-vidrs make. Come on ReefDork!
When I have algae in my tank, I intend it to grow there. It may seem unsightly but the tangs, blennies, and inverts are always nomming it all down and keeping it clean. My tank nutrients may be a bit off but if it grows algae on the rocks, and is able to maintain the growth without the rocks going pale because the algae isnt growing because the nutrients could possibly be enough but the light isnt enough so I keep the lights on during the day, its fine by me and I just let the algae grow, especially on the side and back walls that are hard to reach by my hand but the snails and tangs can, theyre welcome to graze on it all.
First one about frag plugs, I would absolutely say I did. Funny how something is not obvious until it is said. Thanks Alex for sorting me out! John in Halifax, Canada
My Blastomussa Merletti was my first coral. Started with only four polyps, went down to three (my bad. knocked the rock I mounted it on down onto another rock and damaged one polyp which got infected, so I had to perform surgery and chop it off before it spread), and now has close to 15 large polyps and a few newer ones starting to grow. It is one of the toughest and prettiest corals in my tank, as well as one of my all time favorites.
@@brandonezdoofenshmirtz2916 Well I got the Blasto back in ...February? Late January? I would have to go back to my WWC purchase history to get an accurate date. But it probably remained at 3 heads up until June, when I started to notice some new growth. And now here we are in December and I seem to find a new polyp every day, mostly because a lot of the newer polyps are being overshadowed by the larger ones, so I only notice once the larger ones are closed up either because they just caught some LPS pellets or Mysis, or because a hermit or snail brushed up against it and so they shrunk up in defense. The funny thing is, as much as I seem to get it and my Aussie Lords, and hell even my Bowerbanki and my two Acros (All three of which I just got in October), I seem to get them all to grow. But my two hammers and frogspawn? Nope. Nothing. Someday I will get more heads to grow on those three beautiful fat bastards. Someday....
@@brandonezdoofenshmirtz2916 just the LEDs my Biocube came installed with. But from what I have heard, Merletti are faster growers than Wellsi. Also, I feed them alot. Which I just realized I haven't target fed my corals since Sunday... guess I will be feeding them once I get home lol. Gotta feed my mini maxi too. So reef roids, Lps Pellets, and Mysis for dinner!!! (My corals' dinner, not mine)
i'm experienced and i still do impulse buys, but theres a lot a already know, so impulse buys happen on most things i know, and as far an buying on clean frag plugs, some corals i get fragged from colonies the shop owns, mainly zoa's
Amen to UR, that forum has helped me so much and still helps me to this day. I went to set up a brackish tank before getting a marine and 1 of my LFS said don't put mollies in saltwater they will die. First mollies are brackish fish and even used to cycle marine and seen used as live food for marine predators. LFS also told me an oscar and small fire eel be ok together...oscar ate the eel like a piece of spaghetti. But there are good LFS employees out there who care and rather not sell something if belief it will die. Another point about making your own RO water isn't just because having the control over the TDS but think, how many times you went to buy RO water (and intended to ONLY buy the water) then come out with water and a couple of corals? Just like going to put fuel in the car then coming out with snacks and drinks. I didn't drive and nearest LFS with RO water was about 20min drive so buying the water wasn't easy so making your own is the best tip for beginners.
Tunze holder is an awesome idea, practical and useful...but for the bracket holder, a tip I like to offer is to use double sided tape and it works, you can reposition easily and no marks if you decide to sell etc
I am on groundwater so do not need to use RO water I test my ground water regularly. But do not confuse groundwater with a well. It is basically underground spring filtered through a chalk bed no heavy metals and no chlorine. Where as well water naturally seeps up from the ground passes through soil and all the nasties and has a much higher nitrate level.
Good video..Great content,although,on the subject of soft corals being potentially a bad choice..I only have softies because of the cost with hard corals..I got back into the hobby with the firm belief that I could do it on a budget..I had no choice haha. I don't know how to put a pic on this feed but would love to share my living garden
Another top video. Made several of these mistakes, some all in one go... Ask LFS what is the best ‘beginner’ coral, they advise xenia & a newly fragged finger leather, I just take them without doing any research, along with 20 litres of RODI water that it is as dirty as the river Thames. Go back next week with a water sample for them to do a test using poor quality kits with a half arsed approach only to tell me everything is fine, no water change required - this bumblebee grouper would look great & here is some more RODI 101TDS. (Got carried away after the water test).
I really like Toadstools and mushrooms and playing monti is my favorite coral. If done right, a softie tank can be up their with your 200$ per 1” acro frag tank. I see what you are saying tho, don’t not purchase a coral just because it isn’t beginning friendly.
I tried doing the make my own water thing and geez. What a hassle. It's much easier to just go to the grocery store and buy some distilled water for $1 per gallon.
Your naokos wrasse is stunning, I'm still fuming that mine disappeared without a trace a while back after only being in the tank for a couple months. Such a shame he never got to fully turn into a jaw dropper like yours as he was only about half the size
Great video Alex I think your bang on about the corals. Impossible almost to kill 😉. RODI water for me it's not cost effective as the waist water outgrows the RO water you produce. I think you get 2l to 10l so 8l going down the dranage system. If I could have a RODI unit with zero waist then perfect?! I like to know more about refugiums, aim for zero water changes. 👍
@@BigGuyAl007 I bought an ro buddy, 4 stages, off amazon. I found out if you pinch the waste tube, the water will only come out from the pure rodi water tube. The down side is even though the rodi water comes out of the system at 0 tds, it will eventually become 1 tds. But the amount of waste water it made, and the water bill every month, I decided the exchange was okay.
Hmm. There's London aquarium if that's your thing (it's OK but not great). And the Horniman museum (no giggling at the back) has some cool coral spawning research going on. And there's an enormous tank in the lobby of Heron Tower (also one of London's tallest buildings) that you can see from the street - Google it, it's pretty cool 🙂
Great job. One of the problems on the hobby is people can just be unpleasant and mean just for asking questions, challenging accepted theory and popular but scientifically unproven information, or commenting on things / statements people that make are just wrong.
Sure do. Thanks i realize that and dont worry. I deal with that for a living. Many dont want to (or maybe can’t) read and understand a question that is more than a sound byte. I’m fine with all of it. Can learn from everyone, all the time. My only frustration with the hobby is the lack of transparency and the dramatic rise in prices for everything for past few years. Of course just as I got into saltwater reefing. Been an aquarist for 54 years.
On the impulse buy comment. Couldn't be more true. When I added my first fish to the tank I got a condy anemone with it. Thinking it would grow like any coral. But didnt realize it needed to be fed. So after three days it shrunk and slid under a rock to hide and probably die. After about ten minutes of research I found out it was starving and slowly fed it until it recovered. How the cindy is extremely happy and constantly inflating and deflating. The green came back to the tips and it looks beautiful again. All it took was about ten to fifteen minutes of research and that condy would not have gotten so bad so quickly. Now I research anything before I buy it.
For the last one you just need a macroalgae or saltwater plant to help maintain water parameters for you. My freshwater tank is setup with plants for this exact reason and hasn't needed a water change for years. That's why I'm starting my new saltwater tank stocking with a macroalgae and modestly sized fish in the beginning.
Defo need to buy rodi system but my LFS displays weekly TDS readings on the front door and there TDS meter is visible in the shop at only £2.50 per 25 litres it’s about saving up enough money to buy one / not going to the LFS for a weekly chat and window shop at corals 🥰
Your tank looks amazing. I am still planning to have my first ever saltwater tank. Is it okay to keep 2x Nemo fish and 2x Yellow Tang all together with some corals in 300 litre 4 feet tank with normal RGB LED lights and Oase Biomaster 600 filter?
2 clowns, yes. 2 tangs, no - they'll fight and you'll end up with one dead so just get one. Is RGB LED a brand? If you just mean generic lights, no don't get them - they might be OK for fish only but i'd guess they'll give you algae problems. I'm not a massive fan of canister filters - ask Aaron's Aquarium though, he's done vids on them before.
I'm only setting up my tank, have zero experience on reef keeping, but I am planning to say no to water changes. True as you said, we need to replenish the things that were taken up by livestock. But on this front, why take the hassle of changing water, which is essentially 96.5% water and among the other 3.5%, are 90% salts and ions that are not consumed by any organism? Now you have tests as your eyes, so you can see the change (only the obvious ones like Ca, Mg, NO3 PO4 ofc, but those are the most important anyway) and correct them accordingly, with small amounts of stuffs that are actually taken away, with a doser, which is affordable enough. For the less obvious elements like Sr, Bo, I, Br, F, most of them don't have much discernable effect on marine life, since they either are not taken up much or doesn't matter even if they deplete, or both (not what your LFS will want to tell you) and the micronutrients like Fe, Co, Mn, Mo, Cu and Zn can and are already supplied with the fish food that we use! Now couple this with a good refugium and skimmer to take care of the bad stuffs, and I'm (supposed to be) good. Lastly, I can send samples to labs to see the exact makeup every once in a while, and correct anything that may be causing problems. Of course this path will be more unforgiving to errors, but that's why it will be all the more exciting and rewarding if done right, which I think is pretty much descriptive of the hobby in general. So, happy reefing!
@@hellsbells114 if by that you mean I need to be prepared for losses, I agree, because I'm not investing a whole lot into equipment. My total hardware setup cost for 140g DT+sump is about $700, the doser alone 1/10 of that. I live in Vietnam so it might not translate very well in terms of actual investment, but even by Vietnamese reefers' term, it's extreme cheapskating. Just the bare necessities, some DIY LEDs and a big refugium (no skimmer). I even make my own salt mix LoL. But I make up for it with all the research I could possibly do. There's so much to learn especially when you have so much time and so little fund to decide on the actual value of something. The pet hobby has always been about snake oils, and I believe reefkeeping even more so. Throwing money at things won't always solve your problems.
How long does it take for a tank to establish? And are they the ones that eat sponges? Im gonna research them for a few years to see if i really wanna give it a try once I’m done with collage. I wanna try them, but i don’t wanna kill the fish!
🤣🤣 Reef Dork 🤣🤣 I’ll probably regret them in 6 months though. My plan is to cut my teeth on these corals, then next week I’m getting my Walt Disney and Kawasaki ninja balls frags.
I'm not a fan of leathers but gsp and cloves are awesome, just a pain in the arse if they spread. But at the end of the day, all that matters is if you like the coral 🙂
I don’t agree on the fact that an RO/DI system is basically a big ass Britta. Yes you can buy a reverse osmosis filter by Britta to install underneath your sink but that is completely different from the pitcher. “Reverse Osmosis” means to force a solvent to go where it would not naturally flow while under pressure’s that are greater than it’s natural pressure. Forcing the water through a membrane that is barely permeable even for the water molecules to fit. Look up Gibbs Free Energy if you want to learn more about Reverse Osmosis! RO/DI stands for Reverse Osmosis Deionization. That extra “Deionization” is one more stage of filtration which results in your water being down to zero total dissolved solids. Containing nothing but hydrogen and oxygen
Askrealreefers on facebook is one of the few good groups for advice. Good rule of thumb, if someone hasnt posted anything about their tank, dont take their advice.
As always Alex, great information, but I do have a question, I had a problem with really high nitrates etc. So I added a fluidise reactor with bio pearls, now my nitrates have dropped to about 5.0 and phosphates are at zero, should I turn the reactor off for a while ? My concern is removing all traces of nitrates make affect my corals 🤷🏻♂️
I'd probably leave it personally - as long as there aren't any problems, just let the tank settle. If you really want to though, feeding more or adding more fish is a better option 🙂
@@alfst5546 something I've heard is even if it reads zero, nitrates are still getting produced from fish and feeding (obviously,) and the corals are still able to utilize them before they are pulled out as they still enter the water column continually. Eg. Organic wastes breaking down over time.
Yellow, silver belly, radiant would probably be OK. Although they might outgrow it in a couple of years. There's a pygmy wrasse (can't remember its name) that's pretty cool, if a little secretive. He'd definitely be OK.
unless there is some miracle easy RO/DI that I could plug onto the tap, i will be buying water (rental apartment...probably would appreciate my plumbing!)
If your washing machine is connected to the mains water by a screw fitting (which it probably is) you can add a twin screw adapter then simply screw an ro filter to that and remove it when you leave! 🙂
I was wondering if anybody could help me out. I just recently purchased a flame hawk fish. He is in a quarantine tank and I would like to know what parasites to treat him for and what chemicals to use to treat him.
Medicated quarantine is easy to get wrong - you need to do a lot of research or get yourself on a forum and find out about what you need to dose, how much, for how long and to understand what's going on during treatment.
Never heard of medical grade water. If it's 0 TDS ro/di water, it'll be fine but you can achieve that much easier yourself so I wouldn't bother. Googled it and it's pretty expensive - £30 for 4 litres.
Right now I am doing weekly water changes. I plan on doing them this way for six months. Than doing every two weeks for 6 months than once a month after a year would this be ok? My tank has been up for almost 3 months
Reef Dork you say that noobs stop doing water changes just because everything looks okay. So you’re saying nutrients are within ideal parameters the only way of keeping them there is doing water changes? You say the only way of keeping calcium and trace elements in range is by doing water changes. That’s all false information. My parameters are all within my strict range and I haven’t done a water change in 3 months. I dose trace and all my corals are exploding with color and growth. By the way, I have the hippo tang “dory” as you called her and guess what, she can be kept and takes quite a long time to out grow a reasonable size reef tank
I didn't say it was the only way - I also said there are more advanced ways (by which I mean dosing/Triton etc). All I'm saying is newbies should avoid the temptation to stop doing water changes. Tangs in smaller tanks are fine, so long as people realise they'll need to be ready for when they get big 🙂
@@JerniganRacing863 you maybe haven't experienced a big hippo tang, they turn i to total a**holes. Bullying other fish and destroying corals. I've a big enough tank and wouldn't get one again.
The number 1 rule of reefing........ don't put a sweet tank in front of some ugly ass wallpaper....glass is transparent lol thats some tacky paper broski lol
Nano reef.com is the nastiest bunch of people ever! They all think they know more than, experts in the field and they have insulted me and called me mRs. RU-vid haha. They have a chatroom in that forum they all hang out in and I followed someone in there and I was the topic of discussion! It was crazy, even telling lies and saying I was cycling with a fish and I wanted to put a puffer in my 10 gallon! Its a shame because I just wanted to make some friends in the hobby and some helpful advice. I do admit I am Mrs youtube and Mrs google though. Since starting my 10 gallon I barely leave my computer..haha research becomes addictive! LOL Reef2reef is a great bunch of knowledge and helpful people!
Upload a video of your tank.... I ve been in this hobby for almost 30 years. Marine, Tropical and cold water long before Google ever existed..... We read books... Lots of them and lots of trials and errors... Most people are now just Google professional fish keepers.... Read a paragraph of information and they all become a marine biologist and seem to know everything bunch of plebs!..... 😂
These kind of headlines make people who have never kept corals intimated. It's ass backwards how you think you are encouraging people to get into the hobby.
