I just realized my reef is 44 years old this month.

[Colin Chaplin]

My anemone crab doesn't go on the corals any more. He prefers to stay on that rock and never moves.

Hi Paul, I believe you are the UG expert on site.

 

[Paul B]

Or, I am the only one who runs one?

 

[wowkingjames]

Glad to find out your tank is over 45 years old, I have a purple tang that is 19 years old or a little. Love the thread!

 

[Paul B]

Thanks. That is an old tang.

 

[kevantheman35]

Hey I run 3 under gravel filters, they just happen to be on 20k, 25k, and 50k gallons systems! Two of them aren't even reverse flow which is a pain in my butt!

 

[Colin Chaplin]

Hi, Paul and Kevan, This was 25 years ago. I know i been out of this reef tank and it's a long time ago. But i am now looking to set a new one in new apartment. Have been looking around for a Tank and equipment, back then i used an under coral sand filter, in reverse , which i cannot seem to find, has this system been obsolete now as it use to draw the water though the sand to help filter. With all your experiences would you still set it up this way or stay well away.

 

[Paul B]

After years of experimentation I would use an undergravel filter only on gravel, no sand or it will quickly clog. I use dolomite but crushed coral should work. I also would filter the water through a sponge before running it under the gravel and do it very slowly. I pump about 150 GPH down each of my 3 tubes which is very slow.

 

[Colin Chaplin]

Thank you or your reply, how deep for the gravel, dolomite, crushed coral would you recommend on top of the plastic trays?.

 

[Paul B]

I would use about 2 inches. I can't translate that to centimeters.

 

[Paul B]

That little orange pygmy hawkfish comes out "near" the front now. I am not sure why he is getting over his fear of other company as he is not bad looking. My male bluestripe disappears for a week at a time and I always think I lost him, but again, today he came out in the front, smiling and pregnant as always. For a few days I couldn't find one of my bangai cardinals or my clingfish. I really don't know where these fish go and why they go there. But today after a nice meal of clams and blackworms, they all showed up. It looks like my bangai has a mouth full of eggs which is why he can stay hidden as he doesn't have to eat. My tank is not that big but it is 6' long and built into a wall under a staircase so about 3/4s of the back of the tank I don't have access to and never know what goes on back there. They may be having a Hoedown or flea market but whatever they do, they stay there for a week at a time. There is food everywhere in my tank because I don't believe in sterility. I am also not one to worry if I dump things in from the sea as I don't have to quarantine because I keep my fish immune. (Yes I realize many people think I am lucky, it is what it is) But having a little mulm and algae in some places in the tank goes a long way in keeping fish healthy. Especially if you want to keep mandarins, bleenies and pipefish. That stuff you buy commercially to feed them once a day is often not enough so it is nice to have someplace for them to hunt and maybe find a snack. I also realize many of us worry about nitrates and such. I think we should get over that if we want healthy fish. Deal with nitrates separately if you care about that, but don't starve your fish as most fish in captivity are starving. Like I always say, healthy fish are spawning fish as fish in the sea "always" spawn. I mean constantly. And if they are not in spawning condition, they are not very healthy as that is a totally un natural condition for any fish to be in. Unless of course it is a male. Then he should be chasing girls.

 

[Colin Chaplin]

I would use about 2 inches. I can't translate that to centimeters.

lol, no problem i am from the UK, living in France, thank you.

 

[Paul B]

My Bangai cardinals are full size. Actually a little larger than what their adult size of 3" is supposed to be according to Wikipedia encyclopedia. His dorsal streamer that goes off the picture is about 3" long. These fish are about as healthy as they can be in a tank. I can determine that by the fact that they are spawning, they are immune and they are old. These fish do look a lot better when they are young because their fins are longer. As they grow, their bodies grow faster than their fins. They are a very nice fish and about as peaceful a fish as you can get. I wish they would breed more of them commercially because they are so easy to breed and even the babies are very easy to grow. Probably the easiest fish to propagate sort of like guppies.
They do require a lot of meaty food and it is hard to feed them correctly in a tank with coral because of this fact. Their huge mouth can fit large pieces of clam which is what I normally feed them but they will eat anything meaty. They are a very slow fish and you really should put their food right near their face. I also think this one may be getting cataracts or the fish equivalent. This happens to a lot of fish with big eyes in a tank. Squirrelfish and puffers are susceptible as they age too because in the sea they spend most of their time under overhangs. (Squirrelfish are almost always under something) If you keep them in a dimmer tank for a while it seems to clear up. I Don't think it is severe and I can't catch these fish so I will just let them live out their life as they are. I am not sure how long they live but I would imagine (and this is just a very wild guess) 8 or 9 years for a cardinal this size. If someone has them for a long time I would like to know as I can't find that out. have had these types of cardinals since they were discovered but I don't keep records and the fishes memory is probably better than mine.

 

[Paul B]

My algae scrubber is full of algae and needs cleaning. Of course I just had a hand operation and my palm is full of stitches so it will have to wait as I am not supposed to get it wet. I am not sure if salt water counts.
There is still water flowing across the screen but not much. My scrubber also feeds my reverse UG filter. My tank is fairly bulletproof and even if the scrubber and UG filter stopped for a week or so, nothing bad would happen except the amphipods may text me.
Those bangai's try to stay under things during the day because as I said, their big eyes are subject to cataracts, but I notice after the lights go out and only the red lights from the algae scrubber are on, they come out to play, mostly with each other. They don't like bright lights as other big eye fish such as porcupines, puffers, pineconefish and squirrelfish don't .
This guy who I caught in the Atlantic went blind after a while. I had to remove him from the water to feed him with a toothpick. I put him in dim light and after a week or two he was seeing better than I do.
I rescued him because he, like a lot of fish got caught in the Gulf Stream down south and came up to New York where he would have died in the winter. He was about 1/2" when I caught him and grew about 5" in a year. I gave him to the New York Aquarium.



This is him after about 6 months. There are no fish as cute

 

[Paul B]

My arrow crab has a little nose cyano problem.

 

[Paul B]

Fireclowns spawned again last night. I think they spawn every month or five weeks.
I don't get to excited when clowns spawn because they will spawn by eating cardboard as long as you put a picture of a worm on it.
I am a little excited that he is about 25 years old and she is about 17 or so. I really don't know how long they live but it's probably around 30 years.

 

[Paul B]

I designed a slightly different venture valve for my DIY skimmer than the one I was using. My existing one used a neoprene washer inside and after many years it rotted. This one has a better design inside and has a smooth bore and a better method of producing small bubbles. I know it works better because as soon as I turned it on, my skimmer overflowed all over the place. It cost about a buck.

 

[Paul B]

Today I am making a typhoon in my tank using a diatom filter. I do this once or twice a year to stir up the gravel as much as I can right down to the UG filter plates. The fish seem to like it but the corals always look mad, they will get over it.
In my tank this needs to be done as I run water in reverse through the gravel and if I didn't occasionally do this, the gravel would clog.

This is from an older typhoon a few years ago as I see I had my old lights then. Today I am only using one diatom filter but in my reef, two are really needed. I just don't have the time today.

 

[beaslbob]

I designed a slightly different venture valve for my DIY skimmer than the one I was using. My existing one used a neoprene washer inside and after many years it rotted. This one has a better design inside and has a smooth bore and a better method of producing small bubbles. I know it works better because as soon as I turned it on, my skimmer overflowed all over the place. It cost about a buck.

Does the buck include the cleaning up after the skimmer overflow?

 

[Mele__Reef]

Happy 44!! Congrats on your success!!!!

 

[Cyclist]

Today I am making a typhoon in my tank using a diatom filter. I do this once or twice a year to stir up the gravel as much as I can right down to the UG filter plates. The fish seem to like it but the corals always look mad, they will get over it.
In my tank this needs to be done as I run water in reverse through the gravel and if I didn't occasionally do this, the gravel would clog.

This is from an older typhoon a few years ago as I see I had my old lights then. Today I am only using one diatom filter but in my reef, two are really needed. I just don't have the time today.

Would like to hear more about this. The how's and whys including tools needed if you have time