loismustdie

chicks dig beckett men
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Brooklyn
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Peter, you will get the same effect using sand rather than mud. The mud is expensive and no one has been able to find anything about it that lives up to the hype eco-systems likes to advertise. I think you are supposed to change half of the mud every so often, you can replace it with sand rather than mud to lighten the costs.
yonee, if I were you, I'd first be looking into a better skimmer. Then I would invest in a PO4 reactor. Sea-clones and Prisims are unfortunately common mistakes in the hobby. They are inexpensive enough and seem to have a great advertising technique, because they move them like crazy. You should also think about 2 part additions (ESV, Randy 2 part) or simple kalkwasser additions. I'd go for 2 part.
Hope this helps. Mods, can we take her threads and combine them. She's asking the same ? and receiving similar answers.
 

peterm

Junior Member
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Greenpoint
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Hi Yonee
You mention using the Tap Waterfilter - I presume for making top off/change water. I used the Tap Waterfilter originally (a year ago) and found its performance to be very on/off. It certainly improved tap water quality but the amounts of phosphates (and other stuff) left in could change dramatically from one time to the next. The problem is that water can bypass the media and channel through the side therefore not being filtered at all. It also became expensive as the DI media would be used up quickly without an RO stage. Once I switched to a proper RO/DI unit ($100 from ebay) I found the water quality being produced vastly improved.

Good Luck
-Peter
 

jejton

Senior Member
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Suffolk
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Why dont you think a fuge would benefit this system? Maybe not a mud system but a regular fuge and/or sump can only help especially in a tank this small with this bioload ( at least when the fish are full size ). Correct me if I am wrong, but isnt having the tomato clown in with the percs in such a small system asking for trouble?
 

loismustdie

chicks dig beckett men
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Brooklyn
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jejton, no one said a fuge won't benefit the system. Since yonee feels that a "pretty penny" was spent on her 2 skimmers, I'm thinking cost effectiveness and impact on the system compared to money spent. She will get far better results with a PO4 reactor than she ever will with a fuge and spend far less than she would on 1 10 pound bag of mud.
There was a thread a while back on fuges and their impact on a system. Only 1 member posted a tank that had any color (Tim). Ming also posted sweet pics, but technically, what he was running is not a fuge. So 1 member out of 2500. ALL others who posted showed lack of color. Mostly browns and greens. Typical of nutrient rich water.
There are ways to run a successful fuge and unfortunately, it is out of reach for a lot of hobbyists, especially beginners. Most fuges are poorly set up and their users frequently parrot misinformation and never show pics of their so called success (to include the guy who flamed me). Like I said in my signature, never take advice from anyone who cannot produce a single pic of their tank.
I don't want to get into a discussion about the effectiveness of fuges and what it takes to use one properly. You can search that thread. The person who started this post does not seem to be in position to do so, so I advised something more in her reach that will have a far greater impact. On her other thread , Rich pretty much posted the same advice I did.
I don't know about the clowns. Never kept them myself.
 

NYReef

Senior Member
Location
Long Island
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I fail to see how some chaeto and live sand in a fuge used for nutrient export is such an impossibility? My sump/refugium increases the water volume by 50%, that helps to keep a more stable system. I have read in books and on wetwebmedia about the benefits of such a system, and in my own tank there is no more nusance algae since I added the fuge, aragamud and chaeto.
 

loismustdie

chicks dig beckett men
Location
Brooklyn
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NYReef, no one said it is impossible. It is 100% possible and people do it. I also didn't say they were bad. This is not the point of this thread. Impact vs. cost, she doesn't need a fuge. I also can't help but notice that you have no pics in your gallery, nor do you have a tank link. Read the threads, don't just comment. Here is what was said:
There are ways to run a successful fuge and unfortunately, it is out of reach for a lot of hobbyists, especially beginners. Most fuges are poorly set up and their users frequently parrot misinformation and never show pics of their so called success (to include the guy who flamed me). Like I said in my signature, never take advice from anyone who cannot produce a single pic of their tank.
I don't want to get into a discussion about the effectiveness of fuges and what it takes to use one properly. You can search that thread. The person who started this post does not seem to be in position to do so, so I advised something more in her reach that will have a far greater impact.
 

NYReef

Senior Member
Location
Long Island
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I'm not into taking tank pics, if I was I'd post them, but to me they are like family photo's, only the taker likes them. I have a nice tank with mostly SPS, monti's, digi's, milli's etc. Is it a TOTM? only to me, but its been up a couple of years and has survived a bad heater, renovation, and my learning curve. I am trained in business and computers, no pic's of that either but I have made a pretty good living at for many years. :lol2:
 

reefman

Chairman of the board
Location
Forest Hills
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hi yonee n welcome 2 MR! :smile:

i should warn u that ecosystem is not very popular at least here on MR.
it is so for various reasons which most here can tell u. that is not to say it does not work. i for 1 have 1st hand experiences with it n must say the claims may be exaggerated n most may work given the method is followed thoroughly.
it would help a lot if you upload the most updated full size pics of your tank ,corals,fishes,equipment,etc. even with a magnifying glass, your gallery pics were hard to see. :biglaugh:
however, my 1st suggestion is to get a good ro/di unit. The water source is the 1st singlely most important thing in a reef tank.
also i would lose the canister n get a good skimmer.
 
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yonee

Active Reefer
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Hey Reefman,

Thanks for the advice. This is the reason why I joined. I needed some help.

I tried to down load the pics the way I was told. Do you suggest close up shots? I'll take some pics this week and post them.

Can you suggest a skimmer for a 30Gallon? Ive been searching but there is so many to pick from. Someone suggested a aqua-c remora.
 

yonee

Active Reefer
Rating - 100%
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Hi Peterm,

Your right about the tap water filter. Ive had it for almost a year now, its defiitely time for a change. Ill look it what you mentioned and get back to you. I also post some pics of my tank. I was told the pics are small, so Ill take some recent shot and post them.

Speak with you soon, yonee
 

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