"Hey " from PA

[2cld2fish]

Please excuse my mis information that I am not an expert at.

I have a 75 reef with 40lbs of base rock seeded with 40 lbs of premium reef rock. my base is a mix of crushed coral and live sand (doesn't seem so live to me though)
I run a Wet/Dry w/bioballs that I am thinking of removing in favor of a refugium (which I am just learning up on now)

I run an airstone skimmer ,a fluval with floss and phos ban and a small UV after the wet/dry

I add regularly Phyto/coralVite/Essential trace and Iodide (All by Kent) I also calcium drip every other week (a teaspoon)

My test kits are all inconsistent, inaccurate and confusing
I really am perplexed about this.

The tank has a school of 5 green chromis 1 yellow tang, 1 cinnnamon clown, and 1 pink anthias (that I saved from an idiot LFS)

Corals are a mix of soft Frags and leathers

Frags: Anthelia , Candy cane , Green star polyp frag,brown star polyp, 1 snake polyp?

Along with these There is a Fiji Yellow leather a Toad stool a Colt, a neon green spaghetti leather several Ricordea polyps and several colors of mushrooms.



And of course your usual assortment of cleaner inverts.

I run 4 48"VHO Flourescents 2 Blue, 1 50/50 and 1 full spectrum. We want to try SPS corals but are leary because of the lights (no MH)

My wife and I are happy with our tank over the last ten years and have loved watching it evolve from a 55 saltwater fish aquarium with an undergravel filter (and I mean graveL) to the tank described above.

We want to go 180 gal next but the right tank has not presented itself to us.

[Telco Guy]

:welcome: to Coral Forum.

The latest thoughts on wet/dry filters with bioballs is that they create high nitrates due to their large populations of aerobic bacteria. I like your idea of replacing the wet/dry with a refugium, but be careful when removing the bioballs. You will want to remove them over time so that you don't upset the balance of your system.

As for your test kits, what brand are you using and what are you testing for? You may want to try Salifert test kits. They are a bit more expensive but seem to be a bit more accurate. Also, you should be testing at the same time during the day since some values can go up and down depending on the time of day.

[2cld2fish]

I am using red sea for Calcium and ALK/PH, Fastest for amon,Nitrie, Nitrate
For Phosphate I have Red sea, Dry tab and Fastest. All read differently.
I test in the evenings.
I want to try the Salifert, but the LFS doesn't carry them. Know a good place to order?

Anyway, thank you

[Zack]

Hey
Check out the captivereefs.com forum, they offer discounts and am sure they carry them.
http://www.coralforum.com/forum16.html

http://www.captivereefs.com