me again

[jtucker022187]

You use ro water, that's how I was told

 

[jtucker022187]

Put ro water on it and set it to zero

 

[NanaReefer]

I made another order online yesterday for a refractometer, shouldn't have. I really really cannot afford to buy lights at this time. I still need fish and cuc when the tank is finally ready, whenever that may be...
Yes Nana, it does retract when I touch it Tho, I dunno if that is good or bad or if I should be touching it at all :roll:

Just means that it's definitely not a sponge-lol.

 

[Tmar]

Uh oh... now gots a unidentified thingy in there ya mean?! lol
Meh. Sponge, mushroom, whatever; probably won't survive the poo light anyway. All I got is a marineland single bright LED for freshwater but it was better than nothing!!
I am sure the algae will continue to do ok for a while at any rate. I have the white lights on for about 8-10 hours a day while I am working and turn the moonlight effect on when I get home for another 2 hours or so while I fiddle with and stare at the tank No sign of any other life yet either, no critters or diatoms yet. Will at least check the ammonia, nitrite and trates tonight when i go home. Not going to bother with testing salinity until I get my refractometer now.

 

[jtucker022187]

It may last, it may not. Next couple of months things will pop up. I had a galexa coral pop up over 6 months Of nothing, never added one

 

[Eienna]

You use ro water, that's how I was told

According to my reading, some can be calibrated with RO, but others require the solution.

 

[jtucker022187]

Ok good to know, I'll have to look into that. Thanks

 

[Dalmatia]

www.amazon.ca

Try there for what you need. You got calibration solution for that refractometer, correct?

Just use ro/di water.

 

[Tmar]

ok!
so I been lookin at lighting (even tho I can't afford it right now)
I would be most interested in whatever pops up on my rock, but if I am to purchase and add my own corals it would be:
zoanthids, palythoas and button polyps cuz they are adorable! would this light grow them in my 10 gallon tank
deep blue solarmax HO2 double 24" T5 strip light - 24 watts x 2 + moonlights
Includes 1- 10,000k bulb, 1- Actinic 03 bulb, & 4 Blue Moonlights @ SeaCorals for 106.99 + taxes + shipping
or do I have to go with the
deep blue solarxtreme T5H0 24" strip light - 24 watts x 4 + moonlights
Has: (2x) 10k & (2x) Actinic 03. +4 LED Lunars. @ SeaCorals for 259.69 + taxes + shipping

 

[jtucker022187]

You should be fine with the first for those corals in a ten, I wouldn't trust it for much more. The main aspects you want to look for in T5 is reflectors, ballasts and bulbs.

 

[jtucker022187]

Is it individual or one solid reflector?

 

[Tmar]

I don't know. Shopping online for lights is frustrating because they give you little to NO info about wattage, lumens, kelvin, reflection, penetration etc. HOwever, shopping at the local pet stores is just as frustrating cuz they tell you anything will do cuz they just want to make a darn sale!! Gettin pretty frustrated with the whole idea of keeping any type of coral and probably should just stick to FOWLR
Just hate the idea of finally getting a live rock with life and letting it die. Seems so defeatist to me. Whole point of this is to keep fish, rocks and corals all alive

 

[jtucker022187]

http://www.petmountain.com/product/aquarium-t-5-ho-light-fixtures/11442-512404/current-usa-nova-extreme-2xt5ho-saltwater-light.html?utm_source=googleproductads&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term={keyword}&gclid=CLfarrqT4LoCFTBnOgodZHYASw
This would be good for your ten gallon and zoas and palys. I wouldn't go anything extreme but I had a current 4 bulb on my 20g and the growth was amazing.

 

[jtucker022187]

Lfs will tell you anything to sell you something.

 

[Eienna]

You can probably keep softies or chalices (feed them). They don't too much mind lower light, and in fact chalices seem to do better in low light. Many reefers put them in the shade! You just need to make sure you have no coral or polyp-eating fish.

What are some of the lights you have access to? I like my Odyssea fixture on my FW tank. If you got a quad-bulb Odyssea T5 fixture, I believe it even comes with moonlight LEDs (the two-bulb like I have does not include moonlights). There have been problems reported in the reviews but they have improved their product since then; I believe they got a bad batch of starters or something like that. Don't recall exactly what was faulty. It comes in fresh and saltwater versions.

ATI and KZ (korallen-zucht) seem to be the best bulb brands as far as SW T5s. KZ Fiji Purple, two ATI Blue +, and one other would do well IMO. I currently use Zoo Med bulbs on my FW tank and some cheap LEDs on the SW...I would not buy these LEDs again...they're Sea Star by Lampcraft.

What kind of corals were you thinking you might like to keep?

As far as the live rock critters, sometimes they just take a while to show up (or still have to hatch!) It was a couple months after adding a little live rock to my dry to notice I had bristleworms from it, and I watch my tanks closely!

Haha...I've been doing my research XD

 

[k2parkstar]

You do not want to calibrate with RO water. Purchase a solution, or go to your local fish store to see if they can give you a drop for calibration. Repeat do not use RO water.

 

[Dalmatia]

You do not want to calibrate with RO water. Purchase a solution, or go to your local fish store to see if they can give you a drop for calibration. Repeat do not use RO water.

Why not? Any reason is good for me!

 

[jtucker022187]

Yes I'm interested as well

 

[GHill762]

from what I understand, you calibrate it to a specific gravity.. and the refractometer gets farther off the further you are from the calibrated SG (so if it's calibrated using 1.00, and you're testing 1.025 it's not going to be very accurate).. so if you want your SG to be as close as possible to 1.025, you need to be calibrated and tested to exactly 1.025... IDK how much difference it really makes, but that's how it was explained to be by someone much smarter than myself. as cheap as calibration fluid is, it's cheap assurance.

 

[Eienna]

from what I understand, you calibrate it to a specific gravity.. and the refractometer gets farther off the further you are from the calibrated SG (so if it's calibrated using 1.00, and you're testing 1.025 it's not going to be very accurate).. so if you want your SG to be as close as possible to 1.025, you need to be calibrated and tested to exactly 1.025... IDK how much difference it really makes, but that's how it was explained to be by someone much smarter than myself. as cheap as calibration fluid is, it's cheap assurance.

+1. I believe that's correct.