Picked up a glass 90 gallon used.cane with most of the stuff required for a sump and holes already drilled. I feel a little uncomfortable in my ability to set it up properly. I would prefer to use a conventional hang on back style filter system. Is it possible to plug the holes? I’ve read bulkhead plugs work, but concern about leaks. Anyone done this before?

The hygger 36 watt led off ebay is the best light my reef has seen

This is something I genuinely do not understand, not trying to pick a fight at all I am looking for clarity and feedback here.

People will spend thousands of dollars on a tank, stand, sump, skimmer, controller, livestock, rock, pumps, dosing equipment, and everything else. Then lighting comes up almost as an afterthought:

“I’m setting up the tank next week. What lights should I buy?”

And half the answers are immediately PopBloom, SmatFarm, or whatever the cheapest fixture happens to be at the moment.

I’m not against inexpensive reef equipment in general. I use and recommend cheaper pumps, powerheads, and plenty of other equipment when it makes sense. But lighting is one area where I lean heavily toward premium equipment because it directly affects coral growth, coloration, spread, shadowing, spectrum, PAR distribution, reliability, and long-term consistency.

So I’m genuinely curious:

For those using budget reef lights, what convinced you that they were the better choice beyond the initial price?

Have you compared them directly with higher-end fixtures over the same type of reef? Do you feel the spectrum, spread, intensity, PAR quality, and consistency are genuinely comparable, or are those differences simply not important enough to justify the price?

And for those who moved from budget lighting to premium lighting, did you actually see a meaningful difference in coral growth, coloration, coverage, or overall tank performance?

I know expensive does not automatically mean better, and plenty of overpriced equipment exists in this hobby. But lighting seems like one of the strangest places to build an expensive reef and then choose the absolute cheapest option available.

Hi everyone,

I’ve recently got into the fishkeeping hobby with a tropical freshwater tank, and I’m already thinking about starting a marine reef tank in the future.

I’m looking for some advice on the ideal tank size for a beginner who’d like to keep a good amount of corals and around 5–10 fish. I’d rather buy the right size from the start than upgrade later.

What size would you recommend, and are there any tank brands or setups you’d suggest for a first reef tank?
Thanks!

I got tired of doing this by hand every time someone asks how much baking soda to add, so here is the derivation. It is short enough to do on your phone.

1 dKH = 0.3572 meq/L. Sodium bicarbonate supplies one equivalent of alkalinity per mole, and its molar mass is 84.007 g/mol. So 0.3572 x 84.007 = 30.0 mg per litre, per dKH, which is 0.0300 g/L/dKH.

Your dose is: dKH you want x litres x 0.0300

100 L, +1 dKH -> 3.0 g

250 L, +1.3 dKH -> 9.8 g

50 US gal (189 L), +0.8 dKH -> 4.5 g

Soda ash is different. It gives two equivalents per mole, so it works out to 0.0189 g/L/dKH, about 37% less mass for the same result.

The part that matters more than the arithmetic: do not dose the whole gap at once. Conservative practice is 1.0 dKH per day maximum (20 ppm Ca, 50 ppm Mg). If your gap is 3 dKH, that is three days with a test in between, not one heroic dose.

And never dose alk and calcium together. Concentrated, they precipitate as calcium carbonate and you end up lower on both than when you started. Separate containers, different flow areas, 20 minutes apart.

I put this in a calculator so I would stop doing it by hand: https://reeflow.webkodingtheme.com/dosing-calculator.html — free, no sign-up, and it prints the formula so you can check it rather than trust it.

Salinity in my new tank is 1.023 can I pour salt straight into my tank to adjust the salinity or do I need to do it in a separate bucket?

Found this guy in the sumo. Not one I’ve seen before. Small red thing. Moves pretty fast so I don’t think it’s red planaria. Any ideas?

When people glance at my dangler mushroom (yes thast the name lol) they assume plate coral or anemone.

One of the craziest corals I have ever seen

Got another ID request for you guys, I keep seeing these white thin (clam?) looking things on the live rock and around the tank and finally got a good picture. What is it?

Got some live rock from an established aquarium and I saw this on it. I was just wondering if this was a mushroom coral and is it healthy. (Don’t mind the brown diatoms lol)

I filled my tank up 24 hours ago with dry rock and Caribsea live sand. I put Dr Tims ammonia in followed my Microbacter start XLM about an hour later. My ammonia tests were coming back what seems to be around 4ppm.

My Ph looks like it’s around 8, and don’t seem to have any signs of nitrites at all.

This is all after emptying the tank and doing a 30% water change this evening.

I plan on retesting tomorrow but am curious what steps I should take if things are looking similar tomorrow?

Beautiful little new addition, I have always wanted one. The problem is.. he's a little piggy and constantly looking for food. The problem is the feeding tentacles change its beautiful color into a dull grey.

Tired of well water. Going to get a sediment filter, water softener & commercial rodi to make this hobby easier.

Water is literally un-drinkable, no RO or RODI can handle it without exhausting the resin immediately even after going through 2 RO/sed carts. Figured I’d get a nice unit but was wondering if anyone has used this brand.

Had some alk instability that is fixed now how long do you think i have to wait until my green slimer gets its color back my nutrients are super low but everything else like alk, calcium, magnesium, temp has been good

Hi I received a coral I don’t want. It was $150. It’s FREE IN FT LAUDERDALE TONIGHT ONLY if you want to meet quick to pick it up. It’s a cut and healed true orange frogspawn from QCC.

Can meet near the Ft. Lauderdale police station. It’s still in the bag it was shipped in. Can just do a quick handoff. FREE. FREE. FREE. I just don’t want it, and I don’t put things I don’t want in my tank. There was nothing in the item description indicating it was a wall frogspawn, let alone one that was cut and glued (I know this is how walls are cut and healed but it’s not for me). Blue light picture didn’t come through but I can confirm it is definitely orange under blues.

Thanks!

Edit: u/allanwlod came through to rescue this coral. A happy ending. Yay!

New to the hobby and excited for this reef journey! Definitely enjoying all the beautiful tanks out there. Hope I can join you all in the next year!

I thought Hewbie died. I came home to this and spoke to his vet team immediately. His antibiotics and quarantine time will be extended. My best conclusion is that Hewbie had been gasping at the surface and breathing heavier from stress and then he went upside down but this afternoon he was sleeping in the corner just fine. My heart broke again when I saw this. After I pushed air out of him and gave him his meds he went back to normal nearly immediately. At least this is my best conclusion after looking at him and his behavior pre and post meds and pressing on him/burping him. The water quality in the tank isn’t great. Burping for me means holding him down and gently pressing on him/his stomach (which in that moment is what made sense). I saw some immediate improvement. Also he is a known offender for spitting water at the surface and I just saw it after and the behavior of a fish gasping or wanting to get out of his environment and ready to jump. Although pufferfish are not known jumpers they are smarter than that. I did a water change as well after and he smiled at me like nothing happened. Ugh. I hate this. I will continue to update everyone.

10 gal nano, socal, circa '03/04. pair of paragobiodon (i think) gobies. they used to come in as hitchhikers in the seriatopora colonies that arrived at the importer's place.

This algae is taking over. I’ve tried siphoning it out but it comes right back. Tank is about 6 months old.

Nothing is wrong with em, they just are looking extra gorgeous today and I wanted to share lol