HappyGeorge
Fish Herder
My tanks are wildly different and not the way round I would expect, the Reef often has bits floating in it and the FOWLR is always Crystal clear. The Reef sump often gets mucky and the FOWLR is clean, the FOWLR also has a lot more pods in the sump.
As most of you know I have 2 tanks, a 37x24x24 reef and a 60x24x24 FOWLR. Other than size and lighting the systems are pretty similar, they are both twin stand pipe Godivas both have MP40's and 3000 lph return pumps, they both have deltec skimmers and have chaeto in the sump, although the reef has a sock on the return and the FOWLR doesn't.
I do a 50 litre change once a week throwing away 50l from the FOWLR and replacing with 50l from the Reef, then the Reef gets a fresh 50l.
The rocks from both came from mature set ups although the Reef came from a beautifully clean set up and the FOWLR came from a slightly grubby one and the rock is covered in random algae growths and aptasia. I tested both of these tanks and the water had zero nitrates and phosphates.
The weirdest thing of all to my mind is that although Coralline grows nicely in both tanks only the Reef gets a green algae growth on the glass, the FOWLR gets nothing it is completely clear and I only ever have to wipe it over with the magnetic cleaner and once scraped the back wall to remove little corraline spots.
So why? I appreciate each environment is very different but many of these tank conditions are the same and the results so wildly different.
As most of you know I have 2 tanks, a 37x24x24 reef and a 60x24x24 FOWLR. Other than size and lighting the systems are pretty similar, they are both twin stand pipe Godivas both have MP40's and 3000 lph return pumps, they both have deltec skimmers and have chaeto in the sump, although the reef has a sock on the return and the FOWLR doesn't.
I do a 50 litre change once a week throwing away 50l from the FOWLR and replacing with 50l from the Reef, then the Reef gets a fresh 50l.
The rocks from both came from mature set ups although the Reef came from a beautifully clean set up and the FOWLR came from a slightly grubby one and the rock is covered in random algae growths and aptasia. I tested both of these tanks and the water had zero nitrates and phosphates.
The weirdest thing of all to my mind is that although Coralline grows nicely in both tanks only the Reef gets a green algae growth on the glass, the FOWLR gets nothing it is completely clear and I only ever have to wipe it over with the magnetic cleaner and once scraped the back wall to remove little corraline spots.
So why? I appreciate each environment is very different but many of these tank conditions are the same and the results so wildly different.
