Zach's 120 Gallon Reef Resurgence

[zachxlutz]

Dapperjman;1098505 wrote: It looks awesome! How long did you wait before adding the snails, hermits, and macroalgae?

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I only waited 4 days before adding them... I know that seems like a rush job, but the rock had been cycling in the Brute trash can from 07/20/2016 until 09/10/2016. The rock experienced quite a cycle while in the trash can and I think that helped a TON in keeping the cycling to a bare minimum in the tank when it was set up. I had a small, low ammonia spike and a small, low nitrite spike but everything rapidly went down to zero. I've been logging all my levels in a spreadsheet almost daily.

xilez;1098509 wrote: That frogspawn is so tiny!!!

Tank is looking good

It's so little, it will be very rewarding to watch it grow out! Thanks!

 

[zachxlutz]

ok! what is this?

The "stuff" in question is this:

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And here is a video:

https://youtu.be/wvZks38_MGI</a>

 

[zachxlutz]

Well, upon further investigation I've identified the unknown "stuff" on the live rock as Cerith Snail eggs. I've linked some pictures below to help others in the event they stumble across this thread looking for information.

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I found this information at this link: http://www.lionfishlair.com/hitchhiker.shtml">The Hitchhikers Guide to Your Aquarium</a>

Seemingly, most pictures will show the snail leaving it's eggs on the glass which initially stumped me as I searched for images of each type of invertebrate in my tank's eggs.

 

[zachxlutz]

Just a few things to report in on, not a ton of progress lately but things are going swimmingly around here.

We've set up our QT tank, 29 gallons with a HOB filter and some luxurious PVC elbows! In order to keep cycling to a minimum, I placed two of the filters for the HOB filter in the sump of the main tank for about three weeks and used those plus the filter sock from the main tank in the HOB filter. It's filled with water currently and running. I'll keep my eye on the levels while we wait to pick out our first fish additions. We're still struggling with what fish we're going to want to keep though. We just wanted to get the QT tank set up so when we make the decision, we're ready to bring something home.

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I know, I know... I need to get the stand skinned and painted. Cyclocross season just started and we're basically busy every weekend racing. I basically only have Monday nights free to do tank maintenance and work on anything outside of cycling. I'm hoping to pick up some materials for the stand tomorrow and maybe I'll get something done on that Saturday AM.

Obligatory FTS:

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The snail eggs have seemingly hatched and are gone.

The live rock is going through some color changes in the last 10 days or so. The rock has gone from mostly white to a more uniform color of bright green/brown. The green is, from what I can tell, the start of coralline algae. It's not hairy or fuzzy like microalgae or brown/red/bubbly like diatoms or cyano. It's more of like the live rock coming back to life after spending years dry and dark. There are a TON of purple coralline spots poking through the green on the live rock. It's starting to look great. There's a spot of coralline on the back wall as well as almost all the snails and hermit crabs. I can't wait for it to take off.

We're currently at the tail end of a hydroid explosion *hopefully*. I've been cleaning the glass almost daily trying to get them to go through the overflows into the filter sock. It seems to be working, the population seems to be dwindling.

The macros in the refugium are growing like weeds! The red gracilaria is actually outgrowing the chaetomorpha... fine by me. I'd almost rather keep just the red gracilaria as I hear it's a good option for feeding tangs and it looks super cool!

The coral all seem to be doing well... Hard to judge growth at this point but all are open constantly and look bright and colorful.

Vitals:
Sg: 1.025
Temp: 79F
Ph: 8.1 (fairly constant with the kalk in the ATO)
Calcium - Ca: 420
Alkalinity - KH: 9
Nitrate - NO3: 0 (no reading on API kit - will invest in something more accurate soon)
Phosphate - PO4: 0 (same, API kit - need something better)

Thanks for checking in!

 

[shrimpy brains]

Very nice. Eggs are always good.

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[zachxlutz]

Shrimpy Brains;1098998 wrote: Very nice. Eggs are always good.

Thanks! Yeah, it was cool seeing them. I wonder if I'll actually see any baby cerith snails show up.

I'm glad to see they hydroids slowly disappearing, too. It seems like they spiked up and my pod population spiked down. I may try and get another package of pods to help re-seed their population.

Last night I dosed 14 grams of sodium bicarbonate in an effort to bring up the alkalinity to 10 from 9. I'd like to see if I can now keep it at 10 just using the kalkwasser ATO. The Red Sea Coral Pro is supposed to mix up to around 11, depending on salinity. I think I'm still working to get my levels up to where I want them due to using instant ocean to get the tank going. I've changed out a total of 105 gallons of water since I set the tank up, so I imagine we're getting close to clearing out the original salt and getting to a more unified mix of the Coral Pro salt. After dosing, I retested and found that the Alk did come up to 10, just as the calculator on Bulk Reef Supply said it would. Very cool!

 

[zachxlutz]

We've got some swimmers!

Last weekend we went to Atlanta Aquarium to show my 3 year old nephew the fish and coral and what would you know, we ended up buying our first fish. We saw a pair of really distinctive looking all white clownfish in one of the tanks and inquired about their history and asked to watch them eat. They ate well, looked healthy, plump and showed no signs of disease as near as I could tell. We were told they'd had them for a couple of months now which made me feel better about the purchase as well. They are a mated pair of http://www.seaandreef.com/marine-ornamental-fish/clownfish/wyoming-white">Wyoming White ocellaris clownfish</a>. We also picked up a nice looking little cleaner shrimp.

I busted out the proper camera to take some pictures today:

Female:
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v125/xatlzachx/120%20Gallon%20Reef%20Tank/120REEF-102116%20-%205.jpg alt="" />

Male:

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Looking everywhere for some mysis at dinner time:

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Shrimpy shrimp:

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(That picture really shows all the specs of coralline algae popping up! )

The smaller, lower heads on the Duncan coral seem to be growing well, finally epoxied this piece, disk and all to the live rock:

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Funny story on this little frogspawn frag... Came home from work for lunch one day this week and it was missing. Gone... Poof! The frogspawn came from the store on a typical frag disk that we just had set on the rock while we were deciding where everything should be placed permanently. The disk was still in place, but the tiny little frag had gone bye bye. I think maybe a snail or hermit must have just knocked it free of the disk. I scarfed down my lunch quickly and with the help of my girlfriend, tore apart the rock work and started shaking out the rock in the water trying to find it. Finally dug through about 4 pieces of rock and it came flying out into the sand bed. OPERATION RECOVERY COMPLETE! Now... We had to get it mounted. I was sure it was already stressed out from being blown around the tank and caught under the rocks so I quickly kneaded up some reef epoxy and pushed the frag in carefully and then placed it on the rock. I was worried it wasn't going to make it at first because so much of the skeleton was showing but by the time I made it home from work a few hours later it was already all open and extended. Hopefully it likes the new location and won't get knocked around this time.

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Finally, FTS:

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We have some orange gel filters for the nice camera, I need to do some more research on how to set them up with the white balance to get more accurate color capture in the photos.

We're excited to head to the expo at Atlanta Aquarium tomorrow and maybe pick up some new things!

 

[zachxlutz]

Today was rad. Got a sweet deal on 10 new frags... Won $100 gift card to Atlanta Aquarium at the expo. Saw some awesome coral and met some nice people! I'm looking forward to attending again next year... Now, I need to decide what our next purchase is going to be!

Here's our newest additions:

Purple Birdsnest:

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Green Palythoas
Closed:

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Open (iphone pic):

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Mystic Sunset Montipora:

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Branching Psammocora (I think...):

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Pavona (I think...):

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Screaming Neon Green Birdsnest:

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Acropora (not sure which type. Chameleon? not the best pic):

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Another pic of acropora from my iphone:

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Meteor Shower Cyphastrea:

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Red Digitata:

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Candy Cane:

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FTS:

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Now, we just need to decide on placement and start epoxying! These pictures were taken right after adding to the tank, they're really starting to open up and seem comfortable in their new home.

Thoughts on placement? Advice? Thanks!

 

[zachxlutz]

Today has been a good day so far. Some fun new toys came in the mail today!

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Excited to get playing with some new things tonight after work!

 

[xilez]

Nice haul! Noticed you were missing a Calcium test? I'd probably grab the Red Sea one, its the easiest imo. You won't need to test magnesium that much but cant hurt to have the kit.

****, now I want a hanna checker for alk!

 

[zachxlutz]

xilez;1100148 wrote: Nice haul! Noticed you were missing a Calcium test? I'd probably grab the Red Sea one, its the easiest imo. You won't need to test magnesium that much but cant hurt to have the kit.

****, now I want a hanna checker for alk!

I already have a Salifert calcium test kit on hand and bought another one... didn't make the picture. Oops!

The Hanna is SO nice. Never used one before and did my first alk test with it in under 5 minutes. Came up at 9.5 which is exactly what I tested at last night with a Salifert test kit. I can safely say, already, that the Hanna checker is much easier, precise and quick to use!

 

[zachxlutz]

UPDATE TIME!

<ul>
<li>Loving the new Hannah Alkalinity tester. So easy. So fast. Very precise.</li>
<li>Loving the random flow from the gyres. I'm running them on random with a max pulse of 80%. Not sure if the flow scales lineal or not, if they do, I'm getting alternating random flow in the tank anywhere from 3200 GPH to 6880 GPH. That's 26.7x to 57.3x turnover. Works for me!</li>
<li>Not seeing any noticeable PO4 or NO3 in the tank using the new Red Sea test kits. I really like the rotating color chart for comparison, it makes reading the results very easy.</li>
<li>Still working out how to mount the auto feeder from Eheim. It doesn't fit over the trim on the 120 and with the canopy... not sure what to do.</li>
<li>Looks like I'm getting some growth with the corals, hard to tell but everything is looking great. I'll work on a FTS soon. I still need to get all the frags off of their plugs and mounted permanently. I'm waiting on a coral propagation kit from BRS to do that. Should have it Wednesday.</li>
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New Additions:

4x Bartlett's Anthias - currently hanging out in the QT tank. They'll eat anything. Frozen food and pellets. Looking healthy and fat! Can't wait to get these guys in the DT. They came from Atlanta Aquarium and I was told they had them for a couple of months so I'm hoping the QT process goes smoothly and I can get them in the tank ASAP. I'm not doing any prophylactic treatment, just observing for now.

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Macroalgae coloration question:

The macros in the refugium experienced quite a bit of growth earlier on but have seemingly slowed down or stopped growing altogether. I attribute that to the lack of PO4/NO3 in the water? The red gracilaria has very little red in the new growth. I think I read somewhere that this could possibly be due to a lack of iron in the water?

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Thanks for following along!

 

[Dmitri]

Great job Zach! Give us some more pictures of your tank. We want to see more

 

[hiimsean]

For the Eheim auto feeder, I have mine clamped on to a piece of the canopy. Maybe you can do something similar.

 

[zachxlutz]

MyAquariumPro;1100822 wrote: Great job Zach! Give us some more pictures of your tank. We want to see more

I'll work on some more photos when I get back in town and get the corals mounted. I'm not very happy with them just sitting on the sandbed.

HiImSean;1100834 wrote: For the Eheim auto feeder, I have mine clamped on to a piece of the canopy. Maybe you can do something similar.

Yeah, I'm thinking I'm going to need to attach a small platform to the canopy for the Eheim to sit on.

I took a video of the tank to show off the surface turbulence and flow in the tank for someone on one of the other forums.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=youtube]

Be sure to watch in 1080p.

 

[zachxlutz]

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More to come later...

 

[zachxlutz]

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The tank is now running an ATI Dimmable Sunpower 8x54w that I picked up from the forums here on ARC. I added a nice piece of 1x8 lumber drilled to the joists on the ceiling for a nice strong mounting point for the single hanging points on either side of the fixture. I still need to put a coat of paint or two on it to get it to match the ceiling and blend in.

I'm much happier with this cleaner more modern look. I'll be lowering the fixture over the course of the next few weeks and replacing the bulbs and seeing what combination I like. I'm already much happier with the appearances of the coral and the fish.

Speaking of fish, three of the Bartlett's Anthias made it through the QT process. One of the females succumbed to some sort of fin rot. The other three looked healthy and ate like pigs so at the end of the observation period we acclimated them to the main tank and set them free. They quickly took over one of the island areas as their own and have been swimming in and out of the rocks as well as swimming against the alternating gyre current in the tank. They're super fun to watch... I hope they do well together. They seem to be playing nice for now. One is clearly male, one is pseudo-male and the third appears to be fully female... as near as I can tell from google and reading about their markings and colorations.

The tank is doing well. I'm seeing constant cal/alk levels from the BRS 2 part dosing system running through the reefkeeper controller. I'm dosing 2ml of Red Sea Coral Colors ABCD daily and feeding fairly heavily a couple of times a week as well as normal feedings of mysis and pellets. I'm not seeing any nitrates and seeing slight levels of phosphates. Highest I saw was .08, swapped out the GFO and it's been dropping again. Trying to find a happy medium for bringing nutrient levels up a little without going overkill.

I'm currently researching what our next fish additions should be. I really like the bright and colorful reef safe wrasses I've seen around. I think I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for one.

 

[zachxlutz]

I guess I didn't post an update regarding the BRS 2 part dosing system I set up. Pretty simple but effective. Each dosing pump has a timer channel set up to turn it on for a set period of time every 30 minutes depending on how many ml of each ill be dosing. I'll snap some pictures and post the inside of cabinet and the dosing setup.

I'm also 90% of the way done with finishing the stand. I need to sand a few more edges and put a few coats of epoxy paint on it and then I think I'll finally be able to sit back and enjoy the tank. For a while. Maybe.

I do have a new sump design in mind...

 

[dapperjman]

Tank looks awesome! I've never dosed so I'd be interested in seeing that setup.

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[zachxlutz]

Dapperjman;1102225 wrote: Tank looks awesome! I've never dosed so I'd be interested in seeing that setup.

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A little info on the dosing set up: It's just two of the BRS dopers each hooked to an individual outlet on the reefkeeper. Each channel has a multi-timer set to start at a set time and dose for X amount of time and then pause for X amount of time and then repeat the whole cycle X times. It's fairly easy to set up after a little mathematical wizardry. The caps were drilled on the BRS 1 gallon jugs and a RO/DI type of fitting was installed with a piece of rigid tubing inside the jug and flexible leading to the doser. The dosing line holder is made from 3/4" pvc that I slotted and then drilled some holes in. It's simple, effective and cheap. I enjoy the DIY aspect of the hobby just as much as the husbandry.

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I do need to tidy the lines up a little, i'm thinking some velcro cord management straps might do the trick. Always something on the list.