400g system from scratch pictorial
- Thread starter pclausen
- Start date
pclausen
New member
Thanks guys!
DrHarry, the anemone is doing very well. I alternate between feeding him a shrimp and a silverside every 3 days or so. His foot is firmly planted against the glass bottom, down through 6 inches of sand, and he hasn't moved at all since I got him. He was about 10 inches across when I got him about 45 days ago, and I'd say he's closer to 14 inches now. I probably should slow down on the feeding as I don't want him to take over the whole right side of the tank!
Beverly, thanks for the link to the Mg article!
My concern was that Travis (tack-msv) noted that the Xenias that he gave me aren't extending to 8 inches or so like they did in his tank. They seem to only extend to 4-5 inches for me. They pulse like crazy though and are spreading out over the rocks. Perhaps they don't feel a need to extend when there's a lot of current in the tank? They also look a little bleached compared to when I first got them, kind of like the anthelia, but not quite as bad.
Here's a shot from day one:
And a shot from last week:
Maybe I'm worrying over nothing and just need to give all the corals more time to settle in? After all, it has only been 3 months since I added water to the tank for the first time and 6 weeks since the first corals were added.
DrHarry, the anemone is doing very well. I alternate between feeding him a shrimp and a silverside every 3 days or so. His foot is firmly planted against the glass bottom, down through 6 inches of sand, and he hasn't moved at all since I got him. He was about 10 inches across when I got him about 45 days ago, and I'd say he's closer to 14 inches now. I probably should slow down on the feeding as I don't want him to take over the whole right side of the tank!
Beverly, thanks for the link to the Mg article!
My concern was that Travis (tack-msv) noted that the Xenias that he gave me aren't extending to 8 inches or so like they did in his tank. They seem to only extend to 4-5 inches for me. They pulse like crazy though and are spreading out over the rocks. Perhaps they don't feel a need to extend when there's a lot of current in the tank? They also look a little bleached compared to when I first got them, kind of like the anthelia, but not quite as bad.
Here's a shot from day one:
And a shot from last week:
Maybe I'm worrying over nothing and just need to give all the corals more time to settle in? After all, it has only been 3 months since I added water to the tank for the first time and 6 weeks since the first corals were added.
scotty1234
New member
I'd say you're xenia is thriving judging by that photo. If they aren't extending as much they probably came from a tank with less light and don't need to stretch out as much for the light.
obarrera
Active member
pclausen your silver strand xenia looks great!
Mine looks like the one in the first pic.
Can you tell me your water parameters?
Do you know the secret to keeping this xenia like this(healthy) or are you just lucky?
I have red sea xenia and it looks great, don't know why the silver strand looks bad.
Mine looks like the one in the first pic.
Can you tell me your water parameters?
Do you know the secret to keeping this xenia like this(healthy) or are you just lucky?
I have red sea xenia and it looks great, don't know why the silver strand looks bad.
pclausen
New member
I think you're right scotty that he had less light than I did. If you look closely at the photo above, you can see that the xenia has spread from the little starter rock, onto the main rock.
Mario, I'm far from an expert, but here are my current parameters again:
pH is 8.2 +/- 0.2 and temp is 81 +/- 0.3.
I feed my xenias 2-3 times a week along with the other corals. Quite a bit of zyclopeze, but also blended up stuff like frozen formula one and mysis and brime and scallops and whatever else I can find at the fish market. I also feed the tank Phyto-Feast every day.
Mario, I'm far from an expert, but here are my current parameters again:
pH is 8.2 +/- 0.2 and temp is 81 +/- 0.3.
I feed my xenias 2-3 times a week along with the other corals. Quite a bit of zyclopeze, but also blended up stuff like frozen formula one and mysis and brime and scallops and whatever else I can find at the fish market. I also feed the tank Phyto-Feast every day.
joseney21
Premium Member
i noticed that your anthelia is way up near the top (am i right), maybe to close to the lights.....just my .02
when i kept anthelia i had it at the bottom of my 65g and it thrived, gave some to a friend and this is what it looks like now in his tank.....
http://manhattanreefs.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3831&page=5&pp=10
the pic is down by the bottom of the page.
check page four to see what the colony looks like on the bottom right of his tank.
when i kept anthelia i had it at the bottom of my 65g and it thrived, gave some to a friend and this is what it looks like now in his tank.....
http://manhattanreefs.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3831&page=5&pp=10
the pic is down by the bottom of the page.
check page four to see what the colony looks like on the bottom right of his tank.
scotty1234
New member
pclausen said:
I'm predicting a crash course in fragging soon!:rollface:
humboldt reefer
New member
I dont know if its allready been suggested. But have you tried raising your calcium and alkalinity with calcium chloride and baking soda to get it at the levels you want? It seems like your parameters have been pretty stable. You should be able to raise them with supplements and let your kalk and calcium reactors maintain them.
HTH, Ryan
HTH, Ryan
pclausen
New member
Joseney, yep the anthelia is indeed at the very top of the tank. I'll see if I can move part of it down to a lower location. Wow, that is quite a carpet of it in that pic! The color looks about the same as mine, so perhaps that is the natural color for it after all?
Ryan, I'll do some searches on calcium chloride and baking soda. It sounds like something that could be worth investigating.
The polyps on my gorgonian began to come out last night, so hopefully the rest will follow soon!
Ryan, I'll do some searches on calcium chloride and baking soda. It sounds like something that could be worth investigating.
The polyps on my gorgonian began to come out last night, so hopefully the rest will follow soon!
pclausen
New member
aqua, I have a feeling I'll be doing that before too much longer. I hope to be able to find someone in the area that wants some before then!
In other news, my sandbed appears to be slowly maturing:
Another room shot for giggles:
And a close up:
Full rez version (make sure your browser doesn't resize to fit your screen:
http://www.cstone.net/~dk/grandtank1.jpg
In other news, my sandbed appears to be slowly maturing:
Another room shot for giggles:
And a close up:
Full rez version (make sure your browser doesn't resize to fit your screen:
http://www.cstone.net/~dk/grandtank1.jpg
obarrera
Active member
aqua_obs said:
I wanna be one of those people.
I have been reading a little about xenia so hopefully I'll get it to grow better.
pclausen, thanks for posting you parameters. Your tank looks pretty good, but like others said, I would get you calcium and alkalinity levels a little up.
pclausen
New member
That's quite a forest you have there Steve!
I tested my water parms again this morning and added them to my chart:
Alkalinity went up quite a bit, but I don't think I want to go much higher than 11 though.
I began mixing up a 44g batch of salt water yesterday to do my weekly 10% water change today. This was using IO salt. I tested the calcium content just now, and it was 350 ppm, so that IO stuff definitely doesn't add calcium at the levels found in the ocean. I also tested the effluent from my calcium reactor, and it was 430. The effluent going into the sump is not a drip, but a slow flow out the tube.
It would seem that my coraline is sucking up calcium big time and my new clam is probably doing the same. I guess I'll up the flow even more and crank up the CO2 rate as well to maintain 6.5 pH out of chamber 1. According to the MRC website, a CR-2 should be able to handle a 500g system, so I guess I just need to keep cranking it up until I get the level up to 400 or so. I'm going to need a new CO2 bottle soon as I've gone through a 20# bottle in just 2 months!
I tested my water parms again this morning and added them to my chart:
Alkalinity went up quite a bit, but I don't think I want to go much higher than 11 though.
I began mixing up a 44g batch of salt water yesterday to do my weekly 10% water change today. This was using IO salt. I tested the calcium content just now, and it was 350 ppm, so that IO stuff definitely doesn't add calcium at the levels found in the ocean. I also tested the effluent from my calcium reactor, and it was 430. The effluent going into the sump is not a drip, but a slow flow out the tube.
It would seem that my coraline is sucking up calcium big time and my new clam is probably doing the same. I guess I'll up the flow even more and crank up the CO2 rate as well to maintain 6.5 pH out of chamber 1. According to the MRC website, a CR-2 should be able to handle a 500g system, so I guess I just need to keep cranking it up until I get the level up to 400 or so. I'm going to need a new CO2 bottle soon as I've gone through a 20# bottle in just 2 months!
IBASSFSH
New member
Calcium reactor
Calcium reactor
I have a calcium reactor, but have not hooked it up yet. I do not know alot about, but I thought you had to use supplements to get the calcium where you want it and the reactors job is then to maintain it there. Its not the job of the reactor to keep raising calcium I thought? I may be misunderstanding.
Calcium reactor
I have a calcium reactor, but have not hooked it up yet. I do not know alot about, but I thought you had to use supplements to get the calcium where you want it and the reactors job is then to maintain it there. Its not the job of the reactor to keep raising calcium I thought? I may be misunderstanding.
pclausen
New member
I'm not sure Ibassfsh. I was under the impression that once you initially get a calcium reactor online, you then dial it in to whatever calcium level you want?
Since the effluent has a higher calcium content than what is in the tank, would that not increase the level? I know that my magnesium is a little low and I understand that can make it hard to maintain calcium and hardness, but don't fully understand the chemical reaction that causes this. It might be that what I really need to do is to increase my magnesium a little and then perhaps my calcium level will fall into place.
It will cost me a fortune to raise the Mg level of 400g of water using those little bottles from the lfs. I'm investigating some of the alternatives that have been suggested here and also looking into forcing an increase in the calcium level using calcium chloride and/or baking soda.
The bottom line is that I'm looking for the most economic solution to maintaining Mg and Calc, taking into account that I already have a calc and kalk reactor which apparently aren't up to the task by themselves. The easiest might be to score a bucket of Oceanic salt and use that to boost my Mg during water changes, but nobody around here seems to carry it.
Since the effluent has a higher calcium content than what is in the tank, would that not increase the level? I know that my magnesium is a little low and I understand that can make it hard to maintain calcium and hardness, but don't fully understand the chemical reaction that causes this. It might be that what I really need to do is to increase my magnesium a little and then perhaps my calcium level will fall into place.
It will cost me a fortune to raise the Mg level of 400g of water using those little bottles from the lfs. I'm investigating some of the alternatives that have been suggested here and also looking into forcing an increase in the calcium level using calcium chloride and/or baking soda.
The bottom line is that I'm looking for the most economic solution to maintaining Mg and Calc, taking into account that I already have a calc and kalk reactor which apparently aren't up to the task by themselves. The easiest might be to score a bucket of Oceanic salt and use that to boost my Mg during water changes, but nobody around here seems to carry it.
scotty1234
New member
You could just raise your CA and you should be fine. Once you add some kind of supplement to raise it, the calcium reactor will maintain those levels for awhile. Something like Seachem's Reef Advantage Calcium would be fine for raising your calcium levels. If your alk is at 11 that's great!
