55g Build (First SW tank)

[bif24701]

Take whatever you thought this hobby was going to cost ($500-600) and triple it ($1500-1800) for initial setup then add about $50-100 monthly upkeep. All for a low tech tank, lol. High tech tanks with cal reactors, nitrate reactors, closed loops, MH or LEDs, Vortech, controllers, dose pumps, and SPS dominated tanks cost lots lots more.

 

[CRC88]

Heres my excel file if you want to have a look at it.

I figure if I started everything from scratch...specifically with the Tank ($200), Hood ($85), Stand ($250), Overflow ($80), Heater ($45), Parts ($50) and Pump ($85), I'd be looking at an initial build cost of roughly $650 more ($800 minus the $150 I paid). So instead of $1,100 it'd be $1750. Which seems to be closer in line with what most people estimated.

At first I was a little upset that I completely blew my initial $500 out of the water, but after seeing some of the builds on here for 10x that, I don't feel so bad. $1,100 for a reef-capable build is fine by me!

 

[WetShepherd]

I hadn't actually added up the cost until now haha - so now I need a drink or two. Anyway, most of this is from memory, but between estimates and what I've forgotten it should be pretty close. It's also all CDN, which means I'm paying more for the same things than I would across the border - I'd say subtract 10 to 15% for the US equivalent.

 

[CRC88]

Oh my goodness! $500 for Live rock. That's amazing. I knew that stuff was expensive going into it and I figured was one of the best places I could save money...it's also how I ended up setting up my second tank (now my quarrantine) to seed my 25lbs of lace rock.

So far I think I've only spent $200 on rock. $89 on 50lbs dry and then $120 on 17lbs live...but I had store credit so all my live rock ended up being "free." Which makes my total around $100 for roughly 90lbs.

And you're WAY farther along in this hobby than I am. Give me a year and I might be getting close to your total of roughly $3,380USD. Plus as @Bif24701 said...yours is more of a "High-tec" tank while mine is more of a "Mid/Low-tec" tank seeing as a lot of my stuff is MacGyvered. Keep in mind I still need an RO/DI unit at some point. I've just been putting that off until I get my own apartment...

 

[CRC88]

Time for an update! I've put some thinking into my fish-list. I haven't put any fish in the tank for almost a month, so I'm getting antsy. Everytime I go to the fish store I can't decide what I want to get. I put some thought into it and came up with my intended additionsto be added in this order:

Two Ocellaris Clowns (added 4 weeks ago)
Royal Gramma OR Bicolor Dottyback OR Orchid/Purple Dottyback
Kauderns Cardinal
BiColor Blenny
Blue Gudgeon Dartfish (how readily available are these?)
Flame Angel
Green Mandarin (with time)

I have concerns about how reef safe a Flame Angel would be, and also how durable the Mandarin will be. I'm hoping the Mandarin will survive off the pods in my fuge - and I don't plan on adding him for a long time! Any suggestions would be great!

 

[Playerdrm]

Go with the royal gramma I've been trying to catch my bi-color dotty back for a week and I'm going to end up probably having to pull all the rock to get him. That fish is a little demon beats up on fish over 5 times his size and controls the whole left side of the tank; I also had to rescue a cleaner shrimp from him that he was trying to kill and move it to another tank till I get the dotty out.

 

[CRC88]

So I may have finalized my fish list, but I decided to add a few small pieces of corals. My mushroom has been doing quite well. I tested the water just to double check the paramaters. It checked out 0-0-5, and I feel that 5ppm of Nitrate is quite low.

I added two pieces - one piece of Frogspawn, and another of Star Polyp.

I gather the Frogspawn is relatively low-flow? My tank has quite a bit of water turnover so I'm wondering how much I need to shield the frogspawn in order for those pillowy tentacles to not get damaged. Thanks!

 

[WetShepherd]

Go with the royal gramma I've been trying to catch my bi-color dotty back for a week and I'm going to end up probably having to pull all the rock to get him. That fish is a little demon beats up on fish over 5 times his size and controls the whole left side of the tank; I also had to rescue a cleaner shrimp from him that he was trying to kill and move it to another tank till I get the dotty out.

+1 on the Royal Gramma. Great looking fish, but it takes a while for them (mine at least) to get over being shy in the tank.

Regarding the Dottyback - before tearing the tank apart, buy yourself a mason jar - the type with the seal and clamp to close. They are cheaper than fish traps and they work better (no sticking doors).

Run fish line through the top part of the clamp and tie it to the bottom clamp. Attach some fish junk food (I like freeze dried blood worms) to the bottom (you can tape a cube), set it in the tank so that the lid is laying down, and that when you pull on the fish line it will pick the jar up and slam the lid down in the process. If your Dottyback is the most aggressive fish in the tank he'll probably be the first one in the jar. You can improve chances by denying food for a day or two, but you have to balance it against increased aggression.

That's how I got my Eibl Angel out of my tank - good luck!

 

[CRC88]

Picture Time!!

One of my Clownfish - Winston.
<a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v671/crizman88/?action=view&current=DSC_7324.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v671/crizman88/DSC_7324.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Some Frogspawn. It's not super happy yet. Hasn't opened up much to speak of...in time I suppose.
<a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v671/crizman88/?action=view&current=DSC_7226.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v671/crizman88/DSC_7226.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

My "Star Polyp" not quite sure what it is. But it's encrusting so I'm hoping it'll take over this rock. I'm sure in time it'll take over my whole tank if I let it...
<a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v671/crizman88/?action=view&current=DSC_7355.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v671/crizman88/DSC_7355.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

And finally, GREEN HAIR ALGAE - I think. If it's not then someone gave GHA a silly name. Because that's exactly what this looks like. Are there any pro-active steps I can do to minimize this before it takes over?
<a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v671/crizman88/?action=view&current=DSC_7261.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v671/crizman88/DSC_7261.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think - and how I can start getting rid of this GHA. Thanks!

 

[WetShepherd]

Does the algae feel like hair or is it stiffer? If stiffer, then it's probably Bryopsis. Either way you will probably want to scrub it. If you do so, make sure it's done out of the tank - any bits that float away wills sprout up where they land - not desirable. Also test your nitrates a bit more and use that info to reign in your feeding to minimize free nutrients

Your 'star polyp' looks like my gorgonian with larger extensions - maybe it's something in that family.

The pics are great - nice work and thanks for sharing. GL with the algae.

 

[onecoder]

I have been fighting green hair algae for some time and have started to win the battle (did not use cehimicals). I increased the frequency of water changes and reduced the size of the water change and changed lights.

After doing some reasearch I also found that low Mg can contribute as can high phosphates. I test both and supplement when needed and use phosban also if needed.

 

[CRC88]

Full Chemical Workup

Full Chemical Workup

On my way home from work I picked up a Calcium and Phosphate test kit. I figured it was a good idea to get a handle on how much Phosphates I had since my algae was growing like mad. So this marks the first time I've done a "complete" chemical workup.

pH = 8.6
Salinity= 1.024
Alk = 2.2 mili eq/L
Ammonia = 0.1ppm (The color wasn't perfectly 0.0, but nowhere near 0.25)
Nitrites = 0.0ppm (this was definitely zero!)
Nitrates = 5ppm
Phosphorus = 0.0ppm
Calcium = 440 mg/L

So all in all I think this was pretty good. I'm assuming my pH is high because everything is so new (sand, rocks, etc) which releases much more of their bicarbonate buffering capacity early on.

So I have all this algae...but my Phosphorus is 0.0. I just added a Phosphorus scrubber this past weekend, so I'm assuming it'll just take time for the algae to receede? Or do I need to remove it and it won't come back?

Finally...Ammonia. Is this something to be alarmed with, or could it perhaps be within the variation of the test?

I'll post some pictures this weekend. I've picked up a Mandarin and Flame Angel which are currently in my QT for the next 4-6 weeks. I was worried about the Mandarin (mostly from what I read on here), but he eats A LOT more variety than I thought. In addition to live foods, he also eats my frozen carnivore mix (with gusto), and has shown interest in flake/pellet food. :spin1: I'm very optimistic about this little guy. I've also started a Live Brine culture just in case!!

 

[WetShepherd]

Congrats on the new fish. Keep an eye on that angel as he may go after your corals. That's amazing news about the Mandarin - very lucky and I envy you

 

[CRC88]

So it's been about three weeks since my last update and I've had a few developments.

First Development: I got tired of looking at the algae blooms, so I installed a Phosphorus scrubber. I loaded one container with Carbon and another with Phos Pellets. I also decided to start keeping my Fuge light on 24/7. Is there any downside to this? I'm trying to cultivate copeopods in there for my Mandarin - do they need a light cycle to regulate their reproduction or anything? After about a week with the scrubber I noticed the GHA start to loose its integrity and has started to decline in amount.

Second development: I have a Flame Angel and Mandarin (which has turned into a little piggy and I think is putting on weight!) in QT and it looks like the Flame angel has what appears to be ich. I took out the small amount of live rock I had in there, and started treating them with copper. I talked with the guy at the LFS and he tried to sell me some "tree sap" Ich cure, but I did my homework here first, and had decided that wouldn't work and I wanted to go the copper route. Cu concentrations are at roughly 0.35.

Final Development: I noticed today that my mushroom was not looking super great. It's been two weeks since I've done a water test so I started testing and my ammonia came back 2.0ppm!! Cue the freakout. I was REALLY not expecting this. Nothing has died to my knowledge (snails) and the clowns look fine. I didn't really know what the problem was so I started cleaning my filter pads to try to find the source of the waste. I cleaned the overflow, the wet/dry, and when I got to the scrubber pad - BLEK!! Totally gunky and smelled like fish s**t. After seeing the amount of crud that came out of there, I expect that's why my ammonia spiked. I never really thought that would become a big problem like that. I adjusted my skimmer to a very wet skim and if the levels haven't changed by morning, I'm going to do a significant water change to get everything to a healthy level. Otherwise my other readings came back really good! My Nitrate was only about 3.0ppm. Clearly the ammonia spike had just occurred...

I'll keep you posted as to what happens!

 

[CRC88]

So turns out the ammonia spike was very temporary. It was gone within 24 hours and everything seems fine. As of right now, I have a dilemma with my QT. I have the flame angel and mandarin both undergoing a copper treatment for Ich. I put the prescribed amount in, and am waiting. I bought an API copper test kit, but it's essentially useless to fine-tune medication amounts. I know it's between 0.25-0.50, but that's about all I got. I bought a Red-Sea Cu test kit that is good for 0.00-0.40, with resolution down to the 0.05ppm. BUT, it was expired by 7 months so I returned it.

I'm starting to be concerned with my Mandarin. Some days he looks like he's getting fatter. Other days he looks skinnier. I see him eat my frozen mix all the time, including these gigantic bloodworms I'm surprised fit in his mouth. He's never shown signs of ich, and I'm considering moving him into the DT where I know he'll be many times happier. The problem is that he's been in the QT with the Flame (and the ich) for 4 weeks now. I've heard mandarins are resistant to Ich...but how far should I push this? It's probably not worth the risk to my DT, but I'm worried about him in the QT. Are there other things I can do to make sure he's eating enough?

 

[89Foxbody]

Mandarins don't suffer from ich, IIRC, because their slime coat is so thick that it's impenetrable by the parasite.

As far as the eating goes, that's common with fish. As long as he's not looking really emaciated, I'd say he's probably fine. Fish are very small (for the most part). When they eat a lot in one sitting, you can see their distended stomachs. Especially on the more torpedo-shaped fishes like gobies, dottybacks, etc.

 

[CRC88]

So quick update:

I was away on vacation this past week. I came home and checked on my tank and saw that the algae went NUTS when I was away. Almost everything was covered in a thick lawn. I was somewhat frustrated, but otherwise thankful my tank seemed OK. As soon as I put my hand in the tank to clean it I realized something was wrong - the water was WAY too warm! I looked at the temp and my tank was 92F! After talking it over with my father, who had been taking care of the tank, he believes the heater may have shorted out on Wednesday after some water splashed around. This means my tank was at 92F for FIVE DAYS!! Miraculously my two Clownfish and Mandarin both survived the heat as well as the corresponding cooling over two days.

My only "deaths" were two of my softie coral frags which look like they were obliterated. Otherwise my fish, pods, snails, and two mushroom corals seem to have survived!! :bounce1:

I have a Scopas Tang and Bi-Color Blenny over in my QT that I'm going to transfer as soon as the DT stabilizes. I should really count myself as lucky! Anyone have any similar situations?

 

[saltycoastie]

i think thats a petco stand, if so the one here at the college gave way and is currently leaning bad towards one side. i dont think it has any major support system like 2x4s or nothing.

 

[CRC88]

Haha so I guess this wasn't as amazing as I thought it was.

I figured a tank at 92F would have wiped everything out. Apparently it's more common than I thought? What are other people's experience?