75g Reef Build

[MrMikeB]

Wow, that was fast! The rock looks great, especially the large flat piece on the right.

You might need a bit more sand though - depending on how deep you want it. Inevitable things will dig and move it around so I typically go a little deeper to compensate for it.

 

[kevin95695]

A touch more sand might be appreciated in the 'hollows'. Anyone...???

Also: Please ID these 'hitchhikers'. I'm more than happy to have (surviving) life in my tank, but I'm also concerned about "pest" species. PLEASE ID: This pic is zoo's/zoa's on the left, correct? If so, unfolding nicely... What's on the right? Tube worms?

By-the-way: What does aiptasia look like? I've noticed a few rather healthy looking beasties that appear to be anenomies... Would like to know if I should get peppermint shrimp(s) to handle it or not... Thanks so much again everybody.

 

[Reefugee]

Kevin,

Those are palythoa. Becareful because they can grow like weed. I used to have green ones in my tank, and it took a lot of work to remove them all. I am not sure what those are on the right.

Minh

 

[MrMikeB]

Hey Kev...looks like good LR has good stuff and bad. The brown polyps things on the left are palythoas and the stuff on the right look like a pest anemone - possibly a majano anemone. I see them from time to time on LR. Personally I think they are nice, but others are not so keen on them because of their ability to do really well and grow out of control.

Aiptasia looks like this:
http://fins.actwin.com/pics/Aiptasia_sp2.jpg

Peppermints can be a hit or miss on Aiptasia, typically I will get some just because they are cool and by chance eat Aiptasia as a bonus. I use Joe's Juice to kill aiptasia whenever I find it.

Good to see life popping back up in those rocks!

 

[kevin95695]

Hmmm... Based on the pic Mike linked I'd say the un-pic'd and unidentified aiptasia they're not.

Majano. Never heard of it. Whatever they are, each seem to be organized like colonies that have individual little teeny things that are tube encased and 'flower' out...

In any case, I tend to view things from a grand perspective and realize that in a large enough system there are all things: Good and bad. The issue is controlling unwanted species -- Eradication is illogical. So: If these are Majano, what is the control measure...??? Thanks.

 

[MrMikeB]

Most pest anemone can be killed with a lil Joe. Some Joe's Juice works well on most pest anemones. You inject them with the stuff and they die. Whatever you do, do not try to pull them off the rock. Most of the pieces can float off and make new anemones.

Do a Google image search on these type anemones and you can see they match up pretty closely.

 

[4jlong]

hey kevin, it's looking good i was just wondering what size power heads are you running? i got 2 rio 1700 (642gph) in my 100 gal and i'm wondering if 2 is too much.

 

[kevin95695]

Thanks. I'm pondering a berghia nudi but don't want to doom it after food supply runs out. Anybody want to line up to foster one after it's done it's job in my dome?

Jay, I'm pushing a 300gph eheim return pump, a MJ1200 and a MJ400 right now. My goal is about 1,500-2,000gph total tank flow when I figure out how I wanna get there...

 

[jlfnjlf]

Just to add to the mix on GPH I just set up my 100g and my closed loop is running a 1500 GPH Iwaki on an Ocean Motions super squirt compact, and my sump return is a 1200 GPH Pan World. I have come to believe if you ask 5 people about the proper flow you will inadvertently get 8 answers. It really depends on what you want to do with your tank.

I am in the camp that more flow is better within a limit.

John

 

[4jlong]

my sump return is 1000 GPH, my tank is 100 gal, i have 2 rio 1700's and in my tank i have a gold banded clown and a yellow tail damsel. i couldn't figure out what to do with the fish while the tank cycled and i was told that they would survive so i left them in. they were both hiding in the rocks and barely coming out at all so this morning i unplugged the rio's and now both of the fish are swimming around. i wonder if i have too much flow?

 

[4jlong]

also, i bought my rock from the same place you got yours kevin and i noticed something growing that looks just like the pic that mike linked of Aptasia except mine is totally clear not brown. if Aptasia is a bad thing then that sucks because the thing in my tank looks really cool!

 

[kevin95695]

Is it too soon to rig up my DIY skimmer and fire it up?

Also, I put the rocks down on the glass (per Mike) and as I stacked them I tried to interlock and cantilever as much as possible for stability. I had to use the back glass structurally because my tank is only 18" front to back, so I didn't have enough room to stack a stable ridge without it leaning against the back...