btucker7587
New member
First, let me start by saying I do not recommend this be done by people. I had a lot of assistance and multiple advisers.
Ok, let me start with a snapshot of the tank.
This is my Marine aquarium. I have put many, many hours into researching and setting up this particular one. Since i started the hobby, I have been told that the tank must "Establish" after the cycling process and a minimum of six months given before really stocking it, especially for some coral and anemone. This tank was started 18 August 2013 and as you can see, 3 1/2 months later, it is quite full of several coral, fish, an anemone and a Snowflake eel.
Once again, I do not advise anyone to do this...it was a personal project I took on because i just wanted to show that a tank could be established sooner than six months.
I got curious as to how some of the LFS here were able to set up these great displays in as little as a month so I started asking their methods. After several conversations and a hefty thanks to Google translate, I managed to get a starting point. Go natural they said. They also pointed me to the "Sea Seed Aquarium" along the coast of Okinawa to seek advice...off I went.
The Sea Seed Aquarium is a really small aquarium on the coast of Okinawa dedicated to the re-population of the natural reefs...good starting point since I am setting up a reef tank...and it literally uses the ocean as it's sump. There are massive hoses laid out on the old coral bed to pump in new water while old water is pumped out to the top of the coral cliffs to drain back to the ocean. Here is the only English link I could find for the aquarium - http://okinawahai.com/2011/03/seaseed.html
So talking to the keepers at the Sea Seed, I got some great tips on what to use to establish my tank ahead of schedule. First thing they told me was to ditch any mix i had in the tank and use NSW. Second, dive for your rock. Ensure to get rock half-buried in substrate and covered in algae if possible. Sand was a bit lenient and they did not speak against buying it, but they suggested I use the sand between reefs if I got anything.
The key to all of this however, was time. They were adamant that i had the tank up and running with a sump at least 50% my tank size and with water at the proper temperature and flowing already before I secured the sand and rock. They gave me a max, 45 minute transport time (in my transport barrel) for my rock and sand before the bacteria and other beneficial critters would start dying and then I would be back at square zero again.
I set up the tank and sump and then put in the NSW and cycled it with some shrimp bought at the store. It went to triple zip in about 12 days. Once I got the rock and sand placed into the tank (29 minutes from removal to placement in tank) I could start aquaplaning. Took my time with this since I wanted to run through a PWC before I started doing tests on the water.
Once everything was the way i liked it, I did a 50% water change, waited a day and then ran tests on the water every day for a week to record any changes. Surprisingly, my level were very constant. (No2 - 0 / No3 - 1ppm / NH3/4 - 0 / Po4 - 0 / Kh - 9.5 / Ph - 8.5 / Ca - 420)
With little to no change in water tests, I added my cleanup crew and started my quest to look for pests (mainly crabs). I let the cleanup crew have at it for two weeks as i constantly scanned for the unwanted critters. The cleanup crew did a great job of cleaning the rocks up and i was impressed at how quickly they accomplished it. During this time I was doing PCW at the advice of the breeders every third day and continued to do so for the next two weeks taking me to a month and a half to go from my cycle (water only) to being ready to drop in my first fish.
I started with a Blue Damsel (Blue Devils...) and then started adding about every two days after that, carefully monitoring my levels as well as the behavior of the fish. Over the next month i placed everything seen in the picture above and over the next month to now everything has done great. My anemone has increased in size considerably as well as my Paly's and leather finger's.
Here are a few sectioned pics.
My Plate Coral. Love this guy. I target feet him shrimp and krill.
Leather Finger...**** thing is huge.
Button Polyps
Toadstool..another big one. Wish my overflow wasn't in it's way...
SPS coral. i got this from a guy who was just not keeping up his tank. I am hoping it will lose the brown coating over the next few months. It is still feeding so i have hope. It's original color was blue.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/971576_10202747502228251_380530257_n.jpg
Here is an updated pic side by side. The first one (original) is the same as above. The SPS is getting it's color back slowly...good stuff.
Another Brown leather finger.
A combination of Vancouver Mushroom, Clam, Leather Finger and a spot of the anemone.
Two Tube Feathers and my Bubble Coral.
Ok, let me start with a snapshot of the tank.
This is my Marine aquarium. I have put many, many hours into researching and setting up this particular one. Since i started the hobby, I have been told that the tank must "Establish" after the cycling process and a minimum of six months given before really stocking it, especially for some coral and anemone. This tank was started 18 August 2013 and as you can see, 3 1/2 months later, it is quite full of several coral, fish, an anemone and a Snowflake eel.
Once again, I do not advise anyone to do this...it was a personal project I took on because i just wanted to show that a tank could be established sooner than six months.
I got curious as to how some of the LFS here were able to set up these great displays in as little as a month so I started asking their methods. After several conversations and a hefty thanks to Google translate, I managed to get a starting point. Go natural they said. They also pointed me to the "Sea Seed Aquarium" along the coast of Okinawa to seek advice...off I went.
The Sea Seed Aquarium is a really small aquarium on the coast of Okinawa dedicated to the re-population of the natural reefs...good starting point since I am setting up a reef tank...and it literally uses the ocean as it's sump. There are massive hoses laid out on the old coral bed to pump in new water while old water is pumped out to the top of the coral cliffs to drain back to the ocean. Here is the only English link I could find for the aquarium - http://okinawahai.com/2011/03/seaseed.html
So talking to the keepers at the Sea Seed, I got some great tips on what to use to establish my tank ahead of schedule. First thing they told me was to ditch any mix i had in the tank and use NSW. Second, dive for your rock. Ensure to get rock half-buried in substrate and covered in algae if possible. Sand was a bit lenient and they did not speak against buying it, but they suggested I use the sand between reefs if I got anything.
The key to all of this however, was time. They were adamant that i had the tank up and running with a sump at least 50% my tank size and with water at the proper temperature and flowing already before I secured the sand and rock. They gave me a max, 45 minute transport time (in my transport barrel) for my rock and sand before the bacteria and other beneficial critters would start dying and then I would be back at square zero again.
I set up the tank and sump and then put in the NSW and cycled it with some shrimp bought at the store. It went to triple zip in about 12 days. Once I got the rock and sand placed into the tank (29 minutes from removal to placement in tank) I could start aquaplaning. Took my time with this since I wanted to run through a PWC before I started doing tests on the water.
Once everything was the way i liked it, I did a 50% water change, waited a day and then ran tests on the water every day for a week to record any changes. Surprisingly, my level were very constant. (No2 - 0 / No3 - 1ppm / NH3/4 - 0 / Po4 - 0 / Kh - 9.5 / Ph - 8.5 / Ca - 420)
With little to no change in water tests, I added my cleanup crew and started my quest to look for pests (mainly crabs). I let the cleanup crew have at it for two weeks as i constantly scanned for the unwanted critters. The cleanup crew did a great job of cleaning the rocks up and i was impressed at how quickly they accomplished it. During this time I was doing PCW at the advice of the breeders every third day and continued to do so for the next two weeks taking me to a month and a half to go from my cycle (water only) to being ready to drop in my first fish.
I started with a Blue Damsel (Blue Devils...) and then started adding about every two days after that, carefully monitoring my levels as well as the behavior of the fish. Over the next month i placed everything seen in the picture above and over the next month to now everything has done great. My anemone has increased in size considerably as well as my Paly's and leather finger's.
Here are a few sectioned pics.
My Plate Coral. Love this guy. I target feet him shrimp and krill.
Leather Finger...**** thing is huge.
Button Polyps
Toadstool..another big one. Wish my overflow wasn't in it's way...
SPS coral. i got this from a guy who was just not keeping up his tank. I am hoping it will lose the brown coating over the next few months. It is still feeding so i have hope. It's original color was blue.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/971576_10202747502228251_380530257_n.jpg
Here is an updated pic side by side. The first one (original) is the same as above. The SPS is getting it's color back slowly...good stuff.
Another Brown leather finger.
A combination of Vancouver Mushroom, Clam, Leather Finger and a spot of the anemone.
Two Tube Feathers and my Bubble Coral.
