Carlso63's 225 Reef Build Thread!

[carlso63]

I picked up a 5"+ Regal / Hippo Tang and 2 large black spiny sea urchins from a local club member... they are all doing great in the 225:

Still looking for other locals selling off their livestock - especially those who have fishes that have outgrown their owners tanks... all I keep seeing is people trying to unload full setups and stubbornly refusing to "part it out" even though very VERY few full setups are moving locally because $$$ is tight and it's hard for a lot of people to come up with enough cash to afford a fully stocked established setup right off the bat... not to mention the hassle off trying to (re) set the tank up and not have everything crash...

But this Tang is doing great... it was a little thin but it has a tremendous appetite. And $20 for a 5+" long Hippo is a good deal (paid $10 each for the urchins) so overall I am happy with the purchase...

The cool part is I figure I can stock another 20 - 25 fish of around this size into the 225 before I hit my bioload / space limits -

and that is going to look real sweeeet........

 

[carlso63]

Holy smokes, it's been awhile!


So much has been going on with the setup, but I never seem to find the time to post updates!

Anyway, I'll try to catch up a bit... in the mean time, if you ever want to see the most "up to date" progress, visit my home site:



http://www.utahreefs.com

And look for "The 225 Build Thread" in the "General Posts" Forum of our local Message Board. My thread is 15 friggin' pages long over there!

Ok, now where shall we begin....?

 

[carlso63]

(July 21, 2008)

Well, the weekend was actually pretty busy; reef-wise...

- I picked up a Mandarin from Rich

- I picked up mangroves for the sump from Alex & Eva

- I picked up some grape caulerpa for the sump from Jason & got the "skinny" on 'squeaky cheese'

- I picked up a nice Orange Digitata frag from David

And that was all just on Friday; Saturday, I picked up a Coral Banded Shrimp from Asad and then we hit Birdworld and walked out with a Diamond Goby and a Kole Tang

Mandarin is a little small but seems to be doing OK. I am a tiny bit concerned that my 6-Line is annoying it; hopefully, they will get along better in a few days...

And Alex and Eva really do have "a tank in every room" (pretty much, anyways)... if they got one of these http://www.fishnflush.com/ they could complete the job

My favorites were the ray tank and the "zoa" tank - they must have thousands of zoas in there! My wife loved the Puffer tank, too

Anyway, I also stopped by HD and picked up some sandbox "playsand" and added that into the "fuge" portion of my sump so I could plant the mangroves in the sand. Even after rinsing, it still clouded up the water a good bit - but cleared up within a few hours after clogging up my filter socks pretty good...

Speaking of filter socks, you ever buy something for your setup and then forget that you bought it? Well, I bought filter socks then totally forgot all about them until I opened my "storage table" to get a heater out for a water change... and then Lo & behold! there they were, still in their package (More about these later)

And now, between the mangroves and Jason's macro, my fuge is now fully stocked and it looks great! Can't wait to see some of the mangrove shoots open all the way up and have little "trees" growing out of my sump!

The Digitata I got from David looks very nice as well - good size, nice orange polyp extension, etc. And David has one of the cleanest looking, nicest 90g Reef setups I have seen in a long time - very impressive. And he lives 5 minutes away in Lehi (very happy we are starting to "represent" out here in UT Co.) We talked a little about the Reef Tour - I told him his tank would make an excellent addition to the Tour. Maybe we will get lucky and he will sign up; definitely worth a visit

The CB Shrimp took to the tank right away; like all shrimp he hides in the rockwork sometimes but is not afraid to come out and pick junk out of the sandbed either. I am hoping he will entice my Fire Shrimp to show his face a little more often as well.

I wanted the Diamond goby because I wanted something that would be a "sand sifter" in my tank as there is just a bit of detritus building up on the bottom - mainly because I don;t have nearly enough hermits for a 225g tank (I have maybe 25)... eventually I'll have to break down and order like 200 blue-legs. The DG has already commandeered an area under the live rock "island" on the left side of the tank. He pops in and out; jawboning a mouthful of sand then letting it out his gills. Hopefully he will expand his range once he feels more comfortable in the new surroundings and he will go over the entire sandbed surface every once in a while to keep it clean and crud-free...

The Kole was kind of a "bonus" since they do a little sand sifting as well. This is a nice specimen in that his coloration is dark and vivid - I've seem some that are a little "wishy washy" and their stripes can be a bit washed out. Not this guy. He's about 4" long and started feeding Sunday - although he is more timid than the Hippo or the Naso, at least so far.


So, how 'bout some pics?

 

[carlso63]

(July 23, 2008) -

Other than take a few more pics, I didn't do too much to the setup today. Although I already had to wash out the filter socks; the DG is stirring up a bit of crud off the bottom, which I am glad because A) all that stuff floating around it helps feed the corals and B) the rest ends up getting sucked in to the overflow and ultimately the filter socks so in theend the tank iteself is cleaner and the water will look even clearer.

Ca holding steady at 480 ppm
dKH went down to 9.5

Here's some more pics:

The last 2 shots are of the Pom Pom I fragged off 2 weeks earlier, and the spot on the Mother Colony where I cut it off... it has already started growing new polyps there!

 

[carlso63]

(July 28, 2008) -



And, yeah, there is still plenty of room for more corals (and fish)

I am thinking of adding a bit more rock in the future. The left side of the tank there is alot of space behind the rockwork in the corner; I'd guess i could add another 60 - 80 lb of rock to fill it up and provide even more footings to place corals further back in the tank. The right side I think I will keep as is - and the middle of the tank I want to remain mostly open sandbed.

I'll probably make another rock / sand run maybe end of August or middle of September as I want to get some for when I convert my 37g FW Hex over to SW sometime in the fall or winter... not sure if what "theme" I'd want for the Hex; maybe seahorses/pipefish, maybe a huge anenome and some clowns, maybe an "all damsel / clown" tank (like a mix of maybe 3 dozen 1" blue devils, dominos, yellow tails, white stripes, oscellaris, baby maroons, pink skunks - now that might be cool )...

Oh - and other "good things":


- The 6 Line has finally layed off the Mandarin... the little guy (little girl, actually) has begun exploring the tank a bit more and not cowering up against the front glass. And I have noticed her "picking" at the sandbed, which tells me it is at least trying to find food... she is supposed to be "weaned" onto frozen and I know I have tons o' pods now, so I am hopeful things will go well with her now that Mean Mr. 6 Line has backed off...

- The Hippo has gone from skinny to plump already - you no longer can "see his ribs sticking out"

- The Kole comes out quite a bit now, but still prefers the "shelter" of a rock cave in the middle of 1 of the rock "islands" from time to time. Eating well and looking good!

- The CB Shrimp is doing fine and comes right out whenever it gets a whiff of some chow hitting the water

- Hadn't seen my Fire Shrimp in a couple of weeks and started to grow concerned - no worries; it is hanging out in the same "cave" as the Kole - and I even caught it 'cleaning' the Tang this morning!

- And my Pom Pom dropped another "baby" again... this one sprouted up between 2 pieces of orange Monti Cap:

 

[carlso63]

(August 11, 2008) -


Last week I stupidly splashed water up onto one of my Aquamedic pendants and shattered the UV shield ... luckily Shawn over at Aquatica carries most parts on Aqumedic stuff, so he set me up with a spare for only 10 bucks!

Otherwise, I did another 18g WC on Sunday (the second one so far, coming 2 months after setup and 2 weeks apart) for a total of 35-36g changed out in the past month... that's about 14.5% of the total volume per month - which I think is a good amount. And it's pretty easy to set up an 18g tote with NSW and then change it out via the sump; the whole task takes maybe 30 minutes from start until the old SW gets pumped put into the street via an old basement sump pump I have...

My water parameters are now holding steady as follows:

Temp = 77.4 (low) to 79.8 (high)
SG = 1.0255
pH = 8.1
dKH = 9
nH3 = 0 / undetectable
nO2 = 0 / undetectable
nO3 = 0 / undetectable
pO4 = 0 / undetectable
Ca = 460
Mg = 1340

Going forward I am actually looking to reduce the Ca down to 420 and then boost the dKH up to 10 - 10.5; otherwise, I am happy with the water quality as is.

No new purchases livestock-wise; I did order a few things from TFP which should arrive Wednesday... some pO4 remover media, an acrylic safe scraper w/ long handle, and 2 additional filter socks... right now I am having to rinse out my socks every 2 days; once the other 2 come I can actually throw the dirty ones into the wash instead of just hosing them down outside - since I'll have 2 sets instead of just the single pair...


This weekend I'm looking to clean out the Fluval and put in fresh carbon and pO4 remover. Plus, it's "payday" so I'll have to manage to put something new into the tank -

After all, the Reef Tour is less than a month away now


Here's a Devil's Hand frag I got from William a few months back... it has finally "settled in" and is starting to grow - and you can see how all that LBTR is starting to really "purple up" (and redden up, green up, orange up, etc...):

The orange Ricordea is up to 3 heads now... a bit of hair algae that nobody seems to want to pick off - I may have to break out the tweezers to remove it:

And I just got a FedEx update @ 10:57 PM which says my latest package has arrived at the N. Salt Lake Depot - that means a delivery tomorrow - I want to try out the new scraper and see how good a job it does on the coralline in the corners and near the sandbed...

 

[carlso63]

(August 26, 2008) -

With the Reef Tour coming up fast I'd better get back to updating this thread...

Not too much new, though. I ordered an "acrylic safe" Kent Pro scraper, and it works pretty well. Definitely doesn't scratch the acrylic. And definitely needs a little "elbow grease" to get at some of the stuff. But my sandline is cleaner now than the day I filled the tank so that's cool...

Did my 3rd 18g water change on Sunday. So far I have done 3 total:

- 07/22 - 08/10 - 08/24

Or 18g every 2 weeks. I'll be interested to see if my CB Shrimp molts again - he did after both of the other 2 WCs... I also should test the water again to see if this recent WC has lowered the Ca reading and / or raised the dKH as well...

I got a few new frags; a green / brown acro frag from Acrid, a purple gorgonian and a purple-rimmed Monti Cap from Fax. They are all doing great - especially the gorgonian, it is totally polyped out

Got rid of my excess macro, too... now I can actually see the mangroves in the sump. Most of them have broken the water surface and a few are starting to sprout a tiny leaf or 2...

Oh, and I got a Brown Digitata frag from James...

Plus I got a very nice 6" + Yellow Leather that is slowly getting acclimated and hopefully will fully expand before Sept 6th !

But you guys can come see them all on Reef Tour Day, right?

(Maybe I'll have to post some new pics soon to "whet your appetite) -SO -

Here's some pics of the newest stuff:

 

[carlso63]

(August 30, 2008) -

Here's some pics showing the growth on some of my corals...

The Orange Digi frag has really polyped out and has good "white tips":

This Branch Hammer started as a single dying head rescue from another hobbyist; up to 4 healthy heads now:

Trumpet Coral... before, 5 heads. Today = 9 heads (and still splitting):

I got this green Paly as a single polyp from Jeff back last October...10 months later there are close to 30 polyps now:

And my GSP is starting to send out "feelers" and encrust the back of the tank:

 

[carlso63]

A few more...


The Toadstool (one of my wife's favorites) is now over 7" acroos and looks great "swaying in the current":

All the anenomes are happy, growing, and staying put:

Got 3 Blue Mushrooms on a rock from James in the spring... now:

 

[carlso63]

Getting ready for our local clubs "Reef Tour"... a Reef tour is, well... here's the RC announcement that was posted for it:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1460045


Anyway, the Tour is one of our bigger events of the year. Last year was my first year as a Tour Site, and (with my 125g setup and lousy, lousy weather that day) I got a whopping 2 visitors the entire day :eek1: ... so, this year, with much better weather forecast - and my sharp new larger setup - I was cautiously optimistic....

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


(Sept 5, 2008) -

You know I couldn't let a Reef Tour come around without getting a little "something" new for the tank...

I have just been very busy this past week and have not had much opportunity for any kind of "posting frenzy" as I put it earlier...

I did break out (and update) all my 2007 Reef Tour posters, banners, and signs from last year. I also set up another 18g of FMSW for a WC Friday evening - gotta look good for Saturday, you know...

It looks like the weather should be just about optimal for the Tour; sunny, 80 degrees, light breeze, no chance of precip. whatsoever -

I will try to put up some pics of the new stuff either later tonite or tomorrow.

 

[carlso63]

(Sept 6, 2008) -

WOW!!! REEF TOUR DAY WAS A BLAST !!!!!
85 visitors, traffic pretty much the entire day, beautiful weather... and the tank looked great!!!

Here are some shots of the Tour -


Got my signs up bright and early:

Lawn Sign closeup:

Door Banner closeup:

Hospitality Station (with "Finding Nemo" on the TV):

Reef Setup Info Sign describing the system:

And the Tank itself looked GREAT!!!:

New fishes for the Tour included a Bicolor Anthias:

And a juvi Desjardini Tang (coming out of the rockwork near the bottom of the pic):

 

[carlso63]

(Sept 7, 2008) -

MORE REEF TOUR PICS

And the "Star of the Show Award" went to my Black Long-Spined Urchin - young and old alike thought it was the coolest thing in the tank:

All in all, it was A GREAT DAY !

 

[carlso63]

(Sept 8, 2008) -


I'm thinking about what to do next as far as the 225 is concerned. I'd really like to add some more rock to the left rear corner area; I'd guess somewhere between 50 - 75 lbs. additional will fill it up nicely... so I'm thinking another "Rock & Sand Run" is in order!

But, if I'm going to hike it all the way out to Stansbury Island and the Lakeside Military exit, I am darn well coming home with more than just 75 lbs or rock for my efforts!

Thinking ahead, I would need maybe 75 - 80lbs or so of LBTR, and maybe 60 -70 lbs of Utah oolitic sand to convert my 37 Hex tank from the Butt-ugliest blue graveled, orange and pink plastic - planted, giant unbelievably fake bubble aerating plastic clam filled, "freshie tank" into something cool (aka maybe a Seahorse tank or how about a 40 different pairs of damsels all kicking the $%#@!!! out of each other! tank)...

So, I guess it would be best to load up my little SUV truck with like 4 or 5 totes and 6 or 7 buckets and just bring a whole truckload of rock and sand back and sell off all the extra like last time..?

The other idea I was toying with is I think it's time to do some fragging !

I remember seeing a "frag station" set up in Chau's (ct79) SPS tank; basically he had an eggcrate shelf suspened on the side glass of the tank so that was only 6 inches or so below the water surface - to maximize the light available to the frags... What I am thinking of doing is building a small (maybe 12" long X 6" high X 4" deep) open-topped frag "box" out of eggcrate, then covering the bottom of the box with rubble rock and tossing at least softie frags in there until they attach to the rubble rock... this way I won't have (for example) Pom Pom frags coming loose from the rubble rock I rubberbanded it to and drifting away only to attach itself to some huge rock all the way in a back corner of the display

I already have some leftover eggcrate and plastic ties so fabricating this won't be a problem. Only problem is I don't have any small rubble rock to put in it. Maybe I'll search my tank for a smaller piece of LBTR that doesn't have any corals attached and just smash it up into like 1" - 2" chunks?

As far as what I would be fragging... simple stuff. Pretty much, anyway.

I have so much more GSP than I started with; the original piece I got from BW was like 3" X 3" and now I have GSP covering 3 different areas of at least 8" X 8" each - plus I have GSP starting to encrust the back wall of the tank so some of it can go for sure...

Then I have almost the same situation with BSP; started with a piece from Jeff that was about the size of a deck of cards - now I have it in 3 seperate locations...so I can frag off a good amount of that as well.

Silver Tip Xenia? Forget it! Dozens of colonies, each with maybe 40 heads apiece... I could remove all but 1 of those colonies and the 1 remaining colony would grow 10 fold in a years time, easily...

I will also frag off another maybe 2 or 3 good sized daughter colonies of my Pom Pom as well...

And, perhaps, just perhaps, some lucky person will get a frag of my Yellow Sarcophyton , too :eek1:

 

[carlso63]

(Sept. 12, 2008) -


Today I set upon building an eggcrate "frag station" like ct79 has; except mine is more of a "box" than a "shelf"...

I have it suspended in the tank from the waterline to maybe 4" below. Then I took a piece of LR and smashed it into rubble chunks and put that inside the box. This way when I start fragging, I an just put the loose frags into the box and once they settle in they will attach themselves to the rubble rock... no more trying to glue or rubberband pieces only to have them come loose and float around the tank...

Here's a few pics -

Top view from above the tank:

View from inside the tank - with various fishies going nuts over some Nori and Purple Sea Kelp on that clip:

Full frontal:

First item I fragged is my Pom Pom... got 4 good sized pieces off and put them in the frag box:

Here's the mother colony immediately after the heavy fragging:

Once these frags attach, I will remove them and start fragging my Silver Tip. You think this is ready to frag or what???!!!:

 

[carlso63]

(Sept 15, 2008) -


Here's some more recent pics... everything is looking good!

Having picked up a few new fish / corals recently I have begun feeding a bit heavier than in the past... and the Anthias seems to love the smaller sized "Reef Plankton" so I have been feeding that more often...seems to be a good thing for my LPS as they have all gotten a little more extended lately; even the Wall Hammer looks bigger and better than it has since I got it off of Lindsay last year:

The Yellow Sarcophyton seems to be happy in its new spot a bit higher up in the tank with a little more light and with a tad more water flow around it:

 

[carlso63]

(Sept 17, 2008)


One last pic!

 

[carlso63]

OK... whew!... back to the present...


That pretty much catches me up on this thread...


As of today I am still planning on going out on a "Rock & Sand Run" this Saturday, weather permitting (remember, here in UT you can harvest your own authentic coralline rock and aragonitic oolite sand for FREE )

Also supposed to pick up a couple of corals and some inverts from a fellow club member who is dismantling one of his tanks this weekend... looking ot score about 100 - 120 bucks worth of livestock for around $25 - $30 (gotta love that!)

Still perusing the boards looking for someone selling a used Reef Octopus NW200 Skimmer for cheap so I can try out my "ultimate Octopus Skimmer mod".... running 2 Skimmers off of my 1 super - modded pump!

Lastly, I am looking to order some filters and DI resin for my RO/DI unit, carbon for my Fluval, I need some more Alk buffer, and probably need to restock the freezer with frozen (fish) foods around the end of the month....

As any of these things come to pass I will of course take photos and keep you all up to speed...

And that's about where we stand, today, Sept 18, 2008 -

Hope you have enjoyed catching up with me... I'll do my best to keep you all posted on my progress going forward.

- Bob

 

[Steve 926]

Hi Bob.

Absolutely Gorgeous !!!

I love the frag Box, what a great idea !!!
I also am tired of chasing the frag's around the display, only to eventually loose them, & have them die off.

Did you use some of the plastic needlepoint squares to line the frag box with ?

Steve

:smokin:

 

[carlso63]

Steve -

Actually I used some mesh screening to line the box...

2 of the 4 frags have attached and are ready to go:

Took them out of the box this morning... the 3rd frag is semi-attached; I'll give it a couple more days. The 4th is being a pain in the a$$ and is still unattached...


I also got a few new additions to the tank over the past weekend -


First, this huge Sarcophyton spp. Leather... for perspective, that Naso in the second pic is 5" long:

I also got a 2nd Long Spined Urchin:

And a 2nd Coral Banded Shrimp:

And I picked up this piece of green plating Monti - it needs a little "TLC":

Got this "mystery frag" in the "$10 frag tank" at a local LFS:

Found a couple of asst. plating Monti fraglets in my rocks and just moved them up high and epoxied them down:

Found this pretty green / orange spots Mushroom hitchhiking on the stalk of that giant Leather:

Not bad for $40 total, huh?

 

[carlso63]

And here's some shots showing how I placed all the new stuff -


Left side

Middle

Right side

Misc.