First BC 29

[DustanT]

So the reboot went well and I changed my rock work to better my layout for the corals I have, Been thinking of placement and growth for the future and think I got it figured out. I made it slope down to the sand and gave some more room for sand bed corals. What do you guys think? Also with having so much brown algae I think i'm going to remove the red and green leds and mix some more blue and violet in there place, kinda follow the AI Prime layout.

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[ReefWreak]

I try to avoid creating dead spaces, so I wouldn't use that layout. Not enough space between and around rocks, and it's all too tight up against the back wall for me. To each their own.

I am a huge advocate for playing with the LEDs, since that's what I love about mine, however, I do have to forewarn you that getting rid of red and green won't fix any algae problems. I would only remove them if the color spotting bothers you.

If you do remove them, you can get some neutral white to add more red and yellow into the mix, either to replace the cool whites or the red.

You could add blue and violet, but if you're ordering LEDs anyway, I would recommend picking up a lime colored one. It really adds a "crisp white" that I haven't seen from anything else. It doesn't add much par, but it makes the tank look much brighter to our eyes.

Heck, I'd consider replacing some whites with blue and uv, and adding a lime to bring back the white coloration.

I'm curious to hear how your experimentation goes!

 

[DustanT]

So here is my leds I have now.

10 RB
1 Blue 465-485
1 Green
1 Lime
4 UV
1 Red
6 cool white

Chan. 1 white 1000ma
Chan. 2 RB 1000ma
Chan. 3 Colors 700ma
Chan. 4 UV 700ma

Storm goes from 0 to 255, my corals start to hide at 120 with RB's

 

[DustanT]

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[DustanT]

Added an octospawn today and did a 3 gallon WC, water parameters are starting to stabilize, tank is 4 months old now.

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[DustanT]

So it's been 4 months and I wanted to go over what I've learned so far, So much its hard to get it out of my head straight lol. So first of all setting up the tank for the first time and placing rock work is a big deal not for just looks but for overall health and cleanliness of the tank. Water flow to all the surface of the rock is a must to control algae and detritus from building up. Good maintenance schedules is also very important to keep the water clear of excessive organics and keep levels low. Even tho the skimmer is made for that I've found my feeding habits and maintenance schedule to be more effective. The chemi-pure and purigen I've found to be very effective at removing nitrates and phosphates and keeping the water crystal clear. For feeding I've found turning off pumps and power heads while feeding is best, it gives the corals and other inhabitants time to collect food without it blowing all over the tank and getting trapped. After feeding heavy with no water movement I give it 30 minutes to settle before turning the pump back on. After the pump is running I grab my net and get any leftover chunks of shrimp out, this eliminates the food getting into the back chambers and breaking down. I've found under my skimmer to be a big collection spot for leftovers. Lighting has been my problem from day one, getting it setup and at the right %'s for the corals has been a challenge. I have a RapidLed kit with full spectrum, with it came UV leds that if to high corals, fish and my rock anemone really don't like. It's taken 3 months to figure out why corals run and hide when the lights come on. At first I thought it was the RB's to high, but it was not in my case. I've been slowly turning up the RB's each water change by 1% or 2% and they are still happy and fully open. I've lost a few fish and corals and I can say it was due to my lack of knowledge, maintenance schedule and poor lighting setup and PATIENCE. So I have to give a big thanks to ReefWreak for his knowledge and pure patience with my noobiness! Thanks man!

Current turnover rate is 12.5 time an hour with 700 gallons of overturn.

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[DustanT]

So did a round of tests to see if I was ok for a starter SPS coral.

nitrate 1
PH 7.8
Phos .10
Salt 1.0255
Temp 77.5
Calc 460
Alk 2.90
DKH 8.2
Mag 1500

So what do you guys think about my numbers and my current layout and placement of the corals?

In the center is a birds nest pink/green

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[DustanT]

Just picked up a new clown for my 2nd fish.

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[ken1977]

I would pull that rock work away from the back of the wall to eliminate detritus dead spots. Like one inch would be good, at least at the bottom of the rock work to create a tunnel and put a small nano pump pointed through it to push flow. I did the same thing in a 50 gallon cube and had major issues 6 months in to the tank. I changed Aquascape and everything was good. Try to illiminate dead spots they are a mess...

 

[DustanT]

There is some room for flow and I'll be adding a Jebao CP40 soon.

Tests for today after 8 days.
Mag 1450
Clac 440
Alk 3.08
DKH 8.6

 

[BlindZide]

Good read. With all the ups and downs you have had and to still see you pushing forward. Tank looks good man. I just started cycling my BioCube 14.

 

[DustanT]

Thanks I've learned tons in my 4 months and I'm kind of a determined person lol. I can't wait to start on my bigger build next spring good luck on your 14

 

[BlindZide]

Big ones are fun. More room for error with parameters. I started with a 29G, went to a 75G, then 2 40 Breeders, then 1 40 Breeder, then a 54G, and now my 14G. The maintenance on the large ones was time consuming, very time consuming IMO. Hence the reason I went down to 14. I know they are VERY finicky with parameters but at least maintaining them is quicker.

 

[DustanT]

So I added a hydor pico 180 for behind the rock work and this blood shrimp after being shrimpless for a month. 1 more week till the new clown goes in the DT! I think a purple dotty back or purple fire fish will be the 3rd.

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[ReefinChicago]

Thanks for sharing all that.

Thanks for sharing all that.

Reminds me of all the stuff I'll go through over the next 6 months with my new 30. I think I'd blocked all that out from my first 30. :headwally:

Tank's looking great!

 

[DustanT]

So I'm wondering for a tank raised clown that's been in a larger tank it's hole life and only in the LFS for a week or 2 should I wait the 4 to 6 weeks still? It didn't even bother him to be moved and was eating first day and is just chilling. Everything looks good and interacts with my clown in the DT. the DT and QT are side by side.

 

[ReefWreak]

I assume you mean in the context of whether the fish is healthy and everything?

QT in my mind is to get fishes eating (the easy part) and to observe them for disease and/or treat them (the hard part). I wish that "tank raised" would mean "clean and disease free and ready to go", but unfortunately there are no guarantees everywhere (even from some local shops who sell "tank-acclimated, ready to go, healthy fish"). Even tank raised fishes get put in tanks that share water with fishes straight from the wild livestock distribution facility, where all the diseases come from. Or are moved from tank to tank with the same nets in the stores.

If you're confident that the fish has been in QT for a few weeks, and has no signs of disease, and is happy, healthy, and eating well, you can make the judgement call. Usually 30 days without any signs of disease is as good as you can get in the hobby, but it's a judgement call.

The clowns should be okay together as long as they're of significantly different sizes. You may get some aggression if they're both big. If they're both small, you may get some aggression, but the dominant one may become a female and get larger than the other.

 

[DustanT]

I'll leave him in a week or 2 longer to be on the safe side, it is eating anything I give him and comes right up the the door for food. For the size the one in the DT is a bit bigger, it was a female when I got it, not sure what the one in the QT was when I got it as he was alone in the tank. They seem ok with glass between them but I guess i'll find out at the drop. Now I have a question about my big 3. My calcium is holding around 440, but today I tested and my DKH and ALK has dropped from 8.6 to 7.7 and 3.08 to 2.73. Everything is holding steady even nitrates are under 2 and phosphates are undetectable, PH is still @ 7.8 At what point would you recommend dosing for this tank?

 

[ReefWreak]

I would start dosing soon. When your alk starts dropping below 7.5 (and certainly 7.0) to me that indicates it is dosing time. It can get lower, but at some point it starts eating (dissolving) your sand, and the corals won't be healthy.

You can start doing kalkwasser in your top-off, a tablespoon per gallon, shake it up, and dump out the precipitate at the end. You do have to top-off slowly though as it really impacts your pH. FYI kalk increases alkalinity and calcium at the same rate. You'll be fine dosing them together, it will balance out at the end of the day.

I don't know how to tell the gender of clowns except that when you ultimately have two together, the small one is the male and the large is the female. Other than that, I don't know.

 

[DustanT]

So my ATO container has normally 4 gallons, I would mix 4 tablespoons to the water and then siphon the water out and leave the bottom residue? Is that the best way or should I just get a doser since I'm going bigger next year?