clsanchez77
Member
Hello everybody
Introduction
My 90g reef aquarium has been setup about a year now. The tank is stocked with 3†of mixed sand and rubble (180-190 poundish), 50 pounds of Florida aquacultured rock, 70 pounds of Haitian Lettuce Coral Rock and another 15 pounds of the Haitian Lettuce Coral Nano Rock. Haitian rock was acquired from eTropicals.
The rock was aquascaped in a large collection on the right hand side to form a large hollow cave opening and stacked around to create multiple openings in the front, sides and back.
A detritiovre kit from Inland aquatics, a coral banded shrimp, a few hermit crabs (because I like them) and a dozen extra snails were added. The tank is well populated with bristle and spaghetti worms and has a dozen or so feather duster worms.
Originally, the tank was planned and partly established as a Caribbean rubble zone biotope. Having been aquascaped for about a year, I have changed my mind and not doing much else with it. I have just started stocking corals in the last few months so I have been stocking according to my next plan. Also, there are no fish in the aquarium.
For those who were involved and helped me setup my first plans, there was a lot of back and forth and uncertainty. There was also some good advise that I looked past and it all has started making me rethink the plan now that I am ready to drop some $$$ into stocking.
The display tank is a 90g AGA with a 30g sump. The tank is lit with 2-150w DE bulbs and 2-110w actinics. The tank is circulated with 2-Tunze Stream 6060’s and the sump is circulated with a Mag 7. Tank has a 1/4hp chiller to maintain 75-79 (I live in New Orleans and I set my A/C back as the chiller is cheaper to operate). Skimmer is a Euroreef CS-8.
My New Plan
The new plan goes back to my original idea, which was a Gulf of Mexico patch reef biotope. The planning would be based on the Flower Gardens Sanctuary. NOAA has recently put together an excellent encyclopedia of marine life and I have used and their image library this to help me with my plans.
Basically, the tank layout would work like this:
Substrate
1-All the corals and inverts would be moved to ‘temporary quarters’ for a weekend out.
2-All the rock and half to three quarters of the sand would be removed and resorted.
3-A 1-2†layer of sand (about half) would remain in tank as ‘undisturbed’ as the ‘base’.
4-The dense aquacultured (50 pounds) rock and some of the heavier Haitian Rock (20 pounds) would be laid flat to create a raised hard bottom, covering about half the tanks footprint. The hard bottom would focus on the right, leaving the left mostly open. Extra pieces would be placed in the far rear of the left just for background.
5-The remaining sand (about the other half) would be added back to stabilize the hardbottom
6-The large pieces of the Haitian rock would placed on top the right hard bottom in groupings of pillar formations. A few of the ‘pillars’ would be capped with the large flat pieces. I might even get creative and try to recreate some of the lettuce formations at the base with some curved pieces. I will only use about half the Haitian rock to reduce the rockiness and open up some more water.
7-Smaller pieces of the Haitain rock would be epoxy’d around the sides to give some texture to the structure. Again, I will only use about half the smaller Haitian rock to reduce the rockiness and open up some more water.
Stocking Inverts
1-My White Claw-Orange hermit crabs would be returned to the tank. The scarlets and blue legs brought to the LFS for credit.
2-Snails would be returned as all reproduce within the tank. I may add another half dozen ceriths however.
3-Coral banded shrimp remains
4-Two Gorilla Crabs will be hunted while the rock is removed. Fate to be determined.
Stocking Corals
My goal here is to dominate the tank with one coral species and dot the tank with a few others. Atlantic hard corals are not collectable so a few Pacific recruits have been acquired and/or identified as fill-ins.
1-Polyps will remain in QT and sold to other hobbyists or the LFS.
2-3 of the 5 Monastrea’s will be restocked into the display. The other 2 will be traded at the LFS or sold.
3-The ‘Ice Blue Monastrea’ (as known until further id’d) will dominate the display. I have so far acquired 11 frags from the same mother colony. This would be used to substitute for one of the ‘great star coral’ Montastrea sps and I am looking for this to be about half the coral coverage.
4-My red-brown and dark green single specimens (also require better id) will placed at or near the bottom of the hard structure. I may frag the red one to scatter it in a few months if I see some growth.
5-Encrusting Porites will be used randomly through the display and account for about ¼ of the coral coverage.
6-A single Scolymia or a singe Lobophyllia (in place of Mussa) may be placed in the display.
7-I have a single gorgonian that was my first coral in this tank and has done exceptionally well. I may keep it in this tank despite there rare or near non-existence in the Flower Gardens. I am thinking dead centered in the open swim area of the tank, right in the currents, base partially buried.
Stocking Fish
My main goal on the fish is to have a relatively low fish bio-load compared to the corals/inverts. I have come to a choice of 3 options:
A) A single Bluehead Wrasse and Three Blue Chromis
B) Five Blue Chromis
C) Three Blue Chromis and 2 Neon Gobies
My concerns are that the Bluehead Wrasse will eat my shrimp and hermit crabs. If he grabs a hermit once and a while, I would not be too worried. But if he is going to just decimate their existence or take my coral banded shrimp, then I am a little concerned. I am also concerned about the very short life spans of the neon gobies.
Final Thoughts
I will dewater the tank as low as I can to limit how much water gets murked up and keep as much of the current water as I can to limit initial stress. But I will be picking two 50-gal garbage cans so that I can perform some bi-daily 25% water changes for a week as I will be stirring up some anoxic areas of the sand bed and probably reducing the nitrification capabilities for a few weeks. I will wean down to 10gal for a couple weeks and then finally 5-gal weekly water changes, which is what I do now.
So what are your thoughts on the plan. Any concerns or suggestions?
Thanks,
Chris
New Orleans
Introduction
My 90g reef aquarium has been setup about a year now. The tank is stocked with 3†of mixed sand and rubble (180-190 poundish), 50 pounds of Florida aquacultured rock, 70 pounds of Haitian Lettuce Coral Rock and another 15 pounds of the Haitian Lettuce Coral Nano Rock. Haitian rock was acquired from eTropicals.
The rock was aquascaped in a large collection on the right hand side to form a large hollow cave opening and stacked around to create multiple openings in the front, sides and back.
A detritiovre kit from Inland aquatics, a coral banded shrimp, a few hermit crabs (because I like them) and a dozen extra snails were added. The tank is well populated with bristle and spaghetti worms and has a dozen or so feather duster worms.
Originally, the tank was planned and partly established as a Caribbean rubble zone biotope. Having been aquascaped for about a year, I have changed my mind and not doing much else with it. I have just started stocking corals in the last few months so I have been stocking according to my next plan. Also, there are no fish in the aquarium.
For those who were involved and helped me setup my first plans, there was a lot of back and forth and uncertainty. There was also some good advise that I looked past and it all has started making me rethink the plan now that I am ready to drop some $$$ into stocking.
The display tank is a 90g AGA with a 30g sump. The tank is lit with 2-150w DE bulbs and 2-110w actinics. The tank is circulated with 2-Tunze Stream 6060’s and the sump is circulated with a Mag 7. Tank has a 1/4hp chiller to maintain 75-79 (I live in New Orleans and I set my A/C back as the chiller is cheaper to operate). Skimmer is a Euroreef CS-8.
My New Plan
The new plan goes back to my original idea, which was a Gulf of Mexico patch reef biotope. The planning would be based on the Flower Gardens Sanctuary. NOAA has recently put together an excellent encyclopedia of marine life and I have used and their image library this to help me with my plans.
Basically, the tank layout would work like this:
Substrate
1-All the corals and inverts would be moved to ‘temporary quarters’ for a weekend out.
2-All the rock and half to three quarters of the sand would be removed and resorted.
3-A 1-2†layer of sand (about half) would remain in tank as ‘undisturbed’ as the ‘base’.
4-The dense aquacultured (50 pounds) rock and some of the heavier Haitian Rock (20 pounds) would be laid flat to create a raised hard bottom, covering about half the tanks footprint. The hard bottom would focus on the right, leaving the left mostly open. Extra pieces would be placed in the far rear of the left just for background.
5-The remaining sand (about the other half) would be added back to stabilize the hardbottom
6-The large pieces of the Haitian rock would placed on top the right hard bottom in groupings of pillar formations. A few of the ‘pillars’ would be capped with the large flat pieces. I might even get creative and try to recreate some of the lettuce formations at the base with some curved pieces. I will only use about half the Haitian rock to reduce the rockiness and open up some more water.
7-Smaller pieces of the Haitain rock would be epoxy’d around the sides to give some texture to the structure. Again, I will only use about half the smaller Haitian rock to reduce the rockiness and open up some more water.
Stocking Inverts
1-My White Claw-Orange hermit crabs would be returned to the tank. The scarlets and blue legs brought to the LFS for credit.
2-Snails would be returned as all reproduce within the tank. I may add another half dozen ceriths however.
3-Coral banded shrimp remains
4-Two Gorilla Crabs will be hunted while the rock is removed. Fate to be determined.
Stocking Corals
My goal here is to dominate the tank with one coral species and dot the tank with a few others. Atlantic hard corals are not collectable so a few Pacific recruits have been acquired and/or identified as fill-ins.
1-Polyps will remain in QT and sold to other hobbyists or the LFS.
2-3 of the 5 Monastrea’s will be restocked into the display. The other 2 will be traded at the LFS or sold.
3-The ‘Ice Blue Monastrea’ (as known until further id’d) will dominate the display. I have so far acquired 11 frags from the same mother colony. This would be used to substitute for one of the ‘great star coral’ Montastrea sps and I am looking for this to be about half the coral coverage.
4-My red-brown and dark green single specimens (also require better id) will placed at or near the bottom of the hard structure. I may frag the red one to scatter it in a few months if I see some growth.
5-Encrusting Porites will be used randomly through the display and account for about ¼ of the coral coverage.
6-A single Scolymia or a singe Lobophyllia (in place of Mussa) may be placed in the display.
7-I have a single gorgonian that was my first coral in this tank and has done exceptionally well. I may keep it in this tank despite there rare or near non-existence in the Flower Gardens. I am thinking dead centered in the open swim area of the tank, right in the currents, base partially buried.
Stocking Fish
My main goal on the fish is to have a relatively low fish bio-load compared to the corals/inverts. I have come to a choice of 3 options:
A) A single Bluehead Wrasse and Three Blue Chromis
B) Five Blue Chromis
C) Three Blue Chromis and 2 Neon Gobies
My concerns are that the Bluehead Wrasse will eat my shrimp and hermit crabs. If he grabs a hermit once and a while, I would not be too worried. But if he is going to just decimate their existence or take my coral banded shrimp, then I am a little concerned. I am also concerned about the very short life spans of the neon gobies.
Final Thoughts
I will dewater the tank as low as I can to limit how much water gets murked up and keep as much of the current water as I can to limit initial stress. But I will be picking two 50-gal garbage cans so that I can perform some bi-daily 25% water changes for a week as I will be stirring up some anoxic areas of the sand bed and probably reducing the nitrification capabilities for a few weeks. I will wean down to 10gal for a couple weeks and then finally 5-gal weekly water changes, which is what I do now.
So what are your thoughts on the plan. Any concerns or suggestions?
Thanks,
Chris
New Orleans
