Jabberwock/BillC's 72 Gallon Reef Thread

[Jabberwock]

I've been meaning to post one of these threads for a while and didn't want to hijack the "post shots of your reef" thread. Without further ado, I present:

BILLC's 72 GALLON REEF THREAD

At time of writing the reef is roughly 1 year old. The majority of the corals are frag-grown with the exception of the frogspawn, green favia, and purple/green fungia which were bought as colonies or as large pieces. The tank houses SPS in the top half and LPS in the lower parts.

The current equipment load out is as follows (from top to bottom):

1 48" Aquatic Life 4xT5HO with built in timer/moonlights (3 actinic, 1 10k)
1 36" Aquatic Life 2xT5HO (2 actinic)
4 Powerheads: Koralia 1, 2, 4, Maxijet 1200 (roughly 36x flow rate)
Reefkeeper Elite (1 PC4, 1 SL2, Dual Float Switch Kit for ATO)
30 gallon sump
2 26-watt 6500k CF bulbs in clip-on lamps
ASM G1 Skimmer with Sendra 2500 pump (unmodified)
Won Brothers 250 Watt Titanium Heater
AA 24watt UV sterilizer
2 TLF Phosban 150 Reactors with Minijet 606 (1 carbon/1 gfo)
Aquamedic Ocean Runner 2500 return pump

Light cycle:
Dawn 7:30am, 2x actinics
Full Dawn: 9:30am, 4x actinics, UV sterilizer On
Full Day: 11:30am, All On
Dusk: 5pm, 4x actinics
Full Dusk: 6pm 2x actinics, UV sterilizer Off
Early Night: 7:30pm LED Moonlight
Sump Light On: Midnight
Late night: 1:00am, all DT lights off
Sump light Off: 7am

RKE Controls:
Early/Late daytime lighting
U.V. Sterilizer
Sump Lighting
A.T.O.
Heater
pH monitoring
Temperature monitoring



The current maintenance regimen is as follows:

Daily:
Feeding fish (1x in morning -- thera-a, spirulina, prime reef, or other - picked randomly)
Alk/Cal Two-part Dosing (35ml each at 7am and 7pm)
Magnesium Dosing (level dependent - currently 10ml/day)
Observation

Weekly:
Coral feeding (2-3 times per week - Frozen Cyclops, Plankton, Mysis, Frenzy)
Parameter testing (Ca, Alk, Mg, Phosphate, Salinity)
Empty Skimmer/Collection Cup Cleaning (as needed)

Monthly:
Dose trace elements/Iodine
GFO / Carbon Replacement

Quarterly:
Water change - 20%
Salinity testing (post water changes)

Yearly:
Lighting Maintenance
Sterilizer Maintenance
R.O. Membrane Maintenance

As-Needed:
Algae scraping
Freshwater top-offs
Ammonia, Nitrate, or Nitrite testing
Powerhead/Return pump maintenance
UV Sterilizer Bulb replacement
Skimmer Maintenance
R.O. filtration maintenance


The current non-coral livestock list is as follows:

1 Eibli Angel
2 Percula Clownfish
6 Blue-Green Chromis
1 Serpent Star
2-3 Blue Leg Hermit Crabs
8-10 Astrea Snails

The current coral livestock (blend of common names/scientific):
Forgspawn/Hammer (green and purple)
Acropora Tort
Tri-Color Vadalia
Several other Acro's
Pink Birdsnest (Seriatopora?)
Green and Pink Cat's Paw (Stylophora? Seriatopora? Pocillopora?)
Red/Purple Rimmed/Purple/Yellow(???) Monti (plating)
"Superman" and "Sunset" Monti (encrusting)
Purple Digitata
Caulastrea (green and blue)
Acans (all Lords, AFAIK, some Micomussa, possibly)
Fungia
Favia
Favites
Chalice Corals (Echinophyllia, AFAIK, one possibly Oxypora)
Pavonia Maldivensis
Merulina
Hydnophora
Duncans
Goniopora

Some pictures:

Like to current photo album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/109784132122779915683/Jan2010ReefShots#

Always interested in ideas, criticism, advice, and wisdom down from the mountain. Thanks for browsing and let me know what you think!

 

[DripN.Wet]

well you know my 2 cents but I'll post it anyway...I think you did a very nice job on the tank...the rock-work makes it seem much larger and everything in it has great color and is very healthy...Props to you, you have done a great job!!!

also, my frags are doing great. thanks again! and keep up the good work.

 

[Jabberwock]

Hey Chad,

Thanks for the compliments. I'm anxious to see how the frags work out for you! I'm following your 300g thread, so post pictures when you feel up to it!

 

[cloakerpoked]

So you only do a water change every 3 months? What parameters do you target to keep your tank at?

 

[Jabberwock]

So you only do a water change every 3 months? What parameters do you target to keep your tank at?

Well, it might be every other month or so now... I have all the gear out to do one today, actually.

The parameters that I monitor daily are pH and temperature now that I have probes. The pH rage is 8.2 to 8.4 although 8.36 is by far the most common reading. I will confirm the probe's readings with a test kit once a month or so.

Temperature has been swinging a few degrees per day from 79.8 down to 77.2 when I'm at work and the house is allowed to drop in temperature. I just picked up a 300 watt heater to see if that will help stabilize the swing.

Salinity I check via Refractometer 2-3 times per week. The level has been a little bit higher lately than the normal 1.025 that I shoot for - lately it's been in the 1.026 region. When a water change is performed, I currently use Instant Ocean Reef Crystals.

I dose Alk, Calcium, and Mag twice a day (1/2 in the morning and half at night) I'm budgeting a dosing pump to help spread out the doses. I should have that purchased within a month or three.

dKh is usually 8.5(ish) -- I use a pretty low res API test kit and test 2-3 times a week purely due to convenience. Rarely is it ever below 8 or above 9.5. I dose BRS/Randy's Recipe 1 right now, supplementing with Baking Soda if needed. I reference this reef chemistry website to determine how much needs to be added for corrections (spreading out doses as recommended). My current dose is 70ml/day

http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

Calcium has been ramping up lately. I'm at 420ppm right now, although the past few months it has held at a steady 360 or so (also using low res/fast test kit). I'm using BRS/Randy's Recipe 1. 70ml/day. I might taper the alk and cal now that the parameters are roughly where I want them to be... maybe try 60ml/day of both in the future.

Mag is sitting right at 1350ppm. I dose Magnesium at about 20ml/day (attempting to get a maintenance dose figured out). I'm using Ocean's Blend for now (just finished up a 1/2 gallon of Kent Tech-T), although I have a packet of the BRS stuff that I haven't mixed up yet (there's a future e-mail to them to be written so that i can figure out how strong of a concentration a 1/2 gallon container will be vs the 20-oz "dump-it-all-in" method that is listed in their instructions - I'd prefer to dose daily.)

I do not own Iodine or Strontium test kits, so I dose these very conservatively/infrequently. From what I have read, I'm not convinced that these have a massive impact on the system, or that the little amounts that I dose are enough (although likely not optimal).

I test Phosphate approximately once per week via a Hanna Checker. I might test more frequently if I seem to be cleaning the glass more often than usual or notice marked algae growth. Last two readings were .04 and .00.

Nitrate I test if I see a specific problem or maybe once a month (using a low res test kit). It's typically zero or very low.

Nitrite I generally don't test for.

I do not dose or test for Potassium at this time.

All of these values I track via a spreadsheet that I've been keeping since August. Unfortunately, some values are more frequently filled in than others. ;-)


I am in no way advocating waiting 2-3 months between water changes. I personally believe that my system would be far better off if I changed the water much more frequently. I am just easily distracted by YouTube videos of cats doing silly things (read: laziness - the eternal enemy of the successful reef tank).

 

[Jabberwock]

I have an id request out for this spiny cup:

Link to image for Zoom


Thread Link

Since this is the local forum, I'm wondering if a bit more information might help lead me to enlightenment... It was purchased from Wet Pet's frag tank 3-4 months ago. It is sitting on a "Peanut Butter Cup" frag mount, which I guess might help identify who the distributor/farmer may have been (I'm wondering if these frag mounts are the mark of a specific local provider). When I bought it, a tooth-like radial skeleton was exposed around the outer rim of the coral. Now it is covered with smooth flesh.

I'd describe it further but my brain derails when I try to use terms like "septa" and "meandroid coralites". I'm working on learning the jargon of scientific description as well as learning how to make my camera shoot more gooder. Soon.

 

[cloakerpoked]

Looks like a Chalice to me.

 

[Jabberwock]

I won one of the quarter frags of the Cynarina/Meat Coral (lacrmalis, I'm gussing) at the PMAS meeting last night. As requested, here is a shot of the frag, and I'll make sure to post a shot of it as I update this thread, or if any problems arise. it is under moderate downward flowing water with some randomness to it and under moderate/low light. I've always wanted to try out one of these impressive corals. Can't wait to see how it progresses!

Here are a few other shots of some recently added corals. I think Tom Neely still has a Fire and Ice war coral frag available, and it looks amazing in daytime, actinic, and moonlight!

Last month I received this little Stylo from Scott Heckman, it has doubled (maybe tripled?) in size and is coloring up very nicely.

A horrible photograph of my most colorful coral. A rainbow Acan Lord frag. This one is getting some white glove treatment until it gets a few more heads on it.

 

[cloakerpoked]

I also got a quarter of that coral, and will be posting pictures on here and the pmasi site once I get around to it. The lights won't be on with me at home until tomorrow at least.