JJ Stecchino's new 180g Starfire reef tank

[Taqpol]

I don't think you should have any hair algae living on your fish or in the water, unless you JUST manually remove it right before you make the transfer. The only thing I would worry about would be the rocks that you can "cook" by keeping in a dark tub filled with clean saltwater and flow at higher then normal temperatures for a few weeks. Every once in awhile you might want to scrub off the hair algae and do a 100% water change but some people have had great success with this getting rid of hair algae (and removing bound phosphates as well).

 

[Taqpol]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15328645#post15328645 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jjstecchino
(I have to find time to go and buy it. My LFS is 1.5h away from where I live).

Where are you at in SC? I'm going to be heading down there for two weeks in August to visit my parents and was wondering if there are any good fish stores you recommend.

 

[melev]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15328645#post15328645 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jjstecchino
Marc the rock vat is actively skimmed by a ER RS250.

I was thinking along the line that dry rock still would have some organic material that would decompose once the rock is placed in water. This decomposition would make ammonia and start a cycle at that point. However I have not seen any ammonia yet, hence the 5 little cromies I put in the vat. They appear very happy and they get fed lightly some flakes. They eat it all. I hope this will finally start a cycle. At that point I am going to add some cured live rock. (I have to find time to go and buy it. My LFS is 1.5h away from where I live).

What do you think about putting the yellow tang and the clown fish on a quarantine tank without rocks for a while, do frequent water changes on this QT to try to get rid of hair algae in the water before I put them into the new tank? Do you think this my work or I am deluding myself and sill will have at least some hair algae and at the end it is a waste of time and effort? The fish seem very healty at this point. I have a good number of snails and hermit crabs, (difficult to count) however they did not put a dent on this algae growth.

Then do the same with the two anemones if I can get them off the rocks. Any trick to do that?

I agree with Taqpol. The fish won't bring algae with them. If they are healthy, move them over to the new setup when ready. If it is easier to put them in a different container after catching them, be sure to have at least an airstone bubbling in there for oxygen. Then put them in the new tank when ready.

Anemones can be peeled off the rock carefully. Pointing a powerhead at their foot is one method, or applying icecubes to that spot. You could try using a credit card to get under the edge of the foot, then work your fingernail underneath to gently lift it off the rock. Putting them in the new tank without a rock full of algae would be the way to go.

You have a 'good number' of snails and hermits, but these may be lazy if you still have an algae problem. It could be they are seriously outnumbered. It could be old lighting. It could be water quality, including your top off water. Algae needs light, phosphate, and nutrients to live. Take those away, and it dies. Or add more 'cows' to the tank to mow it down.

 

[jjstecchino]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15330229#post15330229 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Taqpol
Where are you at in SC? I'm going to be heading down there for two weeks in August to visit my parents and was wondering if there are any good fish stores you recommend.

Taqpol, I am in Greenwood (Upstate). No good fish stores in town, however there is a fantastic saltwater only fish store in Augusta, GA which is about 1.5 hours from me. The name is Staraquatics. The owner (Jorge) is very knowledgeable and really passionate about reef keeping. I like his place very much and that is the only place I trust when it comes to sw fish.

 

[Taqpol]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15331022#post15331022 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jjstecchino
Taqpol, I am in Greenwood (Upstate). No good fish stores in town, however there is a fantastic saltwater only fish store in Augusta, GA which is about 1.5 hours from me. The name is Staraquatics. The owner (Jorge) is very knowledgeable and really passionate about reef keeping. I like his place very much and that is the only place I trust when it comes to sw fish.

Cool! Augusta is about 15 minutes from Aiken, I'll have to check that out when I'm there. Greenwood's a real nice city though, I have a cousin doing her residency at a hospital there.

 

[jjstecchino]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15331386#post15331386 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Taqpol
Cool! Augusta is about 15 minutes from Aiken, I'll have to check that out when I'm there. Greenwood's a real nice city though, I have a cousin doing her residency at a hospital there.

Cool. Aiken is very close to Agusta. Staraquatics is in Evans, 4272 Washington rd.

Who is your cousin doing her resiency at the hospital? I may know her I work there as well.

 

[jjstecchino]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15330744#post15330744 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
I agree with Taqpol. The fish won't bring algae with them. If they are healthy, move them over to the new setup when ready. If it is easier to put them in a different container after catching them, be sure to have at least an airstone bubbling in there for oxygen. Then put them in the new tank when ready.

Anemones can be peeled off the rock carefully. Pointing a powerhead at their foot is one method, or applying icecubes to that spot. You could try using a credit card to get under the edge of the foot, then work your fingernail underneath to gently lift it off the rock. Putting them in the new tank without a rock full of algae would be the way to go.

You have a 'good number' of snails and hermits, but these may be lazy if you still have an algae problem. It could be they are seriously outnumbered. It could be old lighting. It could be water quality, including your top off water. Algae needs light, phosphate, and nutrients to live. Take those away, and it dies. Or add more 'cows' to the tank to mow it down.

Mark unfortunately I know my problem is poor water quality, unfortunately I also know that the problem is not easily fixable.
This massive algae growth has made a bad situation worse
The new tank once up and going is going to be the best fix. Then my old tank will be scrubbed and will become my QT. What I would like to avoid doing is to mix water from the old tank into the new as much as I can. Just by cleaning the glass with the magnet I see strands of hair algae detaching from the rocks and getting into the water column. I am sure that as I try to net the fish I will have algae all over the place that's why I was thinking to put the fish on a temporary tank, let the algae settle, net the fish and transfer to the new tank. The anemone is going to be more complicate and I don't know what to do with snails and hermit crabs that have hair algae growin off their shells

 

[Taqpol]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15331541#post15331541 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jjstecchino
Cool. Aiken is very close to Agusta. Staraquatics is in Evans, 4272 Washington rd.

Who is your cousin doing her resiency at the hospital? I may know her I work there as well.

Oops, looked at a map to make sure I wasn't an idiot and it turns out she's in Greenville. I get Greenville and Greensboro (NC) confused all the time, something about towns with Green in the name .

As far as your snails and hermits go, as long as you transport them to the new low nutrient tank the hair algae should die off of their shells. As far as I know GHA is not invasive, it just seems that way due to the fact that thick mattes of it can sequester their own source of nutrients (via trapping detritus) or from nasties leaching from rockwork. If you want to be absolutely safe you can just not use rocks or infested CUC members and attach your anemone to a new rock using the ice cube trick mentioned above.

 

[jjstecchino]

While I am patiently waiting for the fishtank to be rebuilt, here ia a set of water parameter from the rock curing vat:

Ph 8.5
Ammonia - 0.5mg/l
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
PO4 - 0

I have started a GFO reactor. This stuff is wicked, lowered PO4 to 0 in 2 days.

Unfortunately I have to report the loss of 1 of the cromies.

 

[Birdmanbrian]

Hey there jjstecchino, been tagging along. Great job constructing your sump. I was a plastic fabricator for a few years and fabricated some crazy stuff with a lot of different plastics. I too will be doing a build here in the near future, can't wait! I've been out of that industry for quite some time now and have been doing some research on materials. I must say I was very pleased to find a 4' X 8' sheet of 1/4" Acrylic for $131, and it's just up the street!

I have a current 55g system, a 72g bf tank that I will start soon, and a 180 that I intend to install into a wall later, hmm I'm definitely addict. I just wanted to let you know that I too have had issues with algae from time to time (even bigger issue with Grape caulerpa! sometimes I felt like my tank was a refugium). I just wanted to tell you that indeed you can deal with this algae issue by removing the nutrient load supplying its needs and providing "cows" as Melev said to "mow it down".

I'm just about to the end of my T-5's right now and will be replacing them in the next week or so as I'm starting to see some growth spots here and there. I recently added a Pacific yellow Tang and he's going banana's for this stuff. That's funny because my kids named it Bananers! Silly! Anyway, over the past year I have had some great improvement with my FOWLR setup with light upgrade, critters, fish selection, and frequent water changes. I'll see if I have any photos of this stuff trying to take over and I'll show you a more recent take of my tank (my setup sounds similar to yours). I know this algae stuff is a disappointment, but its manageable as I have learned. Bet your Tang has a full tummy much of the time!

Just curious, what is your 35g bf setup right now? BTW, I envy the East States. As far as I can tell this is a bigger hobby over there than it is here on the West coast. I'm looking into a PNWMAS over here about an hour or so from my home, I would like to get more involve with my SW community over here, just wish there were more of us over here.

I added a few Chromis to my tank the other day, they're not the brightest fish. Couple ended up in the belly's of my Anemones for a snack. If you see my Anemones you'll understand their fate. That was my bad.

Take care, look forward to following along. Any pics of your 35g bf?

 

[jjstecchino]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15344956#post15344956 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Birdmanbrian
Hey there jjstecchino, been tagging along. Great job constructing your sump. I was a plastic fabricator for a few years and fabricated some crazy stuff with a lot of different plastics. I too will be doing a build here in the near future, can't wait! I've been out of that industry for quite some time now and have been doing some research on materials. I must say I was very pleased to find a 4' X 8' sheet of 1/4" Acrylic for $131, and it's just up the street!

I have a current 55g system, a 72g bf tank that I will start soon, and a 180 that I intend to install into a wall later, hmm I'm definitely addict. I just wanted to let you know that I too have had issues with algae from time to time (even bigger issue with Grape caulerpa! sometimes I felt like my tank was a refugium). I just wanted to tell you that indeed you can deal with this algae issue by removing the nutrient load supplying its needs and providing "cows" as Melev said to "mow it down".

I'm just about to the end of my T-5's right now and will be replacing them in the next week or so as I'm starting to see some growth spots here and there. I recently added a Pacific yellow Tang and he's going banana's for this stuff. That's funny because my kids named it Bananers! Silly! Anyway, over the past year I have had some great improvement with my FOWLR setup with light upgrade, critters, fish selection, and frequent water changes. I'll see if I have any photos of this stuff trying to take over and I'll show you a more recent take of my tank (my setup sounds similar to yours). I know this algae stuff is a disappointment, but its manageable as I have learned. Bet your Tang has a full tummy much of the time!

Just curious, what is your 35g bf setup right now? BTW, I envy the East States. As far as I can tell this is a bigger hobby over there than it is here on the West coast. I'm looking into a PNWMAS over here about an hour or so from my home, I would like to get more involve with my SW community over here, just wish there were more of us over here.

I added a few Chromis to my tank the other day, they're not the brightest fish. Couple ended up in the belly's of my Anemones for a snack. If you see my Anemones you'll understand their fate. That was my bad.

Take care, look forward to following along. Any pics of your 35g bf?

Hi Brian, welcome to the thread.

Building the acrylic sump has been a lot of fun and very rewarding. I am glad you found an easy supply for acrylic. You can really do amazing stuff with it.

My old tank suffers (or I should say suffered since I just took it down) from poor filtration and I realized very small number of "cows" as Melev pointed out.

Unfortunately the tank was a commercial setup with a stand without enough space to accomodate even a small sump. BF was through about 40lb of live rocks and live sand. A remora C skimmer had the task of exporting nutrients. I tried to keep bioload down. My fish are a 2.5" yellow tang and a couple of mated clown fish (recently just one male widow as the female died).
I also have two anemones: a green bubble tip that is the clownfisk home and a florida pink tip anemone.
Both of these anemones grew quite large and I believe this is the reason the bioload overpowered my biological and nutrient export capability. This has lead to high nitrates 10-20 ppm and later phosphate. The overgrowth of hair algae all over I believe has choked the ability of the live rocks to do their job as biological filter, however I never had measurable ammonia or nitrites.

Just yesterday I took down this tank, transferred the fish, anemones and remaining snails and hermit crabs to a temporary 20g tank.

The rocks have been scrubbed clean of hair algae and are in a vat with saltwater and a powerhead. I am keeping this in the dark and I'll let it cook for a while.

The solution for my algae problem will be the new tank. Because of this past experience with marginal filtration I kind of oversized thinks on the new 180g. A large sump, a skimmer rated for a bigger tank (ER RS250 - 8"wide and 30" tall) that I may convert into a recirculating skimmer, plus carbon, PO4 and Ca reactors.

I also wanted plenty of flow, so the new tank is going to have a closed loop with an ocean motions 4 way to alternate flow. The pumps are 2 Reeflo darts one for the filtration and one for the CL

I am looking forward to see your 180g build thread

 

[Taqpol]

Could you post a picture of your Euro Reef? I've been trying to figure out what make and model mine is, but I think it was modified to be recirculating (as opposed to coming that way, I know its a recirculating skimmer). Mine is also 8" in diameter by 30 something inches high.

 

[jjstecchino]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15347790#post15347790 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Taqpol
Could you post a picture of your Euro Reef? I've been trying to figure out what make and model mine is, but I think it was modified to be recirculating (as opposed to coming that way, I know its a recirculating skimmer). Mine is also 8" in diameter by 30 something inches high.

Hi Alex,

Here are a couple of pictures of the skimmer. It is in use so this is best I can do for now. I hope it gives you an idea.

Looking at your skimmer it seems very similar to mine. The cup quick connect seems thicker and I see extra pipes, probably your recirc.

I thought I was overkilling with the skimmer but you definitely beat me on this. It is a big skimmer on a 120g setup. Plus the recirculating increases efficiency a lot as it is my understanding.

 

[jjstecchino]

Hall of shame

Hall of shame

OK I am ashamed of having let things go so far out of hand and become so bad! Here is my shameful old tank, despite waterchanges every 1 or 2 weeks, siphoning algae etc.

Here is the temporary tank and my critters

 

[melev]

I can see why you were so worried about GHA sneaking into the new tank.

 

[jjstecchino]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15348067#post15348067 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
I can see why you were so worried about GHA sneaking into the new tank.

I hope you still will answer my posts after seeing that tank!

Given things were as bad as they were I thought a transitional tank was the best way to go.

The old rocks have been scrubbed and they still look good, with a good bit of coralline and encrusted sponges. I am afraid to put them in the new tank because of the HA. Do you think that after cooking them for a few months in a dark vat they can safely be used again? Or once having had algae, they will grow algae again?

 

[Taqpol]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15347935#post15347935 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jjstecchino
Hi Alex,

Here are a couple of pictures of the skimmer. It is in use so this is best I can do for now. I hope it gives you an idea.

Looking at your skimmer it seems very similar to mine. The cup quick connect seems thicker and I see extra pipes, probably your recirc.

I thought I was overkilling with the skimmer but you definitely beat me on this. It is a big skimmer on a 120g setup. Plus the recirculating increases efficiency a lot as it is my understanding.

Wow, that is a bright orange bottom on the skimmer!

I don't know too much about the Euro Reef skimmers as I always thought they were out of my price range. Mine came with the setup I got and all I can say is Euro Reef is worth the hype so far, my skimmer pulls out an amazing amount of crap consistently and has been very easy to adjust and tune. Besides the bright orange mine does have a larger union on the neck and the skimmate cup seems to be much shorter. The guy only said it was the "eight inch diameter" one, and after looking around the internet I thought this meant CS8-3 but mine looks nothing like the one listed on Marine Depot. I think mine is a much older model.

After you get your new tank set up I would add one of the cooked rocks back into the tank in an isolated area. If it doesn't re grow any algae on it within a month or two I'd say you're good.

 

[melev]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15348230#post15348230 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jjstecchino
The old rocks have been scrubbed and they still look good, with a good bit of coralline and encrusted sponges. I am afraid to put them in the new tank because of the HA. Do you think that after cooking them for a few months in a dark vat they can safely be used again? Or once having had algae, they will grow algae again?

After you cook the LR for a few months, it will have shed all the trapped waste within itself. If your water in the new set up stays NO3- and P04-deficient (or as low as you can keep it), the rock should stay clean.

Remember to buy more snails though. You want to be proactive, not reactive.

 

[jjstecchino]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15348739#post15348739 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Taqpol
Wow, that is a bright orange bottom on the skimmer!

I don't know too much about the Euro Reef skimmers as I always thought they were out of my price range. Mine came with the setup I got and all I can say is Euro Reef is worth the hype so far, my skimmer pulls out an amazing amount of crap consistently and has been very easy to adjust and tune. Besides the bright orange mine does have a larger union on the neck and the skimmate cup seems to be much shorter. The guy only said it was the "eight inch diameter" one, and after looking around the internet I thought this meant CS8-3 but mine looks nothing like the one listed on Marine Depot. I think mine is a much older model.

After you get your new tank set up I would add one of the cooked rocks back into the tank in an isolated area. If it doesn't re grow any algae on it within a month or two I'd say you're good.

Alex, the bright orange bottom is not part of the skimmer. It is just the lid of a salt bucket where the skimmer is resting on. The bottom of the skimmer is black acrylic.
Euroreef engraves their logo on the lid of the collection cup. At least on the newer models. Yours may be an older model.

 

[jjstecchino]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15349287#post15349287 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
After you cook the LR for a few months, it will have shed all the trapped waste within itself. If your water in the new set up stays NO3- and P04-deficient (or as low as you can keep it), the rock should stay clean.

Remember to buy more snails though. You want to be proactive, not reactive.

I learned my lesson. Snails, snails and more snails!