Macca's Juwel Rio 300

[MaccaPopEye]

Hello form Aus! I started this tank journal on my local forum but I am going to post it here as well and try to keep them both updated. :thumbsup:

Post 1 21/01/2015
Introduction:
This will be my first ever aquarium! About 6 months ago I bought a small tank (only 60L) because my other half wanted some fish. After getting it home my other half asked for clown fish. So I began and looking into fresh water vs salt water aquariums and I was amazed at how beautiful salt water aquariums are and the whole process fascinated me. So I made up my mind and decided I was starting a salt water aquarium! Hang on.... the other half wanted something..... Damn what was it again?? Oh well I will get to that when I'm done setting up my aquarium :lolspin:

Of course 60L was not going to do so I put that aside and started looking for second hand aquariums (not easy to find an affordable good one up in Darwin). I eventually found a Juwel Rio 300 and so it begins.

System Objectives: I would like to start with a FOWLR tank for a couple of months before turning it into a mixed reef and adding some corals. As they are what caused me to begin looking into this of course a couple of clowns, a yellow tang, a 6 line wrasse and some other yet to be decided fish.

System Type: Mixed Reef

Display System:

Strike up Date: 31st January 2015

Display Tank: Juwel Rio 300 (600mmH x 500mmW x 1200mmL) with a hang on the back overflow

Display Lighting: 4 x 120cm T5's, when funds become available they will be swapped for an LED system

Stand: Steel frame

Hood: Was using the flaps and lighting that came with the Juwel Rio. Now running hood less.

Sump: 450mmH x 340mmW x 900mmL (soon to be plumbed in)

Refugium: Chaeto if possible

Refugium Lighting: Cheap LED fixture

Support systems:

System Water: Natural Salt Water

Display Water circulation: 2x SunSun 6000lph Wave Maker (for now)

Return Pump: 3000l/h.

Skimmer: Reef Octopus DNW 150 external protein skimmer

Evaporation Top Up: Marine magic ATO


Chemical Support:

Calcium Addition: NA

Alkilinity Addition: NA

Other Chemical Maintenance: NA

Current Water Chemistry:
Nitrates: 0
Phosphates: U/K
Alkalinity: U/K
Calcium: U/K
Salinity / Specific Gravity: 1.023 (need to get a refractometer and get rid of the hydrometer)
Magnesuim: U/K


Images:
The tank in place

After many trips to the beach to fill up a couple of 25L containers I am getting there

 

[MaccaPopEye]

Post 2 26/01/2015

Finally got back down to the beach and got the last load of water. All filled up and starting to clear. While I was at the beach I grabbed a couple of dry rocks that I liked the look of. So all I need to do is get down to the beach at low tide in the next couple of days to collect some live rock and the cycle can start!

 

[MaccaPopEye]

Post 3 28/01/2015

The dimensions of the tank are definitely what drew me to it. I have already taken out the inbuilt filter (meant for fresh water). I've got a sump (approx 135L) that just needs to be re-sealed and have baffles added. So that should be plumbed into the tank in about a week. (looking back it took almost 3 months to get time to do the sump hahaha).

The T5's will be staying for a while. LEDs are the last thing on my list to get. I am on a budget and I already have lights that work perfectly well so I'm in no rush.

As for substrate I went to the beach and grabbed a bit of sand. I am finding that it is very, very fine and gets stirred up very easily.

Cheers,

Macca

 

[MaccaPopEye]

Post 4 31/01/2015

Well it seems that sand from the beach was not a good idea. In the image above you may just be able to see some white strings floating on the top. Well within a day of that photo the entire surface was overtaken with the unknown white strings, each up to 20cm long :uhoh3:. While no one could help me determine what the strings were some helpful reefers on RTAW were able to help me determine the most probable cause (beach sand) :headwally:.

So in case the water was too contaminated the tank was drained the the sand removed (bloody time consuming job) :headwallblue:

The couple of small rocks I got were thoroughly rinsed and left in the sun to dry. I found a stone mason in the NT that said he had coral sand for only $20 for a 20kg bag so off I went. He had a few different colors and while I was drawn to the black sand I have read that it can leech phosphates into your system, so I opted with a nice white sand.

I get home, rinse the sand and put it in the tank. Finally happy. Then I go to throw the bag in the bin aaaand it says silica sand on the bag :furious: not what I was told by the stone mason..... But its in the tank, it looks good, I will be keeping it. I have read up that silicates can be released into the system over time and if there is enough phosphate it can cause algae blooms so I will be very aware of that.

4 trips to the beach later and the tank is full again! And I managed to make the last trip just before dark too.

Today I also picked up a second hand skimmer! I was planning on getting an Aqua One G220. However a used Reef Octopus DNW 150 came up for sale for the same price (and in Darwin too ). So I jumped on it. And it's a beast!

Next step is to re-seal the sump and get the baffles in then do the plumbing. By then I should also have live rock and the cycle can start!

Cheers,

Macca

 

[MaccaPopEye]

Post 5 11/02/2015

On the 3rd of Feb I went for a walk at low tide. Saw some amazing things but more importantly got to collect a bit of LR, unfortunately I could only find 3 pieces I liked but there is another really low tide soon so I will be back out.

I rinsed the rock and added it as soon as I got home.

Love the shape of this piece.

This one was covered in sea firs.

The third piece is small and hiding behind the large cave.

The cycle can now start (a small one) and hopefully I will add a lot more LR on the 19th and 20th with the low tides.

Cheers,

Macca

 

[MaccaPopEye]

Post 6 11/02/2015

It's been a week since the LR was added now and I have found some hitch hikers.

I think this one is Aiptasia? So far I have found 2 or 3 of them. Best way to remove them? I have read to inject them with hot water?

There are a few of these scattered over the rock. They look kind of like zoanthids but not at the same time :roflmao:

So far I have found 2 of these little snails

I have no idea what this ball is. Its soft and squishy. I saw heaps of them while out looking for LR. The ones I saw out on the beach were maybe 5-10cm in diameter. It wasn't there a week ago so whatever it is it has grown fast. I now know it is a filter sponge

I also think I found a mantis shrimp in one of the rocks. Its only about 1cm long and pops out occasionally to snatch food from the water. Couldn't get a photo of it as it was at the back of the tank.

Cheers,

Macca

 

[MaccaPopEye]

Post 7 12/02/2015

My Red Sea Marine Care test kit arrived this afternoon so I was able to test my water parameters for the first time!

It's a really nice quality kit, I shopped around and found that this kit end up being around the same price as buying all the individual Salifert kits for the same tests. I have also heard that the cheap ones can give a lot of false readings.
Very nice hard case.

All fits in very nicely.

I did a water change on Saturday (I think, shift work makes you loose track of days) and here are my first water test results.

pH - 8.0 (I think this is in the lower realms of acceptable)
Alk - 7dKH (from what I have read this is the minimum)
Ammonia - 0ppm (yay!)
Nitrite - 0.1ppm (almost gone)
Nitrate - 2ppm

My hydrometer is saying that salinity is sitting at 1.023 which is a little low, but I am using NSW which I have heard is a little lower anyway. I also don't trust the hydrometer and will be getting a refractometer soon.

When I add the next lot if LR I know there will probably be another cycle but if this one only took a week to get those readings then hopefully the next one will be quick too. I am still saving for a chiller though so it will be a while before I add any fish. ATM the tank water ranges between 29 (my preferred upper limit and stays there maybe 80% of the time as the aircon is on) and 34 (ouch, it feels like bathwater). How anything on the LR survived, let alone still growing I have no idea) so it seems a chiller is a must.

Cheers,

Macca

 

[MaccaPopEye]

Post 8 16/02/2015

So I finally found a chemist that would sell me a needle (tried 3 and got told either no or "not without a script"). Grabbed a bottle of vinegar and injected 10 units into each of the 3 aiptasia that I could get to. I could see one underneath the flat piece of LR and two on the back if the cave shaped piece.

I felt I did the first 3 very successfully so I thought I would turn the flat piece upside down and turn the cave around to get them all. Well the back of the cave had over 15 (when I stopped counting). And most of them were inside the rock structure itself (so I couldn't see the actual anemone, just the tentacles). So I took advice from a fellow reefer and nuked the rocks. I put them in my soon to be Sump filled with 20% vinegar and 80% tap water for 24hrs (I don't have an RO/DI unit yet).

I've taken the rock out of the tank now and surprisingly there was no dead mantis shrimp. But there was well over 20 crabs (I saw about 3 different types), I was surprised since I only ever saw 2-3 (especially not any of the big ones that died in the nuke). I will be scrubbing the rock and then soaking it in salt water for a couple of days to make sure it's rid of the pest anemone before re introducing it to the tank. I may also fill the soon to be Sump with NSW and watch any LR collected in the next week as low tides are coming up!

After I QT the next lot of LR for a couple of days I will add baffles to the Sump and plumb it into the DT, which with some fans may help cooling a bit as well.

Cheers,

Macca

 

[MaccaPopEye]

Post 9 23/02/2015

So time for an update.

Thursday morning I walked out at low tide to a small island a bit over 500m off shore that according to a report in 2001 is supposed to have a coral reef somewhere on it. I walked the circumference of the island and unfortunately there was just a lot of coral rubble and a few dull brain corals scattered few and far between, however there is another small island about 100m away that I didn't check which could have the reef. Hopefully it hasn't died in the last 14 years.

There was however heaps of porous and clean looking rocks that spend over 90% of their time underwater! So I proceed to collect some LR for my DT. After 2 hard walks back to shore carrying a very heavy bucket I had my LR.

Not the best angle photo but I would say I got about 30-40kg all up. In addition to the ~10kg already in the DT that will give me about 50kg of LR (hopefully plenty).

I gave it a blast with the hose to knock of some crabs (so many crabs) and put it all in my soon to be sump in some fresh salt water to monitor it.

There was also plenty of snails on the rocks. I am pretty sure they are strombus snails so they went into the DT.

Friday it was raining the whole day so I couldn't go out to explore the low tide however in the afternoon I decided to use my free time to re-seal my sump (it was water tight but I wanted the piece of mind before plumbing it in).

I had been watching the LR for a bit over 24hrs and apart from more tiny crabs (removed all the ones I could get to) I could see no signs of bad algae, sea firs, aiptasia or anything other than brittle stars. So into the DT it went (I don't have a photo of that as it was just in a couple of lumps as I haven't aquascaped yet).

I then proceeded to drain and drill the sump as the skimmer I bought has the return below the rim of the sump and it only just fits in my cabinet so I cant raise it up so the return is above the rim and I cant plumb the return over the rim as it is quite a tall sump. With the hole drilled successfully I removed all the silicone and resealed the tank. Then the plumbing for the skimmer was figured out and glued in place. Now all the sump needs is baffles!

Cheers,

Macca

 

[MaccaPopEye]

Post 10 23/02/2015

Update #2 for tonight

Late Friday night I discovered these on one of the new pieces of LR

I posted in the diseases, pests & parasites forum straight away to see if anyone would know what they were (and if they were aiptasia or not). No one was able to give me a positive ID however it seemed that they were most likely pest anemones so Saturday after work I was going to dunk the rock in vinegar.

Sat afternoon I got home and where there were approx 10 pest anemones before there were now none :thumbsup: so I left the rock in there. I tested the water and I got 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and only 5ppm nitrate (it's time for a WC soon anyway). With those great results I went for a drive to see if I could get to the reef before the tide came all the way in.

The tide was a fair way in so not much to see but I went for a 10 min walk anyway. I am glad I did go for a walk as I got some pretty cool things! My first find was a small leather that had been washed in on the tide. As I have had 0 ammonia for over a week and nitrite was 0.1 over a week ago and is now 0 I decided to rescue it out of the mud and see how it would fare in my tank.
Here it is two days later.

Since I had decided to add the leather, on the way back to the car I kept an eye out for any other small things that may have broken off in the massive storm on Friday. I found 3 other corals I decided to take. The second was a goniopora that was upside down and had a dead looking patch in the middle I have read up on them and know they require feeding and generally don't last long in private aquariums however this breed seems to thrive in the dirty waters around Darwin and after two days the patch that I thought was dead is already staring to grow back. I will be getting some food for it tomorrow morning and hopefully I can get it to thrive.
Here is the Goni after two days (you can see the patch starting to grow back on the top).

The third and forth corals I took I am not to sure what they are but I believe they are both types of brain coral.
Both photos after two days.

Sat night I was admiring the tank after lights out and I saw a sea slug crawling over the rock that had the possible pest anemones on it. I thought maybe it ate them? It didn't appear to be a nudi as I couldn't see any gills on it however once I spotted it the slug climbed straight into a hole on the rock.

(I now know it was a chiton)

Live rock truly has some interesting things on it. I have read up on sea slugs and it doesn't seem that they are harmful to reef tanks. So hopefully he crawled onto a different rock as yesterday they pest anemones were back. Quite a lot of them too. So this morning the rock came out and into a vinegar bath it goes as there was too many anemones under the rock to inject them all.

I just tested the water again this afternoon and it seems there was a tiny ammonia spike. Its now 0.01ppm, nitrite is 0.1ppm and nitrate is just over 5ppm. I will be checking again tomorrow to make sure that the ammonia and nitrite are going down and a WC will be getting done on Wednesday.

Cheers,

Macca

 

[MaccaPopEye]

Post 11 01/03/2015

So yesterday I did a water change and played with the aqua scape a bit while the water level was low. I'm kinda happy with it now. I really wanted to try and get some height on the left but no matter what I did it just looked like a pile of rocks were just dumped in there. And on the right I wanted to go for a little low lying U shaped cove to contrast the mountain on the left. But the end result isn't as bad as when it was all just dumped in there and they are all nice and secure (and passed the poke test) so I will share some photos :thumbsup:

FTS

A shot from the left

The cove

In this photo at the back left is actually a piece of rock I got on my LR trip that I thought was just some dead coral but it seems to have gotten some colour and doesn't look dead any more, so we will see how it goes :crossfingers:

The mountain

There is a nice big cave under here for fish to hide in as well.

The large rock that was covered in pest anemones must of had the chiton (mysterious slug) in it when I nuked it which is a shame. I was also hoping to use that rock to get some more height but when I took it out of the acid bath and let it dry it smelled putrid. Not just a little bit of die off but absolutely foul so I have left it out to dry and will cycle it in its own bucket before I add it back into the tank (if I ever add it back in as I think I have a good amount of rock atm)

Water tests today showed 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and <5 nitrate and the corals are all looking good. And the diatom bloom has finished and all the brown algae has died and floated to the surface of the water.

And my sump! Friday I called around to some glass places and found one that would cut some baffles for me at a reasonable price so I got them cut and yesterday I put them in the sump so tonight I will be adding water and testing them :bounce1:

I am a bit worried about them though as I read a lot of sump building articles and all of them said to cut the glass a little shorter than you need to allow room for the silicone. So I left 5mm total gap (2.5mm each side). Well turns out that is a big gap and I don't know if it will hold water well :/ but we will see tonight. Lots of silicone was used.

If there are no leaks then tomorrow I will hopefully plumb it in!

 

[MaccaPopEye]

Post 12 08/03/2015

So the sump building is going slow. Due to the baffles being a bit too short it took a lot of silicone to hold them in place. This then has caused a lot of leaks as small holes formed while it was drying. I have fixed two so far and think I have found the last 3 leaks which should be fixed in the next couple of days when I get time.

The corals are doing well, especially the Goni, with feeding twice a week its really starting to look good. The others are all looking well, not really any noticeable growth yet but these things happen slowly.

Here is the Goni showing some growth.

Here is just a good shot of the encrusting brain coral that I got.

Still having some cooling issues as I save up for a chiller so still no fish. I am now running the tank with no hood to get some more evap going which has bought the temp down 1C (now going through about 20L every 2-3 days instead of 20L each week). I have also bought two small but high powered fans to put on, I just need to make up some quick brackets for them. ATO has been ordered and hopefully will be here asap and LED lights are being shipped tomorrow so I can get rid of the hot T5s.

I was also in the LFS and they happened to have some tonga snails? So I grabbed 3 of those to go with my strombus snails however 2 seem to have gone missing but I cant seem to see the shells anywhere.

I have a feeling the owner of the mysterious clicking sound is the reason for that. Actually the not so mysterious clicking now as the perpetrator decided to reveal himself to me yesterday (spoiler alert - not a pistol shrimp )

Now I have to decide if I kill or keep.

Cheers,

Macca

 

[MaccaPopEye]

Post 13 10/03/2015

ATM it looks like the mantis will be staying :thumbsup: Placed a bit of defrosted food at the front of his hole. He waited until i was gone but he still came out and grabbed it. I'll still most likely be throwing some small crabs in there for him every month or so.

As for the tank - I still haven't managed to fix all the leaks in the sump baffles (just haven't had time) but should get onto it this week. I'm also having a bit of a diatom bloom, I think I have been over feeding the tank as there is no fish yet but the Goni has been growing quite a bit though. How much do people usually feed? I have been doing one cube every 2-3 days. I spot feed the Goni, place a bit at the mantis shrimp hole and tip the rest into the tank for the other corals to pull bits out of the water column.

I have also managed to get the temp down to a stable 28 with a combination of fans, aircon, keeping the hood open and raising the lights off the surface a bit more (that last one made a big difference). So I might add a hardy fish soon - will have to pop into the LFS and see what they have (not usually much).

Cheers,

Macca

 

[MaccaPopEye]

Post 14 16/03/2015

It has been a busy weekend. Late last week I finally added some fish! The LFS didn't have much which was a shame but I got one small Ocellaris Clownfish (they only had one) and a Yellowtail Damselfish. I do know their reputation however I think they are really pretty fish and it is a big tank so hopefully that can help reduce any aggression however for now it seems to spend most of its day hiding. I have also read that it can help to introduce clowns around the same time if you want a pair (which I do) and the LFS gets their fish in on Thursdays so I might go back in this week for one more clown (hopefully 3 small fish in a 300L tank over two weeks wont increase the bio load too quickly).

My marine magic ATO also arrived. It looks good but feels a little plastic and cheap, but that doesn't bother me at all as long as it works especially as it was half the price of other ATO controllers.

I also finished re-sealing the baffles in the sump! Here it is leak testing.

When it had sat for 24hrs I noticed there was one absolutely tiny leak in the far left baffle near the top which I am leaving because the water flows over the top anyway and it was so close to the top I don't think it will matter.

I then connected the skimmer and ran that for a couple of hours to check the return for leaks. It seems the grey pipe from the skimmer (came with the skimmer) must be measured in inches as the metric PVC connector I used to connect it to the bulkhead seemed to be the tiniest bit too small after it was glued in place (one tiny drop came out every 5-10min) so I have added some silicone all the way around the join and it shouldn't have any more leaking.

Then came time to put the sump and skimmer into the cabinet. I had measured it out with a tape measure before and it all just fit. In reality it still fits, but its a lot tighter than I thought it would be. I can still get the skimmer cup off though!

I have put the skimmer feed pump, heater (even though it will probably never be needed) and return pump in the sump ready to go. I will hopefully dry fit the plumbing tomorrow and maybe glue the day after :thumbsup:

I now need to figure out where to put an ATO container, and the rest of the stuff that was being held in the cabinet :rollface: Then it can get proper cladding as atm there is just some plywood sheets being held on with magnets.

My LED lights have been with the courier for a week now so they should be here tomorrow or the day after. Which is lucky as one of my T5 units seems to have crapped out so I have been only running 2 tubes for the last 3 days. And this weekend if the weather is kind I should get out to get some more coral!

Cheers,

Macca

 

[MaccaPopEye]

14 posts and now my RC journal is up to date! Looking forward to hearing everyone's opinions and tips in the future.

 

[cheesekransky]

Great read. We have a similar origin storey. I had a 75L tank and have now upgraded to one the same as yours. Looking forward to getting it set up.
We also have the same curtains..