My 125gal Dream

[Peace and Fish]

Overdue Update

Overdue Update

Ladies and gentlemen, especially those of you who have been following, if you still are, here is an update. Unfortunately recruiting duty has been extremely busy so have not had time to work on personal projects much. Also, as I stated during the beginning of the thread, I decided to do an all dead rock build and of course one of the consequences of that approach is the long cycle period. I finished the setup back in late January and up until about a few weeks ago I realized there was little to no progress on the cycle. (I thought it would be a good idea to do an air-cycle) My patience got the best of me so about two weeks ago, last week of March, I decided to add a dead shrimp to help speed things up. That did little to affect the cycle. I did notice a small spike in Nitrites but nothing to write home to mom about. It has been literally three months since I started the tank so my patience has obviously been obliterated. So I caved in and bought a few pounds of live rock from Saltwater Heaven on Saturday. I wanted the build to be as "sterile" as possible but oh well"¦ the live rock sped up the nitrogen cycle and after testing everyday for the past couple of days the Nitrite period has finally come to an end. All I am waiting for now is the Nitrates to show so I can finally assemble my aquascape the way I want it and do a water change and hopefully add my first fish before the end of the month. I will hold true to my word and stock as slowly as possible to maintain system balance and be able to raise some SPS in the future. Will post pics by next week to show off how the tank looks and hopefully the aquascape I come up with. Thanks for reading and Stay Salty!

 

[915MANG]

waiting for pics

me too

 

[pnavarro170]

Ladies and gentlemen, especially those of you who have been following, if you still are, here is an update. Unfortunately recruiting duty has been extremely busy so have not had time to work on personal projects much. Also, as I stated during the beginning of the thread, I decided to do an all dead rock build and of course one of the consequences of that approach is the long cycle period. I finished the setup back in late January and up until about a few weeks ago I realized there was little to no progress on the cycle. (I thought it would be a good idea to do an air-cycle) My patience got the best of me so about two weeks ago, last week of March, I decided to add a dead shrimp to help speed things up. That did little to affect the cycle. I did notice a small spike in Nitrites but nothing to write home to mom about. It has been literally three months since I started the tank so my patience has obviously been obliterated. So I caved in and bought a few pounds of live rock from Saltwater Heaven on Saturday. I wanted the build to be as "sterile" as possible but oh well"¦ the live rock sped up the nitrogen cycle and after testing everyday for the past couple of days the Nitrite period has finally come to an end. All I am waiting for now is the Nitrates to show so I can finally assemble my aquascape the way I want it and do a water change and hopefully add my first fish before the end of the month. I will hold true to my word and stock as slowly as possible to maintain system balance and be able to raise some SPS in the future. Will post pics by next week to show off how the tank looks and hopefully the aquascape I come up with. Thanks for reading and Stay Salty!

Man you should have asked us, not sure what an air cycle is, but i also start the tank as you did and all you would have had to do is add some bacteria yourself and you could have added a fish same day. its different obviously with no live sand or rock but 3 months with nothing is no fun or necessary .

 

[Peace and Fish]

Man you should have asked us, not sure what an air cycle is, but i also start the tank as you did and all you would have had to do is add some bacteria yourself and you could have added a fish same day. its different obviously with no live sand or rock but 3 months with nothing is no fun or necessary .

True"¦ I guess that would have been the smarter thing to do instead of waiting 3 months for cycle to make progress -_- oh well I guess"¦

 

[Peace and Fish]

Pics Update!

Pics Update!

Well here are the long awaited pics. Unfortunately I had to use my phone so they are not the best pics but something to give an idea of how it all came out to be. Rock-work was kept simple and looks a little better in person but honestly not the best aquascape. I'm sure in a few months when they are full of corals it will look really good but I'll let you guys be the judges through time

Here's the tank. Not the best shot, but you get the idea.

An idea of what things look like inside the canopy. Better pictures to follow once I get my Camera lens working again...

These are the current residents. (5) Blue/green Chromis. I love these little buys and seeing as they are usually the bullied, timid little guys I decided to add them first. Also they are very hardy so if anything should go wrong within the next few weeks, they will more than likely survive. I'll keep them and only them for a month or more to make sure things are good. Like I said before, I'm playing it very patient this time around.

 

[Tristan66]

Are you adding sand on it. Looking good. Just make sure you keep them well feed or little by little you be loosing them. This little guys eat a lot all day long so their nutrition is very important for their survival. Good luck

 

[Peace and Fish]

Thanks for the info! Yea I feed them at least twice a day. I've had some of these little guys in the past and they are most definitely gluttons lol. I do not plan to add sand to the tank. Going to try out the bare-bottom approach. Have had terrible luck with sand going to crap, mainly due to my laziness. In this build I'm trying to keep it as low maintenance as possible because of my job responsibilities. The only thing I want to worry about is regular water changes

 

[Tristan66]

Cool, sounds good. Seems like your on the right track. Good luck with your reef.

 

[rpjaws74]

no sand bottoms are catching on I guess!!

 

[Peace and Fish]

no sand bottoms are catching on I guess!!

What's up rpjaws! Yea I think they're cool and neat looking!

 

[rpjaws74]

sup man! well you avoid alott of headaches for sure

 

[Peace and Fish]

Updates

Updates

Here are some more pictures. New additions.

Added a Pavona Coral. Very nice specimen. Bought from Petco and it was doing crappy. As soon as I placed it in my tank the tentacles came out and it's colors became very vivid. Can't wait to see this thing grow.

I know I said I wouldn't add any more fish for a month but could not turn away from this one. I love Bartlett's Anthias and seeing as it was only $21 at Petco, I had to get it. It was on my stock list anyway. I promise no more additions until late may

On a side note, I'm glad Petco (the one in Las Cruces of course) finally hired someone with saltwater aquarium experience. The man's name is Dave and apparently he ran his own fish store in the past. He was very knowledgeable and helpful and was glad I actually knew what I was doing.

 

[Reefer54]

I have to say it. i'll never say i told ya so, but this way i know you are warned.....dont buy fish from petco. I guarantee you their tanks are holding parasites galore. It doesnt look like youre QT'ing, adn if you are buying from Petco, you will wish you had.

The pavona polyp extension is proof that their tanks are not well kept....food for thought.


Good luck, have fun. Great start, but i would suggest some research.

 

[rpjaws74]

damn!

 

[Peace and Fish]

Thanks reefer54 I appreciate the comments. And yes I do agree Petco does a terrible job at caring for their livestock however I do take the proper precautions when adding livestock bought from anywhere. I dip corals with Lugol's solution prior to placing in tank and freshwater dip all fish. I also have a tank setup as a quarantine should I feel a fish may cause some harm to the tank. However, the fish was healthy looking and is doing phenomenal in the tank. Luckily I have a minimalist aquascape so if he should come with some sort of parasite I will have little trouble scooping him out and separating him.

I must say I do agree with you on Petco as I have witnessed first-hand how terrible they are in maintaining saltwater aquariums. And yes I maintain my personal due diligence and research before purchasing anything stay salty!

 

[Peace and Fish]

A few frags I recently purchased from Mr. Coral. I went against all the bad reviews that place received and took my chances. Yes I like to gamble lol. Believe it or not out of the 9 frags, they have all survived. Has only been two weeks so too early to say whether they will thrive or not.


This is a frag I was able to salvage from my small, temporary 20 gal tank. I had bought this and some other small pieces from a guy in Albuquerque when I was up there for training for like $5. He had gotten rid of larger pieces and felt bad because I had already contacted him to save me some so he gave them to me for so cheap. This piece was in terrible shape 3 weeks ago when I transferred it into this tank, with no polyps showing. Now there are a lot of small polyps grown and the coral is slowly but surely showing signs of growth. If you look closely at the next pic you will see another one of these but smaller. This one seems to be doing much better. The other pieces never made it... Very excited about this monti.


Here is a pic of the left side of my tank where all of my SPS pieces are. Just purchased that bigger piece Saturday from Aqua Life. That place is a great place to purchase livestock for a fair price. Charlie is also very knowledgeable and will make sure you are prepared to take care of the pieces you buy. Will definitely be making several purchases from him in the future. Very good prices for corals.


Close up of the acro


One of the small frags I got from the April STARS meeting. Has developed 2 heads since purchased. Can't wait until it covers the whole rock!

 

[Peace and Fish]

This piece survived our trip from Kansas to El Paso in December. It has struggled in the temporary 20gal and it was about time I put it in the 125gal. That whole rock is actually one large coral it's just a little upset about the transfer so he is mostly closed. When fully open, it is truly a beauty. A little bigger than the size of my fist.


This is just a random shot. The nasty stuff my skimmer collects after only 5-6 days. And I almost didn't think I needed an oversized skimmer...

 

[Peace and Fish]

So I wanted to add another MP40 to match the wave making effect on both sides but unfortunately could not see myself shelling out another almost $500 at the moment so instead went with the Jebao WP40. Should arrive tomorrow. I've seen them on other people's tanks and have actually been impressed by their performance. Their size so far is my only concern and the fact that I will have a wire inside the tank. Not worried about the electrical risk but more for the aesthetics (was trying to stay away from having anything too obvious in the display) will update as soon as they arrive and I get to see them in action inside my tank.

 

[EPRuss]

I have a Jebao WP40 on my 90. I painted the back glass black and it pretty much disappears into the background (or maybe I'm just use to it).

It's been running about 8 months and I haven't had a problem with it. It can defiantly move some water, but I don't have anything to compare it to; it's the only pump I've owned.

With that said, I think it blasts a little too hard, and it's not as controllable as I'd like. I just ordered two used MP40w's and will give them a try. I'm hoping they will produce good water movement without the harshness of the Jebao.

 

[Peace and Fish]

Thanks for sharing your experience EPRuss. You'll love the MP40's. I would have two but like I said"¦ too expensive"¦ If only I could find a used one for a good price"¦ They have a strong flow but it is very gentle so the corals and fish love it. I'll probably run that WP40 for a few months until I save up for another MP40.