My 80g endeavor to SPS domination!!!

[rireuter]

I had a 75g for about 2 years (my learning curve :mad2, then in August of '09 i bought my first home, so the 75 made the move, but was not happy about it, which ended up causing me to get frustrated and tear it down. It had some success, however nothing to write home about. This time I am "dressed for success" with hopes of having a tank that achieves the "full" look of bright colored sticks. With out further ado i give you my latest creation...

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the tank still has some cloudiness and i prob won't get around to skinning the stand and canopy for another 2-3 weeks due to a lot going on the next few weekends. Everything is plumbed into my garage which is behind the tank. I will get some sump shots later, Lemme know what you guys think!

 

[rireuter]

Here are a few shots of the setup...

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the empty reactor is for GFO, but i don't have a reason to run it right now b/c i i have macro rock and no livestock so no phosphates, thats also why the doser is not setup yet. I will get a "guinea pig" this weekend and throw him in, the tank has been full for about 5 days now. I am assuming there will be very little to no cycle due to the macro rock, so i am not to concerned. If the fish looks well after a week (which i am betting he will) i am going to add about 10 frags from a local reefer, and prob the rest of the fish the week after that.

 

[Btortorelli]

Nice Set up!

 

[rireuter]

Thank you, the wallet is a little thinner, but my smile is a lot bigger!!!

 

[buy_baff]

Looks good you got a great start.

 

[FallensReef]

looks very nice

 

[Nate R]

the tank has been full for about 5 days now. I am assuming there will be very little to no cycle due to the macro rock, so i am not to concerned. If the fish looks well after a week (which i am betting he will) i am going to add about 10 frags from a local reefer, and prob the rest of the fish the week after that.

is this what you did last time and had little to no luck with?

just asking when you add all those fish and corals, they will produce waste and the first thing that is going to grow and feed off that waste is nasty algea.

Are you going Unls or dosing bacteria?

 

[rireuter]

is this what you did last time and had little to no luck with?

just asking when you add all those fish and corals, they will produce waste and the first thing that is going to grow and feed off that waste is nasty algea.

Are you going Unls or dosing bacteria?

nah, last time my live rock was more of a pain then anything, pest and unwanted hitchhikers were the main reason for lack of success. also not having stable params due to lack of dosing as i should of. thats why i made sure to have reactors and dosers to make maintaining the system so much easier. i will be doing WC once a week and changing carbon and GFO once a month. i learned a lot from my first tank. i put one fish in today, along with the prodibio startup, so we'll see what happens, i do not plan on adding all the fish in at once, obviously there isn't enough bacteria yet to handle that. so i figured run this 1 fish for a few weeks and then add some corals, then i'll prob add the rest of the fish a few weeks after. Although there have been some on here that have added a full bio-load within the first week and claim they had no casualties using eco rocks or marco rocks. I'll take it a little slower than that

 

[Dejavu]

looks like your off to a good start!

 

[wickedfish]

LUCKY>>>> I want a mixing room/RO/everything you have.

 

[rireuter]

LUCKY>>>> I want a mixing room/RO/everything you have.

thanks, it is always fun when something you have always dreamed of finally becomes a reality. With a little more luck maybe it will resemble some of the amazing tanks here on RC.

 

[Nate R]

nah, last time my live rock was more of a pain then anything, pest and unwanted hitchhikers were the main reason for lack of success. i put one fish in today, along with the prodibio startup, so we'll see what happens

been there done that with the "fresh" live rock ended up totaly removing all live rock because i couldnt get a handdle on blue mushrooms.

Rireuter let me know what happens with your base rocks because when i did redo mine i did it with base rock and cycled it for 5 weeks in a mixing bin and then added it and still got a nasty brown slimy algea out break all over it. While using everything your talking about GFO, Carbon, ect. interesting to see if you have the same results

 

[rireuter]

been there done that with the "fresh" live rock ended up totaly removing all live rock because i couldnt get a handdle on blue mushrooms.

Rireuter let me know what happens with your base rocks because when i did redo mine i did it with base rock and cycled it for 5 weeks in a mixing bin and then added it and still got a nasty brown slimy algea out break all over it. While using everything your talking about GFO, Carbon, ect. interesting to see if you have the same results

i'll be sure to keep you posted, what kind of "base rock" did you use? was it dry when you received it? i've never cycled rock before, though i know many people have, so i don't really know much about the process.

 

[rireuter]

Tossed a yellow tang in on friday, he's doing great, eating like a champ

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and today i tossed in a few corals

ORA Red Planet
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Tyree Ponape Birdsnest
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and some smooth skinned deepwater, will have to wait and see if it turns into anything special, or just another green acro...
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[pico-reefer]

looking good so far

 

[Nate R]

i'll be sure to keep you posted, what kind of "base rock" did you use? was it dry when you received it? i've never cycled rock before, though i know many people have, so i don't really know much about the process.

it was rock from Bulk Reef supply and it was dry on arrival.

Nice looking tang.

 

[rireuter]

it was rock from Bulk Reef supply and it was dry on arrival.

Nice looking tang.

he's a tiny little guy, about 1.5". i know some local reefers that have used the BRS rock and bought the IO bio spira that they sell also with it and used as directed and had great results, and were also able to add fish right away. these were also brand new setups though so they were "clean" from the start. hope that helps.

 

[Nate R]

I ve never herd of the IO bio spira before. interesting. Did you use live sand in there as well? Are you going to do a refugium setup or a unls or anything for added n&p export?

 

[rireuter]

I used ESV coarse substrate, I run carbon and gfo in separate reactors. So po4 is kept in check via gfo, and no3 via skimmer and water changes for now, will have to wait and see if I'll need anything else after I add more fish.

 

[offroadodge]

looking good, everything seems on track for now. I think you have the right attitude about taking it slow. It has always work out for the better that away for me. Cant wait 2 c the progression.