My Caribbean Biotope Tank Build

[jraker]

Sorry I haven't updated this thread in a while. I have summer school and driving school, but only for another week, so I have been busy with those mostly. I have not gotten water in the tank yet, but I should soon. All I have to do is set up my lights, and route a few wires.

For livestock, I have been thinking of the following:

2-3 pearly jawfish. It will be interesting to see how these guys pair up. I wonder if they will form a trio, two will pair up with one other one, or if they will be all separate.

2 sailfin blennies. Love those guys.

1 or a trio of blue chromis. I will probably end up going with one because I have had chromis in the past, and I could never get more than one to live at a time.

Royal gramma. I might do one, I might do two.

1 chalk bass.

1-2 cherub angels.

What I really would like to do would be a species tank for an Atlantic Pygmy Octopus. I recently found these guys, and LA sometimes has them in stock, actually. Unfortunately, I don't really have the time to constantly monitor an octopus.

 

[jraker]

My fixture has been hung and works.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Any progress?

 

[jraker]

Rock and sand is going in today.

 

[jraker]

Picture time!

I started filling up the sand in layers. Here is the first layer, 20 pounds of oolite:

I filled up the back area with the fine substrate because that is where my seagrasses are going to be.

After that, some crushed coral and the original grade sand went in.

The rest of the crushed coral went in, and I tried to mix the sand up so the top didn't look like 100% crushed coral.

You can see the difference in the layers here:

I found the crushed coral interesting. As I poured it into the tank, I could see three different shapes and sizes of substrate that was used.

It had small pieces of rock:

Large pieces of rock:

And various shells:

I really like the overall look of the crushed coral with the various sized rocks, and lots of shells in the mix.

After the sand, the rock went into the tank. I changed up the aquascape a little bit again (sorry for any bad pics).

My heater should come in the mail soon. I have already started making water, about 20 gallons, so this thing can get filled up soon! One quick question: When can you first start adding macros? Do I have to wait for the tank to cycle, or can I start adding some right away?

 

[jraker]

Some more pictures of the rock because it would only let me post 10 at a time.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

You can add them right away! And get a fish. By adding macros right away, you give them a chance to suck up nutrients before micro algae.

 

[jraker]

Heater and my coral food came today

So far, this is all I have for coral/sponge/filter feeder food, but I will experiment with other foods later if I see any I like.

 

[jraker]

Tank is starting to get water in it. The first batch was about 15 gallons. I will not be adding any fish, because I am going on vacation on Saturday, and I really don't want to have the people watching my tank worry about the instability of a new tank and possible fish deaths.

 

[jraker]

The tank is almost full, and is clearing up.

I actually have some various macros growing in my main (reef) tank. I will take those out and place them in as soon as I get the tank filled up. Here are some pictures of the macros:

First up is some kind of caulerpa, but I can't remember which specific one it is.

Next, we have some Caulerpa Racemosa

I also have two different kinds of halimeda, one with large "leaves", and one with smaller ones.

 

[jraker]

I am leaving for vacation early tomorrow morning. No updates for a week or so.

 

[skanderson]

excellent looking fish list. really looking forward to seeing this tank come together.

 

[jraker]

Bad news, this project may have to be held off for a while. I came home from vacation to see this in my main reef tank:

I might have to use my 65 to put all the livestock until I can get things figured out with the other tank. I would say that it crashed, but stuff seems to be alive.

 

[Subsea]

Use activated carbon and uv sterilizer. Perhaps some extra circulation to deal with possible low oxygen. It looks like phyto bloom to me.

 

[jraker]

Carbon is running. I did water changes. I am making more water to do more water changes. Hopefully both my fish are alive, because I only saw a glimpse of one.

 

[Subsea]

If it is a phyto bloom, water changes will not solve the problem. Trust me. Use a UV sterilizer.

 

[jraker]

What UV sterilizer would you recommend for a 36 gallon tank?

 

[Subsea]

Some people use them all the time. I don't. I recently purchased "The Green Killing Machine" from Foster & Smith: 25W for $60. It fits inside the tank and is ugly. Requires no plumbing or external pumps.
I only use it when I need it. As a proactive measure, it could be used one day a week. I pull it out of the tank when I am not using it. With multiple 55G tanks, it works for me.

 

[jraker]

I don't think it was a phyto bloom. I ran carbon overnight, and the tank is clear. All that is left is a bunch of ugly brown detritus and algae covering my rocks and glass. All the livestock is perfectly fine and healthy.

Sorry for hijacking my own thread, I will get back to the biotope soon enough. I am going to make my first order of macro in one or two days.

 

[jraker]

I got the tank up and running today.

Here is a shot from under the tank:

The return pump is a bit noisy, but you can't really hear it when you close the doors. Otherwise, everything is dead quiet. As soon as the tank gets heated up, I will put some caulerpa from my reef tank in the biotope tank. I tested ammonia, which turned up at about 0.25ppm. As soon as I add plants, it should go down.

This is day 1 of the tank running. It looks barren now, but it should start to look cool withing a couple of weeks.

I am ordering macro from GCE tommorow. I will be ordering all their samplers (caulerpa, halimeda, red), which should give me a pretty good diversity for starting off. As soon as my ammonia gets down and parameters are stable, I will be ordering my first fish from KP aquatics.