My First Reef Tank

[AtomHeart]

Hi everyone. I have a thread on the D.A.R.C. forum but thought I would post over here, too, since this forum appears to get a lot more traffic.

Just wanted to say hello, and show what I'm doing. Any and all advice is welcome, as this is my first time and I really am just feeling my way along...

Here's my first tank shot, fresh into my foyer from Aquamart, with the back painted "Pacific Rim".

Then, since G.A.R.F. was having a sale, I purchased some aragocrete rocks from them to supplement my finally aquascape.

I then did the drain and return plumbing to my ADHI 45gal sump/refugium.

 

[AtomHeart]

Here's some more detailed shots of my plumbing under the tank, showing the msx 200 skimmer, and Blue Line 40HD pump...

 

[whyamisofly]

What size tank??

I have a MSX160 on my 65g and LOVE it!

 

[AtomHeart]

I then started filling the tank with RO/DI water...I opted for chloramine filters, but wasn't sure if I needed them or not...

I then received 50lbs of dry fiji rock from Marco Rocks to put into the main tank, so I installed three 250w Jager heaters, got the water up to a temperature of 78.5 degrees, then added SeaChem brand Reef Salt. Tested all parameters, and was happy to see that with a Specific Gravity of 1.024, my pH was 8.2, Calcium was 440, and Hardness was 11.

I fired up the Vortech mp40w pump and fiddled with it to get it in the right place, and get the vibrations quieted to an acceptable level. Then fired up the MSX 200 skimmer, to get it foaming. I then added the rock and arranged a first draft of my aquascaping, trying for some depth instead of just a flat stacked stone wall effect. I wanted some topography and caves, and canyons to be a feast for the eyes.

After filling and getting everything running, I ended up having to fight two leaks...both at bulkheads that I didn't have tight enough. All is watertight now.

I've since re-arranged the rock a little, and added a chunk of fiji show quality LR from Aquamart to help seed all of the bare dry rock and aragocrete. I added some sugar-fine live sand to the refugium, and some dry-rock rubble. The cycle has started...I got a measurement of 1mg/L of ammonia, and .5mg/L of nitrite for the last two days. I'll get an updated pic showing the new aquascaping and the digital thermometer on the wall next to the tank.

 

[AtomHeart]

Hi whyamisofly,

The tank is 120gal, the stand is 36" tall, and the refugium is 45 gal.

Yea, the MSX 200 skimmer is amazing. I had some issues with the pump being noisy at first, but it quieted down to a smooth low hum after a day. Have gotten a lot of medium brown skimmate out of it already on a 4 day old tank. Very impressive, though most of the skimmate was dust in the water from the live sand I added to the refugium.


I intend to get an 2x250w, 4x54w Outer Orbit light eventually, as this is intended to be a mixed reef with clams and sps coral. As for livestock, my intended list for now is:

2 Clark's Clownfish
1 Long Tube Anenome or Bubble Tip Anenome
1 Kole Tang or Orange Tipped Bristletooth Tang
1 Rainford's Goby
2 Psychedelic Dragonets
1 Green Coral Goby
1 Algae Blenny or Diamond Goby
--------------------------------------------------

As for non-fish inhabitants:

5 Tridacna Clams (2 maxima, 2 crocea, 1 squamosa)
Assorted Shrimp
Lots of colorful crabs


Right now the water color is a nasty yellowish green, so I'm not sure if that clears up after cycling is complete or if I need some charcoal ASAP. At any rate, I believe my next two items for the tank will be two phosban reactors -- One for phosban, and one for activated charcoal. These will go in the sump in the return pump section, if I can make that work.

 

[spleify]

Looking lood man!!

Nice looking stock list too.

 

[digitalman0111]

It's nice...

 

[AtomHeart]

Well, tonight, I krept downstairs with a flashlight and decided to scope out the one nice piece of live rock I bought from Aquamart. Amazing what has hitchhiked into my tank.

1. What I believe to be an aiptasia. It is under one corner of the rock, but I can see long wispy tentacles flowing out. The tentacles are white but very long..some are maybe 5 inches long. Anyone know how I can tell if this is an Aiptasia or not?

2. A big purple slug of some sort, with short little spines on it...the exact color of the coraline algae on the rock, and about 1 inch long.

3. Some long thin worms that stick their heads out of holes in the rock, and appear to be eating algae off the rock near their holes. One is purple and one is tan.

4. Some kind of crab/spider/crustacean that scared the living crap out of me. I bent down and shined the light under the rock and noticed some things that looked like legs. They were tan and brown striped...I squinted and leaned in for a closer look and it suddenly darted back into a larger hole in the rock. I leapt back from the tank, with a yelp, heart pounding! Haha! I have a fear of spiders, and the tan and brown coloration was just a little too spider-like. I think I saw something like a crab claw as it was darting into the hole. I'm hoping it isn't a mantis shrimp of some sort.

5. A pink blob on top of the rock that could be a Majano Anenome without its tentacles extended...just can't be sure on that thing, but its a pleasant watermelon pink color, so for now I'll leave it alone and see if it grows or changes.


Will any of these things survive the cycling of the tank? There's a big wave of ammonia and nitrite coming that they are going to have to weather, and I thought that invertebrates were sensitive to water conditions.

 

[beetle-b]

Very nice first set up...you are in a good direction!

Just some friendly advice, on my first tank I did the same thing as you and crammed the rock close to glass. You may want to consider moving the rock farther away from the edge of the glass. When the coralline algae gets going, it will be a pain to keep the areas near the glass clean. Other than that, your set up is impressive...looks like you did your research!

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Nice

It's best to deal with the aptasia and crab now. Be easy to make a trap to catch the crab so you can ID it for sure. Most aren't something you want in the tank but you might get lucky and have a sally lightfoot or anemone crab in there.

 

[AtomHeart]

beetle-b, thank you for that...I got my algae scrubber yesterday, and noticed there is one location where I was too close to the glass to get the scrubber past. Sure enough, I'll have to move things in at least in that one location. Nice catch.

As for the aiptasia, is it enough to just add two peppermint shrimp once cycling is done, or do I need to pull the rock and deal with the thing immediately? How quickly do those things multiply?

 

[AtomHeart]

Also I'm a little lost on how to build a trap for a crab. Any pointers?

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Cut the top off a plastic pop bottle and place it near where you saw the crab leaning against the rock slightly so the crab can climb in. Throw a piece of cocktail shrimp ar tuna or whatever in the bottle before lights out. The crab will go in after the meat and wont be able to climb back out. Just don't lean it over too far. Once you get it out take some good pics of it and chuck it in the sump until you get a positive ID

Peppermint shrimp are hit and miss on aptasia. Personally I would pull the rock out and pour extremely hot water on the aptasia to fry it. Rinse the rock well with some cool RO water and re tank it. There are aptasia remedies that don't require pulling the rock but they are not 100% effective. This will leave a bleached spot on the rock for a while but its worth it to be sure the aptasia is gone.

 

[AtomHeart]

Well, strike one...I attempted a crude crab trap last night with no success. I did creep down with a flashlight a couple times to catch the crab slowly crawling across the rock near the trap, but never ventured in for the tuna. I got some good looks at it. It is furry all over except for the flat of its back, and it has one large claw and one small claw...pink and tan all over, with white tips to its claws. I will go with a raw shrimp tonight and see how that turns out, i guess. Here you can see the latest arrangement, with the one dark piece of live rock added in the lower left corner...

There are hitchhikers coming out of the woodwork on this one little rock...I have seen a brittlestar or serpent star that was black and green striped...some kind of nudibranch that is purple, tons of amphipods, copapods, plankton/tiny shrimp...And I don't think the things I identified as aiptasia are really that. These have about 20 super long, thin tentacles that suck back into a hole...dont look at all like any photos of aiptasia that I can find. Here's some shots of the crab and things...

In this one, you can see the pink blob that I thought could be a majano anenome. It is a lovely watermelon color, and has yet to show any tentacles...for now it just looks like a pink stump.

Wildlife a-plenty!!

 

[rehnberg]

Very Nice looking setup. I like the black oak also. Are you going to just use one vortech for circulation? Also are you going to set up a calcium reactor? I was curious where you would put it in the stand.

 

[wantsalotta]

That doesnt look like a majono to me. From that shot, I would guess it is a zoanthus of some sort.

 

[AtomHeart]

Circulation = 1 vortech + 1 Blue Line return pump (790gph)

Total Circulation is about 4000gph per ratings, but probably more like 3500-3800 with inefficiencies factored in.

The water in the tank moves pretty well throughout the tank. there is only one spot where debris settles in the back left corner, which is a convenient place to siphon it all out during a water change, and everywhere else in the tank it is thrown around very fast and random. I'm extremely impressed with the vortech. It keeps the surface churning and swirling and pulls big tornados down from the surface. A second vortech probably wouldn't be too much if they were turned down but two seems like it would be too much if turned up to high. I dont PLAN to get a second one, but may consider it as things progress.

Calcium reactor probably wouldn't fit in the cabinet. For now I'll be dosing additives but if I get sick of that, I'll have to figure something out for a reactor. We'll see.

Both good points to bring up.

 

[AtomHeart]

Noticed tonight that something happened in my refugium since last night...there are brown and green splotches everywhere on the sand, and small bits of rock rubble I put in there.

I assume its either diatoms or some brown and green algae blooming down there.

Do I need to do anything about it, or just let it go? It's the only place in my system that I have an aquarium light. I run it during the day and unplug it at night. Maybe I'll stop running the light down there until I get to the point that its time to put macroalgae in there. Maybe its time to put cheato in there now?

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Generally speaking hairy legs on a crab is not a good thing. May need to try a better bait, raw shrimp would be better. Take the shot you have of the crab and post an ID thread up in the main reef forum first, you may have enough of a shot of it for an ID from someone better than I on ID.

Thing looks nice, Nice score on that rock. also be aware that some brittle stars can be predatory so once you start adding fish keep that in mind if you have MIA's.

 

[wantsalotta]

I agree with Grim, that crab is more than likely from family mithrax, and there are only a few welcome mebers of that family in most reef tanks.....