My Fishtank

[Trigeek]

Hello Reefer Peeps. Welcome to this thread. :jester:

Wanted to start a thread as I am (again :uhoh3 reinventing my fishtank and am hoping to get some advice as I go.

I have a 90g tank that has been up and running for 7 years. The LR was in a 55g for 9 years before that. The tank has traditionally been a mixed reef though the past two years has been a fish only due to time etc.

I'm looking to build the reef again, hoping to have mainly zoos, corallimorphs, with some softies and a stoney coral or two. I'm also interested in stocking the tank with a bunch of smaller fish - gobies, a blenny, mandarin, a pair of clowns and maybe a wrasse.

I currently have a yellow chromis which is rather large (he's been in the tank about 5 years) and a tailspot blenny (been in the tank about 5 minutes).



I haven't got a good shot of the tailspot yet

 

[Trigeek]

I also would like to stock some macroalgae in the DT. I believe the macros available are very nice to look at and can add an extra dimension to the reef. I have a couple pieces of macro in the tank presently.

Here are some more photos of the tank.

 

[Trigeek]

The macros you see in there now are two penicillus sp. (shaving brush) and gracilaria (the red stuff).

I also have some ulva in back of the rocks on the left side of the tank. The tank is teeming with pods presently. I ordered a huge amount and also collected a bunch locally to get some diversity. They are all over the ulva and the rocks and the sandbed.

I've always tried to keep the tank stocked with pods etc., replenishing every so often. I feel that bugs (the crawly kind as well as microscopic bacteria) are hugely important for our closed systems.

I am getting a manadarin tomorrow. Can't wait!

Also on the way is an ATI T5 Sunpower 54w 6 bulb light fixture, some rics, and some zoos (just a few). :thumbsup:

 

[Trigeek]

This tank will be zoo dominated but will ultimately be a mixed reef. I decided to post this thread in the zoo forum because it fit best in here.

I have a DSB. :eek2:

I just replaced all the sand slowly over the past month. The last DSB was the same sand I've had for about 7 years (I think). I did not encounter any deadly, black sulphur death pockets. However, the sand was disgusting. It was just smacked full of detritius. No hard cemented areas either, but lots of mashed potatoes. At least the stuff looked liked mashed potatoes. :worried:, didn't taste them.

I like the DSB for the look and the diversity of benthic fauna it affords. I believe those little creatures help to add diversity to our systems. I like to replenish the sandbed periodically with creatures from other aquariums, the ocean, new LR, macroalage orders etc...

I will do some maintenance on the DSB - vacuuming areas during water changes, good flow, lots of nassarius snails, a wrasse or two to stir things up. I'm also planning on making a sandbed cleaner thing - thinking of using a canister filter or diatom filter, an acrylic container, and a glass of scotch to help me thrash about parts of the sandbed periodically. DSBs are sinks for detritus and overall nastiness. No maintenance is asking for it. I want to try and maintain one for a longer period of time. Cleaning it periodically, piece by piece to allow for a reseeding of bacteria and fauna is a husbandry approach I'll try.

 

[Trigeek]

Other things:
I have an ASM G3 skimmer

I am thinking of running an algae tray across the top of the tank (a la PaulB) to serve as a refugium/feeder for pods and some export of nutrients

I have a refugium (non lighted rock pile) under the tank and a 20g long for a sump

An ro/di unit from five guys, err... I mean the filter guys (must be getting hungry)

 

[Handil]

Looks like fun! Keep it up.

 

[Trigeek]

Looks like fun! Keep it up.

Thanks! I hope to!!

Finally got a pic of the blenny. He is a very good looking fish. Tiny guy, young. Love his markings. He initially was very shy, hanging mostly in little holes in the rock. Lately, he has gotten more comfortable and is out and about picking at the rocks. He loves formula 2 gel cubes as well and is constantly grazing.

The blenny hangs out on the right side of the tank mostly.

 

[Trigeek]

He is becoming quick buddies with the new Mandarin. Arrived two days ago! Super pretty fish and very active. Constantly hunting and pecking at the rock and sand.

This is one of the smallest Mandies I have seen, about an inch long. I'm a little worried because her sides are sucked in, but she is constantly eating and hunting and otherwise looks healthy. Hopefully she will fatten up.

She is always on the right side of the tank as well and the Blenny seems to like to be next to her. She seems indifferent to him, focused on hunting.

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Here is another right side photo

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You can see an orange Yuma toward the front. i also have some FL ricordea on the bottom toward the back on the right. The orange ric is really nice.
Iphone pic:

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[Trigeek]

I apologize about the picture quality.

I do have a canon SLR that I need to learn to use. I'll probably play with it a bit this weekend.

Here is another pic of the tank, long view from left toward the right.

I'm hoping to fill this with lots of zoas, middle to top along with some other corals and corallimorphs along the bottom.

 

[650-IS350]

are the rocks glued, cemented or drilled and filled with acrylic rods? for stability

 

[Trigeek]

are the rocks glued, cemented or drilled and filled with acrylic rods? for stability

Some are drilled and filled with rods, some are not.

The tall structure on the left is a single rock on top of two blocky rocks that have concave surface on top. The shape of the bottom of the large rock is slightly convex on the bottom, providing stability as it sits wedged between the two blocky rocks. The other smaller rocks to the left are just stacked and may stay there or be moved. Like the freedom of having pieces that can move.

The structure on the right is one big rock sitting on three larger rocks on the sand, forming a sort of triangular base that cradles the larger rock. there is a rock on top of that larger rock that is not connected. Not sure if I will keep it there. The rocks to the left of the structure on the right side of the tank (the "wizard's hat") are the rocks fixated with the rod.

All of the structure can be easily moved to allow for access to the sand bed. I'm going to experiment with some husbandry of the DSB. Also, like to be able to move things around and change the aquascape if necessary for any reason.

 

[Trigeek]

Update:
Got the ATI T5 6x54w fixture. Love it! :bounce3:

Also got some Zoa frags, four of them. Don't have pictures yet but will get some.

I re-aquascaped a bit. Here are some pictures. A little cloudy From recent water change.
FTS

Left side

Right side

 

[Trigeek]

The fish are happy. The Mandy is getting fatter. There are sooo many pods in this tank, some are bigger than the tiny Mandy! :eek1:

She is constantly picking on the rock and glass all day. She is staying on the right side of the tank exclusively, hasn't ventured out yet. The Blenny is over there two. He likes to be near her it seems. He'll look at her and swim near her and settle on a rock close by. The Blenny has taken to live brine and blackworms. Initially he would only graze on the rocks and eat formula 2. His palette must be maturing LOL.

Here are some pics.
Mandy near the yuma

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Tailspot Blenny

 

[Trigeek]

I just noticed this little baby Yuma starting to form on the rock with the other two yumas. :fun2:
Look just to the right of the center of the patch of purple corraline.

 

[Trigeek]

My ALK is low - 6dKH and my Calcium is very high

I need to get this in check so it's off to the reef chem forum to read (again) the sticky articles by Randy. Will eventually probably use a homemade two part but may start with something store bought once I get the levels set.

Other LPS corals I am going to stock are Duncans, Euphyllia, Galaxia and Aussie Elegance.

want a brittle star for the detritus in the sandbed and a crew of nassarius to chomp the food that falls to the bottom.

Would like to get some gobies as well.

Long term - clowns and maybe an anem?

 

[650-IS350]

Get the parameters stable and in check. But with 6x54 T5s you can grow anything on there.

 

[Trigeek]

Get the parameters stable and in check. But with 6x54 T5s you can grow anything on there.

Thanks Charles. That's the plan...Get everything set/stable, then stock.

Next up:
get the parameters stable including a consistent husbandry plan to accomplish this

build an algae turf scrubber of sorts...more on this to come

 

[Trigeek]

Hello all. Figured it was time for an update.
Since June, I've slowly added some corals:
Zoas
A few cool mushrooms
frogspawn
hammer coral
brain corals
toadstool leather
duncan

Also, I've stuck to my plans and have a lot of macro algae in there. The majority of what you'll see is codium which is growing at insane rates. I also have chaeto, a big coralline cluster and some stuff that I'm not sure of.

 

[Trigeek]

The pic in the post above is of the right side of the tank.

The yellow flash is a a yellow coris wrasse flying across the tank. I rescued him from an LFS about 6 weeks ago. He was bunking with a picasso trigger that was really beating on him. His tail fin was completely gone and he is missing his lower jaw. I pointed the bullying and subsequent injuries out to the manager and he gave me the fish half off. I would have paid full price to rescue her, but wasn't about to tell the manager that!



In this pic, you can see that the lower jaw is missing. She is eating well now. Had trouble initially, but grew and also learned how to eat mysis and blackworms. Also, she has been feeding on pods and has decimated a bunch of green flatworms that were steadily growing on the codium before I got the wrasse.

She was also really skinny and is now starting to fatten up. She is a great fish - -very colorful and active. The chromis (pic below) bothered her a bit initially, but all is fine now. The chromis has been in this tanks for years so can't blame him for marking his territory.

 

[Trigeek]

More tank shots...