New 265-gal Reef Tank in my classroom

[sgeorge]

Wanted to post these pics of my tank BEFORE adding any fish. I got the live rock and live sand from Richard of Tampa Bay Saltwater. I purchased "the package" from Richard and he really delivered above and beyond what we ordered. Richard is wonderful to work with and gave me all of the instructions I needed to set my new tank up for my classroom at school (I am a high school teacher). I am a semi-newbie at this and Richard has helped me so much! The tank in these pics has been set up for 3 weeks now and is doing excellent! My students can't wait until we add some fish! Thank you Richard!!!

Will post more pics after adding fish!
Sheila

 

[d2mini]

Looks great!

You'll probably want to move the bright colored sponges more to the bottom and sides or wherever you have the least amount of light. They are not photosynthetic and prefer less light. But they do need decent flow to filter feed. The gorgonians are photosynthetic so more light for them.

 

[sgeorge]

Thanks for the advice Dennis! I will try to work on getting the sponges in lower lighting. I am waiting on the tank to finish cycling before putting fish in. All of the levels are good, except the nitrates, which are still a little high.

- Sheila

 

[Ptyochromis]

I am a big fan of his rock also. I removed most if not all of the hitchhiker sponges from the rock (chicken gizzards, etc), they won't last long without heavy phyto feedings. Removing these will help your cycle be a little less rough. It took me roughly 3-4 months to fully cure my rock, which is not almost 100% covered with thick purple coralline algae. Also check your rocks for Phyllangia americana; I got healthy sized colonies on 3 of my rocks, by far my favorite hitchhiker.

 

[d2mini]

FWIW, I've never removed all that cool stuff in my tbs tanks.
No, it doesn't tend to last but my tank has been running strong for the entire 6 months its been set up with no problems.

 

[sgeorge]

Thanks for the advice! So far, the sponges are doing good and the nitrates have gone down. We have Spring Break coming up soon and I think we are going to wait and start adding fish as soon as we are back from break - I can't wait!!!

Dennis - I know how you feel - I don't want to remove any of the cool things that I got from TBS either; I am just watching everything and seeing how it does. We received 13 anemones with our live rock! They all appear to be doing good!

 

[Ptyochromis]

I remeber spending hours looking at all the life that came with my LR. Make sure those aren't Aiptasia (I see a massive one in your first pic), a handful of innocent looking nems; but spread like crazy. 1 can become 3 in 5 days.

Keep your eyes open for crabs. I am still pulling stone crabs off my rock (some of the hitchhiker crabs are quite capable of catching fish). Know what the porcelain crabs look like so you don't accidently get rid of them (they are too cool and 100% reef safe).

I would urge you to wait till at least till may before adding the fish. Keep your eye on your ammonia levels, they will pose the largest threats. Don't add fish till they are undetectable. Edit: Richard has a great walkthrough on the site http://tbsaltwater.com/thepackage/setup.html

 

[ggsteve]

Wow, I squeezed a 50 gal salt water tank into my biology room, but I sure don't have room for a 265!

 

[sgeorge]

Hey! Thanks for alerting me to the Aiptasia, you are right, there are several good sized ones. How do you recommend getting rid of them? With sodium hydroxide? The tank is so big that I cant even lean over into it and reach some of the things in it, I have to get one of my male students that have long arms.

Right now my ammonia levels are at or near zero, BUT my nitrates are way too high, over 80 ppm. All other levels are good, but I have been fighting the nitrates for the past 3 weeks. We want to put fish in it, but I know not to do it until the nitrates are down, probably under 5 ppm. Do you know if this is normal in a new reef tank?

 

[sgeorge]

Ha-ha, I am lucky, I know! Love having this large tank in my classroom! Trying to make sure I don't make any mistakes. Of course, the students desks got a little closer together after the tank got set up, lol.

 

[Ptyochromis]

I would avoid adding undissolved sodium hydroxide to the tank. I would use aiptasia X or joes juice, make sure you turn off all your powerheads before you feed the aiptasia the product. Peppermint shrimp will also eat them. Don't try and cut them off, you will only help them spread. Edit: I hear some apitasia species can sting. It would only cause minor irritation but could be worse if the person is allergic to bee stings.

What do you have for filtration and internal flow? I would adjust your powerheads to help eliminate dead zones and move detritus to your skimmer. You could start a vodka dosing regime. I don't know how possible it would be to bring vodka into the school but you could use vinegar as a substitute (I use both). It will provide a carbon source for pelagic diatoms and some motile algaes. They will consume the carbon along with nitrates and get skimmed out of your water taking the nitrates with them(and consumed by your sponges and all those gorgonians).

Here are dosing instructions (all measurements are in ML) http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/images/magazine/vinegar_dosing/vinegar_lg.jpg

You can also grow some macro algae (chaeto caulerpa, etc), they will use the nitrates to grow.

 

[liverock]

Hey! Thanks for alerting me to the Aiptasia, you are right, there are several good sized ones. How do you recommend getting rid of them? With sodium hydroxide? The tank is so big that I cant even lean over into it and reach some of the things in it, I have to get one of my male students that have long arms.

Right now my ammonia levels are at or near zero, BUT my nitrates are way too high, over 80 ppm. All other levels are good, but I have been fighting the nitrates for the past 3 weeks. We want to put fish in it, but I know not to do it until the nitrates are down, probably under 5 ppm. Do you know if this is normal in a new reef tank?

There are none of the problem type aptasia in the Gulf......there are look alike anemones, but they do not proliferate like the indo pacific variety that folks have problems with....seldom will you see the gulf type anemones spread....

sea ya
Richard TBS
www.tbsaltwater.com:rollface::rollface::rollface:

 

[sgeorge]

Wonderful!!! Thanks Richard for clearing that up for me as I was a little concerned. Now I don't need to worry about that and will just concentrate on my water changes and reduced feedings. Thanks again Richard! Can't wait to post pics of my amazing tank with fish in it!

Sheila