RocketEngineer's 75g/125g Setup

[RocketEngineer]

Looking good man.

If you think that's a lot of flatworms you haven't seen anything. My 90g before I took it down had at least 10 times as many. Anywhere exposed to light was covered in a mat of flatworms. No more than an 1/8th" between them. Hence the reason for taking it down.

If I had that many I would be tempted to upgrade. Sucking them out seems to be reducing the numbers somewhat. Depending on how it progresses, I will either add a fish that eats them or use Flatworm eXit. We will see how it goes.

The rock work looks amazing.

Considering that its mostly dry rock, there is an amazing amount of life on it at this point.

RocketEngineer

 

[RocketEngineer]

While I have been posting pics of the pieces, its been some time since I did some overall images.

FTS 7-23-11

Left Island

Right Island

Central Valley

 

[RocketEngineer]

This is what the Halimeda looks like AFTER I trimmed it back.

My first Acan Lord now has a third row of polyps:

The Brain and second Acan Lord:

Enjoy.
RocketEngineer

 

[iwishtofish]

Looks great, as always! Do you think, though, that the algae surrounding some of the corals might irritate them and even prevent or slow their growth?

 

[RocketEngineer]

Looks great, as always! Do you think, though, that the algae surrounding some of the corals might irritate them and even prevent or slow their growth?

I've been pulling out clumps all day. Its one thing to have small patches and another to have it totally take over. The area next to the Acan Lord is just starting to get going so that will probubly be pulled tomorrow.

RocketEngineer

 

[jadendo]

Nice...I am very impressed

 

[heathsanders]

The tank is looking wonderful!

 

[RocketEngineer]

Nice...I am very impressed

Thanks.

The tank is looking wonderful!

Still very much a work in progress.

RocketEngineer

 

[RocketEngineer]

Tonight I decided to do some serious work on the tank. I started by sucking out as many of the flat worms as I could get to. Then I removed most of the halimeda especially the big patch behind the rocks. Next, I rearranged the rock work on the right hand pile to get more flow through the stack. At the same time, I removed most of the sponge that was on the top of this pile. Finally, I added a bag of sand that I had sitting around.

For future reference, remember to remove as much water from the tank as the volume of sand added..... My skimmer is going nuts and the sump is much higher than normal. I will have to fix both of these in the morning.

This is the size of the sponge that I removed from the rocks. This piece came off as one big chunk while the portion under it came off in pieces. While the outside is brown, there were sections of green and yellow on the back side. Pretty neat having it grow but it was time for a trimming.

A while back I mentioned the area under the brain coral. With having to move it to get the new sand in I snapped a picture of the underside.

As you can see, the coral has grown around the plug and down into the sand.

Finally, I was able to get a short video of the jawfish digging out its tunnel.

The noise in the background is my dog chewing on a plastic bottle.

I will snap some pictures of the new rock work tomorrow once the tank clears.

RocketEngineer

 

[TheFishMan65]

Still got that sponge? I will be out that way tomorrow at Dr Mac's. Sounds like the tank is going great

 

[RocketEngineer]

Still got that sponge? I will be out that way tomorrow at Dr Mac's. Sounds like the tank is going great

Not any more. Enjoy Dr. Mac's.

Montipora #2

This little frag broke off the frag plug and so I stuck it down in the rock. The cool thing is that it has formed a base and attached it self to the rock.

Left Island:

Central Canyon:

And the Right Island where I rearranged the rock:

In this shot you can see the tunnel that the new rock work forms:

And lastly FTS.

RocketEngineer

 

[TheFishMan65]

Oh, I did enjoy Dr Mac's. The club had a great tour. I envy you being so close.

 

[RocketEngineer]

Oh, I did enjoy Dr Mac's. The club had a great tour. I envy you being so close.

Glad you enjoyed it.

I took advantage of Dr. Mac's Lucky 7 Special where you pick six of their Under $15 frags and you get a 7th free. A sweet deal for 7 corals even if they are small. For me, just getting into corals, its great.

SO, my new additions are:

Christmas Favia:

The parent colony of this has red polyps with an apple green between them.

Lobophyllia:

Acropora:

Chalice:

War Coral:

The 7th coral is a Pavona which has a deep red body with neon green lines. For some reason, I can't get a decent picture of it. Need a better camera I think.

We will see how they do.

RocketEngineer

 

[iwishtofish]

Very nice additions! I really need to make a trip over to Dr. Mac's facility soon.

Have you considered getting any astrea snails? I bet 15 or so would really help clean the fine algae off your rocks - they've done wonders to help keep my tank clean. I believe that algae can be detrimental with regard to its ability to catch and hold detritus.

Please don't take offense at the suggestion. I think your tank is coming along beautifully, and everyone has different priorities.

 

[RocketEngineer]

Very nice additions! I really need to make a trip over to Dr. Mac's facility soon.

Have you considered getting any astrea snails? I bet 15 or so would really help clean the fine algae off your rocks - they've done wonders to help keep my tank clean. I believe that algae can be detrimental with regard to its ability to catch and hold detritus.

Please don't take offense at the suggestion. I think your tank is coming along beautifully, and everyone has different priorities.

Thanks, they have settled in and most of them extended polyps last night so that was a good sign. I definitely recommend seeing his facility in person, it is well worth the trip.

Right now, there are only two snails in the whole tank. They have been doing all right keeping things in check until now. I use a powerhead on a stick to blow off the rock regularly. This gets most of the gunk into the water and then its pulled out by the skimmer or settles into the sump where I suck it out in water changes.

I accept suggestions for what they are, good ideas that others have which may or may not apply. I will have to research them and see if they work for me or not.

Flatworms have eXited the building!
Today, I dosed my tank with flatworm eXit. I had 24 gallons of new salt water ready to go, a TLF reactor full of carbon, and my siphon on hand. Within 10 minutes the flatworms were already starting to shrivel up and come off what they were stuck to. I used the siphon to pull out all the clumps I could and the powerhead on a stick to blow off the areas behind the rocks that I couldn't see. After about 30 minutes I started running carbon. The skimmer pulled a bunch of what I think were dead flatworms. Once the visible ones were dead, I blew off all the rocks and stirred up the sump. With everything cloudy, I did a small water change. A few hours after dosing the tank, I used the rest of the fresh saltwater to do a final water change.

SO, a very successful afternoon. Flatworms finally gone and a big water change done.

RocketEngineer

 

[iwishtofish]

Congratulations on the successful attack! Be on the lookout, though - I've heard a second dose is sometimes warranted.

I've been to Dr. Mac's once before, although that was maybe 4 years ago. I was impressed. I bought a beautiful mated pair of coral banded shrimp that I killed with salinity and pH swings.

 

[RocketEngineer]

Congratulations on the successful attack! Be on the lookout, though - I've heard a second dose is sometimes warranted.

I have noticed several survivors. Given the level of infestation the first time, I think I started my carbon too soon. This second time around, I'm going to use a higher dosage and wait at least an hour before starting the carbon. While I'm not a big fan of killing off anything, these went from a critter in the refugium to a plague in under a month. I want them gone for good so I can move forward without having to worry about them for my future expansions.

RocketEngineer

 

[RocketEngineer]

With the hurricane outside, I had a chance to snap some pictures of the fish.

Citron Goby:

Firefish:

Jawfish:

Enjoy.
RocketEngineer

 

[DaKineReef]

Awesome pics and setup. Im also setting up a 75g tank but will sps dominant. Taking some ideas from your build.

Ike

 

[Chris2223]

Your tank is looking great! Your acans are looking good as well. I am about to build a stand for my 75g, and like yours I want it to be larger than the tank. What size wood did you build your stand with? It looks like 1x4s in the pictures but I want to make sure. Keep up the good work!