So it begins, part two (120G)

[carb850]

I was under my stand last night checking out my refugium and the Cheato growth. I started to unclump some of it and finally found some pods swimming around. I had started to wonder if I had any in the system or not. So I think I might be good to go with time. While under the stand, I started to think more about the buildup under my HDPE bottom.

Right side

Left side


I love the HDPE bottom because I see everything collecting on the bottom. I can siphon it out and what I cannot reach I can easily blow with a small powerhead. However, I think this buildup under the plastic is going to start causing me problems. I fit it pretty well but it just seems to be slightly raised around the edges. It wants to float anyhow, the only thing holding it down is rock and since the rock is not on the edges I believe that is what is causing the slight lifting. I don't want to silicon it down or anything.

No offense to others, but I don't like the look of a glass bottom. Even the white plastic isn't as nice as sand but it is something I can live with for the benefits. The glass bottom is not. Now, after years and the glass bottom gets encrusted with coraline but that is longer than I'm willing to wait.

So the question, will that bit of stuff collecting under the HDPE be a problem? If so, I might be going with a shallow sand bed. BTW, I think a sandbed is the nicest looking setup, I just wanted to avoid sand storms and detritus trap that sandbeds can create.

 

[carb850]

Update with a few of the corals. You can see the Pink Stylo on the right, this is just after it was put in the tank. On the left is a single zoo polyp which came from Altpers0na. I believe it is a Ding Dang but I'm not sure. It was not happy when I got it, then it took a turn for the worse, but when I moved it to the location pictured it started to open back up again and really get healthy. The skirt was previously all but gone but it is looking a little better every day. Flame Angle finally posed for a nice pic too.


Stand for the 30G is nearly complete. I have polyurethaned the interior and 2 coats on the exterior. One more coat on the exterior will complete it. Next up will be painting the back of the tank and hanging the light. At this point, the only thing I"m missing is the return pump and plumbing. I'm still hopeful it will be running in a couple weeks.

 

[carb850]

I got lazy and decided two coats of Poly was enough. Now to paint the back of the tank and hang the light. Also I need to check to see if the return pump has came in.

 

[tgruby]

glass

glass

Where did you get the glass for your sump??

 

[carb850]

Glass shop in South Charleston. Seems like I paid about $10 a piece and that was cut and polished on all sides. If your interested, I can lookup the places name.

 

[coralreefer]

More locally there's a glass shop in Ironton. I used acrylic from them for my baffles but they should be able to do you right with glass too I'd think. If you're interested I'll look up their name/address.

Mike i haven't gotten a chance to chime in on your thread lately but everything looks great.

No offense to others, but I don't like the look of a glass bottom. Even the white plastic isn't as nice as sand but it is something I can live with for the benefits. The glass bottom is not. Now, after years and the glass bottom gets encrusted with coraline but that is longer than I'm willing to wait.

LOL I'm not a fan of a glass bottom either but all mine encrusted in less than 6 months. To the point I scrape them several times a year to keep them from trapping detritus.

 

[carb850]

I have been dragging my feet on the build in the past few weeks. I now have everything I need less the plumbing to get the 30G going. I'll start on it some evening this week. First up will be hanging the light and painting the back of the tank. Then all I will need to do is plumb and fill with water.

The 120G is going well but I'm getting some hair algae now. I'm going to pull some cheato out of the fuge to give room for the rest to grow. All coral and fish are still doing great. I desperately need to add some inverts. I have a few but not anywere near as much as I should.

 

[cdbias2]

I purchased/traded for one medium Mexican Turbo from Fuji and I'm really surprised that I can notice a difference in two weeks time.
He'll clean a powerhead while it's running.

 

[carb850]

I picked up several of those myself, very few made it. Very odd, I'm not sure what happened.

 

[cdbias2]

I've read that the invert deaths that happen three and four days later are still attributed to acclimation.
I put a peppermint in and he vanished for 10 days. I thought he was an immediate snack. I guess he was coming out at night because when I realized he wasn't dead, I started looking around and noticed I have zero aptasia. Not even the tiniest of babies. Yehaaa!

 

[carb850]

It very well might of been acclimation but I did take my time and add water to the bag a little at a time. Not quiet drip acclimation but I still thought it to have been pretty slow. The one or two that made it seem to be doing fine....


30G Update:
Light finally hung. I cannot believe how lazy I have been with this. I still need to paint the back (cake) then plumb it (not so cake). I may need to locate a fitting for the Eheim 1250 so that I can run a hard line down to it. Once I get the back painted I will post an updated photo.


120G Update:
Fish and coral have been doing fine but I been seeing a lot of green hair algae. This weekend I did a 25G water change and decided to thin the Cheato. Wow, I was shocked to see how much detritus had collected in it during the past 3 months. I had been reluctant to shake it out because I didn't want to loose pods but that was a mistake because it was polluted. I also cleaned a lot of salt spray off of my fuge light along with pulling out several fist fulls of Cheato. I hope the combination of all of this along with the additional CUC on the way (3 dozen mixed snails and Blue Leg Hermits) will whipe it out.

On the unfortunate side, the Rose Milli is starting to bleach out after this water change. I'm not sure what upset it but I'm hoping it will start to grain it's color. I'm not seeing any change with the few other frags I have.

 

[carb850]

In 15 days I got the back of the cube painted black. Only thing left to do is start the plumbing. I might start that this weekend.

Last week I got in an order to boost my clean up crew in the 120. I picked up 36 snails and 36 blue leg hermits along with a Tomini Flame Fin and Tail Spot Blenny. The two fish are in my quarantine.

The algae in my 120 isn't any worse but not looking much better either. I'm still hoping the additional 'CUC', Kalk reactor, and ATO will get the tank headed back in the right direction. At the moment, I don't plan on adding any additional coral or fish until I get this under control.

 

[coralreefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15548025#post15548025 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by carb850
Last week I got in an order to boost my clean up crew in the 120. I picked up 36 snails and 36 blue leg hermits along with a Tomini Flame Fin and Tail Spot Blenny. The two fish are in my quarantine.

I was getting ready to ask if you'd gotten your new "pets" yet.
A Tail Spot Blenny is on my want list.

 

[carb850]

This order came from Blue Zoo Aquatics. So far everything is doing well but I was shocked to see how tiny the tail spot is. I'd estimate him at 1" long and less than 1/4" diameter! So far my other fish have not swallowed him.

 

[coralreefer]

Ouch that's a tiny guy for sure...then again like a puppy they grow up fast.

So far my other fish have not swallowed him.

I'm sure you're keeping everyone well fed. :lol:

I can't remember are you running GFO on your 120?

 

[carb850]

No I'm not running GFO, only carbon but that is changing. I'm embarrassed by the tank in it's current condition and decided to declare war.

For starters the 30G cube will be on hold until I start seeing a significant decrease in nuisance algae.

Next is to start GFO and I will run it rather than Carbon for the time, I already have an order from Bulk Reef Supply on the way. I also ordered a Salifert Magneseum kit from them as well. I read that proper magnesium levels tend to decrease algae. I hope to pick up an API ALK and API Calcium kit locally so I can get my baseline on all 3.

The end goal is to get the Kalk reactor online but first I hope to get the Mag/Cal/Alk levels up by manual dosing. Then I'm hoping Kalk will maintain the Cal/Alk (at my current coral stocking levels) and occasionally check and manual dose Mag (1X a week maybe?).

By doing the above with the current increased CUC and more regular syphoning of detritus from the sump/display I expect things to improve.

 

[MattG]

Sounds like you will be on top of the algae in no time. The Blenny sounds very cool!

 

[carb850]

The Blenny is pretty cool. He is starting to come out and swim a little bit more. Very attractive little fish.

So I just checked my Mag. levels and if I'm reading the kit correctly I'm sitting at 1300ppm which is good. I still need to get a Calcium and Alk kit.

I did however check my water from the RO/DI and it is measuring 0.08 tds. Time for change the DI resin. My last DI resin lasted much longer but then again I was just keeping up with a very lightly stocked 30G tank. Initinally filling the current display took a few days

 

[carb850]

API Calcium test - 420ppm
Salifert Alk - 9.3 dKH
New DI resin - Water 0tds

I'm glad I tested my water, I had been planning on buying Calcium Chloride, Sodium Bicarbonate, and Magnesium Chloride to get my levels right before starting my Kalk but it appears that will be unnecessary. So for now, about the only things I know to do about my GHA is run GFO and siphon the tank/sump more regularly.

Could old MH bulbs or ambient sunlight be contributing any?

 

[coralreefer]

Great levels...what salt are you using?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15575612#post15575612 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by carb850
about the only things I know to do about my GHA is run GFO and siphon the tank/sump more regularly.

Also more or larger water changes and blowing off the patches of GHA religiously .

IME and from everything I've learned PHOSPHATE is limiting for GHA ...and only phosphate. In theory bad spectrum/par could encourage algae growth but the food it needs has to be there first.
Remember you can test 0 for PO3 and still have it present. Either in it's not testable (organic vs. inorganic) or it's being utilized by algae and not free in the water column.