Step-by-step account of my first reef (with lots of pics)

[bcoons]

Nice set up, Mike. Very similar to what I am doing (but I wish my garage was as neat!)

I made a quick run to Austin this morning to get some items. Hit both the LFS, but managed not to buy anything.

I'm doing a 5 gal water change on my 20 gal tank every other week. I'm also mixing (store bought for now) RO/DI water and salt in a 20 gal Rubbermaid Brute trash can (in yellow, to distinguish from my (gray) FW set up. Also using a powerhead and heater, and use the powerhead and hose to transfer to the main tank.

I'd also like to do something like weatherson's setup. I'm looking to make some sort of a wheeled dolly that will get the can far enough off the floor to install a bulkhead fitting and a 90 degree right in the bottom of the bucket. Then a pump and a ball valve switch arrangement so I can use the pump to either circulate and areate water in the can, or pump it up to my tank.

Eventually I'll get an RO/DI unit under the kitchen sink, then try to get "permission" to put a Rubbermaid bin next to the microwave stand. It's not THAT ugly.

As for the tube thru the wall, an old ham radio trick to route co-ax cable outside with a neat seal is to use a couple of the wall plates designed to pass the TV co-ax cable. The hole in the wallplate is just over 1/4 in and can be drilled or reamed out a little if necessary. You can either just drill a hole through the walboard and just screw or RTV the wall plates on the wallboard, or go whole hog and cut a couple of back to back rectangular holes on either side of the wall and install the open back, plastic, low voltage junction boxes sold at any home improvement store. That's how my son and I did a lot of the wall penetrations when we were wiring the house for CAT 5e. I don't see why you can't do the same thing with the RO/DI plastic tubing. Hope that made sense! If not, I'll try to find some pictures.

One question - How long do you let your saltwater mix "age"? I've heard various guidelines of 1 to 4 days. I've been making mine on Sat mornings and usually do the water change on Sunday afternoons. Is that long enough, you think?

Bruce

 

[Dudester]

Hey Bruce, I think as long as all of the salt has totally dissolved and it's mixing vigorously enough to ensure good oxygenation, then 1 day would be long enough. I think you've already answered the question, though, since your tank inhabitants are doing well. If your technique was off, your fish/corals would rebel when you did a water change. I personally prefer to allow the salt to mix and aerate longer, which is why I have 2 trashcans for saltwater. Got room in your garage for another 20 Brute? I guess mine probably mixes for a week or more before I use it. I completely empty one can before tapping into the other. I read that you can store saltwater for a long time without it deteriorating in quality, so that's why I do it this way. Hope this is correct, and if not, someone please correct me. Hmm, maybe that's why my fish are dying? No, couldn't be.

The wheeled dolly idea is great, but you wouldn't necessarily have to elevate your can. The plumbing inside could simply rise up to wherever you place your bulkhead, right?

Thanks also for the info about passing the RO/DI conduit through the wall. I think I'd have a better chance for this project to be "approved" if I don't cut out a large rectangular hole and instead, make the cuts only as large as the tubing itself. I like the idea of using the wall plates, and I can envision a few 90 degree J-G fittings to keep things adjacent to the wall. Yep, that should increase the approval rating substantially.

Am I on the right track? Any other ideas?

 

[Dudester]

No updates lately, I know. I've been involved in a very intense experiment testing how much I can neglect my tank. The system is about 3 and 1/2 months old now, and I've been so busy the last 6 days that all I've done is make sure my topoff container has RO/DI. I've fed the tank only 4 times in the last 6 nights (usually an enjoyable daily task), I've emptied the skimmer cup only twice (usually every other day), and I've not run any water chemistry tests.

The good news is that everything is alive and well. The bad news is that there are many more gray flatworms stalking my glass, coralline algae is thickening on the glass, and I may have a bryopsis problem. Initially I thought it was just green hair algae but after seeing photos of bryopsis, I may have this as well. This weekend I plan to do a FWE treatment, large water change, and manually pick out as much of the GHA and bryopsis as possible. I'm preparing for a week-long trip away for the holidays, so I'll have to tune up the system as much as possible.

I have someone to come over to the house to feed the tank, but that's all she'll be doing. I'm going to label and wrap up individual portions of food for each day so that all she has to do is drop it in a cup of tank water, let it thaw, then drop it into the tank. She won't be turning off my CL flow pump or the sump pump, so I'm sure a lot of the food will drain into the sump. I think this is a better option than to have her turn off pumps and forget to turn them on. I think I'll have her feed every other day. The corals will do OK with just light, and my surviving clownfish is so fat I'm sure he won't become malnourished.

I'm not going to ask her to dose B-Ionic either, but I haven't been doing it myself over the past several days. Hmm, wonder what my calcium is? I'll check it this weekend. I think it's OK as my little acro frag is laying down a nice base.

 

[bcoons]

Dudester,

I hope your trip away from the tank goes better than mine. I just got back from a quick business trip to Pheonix. I left on Tues and just got back. I left the tank in the usually competent hands of my wife and son.

My wife says the Royal Gramma went MIA on Tuesday. Same as the Purple Pseudochromis. No sign of a body. But the Condy anemone looks happy and healthy. Then this morning she found the body of the Ocellaris Clown on the sand. No idea what killed it. I checked all tank parameters and the only thing slightly off was a little bit of nitrites, < 0.25 ppm, which is troubling. Did I miss an ammonia spike due to a fish being digested by the anemone, and only seeing the Nitrites?

Now I'm really wondering what the heck happened. Did the anemone really eat another of my fish? And what killed the Clown. This is really discouraging. It will teach me not to talk about how well my tank is doing.

I hope your trip ends much better.

Bruce

 

[hootie51]

Mike, this thread is incredible! I've just spent the last hour and a half reading from start to finish. I am about to embark on my own reef adventure in a month or so (with a 40 gallon stretch hex) and am doing some research and have found your story very helpful. I'm going to build my own sump/refug out of a 20 gallon and I cannot figure out how to make a closed loop system like yours. I'm not very "handy" and am nervous about attempting to do it so any suggestions or tips are appreciated. THanks, Steven
P.S. your tank looks AWESOME! truly an inspiration.

 

[Dudester]

Bruce - Sorry about your losses. This is a finicky hobby, especially when dealing with small volume systems like ours. Now imagine how fragile the really small (1-12 gallon) nanos are. Just yesterday I had mentioned how everything was alive and well. I guess I spoke too soon. When I got home last night, I found the tissue of one of my blasto polyps sloughing off into the water column right before my eyes. This morning the skeleton was completely denuded. The other 6 polyps are fleshy and healthy, so I'm not sure what happened. Admittedly I haven't been giving the tank the attention it deserves over the past week and maybe if I had been I could have intervened, but I can't say for sure.

I think you're right in that there probably was an ammonia spike while you were in Phoenix. I'd do a big water change if I were you. You may wish to spend some serious quallity time observing that anemone, and if it indeed is feasting on your fish, get him out of there . I think John may have warned you about that particular species of anemone as well.

hootie - I'm impressed that you've spent so much time on this thread, and glad you feel it was worth it. The closed loop was a little intimidating, I'll admit. I knew absolutely nothing about plumbing and in order to get the materials necessary, I simply printed a picture of the CL from Melev's website (I linked it earlier) and took it to Home Depot. After waiting 20 minutes for some help, one of the guys there looked at the image with me and helped me find all of the necessary fittings to make the CL. When it came time to assemble it, I had some help from John who showed me how to connect pieces of PVC. We did about 1/3 of it together and I did the rest myself. It was really quite easy and actually pretty fun, so don't be too intimidated. If you don't have anyone local who can show you how to connect PVC, let me know and I'll spell it out for you. Best of luck and keep us updated on your progress.


Anyone have any advice about anything else I should do in preparation for my week of absence?

 

[Dudester]

Today I got some green star polyps. I did a 15 minute dip in Lugols solution plus some Flatworm Exit before adding it to my display. I used 1 gallon of water and added 40 drops of Lugols and 5 drops of FWE. I placed the GSP at the bottom of my tank, and I'll move them up over time to acclimate them to the light. No pics as they've only been in the tank for about 5 hours and they're nearly maximally contracted from the dip (I presume). A few polyps are extended so I know the dip wasn't lethal. Interestingly my flatworm population is dwindling off in my tank without any treatment. Not sure why but it pleases me, and I didn't treat the tank with FWE this weekend. Wish I could say the same for my bryopsis population - it continues to thrive, but I'll get after it tomorrow.

Last night I got an early holiday gift - the Reef Keeper!!! It's taking all the discipline I can muster not to hook it up, and I'm resisting since I don't want to risk anything going wrong with it while I'm away next week. Hope I can hold out.

 

[bcoons]

Hey, I want to see that Reef Keeper, too!

I guess I'm also going to have to learn about this "dipping" stuff before I get any corals. I thought you just sort of plopped them into the tank after some acclimation. I guess I still have a lot to learn.

Check your PM!

Bruce

 

[melev]

40 drops of Lugol's Solution sounds like much too much to me. Where did you get that recipe from?

A few years ago, people told me to dose Iodine. I bought some Lugol's and put a drop in my 29g. Then I thought "what the heck will a drop do? I'll add another just for good measure." Suddenly my clownfish started seizing, gaping their mouths widely and struggled to swim, breathe and I swear their eyes got larger. :eek2: What on earth could I do?! Nothing. I didn't have new saltwater made up nor a place to put my fish. I just stood there helpless watching my fish hoping they'd survive my stupidity. That was 2 drops in a 29g tank. The fish did survive, although it was scary for about 5 to 10 minutes. I never overdosed my tank again after that event.

40 drops in 1 gallon sounds like it could do quite a bit of harm to a new coral that is already stressed from bagging, transport, and reacclimation. But if someone reputable gave you this advice, please let me know because I really want to know.

 

[Dudester]

Bruce - There's definitely more to acclimating corals than that. They must be adjusted to the temperature and pH of your tank water, and each coral has different light and flow requirements. Be sure to read profusely about each coral you plan to aquire, and try to avoid the temptation of going to a LFS and buying something just because it looks good to you at that moment.

Marc - Interesting story about your fish, glad it ended well. The bottle of Kent Marine Lugol's Solution reads, and I quote, "To use as a dip for corals, in a separate bucket add 40 drops Lugol's Solution to 1 gallon aquarium water, and immerse coral for 10-15 minutes." I made up the volume of FWE (5 drops) based on Salifert's instructions to add 1 drop per gallon of system water. Following my "dip," I rinsed the coral off in a container of fresh, pure saltwater to rid it of the iodine and FWE before placing it into my tank. I presume it was stressed after the dip but I certainly didn't want to import any undesirable hitchikers. Do you have a better recommendation, I'd love to hear it.

 

[melev]

I just checked my bottle of Tropic Marine Lugol's Solution, and their instructions state to add 1 drop per 50g of water, and never to exceed 2 drops per 50g. Their instructions don't state anything about using it as a coral dip, so I can't add any more input.

You might contact Eric Borneman or Anthony Calfo in their forums, or even Randy Holmes Farley since he's our chemistry wizard, just to make sure.

Regarding Flatworm eXit, I don't see a problem at all.

 

[Dudester]

Marc - I didn't ask Randy but I can tell you that my GSPs are doing great despite the Lugols. I checked my bottle of Kent Marine Lugol's solution again, and my quote was correct. It seems like the Tropic Marine version of Lugol's that you used is 2x as concentrated as Kents, because for routine dosing of iodine the Kent bottle says to add 1 drop for each 25 gallons of water weekly. I don't plan on dosing this regularly, just use it as a dip. Also note that I rinsed my coral off well in saltwater before adding it to my tank. Marc, do you dip your new corals and if so, what's your recipe?

Incidentally, I did some more reading on green star polyps (Pachyclavularia violacea) today and in Borneman's book, his first comment under the "Special Information" section reads: "There are many reports of iodine additions (in the form of Lugol's solution) causing an adverse reaction in these colonies, often leading to a lack of expansion or even colony death." :eek2: I just hope that the fact that they're doing well now means I've escaped this potential disaster. And I thought I had read a lot. Just goes to show you how much there is to know and learn in this hobby.


Today I accomplished a lot. I siphoned out 1/4" of detritus from my sump, glued some zoos onto the left side of my aquascape, and moved my orange Ricordea to the left side as well. This area will be my future zoo and Ric field. I also pruned nearly all of the visible GHA and bryopsis from my tank. Wherever I couldn't pull it out, I repositioned my astrea snails directly over it. I scraped the coralline algae off the glass with a razor blade, and did a 5 gallon water change. I cleaned out the overflow box, and also cleaned out the sponge in my sump. I extracted the GSPs from the rock they came on and glued them onto my overflow box. They look great, by the way, with nearly all of the polyps out and expanded.

Here are my parameters tonight:
salinity 1.0265
pH ~8.2
Ca 400
alk 6.7
nitrate 0.1
phos 0

I haven't dosed B-ionic in about 10 days, so I'm not sure why my Ca is at 400, but I'll take it. My alk is very low, I guess as a result of not dosing, so I did dose the B-ionic this evening and added more kalk to my topoff.

Still preparing for my trip, making sure everything will be in top shape before my departure. Maybe I'll have some pics soon but I have a lot to do before I leave town.

 

[melev]

No, I don't dip my corals, unless there is an exact reason to do so. For example, if the coral is coming from another tank that I've seen is infested with flatworms, I'll put a few drops of Flatworm eXit in the bag that coral is acclimating in to kill those off. But that is about it.

I do study the corals closely to make sure I don't introduce new pests, but I'm not meticulous like some. So far, all has gone well.

 

[Dudester]

Well from the look of the number of corals in your tank(s) it's obvious that you're doing something right. I had never dipped before this most recent episode, and I was motivated to do so since I'm convinced that I got flatworms from that blasto colony. I agree that a selective approach is a good way to go.

Last night while sleeping (yes, I dream about my tank) I figured out why my alk is so low. Due to the recent colder weather I've had to cut back on the use of my fan. I've had it completely off for the past 10 days, and the tank temp has been 77.5-81.5. As a result this has translated into less evaporation. Previously I was topping off nearly 10 gallons per week, and now I'm topping off only 5 gallons per week. Less evaporation and topoff, of course, means less kalk addition to my tank. Maybe I'll put a tsp of baking soda in my tank tonight to give the alkalinity a boost, does that sound right? The good thing about having less evaporation is that I won't have to worry about my topoff reservoir of RO/DI going dry while I'm away.

 

[Dudester]

I'm not usually one to complain, but I will say that I demand to get what I pay for. Last weekend, when making up some saltwater, I opened a brand new bucket of Instant Ocean salt. I was shocked to see that it was a solid rock of salt. The bucket comes with a rubber O-ring in the top, and it's sealed so tightly that you actually have to hit it with a hammer to get it open. I suspect someone must have opened it at some time, and moisture got into the container. I had to pound it with a hammer and an ice pick for an hour and a half in order to get to the granular salt beneath the solid mass layer on top. The yield of granular salt in this 160 gallon bucket is only about 1/3 of the bucket, the rest now being fist-sized rocks of salt. I'm not even sure if this salt should be used, and if it is it'll be a PITA to measure out and mix. I e-mailed Marineland (the manufacturers of IO salt) twice over the last week and they still haven't responded :mad2:. Should I still use the salt or should I take the bucket back to PetSmart where I got it? I'm certainly getting nowhere with Marineland.

 

[bcoons]

I'd take it back to PetsMart. They should understand why you might feel it's unusable.

BTW, do any of the PetsMart stores deal in salt water fish? The one in Killeen doesn't, and I don't think I ever did see one with SW. Maybe in bigger population centers?

 

[thelacys]

Love this thread!!!!! First of all, it is incredibly informative for those of us who are new to this hobby, and, secondly, you are a riot!!!! My husband and I have been laughing over everything that has been exchanged on this thread . . . of course, then we had to ask ourselves how we've become geeks that spend all of their time researching on-line and laughing at fish jokes!:rollface:

Hope everything survives your holiday travel -- we're trying to plan for the same thing with our tank. We'll see how it goes!

 

[Dudester]

bcoons - Our PetSmart has a limited supply of saltwater fish, mostly just tank-raised clownfish, and a few basic supplies. I use them for salt (it's pretty cheap there, especially if you print out their internet price sheet, which they'll match ) and to equip my quarantine tank, but not much else. I'd take my bucket back to them but I've long disposed of the receipt and doubt they'd trade it out for me. I posted a thread asking about the suitability of my clumpy salt and a reefer down in Florida, where it's quite humid, said this is common and that he'd use the salt. I think I'll go ahead and use it. But first I'll have to rent a jackhammer just so I can measure the dang stuff out. BTW, is it PetSmart or PetsMart?

thelacys - Dang, I wish I had that "Welcome to Reef Central" banner, I'd flash it right here and now. Glad you're enjoying this thread and please feel free to chime in whenever you have a question or comment. You're fortunate to have a spouse who enjoys the hobby as much as you. Based on much of what I read here on RC, I'd say you're in the minority. My wife supports my addiction (she's my sugar mama), but she doesn't necessarily approve of the time I spend.

 

[Dudester]

Allright, this is perhaps my last entry before going away tomorrow. Before I go, here are just a couple of pics. This first one is of my new zoanthid and ricordea field. It's quite barren currently, but I plan to acquire several new rad-colored zoos and rics in the near future.

The green zoos are a "frag" that I broke off of the huge rock that was filled with them. If you recall, that rock had only 2 orange zoos, and now the orange ones have really taken off and are multiplying. I'll transplant some of them onto this area as well. Above the green zoo rock you might be able to see the orange ricordea polyp. It's still pretty small and hasn't grown much, maybe it's under too much light, not sure? Keep looking for it, it'll give you something to do while I'm gone .

Here are my green star polyps. They came on a piece of LR and I basically just lifted them off quite easily then super glued them onto my overflow box. Sorry about the poor quality - the water's a mess since I had just fed the tank.

This picture also shows my little tricolor acro frag and the new location of frogspawn jr.

Here's a closer view of the GSP. I'm hoping that they'll spread out over the entire overflow box.

The rock from which they came still has about 7 GSP polyps, and I'm hoping that they'll spread out over that rock as well.


That's it for now. I probably won't be checking into RC while I'm gone so I hope everyone has a happy holiday. Don't let this thread die in my absence! Just to keep you occupied, here are a few noncontroversial topics. Discuss amongst yourselves.

Glass vs. acrylic?
DSB vs. barebottom?
Needle-wheel or venturi skimmer?
Which type of salt to use?
Do I really need a sump?
Should I use ozone?
How many tangs can I have in my 40?

 

[melev]

:lol:

To welcome someone to RC, just put welcome between brackets in your post without spaces. Then it will look like:

[welcome]

The answers to your questions:

Glass!
DSB!
Needle-Wheel!
Kent!
YES!
Nah.
1.