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

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I will say this. Since the loss of my last sixline wrasse, the 'pod population has exploded in my tank. True, there may be enough in my tank to keep a mandarin happy, but I'd rather have one that eats prepared foods and utilizes the pods as a snack or as a 'between meal' supplement as opposed to that being the primary source of nutrition.

John, are you saying that target mandarins are never blue, and only the ones with the striped pattern (psychedelic, I believe they're called) are blue?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7780351#post7780351 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Dudester
are you saying that target mandarins are never blue, and only the ones with the striped pattern (psychedelic, I believe they're called) are blue?
Click to expand...

That would be correct. The Target Mandarin (S. picturatus) tends to be green or sometimes orange, while the Psychedelic Mandarin (S. splendidus) come in blues, greens, reds.... The target is always the smaller of the two species.
 
got some stuff

got some stuff

My Marine Depot order arrived, and I unpacked the loot last night. Here's what I got:

1. Current USA Lunar Light Moonlight - I was all prepared to get the IceCap moonlight, but when I spoke with the Marine Depot guy on the phone, he talked me into this one by Current USA. He pointed out that it's half the price, comes with 2 LED's as opposed to 1, and additional LED's can be added on serially without additional power cords if I ever want to use this on a larger tank (and I will!). I hooked this up last night and let me say this. I will never own a tank without a moonlight again! Let me repeat, I WILL NEVER OWN A TANK WITHOUT A MOONLIGHT AGAIN!! The fluorescence of the favites coral, the frogspawn, the mouths of the zoas, and even one of my acro frags (the a. austera) was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Best 15 bucks I've spent on the tank, hands down.

2. Mag-Drive Supreme 12 Impeller (x2)

3. Mag-Drive Supreme 5 Impeller - shoulda gotten 2

4. Dissekt-Rite 7" Coral Fragging Shear - What can I say, I'm an optimist!

5. Jager TS 50W heater - What? In the summer? IN TEXAS?? I know, but I got it in case one of my other ones fails at some time. Plus, I think I'll use it in my QT as I have been very unsatisfied with the performance of the Hydor heater that I use in there.

6. ESV B-Ionic 2-Part Calcium Buffer 2 gallon - I know, I know, I said I was going to use Randy's 2-part solution. But when I was ordering the other stuff, it was so much easier to click the button than to try and obtain all of the components for Randy's solution, bake the baking soda, mix it up, etc. What can I say, I'm a slave to convenience.

7. Hagen Isolation Tank with Cover-Lid - I'll use this to acclimate new fish. I've been using a plastic paint container that I've hung over the side of the tank, but it's not transparent and I can't view the fish with this while they acclimate. The Hagen unit is pretty small, but the fish I buy for my tank are also quite small, so this should do.

8. Marina Floating Thermometer - A little cheapy thing for my saltwater mixing can.

9. and 10. Tom Aqatics Aqua Lifter dosing pump (x2) and Pre-Filter (x4) - I change the pre-filters regularly, and since I can't afford for the siphon to fail, I will change the dosing pumps every 6 months.

11. Python 25 Ft Air Line Tubing (x2) - Hey, you can never have too much air line tubing.

12. Rainbow Lifegard Aquarium Digital Thermometer Little Time or Temp - This is the same thermometer I use in the main tank, and the suction cup no longer sticks to the glass. It's been floating behind the aquascape for months now, and since I couldn't find a simple replacement suction cup, I just bought a new thermometer. You'd think I just won the lottery or something, eh?

13. Captive Sun 4" Coolilng Fan Kit - I've renamed this fan "The Marriage Salvager." This fan better be quieter than my current Radio Shack fan, or I'm in trouble. I considered the IceCap variable speed fan, like Melev suggested, but that fan comes with a temperature probe that measures ambient air, not water temperature. So I went with a more standard fan that I can plug into the ReefKeeper to control the on/off positions. I haven't hooked this up yet, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

14. and 15. Maxi-Jet 1200 and Hydor Flo Rotating Water Deflector - If you revisit page 1 of this thread, you'll see where one of my goals of this system was to avoid placing any powerheads in the tank. After seeing the flow in the tank where my last batch of SPS came from, I decided that my 30x/hr turnover was inadequate. So last night I placed this powerhead into the tank, just beneath the overflow and aiming behind the aquascape. There was a tiny sandstorm that resulted, but it had settled by this morning. With this extra 295 gph of water movement, my tank now turns over its volume ~40x/hr. Now the mille frags really whip around! It doesn't look too bad, quite honestly, and I'm going to hook this powerhead up to the ReefKeeper so that it shuts off during the night time. If only I could make the suction cups stick better to the back glass. The glass was covered in coralline and I scraped it off with a razor blade, but it still doesn't seem to want to stay in place. Any tricks?

16. and 17. Salifert Magnesium and Iodine test kits. I've never measured either of these, so I'm curious what my levels will be. I sorta hope my tank is Mg-deficient, then I can add some and maybe this will help to provide some color to my pale SPS. The iodine kit is also important since I have been dosing 2 drops of Lugol's solution every week. Naturally I'll let y'all know the results once I run these tests.

If anyone needs links to the above items, let me know. Or just search them out on MarineDepot.com - they're all there.
 
Man...looks like someone did a little shopping :D . Funny thing is, like you all know, that I'm getting ready to set up a 55 in the next week or so. I just ordered the last bits that I needed from Dr. F & S (they had a great sale on salt) and there's just something about ordering a refractormeter, thermometer, small backup heater, etc. that's cool and geeky at the same time. There are just so many cool "toys" that I have to steer away from. It always leaves me saying, "man that is so cool and would do [blank] and that should eliminate [blank]." I must be in too deep already considering I don't even have my tank full of water, sand, or rock yet :eek1:

Looks like you made some great purchases and can't wait to see some pics of the corals under the moonlights.

Needless to say I can't wait to get my goods in tomorrow and get things filled this coming week. Getting ready to take the plunge....

Adam
 
divecj5 - Yep, it's confirmed, you've got the bug! You're in for a lot of excitement.

fishypets - Glad you found this thread, Clint. Please feel free to chime in whenever you see that I'm screwing up.
 
I did some more shopping, and this time it wasn't dry goods. On Thursday my main man John called to report that he had a spunky, healthy-looking juvenile percula clownfish at his LFS. He held it for me and Friday (3 days ago) I went and picked it up, along with another sixline wrasse and 2 emerald crabs. And just to prove my desire for a "mixed" reef, I got a small sarcophyton (toadstool) coral as well. Both fish ate hardily at the store, and later that night at home. The sixline is probably the prettiest one I've ever seen - beautiful bright colors, clear eyes, and not a nipped fin or any signs of disease. The clownfish is about 1/3 the size of my current female. There was the expected amount of initial agression when the newcomer tried to enter the realm of HER frogspawn, but after a few hours they began to hang out together and I haven't seen any malicious activity since. I'm feeling really good about this one!

The toadstool ain't happy in my tank. At the store it was standing straight up and beautiful green polyps were extended from the capitulum, the disc-like platform on the end of the stalk. I gave it a 20 minute Lugol's dip and placed it into the tank at the bottom, in moderate flow. The stalk has been totally "limp" and I've not seen any polyp extension since it left the LFS. At the store it was under fluorescent lighting, and my tank has a 250W MH, so maybe it's too bright. I meant to place it into a shady spot but I forgot. I'll do this tonight when I get home if it looks the same. Any more advice from all you leather coral experts out there?

Saturday I mounted the new fan. I located it behind the wood on the light rack instead of in front of it, so the appearance has improved. I'll get pics as soon as I find the energy to photograph all of my new corals. The name I gave the fan is accurate! The thing is whisper quiet, but this comes at a price. It's not as powerful as my previous fan, and the tank temp now max's out at 82.7, which is warmer than I'd like. Nothing seemed to suffer in the tank, however, so I don't think I'm going to freak about it. Rich Durso's tank runs higher than 83 in the summer, if I recall correctly, and his tank is awesome, so I'm not all that worried.

Yesterday Bruce (bcoons) came over to the house, and we traded one of his home-aquacultured xenia frags for a rock of green zoanthids. Until now I've underappreciated the amount of flow in my tank due to a lack of long-polyped corals (except for the frogspawn which abuts the aquascape). I wanted to place the xenia in an isolated spot on the substrate so that they wouldn't spread onto the aquascape. I selected what I thought was a low-flow zone so that the xenia could pulse, but it turns out there really aren't any low-flow zones. Even though the coral was fixed to some LR rubble, it got swept away in the current immediately. I ultimately had to wedge it's rock beneath additional pieces of LR rubble, and if it does well it will likely spread out onto those rocks, which I'll remove and give to others or trade. When it was floating in the bag during acclimation, the polyps were fully extended and they were 'pulsing' as expected. Under the flow it's subjected to now, the polyps are only about 1/2-1/3 extended, and there's very little visible pulsatile activity. I hope they acclimate to the higher flow soon.

In other news, my new acro frags are starting to lay down a base, and the ricordia love their new location. They're coloring back up and they're more open than I've seen them in months.

Sorry for the lack of pics - I really need to get some updated shots, but I've been busy at work and barely have enough time to work on the tank, let alone take pictures of it.
 
The leather coral may be stressed by the purchase, bagging and subsequent Lugol's Iodine dip. It may take 5 - 10 days for it to come around again. If you see it melting away, you'll want it out of the tank PDQ, but remember all leathers shed so don't panic. Study the coral closely before taking any action.
 
I'm running carbon just in case, and now that I have a toxic sarcophyton in the tank, I think I'll keep carbon in the sump 24/7; I'd hate to place the other corals at risk. The carbon is in a media bag in the sump between the fuge and return section, so it gets pretty decent flow even though it's technically still being used "passively." There's no sign of shedding, but if it does I'll try and remove that 'skin'. I'll heed your advice, Melev, and just leave it where it is and watch it closely. Strangely, I'm actually more comfortable with husbandry practices for SPS corals than I am with softies.
 
Nice Tank!

Nice Tank!

As the Dudester noted, I got to see his tank in person on Sunday. As many other people have noted about many tanks, photos just don't dioit justice! Man, what a nice tank. It's layout, clarity, colors, and overall appearance are just beautiful. I really like the way the stand puts it up at a slightly higher than normal height. It makes it really easy to view and enjoy.

One other thing I have to note. As an engineer, I tend to look at layout, design, equipment placement, functionality, and overall systems integration. I probably groove on the engineering aspects more than the critters themselves. For me the challenge is creating and maintaining the environment, the critters are the criteria to test the results. I gotta tell ya, for a guy that's not an engineer, Dudester's tank is one nice environmental machine. It shows a lot of forethought, design, attention to detail, and most of all well-engineered functionality. It made me come home and look at my own system with a more critical eye. I'm going to incorporate some of his ideas on cleaning up my under-cabinet wiring.

His tank is truly something to aspire to. When he gets to the "monster" tank, I envision it giving Weatherson a run for the money. :)

"Tanks" for the tour, Mike. :rollface:
 
:bigeyes: Excuse me for a minute while I try to stop myself from choking!

Bruce, thanks for the overly kind and unjustified compliments! I feel as if the colors in my tank are dull, dull, dull, especially when I compare it to Clint's and most of the other tanks we see here on RC. While I'm on the topic of Clint, he suggested that I feed DT's oyster eggs to my tank 2x/week, since he noticed a huge improvement in his SPS's colors after doing this. I'm going to give it a try.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7805915#post7805915 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bcoons
When he gets to the "monster" tank, I envision it giving Weatherson a run for the money. :)
Click to expand...
Ummmmmmm, that's a lot (nearly impossible) to live up to! I doubt I'm up to the task, especially since my CFO wouldn't allow me to have a tank room like Weatherson's. But when the time comes, I'll do my darndest not to let you down.

By the way, the xenia frag acclimated to the new flow just wonderfully, I love it. Thanks for the trade, and I hope the zoanthids thrive in your tank as well.

The new clownfish is still alive (he's past the dreaded 3-day mark in my tank). He looks great other than a small area of lymphocystis on the back of his right eye. This probably arose due to the stress of the move, and the treatment includes excellent nutrition and water quality. I did a water change 3 days ago, so that should be covered. I've started feeding him 2x/day as opposed to my usual routine of 1x/day, and hopefully this will cure the disease quickly.
 
Dudester- I'd love to see some pictures of that leather when its looking good. I've never been able to find a green polyped toadstool. I got back from a few days at a friends house and the clam has stayed where I put him and the edge of the fleshy part is looking a LOT better. Looks like he might not die after all :D . I bought some green star polyps with that clam and only half of the mat is open. All other corals look great and fully extended, so I don;t know what might be bugging half of the GSP. I was also very excited when I came home to see that all of the cyano is gone and I finally have a nice looking white sandbed. I really want to post some pictures and have been trying for a long time now, but I cannot get any decent shots. I shoot at night with a tripod with no other lights in the room, but the pictures still seem to turn out blurry. Any suggestions?
 
Alex - I'm very happy to hear that your clam is thriving! I'll admit, I was worried about it. Don't worry about your GSP's - they often retract into the mat and don't extend polyps. Mine have done it for weeks at a time, but they always return to full bloom. As long as the purple mat remains attached and doesn't disintegrate away, you'll be fine. You might want to squirt some current onto them with a turkey baster occasionally to prevent detritus from building up between the polyps. Regarding your pictures, are you using auto-focus? Make sure your circulation pumps are off during photo sessions, and you may want to increase the shutter speed, especially since you're using a tripod. That should help with your focus problems. For more photography help, you can check Melev's page, or browse around the photography forum. I've just shared all I know about reef photography.


My toadstool is looking decidedly better. Last night I saw that it was shedding a skin, and the stalk was no longer limp but standing up instead. About 1/2 of the polyps (where the skin had been shed) were partially extended, and the remainder of the capitulum had a glassy appearance (representing the "skin," no doubt). I hope to go home tonight to a fully extended leather!

The juvenile clownfish looks better - less lymphocystis behind the right eye. The sixline has a cloudy eye, almost like a cataract, but hopefully this will resolve as quickly as it arose. It looks quite good otherwise.
 
First an update on older news:

The juvenile clownfish has nearly cleared the lymphocystis on its eye, and the sixline wrasse no longer has a cloudy eye. The toadstool leather coral was fully upright yesterday and the polyps were extended over the entire coral.

And now for some new news:

Before everyone prepares to slam me, let me first say that I have a plan. OK, here it goes ...


(preparing for a flying knee to the head)


I got a tang.



:bounce1: :bounce2: :bounce3: :dance:




It's a juvenile chocolate, or mimic tang (Acanthurus pyroferus), and it's one of the prettiest fish I've ever seen. It's a golden yellow color, very silky, almost like honey. It acclimated very nicely into my tank and it seems less stressed than any other fish I've added in the past. My tank has grape caulerpa growing on the LR, as well as other lettuce algae, and this should be great for it to nip upon. I intend to feed it romaine lettuce, broccoli, nori, as well as my usual food mixture that contains some veggies and macroalgae.

Now for my plan (everyone put down your weapons). I know I shouldn't have a tang in my 30g tank, but I consider this a temporary holding tank for this fish. In 7 months my 450 gallon office tank will be up and running, and I will move the fish at that time to a more appropriate home. In the meantime, it can clean up my macroalgae problem.

John (thedude) made some good points. By commiting to this fish for my large office tank, I probably won't be able to have a sohal tang, powder brown tang, or powder blue tang (this is probably my favorite fish of all time), but that's OK with me. I'll still be able to have yellow tangs, purple tangs, and others that don't share the chocolate's body shape or coloration.

I was supposed to take some pics last night, but I got busy watching my new fish. Hopefully by tonight the euphoria will have eroded and I'll be able to see straight.
 
Oh, almost forgot. I finally ran iodine and magnesium tests with the kits I just got. Here are the results:

Mg 1200
iodide >0.1
iodate undetectable

Should I supplement some magnesium?

I'm not sure what to do about the iodide and iodate levels, either. The paperwork indicates that these should both be between 0.3-0.6. I should probably stop adding the Lugol's solution (contains free iodine and potassium iodide) or add less, or possibly supplement with something else, I'm not sure. I've asked the question in the Salifert forum, and I'll update this thread with answers.
 
I'm glad that leather looks good again. Overall, it sounds like everything is going well, other than that crazy fish addition. ;)

I just tossed out a tang, and you got one. :lol:
 
fishypets - Yeah, I figured I'd need to do some Mg supplementation. Just curious, why do you like the ESV brand, have you tried others?

Melev - That "crazy fish" is my new pride and joy. Happily it hasn't looked stressed at all, there's no sign of ich, and it loves the frozen food concoction that I feed to the tank. I've put Romaine lettuce on a clip twice now, but it's shown no interest. I also haven't seen it graze on the rocks at all despite the abundance of caulerpa available to it. All in good time, I suppose. By the way, what's going on with your tank thread, I haven't seen any updates in a long time?


I mentioned that I was planning on a photography session last night, but once again this was thwarted by a maintenance issue. The closed loop was only returning via 1 side from the SCWD. I suspected that there may have been a snail or something in the SCWD to prevent it from switching outputs, so I removed it. While it was off I cleaned it out with muriatic acid, but it still wouldn't switch. I had to put a screwdriver into the device and manually turn the 'doohickie' that spins around and redirects the flow from left --> right --> left, etc. I didn't see any snail inside or other foreign body, so I plumbed it back up. It's working just fine, although every time it puts water out of the previously obstructed limb, there's a violent vibration that occurs. I cranked the flow from the CL pump down to 50% but this didn't help matters. I don't think there's a snail rattling around inside the PVC that's causing the vibration because I reversed the orientation of the SCWD when I reinstalled it, and the PVC/locline conduit that was previously wide open is the one that's vibrating. This leads me to believe that the problem is coming from the SCWD itself. I'll contact the manufacturer and see what they say about it.

Regarding the iodine test, Habib responded and, in summary, he felt that everything was OK and I should just keep on keeping on, no intervention necessary. I'm not really sure what the effects of an elevated iodide level are - I'll have to research that unless someone out there knows?
 
Dudester, all I can say is Wow :D I finally made it through all of the pages. Beautiful looking system you have.

After I finally finished reading your thread, I wanted to ask how you liked your Closed Loop & what you would do differently if you had to do it all over again. I get up this morning and read your having problemd with it. Sorry to hear about them. Would you leave out the SCWD & just let both sides flow? Maybe use ball valves so you could switch the flow? How do you like the MAG pump externally & if you were going to change it what would you use.

Maybe Melev would like to chime in since he is the "King" of the external CL system from what I have read here on RC :bum:

Thanks for all the help......Now back to more reading for me :jester:
 
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