rvk2 Posted August 26, 2005 Share Posted August 26, 2005 After two years of 'lurking' around this forum and various others I have finally started my 1st reef tank. I have been keeping FOSW tanks for those two years, but because I knew I was moving (and a lack of funds at the time), I never started one of my own. Have been building up my equipment for the past 6 months, finally moved into NYC, and have now finally started my 1st reef tank! For some reason I have never been able to post on this forum from work-- until now!- which is why I haven't been very active as I do most of my reef searching during slow work periods ). I just purchased a 16gal. 'package' from TBS and yesterday got the 1st half of it- man, this rock is amazing! If you like a 'natural' looking reef tank you have to buy from them- for the 1st half I received one large rock approx 16lbs- it fits perfectly in my 16g bowfront and looks incredible! Not as full of sponges, etc. as it seems the rock usually comes- but with all the terrible weather down in FL they had to harvest the rock from a place further out than they normally go. The rock has a TON of macro algae on it- I have already found 3 starlet corals, misc. small snails, a few small sponges-and I just picked it up last night. Hopefully a few more things open up within the next few days (I am almost positive there will be)! The rock and water smelled fresh- it had only been in the air 3 hours and I picked it up within an hour of it landing. As it is shipped in water there was no die-off that I could see. I simply drained the LS of the water it was packed in- put it in my tank- then put the rock immediately in the water from its packaging. Looks amazing! Equipment: 16g AGA bowfront w/ stand 80w Orbit 20" PC fixture Remora Skimmer w/ Maxijet 1200 Aqua Clear 70 Filter (w/o media) Ice Probe Chiller (installed in AquaClear lid) 3 Tunze Universal pumps (Mini 5024.04 - from premiumaquatics.com) Auto Top Off Unit from (www.californiareefs.com) Custom built acrylic holding tank for topoff water (bought off E-bay) 150w Proheat II Titanium Heater Titanium Grouding cable Coralife digital Thermometer Pinpoint PH Monitor Refratometer (cheap one from drsfosterandsmith.com) Two gooseneck magnifying glasses that attach to the stand (to get a closer look!) Live stock: 16g TBS 'Package' (16 lbs LS, 32 lbs LR) --so far have seen 3 starlet corals, tons of macro algae, misc. snails,sponges, etc. Will be getting Zoos and Shrooms from Dennis (www.platinumreefs.com) -Thanks for holding the corals for me!!! Plan on keeping this a softie/LPS tank - I love the natural look, and the more movement in a tank the better! *Will hopefully be posting photos this weekend! Let me know what you think!* Link to comment
rvk2 Posted August 26, 2005 Author Share Posted August 26, 2005 Ha- I am the first reply to my own posting! Forgot a couple of details- painted the backgroud w/ Krylon Spraypaint (navy blue) and then coated the paint with Minwax Clear Polycrylic to prevent scratching (forms a rock hard coating- really nice). I used about 8 coats of each- and I still have a small scratch! Not noticible with rock in though... Also bought an RO/DI system from airwaterice.com - the Mighty Mite system- works great, gets my readings down to 0ppm- but is really really slow! Takes hours to fill my 5 gal. bucket, really annoying but I needed the small system for my small apartment! http://www.airwaterice.com/product/1MMDI Link to comment
FL Knifemaker Posted August 26, 2005 Share Posted August 26, 2005 I live within easy driving distance to TBL and have about 300lbs of it in total. Don't worry about what comes on the rock. Within a year it will all change/die or overgrow anyway. If I had it to do over again, I would rather it be bare so I could just add exactly what I want. The anemones that came on mine quickly got big and became a pain in the butt. I also had hitchhikers including octos and pistol shrimp. Check it thoroughly!!! The tiny urchins also grow HUGE within 6 mos.!! Under my MH lighting the only thing I kept that is cool are a few of the brightly colored sponges. Link to comment
rvk2 Posted August 26, 2005 Author Share Posted August 26, 2005 Yeah- I will be getting rid of any anemones and urchins I find as well as anything that looks like it will grow too large. Don't have the lighting or the space. Shouldn't be too many I won't find- 32 lbs of LR is a hell of a lot less than 300! I have found many posts though on reefcentral.com about TBS rock- many people have kept the sponges, anemones, etc. alive for well over a year or two by heavy dosing of Phyto with additional supplementation of Cyclopeeze, etc.- so I'm keeping my hopes up! Link to comment
FL Knifemaker Posted August 26, 2005 Share Posted August 26, 2005 I forgot to mention my clams. I have about 6 on one piece of LR, they are 3-4 inches across. They're not the standard turkey wings, they are much more round. They've been alive and doing well since they arrived with my first batch of rock. I feed the entire tank cylocpease, I'm sure that's what they are thriving on. Depending on your lighting, some sponges will die off, others will thrive. I had a nice 4" brain coral on another piece of LR that was doing great until I added MH lighting to my big tank. One day of that is all it took Link to comment
calvin Posted August 27, 2005 Share Posted August 27, 2005 if most of the cool stuff is gonna die off, and you get nasty hitch-hikers, then why go to the expense of TBS rock? Link to comment
FL Knifemaker Posted August 28, 2005 Share Posted August 28, 2005 Originally posted by calvin if most of the cool stuff is gonna die off, and you get nasty hitch-hikers, then why go to the expense of TBS rock? For me, it's close, the price is good and I get to pick what I want myself. ANY new LR should be checked thoroughly for hitchhikers, I just got lazy. Not everything dies off. Depdending what kind of tank you want, you could leave everything to grow. Think of it like this, if the LR comes covered with critters, where are you going to put new stuff?? Most of my sponges are fourishing after a year. My anemonies went back to the LFS for credit as well as my octos. My brain coral was beuatiful until I fried it under my new MH lighting TBS LR is the best!!! Link to comment
rvk2 Posted August 29, 2005 Author Share Posted August 29, 2005 I have read many many posts on reefcentral from prople getting TBS and having very little die off, even after a year or more- the rock is harvested, put in water immediately, shipped in water for its flight, then put into your tank. The cost isn't as cheap as just getting rock- but the package I got was much, much more economical than just buying it from my LFS. For a little over $200 I got a 16g package that comes with 32lbs LR, 16lbs LS, the cleaning crew, and 'extras' such as brain corals, etc. Shipping cost about $70 from FL to NYC. I don't think you can find this type of deal anywhere else! Its been a few days and I have seen many things pop up all over the rock- many feather dusters (one i watched uproot itself and go traveling around the tank looking for a new home), various other worms, snails, a few slug looking things I am a little worried about as I have no idea what they are, millions of almost microscopic creatures that travel around the sand (pretty cool- one dying sponge was totally consumed by these over the course of a day), and even some sort of shrimp that I only saw when I turned on the lights at 3am the other day- looked like a peppermint but it moved too quickly to really get a good look before it hid again. There seems to have been little die-off so far, water smells fine, and ammonia hasn't been too much of a problem (I need a better test kit- the one at my LFS only measures in .2 increments and its colors are impossible to decipher). Too bad that these hurricanes keep on coming- I really want my next shipment to be from the gulf there, but I don't know if it will be possible for a few weeks or more. Will get pics up soon- I can't find the cable that attaches from my camera to my computer. Link to comment
chipmaker Posted August 30, 2005 Share Posted August 30, 2005 Hi Sure would like some pics.....I am in the process myself just as soon as everyhting gets here (filter lights etc), but today I changed my original intentions from a 10 gal AGA to a 16 gal bowfront AGA. I have a AC500/110 filter coming, so my question is do you think this AC500/110 filter / fuge will be sufficient for the 16 gal tank. I notice you have an AC70, so how is it working for you? I am planning on about 25# of live rock and a sand bed of 1 to 1 1/2".....96watts of light (quad bulb, reef with a few fish.... Any suggestions appreciated....and please post some pics....... Link to comment
rvk2 Posted August 30, 2005 Author Share Posted August 30, 2005 Had to order a new cable for my camera - should be here in a few days... Good choice going w/ the 16g, I love mine and it doesn't take up more room than the 10 (plus you can add an extra fish or so to it)! The AC70 is fairly large (8.5") on the back of the 16g and fits my Ice Probe Chiller, and my temperature probes, and the PH probe. I don't use it as a fuge (I have enough macro algae in the tank as it is anyway!) If you are planning on the 110 make sure you will have enough room for anything else you would want on the back (such as a skimmer), as it is 13.5" wide- the tank itself is 20"w. If I had the 110 I do not think I would be able to fit the Remora. The tank is fairly high at 16"- but I think my 80w Orbit should be fine for the time being (I would love add a retro w/ a 70w MH kit, but need to find someone to do it for me...), so 96w should be fine for softies and most LPS. Take into consideration the height of the tank when you get the LR- I am glad I received one 16lb piece from TBS, it fits perfectly in my tank width-wise and fills up almost 1/3 of my tank in Height. I hope to get one more large piece like that, so I do not have the trouble of stacking smaller rocks on top of each other. If not, at least I have a stable base. Link to comment
rvk2 Posted September 1, 2005 Author Share Posted September 1, 2005 Please help! Just changed another 10% of my water during the cycling of my tank- put in 1 tsp of SeaChem 8.3ph Marine Buffer in my replacement water, just as I always do. The RO/DI water in the bucket clouded up after 30 mins or so (I usually disolve the buffer in the water a few mins before adding it to the tank and have never noticed this at all), but I still added it to my tank as the ammonia levels were a bit off and I felt as if I needed to change the water. I have heard of this happening before (for reasons I don't remember), but I have never had a problem with the SeaChem buffer clouding my saltwater replacement water- and I have used this product for over a year. I thought that it was just because I put the 20g amount in 4g of SW in the bucket and it would dissipate after being in the tank. It has been 30 mins and the water is still cloudy- is this going to be dangerous to my LR??? It has a ton of life on it, and I hope that this will not kill off anything!!! Will this settle out, or am I going to have to do a massive water change??? Please help, I am very worried as I just added the rock and was very happy with the amount of life on it- don't want any of it to die! Thanks! Link to comment
rvk2 Posted September 2, 2005 Author Share Posted September 2, 2005 No problem with the cloudiness after two days- don't think I will have a problem. Posting pics in a few... Link to comment
rvk2 Posted September 2, 2005 Author Share Posted September 2, 2005 First Attempt at adding photos here- lets see if it works...quite a few pics to come, let me know what you all think... Getting TBS Rock out of box... Link to comment
rvk2 Posted September 2, 2005 Author Share Posted September 2, 2005 AquaClear 70 w/ Chiller, Auto Top Off return, Probes, etc... Link to comment
rvk2 Posted September 2, 2005 Author Share Posted September 2, 2005 Custom built acrylic Auto Top off water tank...fits flush in stand Link to comment
rvk2 Posted September 2, 2005 Author Share Posted September 2, 2005 Couldn't do much else with the cords and didn't want them behind the tank- wish the stand for this tank came with a door...messy, but at least it works and you don't really notice it much unless you're looking directly at it... Link to comment
rvk2 Posted September 2, 2005 Author Share Posted September 2, 2005 Full Shot of the back... Link to comment
rvk2 Posted September 2, 2005 Author Share Posted September 2, 2005 Tank finally full... Link to comment
rvk2 Posted September 2, 2005 Author Share Posted September 2, 2005 Side shot actinic... Link to comment
rvk2 Posted September 2, 2005 Author Share Posted September 2, 2005 LR 1st added...cloudy. Love the shape of it... Link to comment
rvk2 Posted September 2, 2005 Author Share Posted September 2, 2005 1st Hitch Hiker I noticed- was crawling around within 5 mins of being in the tank... Link to comment
rvk2 Posted September 2, 2005 Author Share Posted September 2, 2005 Water cleared up...rock after one day, needs to color and clean up a bit still.. Link to comment
rvk2 Posted September 2, 2005 Author Share Posted September 2, 2005 Full tank shot after a couple of days... Link to comment
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