I purchased a 120g three sided starfire tank. It's 4x2x2ft tank.

Here's my plan:

Livestock:

-garden eels
-pipefish
-seahorses
-gorgonias

-various salt water plants

-substrate?
-Dry sugary sand
-Add Miracle mud?

-remote sump
-100lbs liverock
-50lbs liverock in crypt tank
-HSA 200 skimmer
-kalk reactor?

-Flow, either:
-Reeflo Snapper closed loop
-Vortech MP20 - looking for lagoon type flow
-Return pump - Iwaki 75-RLD - with Eductors?

-Lighting, 4x T5's
-2x Aquablue Plus
-1x GE 7500k
-1x Aquablue Special

To give the garden eels a lot of sand, I plan to create a large acrylic box. Cover the surface with either rubble rock or foam/sand. Fill the acrylic box (probably 1x2x8") with sand. Hopefully the eels move into there.

Water temp will be around 74 degrees. May add a chiller if I can't keep it below 76 degrees in summer.

The part I'm new to are the saltwater plants and substrate. What are you guys using out there and what are some sweet saltwater plants to collect?

Should I mix miracle mud/sugar fine sand to make a substrate?

-Jon

This sounds like a great plan! I'm also planning on making my 8G a half planted tank with C. Prolifera and Turtle Grass

Sounds great. Tagging along for the build.

I like the idea of a cryptic sump. I actually just wrote a short blurb about cryptic life in my blog.

a few suggestions though. since you have a fairly low fish stocking list, and the fish you did choose could benefit from planktonic life, I would recommend not having a skimmer. the plant growth in the display along with the cryptic life and live rock in the sump would be more than enough to keep low nutrient levels.

also, what sort of plant life are you thinking? macroalgaes? seagrasses? mangroves? all have similar environmental needs, but each with its own specific requirements that could determine how you aquascape the tank, as well as your substrate choice.

good luck, looking forward to it!

My cryptic tank has been online for almost 1.5 years. I know it takes a heck of a long time to establish. It is currently servicing my 29g seahorse tank.

I was actually thinking for a moment not using a skimmer also. I will experiment with it and see where nitrate levels are at and turn it on/off as needed.


Honestly, the only plant life I've ever purposefully kept are chaeto, grape algae, and calupera taxifolia (crazy proliferic). I've seen turtle grass, mermaids, some kind red macro, and some kind of halimeda (sp?) at the fish store. I'm a total newb at salt water plants. Not even sure if the substrate I have which is natural sand from the carribean will work.

-Jon

macros don't really care much about the type of sand available. seagrasses can be a fair bit more temperamental, though.

seagrasses -
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-04/sl/index.php
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_3/cav.../seagrasses.htm

general planted tank info -
http://www.reef-solutions.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=1
http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=103386

Checking out reefcleaners.org... these seem ideal for my tank?

Halimeda (Money plant)
Red Gracilaria

I saw someone's tank have Dragon's Tongue. Looks sweet. The LFS has some kind purple macro algae.

Aquacon.com:

Shaving brush plant
Mermaids fan
Maiden's hair (aka Turtle plants)

Ulva
Codium

Any other ideas?

Good reading! I got through the first article. Looks like I'm on track with the substrate idea. Mixing in some miracle mud. The only thing is I may not have enough sand! I currently have about 110 pounds of dry sugary sand.

I see what you mean about not using a skimmer. That's good.. I can sell it and buy more fish. Seahorses are notoriously dirty from what I've been told.

To increase bioload..

-Firefish
-4x total seahorses

-I'm sure I'll find more fish to add to increase bioload. I'll worry about that when bioload becomes an issue.

The mermaid's fan is super easy to keep and doesn't care about the substrate at all. Half the time mine are knocked over lying flat on the sand because of the CUC and they are still growing at an insane rate. I think if I had more than two I'd actually be worried about their drag on the Ca level, that's how fast they grow.

I am excited to see this tank come to life!! garden eels are beautiful

Don't buy from Aqua CON.

seahorses !!!
looking forward to this tank!!

We have been busy prepping the tank and stand. We bought it used so lots of cleaning to do and we made a pleather skin for the stand.



Need to scrape some coraline off the sides. Get the bulkheads installed and drill the floor to run 2x drains and 1 return. Going to plug up the closed loop hole. I think i will modify a Vortech MP20 to be seahorse friendly and use that instead. Shopping for a used Vortech now.

I got a new job and pulling in around 80 to 100 hours a week now. So the tank hasn't made as much progress as I had hoped.

The doors are on and the tank has been full of salt water with some sand and mud from premium aquatics for several weeks.

I have a tempoary rubbermaid sump in place and is circulating water through a filter sock to clear up the water. It's way clear now.

And the latest toy.. shiny new Vortech MP40w for the tank. It will be the source of circulation. With the power turned down, it should be sufficient.

I am planning on building a box for the Vortech or cover the grates with mesh.

This tank has tons of potential, I really like where you're going with it.

I hope you don't mind if I make one bulb suggestion.
Instead of going with what you have listed above, consider:
2 ATI Blue+
1 UVL Indigo Sun
1 GE 6500

The above combo gives a really nice natural appearance.
The Aquablue Spezial can sometimes have a "hazy" appearance and wash things out a bit.
The Indigo Sun is a slightly warmer white bulb that I think might suit your purposes better.

UVL Indigo Sun is a new one to me. I'll check it out. The only reason I am using the combo I have now is because the light is sitting above my frag tank. It will get repurposed for this tank probably tonight.

The bulbs are all old so they need to be replaced. I think the bulbs are over a year old if not 1.5 years old. I'll try out the UVL Indigo Sun if the specs look good.

I will replace the frag tank light with a single 250w Mh Lumenbrite mini.

T5 fixture installed. One of the bulbs blew out so I replaced it with an old 6.5k bulb. I thought I had a GE one in there but it was a UVL Aquasun (the one that blew).

2x ATI blue plus
1x 6.5k Unknown brand
1x I forgot already

Oh... I am getting an older Icecap 660 too Those 4x bulbs will get a serious workout now.

I should theoretically have more than enough light now.

If you look at the T5HO Information thread stickied at the top of the Lighting Forum, I have posted pics of what a Blue+ and an Indigo Sun look like together.
The pics are on the last page or two of that thread.
The bulb combo I mentioned to you is what I am currently using and may be what I stick with long-term.
I'm still experimenting with bulb combos just a bit though.

The water is cloudy again. All three filter socks are clogged and in the wash.

From the looks of your pic, it looks like it makes your red acans pop a tad more.

Any idea on the par value of the bulb in comparison to the ATI blue special?

The last few days have been hectic. Work and relatives decided to stop by.. so a mad cleaning. Ended up putting the Biocube 29 under the stand and hiding it in there. Overtime, it turned into a QT tank... though it has sand and a few chunks of live rock.

I added another 50 pounds of dry sand to the tank. Majorly white cloudy

I've got the acrylic shelf part way bent.

This tank is going to be Incredible!!!!!!

I will definetly be following this!

The garden eels will be awesome

My 29g tank will breakdown and the following will move over:

3x sexy shrimps
pom pom crab (might just sell, I never ever see her)
rainfordi goby

I have a yellow headed jawfish in QT. I can't decide if it will go into this tank or the 180g reef.

I may drop some ricordeas, green star polyps and mushrooms in there. I have a massive finger leather. I may sell. Not sure.

I have been looking online for splendid garden eels. Thatpletplace.com had some but sold out. Anyone know where to get some?

Here's the current FTS. I was up really late last night trying to get some progress on it. I replaced the two T5 ballasts on it with an Icecapp 660. Old ballasts is a Triad and Workhorse 5.

Old PAR: 420 a quarter inch below the water surface
Icecapp PAR: 540 a quarter inch below the water surface!

The pic is darker than it really is. Visually, I can't tell the difference between ballasts. PAR-wise, there is significant difference, about 20%.

Those numbers aren't half bad at all considering how old the bulbs are. My 250w MH numbers are about 20% higher than that on the 180g.

Awesome!
I can't wait till this thing gets going

So.. the Icecap ballast died...

I cut the acrylic to make the dam to hold up 8+" of sand for the garden eels.

And I finally found some splendid garden eels. They should be here next Tuesday.

I have some macro algae as well:

Fern Calupera
Flat Calupera
Red Titan
Red spotted
Blue something. (got it from got2envy)
I think I have some dragon's tongue as well. Not positive

I have not had great success at growing macro except for calupera and chaeto so this ought to be an interesting experience.

YES!!!!

The "Red Spotted" and "Blue Something" both like high light. (I have both of those.)
The Red Spotted is a fast grower.
Caulerpa is easy.
Red Titan I dunno.
If your Dragons Tongue is the same thing as the Flame Algae I have, which it might be, it doesn't like super high light but does like higher flow.

So I jacked around with the ballast... and it appears a bad bulb prevents the other 3 bulbs from firing. I put in another old bulb and it's back online again! Woo hoo!

I have tried growing dragon's tongue 3 times before and was never successful.

Oh I also have some green Ulva.

The red spotted is more red under bright lights. It's more red than white now and it's only been a few days... strange.

I am getting another bucket of sand from a guy who's breaking down his 500g tomorrow. And crappy liverock for my sump.

I did a nitrate test and I am at 5ppm.

This sounds like a sweet setup. Once you get everything set up please post pics! I'm very interested and might consider plants myself if you are successful.

120-5 G tanks are really in right now....

Looks like a nice start!

I added more sand. It's more course than I wanted. Oh well. Water is super murky. I moved all of the finer sand into the back 8" sand dam. And I still need more! Geez...

The upside, the live sand I got has so much life in it. Lots of tunnels and such.

I am fairly sure there will no be cycling.

I found my old BFS dual reactor. I'll be adding carbon on the system for a few months just in case.

Maybe some pics later. I'm supposed to be working right now...

I'm looking forward to seeing the macros! The blue macro from g2e should be really cool, because she always has great stuff. I do believe that the dragon's tongue is the same thing as flame algae. Mine has been growing like crazy since I got a small bit of it in January. It's on the sand bed in my 29, and I've got the MP10 cranked up.



Sounds great! A short cycle/no cycle always rocks.

Can't wait for pics!

This tank is going to be awesome.

What species of seahorse do you plan to have?

I'm going to get at least 1 pair of southern erectus from seahorsesource.com.

Sounds awesome.

I have 3x splendid garden eels. No pics yet. I'm pissed at one of them already. It jumped into my overflow box the second it hit the water. I am going to have a heck of a time getting him out.

WOOOO!!!

PICS NOW

No pics yet. They are completely burrowed. The one that jumped into the overflow has passed away It figured out how to get down the overflow tube which was grated. Being so only a quarter inch in diamater, it was able to fit

I'm Sorry.

Losing fish sucks

One of them came out late last night. I got paged to do some work on a server. I looked into the tank with a flashlight and saw one almost completely out of the sand. So the good news is, at least one is doing okay.

I'm still pissed that the one jumped into the overflow within seconds of going into the tank.

That's Awesome

Really cool tank, it seems big & planted tanks are the new trend. and thats not a bad thing IMO

I have Jann's pipefish.. 2 of them.. they are manly pipefish.

Sweet

I love Janss Pipefish.

Looking forward to seeing the progression on this tank.