EightBihts's 5.5 Gallon AGA

[Eightbiht]

Whatsup everyone, EB here, I've been wanting a reef tank for the longest time. But always discouraged because everyone said they were very difficult. Well, after doing almost a years worth of lurking, reading, and researching. I've finally started my dream.

 

Equipment:

 

-5.5g AGA Standard

-50 watt hydo theo heater

-AC 30 running Carbon and biomax for now. Filter floss and Purigen

~looking into: ATO

 

 

Livestock: (current)

 

- 1 True perc Clown fish, 1 Yellow watchman goby

- random zoa's, Florida Ricordea's, Mushrooms. Frogspawn, Hammer, ORA purple birdsnest, random leather coral, Kryptonite candy cane, GSP, Red monti cap.

-roughly 1 inch layer of Caribsea Arag-Alive Fiji Pink sand

- 10 lbs of live premium fiji

- CUC: Red leg hermit crab, emerald crab, Dwarf Ceriths, Nassarius Vibex,

 

Lighting:

- 2 6500k CFLs UPGRADED: 1 Boostled par30 3 Royal Blue, 1 Cool white, 1 Neutral White

 

 

Future Plans:

 

Will try out some more SPS.

 

 

NEED to upgrade the light, either aquatraders DIY LED or par30 bulb.

Possibly change AC30 into mini fuge

May add a small 130gph- ish powerhead.

 

 

I've had the live rock from the LFS cycling without sand for 6 days now (5-12-13) Just yesterday did I add sand, filter, heater, and dry rock.

 

FTS 8-5-2013

FTS 5-17-2013

Not entirely sold on my current scape, it feels cramped. I've got 3 other pieces, I'll try and re arrage them later.

 

 

Front View

 

Here is a pic of the live rock, first purchase. Hopefully I did alright.

 

Lastly I found my first hitchhiker! 90% positive its a spaghetti worm.

[Eightbiht]

Alrighty, so I tried finding a new more "open" scape. Feel free to judge and tell me your favorite!

 

#1

 

#2

 

#3

 

 

 

#4

 

 

Sorry about the cloudy water

 

Thanks for looking!

[mejamis]

I like the first one.

[TheKleinReef]

i like the scape in the current FTS post.

[Eightbiht]

I ended up switching it back to the Arches, so the current FTS still stands. Really excited for it to finish cycling. Speaking of...

Tank Parameters:

Temp 82 - The CFLS make it really hot, but the light will be upgraded before any livestock. So for cycling its fine.

pH 8.1
Ammonia .5 - 1.0
Nitrite 3
Nitrate 7

 

Still got a ways to go before livestock. EB

[Eightbiht]

So its been a couple weeks, thought I would do an update on the tank, The tank is fulle cycled now.

pH 8.1

Ammonia 0

Nitrite 0

Nitrate ~5ppm

 

Here are some pictures.

 

 

As soon you can see, i MAY have a hair algae problem. LOL. I haven't touched the tank other than topping off with distilled everyday. and using the mag float where i can. Still need a CUC. thinking of ordering from reefcleaners. They have some great prices. I also still need to order a par30 bulb. Taking it nice and slow. Thanks for looking!

[lnglostsurfer]

Yeah, a big part of the hair algae problem will be because of the 6500k bulbs you have, that color spectrum is better suited to grow plants and algae. Also watch your photo period. How long are your lights on each day? I run mine about 7 hours and it really helps to keep algae growth down but my corals don't suffer. Everyone will tell you different things but just keep in mind, the more light the better the algae growth.

 

It's awesome that you are taking things slow, that's the best thing to do when getting into this hobby. As for reef cleaners, definitely order from them, John has been awesome, I actually have an order coming from him this Thursday. Plus you can always add in the penny macro, it could help pick some of the nutrients out of the water that the hair algae is growing on. I'm curious to see what I get. Love these little 5.5 gallon tanks though, hoping to really start stocking mine really soon. Good luck!!

[Eightbiht]

Yeah, a big part of the hair algae problem will be because of the 6500k bulbs you have, that color spectrum is better suited to grow plants and algae. Also watch your photo period. How long are your lights on each day? I run mine about 7 hours and it really helps to keep algae growth down but my corals don't suffer. Everyone will tell you different things but just keep in mind, the more light the better the algae growth.

 

It's awesome that you are taking things slow, that's the best thing to do when getting into this hobby. As for reef cleaners, definitely order from them, John has been awesome, I actually have an order coming from him this Thursday. Plus you can always add in the penny macro, it could help pick some of the nutrients out of the water that the hair algae is growing on. I'm curious to see what I get. Love these little 5.5 gallon tanks though, hoping to really start stocking mine really soon. Good luck!!

haha yeah, I should be replacing the bulb soon. I tried from Ledtric, but they were sold out at the time. For now I have keeping the lights off. The live rock that i bought wasn't that great...Only Hitch hikers that i could tell that came with it were spaghetti worms.

 

I plan on stuffing some cheato in the back, hopefully that will be beneficial. But I do like the look of other macro algae... makes it seem more... natural. haha.

 

Also, I am loving your custom top for your 5.5. I was thinking about doing something like that. But i feel a par30 and fixture would be easier to move back and forth from my dorm to house.

[Eightbiht]

Alright, its been a little over four weeks so its time for an update. Big things have happened. About 3 weeks ago, i got my snail order for reefcleaners, man that guy cannot count lol. At this point its almost i have too many snails it takes away the cleanliness. Then about 2 weeks ago I purchased a True Perc Clown and an Emerald Crab. The clown is doing very well, I hardly see the crab though; maybe once a day.

 

I was gone for a week and well, I'll let you guys see what my current situation is... lol.

 

I forgot to put the timers for only 4 hours, instead over the period I was away they were on for 12 hours... quite the bloom I had. D:

 

Since I haven't got corals I am not totally concerned, I have my par30 bulb coming in the mail later this week.

 

I figure to get rid of it, just manually pull it all out? as well as a 25% water change? Or Take the rocks out? I am up for some advice.

 

thanks for reading

 

-EB

[diddy2k]

wow, that's impressive ch-ch-ch-chia! scarlet hermit crabs kept my GHA in check, but what you have going on is a whole 'nother story. I'd pull what you can off and add some scarlets. how are your water parameters? nitrates and phosphates? inglo's right about the 6500k bulbs too. hopefully some water changes and the new spectrum bulb will do the trick!

[Eightbiht]

wow, that's impressive ch-ch-ch-chia! scarlet hermit crabs kept my GHA in check, but what you have going on is a whole 'nother story. I'd pull what you can off and add some scarlets. how are your water parameters? nitrates and phosphates? inglo's right about the 6500k bulbs too. hopefully some water changes and the new spectrum bulb will do the trick!

 

Scarlet hermit crabs eh? i'll have to check them out, haha thanks! I haven't got a test for phosphates... i should probably pick one up. My nitrates are below 5. So really, I am pretty sure its just the 6500k insta grow bulbs . there isn't any algae or anything on my glass, just that giant amount you see above lol. New bulb hopefully comes on wednesday. So, i am sure I i will have another update when that happens. lol.

[1.0reef]

I like the scape.

IMO the True Perc will need a slightly larger tank, and removing may help with the nutrients.

Try to manually remove some of the algae and use nutrient removers, lower the photoperiod, and do a regular amount of WC's

[Eightbiht]

I like the scape.

IMO the True Perc will need a slightly larger tank, and removing may help with the nutrients.

Try to manually remove some of the algae and use nutrient removers, lower the photoperiod, and do a regular amount of WC's

Thanks! Yea, I was really 50/50 on if I wanted the clown. Meh, I may go back and trade it in. Maybe pick up a Yellow watchman goby. Or do a yashaa goby/pistol shrimp. Who knows, lol.

 

As for the algae, I removed pretty much as much as I could. my par30 just game in the mail today. I'll do another full update soon. I've been doing 10-15% water changed every week. I am even running cheato. So really, the GHA is only there because of the 1.5 year old 65000k CFL's. Now that they are out of the picture... A whole new chapter of the tank is ready. Corals here I come!

[Tamberav]

I would not bother with a phosphate kit. The hair algae is using up the phosphate and nitrates so there won't be much to detect. As unsightly as it is, its cleaning your water

 

Sometimes I'm tempted to make a hair algae pico (yes, srsly) and putting a court jester/hectors goby in it. Then attempt to trim the algae like fresh-water people do with plants and make it look all evened out and "pretty".

 

+1 the bulbs though since they are 1.5 years old, yikes!

[Based]

Oh god that is a bad case of hair algae!

[Eightbiht]

I would not bother with a phosphate kit. The hair algae is using up the phosphate and nitrates so there won't be much to detect. As unsightly as it is, its cleaning your water

 

Sometimes I'm tempted to make a hair algae pico (yes, srsly) and putting a court jester/hectors goby in it. Then attempt to trim the algae like fresh-water people do with plants and make it look all evened out and "pretty".

 

+1 the bulbs though since they are 1.5 years old, yikes!

Maybe, i never tried trimming it into a design... Got my bulb in the mail though! and plucked out the algae, I'll post some pics tomorrow.

 

 

Oh god that is a bad case of hair algae!

haha, don't worry its all gone now

[Eightbiht]

AWWHH YEA, Houston we have LEDS. I plucked off just as much GHA as I could with my hands. Just need to pick up a scarlet leg hermit crab to munch off all whats left over. Without further ado, here is (technically) week 6 update pic!

 

^This is the day before my new light, but I really love the pic anyways.

 

Walking into my room view

 

Front view

 

Desk side view

 

Full Equipment Shot

[1.0reef]

Sweet!

[Eightbiht]

Woot! yesterday I got my first corals! Can't wait for this frags to grow out... as well as I am not sure on where to place them haha.

 

 

 

 

[Eightbiht]

Just a quick update, not really much has happend... as far as purchases. But there has been significant growth of my corals. At least 1 or 2 heads each, pretty neat stuff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dragut_34]

^{A tank was interesting.congratulations}

[Eightbiht]

Whoop whooop, got some new corals the other day. As well as a before and after pic of my algae problem.

 

Before

 

After

 

New additions- assorted rics, 2 rainbows and 1 blue

 

1 green, red-ish, and purple mushroom.

 

Lastly, a newly updated FTS

[Eightbiht]

Hey guys, I recently picked up a hammer frag, I may just be over reacting but i noticed something odd, and I was wondering if anyone could tell me what is happening, here is a quick video:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuVSz7NIqm0

 

Also I noticed some other type of algae growing all over on of my rocks, as well as some random spheres showing up on my sand bed.

 

 

 

If this is a bad algae, should i ditch the rock? and pick up a nice piece of premium fiji to replace it? Or would that cause a mini cycle and crash the tank?

 

Again, any thoughts, questions or advice, is welcomed and appreciated.

 

Thank you for your time.

[Eightbiht]

Alrighty then, so I was very busy with the tank Sunday, You may not even be able to recognize it. I was too dang tired of the my algae problem, A long with the GHA, the live rock i bought from a bad LFS brought in cotton candy algae. You can see from the posts previous. I decided enough was enough and just eliminate the algae from the source. So I went out and replaced all my rock with 10lbs of premium fiji fully cycled rock. As well as I had left over sand and replaced the sand as well. I had 0 cycles, no ammonia spike or anything. Everything looks a lot healthier as well. Enough rambling, time to show the new scape . Coral placement is up in the air right now.

 

[cees]

man thats a big difference looks good! my 5.5 aio had a lil gha but my tailspot plowed right through it lol