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Cultivated Reef

Mike's First Reef Tank (SOLD! 2/9/16)


michaelrzachmann

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michaelrzachmann

SUP PEOPLE! I have been creeping on this site for months grabbing vital information daily and now it is finally time for my first post (just made my account). I have loved animals, especially fish my whole life. Ever since i was i kid i dont what it is about them but fish have always intrigued me. I could observe them in their environment for hours at an aquarium or just a LFS. A couple years ago i had to make some major life changes and along with that came necessary kicking of hobbies and a search for some new ones. I had freshwater fish and softshell turtles when i was kid and really enjoyed keeping them and watching them. In late december of 2013 i decided to jump back into the hobby and quickly became hooked again frequenting all of the LFSs within a 30 mile radius of my house which is probably around 10 of them. I started with a 20 gallon freshwater cichlid setup but quickly became more and more interested in the saltwater side of the hobby with its livestock, equipment and keeping methods. After about 8 weeks of having my freshwater setup in early march 2014 i caved and bought a cheap used nanocube and stand for about 100 bucks on craigslist (having no idea how much money i was about to pour into this "cheap tank". 2 months later, i am loving the hobby more and more everyday, learning and researching as much as possible. I have thoroughly enjoyed about 95% of the time with my reef tank with the 5% not due to a velvet outbreak that killed all of my fish (atleast now i have a quarantine tank and a great lesson learned). My tank is currently doing great (been fishless for 3 weeks and tightly holding on to keep it that way for a few more to hopefully completely rid of any velvent) and i look forward to more progress and learning!

 

 

Display: 60l (15.8 Gal) Sera Biotop Nano Cube
Lighting: Kessil A160we
Filtration: DIY eggcrate holer in chamber one with Deep Blue Nitrate Pad, Chemi-Pure Blue, and a Second DIY Media Basket in Chamber Three with Chaeto Refugium
Reactor: BRS Dual Media Reactor Running GFO in one reactor and Premium ROX .8 Carbon and Purigen (offline)

Skimmer: AquaC Remora Nano

Heater: Marineland 50 watt

Circulation: Sera STP 1000 Return Pump and Ecotech Vortech MP10 ESW
Live Rock: 10 lbs

Substrate: CaribSea Argonite Reef Sand

Water: CaribSea Sea-Pure (For Water Changes) and RO/DI (For Top-Offs)

Quarantine: 10 Gal with Marineland Penguin 150

Testing: BRS Refractometer and API Test Kits for Calcium, Phosphate, Alkalinity, Nitrate, Ammonia, Copper and PH

 

Fish: Ocellaris Clown Pair "Harley" and "Joker", Bicolor Blenny "Shady"

Invertebrates: Rose Bubble Tip Anemone, Cleaner Shrimp "Mr. Shrimp", Purple Tipped Pin Urchin, Emerald Crab, Turbo Snails, Nassarius Snails, Hermits

Coral: Acan, Garf Bonsai Acropora, Red Montipora, Octopus Frogspawn, Various Zoas and Palys, Candy Cane

 

Video: 11/9/14

 

 

Current FTS: 6/14/15

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Progression of Tank: (Starting at Bottom from March 2nd 2014-Current)2239DC54-0891-4D73-AEC7-F00EC3FF9702_zps

 

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michaelrzachmann

2 month update with pics and fish added to display! very happy so far

 

FTS under white only

 

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Left tank shot under white only

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Right tank shot under white only

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michaelrzachmann

Added first anemone (Rose Bubble Tip) and first SPS (Red Cap Mintipora) not sure if i have enough light but trying it out...

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
michaelrzachmann

Finally added a cleanup crew of 10 turbo snails and 2 emerald crabs... almost all the algae i couldn't scrape off glass is gone and crabs are going at the hair algae

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  • 2 weeks later...
michaelrzachmann

Got some new zoas, not sure of exact name but that doesnt matter too much to me, more about the look. Loving all the different colors of them. Most likely going to buy mostly them for a while

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Also got my second SPS since my monti seems to be doing well even under my current LEDs (which are only rated up to LPS) but i have them up higher in the tank. i think it is a screaming green birdsnest. There seems to be two little spots of purple growth on them from the LFS anyone know what that could be?

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Also dabble in freshwater (that's where it all began for most of us right?) so this is my freshwater tank for anyone interrested. Used to always have big ,ean cichlids but i really do not have enough room to give them justice so i gave them baack to the LFS where they have a nice big home. Currently stocked with about 10-15 docile fish and a couple dwarf frogs

 

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michaelrzachmann

Not really happy with the way my filtration is set up in my tank and since i made a split second decision on my tank and stand to get a great deal on craigslist, the brand of my tank is Sera (german company and not many upgrades including no media basket upgrades). So, i decided to see what kind of DIY media basket i could make with ten bucks. I got a big sheet of egg crate and started fabricating. I was not able to do the original cleaner design i wanted to do that i saw on this forum so i had to make do with what i could snake into my filter. I ended up with this. I believe it should function well and definitely better than what i had so hopefully it works better than it looks.

 

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michaelrzachmann

UPDATE:

Picked up some more zoas and an acan today. Was not loving the standard look of my rockscape so added some more live rock to add more zoas and make it look a little more "chaotic". Also picked up my final fish of my live stock today, a green mandarin. Hopefully i have some luck with him and can get it to eat. Any one have good experience with Dr. G's Copepod Max and mandarins?

 

Updated Scape: Not crazy about how it came out but it was the only way i could really fit this live rock and i atleast like it better than before

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michaelrzachmann

Lots of updates on tank last couple weeks.... Today I went down the DIY route again and decided to try and make a refugium with chaeto. I moved the heater to the chamber with the return pump (hope thats an ok place for it) and turned the 3rd chamber that housed only the heater into the refugium using some eggcrate and plastic mesh from an old tank divider to keep the chaeto out of the return. I got a crappy marina 18 dollar white triple LED light for 18 bucks (will this be enough light for chaeto????) and mounted it into the hood... I also scooped up some more zoos and a beautiful pink ricordea. Last but not least i picked up one my favorite fish in the hobby that i have always wanted, the mandarin. Love this fish and wanted to try it out however i am already regretting it because i think he has ich and i chanced it because my quarantine wasnt set up. Had completely ridded my tank of ich before so i hope i do not lose all of my fish to it for the second time.

 

DIY Refugium basket

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Mounted fuge light

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Refugium

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Few of the new zoos

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Ricordea

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  • 2 weeks later...
michaelrzachmann

Ordered a 12" panorama pro 12k white/453 nm blue today to add onto my LED retrofit. Hopefully this will help me get some more sps growth i have heard many people doing well with 3 LED strips and sps

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michaelrzachmann

Tank lighting looks a lot more crisp now with the added white/blue strip and not as blue. Hopefully will get more growth out of SPS too

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Looking good man! Im jealous of that one zoa frag you got recently (the black with orange speckles), looks awesome. And cool DIY basket

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  • 2 weeks later...
michaelrzachmann

thanks dude. Got that frag cheap too, one of those random LFS grabs



Recently added a third strip of marine fusion LEDs. They are panorama pros. The problem is, every since i got the birdsnest about 6 inches directly under the new lights have been bleaching at 75% max intensity, i turned down to 60% yesterday and it still is looking like shit so far but dont want to turn down more and then have it getting not enough light. Is it really possible that the lights are that strong to bleach a birdnest at 75%, i didnt think so but maybe it is. Any suggestions?

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michaelrzachmann

my clowns finally started hosting and sleepin in my RBTA recently (mostly at night). Such a cool relationship to witness that i have been wanting to in my tank for madd long

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  • 4 weeks later...
michaelrzachmann

updated 8/4/14 FTS: things have been better with the tank. Two of my zoa colonies and my first sps (all of which are under the new panorama pro) do not seem to be doing to well or opening up much. Considering that the corals not under that light and the parameters keep checking out to be good, i can only assume that the light is causing the problems however even since i turned it way down i am still having problems so im not really sure what to do.

 

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  • 1 month later...
michaelrzachmann

UPdate: It has been a rocky road finding the right light levels since i added more LED's especially with keeping acros alive and getting the zoas to open back up completely. All water parameters are fine and everything is looking better than it did 2 months ago. Monti is starting to encrust onto glass. However overall im pretty happy with how the tank looks right now would just really like to see the zoas open up more but am afraid to mess with the lighting levels again.

 

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michaelrzachmann

ok so my BRS dual reactor came in today. It was a way more laborious than i expected as usual. The only complaint i have with the system as most do is the stiff hosing. Made the install way more difficult trying to wiggle the lines from the side of my stand into the back compartments of my tank. I hope it ends up being worth the extra money and time to get this. I reallly need to watch my temperature over the next few days because i am running at a steady 80 now and with an extra pump in the tank i really hope it doesnt go up any further. damn i need a mp 10 because i really dont want to have to get a chiller.

 

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michaelrzachmann

I went about doing something about my one complaint on the BRS dual reactor and cut out most of the middle of each hard line and replaced it with half inch soft tubing. I connected the tubes with two very tight clamps. I was scared of it leaking because i obviously dont want it to leak at all but the guy at the hardware store seemed pretty confident so i went for it. So far no leaks and i hope it stays that way. i like the soft tubing way more it makes snaking the line up into the tank the back of the biocube wayyyy easier.

 

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I also have this black looking thing in my one zoa colony that looks the worst. I dont want it to spread to favorite oranges one right next to them if it is a pest. Anyone have any idea what it could be?

 

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michaelrzachmann

FTS: 9/20/14

Still trying to tune the MP10 ESW the way i want it and the corals want. Damn this shit is powerful lol the SPS seem to be lovin it and the softies and Trumpets dont seem to so much

 

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michaelrzachmann

Man that Six-Line is awesome!

 

Glad your clowns are hosting the RBTA.

 

You have some nice equipment there, brotha. Keep up the good work!

Thanks bro, trying to get it running just the way i want it and let it grow out lol but i am starting think that may be never!

 

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