My 29 Gallon Reef

[davemort]

Howdy all:

 

A little background - I've run a 12g modded Aquapod for the past year or so in my classroom and I finally convinced the family to let me turn the freshwater tank at home in to a saltwater tank. The plan is to start slow as FOWLR and work up to a reef. I've kept some LPS and softies with moderate success in the school tank.

 

The 29 gallon is sumpless - I'm running an aquaclear filter with activated carbon, chemipure elite, and a sponge, a remora skimmer, tunze osmolator nano, tunze 6025, jebao wp-25, a jbj cooling fan, a heater, got about 35 lbs of live rock, 35ish lbs of live sand, and am currently using a 17 watt t8 bulb by coralife. If you didn't know, coralcompulsion has a sale on some of their par bulbs and I picked up two of the 40 watt par38 bulbs.

 

Besides the lighting upgrade, I'm also planning a controller (haven't really decided between DA and Neptune Systems - I'm cheap...) and some 1/4" smoked acrylic to cover the stand in.

 

I've made two short videos documenting the progress of the tank - you'll see them below.

 

 

[vlangel]

Hey Dave, good plan and start for your new tank. I never thought of the wave maker messing with your ato. Good to know in case I ever do a aio tank. I have a royal grammar as well, they are a great little fish. Mines name is Kowabunga since the first few days I had him he went over the overflow and was in the sump a week before I found him! LOL. He has since given up his adrenaline junkie pursuits and stays in the DT.

[davemort]

Well, I might need a mod to move this thread - I am on vacation and its raining. To distract my kids, I took them to Petco today to "look at the animals." What i found was a free 55 gallon tank which I'm going to tank. All my gear is rated for a 55 gallon or higher, so I figure that the increased water volume, at no cost, is a no brainer!

 

So the next video is going to look very different!

[vlangel]

So Petco was giving away a "free" 55g tank?

[davemort]

No - someone had brought in some turtles that they couldn't keep anymore, and the tank was the wrong size to fit into any system at petco - so the store manager had just written "free to a good home" on it.

 

Here are two videos I've made that detail the stand build.

 

 

[vlangel]

That's very cool for you that now you can upgrade your tank for almost free. Can you use the 29g as a sump? Eshopps overflow boxes are easy to install and pretty reasonably priced and a sump is a great place to hide equipment, run a fuge or ATS plus it increases your water volume. Even if you only put a 10g - 20L sump it is worth it. They aren't as complicated as you might think. After all, if I being an over 50 gal can build and plumb a sump I know you can. You are definitely handy because you built a nice stand. But I have nothing against a sumpless tank either. Good job so far.

[davemort]

I'm going to keep it sumpless for a while - I spent a bunch of money on some equipment intending to use the 29 gallon sumpless, but it is all sized for at least a 55 gallon tank. So, sumpless for now. But when the time comes, I'm going to add a sump. I'm thinking I'll either build a two chamber acrylic sump or buy the nextreef model. The stand is a little shorter than it looks, only 25" tall, take out about 7" for the 2x4s and you are looking at a pretty short interior height. I'm not sure what skimmers would actually fit underneath there and still give me enough room to remove the collection cup.

 

Anyways, sump is a little while away - new lights are not however. Like I said in the video, I'm building a frame out of 80/20 quickframe that will be screwed into the back of the stand - then, I'm going to hang OceanRevive Arctic S024 fixtures, a pair of them, from the frame. The combined weight of the fixtures is only 11 lbs which I think should be well within the limits of the frame.

 

I'm going to need to pick up a bunch more rock as well, and probably another 20 lbs of sand. As much of a pain as it is, I'm going to move the sand from the old tank to the new to save money. When I've done that before, I use the pan part of a dust pan as a shovel - works pretty well.

 

I think on the 29th, I'm going to drive up to the in-laws to get the tank and stand and then either that afternoon or on the 30th, I'll do the big switcheroo.

[vlangel]

I moved sand from a 90g to my current 36g and I run DSB and it was fine. I'm sure I lost a lot of the denitrifying bacteria in the transfer but it cycled quickly and I didn't lose a thing.

[davemort]

I'm mildly concerned about my royal gramma during the transfer. I'm wondering if I should setup a temporary tank for a few days while I do it. The problem is it would be a small tank, but I have a spare powerhead and heater I could use.

 

I guess I'm wondering what is the minimum size for a quarantine tank. 10 gallons? 15? If I were to someday add a smallish dwarf angel, what size quarantine would it need? Or a yellow eye kole tang?

 

I'm contemplating a quarantine tank underneath the display, I think I could fit a small sump (someday) and a small quarantine (right now).

 

Quarantine only really needs flow and heat? Maybe a HOB filter?

[vlangel]

I have a 10g QT but since I only have a 36g reef and a 30g seahorse, none of my fish will be as big as even a kole tang. I'm pretty sure that both your royal gramma or a future dwarf angel would be fine in a 10g. I have some live rock in mine as well. I would remove the rock if I need it to treat with meds such as copper. The LFS I worked for 12 years has all their fish in individual cubicles. There are differing thoughts on that but my point is I saw tangs and juvenile large angel live months in the cubes and then get bought and live long thriving lives in their final tanks will no I'll effects from their time at the LFS. The grammas, dwarf angels and small tangs never had cubes bigger than a 10g.

[davemort]

Well the move and setup is done:

 

Here are the youtube videos that document the process.

 

 

[davemort]

Current livestock:

 

Bicolor Angelfish

Pair of Clowns

Royal Gramma

Serpent Star

Assorted CUC

 

I'm looking for a few more fish, suggestions? I'm very open! (The tank isn't covered now, because I'm trying to get a sense for the evaporation/top off needs, but the plan is to cover it with either glass tops or the BRS mesh kit.)

 

And a few pics:

[davemort]

If you noticed my other thread, I have ich )-: I started a QT tank, and lost 3 of my 4 fish - a stalwart clown remains. He finished his dose of Cupramine today, so it is just another 7 weeks or so for the fallow period in the main tank to complete. Sigh.

 

Stocking ideas in the mean time?

[davemort]

I just noticed my first nuisance anemone, aptasia I believe. Is there any reason why I shouldn't just take the rock out of the tank and let it sit dry for two weeks? I know I'll loose whatever bacteria is on it, but there are other rocks, and I still have a month to go in my fallow period so I figure there is time for it to re-cure in the tank.

 

Other suggestions? I know about nudibranchs, aptasia x, and peppermint shrimp as options.

[rengb6]

I just noticed my first nuisance anemone, aptasia I believe. Is there any reason why I shouldn't just take the rock out of the tank and let it sit dry for two weeks? I know I'll loose whatever bacteria is on it, but there are other rocks, and I still have a month to go in my fallow period so I figure there is time for it to re-cure in the tank.

 

Other suggestions? I know about nudibranchs, aptasia x, and peppermint shrimp as options.

 

Superglue the aptasia when you see them. Maybe take the rock out and scrape it with a razor