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Kayman's 29 Gallon Reef


Kayman

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Started this tank up in January of 2015.

 

Setup/Equipment:

29 gallon tank (30x12x18)

10 gallon sump - small refugium

Reefbreeders Photon V2 24"

Eshopps Nano Overflow Box 

Hydor Nano Slim Skim Protein Skimmer (not in use)

Jebao PP-4 Wave Maker

Cobalt MJ1200 Return Pump

Hydor Smart Level ATO

100W Heater

Flipper Glass Cleaner 

BRS Mini Reactor w/ MJ900 pump

Seachem Matrix 

 

Maintenance and Upkeep:

Weekly 4.5 gallon water changes (Reef Crystals)

Clean the glass every 3 days

Blow off the rocks every 3 days.

Kalk +2 in ATO 

Carbon + GFO in reactor 

Phosgaurd when needed

Feed frozen LPS Reef Frenzy or Rods every other day with pellets and flakes between.

Feed the corals once or twice a week  with reef-roids.

 

FIsh:

1 Orange Ocellaris Clown (Alice RIP 12/10)

1 Black Ocellaris Clown (Sarge)

1 Orange Ocellaris Clown (Apa)

1 Yellow Clown Goby (Krusty)

1 Purple Dottyback (Korra)


Corals: 

Frogspawn

Duncan

Green Trumpet 

Green Star Polyps

Pulsing Xenia

Kenya Tree

Assorted Mushrooms

Assorted Zoas

Purple Blasto

Red/Green Blasto

Red Acan

People Eaters Zoas

Magician Zoas

Green Sinularia

Superman Mushroom

Silver Eye Lepstrea

Neon Toadstool

Bicolor Hammer 

Green Porities 

Green Birdnest

Purple Monti Digitata

Forest Fire Digitata

4 Rock Flower Anemones 

Trachy Brain Coral

 

 

Clean Up Crew + Inverts:

Assorted Snails and hermits

Skunk Cleaner Shrimp (Kevin) - RIP

 

FTS: 12/31/2019

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Day 10 update: Have spent a lot of time moving the rocks around and have finally settled on a scape that I don't hate and that is stable, so I think it will be what I go with for awhile. Just removed a raw jumbo shrimp I had in for 8 days to help start the cycle along with the 2lbs of live rock I added. I have been running the lights for a few hours a day so far and have been adding about 1/4 to 1/2 a gallon of top off each day.

Also have seen a few bristle worms roaming the rocks at night and one possible spaghetti worm, so I'm very happy about that!

PH: 8.0 has been holding at 8 since set up.

Ammonia: 4.0 has been at 4.0 for 3 days.

Nitrite: 5.0ppm

Nitrate: 10.0ppm

Salinity: 1.024

Temp:81-82F

 

Any and all comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated! :)

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Day 22: Everything is looking good but PH is still a tad low and Nitrates are down to 10. Tank is bustling with pods and bristle worms and I have at least 4 brittle stars roaming around. The one thing that has me slightly concerned is the little bit of snow globe effect I have going on. Two water changes and some filter floss has helped but it's still annoying me. Anyone have a clue what is causing it? I have read it may be calcium precipitating out of the water. What could be causing this? I'm using RO/DI Water and Instant Ocean Salt.

 

PH: 7.8/8.0 (API Test Kit)

Ammonia: 0

Nitrites: 0

Nitrates 10

Salinity: 1.025

Temp: 79F

 

Finally added some critters that didn't hitch hike in. I bought 3 Astraea Turbo Snails and she gave me 5 and I bought 3 Blue Leg Hermits and again she gave me 5! Wanted to get 10 Nassarius snails and some Ceriths but all 3 of my LFS were out! Lame!

 

Not sure if anyone is following this but maybe one day it will be worth some looks! ha :lol:

 

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Day 29: Everything seems to be doing good. I think the "snowing" effect was a bad mix of salt. Water still isn't as clear as I would like but it's getting better and everything seems happy. I was having the hardest time getting the snails I wanted for my CUC as all 5 of the closest fish stores were out of nassarius and cerith snails. I turned to ReefCleaners.org and ended up being able to get more for less which was great. Got my first 2 fish yesterday as well, I got 2 tiny little Ocellaris clowns, both about a half inch long, so cute :). They have been doing great though, the pellets are a tad bit big for them and they don't seem to be enjoying the mysis I have so I picked up some smaller pellets and brine shrimp to try today. My order of snails came in today and instead of getting 19 total snails, I got 58!! They really loaded me up with dwarf ceriths so I'm not complaining. Water parameters are all checking out great as well.

 

PH: 8

Ammonia: 0

Nitrites: 0

Nitrates: 5

dKH: 9

Calcium: 400

Salinity: 1.025

Temp: 79

 

Not sure what I want to do for my next fish, I know I want a Six-Line, but I have heard they should be added last.

Also I really need new lights! :(

 

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  • 1 year later...

Long overdue update time! Let's see since my last post almost a two years ago a few things have changed. I've lost 2 other clowns if I recall correctly. Alice, the clown I still have, has chased them out. I also lost a Lawnmower Blenny in some type of accident. I have successfully kept a Six-Line Wrasse for over a year and he has been a model citizen for the most part, though I think he did kill my Cleaner Shrimp during a molt. Alice has been in enjoying her home for almost 2 years now. She has been joined by a Six Line Wrasse for more than a year and I also have had a Yellow Clown Goby for about 10 months and a Tail-Spot Blenny for about 2 months.

I have been dosing Tech M for about 3 weeks now to about 1750ppm to battle some bryopsis algae that doesn't seem to want to completely die off. I started a 2 day lights out cycle this morning and will do a nice scrub and big water change afterwards. I will probably keep up the dosing for another 2 weeks just to make sure it is gone for good. The higher magnesium levels have been taking a toll on my snails sadly and my palys look to be lacking color but seem fine otherwise.

Anyone know why the duncans mouth is extended a little bit in the second picture? It does that from time to time and I'm curious as to why. Also is that turf algae in the picture with the blenny? I am waiting until I am done tackling the bryopsis before I add some snails that will go after it if I am correct.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

My battle with bryopsis has gone pretty well I think. I don't really see any left so I'm going to slowly bring my magnesium levels back down to a normal level. I think the high levels took a toll on some of my snails as I have found a few dead ones and have seen some brown film algae popping up on the back wall and in the sump.

I picked up 4 new corals about a week ago. A frag of Red or Purple People Eaters, Green Sinularia, Superman Mushroom and an unknown coral. They all seem to be doing pretty well but the sinularia isn't as green as I thought it would be.

 

Sadly I found my large hermit eating my tailspot blenny this morning. He had been acting a little funny the last few days and hiding a lot. He refused to eat yesterday as well so I thought something might be up. I just hope he passed before the hermit got to him. :( R.I.P Lenny.

 

Really can't figure out how to get more vivid colors in my full tank shots.

 

1/15/2017 FTS

15974944_10154026865006930_6244730639242
Anyone know what this coral is?
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AKay, I really like your scape, your choice of coral and your fish. I wonder if you fed your LPS some sort of specialized food if they would color up more? I don't know a lot about the Marine Orbit fixture since I am a T5 gal but maybe its the lighting. My gut says its a feeding issue however.

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Thanks for the input! I think they have pretty good color in person actually, maybe not as good as they would under a better light though. It's more that when I take pictures of the full tank I can't seem to get it right. I'm thinking the sand is throwing off the white balance and making everything look flat.

 

I really only feed them PE mysis once a week when I feed the fish. The growth on the frogspawn and duncan has been really good and my blasto and acan have been doing a lot better the last two months after I moved them.

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Thanks for the input! I think they have pretty good color in person actually, maybe not as good as they would under a better light though. It's more that when I take pictures of the full tank I can't seem to get it right. I'm thinking the sand is throwing off the white balance and making everything look flat.

I really only feed them PE mysis once a week when I feed the fish. The growth on the frogspawn and duncan has been really good and my blasto and acan have been doing a lot better the last two months after I moved them.

O, yes I get that because my photos never quite capture my tank either. Thats an ability that I am still working on. :-)
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  • 4 weeks later...

Picked up a Silver Eye Leptastrea and a Firefish Goby yesterday. Went to 4 different LFS's trying to find a nice Torch coral and had the intention of buying a Royal Gramma, the only Torch I found was a $120 and when I was looking at a little Royal Gramma my girlfriend noticed a tank with a few Firefish and loved them so decided to pick one of those up instead. Pretty happy with the choice, he looks really cool in the tank and is getting along fine with the other fish so far.

 

I am in the early stages of planning a 40gallon breeder upgrade for when I move in about 6 months. I am going to start building a DIY stand for a 40 breeder in the next month or so but I think I will probably keep my 29 on it when I first move unless finances allow me to make the switch right away. I am pretty close to pulling the trigger on a new light as well. I am looking at the Reef Breeders Photon 24 V2, I think it would look great over my 29 and should give me good coverage over the future breeder as well. Anyone have thoughts on that?

 

Here is a rough picture of Fuego the Firefish.

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Well shoot, that didn't last long. Spent last night at my girlfriends place and came home after work today to find the Firefish on the carpet. :( So disheartening as he was eating well and didn't see much aggression towards him after the first day. I have an egg crate top currently so the gap he must have jumped out of is tiny, just ugh. 

 

In other news I ordered a Reef Breeders Photon24 V2. Should be here tomorrow and this weekend I'll be building a new screen top for the tank (attempt #1 sagged into the water) stupid fish couldn't wait a few days to try and escape? Bummed.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So I got my lights a little over a week ago. Took awhile for me to get the lights set up in a program I like, had to get used to the shimmer from the much more powerful LEDs as well. I am very happy with the light now though. Corals all seem to like it, well except the Xenia that was up in the middle, had to move it down and back a bit. My Acan frag, Green Sinularia and and Green Trumpet have really filled out well though with the new light and seem much happier. I have channels 3 and 4, royal blues and whites maxing out at 30% for a few hours but will start bumping everything up a little bit after the two week mark. Only thing I wish it did better was ramp up and down like the Current Marine did...oh well!

 

My Six-Line has turned into a huge dick recently though. Out of no where he will shoot across the tank to attack my clown and sometimes chases my Clown Goby into the Frogspawn. I tried to catch him a few times this yesterday and failed. Hopefully he can behave himself until I move in July and can get him out. Then the question becomes do I get rid of him or hope he does better in the bigger 40? Hmmmm

 

Anyway here are some pics with the new light. I don't believe any of these were taken at the 30% full power. I'll try and get some this week with the lights brighter and hopefully I can borrow my dads DSLR.

 

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  • Like 2
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1 hour ago, AKay3600 said:

So I got my lights a little over a week ago. Took awhile for me to get the lights set up in a program I like, had to get used to the shimmer from the much more powerful LEDs as well. I am very happy with the light now though. Corals all seem to like it, well except the Xenia that was up in the middle, had to move it down and back a bit. My Acan frag, Green Sinularia and and Green Trumpet have really filled out well though with the new light and seem much happier. I have channels 3 and 4, royal blues and whites maxing out at 30% for a few hours but will start bumping everything up a little bit after the two week mark. Only thing I wish it did better was ramp up and down like the Current Marine did...oh well!

 

My Six-Line has turned into a huge dick recently though. Out of no where he will shoot across the tank to attack my clown and sometimes chases my Clown Goby into the Frogspawn. I tried to catch him a few times this yesterday and failed. Hopefully he can behave himself until I move in July and can get him out. Then the question becomes do I get rid of him or hope he does better in the bigger 40? Hmmmm

 

Anyway here are some pics with the new light. I don't believe any of these were taken at the 30% full power. I'll try and get some this week with the lights brighter and hopefully I can borrow my dads DSLR.

 

16992004_10154148217036930_7961907488115

 

 

 

 

 

If you dial down the light intensity and the blue spectrum, you'll get better exposure and color temperature on the camera. This shot above is almost perfect exposure for an FTS.  You can see the sand doesn't appear completely washed out compared to the 1/15/17 FTS, and the corals show more of their vibrant colors. :) 

 

If you turn up the light to take a picture, you'll get a stronger contrast between light and dark, and then your camera will either overexpose the light areas to get the shadows right or vice versa, underexpose the shadows to get the light areas correct. Either way, you lose color and detail in the photo.

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2 hours ago, J-Ranko said:

 

If you dial down the light intensity and the blue spectrum, you'll get better exposure and color temperature on the camera. This shot above is almost perfect exposure for an FTS.  You can see the sand doesn't appear completely washed out compared to the 1/15/17 FTS, and the corals show more of their vibrant colors. :) 

 

If you turn up the light to take a picture, you'll get a stronger contrast between light and dark, and then your camera will either overexpose the light areas to get the shadows right or vice versa, underexpose the shadows to get the light areas correct. Either way, you lose color and detail in the photo.

 

Yeah I definitely see what you mean with the sand being washed out in the last FTS. That is always my biggest struggle, that and getting some of the colors to pop. So I guess I won't up the lights when I take the next picture haha. How do I go about getting the picture to look a bit brighter though? Ideally I would like the photo to be a bit brighter but still show the true colors that I am seeing in person. Would I increase the length of the exposure? I know LED lights can be tougher to capture though. If I set up an SLR on a tripod what do you think would be the best way to go about getting better clearer shots? 

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16 hours ago, Pjanssen said:

Tank looks great! Love your scape.

Thanks everyone! I'm actually still not sure on my scape but with the rocks I have I'm kinda stuck with it. The big rock on the left is very vertical so there isn't a lot of space to place corals with it. If it makes the move to the 40 I may try to fill it in with mushrooms in the front.

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Picked up some new frags over the weekend. Green Birdsnest, Hammer, and a red acan. Not sure if it has some fancy name or not but I like it. Made myself a quick frag rack out of some egg crate and old powerhead magnets I had laying around.

 

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  • 2 months later...
JDSquared

Are you still happy with the light? I'm starting my first reef. Its the same size as yours and I wanted this light. Trying to find reviews led me to your tank. Which looks great by the way.

 

The 24" light is out of stock and I'm wondering if all I need is the 16". Their website says it's okay. But I'd rather ask someone using it of thev24 is overkill or not.

 

Thanks

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Yeah I am still really enjoying the light. It has given me some good growth with my LPS and the SPS that I have, birdnest and porites. Well I would say most LEDs over a 29 are probably overkill in terms of power. I still haven't gone above 35% power on any of the settings. The one thing that at first bugged me about the light was the shadowing and disco effect the light seemed to put off. By moving it around to different heights I helped fix some of the that but I think I more got used to the way it looked. I think the 16in may be a bit harder to adjust to remove some of the shadowing but hanging it higher than I have (8inches) would probably help. I also mainly bought the 24in because I was and am anticipating a move up to a 40 gallon breeder sometime soonish. So I would imagine that the 16in would probably work well over the tank, as I was also looking into the Ocean Revive if I was staying with the 29 long term.

 

 

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Thanks for the info. I still wonder if the 16 inch will light up the sides well enough. Although it looks like you can remove the Optics and get a wider spread.

I've also filled out two forms in two days on the website asking these questions. No answer yet. Which helps them lose a couple of points.

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From what I have read I think the 16inch would cover the tank but shadowing could be an issue depending on the scape. I have not tried removing the optics but I know it can be done to help spread. Weird that they haven't responded yet, when I sent them an email I got a response about an hour later and I have always heard they get back to people quick. Hope some of my info helped and wasn't too wishy washy ha, good luck with the light search, I know how much of a pain it can be!

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Well it's been a very long time since I've had an update on here. Sadly since my last update I lost a few corals, lost the acan above and my other one and my green trumpet also. Wasn't sure at first but then realized my alk had dropped down to 6 so I'm thinking that was the cause. Been using kalk+2 now to keep that more stable. The tank survived a move of about an hour as well. Stuck with the 29 instead of a 40 because my new apartment has a 20 gallon limit so didn't want to push that too much. I removed a lot of xenia during the move and kind of regret that but I'm sure it will be back.

 

Been focusing a lot recently on making sure parameters are stable. Haven't had a ton of growth so I'm hoping the kalk and more stable water will fix that. A new store opened up today near me and I picked up a new acan frag, new green trumpet frag, a Yuma mushroom, red blasto and some random zoas. My clown goby has been annoying my birdsnest and Duncan as well so I'll keep watching that for a bit longer before I make a change. My frogspawn is getting too big but I love it and am afraid to frag it. It's a good 10inches around I would say and is starting to smash itself up against some rocks. Anyway here are a few new pics.

 

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Well for Christmas I got a BRS Mini Reractor and MJ900 to run it. Currently I'm just running some carbon in it but may add some GFO down the line. Also added some matrix to the sump and am going to give Fuel a try to see if I can get some more coral growth.

 

Been thinking I want to add a 4th fish again but not sure what. So far a fire fish didn't last long and I've had trouble keeping blennies long term. I'm thinking either a blue chromis or some kind of blue damsel hoping it won't get pushed around too much by the clown and wrasse. Anyone think that could work or would it be just too much aggression in the system?

 

Here are the frags I added a bit ago. Don't have a good pic of them in place yet though. The Yuma isn't looking great but it's still alive.

LRM_EXPORT_20171217_182059.jpg

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