Deadwood's 28g JBJ Startup

[deadwood]

Hello Reefers! Now that my tank is up and running I have moved this over from the newbie section to the members section. For years i have been amazed by aquariums and after seeing my brother go through a 12g and 28g JBJ he has graciously handed me down his tank after he fell out of love for the hobby. So here goes. The pictures below are from Feb 9 - April 6th. I took ownership of the tank on Feb 1.

I received all pieces for the tank. Put it together and assessed the situation. Needless to say the tank I received was in need of TLC after it had crashed. So the work began. One of the hinges so i repaired it with Gorilla glue. Seemed a cheap repair compared to the 25 bucks for new hinges.

Now began the clean-up

then began soaking and running the pumps in a 50/50 solution of vinegar and water. The pumps ran for about 2 hours and then i went to work on them and the tubes. A crack was discovered on one of the pumps outlets so it was repaired.

I then went to work on the live rock. This rock had been dried out for many months by the time I received it. I pressure washed what I could and removed most of the growth that had overtaken the tank previously. It was sat outside to dry for the remainder of the day.

Here is the tank finally clean. Took quite some time to get the media chamber clean from old deposits. All in all this took about 3 hours and my hands were soaked with the stench of Vinegar.

Now it was time to move it to its final position in our family room and begin to scape. Rock scaping was quite fun and challenging. Once i had the rock where i wanted them it was time to glue it down. I decided to go with the $1.49 option and picked up a 2 pack of super glue gel. Since the rock was being held mostly by gravity only a few points needed to be glued down to form arches. I chose a "C" pattern and I really like how it came out. I have two arches one is visible below the other is off to the left.

Here are some FTS of water and sand after the water cleared up. As you can see some of the dead algae i left on the rocks began to flow in the water.

Update: Feb 10 2015

By this time the tank had pretty much done its thing. Being that this was dry rock I did not know what to expect. I had read and heard several theories of how the params were to show a cycle taking place. In the end all i really knew was to wait. So that's what I did. I waited...

Feb 21 2015

Still waiting with the lights off.

Mar 11, 2015

Its been 1 month since the tank started. I started to see some life or change to the rock face. I tested and my params were:

PH 7.4

Ammonia (PPM) 0

Nitrite (PPM) 0

Nitrate (PPM) 5

Salinity 1.26

It was time for the CUC to be introduced into the tank. I felt comfortable that whatever had or needed to cycle did and it was time to reward my patience.

My CUC consisted of:

Scarlet Hermits - 6

Trochus Snails - 6

Red Hermits - 4

Nassarius Snails - 2

The CUC did a great job with eating the dead algae within a weeks time. I got a diatom bloom shortly after the CUC was introduced and they went to work on the sand bed.

Mar 26 2013

Life has begun and the tank has changed. My dead white rock has turned a nice shade of green. Brown spots can also be seen along with tubes of what i think are sponges now have life in them. Pods are now visible on the glass and life seems to be going right a long.

Some crabs have molted.

PH 8.2

Ammonia (PPM) 0

Nitrite (PPM) 0

Nitrate (PPM) 0

Salinity 1.26

 

April 1 2015

By now i have done my fair share of reading on this forum and others. Studying other 18-29g builds and reading on what others have done to prep their tank for that big buy. I decided that with Max around the corner it was time to introduce more life into the tank. I plan on doing some stocking at the Max show so i want to make sure my tank can handle the new bio load. I went to the LFS and purchased two easy to take care of SPS coral. I welcome a small frag of Hammer and Clove Polyp. I was really happy with the colors.

 

the LFS was very helpful in explaining the dip procedure and acclamation method for these corals. After adding them i now added Chemipure elite to my media chamber.

 

1 week after adding these to the tank my numbers did not seem to move much. My PH has fluctuated from 8.0 to 8.2 and back to 8.0. Here are my numbers from start to present:

Date PH A Nitrite Nitrate Sal

3/10/2015 7.4 0 0 5 1.26

3/17/2015 8.0 0 0 <5 1.26

3/23/2015 8.1 0 0 0 1.26

3/26/2015 8.2 0 0 0 1.26

4/3/2015 8.0 0 0 0 1.26

4/6/2015 8.0 0 0 0 1.26

 

 

So far I think my patience has paid off. I am learning a lot and am ready to see what the next level brings to me after the Max show next week. Of course I have to thank my brother for sitting me down when I want to jump further than I should. Here are some random macro shots I did today. Really looking forward to updating this thread with my new adventures in this great hobby!

 

[Slowtwitch]

Nice start. Patience seems to be paying off for you. Good luck and welcome to the hobby.

[deadwood]

Thanks Slowtwitch. Love your tank and your new one as well. Patience seems to be the hardest part of this hobby.

[reefernanoman]

 

Hello Reefers! Now that my tank is up and running I have moved this over from the newbie section to the members section. For years i have been amazed by aquariums and after seeing my brother go through a 12g and 28g JBJ he has graciously handed me down his tank after he fell out of love for the hobby. So here goes. The pictures below are from Feb 9 - April 6th. I took ownership of the tank on Feb 1.

I received all pieces for the tank. Put it together and assessed the situation. Needless to say the tank I received was in need of TLC after it had crashed. So the work began. One of the hinges so i repaired it with Gorilla glue. Seemed a cheap repair compared to the 25 bucks for new hinges.

Now began the clean-up

then began soaking and running the pumps in a 50/50 solution of vinegar and water. The pumps ran for about 2 hours and then i went to work on them and the tubes. A crack was discovered on one of the pumps outlets so it was repaired.

I then went to work on the live rock. This rock had been dried out for many months by the time I received it. I pressure washed what I could and removed most of the growth that had overtaken the tank previously. It was sat outside to dry for the remainder of the day.

Here is the tank finally clean. Took quite some time to get the media chamber clean from old deposits. All in all this took about 3 hours and my hands were soaked with the stench of Vinegar.

Now it was time to move it to its final position in our family room and begin to scape. Rock scaping was quite fun and challenging. Once i had the rock where i wanted them it was time to glue it down. I decided to go with the $1.49 option and picked up a 2 pack of super glue gel. Since the rock was being held mostly by gravity only a few points needed to be glued down to form arches. I chose a "C" pattern and I really like how it came out. I have two arches one is visible below the other is off to the left.

Here are some FTS of water and sand after the water cleared up. As you can see some of the dead algae i left on the rocks began to flow in the water.

Update: Feb 10 2015

By this time the tank had pretty much done its thing. Being that this was dry rock I did not know what to expect. I had read and heard several theories of how the params were to show a cycle taking place. In the end all i really knew was to wait. So that's what I did. I waited...

Feb 21 2015

Still waiting with the lights off.

Mar 11, 2015

Its been 1 month since the tank started. I started to see some life or change to the rock face. I tested and my params were:

PH 7.4

Ammonia (PPM) 0

Nitrite (PPM) 0

Nitrate (PPM) 5

Salinity 1.26

It was time for the CUC to be introduced into the tank. I felt comfortable that whatever had or needed to cycle did and it was time to reward my patience.

My CUC consisted of:

Scarlet Hermits - 6

Trochus Snails - 6

Red Hermits - 4

Nassarius Snails - 2

The CUC did a great job with eating the dead algae within a weeks time. I got a diatom bloom shortly after the CUC was introduced and they went to work on the sand bed.

Mar 26 2013

Life has begun and the tank has changed. My dead white rock has turned a nice shade of green. Brown spots can also be seen along with tubes of what i think are sponges now have life in them. Pods are now visible on the glass and life seems to be going right a long.

Some crabs have molted.

PH 8.2

Ammonia (PPM) 0

Nitrite (PPM) 0

Nitrate (PPM) 0

Salinity 1.26

 

April 1 2015

By now i have done my fair share of reading on this forum and others. Studying other 18-29g builds and reading on what others have done to prep their tank for that big buy. I decided that with Max around the corner it was time to introduce more life into the tank. I plan on doing some stocking at the Max show so i want to make sure my tank can handle the new bio load. I went to the LFS and purchased two easy to take care of SPS coral. I welcome a small frag of Hammer and Clove Polyp. I was really happy with the colors.

 

the LFS was very helpful in explaining the dip procedure and acclamation method for these corals. After adding them i now added Chemipure elite to my media chamber.

 

1 week after adding these to the tank my numbers did not seem to move much. My PH has fluctuated from 8.0 to 8.2 and back to 8.0. Here are my numbers from start to present:

Date PH A Nitrite Nitrate Sal

3/10/2015 7.4 0 0 5 1.26

3/17/2015 8.0 0 0 <5 1.26

3/23/2015 8.1 0 0 0 1.26

3/26/2015 8.2 0 0 0 1.26

4/3/2015 8.0 0 0 0 1.26

4/6/2015 8.0 0 0 0 1.26

 

 

So far I think my patience has paid off. I am learning a lot and am ready to see what the next level brings to me after the Max show next week. Of course I have to thank my brother for sitting me down when I want to jump further than I should. Here are some random macro shots I did today. Really looking forward to updating this thread with my new adventures in this great hobby!

 

 

Amazing reboot! Good luck with your setup! The intank media basket rocks! I love mine.

[deadwood]

Thanks en28so. I have followed your 28G when I first joined. I am definitely looking to pull ideas from your setup as far as corals. Thanks for the kind words too!

[reefernanoman]

Thanks en28so. I have followed your 28G when I first joined. I am definitely looking to pull ideas from your setup as far as corals. Thanks for the kind words too!

 

Pull away! I'll be following along.

[deadwood]

Yesterday I did my first water change. This was a 25% water change and boy did I learn a few things. At the start of the change I noticed that some snails were above the water line ans the water began to drop. I tried to remove them by hand but they would not budge. It got to the point where I began to hear cracking so I decided to stop and if I lost one oh well. The snail quickly scurried below the water line and all was well.

 

Bought a gravel vacuum tube and began to clean the front half of the tank as I had read in many different threads to clean one section of the tank per water change as to preserve whatever beneficial life there is in the substrate. My water was quite cloudy before the water change and i was hoping with the addition of the Chemipure Elite and new filter floss (which i change once a week) the water would clear up. Today it seems to be a bit better but not like it was 2 weeks prior.

 

My plan is to continue to change the floss hoping its capturing whatever got stirred up in the water change.

[deadwood]

Its been 2 says since the reef show here in Orange County and I finally have something to post. My tank went through some changes over the last few weeks. I lost 3 crabs on my CUC due to lack of food. The hammer i purchased a week go is slowly dying. I am going to chalk it up to a bad frag and not really knowing what to look for when buying frags because my tank parameters have been quite good for the last month. Anyway onto the new inhabitants.

 

 

My goal at the show was to stock my tank with 3 fish and then as much coral as I could afford. I managed to get away with spending less than what i brought in cash so I feel it was a success.

 

Fish:

What tank is complete without a clown? I got this for my son of course but we stopped by a small booth who had baby clowns and had an all white snowflake. Then I saw this little Picasso and instantly got attached to him.

He is full of energy and looks great.

 

Next up is this bad boy. I love the look of the fire gobys. The dorsal fin is what really attracts me to them. He hangs in the middle of the tank most of the day and behind in the cove at night.

Although this picture doesn't show it he has a mean purple streak down its head.

 

The last one is a blue tang. This is what you get for taking your wife with you. Of course she says "what good is a Nemo without his pal Dori" I said to her that this fish has limits and if its gets 1.5 times the size we have to trade it out. So she agreed and its really cool to see the clown and the tang together. Two old souls that wont leave each other. Unfortunately I do not have a pic of this one yet.

 

Coral:

There were 4 nice guys from San Jose who had a killer selection of frags. I picked up a 3 head frag of Rasta Zoas. As of this morning they were still closed due to a feeding frenzy of crab so here is what they look like at night.

 

My best purchase was this guy. I have a hard time getting pics of him at night but here is a daytime picture. A Rainbow/Orange torch coral. The orange and blues and green really pop at night. I had a great spot for this guy on my rock but for the live of me could not get him of the plug. Any advice on this would be really great!

 

Next up are candy cane trumpets. Got a killer deal for 3 heads.

 

This was the only coral I had which i removed from the frag disk. What an experience. The goo that comes out of these is crazy. Good thing I had gloves on. It's fun to watch them get all swollen in the day and spew out water at night.

 

 

Here is a picture of my hammer as of Saturday. Its a bit worse than in the picture. My brother said to just let it die and not remove it from the tank for right now. Maybe it can come back?

 

In any event I like my new additions to the tank. Today i'll do some testing and see where my numbers are. I noticed the blue tank did not like the pellets i was feeding so I might have to get some seaweed and clip it since this is what they had at the show. Is it hard to transition fish who seaweed eat to pellets?

[reefernanoman]

Bud, a blue tang is a big no no in such a small tank. Try to find a new home for it ASAP. BTW blue tangs can get ick very easily, so that is another issue with them.