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JLynn's Softy Reef


JLynn

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I am very excited about this; it'll be my first ever reef aquarium! As much as I would love to have done a mixed reef tank with some of the easier SPS, I am a college student, and so I have to move my tank around quite a lot, and I have to the easiest possible tank for a tank-sitter to take care of over Spring Break and whatnot. Soft corals are the ones that can take the most punishment, so I decided to stick with them.

 

Equipment:

Innovative Marine Lagoon 25

Nanobox Duo Plus M

2 inTank Media Baskets

2 inTank Universal Surface Skimmers

Hydor Koralia Nano 425 (I plan on upgrading to the Aqamai KPS whenever that gets released)

AutoAqua Smart ATO Micro

Finnex HMO-150 Heater

BRS 1/8" DIY Screen Top Kit

 

For mechanical filtration, I'll be using filter floss, for chemical filtration I'm using Chemipure Blue Nano, and for biological filtration I'm going with Brightwell Aquatics XPort-BIO Biomedia Cubes. (If phosphates become a problem I will use those in combination with the XPort-PO4 Biomedia Cubes).

 

Fish:

2 Naked Clownfish

1 Yellow Clown Goby

1 ORA Sharknose Goby

1 Tailspot Blenny

1 Randall's Shrimp Goby

1 Centropyge argi(?) (I'm not sure about this one... on one hand, they're gorgeous and small enough to fit in the tank just fine; on the other, I'm worried it might be one fish too many. I could just get one clownfish and one of these... but I'm kind of attached to the idea of having a pair of clownfish.)

 

Inverts:

1 Blood Red Fire Shrimp

1 Randall's Pistol Shrimp

1 Cowry

Maybe a couple mini brittle starfish?

 

Corals:

Ricordea florida

Pulsing Xenia (on a separate little rock island to prevent a takeover)

Sarcophyton sp. with long polyps (Sarcophyton ehrenbergi, maybe?)

Devil’s Hand Leather Coral (Lobophytum sp.)

Cauliflower Colt Coral (Klyxum sp.)

Nephthea sp. OR Spaghetti Finger Leather Coral (Sinularia flexibilis)

Muricea elongata

Pterogorgia citrina

Plexaura flexuosa

Muriceopsis flavida

Pinnigorgia flava

Dragon’s Breath Algae

I may cut one or two of those gorgonians off the list. Or maybe not. I don't know. I really like gorgonians.

As for the aquascape, I'm going to be sticking with a very minimalist style. Especially because the tank is so shallow, I want to be sure I leave lots of space for the corals to grow into full colonies, plus leave plenty of room for the fish to swim around. I really dislike it when people crowd their tanks full of frags so that none of them ever really have room to grow into colonies. I mean, I understand the impulse - especially in the beginning stages of a tank, when it's so empty and you just want to fill it up - but years down the line, what you end up with is a bunch of tiny little corals crushed together, which I just find sad. My favorite tanks are the ones where people have had the forethought and patience to leave their corals enough room to grow into mature, beautiful colonies.

Anyways, sadly I don't have any pictures to show y'all yet, but my equipment is on its way here, so I should be able to fix that soon!

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I'm getting so excited for this tank! This afternoon, my aquarium, salt and dry rock arrived (I decided on the 30 lb package from Reef Cleaners, because the price is fantastic, and it's already been cured), and I can barely wait to put all the pieces together. Sadly, I have to. The tank may have arrived, but the stand hasn't. So I haven't even been able to unpack the tank because it's large enough that I'll definitely need help lifting it. That stand could not possibly come quickly enough.

 

I forgot to mention this, but for a stand I'll be using 3' square steel folding table with a weight capacity of 350 lbs. (Using online calculators, it looks like the weight of the tank when it's filled, including rock, sand, water, lights, etc will approach 300 lbs. So the table should be able to hold it just fine, and because it's a folding table, it will be really easy for me to fit in my car with the rest of my stuff.

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Folding table sounds scary.

It may hold it. But what happens when the tank or table is bumped. or when you use a magnet cleaner and it shakes the tank and the table?

Just doesn't sound sturdy to me

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I totally understand your apprehension. But, there are industry standards by which this table was tested, and it met them; apparently some folding tables can even hold upwards of a thousand pounds (they're use in construction, though, and probably really expensive). I'm buying it from Lowes, too. If it were a table from Target or Walmart I would be much more concerned.

 

Also, it has a 15-year warranty on non-moving metal parts and a 5-year warranty on component parts (including the moving ones). That alone doesn't guarantee anything, but they wouldn't provide a warranty on something like a table if they weren't pretty confident about it.

 

The table will be pretty well out of the way, in an area of my bedroom that is totally visible, but that I almost never walk in, so I'm very unlikely to bump into it. Do magnet cleaners really have the power to shake the tank? I got the Tunze Nano Care Magnet, and the magnet is definitely really strong, but the tank is also very sturdy (plus it will be super heavy when it's all full). Would such a small magnet really have the power to move such a heavy tank?

 

I don't know. Maybe you're right, and I'll pay the price for my attempt at cleverness. Hopefully it will live up to claims, though.

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Well... I got worried about that table despite my best efforts. And also, it took two weeks to get here, and I got impatient. So I ended up putting the tank on the counter instead (it's a very sturdy wooden counter, don't worry). I put together the screen top and put all the different parts in the aquarium. My sand came in yesterday and all that's left to do is make the trip to the LFS to get some water! I'll be doing that tomorrow, so I'll be sure to post pictures of the finished product asap.

 

A tip for anyone else using the BRS kit: duck tape the netting to the table so that it's kept taut while you are rolling in the spline. This keeps the wrinkles and sagging in the netting to an absolute minimum. (Maybe even nonexistent, but my duck tape was a bit too weak to accomplish that (I bought the cheap $1 roll from Walmart; a more expensive one might have performed better.)

 

In other news, I've decided that I'm definitely not going to add Centropyge argi to this tank. I was doing a little more research on them and I came across an alarming number of threads and posts talking about how their Cherub Angelfish was attacking their clownfish pair - one of them was in a 75g, so you know it's not just an issue of size. Apparently they don't behave anywhere near as angelically as their name suggests.

 

I still might add another fish - I've been eyeing those captive bred Rainford's Gobies on Live Aquaria - but probably not.

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Well, the tank is wet, I'm satisfied with my aquascape, and the cycle has begun.

 

30826144146_08a2d58b40_c.jpg

 

As of right now:

Ammonia is at 1.0 ppm

Nitrite is at 0 ppm

Nitrate is also at 0 ppm

 

Hopefully by tomorrow we will see the nitrite beginning to rise.

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Ammonia is at 2.0 ppm

Nitrite is (still) at 0 ppm

Nitrate is at 5.0 ppm

 

This puzzles me, frankly. I mean, if there is nitrate shouldn't there also be nitrite? I am using an API test kit, so maybe there just too low a level of nitrite for it to detect, but it still seems weird.

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No. I suspect it's actually a bit higher than zero - maybe like 1 ppm (and the nitrites, I think, are probably closer to 0.30 ppm)? But the API color chart does not give results that precise.

 

But if you're wondering why there is such a big difference in the parameters, it's probably because on the first and second day, I dosed ammonia to give the bacteria something to eat (the day before that I put a few pellets in the tank, so their decomposition also adds a bit of ammonia). When the test results on day 2 showed 2 ppm of ammonia, I decided to hold off on dosing any more ammonia till that amount had been depleted. So I'll probably be putting more in tonight.

 

I've gotta say, I'm pretty pleased with the results of the Seachem Stability, combined with the Caribsea Arag-Alive. Maybe I'm jumping the gun with this, but it seems to have established a good population of bacteria in just a few days.

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Well I woke up this morning to hear the return pump making horrible slurping noises, and lo and behold, it's spewing tons of little bubbles into the tank. I tried unplugging it and restarting it, and it worked for all of 2 seconds before the bubbles returned. Then I tried replacing the filter floss, and noticed that one of the sliding sides of my inTank media baskets was pushed way up for some reason. I pushed that down and when I tried the pump again, everything was as it should be. I doubt it was the new filter floss that did it, so I suppose it was the media basket wall, but I have no idea why that would cause bubbles to spew from my return pump. Anyways, it's all better now.

 

Also, it turns out that I've been cycling wrong. I stopped adding ammonia when I should have kept on adding ammonia. Oops! I knew I should have read those instructions one last time! Hopefully it won't be to much longer, though.

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And... the problem was not solved, after all. I woke up this morning to the exact same issue with the pump. I checked those acrylic walls and they were still in place; and since I'd just replaced the filter floss the day before, I wasn't about to do it again. If pushing the acrylic wall back down yesterday didn't fix the problem, why on earth did it work all day long??? :angry:

 

I'm beginning to get really frustrated with this pump. So I've decided that I'm going to remove part of the black backing on the tank, so that I can at least get a good look at the rear compartment to try and figure out what the deal is. It's very hard to fix a problem you can't see, after all.

 

If I can't see any problems, I don't know what I'll do. Get in touch with Innovative Marine, I suppose. I might end up having the replace the pump or something. -_-

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Hallelujah! It's fixed!

 

Taking off the black backing was a rather obnoxious process, but once it was off, I checked for any airbubbles that may be causing the pump issues, and found none. So then I turned the pump on, and discovered that the water level of the return pump chamber was super low, to the point where a little bit of the intake was poking out of the water. So that solves the mystery. I suppose the reason why pushing the acrylic wall down fixed the problem temporarily was simply that it displaced just enough water to fully cover the pump intake.

 

The water level must have been this low the whole time, because I checked the salinity to make sure it wasn't an ATO malfunction and it was fine. I guess what happened is that when I first set the tank up, I must have been unknowingly putting my fingers in the secondary chambers of the sump area to see if the water level was ok. That led me to think that it was fine when I really should have added a bit more water in. As it happens, I also put the ATO sensor in the second compartment by accident. In retrospect, it's good that it was there and not in the third compartment, because then my salinity would have been really out of wack!

 

Anyways, problem solved. And if I buy any more Innovative Marine tanks in the future, peeling off that backing will definitely be the first thing I do!

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The diatom bloom has started.

 

Most people would be upset about that, but honestly? I'm thrilled just to have something growing in my tank. Even if it's unsightly algae.

 

In other news, I've started to wonder whether my API test kit is accurate. A week has gone by and the nitrite readings are still the same - off the charts. By now, you would have thought it would have lowered. So I've ordered Salifert test kits from BRS to get a second opinion, so to speak.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Fantastic news: it seems that my cycle is (finally) over!!! :haha:

 

I left the tank unattended over thanksgiving break, and when I got back, I tested the water, and found that both ammonia and nitrites were finally at 0! Nitrates are about 40 ppm, though, which sucks, but still. A series of water changes will fix that problem.

 

The diatoms also really took off in my absence. Like wow. Pretty much everything is some kind of red. If the cycle really is finally over, my next order of business will be getting some snails to take care of the algae. Any recommendations?

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Fantastic news: it seems that my cycle is (finally) over!!! :haha:

 

I left the tank unattended over thanksgiving break, and when I got back, I tested the water, and found that both ammonia and nitrites were finally at 0! Nitrates are about 40 ppm, though, which sucks, but still. A series of water changes will fix that problem.

 

The diatoms also really took off in my absence. Like wow. Pretty much everything is some kind of red. If the cycle really is finally over, my next order of business will be getting some snails to take care of the algae. Any recommendations?

Actually after ammonia and nitrites cycle its a healthy sign that nitrates are 40 ppm. I would also do a 25 - 40% WC along with adding a cuc. Its better to reduce nitrates with a WC and not over do it with cuc. Otherwise a huge amount of snails/crabs or whatever you get will eat all the algae, then starve and spike the ammonia again with decaying bodies. My 56 gallon tank has 3 trocus snails, 2 bee snails and 1 small red legged crab and stays pretty clean. You will be surprised how quickly just a few creatures will clean up the diatoms.
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Actually after ammonia and nitrites cycle its a healthy sign that nitrates are 40 ppm. I would also do a 25 - 40% WC along with adding a cuc. Its better to reduce nitrates with a WC and not over do it with cuc. Otherwise a huge amount of snails/crabs or whatever you get will eat all the algae, then starve and spike the ammonia again with decaying bodies. My 56 gallon tank has 3 trocus snails, 2 bee snails and 1 small red legged crab and stays pretty clean. You will be surprised how quickly just a few creatures will clean up the diatoms.

Good to know! Thanks for the advice.

 

Yeah, I was only planning on adding like 2 or 3 little snails. The tailspot blenny should also help a little bit. It's crazy how some people will do like 50 snails on a 20 gallon tank!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm absolutely sick of having an empty tank. I can't wait to be able to fill it up with corals and fish!

 

Sadly, that will have to wait till after I get back from christmas break, which for me will be January 8th. While I'm away I'll be boarding my rock, my two coral frags, and my betta fish, Caspian at my LFS. (Local is relative - it's actually an hour's drive :( - but at least it's a good one.) It's weird to think of board rocks, but what I needed to keep them live and cycled so I could immediately start stocking the tank upon my return.

 

And yes, I said coral frags. You see, in early November, the week of the election, Pacific East Aquaculture had an awesome 40% off sale on their corals. There just so happened to be a couple corals on their website that I'd been drooling over for days, so while my tank was far from cycled... it was too good a deal: I couldn't resist snatching them up. When they arrived, my tank was still not cycled, so I went ahead and took them to be boarded at my LFS.

 

Here they are (sorry about the super blue and rather blurry picture):

31451542476_73a0cb7587_c.jpg

 

In real life, the toadstool is actually this color:

31117821710_18000e8df2_c.jpg

Sadly, it has darkened up after the shipping process (and possibly because of the lighting it's under), but I hope it will return to its original color given time. I really love the lime green of the tentacles.

 

And the ricordeas are similar in color to these:

30647796134_37aa07aa67_c.jpg

The nice thing about these ricordeas is that they are colors that coordinate well, so my plan is to just let these ones propagate all over their designated section of my rockwork, and I should end up with a nice patch of ricordeas in three different coordinating colors, without having to pay for any more frags!

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  • 1 month later...

Well, I'm back from winter break, and I've successfully moved my tank across the state! Both of my corals are now glued onto the rockwork (though I really wish I'd had some bone cutters on hand to snap the stem of the ricordea plug off...) and they seem very healthy. The toadstool is still pissed about being moved and handled, so it's polyps have yet to extend, and it's much more brown than green at the moment due to the aformentioned stress, but, at the LFS is was in perfectly good condition, so I'm not worried. A little time and it should bounce back.

 

The ricordea, by contrast, has done extremely well dealing with the stress. It is still as colorful as ever and happily remained open even when I had to touch it and lift it out of the water. It's definitely grown in the past month; it's expanded to completely cover the frag plug and the orange one has just about finished dividing into two polyps - when I got it, a month and a half ago, it had only just started that process.

 

I went ahead and got my CUC; the rocks had a good amount of algae on them from the LFS's tank, so the snails have something to munch on. I went light on it: just 3 Astraea Turbo snails, a Nassarius, and a blood red fire shrimp. I may get a little bit more if I need to down the line, but I think what I've got will be sufficient.

 

I also failed to demonstrate self control and came home with a duncan polyp. Since it's just one stony coral, I think I'll be ok without dosing 2 part or kalkwasser or anything like that, as long as I keep doing 10% weekly water changes. The duncan also bounced back quickly and happily opened up within 15 minutes of being glued in place. I don't know why the toadstool is so much more touchy.

 

Lastly, the girl at the shop tossed in a pair of tiny zoanthid colonies. She said they were doing poorly, but if I could manage to keep them alive I could have them for free. One of them is really pretty - red and purple - and the other is very drab - brown and yellowish. The brown one may color up under different lighting, but I'm not holding my breath on that. I will probably just sell it if it survives. The pretty one, on the other hand, I really do want to survive. I've gone ahead and glued it down on the rocks, since I will definitely keep it if it makes it. Despite having healthier-looking colors, it hasn't fully opened up, whereas the boring one has all its polyps open. So we'll see how this goes.

 

(I'll post pictures soon!)

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Welcome back and I am glad to hear that everything did well over your break. Your new coral sound exciting. O and leathers often act touchy after being moved but in a day or so it should be fine.

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Thanks!

 

I need some advice here: two of my three astraea snails are doing fine; I've seen them move around a bit and can confirm that they are alive. The third one, however, I'm not sure about. It has not moved at all or come out of it's shell to attach to the rock during the whole time I've had it. And I made sure to set them all on patches of algae, so that should have tempted it out of hiding long ago. More worrying is the fact that I have found some mini brittle stars (they hitchhiked in on the rock) getting inside it's shell. Now at first I though this was the reason that it wasn't coming out of its shell. After a few more times, with the starfish continuing to come back to the snail, I'm wondering if it's dead and the brittle stars can tell and are trying to eat it. So my dilemma is that if the snail isn't dead, I don't want to just throw it out; that would be cruel. But if it is, I certainly don't want to leave it in the tank to foul up my water. Is there any way I can tell for sure whether or not it's dead?

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