LbulletM's Foray into Fish - WWC Contest Corals Are Here!!

[LbulletM]

Well, after a few months of research and a slow acquisition of equipment/materials, I figured I should go ahead and start a build thread mostly for my own gratification, but also just in case it helps someone out there. :-)

 

Here's my current list:

- 29 gallon tank from Petco $/gal sale. Wanted the footprint of a 20 Long, but wife preferred the height

- 10 gallon tank from Petco $/gal sale for use as a quarantine

- AC110 that I will be doing the fuge mod on for the display tank

- AC whatever the small one is for a 10 gallon for the quarantine

- Neo-therm 100 150W for the display tank and 2 cheap (Zacro) 50 watts for the quarantine tank and water mixing

- Digital thermometer

- 2 165W wi-fi black boxes

- Jebao PP-4 for the display tank

- Red Sea Coral Pro Salt Instant Ocean Reef Salt

- Red Sea basic test kit, Red Sea Reef test kit

- Cheap Refractometer

- Spectrapure RODI unit

- Grounding plug

- SunSun JVP-110 for mixing salt

- 20 lb CaribSea Arag-Alive Pink Fiji substrate

- Live rock coming from Gulf Live Rock

- Dry rock from Reef Cleaners

- Smart Micro ATO

 

Still need to buy:

- Cheap powerhead for the QT (going to see how the small AC filter does first)

 

Ever since I was little and visited my friend's house with a built in fish tank, I've wanted one of my own. The closest I ever got was some betas and a 5 gallon that my parents gave in to (which I killed when the pet store guy said the freshwater puffer I wanted preferred salt water - now I know he meant brackish - and that my other fish would be fine in it. They were most definitely NOT fine with the table salt I added. That was the end of my aquarium as a child.) Now that my wife and I bought our first home in April, I'm dipping my toes in the proverbial sand and starting a small reef to prepare for a built-in when we refinish what will be the bar room!

 

One thing that I hadn't seen here yet, is that I used PlastiDip to coat the back of my display tank. For those of you "car guys and gals" (cars are definitely my first hobby), you're probably intimately familiar with PlastiDip's uses. For those that aren't, PlastiDip is a matte rubberized coating that you can apply to near any surface just like spray paint. It is used a lot in the car scene to coat various parts, especially wheels. The beauty of PlastiDip is that when you don't want it anymore, you literally just peel it off. I used about an entire can of black on my 29 gallon, so if I ever want to go back to a bare back on my tank, I can easily!

 

I've been lurking around here for a couple of months now. Excited to be part of the community!

[LbulletM]

Received and set up my RODI unit last night! 0 TDS and 0 Chlorine! Not bad starting from 173 TDS...

 

 

 

[LbulletM]

Tonight's the night! After my dry rock from Reef Cleaners shipped earlier than I expected based on information on the site (awesome experience. John even emailed me after submitting my order to thank me) I went ahead and ordered my live rock from Gulf Live Rock. It arrived today!

 

Of course, with Thanksgiving being tomor, everything - including in-laws - is going on at once. The in-laws arrived last night, a night early, so I didn't get to prepare last night like I wanted. My wife is able to work from home when she wants to with her job, so I asked her to do so today so she could pull my live rock in when it arrived. It arrived around noon.

 

I left work a little early to mix up some salt water and get started! I went ahead and threw in the 20 gallons of RODI I had already made into the tank and threw the salt in with 200 combined watts of heater and 2 power heads. The salt water mixed/heated for around 3-4 hours before I added the sand.

 

 

 

I know it's a little rushed on the salt mixing time, but I really wanted to get my live rock into the tank to prevent any further loss. I put the live rock in not quite at 78 degrees (something like 77.5) and with the water still cloudy with sand, so hopefully I'm not ironically killing anything in my rush to not kill everything. The whole setup is kinda uncouth at the moment, if you notice all of the wires.

 

The Gulf Live Rock is AMAZING. I'm completely green, so I don't really know what I'm doing or what I got, but compared to other posts I've seen, it's got a LOT of life. Here's how the rock arrived, two days after ordering.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After this picture, my hands were covered in dead stuff, so no more unpacking pictures.

 

Unfortunately, this being my first time, I didn't know what to remove, so it was REALLY dead if I removed it. Things I removed included a dead brittle star, also saw some other little arms of brittle stars, random worms and segments of worms, a crab that I wasn't sure was alive or not, but left out just in case it was a pest, some bivalves?, and some random algae, etc. I did save a brittle star that fell off the rock, but was still moving, and some sort of snail (in the pictures below).

 

Here's some pictures of whatever rocks I felt around and picked up. Let me know what I've got!

 

 

 

Really hope this one comes back! What is it? SPS, leather? What about the black and orange? Just sponges?

 

 

'

 

One of the smaller rocks.

 

 

 

Another I really hope survives! Cup coral? Or open brain? Or rose? Something like that... I know some other Gulf Live Rock customers have gotten similar ones. I think FlowerMama had one on hers that was an absolutely beautiful shade of teal.

 

 

Nice hole in this one. What are those right at the bottom at the opening of the hole?

 

And here was the tank at the 1 hour mark. Already clearing up!

 

 

I'll be taking a 2 hour picture here in the next few minutes! Excited to get rolling finally!

[xAyanex]

I look forward to following along with your build.

[LbulletM]

Hours 2, 3, 4 and 5 from last night!

 

 

 

 

 

And another hour 5.

 

 

Here's a picture of the rose coral with a "uv" light from a pet urine detection kit.

 

 

And the super accurate thermometers

 

 

Looked much better this morning!

 

 

Aaaaaaaaaand we have ammonia

 

 

Tested a little while ago and had a little bit of nitrite, too! Might pick up some Stability tomorrow just to be safe. Got the light hung up and will have to take another full tank shot tomorrow. For now... photo dump!

 

What's this first one?

 

Snail hitchhiker!

 

 

The largest live rock from my order

 

 

Not looking so hot.... :-/

 

 

 

[xAyanex]

That's a lot of cords, haha.

 

Yeah, I don't trust those thermometers either.

[LbulletM]

That's a lot of cords, haha.

 

Yeah, I don't trust those thermometers either.

Haha yea, the two 50w heaters in the front are gone now, and two of the thermometers will be disappearing, with the remaining probe moving to the filter... Once I figure out which one is accurate.

I'll probably be moving the 100w neo-therm to the filter as well.

 

Found and added the first dose of Seachem Stability tonight. Can't wait to see what tomorrow's numbers look like. Also heating a 5 gallon bucket of RODI tonight to do a 5gal water change tomorrow and vacuum the sand.

[1.0reef]

Huh, never thought about using plasti dip on tanks, seems easier to use vs spray paint.

[Newstead]

Looking forward to seeing this progress! You have some really nice live rock, it will be fun to see what shows up over the coming months. Stability or Prime and water changes are a good idea to keep the ammonia down during the initial die off to keep as much alive as possible.

[LbulletM]

So, day 4! Just did my first 5 gallon water change with another 2 capfuls of Stability, these were my ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates (I was a few minutes late on checking the results, woops. Hate these 15 and 9 minute waiting periods. Regardless, I have lots of each). I'm making two more 5 gallon buckets of RODI for another one or two water changes tomorrow. I only have about 20 gallons of water right now, so a 5 gallon change is 25%.

 

 

 

 

And some more random shots! I think I need to buy a macro lens...

 

I think I found an aptasia Can anyone confirm from my less than stellar picture?

 

 

 

Found a worm. Good or bad? Do I need to remove it? I'm going to go post in the ID section too.

 

 

Little out of focus, but here's the rose coral. It's not looking worse, but it's not looking better.

 

 

Couple of cup corals. They're seeming really happy. Not sure if I was imagining it, but I think the feeders came out even more after the water change. Hard to see the second one, but it's just right of center.

 

 

 

This one looks like it will make it! Feeders are starting to come out a little and I can see a small amount of fluorescent green under blue lights.

 

 

Not sure what this is:

 

 

Here's a blurry sponge. Not sure if it's dying or not. May need to remove it.

 

 

I've got something right there in the center. Can anyone ID?

 

 

Aaaaaand on to some full tank shots.

 

 

 

 

 

I've been keeping the water low to leave room for my dry rock, but I think I will just remove 5 gallons tomorrow and add 10 gallons, then I can remove the excess when I go to add the dry rock after the cycle. I'm getting lots of bubbles from how far the water has to fall from the filter.

 

All-in-all, I THINK everything is going ok!

[LbulletM]

That's a lot of cords, haha.

 

Yeah, I don't trust those thermometers either.

 

I got rid of a lot of the cords

[ABC]

Looks like you got some cool stuff on the live rock

[LbulletM]

Looks like you got some cool stuff on the live rock

I was happy with it!

[LbulletM]

Day 5 tests.

 

 

 

 

And last night's BEFORE a water change!! Ammonia is looking great.

 

 

 

 

Nitrites and nitrates are predictably through the roof, but the combination of water changes and Stability seems to be working.

 

Someone over in the ID forum correctly ID'd my branching coral as Oculina Robusta!

 

Also, I decided the best way to track the progress of my rose coral was to use a "UV" light. I'll have to keep checking, but it looks like the back side might be regrowing? Not sure if that spot was there originally or not.

 

[LbulletM]

Quick update! Photos from Tuesday night. Params are starting to look good! Ammonia looks like it's essentially 0. I don't remember if I took these before or after water change. Spun my rocks too, so that I can get to the aiptasia tomorrow night when the X comes in.

 

 

 

 

And some random photos.

 

Found this guy. Anyone have an ID? Hasn't come out further than this.

 

 

Found some other small corals. Probably would have missed them if they didn't look so happy!

 

 

 

Alive? Will have to keep an eye on it.

 

 

Your time is short, bud.

 

 

 

Found this sucker as well. Can't get a positive ID, so I'll probably be "X"-ing it, too.

 

 

 

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAnd then params from tonight. These were post water change, so trites and trates look a little better than they probably are.

 

 

 

 

And to top everything off, I somehow got sent another box of live rock. It's now cycling in a 5 gallon bucket with a heater, power head I use for mixing, some Stability, and water that I took out of the tank for a water change. Looked good! Lots of bivalves and some big colonies of some random coral that I have no idea what it is. Will obviously post pics once I take some. Also came with another rose coral that was easily separated from the big rocks on it's own tiny rock, so I put that straight in the DT. All-in-all, everything seems to be progressing well and everything looks happy despite the cycle! I think I'm even starting to get some diatoms.

 

[LbulletM]

Nitrites are near 0! Starting to see diatoms. Will probably order a CUC on Monday. Looks closer to a 0.1 or 0.05 in person.

 

[LbulletM]

Rose coral had its feeders out this morning when I turned on the light! I think it's going to make it!

 

 

And you can see the hidden cup coral doing it's best impression in this second picture (front left). You can also see the new rose coral I received in the back right. Bummed that they're going to be nearly the same color.

 

[LbulletM]

So, it's been a few days since I posted an update. We got a new 6 month old pup who's been taking up our evenings.

 

 

On to the tank.... Everything seems to be going well! Ammonia and nitrites are staying at 0. Nitrates are hovering around 20 with a few days between water changes. Will be adding my CUC tonight (assuming it shipped like it was supposed to - I never received a tracking number) as well as adding my dry rock and doing a water change to further lower my nitrates!

 

Getting a real mean case of the uglies :-D Plenty for the CUC to feast on tonight!

 

 

Finding more and more hitchhikers, and the corals are looking to do well. I fed my original rose coral a pellet the other night and it does seem to be regaining its flesh. The new rose coral seems to be doing well, too! Though I decided to scrap the new rock due to a failed cycle in a bucket... woops. I'm ok with that, though, because every time I did a water change on it, I got less and less confident about using it in my aquarium since my dry rock is much more porous. Here's some pics!

 

Newly found hitchhiker:

 

 

And another:

 

 

 

Beautiful details on the feeders of my hidden cups!

 

 

Translucent sponges?

 

 

Great polyp extension on my occulina!

 

[LbulletM]

Well, this is my second time typing this after accidentally closing a tab....

 

Finally got my aquascaping done! I'm not in love with it, but I'm happy with it considering the rocks I had to play with. (Excuse my algae, the CUC that I added Friday are working their little hearts out).

 

 

 

The only thing I really wish I did differently was the shadowed section in the middle of the right side (it's not nearly as deep as it looks like it is... maybe an inch set back maximum, but probably not even that). If I did it again, I would break off the front of the white rock. BUT, there's a feather duster on the top, some tiny ones on the left side of the live rock, another white feather duster on the live rock adjacent to the left, and 3 cucumbers that are voracious eaters, so it definitely has some activity. Here are some random pics of the dusters and a link to a video of the cucumbers eating. I would definitely check it out, it's mesmerizing.

 

 

 

 

https://youtu.be/7-1lHIy8xOU

 

I didn't get a picture from an angle, but the three smaller rocks in the right side fore form a little pathway between them and the rocks into a tunnel. Here's a picture of the tunnel on the left side. It passes straight through, but also has a little loop around the small rock I epoxied onto the front corner.

 

 

Here's a tiny little thing with great red coloration that I epoxied into the walkway:

 

 

Rose corals are doing really well. The larger one that had some lost flesh is regrowing it (you can see it at the top side of the coral) and the smaller one has the potential to turn into a stunner! Starting to see some variations in coloring. They're eating pellets every few days right now until I start dosing Seachem zoo and phyto (anyone have experience with them?).

 

 

Found this little guy as well. His huge big brother was relocated to the grass outside after I found him while breaking rocks for scaping.

 

 

 

Aaaaand a parameter check for posterity:

 

Ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates when the water was still low to scape. This was after about a week with no water changes.

 

 

 

 

And then nitrates again after topping off with ~5 gallons of fresh saltwater.

 

 

And after that I did another 5 gallon water change a couple of hours later, but I didn't test again because it was nearing midnight and I have to wake up at 5am for work

 

All-in-all, a productive weekend for my tank! The rest of this week, I'll be working on manually removing some of my problem algae, tracking my other parameters, and doing a few more water changes to reduce nitrates to near 0.

 

OH! I also won a Facebook contest and will be receiving this shortly after the holidays:

 

 

And since I have free shipping with it, I'm gonna go ahead and pick up a head of purple torch and a yellow/green hammer. Want to start a euphyllia garden on the left rock.

 

Hope all is well with everyone and Merry Christmas!

[vlangel]

I enjoyed reading through your thread. I would have loved to start off with such amazing live rock. You already have some cool coral and macro algae. I will be following to see what you do as your tank progresses. You are off to a great start!

[LbulletM]

I enjoyed reading through your thread. I would have loved to start off with such amazing live rock. You already have some cool coral and macro algae. I will be following to see what you do as your tank progresses. You are off to a great start!

 

Thanks! I just hope that through all of my rambling and at times innocuous posting of parameters for my records, someone, someday, can find something helpful. :-)

 

I did a lot of research before settling on Gulf Live Rock. Can't recommend them enough. I'm still finding all kinds of new hitchikers, but haven't seen anything too nefarious. Only 2 Aiptasia and a large fire worm so far! I was hopeful for a rose coral, so imagine my surprise when I not only got my rose coral, but also what turned out to be a Oculina Robusta. If that wasn't enough, you should have seen my smile when I received my accidental second shipment of rock with yet another rose!

 

This morning I ordered 5 RFAs, a couple heads of different colored hammers (aussie orange, chartreuse, and yellow), and a couple zoas from RareReef. I know it's probably a little soon, but I didn't want to miss the 25% discount (coupon code "midnight" if it's still active for the rest of the day). They will not be shipping until after the holidays, so my tank will be ~1.5+ months old when I receive them. I plan to keep up with weekly or semi-weekly water changes for at least the first few months. I'm currently doing one just about every night until my nitrates are down to <5 ppm.

 

Currently I'm planning a Euphyllia garden on the left most rock structure, Acans and RFAs (if they'll stay put) in the middle, zoas on the right side, and some SPS near the top of the right most structure once the aquarium is more mature.

 

 

 

[vlangel]

Sounds like a good plan and I look forward to following it.

[Sea_Of_Treachery]

Looks like a good start. The back of my 5g is dipped as well though it is starting to peel off. My entire genesis coupe and wheels are dipped also. I'm all about car mods here!

 

Me, the wife and my buddys optima.

 

Wifes and our beater subie.

 

[LbulletM]

Looks like a good start. The back of my 5g is dipped as well though it is starting to peel off. My entire genesis coupe and wheels are dipped also. I'm all about car mods here!

 

Me, the wife and my buddys optima.

meet.PNG

 

Wifes and our beater subie.

 

Subies.PNG

 

Nice! I haven't had any problems with peeling, yet, so hopefully it holds up. I actually haven't done any dipping on my car yet, already have black wheels. Did my tiny little spoiler in carbon fiber vinyl though. It's holding up really well.

[LbulletM]

Aaaaaaaaaaaand we have vertebrate life. Lots of stuff happened over the holidays :-)

 

1) Did a 10 gallon water change on Christmas night. Still battling high nitrates (~15-20), but planning another 10 gallon tonight, a 5 gallon tomorrow morning, and then leaving town until Monday night Little worried, but I don't think I should be since I've gone a few days without water changes already.

 

2) Receiving this guy tomorrow morning (won it in a Facebook contest) along with a purple torch and purple hammer to kick off my Euphyllia garden. Should go nicely with my yellows that I posted a few posts back. Getting these is the main reason I'm worried about the trip. Will pretty much be throwing them in and then leaving for 3 days. Bleh.

 

 

3) Added this guy last Thursday night. Doing so well! Always fully extended and seems to be eating when I added Hikari mysis as well as Seachem Zooplankton. Really glows under blues.

 

 

 

4) Roses are doing well! Ever seen one eat algae, because I have now. (You can see it in the second picture).

 

 

 

 

5) And last, but not least, I went into the LFS looking for a Flame Angel and ended up with this beauty.

 

 

Super vibrant coloring. Looks just like the LiveAquaria stock photo. Here're some more :-)