jsw bc29

[jsw]

Hey everybody, so glad to be here. I'm addicted to this site.

 

I've wanted a reef aquarium for a very long time. Slowly I've accumulated test kits and other odds and ends for getting started, but never the actual aquarium. Well, 3 weeks ago -- on a whim -- I bought a BC29 and have been spending way to much time with it ever since.

 

Nitrogen based params went to zero a week ago. Here's what I have in here right now:

 

- 45 lbs of live rock (that had been curing for 3 months or so)

- 20 lbs Arag-Alive

- Ocean Pure salt

- 9 Astreas

- 4 Margaritas

- 5 Nassarius

- 5 Red/Blue Hermits

- 1 Sand Sifting Star (I like clean substrate)

- 1 Skunk Shrimp

- A bunch o' Zoas and some other misc goodies (not sure I like all the Zoa colors, but we'll see)

 

I had the CUC in the tank for about 5 days before I added the Zoas. It asked the LFS for a Zoa frag pack -- he gave me way more than I bargained for. He also threw in a small Ric and a Xenia. There was also a blue sponge hitch-hiking on one of the Zoa frags, not sure what it is. I'm still pretty limited when it comes to identifying marine animals. The Ric wasn't attached to anything, so you can see below in the pics that he's sitting in some plastic. That's my effort to get him to attach to a piece of rubble.

 

All my zoas are spred out a bit. I kinda wanna get them a little closer -- have a nice little carpet of them on the right jettie of the tank. What should I anticipate for growth? And how should I space them accordingly?

 

The tank is modded just a bit. I widened the overflow to chamber 1. Put a MJ1200 in. Took out the bio-balls, all false floors, stock filters, and shoved a bunch of LR rubble in the back. I wanna get a Tunze DOC 9002. I have some cool ideas for making an extra chamber in the back -- with slower flow -- for a refugium. I want to try to avoid any external parts. We'll see if I can make that happen.

 

I also want to try to get a little more LR to get some more height/shelves in the back of the tank.

 

Ammonia - 0

Nitrite - 0

Nitrate - 3

pH - 8.3

Temp - 80-81 (that's with all hoods open. i don't have an AC -- it's a huge room to so it'll be cheaper to go with a chiller)

 

And some pics:

 

 

 

[Lalani]

Nice scaping and sounds like you've got a nice LFS.

[jsw]

Added new stuff!

 

Sapphire BC29R Skimmer

Rio 6HF

NanoCustoms 1.150 HQI

Refractometer

 

Haven't installed the 1.150 HQI yet. Hopefully I'll have some time soon. Looks sweet.

 

Some LR rubble in chamber 1.

 

The BC29R is still breaking in. Has pulled some nice scum out of the water after just one day. No micro-bubbles.

 

Started using Tropic Marin Salt.

 

A mated pair of true percs.

 

Going to start adding some corals in a month.

 

Pics will be in order after I get the lighting installed.

[got2envy]

can't see pics..only red x's

[jsw]

can't see pics..only red x's

 

my bad. dns on the site i have the pics hosted on expired today. just renewed it.

 

pics should be back up in a day or two.

[jsw]

For lighting my current setup is a 20,000k MH and 2x36 actinics with the NanoTuners 1.150 HQI kit. I really like the way it turned out. Initially I wasn't planning on a 20,000k, but that's what was shipped. It's not too blue for me. I still may try a 10,000k or 14,000k just to see it. I put the kit together myself (did the one with the 2.36 upgrade too, so pretty much nothing is stock). It took about 5 hours, but I took my time.

 

The Sapphire BC29R is doing some great skimming -- again, no micro-bubbles.

 

I picked up a couple little sps frags: yellow porite, montipora capricornis and a toxic-green hydnophora. They're light acclimating so they're down toward the bottom right now, but they're doing great. I'll put up another FTS once they're placed nicely.

 

I may be giving away some zoanthids. Now that they're starting to grow I think they're going to take over. The zoanthids did not like all that new light the first couple of days either. They were half-opened, shriveled and were just getting fried. I just decided to let them tough it out. They're looking good again now.

 

[got2envy]

It's looking good! I am in micro bubble hell with the Aquaclear 50 power heads..i just ordered 2 maxi jet 900's from dr foster and smith..oh if you order somthing from drs foster and smith put the coupon code dodge and get 15% off entire order keep updating I am tagging along!

[modularduck]

 

yeah man nice looking tank. your well on your way. p-town has some really good LFS. keep posting.

[jsw]

So we can all watch them grow...

 

Green Hydnophora (still acclimating)

 

Yellow Porites

[jsw]

Purchased 4 more SPS today and a itty-bitty blue mushroom. Have pics of those up sometime soon.

 

Here is the Sapphire BC29R skimmate from 2 days:

 

 

[jsw]

A bunch has changed since last post. Added:

 

Tunze Osmolator and Kalk

Switched to B-Ionic

Switched to Phoenix 14k

Aquacontroller Jr

Ecotech Vortech Circulation pump

About 15 more SPS pieces

A chiller (aka cheap clip-on fan on controller. )

 

Water change tomorrow. Going to rescape too. My current scape doesn't have enough real estate taking advantage of the Phoenix 14k's light.

 

I really really want to get a bigger cube and add a bunch more light. I'm drawing up a 36" cube (24" high) with 4x250w MH, Luminarc III minis, closed-loop circ, OM8, sump -- but the cost for that whole setup is looking like it will take some saving, and I need to buy a house first. I'll lose my nano status too!

 

You'll hear more from me tomorrow.

[jrgnd]

Purchased 4 more SPS today and a itty-bitty blue mushroom. Have pics of those up sometime soon.

 

Here is the Sapphire BC29R skimmate from 2 days:

 

 

 

 

Could you please tell me how do you have your BC29R setup. My skim looks nothing like yours. I keep having over flow problems.

 

Here is my setup:

 

BC29

Stock pump

BC29R Skimmer

32 Lbs LF

25 Lbs LS

2 Clowns

15 Astrea Snails

29 Hermit Crabs

1 Serpent Star

1 Sally Light Foot Crab

2 Pepermint Shrimp

1 Hammer

1 Capnella

1 Hairy Mushroom

 

 

Thanks...

[jsw]

Took some pics. The halide is already out for the night, so here are some actinic shots. I'm gettin there...

 

 

 

 

[jsw]

Could you please tell me how do you have your BC29R setup. My skim looks nothing like yours. I keep having over flow problems.

 

Here is my setup:

 

BC29

Stock pump

BC29R Skimmer

32 Lbs LF

25 Lbs LS

2 Clowns

15 Astrea Snails

29 Hermit Crabs

1 Serpent Star

1 Sally Light Foot Crab

2 Pepermint Shrimp

1 Hammer

1 Capnella

1 Hairy Mushroom

Thanks...

 

Overflow? The biggest thing is getting the collection cup at the right height. Make sure the skimmer is broken-in and the riser-tube is clean. It won't skim much either if there isn't much to skim!

[jrgnd]

Overflow? The biggest thing is getting the collection cup at the right height. Make sure the skimmer is broken-in and the riser-tube is clean. It won't skim much either if there isn't much to skim!

 

 

I think the problem was that it wasn't broken in. I am currently fine tuning and the skim is darker in color...Thank you for answering....

[jsw]

Ok everybody, here are some pics with the halide on. SPS dominated. Let me know if you want any close-ups. Some of the corals didn't come out great in the pics. Enjoy.

 

 

 

 

[Maco]

Very nice

[divecj5]

Wow....your tank has come a long way looking at the top of this thread. Everything looks great in there and I'm loving all of the varieties of colors in not only the SPS but also the zoas in the sand. Looks like you have quite the collection of corals going in there.

 

I really really want to get a bigger cube and add a bunch more light. I'm drawing up a 36" cube (24" high) with 4x250w MH, Luminarc III minis, closed-loop circ, OM8, sump -- but the cost for that whole setup is looking like it will take some saving, and I need to buy a house first. I'll lose my nano status too!

 

 

No need to go bigger in my opinion....tank is just starting to come together...time to let it grow

[spanko]

I love the monti cap section of your tank. They look like they are doing great.

[jsw]

I love the monti cap section of your tank. They look like they are doing great.

 

Thanks everybody! Yeah I like Montipora. I have three caps: green with purple tips, orange, and an aussie maroon. I plan on getting a purple at some point. One of the cap looking things on the right is actually a Turbinaria. I also like the pink Montipora Digitata I have too. The Monti's are a good hardy coral. They grow pretty fast too!

 

Thanks everybody! Yeah I like Montipora. I have three caps: green with purple tips, orange, and an aussie maroon. I plan on getting a purple at some point. One of the cap looking things on the right is actually a Turbinaria. I also like the pink Montipora Digitata I have too. The Monti's are a good hardy coral. They grow pretty fast too!

 

And I almost forgot to list the Montipora Setosa!

[jsw]

Picked up two little frags of blue Acropora Tortuosa (aka Oregon Tort). These are a beautiful coral. I'm not joking that the LFS has whats gotta be 20 separate colonies of these Torts in a prop tank that go for $900+. I paid $15 for my two little frags, so you can imagine what the colonies are like.

 

Another little piece of Acropora that another LFS threw in for $5 went into my tank a couple of weeks ago a light orange. It's a crazy green now and growing like a weed. I hope that happens more often.

 

Unfortunately the same LFS threw in a really sweet Millepora for nothin too. The polyps have been hiding for a week or two now. I've moved it around a few times to see if something is bothering it, but it's been a no go. The tank it came out of looked pretty dank. Hopefully it wasn't on the way out when I got it. I guess we'll see if it comes around. Any suggestions?

[jsw]

 

 

 

[divecj5]

Looks like things are going great in the tank....lots of nice growth there. Any other updates?

[jsw]

I suck at taking pictures... I need a new camera with a good macro. I can't get the white balance right either because these pics look kinda washed out. My glass is covered in coraline and that doesn't help.

 

Anyway, this tank looks like a horrible mash-up. It's full, cramped and eating way too much calcium for a tank of this size. I'm pretty much dosing the B-Ionic max just to keep up. I'm in the process of getting a new 24x24x18 45 gal together. I am so excited to finally have a sump too. I'm taking a totally minimalistic approach to the scaping. I have some inspiration on the new setup. The corals will be the showcase. I've decided there is way too much rock in this tank and not enough water. I like islands, valleys and the golden rule. Stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jsw]

9 mos later and you can see this tank has came a long way. RIP to the corals I've lost in this hobby of learning... I feel fortunate to still have just about all of the corals I started with. Some of the corals are tucked away so you can't see them because of the intense lighting over the tank.

 

So since the beginning I've lost:

 

- 2 A. Millepora

- 1 A. Loripes

- 1 A. Tenuis

- 1 M. Capricornus

- 1 M. Digitata

 

I've also had quite a few others come close to death and they're now recovering.

 

I feel horrible about those losses but looking back SPS really are difficult husbandry-wise. I feel comfortable now with their requirements, but it really did take a lot of learning and mistakes. Don't give up if you're still in the learning phase and buy aquacultured frags! Don't be afraid to change things up if they're not working. I made lots of huge change to this tank since the beginning -- most of them good!

 

Keep an eye out for the new 24x24x18 45 gallon that this tank is being transferred to...