My 3rd Reef Tank - Build Thread

[mathias999us]

PurpleUP -

HAHA, I knew someone was going to ask that. You want to see how much my style SUCKS!? OK, I'll post some pics, but please keep in mind, this is only my 3rd reef tank, and I already said the first one wasn't that great...

 

This is my first tank, a 135G glass tank. I didn't even have a sump in this pic:

 

A bit later on in its life:

 

I had finally added a sump (my first acrylic project ever) and some more serious equipment in the cabinet below:

 

Unfortunately, I don't have any tank pics after that though, but things did improve somewhat. Eventually I succumbed to disappointment with this tank, primarily due to my poor initial planning. I think it looked OK in its time, but it never "flourished". The coraline sure did awesome though. My wife has had a degree of pessemism about my reef hobby ever since.

 

A year after I took this down, I started a nano, and wanted to do it "right". This was an 8 gallon Alife cube (6 gallon display). I did a bunch of mods to it, and put in fans, 2x18W PC, ATO, and plumbed in a fuge too. This tank worked out WAY better.

 

Here's a pic of the desk with the fuge where I kept it. This was shortly after it was set up (lame pic, I know):

 

I think this tank did really well. Here's what it looked like shortly before I took it down - this was when it was about 6-7 months old:

 

I was sad to tear this tank down before I moved. And I haven't run another tank until this thread build. I actually just set this cube nano back up at the beginning of December though. Just getting it up and running.

 

I'm hoping this custom nano will be my best yet!

[PurpleUP]

Man, I wish the underside of my setup looked like that. What was the primary reason it failed? Looks like you properly accounted for everything.

 

Now this is very very nice, especially with the plumbed in fuge. How's the livestock doing now?

[mathias999us]

Hey PurpleUP -

For the big tank, I dunno. It was poorly planned from the beginning, and I made a bunch of Newb mistakes all throughout its lifetime. Corals would do *OK* in it, but not great. I DID manage to keep a spotted mandarin in there for 18 months (I was a dummy, I had no idea that was even special). Eventually, my lack of success with most corals lead to disappointment, which lead to neglect, which lead to the most insance aptasia infestion you've ever seen. I gave up.

 

For the nano -

Yeah, it was nice.... but then shortly after this last pic was taken, I got a job offer in Minnesota and moved from San Diego to Minneapolis. I sold all the livestock to the LFS and moved across the country. Then the tank sat in my closet for the past 18 months. I just set it up again at the beginning of December, but unfortunately without the fuge.

[121a]

the second coolest and best build EVER!!! IMO of course... I LOVE IT SO SO SO MUCH!!!

[mathias999us]

HAHAHA - Wow! Thanks 121a. So sad.... it's not the BEST! JK But, I haven't seen too many other 10G setups I'd rather have.

 

I'm starting to feel a lot of pressure not to totally mess this up!

[mathias999us]

I have TONS of coepods and amphipods in the tank now. Also saw what looked like a centipede crawling around on the rocks like it was hunting (definitely not a bristle worm), probably about 3/4" long. It went behind the rocks, and I haven't seen it yet again. I'll be on the lookout to try to snap a pic of it.

 

Cutting the lights back really took care of the diatom, most of it is completely gone, and it's on the retreat. However, I have what I believe to be bryopsis popping up all over the place now. Here's a pic:

 

It's whispy, feathery stuff that sways in the current. I'm getting quite a bit of it all throughout the tank. Should I be concerned about this at this early stage? Should I be considering the elevated Magnesium attack this early? Arg, hate to get things started on a bad foot here...

[xADUBx]

Hey Mathias great looking tank! Makes me want to start a long tank!

 

I have a 24 gal. AP that has been setup since late Oct. '07 and I believe I had this same stuff, bryopsis, starting to grow in it. I picked all of the big pieces out that I could by hand, continued this for a couple weeks until it was all gone and haven't seen it since. Hope this helps.

[mathias999us]

xADUBx -

Thanks, glad you like the tank! Yeah, I think manual remove is my best bet, there's just so much of it... You give me hope though

[dubsmcfly]

Mathias, lots happened since i last checked hahaha. Bryopsis In my 30 gallon breeder this stuff took over like no tomorrow, i couldnt keep up with it. I would get rid of it and two days later the entire rock would be covered again. This was when my tank was mature so i couldnt do too much about it but dont worry it was a different form then yours. Hopefully everythings is going well and kick that algea's yanno. I liked the old tanks, the big one had alot of potential, and the nano was super nice. Seeing these makes me think that this is going to be a great tank. -Andrew

[mathias999us]

Hey Dub,

Yeah, things are coming along. Seems like my cycle is over now too. That's too bad about your old tank with the bryopsis. I had bryopsis in that nano - came on a zoa rock I got. But, it wasn't really bad, just annoying to reach in there with some hemostats every couple weeks and pluck it all off. I never was able to completely eradicate it.

[mathias999us]

OK, here's an update guys. I haven't had any ammonia and nitrates since last Wednesday evening. I've got pods gallore, some bryopsis-looking stuff growing, some valonia, and color coming back on the coraline. So, I added the following CUC on Saturday evening

 

1 Turbo Snail

4 Cerith Snails

4 Nassarius Snails

4 Trochus Snails

4 Blue Leg Hermits (Actually one of these turned out to be a zebra)

1 Emerald Green Crab

 

I know this was a little premature, but I my readings have shown cycle is over for several days (got the rock locally, so this probably helped a lot) and I wanted to get a head start on the algae.

 

The good news is that everyone in the CUC is doing quite well. The GREAT news is that, whatever my bryopsis-looking stuff is, the blue-leg hermits seem to love it. So, they are well fed for now, and they are keeping the algae tamed back.

 

I also went to my first TCMAS meeting on Sunday night and became a club member. Aside from some cool zoa frags I got for my other tank, I got a nice big bag of Chaeto from HermitSolo (thanks bro!) and I got some awesome red Rhodophya macro algae from gogregerson. I shoulda joined a club a long time ago!

 

Pics coming in a few minutes.

[mathias999us]

Here's a BUNCH of pics for your viewing pleasure. I played around a bunch this time with the Exposure, ISO, and white balance settings on my camera, so the pics may not be consistent in quality, but I think they look much improved over many of my previous pics.

 

Entryway shot:

 

One of my nassarius cruisin' the sandbed:

 

Couple of left-end shots. Which of these next two do you think looks better?

 

Left-End front shot:

[mathias999us]

Here's a couple shots of the Rhodophya. Got this from gogregerson - Thanks man! This stuff is REALLY vibrant. I couldn't quite get all the colors to show up in the camera in the same shot. Under my lights, it's a nice rich red color, and the edges and tips of it look flourescent orange. Really pretty. It's a non-rooting macro algae that tangs like to eat, and it does not become invasive so it's easy to manage. I love to watch it sway back and forth in the motion the scwd makes in the tank:

 

This image isn't as good, but you can see the flourescent orange color:

 

The whole crop:

 

My coraline color is really starting to come back already. I'm even getting some patches of some really cool looking turquoise coraline, I hope this continues!

[mathias999us]

My turbo - he's got dark purple striping on his shell. He's very active, and has really been earning his keep so far:

 

One of my trochus cleaning the black divider wall:

 

Right-end front shot:

 

Right-end shot:

 

And finally, a slightly crooked FTS:

 

Thanks for looking!

[xADUBx]

Lookin good! Sounds like some coral might be just around the corner...

[mathias999us]

Thanks xADUBx - yeah, I will probably let things settle out a little over the next couple weeks before adding anything else, and in the meantime, I'll be thinking about what my first coral should be for this tank.

[dubsmcfly]

Lucky you! my cycle is still going strong hahaha. Looks good though, i like the look of the macro ( you can deny that you didn't get the idea from me but we all know) . I used to have Rhodophya in my 10 gallon, Stuff was sweet! Really easy to trim as well as it adding something different to the tank. Id wait some time for some corals as well, make sure everything is working just how you like it. Tank gets better every time i check!

[mathias999us]

Hey dub, I think the cycle went fast because I've actually had water and livesand in here for almost month now. I put the water and sand in a couple days before Christmas, and the rock has been in for two full weeks now. All the CUC and the new algae is doing great.HA, Awesome, Rhodophya is really cool. I've never seen your other tank, but I actually got it because gogregerson from TCMAS was giving it away at the meeting on Sunday, so I signed up on his list, and he hooked me up with it for free at the meeting.

[mathias999us]

I've decided on my fish combination for this tank. After asking around on several sites, I've settled on getting one Cherub Pygmy Angel and one Six Line Wrasse. The Cherub will be added to the tank first (might get it today actually), and the sixline will be added a few weeks later. This will make a really nice fish combo, and I've been told that Cherubs and Sixlines actually form pretty interesting relationships with each other. Shun me if you will, but I believe this is a completely acceptable fish combination for this tank.

 

I'll post pics of the Cherub once I get it, hopefully later today.

[mathias999us]

Indeed, I went and got a Cherub Pygmy today! I love this little guy, I hope he does well. He's really TINY, probably just shy of an inch. My wife has already named him - Sammy.

 

I'm sorry, please accept my apologies. I'm totally lame for not taking any pics during acclimation and release. Basically, I did a typical float acclimation over the course of about 75 minutes, then release him out of a cup into the tank. He shot behind the rockwork, and has been dwelling back there ever since. There is a lot of space behind the rocks, so he's been completely content to explore the real estate on the back side of the rock wall, up and down the tank. I think he really likes it back there, he can really cover a lot of territory without having to expose himself to the main tank.

 

I did everything I could to tempt him out into the viewing area, like food, etc. When I approach the tank, he'll come out briefly, and act tough like "You better not be comin' in MY cave! That's what I thought!" So, it's been really tough to get a good pic of him, bit I did my best. I musta taken 50 pics trying to get a good one. Here's the best I could come up with.

 

His main place he keeps returning to (like his base or something) is the large cavitry that is created behind the column supporting the big rock shelf in the middle:

 

Lil' scrapper is very alert and curious about me... looks really intelligent, but he's being shy and peering at me from behind the rockwork:

 

Whoop whoop... almost! Darn camera...:

 

Finally, a good shot!:

 

Seriously, this is the best I could do so far. The rest of the pics were lame. I'll keep trying for some better pics. I really hope this little guy adjust and starts coming out and exploring in the better viewing areas - he seems very intelligent. He also seems active and alert, and he was eating like a pig at the LFS, and his colors are very vibrant, so I have high hopes for him.

 

Thanks for looking!

[dubsmcfly]

hey great fish! good choices cause the active fish should like the long tank and finding gobies would be hard in that tank hahahaha. Is he still hiding alot or hes better since hes had some time. Hows the skimmer pulling still.

[mathias999us]

Thanks Dub. The Cherub is still hiding a lot, but it has a lot of space in the back, so it seems perfectly content to play it safe and stick to the shadows. The skimmer is working awesome! The skimmate is wet, but dark nasty brown, and I have to empty the cup twice per day! I'm quite pleased with it - I sort of wish it had a drain port on it. Not much to update... everything's pretty much the same. Slowly getting more and more color on the rocks, rhodophyta seems to be growing. Slow but steady progress at this point.

[dubsmcfly]

how is that ato working for you? ive decided i need one and have been thinking about the bottle one but its not the prettiest/reliable thing. Was it easy to put together

[mathias999us]

dub - The ATO is great! I'm very pleased with this one. This is the second system I've run an ATO on, and I'd never do another tank without it. For this system, I bought the ATO Premium kit from aquahub.com:

 

http://www.aquahub.com/store/product26.html

 

The only thing you need in addition to this is a pump to pump the water up. I used the aqualifter vacuum pump, (got it for like $8 off of bigalsonline), which is a great unit that is virtually silent. It was very simple to put together, as long as you are comfortable making basic electrical connections, and have a drill handy. The directions that came with it were excellent.

 

On my last tank, I just bought a cheap battery powered air pump like this:

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_AquariumPage...y_operated.html

 

And a float switch like this:

http://www.aquahub.com/store/ifloatfloatswitch.html

 

I made a little holder for the float switch out of a small piece of scrap acrylic, and hooked it to the wires inside the air pump so the float switch would turn the pump on and off. Then, I just get a 1 gallon water jug with a good sealing lid that screws on. I put two small holes in the cap. I run air line from the pump into one of the holes. Then, the other hole I put airline through, long enough to go all the way to the bottom of the water jug, and this goes up to the tank. When the air pump turns on, it pumps air into the sealed water jug, which pushes the water up the other tube, and into the tank. Worked great for me, never had a problem. The battery powered air pump is louder than the aqualifter, but not bad if you wrap it in a small towel. There's a good ato system for < $20.

[dubsmcfly]

any updates? are you alive hahaha