my first saltwater

[grandmasterbakka]

alrighty guys, i'm new to both the saltwater world and the forum world so please forgive me if i break any codes of conduct in either arena.

 

i'm not sure of the exact age of the tank. i'll guess around 5 months. i had a lot of help from a friend on here with getting it started, so i'll be giving him a good portion of the credit.

 

if anybody has any questions/comments please don't hesitate to do so. i'm new to the hobby and know i have a lot to learn.

FTS 11/28/11

 

livestock

 

1 ocellaris clown fish

4 hermit crabs

6 dwarf cerith snails

2 astrea snails

4 nassarius snails

2 (what appear to be) some kind of brittle stars

4 GSP colonies

1 whammin' watermelon and pink zoas frag

1 large paly colonies

1 red mushroom

1 purple/blue mushroom

1 small colony of xenias

1 what seems to be some kind of monti

1 what seems to be some type of gorgonian

small bit of angel hair

hitch hikers (feather dusters/sponges/ bristle worms/ a funky looking crab.)

 

equipment

 

1 AC 50 modded to run a make shift protein skimmer & surface skimmer

1 Fluval U2

1 36" coralife (actinic/10,000k)

1 30" coralife (actinic/actinic)

1 30" coralife (10,000k/ 10,000k)

1 50 watt(?) heater

 

maintenance

 

dose iodine and strontium/magnesium supplements daily

top off morning/evening

scrub glass as needed

change 2 gallons (20%) weekly

rinse sponge for skimmer daily

replace carbon monthly

clean fluval weekly

[grandmasterbakka]

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2...0007&type=3

 

i have been keeping a chronicle of the tank on facebook. i have it set to public so you guys should be able to see where i started an where i am now.

[gupebreedr]

alrighty guys, i'm new to both the saltwater world and the forum world so please forgive me if i break any codes of conduct in either arena.

 

i'm not sure of the exact age of the tank. i'll guess around 5 months. i had a lot of help from a friend on here with getting it started, so i'll be giving him a good portion of the credit.

 

if anybody has any questions/comments please don't hesitate to do so. i'm new to the hobby and know i have a lot to learn.

 

here is the tank as of last week

 

my set up looks terrible, but it seems to be getting the job done

 

decent pic of some of my green star polyp, my little zoa frag, and my lonely xenia.

 

i'll get around to getting some more pics on here later. let me know what you guys think!

 

Hi and Welcome

 

Your corals look healthy as does the clown. What size tank is it????

 

Rob

Tampa

[JoelRHale]

Woohoo! Glad to see it finally let you post.

 

Here's that first photo I told you I cropped for you:

 

[grandmasterbakka]

thank you and thank you. it's a 10 gallon running Aquaclear 50 and Fluval U2 power filters. i then took the pump off of an old power filter and converted it to a terrible looking power head with a hydor flow deflector attached. it looks bad but all my corals, especially the GSP, seem to like it.

[grandmasterbakka]

so i scrounged around and found some ok pics that document my tanks evolution fairly well

 

when i first got my tank setup

 

added my first piece of coral. good ole GSP

 

around 2-3 weeks after startup

 

after making a big trade (and winning massively) with my friend and a guy on craig's list

 

the mushrooms from that trade finally anchored themselves

 

earlier this month

 

and here she is as of earlier today

[JoelRHale]

Why did I not see this?? Anyways, love the new scape! Looks a lot better

[grandmasterbakka]

thanks man. i finally got around to putting the giant rock from the chameleon's enclosure in there. it's been in a 5 gallon bucket filled with water for over a month. changed the water around every other day, of course. it makes a nice little platform on the left for gsp. hahaha

[JoelRHale]

That's awesome man, if you haven't done it yet, go check out my new video. It's nothing fancy but everything is in it's place for now and I'm pleased with the outcome.

[grandmasterbakka]

the gsp in the center of the tank under mostly actinic lighting.

 

love the way the palys look in the back. my lone xenia in the middle and some gsp in the foreground. i keep hoping one of my hermits will take the shell with the gsp.

 

ok shot of my zoas frag. i believe they're whammin' watermelon and pinks.

 

 

 

so, my mushrooms have been looking pretty poor for about 2 weeks now and i'm not sure why. any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

the red shroom is pretty easy to spot. it's been closed up like that for about 2 weeks. the purple mushroom is a little hard to spot in this pic. it's on the right side of the rock, down in the crevice. it's not closed nice and neat like the red and has lost a lot of it's color. i don't think it's dead but i feel it's pretty pi$$ed about something. yesterday i noticed it had detached itself and moved down the rock a little bit.

[JoelRHale]

Dude, all the pictures look great. You know I've had trouble with my purples too, they just suck.

[Bishop]

I really don't want to bash your tank but seems to be something you need to put more thought into, especially being close to 6 months now.

It just looks horrible. The scape is all up to you but I would remove a bunch of that rubble and seperate the rock some. Large formation on the right half and smaller on the left. I also like a cove like shape that brings the livestock to the center.

 

The next issue is that you are letting all your coral mix and run wild. GSP and xenia do best when confined to a tight area. A small GSP island so it grows dense and thick. Xenia should be at the peak of rock formation so that it has a harder time spreading. It will also grow thick and very pretty if it is on a rock it has a hard time getting off of as well as pruning when it does lean down to anouther rock.

 

The algae. I love that stuff you have in your tank. This would really look great if it were all growing densely on the sides as to frame your rockwork. Get some elevation going on with the larger rocks as well as something like a cave.

 

The biggest problem with the tank is the hardware though. The rock and coral placement is a matter of artistic design. The hardware just a big eye sore. I am seeing a huge black box that I guess is some type of worthless filter. Remove that. Also a power head and filter tube that is in the front taking up all the attention. These need to be moved to the back corners. After than, You should really start looking into new lights that properly fit your tank.

[JoelRHale]

 

It's going to be okay, Bishop

[reefdummy]

It's going to be okay, Bishop

lol +1

 

Im pretty terrible with my macro knowledge, what kind of macro algae is that in your tank?

 

looking great though, I like it!

[JoelRHale]

The majority of it is Caulerpa prolifera, I have some in my tank but it's never taken off due to my blenny's appetite for it.

 

I'm not sure of the other types, I know he has like 4 types though.

[grandmasterbakka]

I really don't want to bash your tank but seems to be something you need to put more thought into, especially being close to 6 months now.

It just looks horrible. The scape is all up to you but I would remove a bunch of that rubble and seperate the rock some. Large formation on the right half and smaller on the left. I also like a cove like shape that brings the livestock to the center.

 

The next issue is that you are letting all your coral mix and run wild. GSP and xenia do best when confined to a tight area. A small GSP island so it grows dense and thick. Xenia should be at the peak of rock formation so that it has a harder time spreading. It will also grow thick and very pretty if it is on a rock it has a hard time getting off of as well as pruning when it does lean down to anouther rock.

 

The algae. I love that stuff you have in your tank. This would really look great if it were all growing densely on the sides as to frame your rockwork. Get some elevation going on with the larger rocks as well as something like a cave.

 

The biggest problem with the tank is the hardware though. The rock and coral placement is a matter of artistic design. The hardware just a big eye sore. I am seeing a huge black box that I guess is some type of worthless filter. Remove that. Also a power head and filter tube that is in the front taking up all the attention. These need to be moved to the back corners. After than, You should really start looking into new lights that properly fit your tank.

 

Bishop, i would like to thank you as this is exactly the kind of feedback i'm looking for. i agree that the scape is pretty cluttered. when i started the tank, i added my live rock a few pounds at a time and, as a result, ended up with a bunch of small pieces that have been fairly hard to work with. the large piece on the right was the last piece of live rock i added, hoping i would be able to work around it. then the largest piece is a piece of dead rock i added.

 

i agree with the cove idea in the center. as i've moved things around over the months to find something i really like, that was something i tried for. however, i do like the appearance of it having rock all the way to the top.

 

thanks for the info on the corals. all the gsp in the tank are different, smaller rocks. so, i'll be able to move them wherever. i've found the xenia to be rather interesting as i've not been quite sure how it spreads. i'll try to find a way to keep it contained to the rock it's attached to. i do want it to grow as thick as possible.

 

before i rearranged this last time, the rock on the right with the algae was turned around so the algae was coming up behind it in the right corner. i agree completely with using it as a "frame" for the rockwork. several rescapings ago, that's how i had it on the left and right and i absolutely loved it.

 

i completely agree with the hardware. it's the biggest thing that bothers me about the tank as well. the loop on the left is my attempt to diy a surface skimmer into the AC. the past week i've been thinking of moving it to the other side of the tank. hopefully i will be able to work the loop back behind the paly rock on the right.

 

the black box is a Fluval U2, and i will say i'm a fan of the filter; not it's appearance but the great job it does circulating the water. it's also the filter that runs carbon and the polishing pad, so i feel i need it. it is bulky and a huge eyesore, however.

 

i'll see what all i can get remedied with the tank. like i mentioned earlier, a couple of the things you've mentioned have already been on my mind so i know for sure they're something i need to deal with. everything else you've mentioned i both agree with, and see where you're coming from. again, thank you for not being afraid to let me hear what most people won't want to hear. it's the only way i'm gonna get better at this. hahaha

 

joel, i just realized that gif is from 30 rock. good call. hahaha

 

all 4 are types of caluerpa (sp?) however, the other 3 are very bad at rooting themselves on to things and are now no longer in the tank. i was especially disappointed to watch the "feather" looking stuff not make it.

[Bishop]

I'd like to go more into the filter topic here. We both agree that the U2 is a huge eye sore. Salt water does not really need a filter and if you are using them they need to be cleaned very often or they just become nitrate factories. Live rock is your main filter. You also mention you like the water flow it produces. I'm seeing water flow from the AC 50 as well as your powerhead. The U2 really isnt doing you as much good as you think.

 

The AC is a great filter for salt water. I run AC filters on each of my tanks. The surface skimmer you have made is a great Idea. If it were smaller or in a larger tank and placed as to not be an eyesore it would get two thumbs up. However, it is just a bonus to the filter. With HOB filters, you do not need a surface skimmer. This is why the water pours out of HOB filters the way it does. Stuff will collect on the surface tension of water, the filter flow is made to pull the surface tension under water and toward the intake. In effect, it skims the surface. I've always found the flow to be best for the tank with the filter in the center of the back wall.

 

As for xenia, I'll work on getting some pictures. Best thing to control xenia is to get some curved tipped forceps. This will easily pull any stalk from the rock that you don't want. Without them, it is impossable to control. I looked at a pair of forceps and laughed at the idea of using a credit card to try and scrape it off of rock. 9 times out of 10 i get a full removal.

 

Last but not least... You should make it an official reef thread. Keep your current FTS on the Original post and list your gear and livestock. You can check out other threads to get the idea.

 

I'm one of those people that didn't have a clue when I started my first reef tank. I couldn't get the concept of actinic lighting. My aquascape was without a doubt the worst. I've done a lot of changing over the time.The hardest that I did was change sand from argonite to tahitian moon sand. This was a very very difficult task and it cost the life of my Pistol shrimp. Right now I've been looking at my tank and thinking I have way to much rock and it needs to go. I just don't have any thing to put it in.

[Bishop]

Xenia pictures.

 

Here you can

 

 

 

With forceps, I just pull it from the other rock as it tries to attach. The thing to notice in these photos is not that my xenia just got stung by my Bubble tip anemone. It is the xenia stalk that is leaning downward. This is actually attempting to find anouther place to attach to. At this time you can cut it near the base and let it regrow.

[grandmasterbakka]

your xenias look amazing. that's what i want in my tank. sundays are my tank maintenance days. i have the surface skimmer attachment on there because i had a film on the surface, so it's gonna have to stay. i rinse the sponges weekly after doing a water change. however, i'm unsatisfied with my nitrate levels; they can always be lower. so i'll see how running the filters without sponges works out. it would be nice to get the fluval out of there. i was trying to up circulation as much as i could as i had been having an issue with cyano. i've got it mostly under control. just one small patch of it that my astreas haven't eaten yet. with everything in there, i'm getting about 40x turnover an hour. without the fluval it would be knocked down to around 30x.

[Bishop]

your xenias look amazing. that's what i want in my tank. sundays are my tank maintenance days. i have the surface skimmer attachment on there because i had a film on the surface, so it's gonna have to stay. i rinse the sponges weekly after doing a water change. however, i'm unsatisfied with my nitrate levels; they can always be lower. so i'll see how running the filters without sponges works out. it would be nice to get the fluval out of there. i was trying to up circulation as much as i could as i had been having an issue with cyano. i've got it mostly under control. just one small patch of it that my astreas haven't eaten yet. with everything in there, i'm getting about 40x turnover an hour. without the fluval it would be knocked down to around 30x.

 

 

30x water movement is more than enough especially for the coral you have. Having to much live rock can cause dead spots that grow cyano but it is likely a high nutrient problem if it is growing with that flow. What is your water source? My 12 gallon went many months with only about 8x water flow. now that I have added a small filter, it's not much more than 12x I've just got the rock where it does not block any flow going around the tank. It don't lean on the glass and it has a large opening at the bottom for water to flow through it. Never had cyano in this tank.

 

What is your nitrate level at now?

[grandmasterbakka]

i do have a lot of rock in the tank, the back glass is completely covered. needless to say, i've got dead spots. just did a test, it's reading 0ppm, but i take that to mean less than 5ppm hahaha i don't have a test for phosphates, though. with the addition of a few more astrea snails, my cyano almost disappeared.

[JoelRHale]

Bring some water when you bring the plate and I'll test your phosphates for you.

[grandmasterbakka]

will do. i'm really curious to see where it's at since i've got the macro in there.

[grandmasterbakka]

removed the fluval and put it in my 55 fresh. hoping running polishing pads will clear it up. tomorrow, i'll see what i can do about repositioning the remaining hardware.

[pisces3kitty]

 

It's going to be okay, Bishop

 

 

Hilarious !!!! LOL