D Z's garage frag tank(formerly CAD 34G Mini)

[ninjamyst]

I need to get some more rics to fill in the garden too.

 

Since you are in Florida, it should be relatively inexpensive for a large order of rics right? Like $5 each shipped?

[D Z]

Since you are in Florida, it should be relatively inexpensive for a large order of rics right? Like $5 each shipped?

Probably, just need some time to do it. I'll probably pick up a couple from Alex B whenever I pick up the 2 SPS pieces he got me at CoralCon. He has a bunch of baby rics to give me in his wife's tank.

[aquariumlover10]

Now I want a tank even more.

 

Oh oh oh, I just realized you are in orlando, I am in tampa area, theiris a awesome lfs near me, it is called aqua sta super center or something Like that.

[D Z]

Now I want a tank even more.

 

Oh oh oh, I just realized you are in orlando, I am in tampa area, theiris a awesome lfs near me, it is called aqua sta super center or something Like that.

Be careful, it is addicting!!! I have never ventured over to any LFSs in Tampa, but there are some many good ones here in Orlando that it would take a lot for me to look elsewhere. Honestly, I am kinda getting to the point where I am not adding much more to the tank, and the handful of pieces I have left to add I am planning to get from other hobbyists. I do need to eventually add some more fish though....

[aquariumlover10]

Ok, yeah mine is noot very big, but its is really good quality and theyquarantine sick fish and actually feed feeder fish.

What about a neon goby?

[D Z]

Ok, yeah mine is noot very big, but its is really good quality and theyquarantine sick fish and actually feed feeder fish. What about a neon goby?

We have a couple good stores in the Orlando area for fish. Right now, my plans are to get a sunburst anthia, mandarin, and finish off with a springeri damsel. The springeri is probably the easiest of the 3, but would need to be added last to make sure there is little to no aggression issues. The mandarin and sunburst are not so easy to keep, which is why I haven't already pulled the trigger on adding either of them. Basically, I am waiting until the chaos of having a newborn subsides before adding any more fish.

[DaveFason]

Tank is looking great man!

 

-Dave

[D Z]

Tank is looking great man!

 

-Dave

Thanks Dave!

 

Soooo I do have a little not-so-good news. Alex B came over the other night to hang out and have a couple brews. Luckily, he remembered me saying I was starting to question the results I was getting from my Nitrate tests, so he brought his kit with him. Well, it turns out I was right. My test kit seems to want to only test out to about 1 ppm. Based on what Alex's kit read, my nitrates were somewhere around 30 - 40ppm!!!

 

We quicky realized what the problem was. When I started the tank, I used the blue sponges in the overflow chamber to silence the overflow. I knew that these could eventually harbor nitrates so I had been monitoring my nitrates with the plan to change them out when the time came. Well, unfortunately, that time had come and gone and I just didn't realize because my test kit was flawed. Needless to say, the blue sponges are no longer in the tank.

 

We ended up finding a way to silence the tank without the sponges. I now have a single piece of filter floss that hangs down the back of the false wall. The water flows through the teeth and then down through the floss. For now, it looks like this with zip ties holding it up to the teeth.

https://flic.kr/p/pNY9it'>https://flic.kr/p/pNY9it'>20141113_230330 by https://www.flickr.com/people/89326890@N03/'>cchsoracle, on Flickr

 

I have some black, aquarium safe magnets coming today that will hopefully hold the floss in place and look better than the zipties. I may invest in some sort of media basket eventually, if InTank ever gets around to making one for this tank.

 

I did an 8 gallon water change on Saturday, and as of last night, my nitrates have fallen to around 10-15ppm. So down they come, and hopefully I can get them back to around 1-2 ppm where I want them. Wish me luck.

[HVani]

I'm doing the same thing with the blue sponges in my tank. I hope by the time I need to take them out, inTank will have a basket for this tank

[lilmatty5dimes]

oh man thats not a good thing. glad you found out how bad they are before stuff started dying. the filter floss is going to do the same thing. i'm sure you already know that. lol i'm sure you'll have to change it out like every 4-5 days. good luck getting them back down. shouldn't be to hard.

 

 

have you or either alex seen the WD tenuis? this guy as a great selection of sps. and of course this one.

 

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/WD-Rainbow-Tenuis-SPS-acro-acropora-coral-frags-wysiwyg-/331382448863?ssPageName=ADME:SS:SS:US:1120

[D Z]

I'm doing the same thing with the blue sponges in my tank. I hope by the time I need to take them out, inTank will have a basket for this tank

I would be very careful. I had heard in the past that using sponges like that would cause issues and I really wish now that I had never even gone down that path. I should have known better.

 

oh man thats not a good thing. glad you found out how bad they are before stuff started dying. the filter floss is going to do the same thing. i'm sure you already know that. lol i'm sure you'll have to change it out like every 4-5 days. good luck getting them back down. shouldn't be to hard.

 

 

have you or either alex seen the WD tenuis? this guy as a great selection of sps. and of course this one.

 

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/WD-Rainbow-Tenuis-SPS-acro-acropora-coral-frags-wysiwyg-/331382448863?ssPageName=ADME:SS:SS:US:1120

LOL, tell me about it. The reason we started looking into it was most of my coral has been just looking so-so lately. Sporatic things like acans and my plate happy one day and not happy the next, my 1 unknown acro has not had PE for about the past week, etc. Luckily nothing has died and I am sure now that I am on the road back to lower nutrients that everything will bounce back and be ok. The way I had it was 3 blue sponges stacked with a piece of filter floss on top. The floss I would change out every 4 days give or take. Now it is just 1 piece of FF, which will still get changed out every 3-4 days. Now I am just debating on whether to just keep bringing the trates down with water changes or whether I should throw some chemical media in like chemipure to just combat things back to normal levels....

 

As for the WD tenuis, I believe Alex has a frag. I think that was one of his additions from CoralCon. Definitely a pretty tenuis.

[Reefkid88]

Yeah anything that can harbor detrius like sponges are always nirtrate/nitrite factories. I actually saw Alex at Living Reef yesterday I do believe.

 

They actually have huge frags of Mystic Sunset for $10,I'd snag one if I was you !!!

[HVani]

I was hoping I could use it here in the beginning as a water polisher but we shall see.

[D Z]

Yeah anything that can harbor detrius like sponges are always nirtrate/nitrite factories. I actually saw Alex at Living Reef yesterday I do believe.

 

They actually have huge frags of Mystic Sunset for $10,I'd snag one if I was you !!!

Thats funny, I was actually there yesterday around 3:30 or so. I did see those, and some of the new SPS that Pancho hand picked from Indonesia. My buddy was trying to cut a deal with them for 6 of the colonies that were sitting up top in the SPS tank. I was tempted to pick up one of the Mystic Sunsets and a sunset mille, but just didn't want to bring anything home until I get this nitrate issue worked out.

 

I was hoping I could use it here in the beginning as a water polisher but we shall see.

It would probably be ok to use for the first week or 2 to just polish the water from the initial set up, but I wouldn't use it past that.

[Reefkid88]

Oh damn really ? That's funny. Their buy 3 get one deal is awesome. I certainly couldn't pass up the Mystic sunset,Top Shelf would charged at least $100 for a chunk that size lol.

 

I don't blame you,I got a nub of the sunset Mille for $10 last weekend.

[lilmatty5dimes]

dang i need to get over there. when the time comes for sps. i'm getting a nice zoa frag pack from someone up in daytona this weekend. yodas, pink elephant, sunny d, super sayan, and chucky bride(pink hippos) for $50. i think its worth the drive up there.

[D Z]

Oh damn really ? That's funny. Their buy 3 get one deal is awesome. I certainly couldn't pass up the Mystic sunset,Top Shelf would charged at least $100 for a chunk that size lol.

 

I don't blame you,I got a nub of the sunset Mille for $10 last weekend.

Definitely a good deal for those monti frags. I need to get some kind of crazy mille in this tank...

 

dang i need to get over there. when the time comes for sps. i'm getting a nice zoa frag pack from someone up in daytona this weekend. yodas, pink elephant, sunny d, super sayan, and chucky bride(pink hippos) for $50. i think its worth the drive up there.

Damn, that sounds like a good deal for some zoas. Living Reef is going to be an interesting place for SPS for the next couple months or so. The owner just got back from a vacation in Bali, where he hand picked and imported roughly 360 colonies of SPS. There were only 10 colonies in the store when I was there on the weekend, but the rest are recovering from shipping in his private farm. We should expect to see frags of them filtering through the shop on a regular basis for a good while.

[Reefkid88]

There got some nice Mille's. They're prices are really good too. I can't wait to see what starts popping up in the store. I think they are cheaper than Top Shelf on SPS.

[D Z]

Tested my nitrates last night and they are still hovering around 15-20ppm. I bit the bullet and ordered some purigen today. I figure I can use it to bring the trates down to a manageable level, and then see if I can get away with not using it after that.

 

 

There got some nice Mille's. They're prices are really good too. I can't wait to see what starts popping up in the store. I think they are cheaper than Top Shelf on SPS.

I don't know....Living Reef has always just been ok when it comes to SPS. Nothing crazy, mostly run-of-the-mill frags, and usually overpriced for what they had. I am hoping with all of the new stuff from Indonesia that will change though.

[ClaireRenee]

Your tank is beautiful.

 

Congratulations on the birth of your son. What a cutie!!!

 

Did the rics you got come on a frag plug? If so, how did you get them off and onto the rock?

[D Z]

Your tank is beautiful.

 

Congratulations on the birth of your son. What a cutie!!!

 

Did the rics you got come on a frag plug? If so, how did you get them off and onto the rock?

Thanks! It is still a work in process.

Yeah, I take everything off of plugs wherever possible. Usually, rics come attached to a small piece of rubble that is then glued to a plug. If that is the case, you can pop the piece of rubble off the plug and glue it to your scape. If you have a ric(or any coral for that matter) that is attached directly to the plug, you can cut the stem off the plug and then trim the plug around the frag as much as possible. Invest in a pair of stainless steel bone cutters, makes cutting plugs like cutting butter. Look for something like this:

http://www.saltysupply.com/Oceans-Wonders-6-Inch-Stony-Coral-Bone-Cutter-p/ow1111.htm

 

These also work really well for getting the rubble off the plug. You can just cut through the epoxy between the rubble and plug. You can get away with a cheap pair of snips or pliers from a hardware store, but eventually they will rust shut and be worthless.

 

Whatever you do, do not glue the ric directly to anything. They have a small foot that attaches naturally, and if you glue it down, it will not be very happy.

[ClaireRenee]

Thanks! It is still a work in process.

Yeah, I take everything off of plugs wherever possible. Usually, rics come attached to a small piece of rubble that is then glued to a plug. If that is the case, you can pop the piece of rubble off the plug and glue it to your scape. If you have a ric(or any coral for that matter) that is attached directly to the plug, you can cut the stem off the plug and then trim the plug around the frag as much as possible. Invest in a pair of stainless steel bone cutters, makes cutting plugs like cutting butter. Look for something like this:

http://www.saltysupply.com/Oceans-Wonders-6-Inch-Stony-Coral-Bone-Cutter-p/ow1111.htm

 

These also work really well for getting the rubble off the plug. You can just cut through the epoxy between the rubble and plug. You can get away with a cheap pair of snips or pliers from a hardware store, but eventually they will rust shut and be worthless.

 

Whatever you do, do not glue the ric directly to anything. They have a small foot that attaches naturally, and if you glue it down, it will not be very happy.

All of mine have glue and a bit of rubble. My plan was to take them out of the water and use a razor to pop the rubble off of the disk. I thought I should get them acclimated and make sure they like the rock that I want to put them on before I do it. Thanks for your advise.

[D Z]

All of mine have glue and a bit of rubble. My plan was to take them out of the water and use a razor to pop the rubble off of the disk. I thought I should get them acclimated and make sure they like the rock that I want to put them on before I do it. Thanks for your advise.

I am not too keen the razor blade idea. If you don't have a pair of bone cutters or snips, I would suggest just using a flat head screw driver to get underneath the rubble and twist to pry it off(gently). Just be careful that the rubble does not split or break into multiple pieces. Taking your time with it is definitely best. I usually just place new coral on the sand bed for a couple days to a week before removing it from the plug and placing, mostly for acclimating to my lighting.

 

Little update - Did another 5 gallon water change last night and added the Purigen. Everything seems to be pepping up a bit more. Will be checking nitrate levels again either tonight or tomorrow, but I am expecting them to be coming down considerably now. Fingers crossed.

 

I think I might be changing my stocking plans as far as fish. I would love to have a mandarin and sunburst, but just do not feel like I am in the right place to be spending that kind of money on fish that require that much time to really care for them the right way. Instead, I think I may just opt for a yellow coris wrasse. When I started this tank, I really wanted to have a wrasse, so this just seems appropriate. So sometime in the next week or 2 I will be looking to pick one up. Then, after a couple weeks, I'll probably go ahead and add the springeri damsel to finish things off. Later on, I may decide to add a mandarin once my life settles down a bit or I may decide to add some kind of goby for a bottom dweller, but we'll see.

[D Z]

Another small update, I checked my nitrates again over the weekend and they are somewhere between 2-5ppm, so we're definitely heading in the right direction. I am still not seeing any good PE on the acro, but I am thinking it may just take time for it to recover from such high nitrates. Also, I still want to get them down to under 2ppm, but I am thinking 1 more water change and a couple more days with purigen and they will be where I want them. Everything else in the tank is looking great and seems to be starting to regain some color so that makes me happy. Another week or two and I will probably be comfortable with picking up my Pearlberry and Pink Lemonade frags from Alex B!

[Reefkid88]

glad to hear this. I say a 1-2 more water changes and you should be good !!