My first tank with corals: 26 gallon bowfront- it has reached old man age!

[vlangel]

Thanks! Ya, I sort of went out again and bought a ton more stuff. I must be over 20 species by now. Added two acans, green hairy pavona, a few more colored zoos, a few types of palys, some larger button polyp species, i think a hollywood stunner challice, a beautiful micromussa, utter chaos single polyp and an awesome favia.

 

Pictures to follow when i get time!

 

I was having all kinds of problems with getting Magnesium levels up- dosed 100ppm per day several times with no increase in magnesium. Salifert test kit was reading 960-990ppm no matter what i did. Bought a water sample to LFS and they got 1200ppm with Seachem test, so it was my kit that was bad. The problem was getting water tested was another excuse to buy more corals lol.

 

Ah don't let my girlfriend see any pics of the seahorses, at the LFS- she was asking "can we put those in the tank" haha. Do you have your seahorse tank up and running yet?

Yes, actually the tank is coming up on a year old but I did not get the seahorses until Oct. 2, 2014. I raised fry most of the winter but sold them as my system is best with just the mated pair and the 2 pipefish. Here a link to a video I took of them last Friday afternoon. 2 of their offspring are in the video but i sold them.

[Butchy21]

Yes, actually the tank is coming up on a year old but I did not get the seahorses until Oct. 2, 2014. I raised fry most of the winter but sold them as my system is best with just the mated pair and the 2 pipefish. Here a link to a video I took of them last Friday afternoon. 2 of their offspring are in the video but i sold them.

 

Wow, that is beautiful! Those creatures are so unique, it has to be pretty exciting to be able to just sit down and watch them. I already sit and watch my fish constantly, ha. What are the unique challenges to keeping sea horses over a reef tank?

[vlangel]

Wow, that is beautiful! Those creatures are so unique, it has to be pretty exciting to be able to just sit down and watch them. I already sit and watch my fish constantly, ha. What are the unique challenges to keeping sea horses over a reef tank?

Thank you. Yes, they are unique and so exquisitely charming. I watch them a lot, way more than my reef tank, (although I love both of my tanks).

Seahorses do have some challenges, namely they are very susceptible to bacterial infections, (much more so than other marine fish). They have skin without protective scales and also have primitive digestive tracts that lack a strong immune reaction, which are the main problems. Their primitive digestion requires them to eat a lot of food but it is not efficiently used so it goes in one end and out the other. They eat mysis twice a day and messily at that. All of these factors make for a very heavy bioload on their tanks. To combat all this, their tanks should have way oversized skimmers and very good filtration, 10Xs or more with high, medium and low flow areas so that food and detritus stays in suspension. I do a 30% water change on my system weekly to make sure dissolved organics are kept down. I also keep the temperature below 74 degrees which requires a chiller to inhibit bacterial growth. I thought my corals might not like that but they don't seem to mind, not even my reef corals. (My tanks share the same sump so both tanks are the same temperature). Believe it or not I have captive bred erectus seahorses which are the hardiest too. Other species or wild caught are much more challenging to keep. As long as I am diligent about husbandry I can expect to enjoy my ponies for 5 plus years. It's a lot of work but I don't mind because they are so personable!

[Butchy21]

Thank you. Yes, they are unique and so exquisitely charming. I watch them a lot, way more than my reef tank, (although I love both of my tanks).

Seahorses do have some challenges, namely they are very susceptible to bacterial infections, (much more so than other marine fish). They have skin without protective scales and also have primitive digestive tracts that lack a strong immune reaction, which are the main problems. Their primitive digestion requires them to eat a lot of food but it is not efficiently used so it goes in one end and out the other. They eat mysis twice a day and messily at that. All of these factors make for a very heavy bioload on their tanks. To combat all this, their tanks should have way oversized skimmers and very good filtration, 10Xs or more with high, medium and low flow areas so that food and detritus stays in suspension. I do a 30% water change on my system weekly to make sure dissolved organics are kept down. I also keep the temperature below 74 degrees which requires a chiller to inhibit bacterial growth. I thought my corals might not like that but they don't seem to mind, not even my reef corals. (My tanks share the same sump so both tanks are the same temperature). Believe it or not I have captive bred erectus seahorses which are the hardiest too. Other species or wild caught are much more challenging to keep. As long as I am diligent about husbandry I can expect to enjoy my ponies for 5 plus years. It's a lot of work but I don't mind because they are so personable!

Ah that is very cool to hear about since I'm uneducated on seahorses! I've seen some nice tanks set up in several LFS but I have not done any reading on investigating how to maintain those types of tanks. It is great to have so many equipment options out there though that can help with the maintenance and upkeep of our tanks. Weekly water changes does not bother me for the most part, it is just the vacation periods that make me nervous. Oversized skimmer huh? I chose that approach for my 26 gallon, running an octopus skimmer rated for 75 gallon medium bioload ha. Keep those nitrates/phophates down! And somehow I still have too much brown algae?!

[Butchy21]

Question for people- how do I rid of my tank of the brown algae/diatoms?! Everything I've read says that maturity of tank and enough water flow in your tank should take care of the problem. My tank is almost a year old, and I have 3 powerheads in a 26 gallon, yet the sandbed is constantly brown/rust colored and it is starting to creep up onto the rocks. My nitrates/phosphates are very low- water is clean enough that I think my blue xenia just melted because of it.

 

3 Powerheads are-

Koralia 240gph (pointing at sandbed behind live rocks to the right)

Koralia 425gph (pointing leftward and down behind the live rocks, approximately 3 inches from the rim)

Jebao RW-4: running about 50% power = ~500gph (pointing downward to the right in front of the live rock on wave mode, located about 5 inches from the rim of the tank)

 

Could a larger clean up crew do the trick? I have 3 mexican turbos, 2 hermits, 3 nessarious snails.

Or is there an issue with powerhead placement?

[vlangel]

Question for people- how do I rid of my tank of the brown algae/diatoms?! Everything I've read says that maturity of tank and enough water flow in your tank should take care of the problem. My tank is almost a year old, and I have 3 powerheads in a 26 gallon, yet the sandbed is constantly brown/rust colored and it is starting to creep up onto the rocks. My nitrates/phosphates are very low- water is clean enough that I think my blue xenia just melted because of it.

 

3 Powerheads are-

Koralia 240gph (pointing at sandbed behind live rocks to the right)

Koralia 425gph (pointing leftward and down behind the live rocks, approximately 3 inches from the rim)

Jebao RW-4: running about 50% power = ~500gph (pointing downward to the right in front of the live rock on wave mode, located about 5 inches from the rim of the tank)

 

Could a larger clean up crew do the trick? I have 3 mexican turbos, 2 hermits, 3 nessarious snails.

Or is there an issue with powerhead placement?

How long do you run your lights? Maybe you could try decreasing the photo phase by an hour. Also if you are using Flo lighting and the bulbs are old that will make algae.

[Butchy21]

How long do you run your lights? Maybe you could try decreasing the photo phase by an hour. Also if you are using Flo lighting and the bulbs are old that will make algae.

I run Marine Current Orbit LEDs for 8 hours white light, a few extra with just actinic. I have not adjusted any light duration in the past.

[vlangel]

I am a T5 gal so I am not sure how LEDS compare. I only run my whites for 5-6 hrs though and the blues for about 9 hours. If you decreased for 1 hour and corals begin stretching out or looking stressed you could re-program back to what you have been doing.

[Butchy21]

I am a T5 gal so I am not sure how LEDS compare. I only run my whites for 5-6 hrs though and the blues for about 9 hours. If you decreased for 1 hour and corals begin stretching out or looking stressed you could re-program back to what you have been doing.

Ya, I could def knock off an hour of daylight, see if that helps improve at all, plus grab a few more hermits. I was screwing around with my powerhead placement last night, trying to get one pointed more directly towards sandbed but it just pisses off every coral on the bottom, ugh. So frustrating!

[7waves]

Your reef octopus intake is much lower in the water than the surface. Does it work well? Does it skim the surface somehow for you or do you like using it without skimming the surface? I also have a 26 bowfront and reef octopus - but raised the skimmer up so the intake grates/cup could sit about surface level on the water. I've read so many threads trying to figure out the best situation for the skimmer. Yours looks to be working calmly without micro bubbles, etc.

 

Thanks and I hope all is going well with your awesome tank.

[Butchy21]

So I have not been very good with keeping up with posts on the tank- but here is a picture of where it was over the summer. I was so happy with the progress, I was having really good coral growth, no major issues. Then the piece of shit heater went nuclear, woke up and the whole apartment smelled like an electrical fire. I smelled the fish tank and it made me nauseous it smelled so terrible! I stayed home from work and changed as much water as humanly possible the next few days. Had concerns that copper had leaked into the tank and i would have to start from scratch, but had it tested and no copper detected at least.

 

Ended up losing all my acans, micromussa, all sps, most of my zoos, six line wrasse went MIA, all inverts. Im happy to say about 1/2 corals did end up coming through but looked very sick for weeks if not months. I am also happy to say I have stuck with it and the tank really rebounded pretty well, although I have been pretty reluctant thus far to add a ton more corals.

 

I was beaten but not broken.

June 2015- oh how beautiful she was!

[vlangel]

Ahh Butchy, thats heart breaking. I am glad that you have not given up on the tank or hobby.

 

The only crash I ever had was to a malfunctioning heater way back in the 90s. Fortunately for me I had very little in the tank and I remember that my hermit crab crawled up a wire to get out of the water and survived.

 

As a lfs tech who serviced lots of tanks I would say heaters are the #1 piece of equipment that causes tanks to crash. The other thing I saw too much of was GFCIs that tripped when no one was home and everything died from lack of oxygen. As a result my lights and pump kept my tank at 78 so I didn't use a heater. Now I have seahorses so I need a chiller, not a heater. I always use a battery backup pump that has a cord to detect loss of electricity to aerate the tank in case of power outage for whatever reason. They cost about $15.

[Butchy21]

Ahh Butchy, thats heart breaking. I am glad that you have not given up on the tank or hobby.

 

The only crash I ever had was to a malfunctioning heater way back in the 90s. Fortunately for me I had very little in the tank and I remember that my hermit crab crawled up a wire to get out of the water and survived.

 

As a lfs tech who serviced lots of tanks I would say heaters are the #1 piece of equipment that causes tanks to crash. The other thing I saw too much of was GFCIs that tripped when no one was home and everything died from lack of oxygen. As a result my lights and pump kept my tank at 78 so I didn't use a heater. Now I have seahorses so I need a chiller, not a heater. I always use a battery backup pump that has a cord to detect loss of electricity to aerate the tank in case of power outage for whatever reason. They cost about $15.

Ahh that is a good idea, I was unaware of how long things could remain healthy in the absence of power/oxygen.

 

Could you recommend a battery back up pump? How exactly does the backup pump recognize power is off? I would assume it has to be plugged into the same power strip?

[vlangel]

Here is a pic of mine. You are correct in that it does have to be plugged in the strip outlet that tells it that the power is off. Every tank is different depending on tank size and livestock. Some tanks can go 24 hrs or so but my tank probably could not. Seahorses have high respiration and need well oxygenated tanks. I have learned that tangs more oxygen than other fish as they were always the first to go. Clownfish, cardinals and puffers have survived in tanks without oxygen longer than the other fish. Or I should say they were the surviving inhabitants in tanks that I found the power out.

[Butchy21]

Add it to the list of things i need to buy/upgrade/modify/etc ha.

 

Nothing too major at least for the time being.

 

What do people use to catch all the green hair algae that is floating around the tank after a major clean- since im in the middle of a GHA outbreak?

[Butchy21]

Well I suppose life has gotten in the way of things... but finally hopping back onto the forums to give a brief update on the tank!

 

Summer traveling had a bad influence- less water changes, less maintenance, etc but i've finally gotten it to a place where things have turned around, although it was never too bad. There is still some annoying algae on the LR that is snuffing out my zoos- but I've taken out a few large pieces and hit it with hydrogen peroxide to turn the tide of battle. The algae dies off in a few days and the clean up crew is much more able to eat it- have never had an issue with any of the corals reacting poorly - this goes for zoos, frogspawn, challice, pavona, among a few others.

 

Still have two clowns, watchemen goby and a sixline wrasse-

 

Corals sit at: 2 frogspawns, one with two heads, one just starting off, hairy green pavona, hollywood stunner challice, 5 head duncan, few kinds of mushrooms, zoos, micromussa, blasto (just had 3 babies!) two different types of trumpets, and my baby- elegance! I got the elegance as one of my first corals for $25 from a local guy and it's been a trooper!

 

After a failed heater killed of 1/3 of the corals about a year ago- i've been anxiously waiting to grab some small sps frags. Once summer is over (this weekend?! ughh) I should have more time to better keep water quality pristine!

[vlangel]

Well I suppose life has gotten in the way of things... but finally hopping back onto the forums to give a brief update on the tank!

 

Summer traveling had a bad influence- less water changes, less maintenance, etc but i've finally gotten it to a place where things have turned around, although it was never too bad. There is still some annoying algae on the LR that is snuffing out my zoos- but I've taken out a few large pieces and hit it with hydrogen peroxide to turn the tide of battle. The algae dies off in a few days and the clean up crew is much more able to eat it- have never had an issue with any of the corals reacting poorly - this goes for zoos, frogspawn, challice, pavona, among a few others.

 

Still have two clowns, watchemen goby and a sixline wrasse-

 

Corals sit at: 2 frogspawns, one with two heads, one just starting off, hairy green pavona, hollywood stunner challice, 5 head duncan, few kinds of mushrooms, zoos, micromussa, blasto (just had 3 babies!) two different types of trumpets, and my baby- elegance! I got the elegance as one of my first corals for $25 from a local guy and it's been a trooper!

 

After a failed heater killed of 1/3 of the corals about a year ago- i've been anxiously waiting to grab some small sps frags. Once summer is over (this weekend?! ughh) I should have more time to better keep water quality pristine!

Your tank doesn't look like it has suffered from neglect, it looks great! Big healthy colorful coral is what we are all striving for. Maybe your coral enjoyed the higher nutrients? That usually means that the algae also enjoyed them however. :-( Most of us struggle to keep up the same maintenance schedule in the summer that we do the rest of the year. I know I also have been doing some catch up after my vacations. Anyway thanks for the update.

[Butchy21]

Your tank doesn't look like it has suffered from neglect, it looks great! Big healthy colorful coral is what we are all striving for. Maybe your coral enjoyed the higher nutrients? That usually means that the algae also enjoyed them however. :-( Most of us struggle to keep up the same maintenance schedule in the summer that we do the rest of the year. I know I also have been doing some catch up after my vacations. Anyway thanks for the update.

Thanks! Well, i was scrubbing rocks like crazy, doing 30% water changes weekly for awhile- double downed on clean up crew. All worth it though because the majority of the corals are free of surrounding algae- except the zoos. I don't know what to do to help them- once some GHA takes places at the base of the polyps its a pain in the ass. The ones in distress are on base rock that i can not take out of the tank to clean super well. Any ideas? I've been using a toothbrush to try and scrape off some of the algae- it has gotten a few of the polyps to start opening up again, but after a few days they close up.

[vlangel]

Thanks! Well, i was scrubbing rocks like crazy, doing 30% water changes weekly for awhile- double downed on clean up crew. All worth it though because the majority of the corals are free of surrounding algae- except the zoos. I don't know what to do to help them- once some GHA takes places at the base of the polyps its a pain in the ass. The ones in distress are on base rock that i can not take out of the tank to clean super well. Any ideas? I've been using a toothbrush to try and scrape off some of the algae- it has gotten a few of the polyps to start opening up again, but after a few days they close up.

Hmmm, GHA is one that I have not dealt with. I hear its a tough one to get rid of and I am afraid that I am no help with that except keep doing what you are doing.

[Butchy21]

So over a year and a half later since my last picture/update on nanoreef... some MAJOR improvements to the tank... lots of coral growth to say the least.  Don't worry the 26 gallon bow front is the best it has ever looked!  It's to the point where I need to frag and sell some stuff, I'm basically out of real-estate....

 

The hollywood stunner at the top was purchased for $10- probably about the size of a quarter.. it now sits at 5-6 inches across by 4-5 inches deep!  Any suggestions on simple fragging would be helpful.  Also what would be the asking price for a challice that size to sell?  $100-150? It appears to be pretty thin so I imagine I can simply cut off some of the parts that are starting to overhang over other corals.

 

Elegance is still happy but has not divided since buying it probably 3-3.5 years ago.  Hairy green pavona has covered the entire one rock from the size of a quarter plug in probably 2.5 years.  Frogspawn has gone from 2-5 heads.  Zooanthids in top right were 5 polyps that did nothing for a year and now are up to 50 heads in last 6 months.  Each blasto started as one large head and has three babies each!  Duncan has tripled the number of heads.  Neon trumpet has gone from 2 heads to about 15 easy.  Micromussa is slow growing but has increased ~50% in size.  Branching hammer (cant see in picture- it's in the back right since it's been stinging other friendlies...) has bumped up from 2 to probably 12 heads, a lot of them are really small at this point though.  They created such a cool growth pattern, I wish I had a larger thank to let it fill in though.

 

Things got a ton better after adding a GFO reactor (not sure how long i've had it, maybe two years?)- easy maintenance, super happy with it's help in water conditions.  BRS system - changed GO every 2-3 months.

 

I do need to upgrade my RODI- started out with a basic 4 stage portable system from Pure water club but it seems like the replacement resins do not last as long- sitting at 8ppm last time I made water.  Looking to buy a 5 stage RODI unit- any suggestions?  Reviews seem pretty good for the BRS system, it runs a little over $200.  I like the idea of being able to see when you should change some of your resins, etc. and the replacement costs of the resins/membranes are more manageable over some of the other companies.

 

I am still loving the hobby as there is always new things to learn!  At this point I will be investing time and resources fragging some of my corals and possibly making room for some new additions. I would l love to get back to having a few SPS corals at the top of the tank (which were all lost went my stupid heater went nuclear). 

 

How do people go about best selling their frags?  Take to local reef shop or sell through local channels- forums, craigslist?

 

Enjoy!

[Lula_Mae]

5 hours ago, Butchy21 said:

So over a year and a half later since my last picture/update on nanoreef... some MAJOR improvements to the tank... lots of coral growth to say the least.  Don't worry the 26 gallon bow front is the best it has ever looked!  It's to the point where I need to frag and sell some stuff, I'm basically out of real-estate....

 

The hollywood stunner at the top was purchased for $10- probably about the size of a quarter.. it now sits at 5-6 inches across by 4-5 inches deep!  Any suggestions on simple fragging would be helpful.  Also what would be the asking price for a challice that size to sell?  $100-150? It appears to be pretty thin so I imagine I can simply cut off some of the parts that are starting to overhang over other corals.

 

Elegance is still happy but has not divided since buying it probably 3-3.5 years ago.  Hairy green pavona has covered the entire one rock from the size of a quarter plug in probably 2.5 years.  Frogspawn has gone from 2-5 heads.  Zooanthids in top right were 5 polyps that did nothing for a year and now are up to 50 heads in last 6 months.  Each blasto started as one large head and has three babies each!  Duncan has tripled the number of heads.  Neon trumpet has gone from 2 heads to about 15 easy.  Micromussa is slow growing but has increased ~50% in size.  Branching hammer (cant see in picture- it's in the back right since it's been stinging other friendlies...) has bumped up from 2 to probably 12 heads, a lot of them are really small at this point though.  They created such a cool growth pattern, I wish I had a larger thank to let it fill in though.

 

Things got a ton better after adding a GFO reactor (not sure how long i've had it, maybe two years?)- easy maintenance, super happy with it's help in water conditions.  BRS system - changed GO every 2-3 months.

 

I do need to upgrade my RODI- started out with a basic 4 stage portable system from Pure water club but it seems like the replacement resins do not last as long- sitting at 8ppm last time I made water.  Looking to buy a 5 stage RODI unit- any suggestions?  Reviews seem pretty good for the BRS system, it runs a little over $200.  I like the idea of being able to see when you should change some of your resins, etc. and the replacement costs of the resins/membranes are more manageable over some of the other companies.

 

I am still loving the hobby as there is always new things to learn!  At this point I will be investing time and resources fragging some of my corals and possibly making room for some new additions. I would l love to get back to having a few SPS corals at the top of the tank (which were all lost went my stupid heater went nuclear). 

 

How do people go about best selling their frags?  Take to local reef shop or sell through local channels- forums, craigslist?

 

Enjoy!

I'm no RODI expert but have heard good things about Spectrapure.

[vlangel]

Wow, is all I can say!  Your tank looks amazing.  Way to go and thanks for sharing.

[Sea_Of_Treachery]

Makes me miss my old 26 from back in the day. That Hollywood is stunning. I just bought a frag of this and i know it grows like a weed. Great progress!

[Christopher Marks]

19 hours ago, Butchy21 said:

? WOW what an incredible update! Glad to see this system running nearly 3 years later!

[JcSH2o]

Very cool! Congrats on the TOTM! Well deserved, and a true testament to never giving up. Kudos kudos and more kudos to you!