vlangel Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 You were correct! Ammonia is zeroed out nitrite is still 5ppm+ and nitrates are up to 40ppm-80ppm. Should I do a large WC or letit ride for awhile longer? Yes, you are close enough, go ahead and do your water change and if you still have the nitrifying bacteria left go ahead and put a little in the tank. If not it should still be fine, just go slow as you add fish. Quote Link to comment
Simulated Fish Posted January 31, 2016 Author Share Posted January 31, 2016 Yes, you are close enough, go ahead and do your water change and if you still have the nitrifying bacteria left go ahead and put a little in the tank. If not it should still be fine, just go slow as you add fish. That is what I thought. I am going to pick up 10g of SW & 5g of RODI to do a water change. Then I plan on testing levels daily for the next few days to double check the bacterial are holding strong. I also plan on getting a P04 test kit to see where phosphates are since this is BRS pukani. Once I get a baseline of P04 the GFO/Carbon Reactor is getting put in. As of now if my bactrial is holding strong and P04 levels aren't crazy high I'm going to move over Henry the clown from my 8g and my GSP, Frogspawn, and Toadstool Mush. the 8g is going to become a frag/QT/ Xenia free-range tank. 1 Quote Link to comment
vlangel Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 That sounds like a good approach. I will be anxious to see pics when they are moved in! 1 Quote Link to comment
Simulated Fish Posted February 2, 2016 Author Share Posted February 2, 2016 Levels are holding strong, ammonia is still zero and nitrites are off the charts. Nitrate on the other hand has damn near doubled ( 80-120)! big WC happening tomorrow side note: I picked up a p04 test and I'm getting 0.30 phosphates which is what I expected. GFO and carbon reactor also going in tomorrow! Quote Link to comment
Sunstar Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 sounds like it is progressing beautifully 1 Quote Link to comment
Simulated Fish Posted February 2, 2016 Author Share Posted February 2, 2016 sounds like it is progressing beautifully Yes indeed! Took everything in me to resist picking up a couple mocha clowns when I got my p04 kit. They were on sale - 2 for $15!!! apparently someone never claimed the 30+ they ordered for a harlem tank.... maybe next week Quote Link to comment
CronicReefer Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 Have you thought about vinegar dosing? It will provide a carbon source for denitrifying bacteria to help keep nitrates and phosphates low. Here is a little guide written by Dr. Randy Holmes Farley. So far it has been working great for me as my nitrates stay below 2ppm despite me feeding LRS Frenzy foods up to 3x times a day. http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/116-vinegar-dosing-methodology-for-the-marine-aquarium Levels are holding strong, ammonia is still zero and nitrites are off the charts. Nitrate on the other hand has damn near doubled ( 80-120)! big WC happening tomorrow side note: I picked up a p04 test and I'm getting 0.30 phosphates which is what I expected. GFO and carbon reactor also going in tomorrow! 1 Quote Link to comment
Simulated Fish Posted February 4, 2016 Author Share Posted February 4, 2016 Good news everyone! I haven't been able to do the water change due to work but this turned out to be for thr best because I tested my prams today and nitrites and ammonia are holding at 0 and nitrates are about 100 parts per million! P04 is .25ppm So as we come up on day 25 looks like I am completely cycled and ready to do my large water change and add livestock! Not sure about a clean up crew yet because I have a zero algae issues and I'm not really expecting any sense I'm doing a completely clean setup. I do expect some datioms but I don't want to get the cleanup crew before start seeing it because then we're just going to have snails dying left and right. Even more so because once I hook up the gfo I'm expecting it to suck up all the phosphates. I know every new tank is going to get some sort algae bloom so right now looking for some advice on when to get it. I plan on getting a crew from John over at Reef cleaners. 1 Quote Link to comment
Simulated Fish Posted February 8, 2016 Author Share Posted February 8, 2016 Quick update! BRS reactor is up and running. p04 is now down to ~ 0.1 and falling! I have to say that I love the ROX carbon it is doing wonders keeping the tank crystal clear. Nitrates are still running high after large WC at about 20-30 ppm. I assume it is due to the heavy die off in the pukani rock. The bacteria is doing a great job keeping the ammonia and nitrites at zero but I would like to get nitrates down to 10 ppm peak between WC. To achieve this I'm going to do another 10g WC and use the tank water to rinse and scrub off as much die off as I can. Now that it has been decomposing I should be able to get just about all of it off, when I did my WC pouring the 5g bucket over the rocks cause a bunch to come out so I am hopeful this will work. My next project is going to be some custom moonlights. I do car audio and LED interior lighting on the side so I have some really nice purple LED strips, the bulk kind on a spool, that I'm going to cut and solder. 1 Quote Link to comment
ajmckay Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 Awesome tank! I really like the dimensions of the 45. Also cool stand! Reading through the build next. When I started my rock I also used BRS pukani though I had a really bad bacterial bloom right after I set it up. I like your progression much better and hopefully your phosphates and nitrates are under control shortly (sounds like it's setting up to be that way). But I really really like pukani rock so I just dealt with letting the rock leach phosphates for a while - basically ran it with very little bio-load for a few months. I didn't plan it that way it just took me a while to actually go get livestock. Without carbon or any sort of real chemical or mechanical filtration I had algae but honestly nothing crazy. The worst I had to deal with was cyano. Still, my corals loved the water conditions and I got great growth from all soft corals, LPS, & SPS. Anyways I also wanted to make a comment to your stocking list. Snowflake eels eat crustaceans. In other words he will eventually eat you pistol shrimp as well as any other crab or shrimp you put in there (even if the eel is small). They also have notoriously bad eyesight so they tend to go after stuff that they don't necessarily even eat. In such cases fish are often collateral damage, getting bit or otherwise chased into an object and injured - but also eaten sometimes. So I'm not sure exactly what research supports your stocking list but I would probably consider changing it up to either a predator tank or a community reef tank. You could probably keep the eel in that size tank, but not with shrimp, crabs, or small fish (unless you don't mind them possibly dying). You would also probably want a deeper sand bed and either attached solid supports (like "legs" made from epoxy putty and rock) under your rock or some people use PVC pipe tunnels/burrows to keep the eel from shifting sand under a rock and toppling the rocks over. You're more than welcome to follow through with your stocking list, just wanted to let you know that while there is the occasional account of someone keeping a small snowflake eel with crustaceans and small fish (likely temporary in most cases) there are lots of accounts of the same situation ending with dead stuff. Finally if you end up with the longspine urchin I would recommend using epoxy putty and permanently fixing the rocks in place as well as any frags you introduce or they're likely to be moved or knocked over. 1 Quote Link to comment
Simulated Fish Posted February 9, 2016 Author Share Posted February 9, 2016 Awesome tank! I really like the dimensions of the 45. Also cool stand! Reading through the build next. When I started my rock I also used BRS pukani though I had a really bad bacterial bloom right after I set it up. I like your progression much better and hopefully your phosphates and nitrates are under control shortly (sounds like it's setting up to be that way). Anyways I also wanted to make a comment to your stocking list. Thanks! It's been quite the labor of love! I've been carefully getting everything together the last few months and was very happy to get the tank wet! P04 looks like it will be a non issue thanks to the GFO/Carbon reactor I'm happy to report! P04 was reading a bit under 1ppm but once the reactor was hooked up it dropped to .5ppm after a day. Did a 5g WC and used the tank water to rinse+scrub the rock . I changed out the GFO/Carbon. Since GFO can get clogged quick I felt it would help, and it did! p04 is down to 0-0.03ppm Rinsing the rock and cleaning off any die-off I could reach also got my nitrates down to ~20ppm which is fine in my book because I have some macro algae from Lawn coming here in a week or so. My stocking list will be getting an update soon. That was a general wish list but I was leaning towards a making a predator tank. It have changed my mind. I just don't have the rock work to keep an eel happy IMO and would feel guilty keeping one. And exotic crab maybe but we will see... I have seen a few tanks with eels and aggressive crabs that don't harm other livestock but I realized the other day I am just to attached the Henry the clown I'd hate to lose him/her. As of now my set in stone choices are a mate for Henry and a shrimp goby pair. not quite as exotic as I was first imagined but I really love both and don't want this tank to not have them. Levels were golden today. And I have put it off enough! That's right the corals have been moved over! Frogspawn, GSP rock, Yellow Toadstool and a small frag of my Xenia all made the move. Henry is staying in the 8g for now tell wed. when my LFS will have mocha clowns in for me. I was advised to move Henry over after the new juvenile has been in the tank for a few hours first. I did however nab 2 of my biggest brisle Worms and put them in. Both easily 6-9in and 1/4-1/2 in thick! Here is then new FTS. I will update it tomorrow when everyone in the tank wakes up! 1 Quote Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 Nice!!!! Looks sweet. 1 Quote Link to comment
Simulated Fish Posted February 9, 2016 Author Share Posted February 9, 2016 Nice!!!! Looks sweet. Thanks! Every thing is very happy and healthy! Especially the frogspawn! And my new mate for Henry! A ORA missbar blood orange clown 1 Quote Link to comment
Butters Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 Love that frogspawn, its gonna look awesome with that rockscape, especially once it grows in a bit more. 1 Quote Link to comment
Droy008 Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 That rockscape is damn near perfect! Nice job. 1 Quote Link to comment
Simulated Fish Posted February 10, 2016 Author Share Posted February 10, 2016 Love that frogspawn, its gonna look awesome with that rockscape, especially once it grows in a bit more. Thank you, I love it's color and could not be happier with its growth. I got it as a single head about 4 months ago and it is now 8 or so with the motha split into sperate pairs. Plus it has 5 of the tiniest little heads growing from the sides of the live skeleton. I make a point to feed each mouth a little bit of meaty food, Reef Crack, every other day. I know it's more than most people do but the healthy color and growth speak for themselves. That rockscape is damn near perfect! Nice job. Thank you! I put quite a lot of time and effort into chiseling out the Pukani to provide natural looking tunnels and edges. Quote Link to comment
ajmckay Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 Nice updates, lovin' the pukani. 1st pic in post 38, what's the thing in the left corner? Quote Link to comment
Simulated Fish Posted February 11, 2016 Author Share Posted February 11, 2016 Nice updates, lovin' the pukani. 1st pic in post 38, what's the thing in the left corner? In the front left? It is a small frag of my Xenia that I had attach to a shell. It was getting blasted where I first placed it. I place snail shells around my GSP and Xenia so the mat would cover them, so natural frags Quote Link to comment
Simulated Fish Posted February 27, 2016 Author Share Posted February 27, 2016 Okay guys quick update in the tank! FTS! ReefCleaners CUC arrived today! Macros from Stella are doing well and the Yuma Rics I got for my Bday are happy, healthy, eating and growing! My frogspawn split again and is really starting to branch out nicely. Should be ready to frag in a few months, or left to grow insainely huge.... not sure yet. Datioms have started on the top of my rocks where par is most intense. CUC should have it down in no time I hope. Also my Yuma Ric had a strange coral that has moved from the underside of the rock. I didn't see it before but it has almost doubled in a week! Beautiful light blue and neon green color. Any idea on what this is? With today's WC it extended! Very cool! 1 Quote Link to comment
Sunstar Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 that is cute. I love mysteries. Now you make me want to have a larger tank. Quote Link to comment
Simulated Fish Posted February 27, 2016 Author Share Posted February 27, 2016 that is cute. I love mysteries. Now you make me want to have a larger tank. I absolutely love the JBJ45 it is big but small enough it doesn't take up a whole room. Fits perfectly in the corner! Quote Link to comment
Simulated Fish Posted February 28, 2016 Author Share Posted February 28, 2016 Well I went to get water for the 8g Biocube and fell in love! I couldn't resist this little guy! It is a dwarf Lionfish. Luckily I already am a heavy feeder so the bioload is no worry! He was very happy to float around the new tank from perch to perch tell he found this one in between to ridges in the pukani. 2 Quote Link to comment
Simulated Fish Posted March 11, 2016 Author Share Posted March 11, 2016 The tank is doing great! Diatom Bloom is just about gone thanks to the reefcleaners CUC the really destroyed that algae Mufasa the Dwarf Zebra Lionfish is still being picky and not eating much, but he is still very active at dusk/dawn and doesn't look unhealthy. I'm just so use to the never ending appetite that the clown fish have. Sadly one of the macros finally faded away, the blue ochtodes, this was the main one I REALLY wanted too! Such is life the others have been doing well with a few exceptions. the red grape is growing well but also some bulbs are going transparent. so far the growth out paces the die-off it seems. The red palm was almost completely faded but is seems to reattached itself to the rock work and has started to color back up. The Yumas are growing in size and are eating happily The Frogspawn is an unstoppable BEAST it has grows 1-2 new little baby branches a week and has just about branched out 6 ways and has 8 mouths i can count. at this rate i will have to frag it in a few months! 3/11/16 FTS 2 Quote Link to comment
tetraodon Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 Okay guys quick update in the tank! FTS! ReefCleaners CUC arrived today! Macros from Stella are doing well and the Yuma Rics I got for my Bday are happy, healthy, eating and growing! My frogspawn split again and is really starting to branch out nicely. Should be ready to frag in a few months, or left to grow insainely huge.... not sure yet. Datioms have started on the top of my rocks where par is most intense. CUC should have it down in no time I hope. Also my Yuma Ric had a strange coral that has moved from the underside of the rock. I didn't see it before but it has almost doubled in a week! Beautiful light blue and neon green color. Any idea on what this is? With today's WC it extended! Very cool! thats a baby ric, they will stretch out their foot and break a small part off that grows into another ric. i had one that was the diameter of a soda can, Quote Link to comment
Simulated Fish Posted March 27, 2016 Author Share Posted March 27, 2016 Good news everyone! I pulled the trigger on a Rainbow BTA today. I couldn't resist it's beautiful shades of red pink orange green and blue! All is heathly in the tank, my blue scroll macro is exploding in growth with a new spiral every other day! My frogspawn is still strong and healthy but is acting funny, it has had at lest 3 polyps jump ship. I assume it is just trying to populate the tank. It is eating, fully extended, growing new heads, and has vibrant color. There is nothing wrong and it doesn't seem upset in any way. PHOTOS! RBTA - I put him in the skull's eye, hopefully he is happy there! Mufasa! Bonus! Mufasa photo bomb! 2 Quote Link to comment
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