Viking Lagoon - RBTA is a JERK!

[reefhound]

I thought the nitrite to nitrate was done by the anaerobic bacteria, or most of it was, Either way, added some (cleaner) established rock shouldn't hurt me, and I'm not adding anything else from my tank until I'm sure it going to be safe for them. I want it done now, but it will be ready when it's ready

 

I think what i'm looking forward to is that fact that this tank is set up BEFORE things go in, instead of adding stuff to help fix something. Would be great if it's ready before Reefapaooza, but honestly, don't think it will stable enough by then.

 

I started mine out slow as well this time, and very happy right now with the way it went..

it really is nice not to chase water quality and worry about the livestock.

I've always had a hunch that others reporting 0 on nitrates were pushing the truth a little (until now)

 

I guess my biggest lesson has been to take it easy, do things slowly, plan out the livestock ahead of time, don't impulse buy.

 

I really like the look of the tank you have set up, and am curious as to what you will do to balance the biology without sand.. is the 20 long moving over?

[Viking]

 

I started mine out slow as well this time, and very happy right now with the way it went..

it really is nice not to chase water quality and worry about the livestock.

I've always had a hunch that others reporting 0 on nitrates were pushing the truth a little (until now)

 

I guess my biggest lesson has been to take it easy, do things slowly, plan out the livestock ahead of time, don't impulse buy.

 

I really like the look of the tank you have set up, and am curious as to what you will do to balance the biology without sand.. is the 20 long moving over?

Yes, I'm moving my livestock from the 20 over to this new tank once it's ready. I have a reactor and skimmer going, and I may do backet in place of one or both socks down the road if the rock by itself isn't enough. I have seen a few tanks set up this way to give my hope it will work. I can change to a skimmer that fits in the back and add sand also if I decide this isn't going to work the way I hope.

 

I tested again today, Ammonia is at 0 finally byt Nitrates are still off my test scale. Diatoms are forming fast and everywhere today, so that's a sign of progress. It's just soooo slow.

[HarryPotter]

75% water change will speed it up

[Viking]

75% water change will speed it up

Ive seen alot of people recommend this during research, and quite a few say the opposite. What are the mechanics, biologically speaking , behind what this would do to speed things up? Wouldn't removing the nitrites take away from the anaerobic bacteria's "food" supply? Not opposed to the idea, just curious.

[Viking]

The fisrt part of the cycle is finally done, Ammonia at 0 and Nitrites at 0. I know that there is still along time for the cycle is fully complete with a decent amount of denitrifying bacteria deep in the rock, but I can now start adding slowing form the tank I am going to be breaking down. It's taken about a month and a half to get this far, so I'm excited to finally be here.

I started using Aquaforest Bio S for bacteria seeding about 2 weeks ago, as my LFS is now stocking about 80% of their product line and has been happy with the results they see in their systems since they started carrying it. I can't say for sure that it heped speed the cycle, but I spent 3+ weeks with nitrites off the scale of my Red Sea test kit (grated, it maxes at 1ppm). and I noticed the nitritaes were finally dropping about 6 days later. Dose is much smaller that the Microbacter7, 1 drop for Bio S vs. 5ml for Microbacter7. Concidering I started with dry rock only for 1st 2 weeks, with a small 1lb chuck of LR from the LFS 3 weeks in, I am happy with the results, but would go all LR next time around, if I had the budget.

 

I added a few snails on Friday after I started seeing diatoms that the first 0 ammonia and nitrite test after waiting for day after ghost feeding, I added a small cutting of my GSP to a rock and put in in on Sunday, but soon remembered that GSP can sometimes be tempermental with changes, so I added a small Zoa frag and a Ric that has been slowly shrinking yesterday. Today, the zoa opened up better that it had in while in the old tank, so added my other Zoa and my last Acan, which is now more open thatn before as well. If things continue to look good, I will move one of my fish possibly this weekend, just need to decide if it will by my cardinal or my clown.

 

Zoas and Acan

 

Ric and one of the Trochus snails

 

[Viking]

The fish have been in the new tank for almost 2 weeks now, and seem to be doing excellently. They hide in a corner now and then when someone walks up to the front, but are usually out swimming. They are both eating, which I think is a good sign. Being careful to watch while they eat to make sure I'm not overfeeding, and that they get enough.

The only thing I havent been able to move over yet is my rockflower, it's got its foot jammed into a small hole in the rock it's on in the old tank. I'm not willing to move that rock to the new tank as it would defeat the whole point of starting over with clean rocks. Short of trying to break the rock into pieces, does anyone have any ideas?

 

Have some new pictures from my new phone, manual mode is a huge help!

 

 

[jedimasterben]

Just take a hammer and chisel to the old rock and very carefully break it until you can split the part that the rock flower is attached to. Go slowly and it should work fine

[Viking]

If it hasn't moved out by Monday, I'll give that a shot. I've turned off the light and changed the rocks position in the flow to see if he will move out on his own, But, typical 'nem, it does what it wants.

[Viking]

I finally got the rock flower moved over after breaking up the rock it was on. I was hopefully careful enough that I didn't hit it, but I know it didn't like the vibrations from the chipping away at the rock. I can finally shutdown what remains of the old tank and get it cleaned up and moved out (yay).

 

In the new home...

[Viking]

Would be awesome if he stays scrunched up like this, but he will probably go back to his full stretch like he was in the other tank once he finds a new spot he likes...

 

[Viking]

Everything seems to be rolling along nicely so far, only thing I've found negative was this morning I found an empty Astrea shell. One snail loss in 2 months is far better than my past record.

 

I have some pics of some new stuff I've added over the few weeks as I was moving the stuff from the old tank over, but 1st, a FTS from today...

 

I'm really happy with the bare bottom so far. I left the Astrea shell in the tank, just in case it had retreated reeeeeealy far, will take it out in a couple days if it hasn't moved (other than due to the urchin)

 

One of the 1st new pieces was a new Acan, has a nice red and pink color pattern

 

I also picked up a cyphastrea a few weeks ago, going to give it a try in the new tank. This is my second attempt at one, this 1st one was in my old tank and faded away after just a few weeks. It was one of the deciding factors that led to my new tank.

 

This pic is the day after I put it in...

 

and this is today...

 

It looks like it is spreading, and I think I'm seeing more corallites. I may just be projecting.

 

I also am making my first attempt at a chalice, went with a Goldeneye as I like the "shelf" look they seem to have. If this goes well, I may try one of the more encrusting styles as well.

 

 

I have a new fish as well, a Purple Anthia that is super shy. I can stand in front of the aquarium and watch it swimming around, but as soon as I try to either feed it or tank a picture, it jumps into one of the MANY holes in the rock on the left. It will pop out soon after, especially it it was hiding while feeding, and I have watched to make sure that it is eating, so it seems ok so far. I have read about their fickle eating habits and am alternating frozen Mysis/ Cyclops (what I feed the Cardinal and Clown) and small live brine from the LFS. I have seen it eating both, so fingers crossed...

 

Last pic is whats left of my once fairly large Duncan colony, It was almost completely dead in the old tank so I took it to the LFS to hold for me while I was figuring out where I was going with the new tank. I retrieved it 2 weeks ago with only a tiny little head left. It has just about tripled in size since I put it in the new tank, and am very happy to that.

 

I will be trimming back the base a bit and mounting it on a rock once I see a bit more growth, maybe another head forming.

[Viking]

Things are still moving on and still seem to be going well. Water is clean and no real signs of any algae as of yet, just a few hairs on one or 2 of the frags, which I harvest as soon as I see it. Only 1 snail death so far, and I feed the Urchin a little bit of seaweed once a week or so to make sure it isn't starving.

The Anthia died after about 2 weeks, it never really seemed to pick up on the concept of "eating". If it's rare and cheap, there is a reason.

 

My wife got me an RBTA as an early Father's Day gift, and it has been a model citizen... until last night. It finally decided to do some exploring it seems, as it only moved about 2 inches from where I placed it originally until now. Now, it's parked right on top of the Zoa colony I pulled from my old tank without really expecting it to recover, only to have it come back better than ever. I don't think the Zoas are impressed with the 'Nems decision...

[Droy008]

It looks like the zoas will be okay as long as the Nem stay extended.

But if your not happy with it being there, point your powerhead at its foot and watch it squirm away.

[Viking]

He moved off on his own once the lights came on. I moved the frag a little bit away just to be safe.

[Viking]

I have updated the 1st post with a recent FTS, as I've seen many others do here. Will probably do a monthly addition like that going forwards.