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SaltySheep’s Lagoon- Comments welcomed


Saltysheep

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Hello all,
 

Roughly about 6-8 weeks ago I started cycling my deep blue 30 frag tank. I purchased this tank about two years ago but with a new baby decided it was best to wait until I had a more time and though to dedicate to it. I have an 10gal Nuvo that has been running for 4 years now that is mixed reef, while not completely new to salt this is my first tank with a sump. My main motivation for this tank is to move my beloved blue assessor to this new tank so he can be more comfortable. He has been a great resident for about 2 years.

 

Next in need to do for this tank is add fish. I plan to go slowly so I will start with one fish either a pink streaked wrasse or tanaka wrasse. I’ll talk to my LFS see what they can do. I also need to switch the glass heater that I am using it’s a back to probably a colbat heater. And last figure out how to proof my weirs on the overflow more so I don’t have a fish slip into the overflow.

 

Deep Blue 30 gal Frag tank

Lighting XR15 Pro Gen 4

Powerhead MP 10

Eheim Pump

Tunze ATO 3155

IM Hydrofill reservoir 5 gal

*Cobalt Heater

*Better lid

*Temp controller

 

Live stock:

1 blue leg hermit crab (Oz)

2 trochus snail

1 cerith snail

1 nirite snail

1 shark nose goby (Xander)

1 Pom Pom crab (Buffy)

Porcelain crab (Drusilla)

1 blue assessor(Oscar) was previously in 10nuvo

1 tanakas wrasse (Giles)

 

 

 

 

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On 7/26/2020 at 12:54 PM, Biffmin said:

I used to have this same tank. I love the depth of it, not a lot of tanks use tank depth as part of the aquascape.

I am excited to get it further along. Did you use a lid on yours?

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I am trying to think through what I want to do regarding mounting my light and still having a lid.  I originally bought the lid I am currently using a temporary fix until I could have something made which would enable me to work around the Ecotech RMS using a cut out. But I realize now after reading throughly through ArtfullyArcylics website that my overflow sits high up which makes it tricky to work around my return nozzles. I’ll have to see if they have a solution that can work around that or not. 
The other option would be to mount the lights off of the tank whether I used a wall mount or ceiling that then I could actually just keep the lid I have which isn’t the most beautiful thing but would keep my fish safe.

 

Inside the tank good things are happening I have sponges, hyoids, and pods moving around.  I have an appointment at the LFS (thanks Covid 😑) this Wednesday to talk fish and CUC. 

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Glauber Carvalho
On 7/26/2020 at 1:07 PM, Saltysheep said:

 

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WWWWoooooooooowwwwww😍

It is amazing, @Saltysheep !! I love it! 👏👏👏👏👏

I can't stopt to look at this scape! 👏👏👏 

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First inhabitant went in today, one tiny blue legged hermit crab that will feed in the mean time until it’s joined by fish. The store I visited did not have the fish I wanted. I’m looking for a pink streak or tanaks wrasse so working on that. I have filter sponges and bio media in my nano 10gal to seed my QT which I will set up today or tomorrow to prepare for fattening and observing some fish. 
Previously on my 10gal when I finished cycling I added fish and got the light going at the same time. I’ve read some people forgo the lighting for 3-4 months to skip on some of the new tank uglies. Any body try this and it made a difference? I am using (same on my 10gal) dry rock. So I am considering not adding my light for now. Would love some input there.

 

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This morning I thought my hermit was dead found a little body, but as it turns out he just molted! Whew so it also has a couple shells I can move into when it’s ready. My LFS hasn’t replied about fish yet which is fine that leaves me sponge and bio media more time to seed. 
I got my XR15 Pro up and running today. I run an AI prime on my 10 gal so a little bit of a learning curve but figuring out how to program it so far. I also have an MP10 waiting to be hooked up as well but since there is no coral or fish in yet there’s no rush.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Long time with no update but nothing too exciting going on. Not much happened since we all got a head cold in the household including the 2 year old. The tank got its first water change today. It’s having some high phosphates but that’s to be expected with dry rock. I got a nice diatoms bloom and now looks like we are moving on to some green stuff. I moved a baby Yuma mushroom & piece of Acro they were struggling in my 10 gal. With limited space in the smaller tank I just couldn’t  place it where it was getting enough flow and light. After 2 weeks in this 30 gal display it’s already regaining some of its green color and has good polyp extension. The mushroom is increasing in size with more space as well. I feed them a little reef roids since the bio load is smaller since the only resident is still the hermit crab. I threw in some rubble pieces that were covered in coraline algae after the cycle was completed and I do have spots starting to grow coraline in different places which is exciting. 
My shop is keeping an eye out the fish I want so they can put it on order for me. I also ordered a lid from ClearView lids.

Shot of the tank of how it looked tonight before it’s water change and my blasto from my 10 gal looking beautiful.

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Today I tried to fish proof my overflow to keep fish from getting back there especially with smaller fish like the goby.  I used gutter guard cut to size and it did not impede the flow so I think I like this approach versus sponge since sponge will get gunky fast. Looks very clean clean cut to size. Ammonia is 0 which I expected tank has been cycling for 3 months at least now. Phosphate have come down with water change. Here’s a better look at the goby with lights on.

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I’ve been thinking about what coral I want to move over from my 10 gal. I need to get dip to start moving them as well. I’ve been holding off because I would rather not have them irritated by algae blooms.

I really lucked out with my shark nose goby he is a charming little fish. He came from my local store that does quarantine and is really healthy. I’ve been feeding him twice a day and he is fat now. It’s surprising the chunks of reef frenzy he will go after considering his size. My assessor in the other tank is annoyingly picky about the size of food he will eat but not this little dude.  
I gotta come up with a name soon. It swims up to the glass every time I come over so it’s nice he isn’t always hiding. My toddler comes over a lot and he doesn’t scamper off from her attention either.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I’m getting some coral dip & peroxide tomorrow to move some coral over from the 10 gal. If anyone has recommendations on what corals you move first let me know. Eventually here is what I want in the lagoon:

  • Hammer 6/7 headed colony
  • Frogspawn/hammer 3 headed
  • Blasto idk how many heads decent sized colony
  • Denra 3 heads
  • 2 different gorgonians
  • Meteor shower cyphastrea
  • Orange setosa
  • some sort of digi 
  • Porites
  • Generic cloves 
  • papaya cloves
  • green fancy toadstool

The sps and euphyllia will be the last to move over since the tank has been up 5-6 months so I will five it more time. The lsp I am not really sure when to move those.  The first one to make the move will be the toadstool and probably the cloves. My assessor will be moved over when the lid comes in Oct. 

My shark nose has learned to take food from my pipet which I love! Such a cool little fish.  This is my “furry”snail and a top down shot of my overly crowded 10 gal.  

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Not much to report, these two pieces were dipped and moved over this weekend and doing well. I will move the toadstool closer to the light over time since I don’t m ow the comparison between the AI prime and XR-15.

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I found a chiton and limpet right before dipping my gorgonians so I dropped them in to my 30gal. I’ll try to take pictures if the gorgonians open up and my toddler doesn’t crawl all over while I try.

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Hey guys,

 

Both thanks for a water change today. Before the water change the 30 gal was reading 0 nitrates & .03 phosphate so definitely having less leeching from those dead rocks I started with. I do have a bit of algae so that’s probably were the nitrates are going. I know I need more fish stock but waiting on that lid.  I moved the papaya cloves & the frogspawns over today as well. I was checking the tank herp: vermetids, when I found another chiton. Hopefully the dip didn’t mess him up it was just some revive. I didn’t want to move my frogspawn or hammer yet but it had to since my hammer is becoming so large it’s stinging the digi.  I moved the digi over to the frogspawns old spot in the 10gal. Hopefully it recovers well.
 

I also found out my shark nose goby is a biter.  After 5 mins with my hand in the tank he kept going and nipping me. I had gloves on so I can’t tell how hard he was biting if it would have broken the skin. Little bastard needs a name so I can curse at him now.

 

Hope you can spot the chiton in the first picture. The second is the frogspawns looking pissed once it was placed in its new home.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Last night I dipped and moved over my hammer colony and one dendra head over. The hammer definitely needed to be moved the little sucker send out 3 sweepers and was doing damage in my sps frags in my 10gal. 
My frogspawn is really coloring up under this light. I’ve only had the the frogspawn and hammers since May so I really didn’t know what they could look like. They were pretty pale. My lid is supposed to arrive sometime at the end of the month if they aren’t having supply chain issues. The stores local to me still don’t have any of the fish I am looking for so I’ll keep waiting. 

I do need some ideas for what fish would be interesting and appropriate to keep in my 10 gal so if you have any ideas of combos you like or have tried shoot them my way. I only have an idea of what I want to stock in this 30gal. 

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LA’s diver den finally had a tanakas wrasse today and I went for it. I’m tired of waited for the LFS. I also ordered a emerald crab and a porcelain crab. I have a 20T and media cycling ready for a QT. I’ll have to run out tomorrow and get something to make a lid and cyclops. 
 

This will be my first time doing QT on my own I usually purchase from one store that uses copper etc for their fish before they are ready to go home so it takes weeks but they don’t have any fish I want lined up even  for starting the process. I’m gonna focus on getting the new fish fat and settled before venturing down actually dosing. I’ve read in HumblesFish website a lot so I just need to pull up my boot straps and do it.

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Well my order arrived without delay. The crabs are fine and we’re acclimated and in the tanks now. 
 

The wrasse was barely moving but alive. He was breathing rapidly as well. He is in QT tank with the power head off to now stress it out and air stone. If he is still alive in a few hours I’ll turn the HOB on. 

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Quick update:

 

The wrasse bounced back! It’s cruising around the bottom of the tank checking things out. I put a tiny amount of frozen brine and cyclops in there but it’s not eating yet. Or at least I didn’t see it eat. It’s been fattened up pretty well so I am not stress over the eating yet.

 

I’ll share a pic of my QT set up. It’s in our office so a quieter part of the house aka away from our toddler. I have pvc pieces and fake plant to class up the joint since it was looking like a prison cell. I’ll add more water later today and turn on the HOB.   I have an ammonia badge slapped on this ghetto set up so keep aware of things. 

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Giles the wrasse is finally starting to not run away every time I get near QT. He has been eating cyclops the last two days but still hadn’t touched frozen brine. He is patrolling around in the hunt so I may go get some live brine or cyclops. The porcelain crab didn’t make it but I can pick one up locally. Which I’ll have to do bc my toddler keeps asking about the crab.  
 

The hammer and dendra are getting used to the tank and opening up. I finally found a good spot for the toadstool, it’s so finicky with the light. I could tell it was getting too much bc it would close up at “peak” times. 

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So since the porcelain crab from LA didn’t make it we went to the LFS today and got a new one. Meet Drusilla the porcelain crab and Buffy the Pom Pom crab 

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3 tanks is keeping me busy with running the QT. Giles the wrasse is swimming more openly but I am still struggling to get him to eat frozen. I have reef frenzy (nano), blood worms, frozen spirulina brine shrimp, and frozen cyclops. I have a variety of pellets. So far I have seen him eat live baby brine, garlic soaked cyclops, and live tigger pods. My goal is to get him consistently eating the frozen cyclops at least so I can deworm with general cure food mix. 
 

My lagoon is coming along did another water change yesterday. My nitrates are still undetectable and phosphates are decent. I have some minor patches of turf and hair algae. I’m spot treating and removing. Basically new tank uglies. My hammer is looking a lot better than it was in the 10 gallon. Here are some crappy cell pics. 

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Thank you! I have some nice frags in my 10 gallon that will eventually be moved over. It’s pretty boring in this tank right now but I want more time to allow the algae to settle and get my CUC ratio correct. I think moving slower will be less of the pain in the rear later on.

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