My 55g Reef Buildout

[Hogie]

You haven't posted the pics of your new inhabitants....

okay, okay... you caught me!

I havent named them yet. They are not ORA, but they are tank bred in Texas, and were shipped up to a Dallas LFS after Hurricane Ike took out the power in the store they were at in Houston.

I really like the darkness of the top one (with the extra black), but they assure me that he's is a false percula, not a true. They seem to stay together already, and are still checking out their new habitat.

 

[pat8you]

A very nice looking pair of clowns. Congrats

 

[Ziggy953]

As the clowns age and are paired up the black will spread. There is a mated pair of clowns at my LFS that are nearly all black and white with just a touch of orange on their bellies. I remember when they first got these two fish in and they were super bright orange. It is something that seems to happen only in True Percs and False Percs.

One pair of my clowns has started getting darker across their backs.

 

[Hogie]

Another day... another post...

Yesterday, I exchanged the Mag 9.5 for a QuietOne (I think a 3000) for my return pump. My tank temp dropped about 1.5 degrees since (even with the lights on). I just had to buy another 1" union (threaded this time) for the new pump, and it was a 2 minute replacement since the unions fit together perfectly

I added some algae in the fuge today, and put the fuge light on the night timer plugs. When I went to a local club member to get the cheato, he ended up giving me a couple frags too.

Today I plan on pulling my closed loop apart to try to fix any "leaks" in it.

 

[Tank2379]

Isn't it a little early to be adding Fag in a newly established tank?

 

[Hogie]

They seem to be thriving as they are growing like crazy under the VHO lights.

Ive been watching my water chemistry pretty close since I put the clowns in and the nitrates are coming down naturally now. This is probably because of the diatoms (which just bloomed naturally) and the cheato which I have in the fuge.

Still 0 Ammonia and 0 Nitrites. The water temp is also going 79 - 80.5 even when the AC is off in the house since I replaced the return pump with something cooler. I also have the closedloop fixed, and its running too. I think I am finally ready to stop messing with the tank every moment I am free

 

[Hogie]

I have been cutting down the number of hours I have the lights on to try to help with this diatom problem. I am thinking of doing a 5 gallon water change every other day to get my nitrates back down to 0ish. I did a 20 gallon change today, and they went from 25 to 5.

 

[Ziggy953]

How often and what are you feeding your fish?

Do you have any sponges in your filtration anywhere? A prefilter on your overflow box? It is possible that there is detritus being collected somewhere and that is causing a spike in nitrates. As that macro starts to grow in your fuge you will likely see the nitrates stablize and or drop some.

 

[Hogie]

I am feeding every 2 days, and I thaw and rinse the food before giving it to them. I have no sponges anywhere in the system, and no prefilters on the overflow, return pump or skimmer. I didn't get to check the nitrates last night, but will tonight when I get home.

I did notice that the fuge is starting to get a little red slime in it (on the chaeto and on a rock in there)... is that because I dont have enough water flow through it? I'll try to get pics tonight.

 

[Hogie]

Its not slime in the fuge, its just Coraline... Boy does stuff look different under different lighting (and when its 4 feet below you).

When I ran my water test on the 8th, my nitrates were down to 2. The "brown stuff" as my father calls it, is going away. Probably because of the CuC that came in on the 8th.

They are bulldozing along, eating everything in sight... it is really quiet awesome to watch.

I also noticed that the Coraline algae was starting to spread to my other liverock. Most of my liverock wasn't kept under lights, and had a bleached out color. Now I have purple spots showing up on most of the live rock, and some of the baserock.

I also picked up 2x 175w MH ballasts + wiring + 2x MH bulbs from a guy in the local club during our meeting for $75. We test fired them there on his Moguls, and I swear im still seeing ghosts from it.

I also started finishing the back side of the stand tonight. I got one side on, so the refugium light doesn't bother people so much (its on during the night cycle). I just need to figure out how I want to make the power pretty before I do the other side.

Now off to bed I go..

 

[Hogie]

When I was topping off the water this morning, I noticed that someone (Im guessing Turbo... my giant mexican turbo snail) knocked my candycane off its perch, to the substrate... Will it be okay down there until 1-3am tonight, when I get home, or should I run home at lunch and fix it?

 

[Ziggy953]

It will be ok. When you pick it up off the sand bed hold it in front of one of your power heads. This will help rinse the sand off the flesh of the coral.

 

[Hogie]

When I got home, its little tentacles were out, so I left it alone until today. I ended up taking some photos, and I am surprised at the growth so far of everything.

I am VERY happy that I have coraline algae growing out on all the rocks now. I have purple and lime green specks on all my white rocks (live and base). Here is an example of one of the Florida base rocks from Marco's that I have in the tank that is starting to get color (click on it to get the larger version).



Jay and Silent Bob are also doing well. They follow me around the tank now, and they are ALWAYS together... and sleep together.

Now that I got the 2 other tanks ready for the live rock on Monday from an Ike crashed tank, I am working on getting this stand finished since I dont need as much access to it (ie, putting the sides and doors on it since I left them off).

And a final picture, of the tank today after a feeding and cleaning:

 

[Ziggy953]

Excellent. Things are coming along nicely.

 

[Hogie]

I just got my 2x 175W MH's wired in and burning... They put out more heat than I thought they would. Right now I have a 10k and a 12k bulb to see which one I like better.

So far, the 10k really makes the tank light up more "natural" to me than the purple I am getting from the 50/50 and actinic VHO's. I just put the 12k in and have it starting up now.

You can see me running 1 MH here on the left and just the VHO on the right...

 

[Hogie]

Well, it has been a couple days since my last post... I was looking at the tank last night, and it appears I have some green... algae growing on the rocks and on the sand. Its hairy. Im guessing this is not the type I want in there, so.. I am going to cut back on the feedings and do a large water change this weekend (probably around 20 gallons or so). I did tests today on the water, and I am still at 0 ammonia and nitrite. I was at 20 nitrates.

I think the amount I am feeding is too much. I feed 1 block of frozen food every other day to the 7 fish in the aquarium. I'll try doing that block in half and doing it then.

My Pulsing Xenia and candy canes are really taking off. The kryptonite candy cane has split into 3 additional heads in the 6 weeks or so I have had it. The other candy cane has added another head. in the week Ive had it, and the pulsing xenia has doubled in size, and attached to the rubble rock I put it on in the cup in the week I have had it.

I also got my RO/DI filter setup in a perm station, so I dont have to move stuff around our washer/dryer to make water anymore. I have a dual TDS meter on the way along with a refractometer which should be here early next week.

I also found a hitchhiker in the other live rock I got from the Ike evacuee tank. Its some type of hermit crab (not like the others I have), so I put him in the refuge for now.

I am now putting about $200/month away for an aquarium controller, and a webcam for the tank. That should get me a nice Aquacontroller 3 that I could end up monitoring both tanks with, and a way to put up live pretty pictures

 

[Ziggy953]

Sounds like things are coming along very well.

With the new increase in lighting you should limit the amount of time per day the MHs are on until your corals have a chance to get used to the increase.

 

[Hogie]

Oh, I have been. I'm having to do turn them on/off by hand, but that's okay for now.

I did another 20 gallon change yesterday, and took my overflow boxes off to clean them too. The skimmer capture cup is turning nasty colors now, so at least I know it is working right!

My Nitrates are down to 1 right now.

This weekend had a couple changes for me... One is the RO system. It use to be just on a shelf above the washer... kinda in the way. It now has a Dual TDS Meter wired into it now.

It is hidden in a shelf in our utility room, with the fill station below it.

I also got a refractometer finally. This should help with stability on the water.

Here is the tank as it was this afternoon.

 

[pat8you]

Looking good so far. Glad to see everything coming along so nicely.

 

[Hogie]

Ive got an algae growth that I dont know where it came from...

Is this hair algae? Should I pull it off (if I can)? It might have popped up from the higher nitrates, but I believe I have that under control now. Should I just go lights off over the weekend to try to kill it off?

It is the green, carpet looking algae.