fort's 57 gallon Rimless Reef Build

[cmor1701d]

Fun isn't it. The first year is probably the most exciting with all the new growth that seems to come from nowhere.

[fort384]

Ok, got my SW mixed and heated. Now just waiting on nitrites...

Anyone think I need to throw another shrimp in there to keep the magic going, or will the nitrites drop soon enough in the next few days to where I can just do a water change a few days after that and call it good?

[cmor1701d]

If there's anything left no need to add more. I would not add another shrimp at this point. A pinch of flake food, maybe, though I don't normally keep flake food on hand (phosphates).

[Ibrahim]

I think you need another shrimp because you need ammonia and nitrite to drop to 0 in 24hrs

[fort384]

Well, nitrites are still holding steady at around 1ppm. Diatoms are receding already which is good I guess.

I hope this thing turns around in the next day or two. Was really hoping to get some life in this tank this coming weekend...

[fort384]

As of early this morning, nitrites are 0!! Did a large water change this afternoon...

Nitrates are fairly high as of now, somewhere around 30-40ppm I would say. Should I do another large water change to get that down, or will it start to come down on its own as anaerobic bacteria continue to grow?

Now to head to the fish store and buy 12-14 fish and a dozen corals...

[TLTGF]

NICE! Glad to hear your cycle is coming along nicely. I've heard it both ways, that some people actually dose up ammonia again and make sure it drops to 0ppm in 24 hours, and I've heard some just do the big PWC's until the trates drop and off they go.

Make sure you take lots of pictures of your completely overstocked, tang-filled, SPS dominate tank!

[Sniperhank]

+1 a large pwc will drop those nitrates. You could dose ammonia again to see how long things take to hit 0. Sounds to me like you are done or very close to being done. I know you were hoping tor livestock, but I'd wait til next weekend to be safe.

[fort384]

There is a constant supply of ammonia in the tank in the form of a rotting shrimp. All will go into quarantine for a week anyway with some media I have in the sump, so nothing added to the DT till next weekend.

[Ibrahim]

Originally Posted by fort384

There is a constant supply of ammonia in the tank in the form of a rotting shrimp. All will go into quarantine for a week anyway with some media I have in the sump, so nothing added to the DT till next weekend.

Well drop in some shrimp if you don't have any now so your BB doesn't starve.

[fort384]

There are still pieces left in there.

[fort384]

Well, everything has remained stable. Ammonia and nitrites are 0, and I got the nitrate down to less than 10ppm after a water change yesterday.

I went back to my gem of a local reef supply store, and found some great additions. All 5 additions were quarantined in his store for 3 weeks, and all of his DT and stock tanks look beautiful. He quarantines everything that comes in before offering it for sale. He also dates everything in his tanks so you know how long he has had it. Might be playing roulette, but I tend to trust him. He hasn't steered me wrong yet, and seems to take a very conservative approach to running his store.

I picked up a pair of P. Clowns, 2 colonies of zoas, and a small frogspawn.

The clowns have already started hosting the frogspawn. I have read mixed reviews about whether they will tear it up or not, but it looks like I might be ok. They are small clowns right now anyway, so I don't think they will do much damage (hopefully).

I drip ac'd all of them for an hour. The store's specific gravity was the same as mine (1.025) so hopefully all goes well. Clowns already have eaten in the tank. Just to be safe, I also did a lugols dip on the zoas. Most of the zoas are already open, and the frogspawn has gotten huge.

Will give all of this a go for a few weeks before adding anything else (except maybe a few snails/hermits in a week or so).

Will post some pics in a few minutes...

[fort384]

[fishfanatic]

Beautiful fish! I will be honest I am very jealous! Maybe I need to try salt water... after all the master of planted tanks is trying salt water (I never thought I would see the day)

[mfdrookie516]

Wow, you weren't lying when you said colonies. The small colony has more polyps on it than I have in my tank haha. Looking good man. Now you get to enjoy the tank.

[fort384]

thanks fish, I didn't think I would ever try it either, but after Jonathan made the plunge, he got me interested, and it has been a great journey to get to this point.

Yeah, it was a nice colony. He only charged me $25 for the larger colony, which I felt was a pretty great price for that many polyps. He gave me a deal since I have bought so much stuff from him on this build. I will be back to his shop. I have my eye on a torch coral as the next addition in a few weeks.

I should add that I am using an iPhone 4S for a camera, and it doesn't do any of it justice, as I am sure you all are aware. The coral and fish are stunning in person, especially under these shimmering AIs.

[redsea]

Congrats on your purchases! I Love the Clowns, must be fun to watch them host the Frogspawn!

[redsea]

Originally Posted by fort384

thanks fish, I didn't think I would ever try it either, but after Jonathan made the plunge, he got me interested, and it has been a great journey to get to this point.

Yeah, it was a nice colony. He only charged me $25 for the larger colony, which I felt was a pretty great price for that many polyps. He gave me a deal since I have bought so much stuff from him on this build. I will be back to his shop. I have my on a torch coral as the next addition in a few weeks.

Torch Corals are a great choice! they don't move like anemones so you don't have to worry about them parking on top of your other corals, lol.

[fort384]

So now that I have some fish in the tank should I employee the night mode on my mp10's?

More polyps opening. Frogspawn getting larger still...

And another question:

What do you all think I should max my lights out at to start? I have the photoperiod set up right now for a 3 hour ramp up to 50% white 65% blue, they stay at that for 3 hours, and then 3 hour ramp down to 0% white 4% blue (for moonlights). I don't want to bleach my new friends...

[Ibrahim]

I think that's a good light period right now. Give them sometime before you increase lighting and when you do only do 5-15% at a time