New 100gal Reef setup

[jackfrost]

I love the documentation of day by day.

Looks great and thanks for sharing !

[Jerm77]

A bunch of new life added today. I'll try to list everything.

6 bristle worms
6 sand bed clams
6 mama mia worms
12 ministars
20(?) amphipods
Anthelia Polyps
lives culture
pink coralline culture
and some large hermits and snails from Ipsf.com

also added 2 tiny ocellaris clowns
2 cleaner (skunk) shrimp

I also did a a few water quality tests:
temp: 77d F (digital)

ph: 8.0 (digital)

Nitrite: 0 (regent)

Nitrate: .5mg/L (regent)

Ammonia: 0 (strip regent)

phosphate: .25mg/L - .5mg/L (regent)

Salinity: 51.3 mS or 1.025 specific gravity (digital)

Alkalinity: 10.4 dKH (-/+ .3) (regent)

Magnesium: 1200 ppm (regent)

Calcium: 140 mg/L (regent) (questionable) maybe bad test or low salinity. will test a fresh batch of new seawater to see if there is a variance.

clowns and the pipe organ


pipe organ


cleaner shrimp


mamamia worm - you can also see some of the small pods on the acrylic


bristle worm



Note: I also uped the flow on the tunzes today. I suspect the algae growth on the sand was due to the mini cycle(from the new rock added a week ago) and low flow in those areas.

I've continued with the 1.8ml of Vodka dosing.

my current light schedule is:

Sump
24hrs

DT
actinic 2:30pm to 11:00pm
Halides 3:30pm to 10:30pm

I may consider cutting back the light on the DT

[BuddhaKiss]

did u buy that aiptasia as well? LOL. Might wanna remove that before it spreads...

[cham]

Great looking tank.

I didn't read it all but I'll assume you are not a reefing newb. Your equipment and set up is far beyond what 99% of all newbies would know to do.

To answer your question reguarding the light fixture level. I have three HQI's over my rimless 120 and I have my lights 4" from the waters surface (not the top of the tank, the acutal waters surface) and I do so without a chiller, just fans.

Tank stays at 79* all day and my SPS love the light.

[Jerm77]

Originally posted by BuddhaKiss
did u buy that aiptasia as well? LOL. Might wanna remove that before it spreads...

i dont believe that is an aiptasia - i assume its the head of the mamamia worm that i placed there. I could be wrong. someone else want to ID that...?


cham ok thanks, I will probably end up placing the lights about where you have yours once I have everything settled in.

[Jerm77]

wrong about the mamamia worm. I believe that is an Aiptasia Anemone. I pulled it. Thanks BuddhaKiss.



also trying to figure out what kind of hermit this guy is.

[buccard]

Looks like things are going well...I too have 2 oc clowns, what are you thinking for the next fish/coral?

[Jerm77]

The original plan was SPS - tons of it. I know I want some ricordia and maybe some other soft corals.

For fish - I'm still trying to decide. My girlfriend is now interested in the fish I put in the tank, and most of the fish she picks are not reef safe.

I will have a few gobys, a dragon goby for sure. I have had one before, he was always in the open and very active.

the GF want me to get a small Boxfish, and I'm still trying to determine if it will work with the amount of flow I have - the understanding is they are weak swimmers.

I will have a few wrasses, not sure which yet.

I will have a Tang, I have had a yellow tang - he was a bully and would nip at my feather dusters - dont think I will go with a yellow again.

and I've been toying with the idea of having a coral beauty, copperbanded butterfly, and mandarin.

I plan to have no more than 7 fish.

as far as invertebrates, maybe a few more cleaner shrimp, 1 anemone, a few feather dusters, a few crocea clams, a maxima clam, and maybe a sea cucumber.

My goal is to stock the tank in a way where the inhabitants are somewhat peaceful to each other. although a coral war might be cool to watch, I think I would prefer to avoid it.

[Jerm77]

Still Dosing Vodka at 1.6ml

Added a few more cleaners today. 5 Fuzzy Chiton 15 Limpets.

Chiton


Limpets



Note: The algae on the sand seems to be spreading. I assume its part of the cycle, lack of flow, and the amount of daylight I give the tank. I have upped the flow on the Tunzes once again. Tomorrow I am going to cut back the light by 1 hour. I am also only running one 250w light out of the 2. Also thinking about adding some type of sand sifting goby or blenny.



here is a turbo grazing the sand. they dont do it often, but I guess everybit helps,



and here is a full shot for everyone to enjoy notice the green coralline taking hold

[buccard]

Looks all to familiar..I was vacuuming out as much as possible and keep up the good husbandry...lasted a month or more but once decline started it went away pretty quick. Almost no sign now...

[Jerm77]

I have incresed my Vodka dose to 2.3ml / day as per the article

Today I got my pinpoint nitrate meter back from American Marine(fixed)

I conditioned the probe per the instructions - soaking it in each calibration solution for 20 minutes. Then I did the calibration. I calibrated both the high and low ranges.

The reading finally settled at 10ppm NO3. the error range is supposed to be +/- 1.
I will test using the salifert test tomorrow.

I still have alot of the brown algae growing on the rocks and sand. my CUC seems to be keeping up with the growth on the rocks, but not on the sand. I prefer not to siphon off anything at this point. I would rather the tank take its course.

Note: on day 39 I added a Bullet goby(dragon goby) in hopes he would help with my sand algae problem. he has remained hidden since introduction. there are alot of hiding places and I dont think he is ready to venture out yet. I'll get a picture as soon as he comes out.

I have cut back my lighting further. Still only running 1 of the 2 halides.

DT
Actinics 2:30pm - 9:30pm
Halides 3:30pm - 8:30pm

Sump
4pm-4am

[Jerm77]

continuing with the vodka dose recommendations @ 2.3ml

took another nitrate reading today with the digital meter.

after calibrating again today the reading seemed more reasonable. I even checked the readings with the calibration solution as 1ppm, 10ppm, and 100ppm.

today's reading was 4ppm. my RO/DI tests at 0, and my freshly mixed artifical saltwater also tests at 4ppm.

Salinity tests at 52.9 mS or ~1.0258

tried to take a top down picture of the pipe organ. I need a macro lens i think.


some more tank progress shots

[budbreak96]

Is pipe organ the same thing as star polyps? Those look like star polyps. Also i may be wrong but that greenish brown on your rocks looks like algea. I have never seen green coraline.

[Jerm77]

been a while since my last update. Merry Xmas, Happy New Year !

My lighting schedule was increased by one hour. I don't think the mechanical timer for my sump light is working - I will soon replace it with a digital timer, so its probably been running 24/7.

DT
Actinics 2:30pm - 10:30pm
Halides 3:30pm - 9:30pm

Sump
4pm-4am

Vodka Dosing was cut back to 1ml from 2.3 due to a zero nitrate reading a week ago.

water changes have been done at 5-10gal a week. I have used the water changes to siphon excess ditritus from the sump. with the lack of a filter sock I have notices a build up on my return pump prefilter. I may go back to a smaller filtersock.

I have added an additional 35lbs of live rock. this brings my estimated total live rock to about 160lbs or more. I expect a mini cycle for the next couple of days / weeks.

Figure I would do another water parameter test today.

Ph: 8.0

Temp: 75

Salinity: 52.3 ~1.025 SG

Alk: 9.0

Cal: 400

Mag: 1350

Phos:

Nitrate: digital read = 0, salifert = 0

Nitrite NO2: 0

Ammonia: 0



here are some pictures:

before new live rock


after live rock and some aquascaping


found a starfish of some type. think it may be one of the bad ones.


pic of the bullet goby and a cleaner shrimp


update on the cup coral attached to the snail. seems to be getting bigger.

[marineaddict]

I just spent the last 30 min reading - great set-up. Can't wait to read as the tank moves forward!

I would put the filter sock back on and clean it every few days. Helps catch a bunch of stuff you want to get rid of... if you are like me you will be moving rock around until it is "just right" That will kick up a bunch or "junk" and you can ctach it in the sock and get rid of it. Just a thought!

Again, I love the tank - can't wait to see what is next.

[Zimster]

sweet cool set-up!!! will be tagging along

[Jerm77]

Thanks for reading! and taking the time to post

I am doing the posting so I can learn from my mistakes and so I can track my progress, also so others can maybe know what to expect from a setup similar to mine.


marineaddict: I think you are right about the filtersock. I've already been told by another member that removing the filtersock would cause somewhat of a ditritus trap. after running without one for about 4 weeks, I would agree with that. I plan to add another sock soon.

what am I planning next?

Well, I think I may wait on adding any more corals until I get my calcium reactor up and running. I'll probably have to deal with a little bit of a cycle after adding the new live rock. although the rock was cycling at the LFS for 3 weeks already, so the cycle may be short or not that noticeable.

So far I haven't been detecting nitrite or ammonia. I'd like to say the vodka dosing has helped the cycle, but without a control test to that theory, I can't say that's the reason for sure. I have had a bioload for about 3 weeks - 3 small fish - and I have a very low or undetectable nitrate levels. I've never been able to achieve that with any of my other tanks in the past. Nonetheless, everything seems to be moving like I had expected if not better.

[LoneRegister]

What thickness is the aquarium.

[Jerm77]

1/2" sides. 3/4" top rim and base.

[Jerm77]

Continuing with the 1.0ml dose of vodka.

I left for 3 days this last weekend and decided to turn the lights out while I was gone. I decided to try this after reading this thread. while I only had minimal nuisance algae problems, I figured trying this wouldn't hurt. I think I will do this once a month.

saturday: no lights
sunday: no lights
monday: no lights
tuesday: actinics only
wednesday: all lights on

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...readid=1078532

what I noticed about doing this was, most(if not all) of the hair algae was gone. my pumps and background acrylic was spotless. there was very few spots on the acrylic in general. My snails shells were almost wiped clean of any algae. I did not notice any recession of the green (coralline?) algae on the live rock. nor did I see any recession of the purple coralline on my pipe organ frag. I did notice one wierd thing. the sand on one area below the top layer turned a dark charcoal color - not sure what it is, but doesn't seem to be spreading.

final thoughts. do I believe this was beneficial to the tank in its current state? in short - yes. we will see how this regiment works out over the next couple of months.

here are some tank shot updates.

[buccard]

I like your rockscape...looks like it has more caves in the latest shots, that tank is going to look good when you start stocking it with coral frags and fish.

I have some green coralline algae but not the amount you do...you are excersising a lot of patience and it looks like it is paying off, your tank is coming along nicely.

I have rockscape envy...

[Jerm77]

I think I am having an Apitasia outbreak. I have been noticing over the last week or so, that they have been popping up at various locations. I've tried to siphon or turkey baster them out. but, they seem to be speading and growing fast.

I think I will head to the LFS to get some peppermint shrimp. think thats a good plan?

[buccard]

Peppermint shrimp worked for me if they were under the size of a dime, larger ones I used aptasia x with great success.

My aptasia were more purple in color...

[Jerm77]

thanks Roger,

I will try that. omw to the LFS now.

[Smitty750]

GOOD JOB BRO! Looks great very inspiring for a person who's been on the fence about starting the Reef Tank again