Fantasyreef Forum - Tank logs

Fantasyreef Forum - Tank logs http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php Forums for saltwater and planted aquaria en Fri, 30 Jul 2010 08:28:32 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.fantasyreef.com/designs/myg/misc/rss.jpg Fantasyreef Forum - Tank logs http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php First tank log http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php?b=274 Mon, 12 Jul 2010 00:39:30 GMT Hey everyone, I am a college student in florida. I got my first fish tank on my 5th birthday, and have kept fish tanks for most of my life. I have... Hey everyone,
I am a college student in florida. I got my first fish tank on my 5th birthday, and have kept fish tanks for most of my life. I have had the same tank the whole time. I have had only freshwater fish, from angels, plecos, danios, cichlids, and gourami. My current set up is a 13 hex tank with an albino bristlenose pleco (named Steve after Steve Tyler), and a gourami. Medium size black and green gravel, and artificial and real plants (Hornwort).
I plan on adding a 30 gallon to my house soon.
I want to stay with the freshwater, but I want to do something cool that is different.
Some of my thoughts were a freshwater angel tank with a bunch of thin bamboo pieces in it. A brackish shore set up with mudskippers and crabs. I would welcome more ideas!

Attached Images

]]> akotom http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php?b=274 my 125 ltr tank http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php?b=273 Mon, 03 May 2010 19:48:30 GMT hey this is my second tank. i got the tank second hand off ebay was a bargins really. will try a remember everything. i picked it up on a monday... hey this is my second tank. i got the tank second hand off ebay was a bargins really. will try a remember everything. i picked it up on a monday nite and after 2-3 hours of cleaning the tank and getting all the trop stuff out it looked like this

i added the water and sand bed the next next day then waited a few days for everything to settle and to get upto temp. i then added my stock from my old tank and all the water luckly i didn't have any problems or spikes.

then i found a very nice fish it was a blue tang and was going to be my last fish into the tank.

. bout 2 weeks after having him i got white spot which most of my fish got.i lost the blue tang a yellow clown goby and a sharknose goby. after i had got the spot under control and got rid of it. i started having problems with my nirates. nirates were reading bout 20ppm so was doing bout 2 10% water change a week.finally got them to zero and they r still there now thankfully.
i change the lighting from t8s to 2 aqua rays reef white and 1 marine white

i think that being us to present day. i have in the tank at the mom different coral bout 10 feather dusters 2 coco worms one white and red and the other red and orange. 2 cleaner shrimp a peppermint shrimp (somewhere) bout 10 hermits and 16 snails. fishes r 2 clowns 2 peacock wrasse 1 royal gramma 1 tiger watchmen goby 1 yellow headed jawfish 1 sailfin tang 1 firefish and 1 flasher wrasse 1green banded goby. i know that my sailfin tang is going to need rehoming at some point.
some pics of the tank now.

this is how the tank looks now has i have taken my pink pussey coral to my lfs

thats me hope i didn't bore u to much.
let me know what u think good or bad all comments welcome
thanks phil ]]> philo25uk http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php?b=273 Lobo http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php?b=272 Fri, 16 Apr 2010 23:14:52 GMT Picked up new Green Lobo Picked up new Green Lobo ]]> deuce2004 http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php?b=272 Progress Report http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php?b=270 Sat, 03 Apr 2010 13:08:33 GMT Image: http://dskidmore.com/~denise/aquarium/photos/10Gal201000403.jpg

]]> dskidmore http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php?b=270 In need of a trim http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php?b=269 Mon, 29 Mar 2010 17:26:31 GMT Image: http://dskidmore.com/~denise/aquarium/photos/Desktop20100329.jpg You may note new addition of shrimp. My ancient ammano has been living in...

You may note new addition of shrimp. My ancient ammano has been living in an unheated aquarium, so I'll give this a shot. ]]> dskidmore http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php?b=269 Downgraded Shrimp Tank http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php?b=268 Mon, 29 Mar 2010 17:20:24 GMT Still in progress, but there's actually shrimp in there now, and about 90% of the plants that will be going in. I have a supply of moss, round rocks, & driftwood. Aquascaping suggestions welcome.

]]> dskidmore http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php?b=268 Downgrading http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php?b=267 Sun, 28 Mar 2010 14:13:08 GMT I'm currently downgrading my 75 gallon to a 10 gallon. Pictures of new tank to come. ]]> dskidmore http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php?b=267 Fish http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php?b=266 Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:18:52 GMT The fish are, 10 Blood fin tetras,8 Gold Pristella tetras,6 corys 4 Green,2 Peppered, 2 Gold Dojo loaches,2 Bumble cats 2 Rainbow sharks 1 Reg,1... The fish are, 10 Blood fin tetras,8 Gold Pristella tetras,6 corys 4 Green,2 Peppered, 2 Gold Dojo loaches,2 Bumble cats 2 Rainbow sharks 1 Reg,1 albino and 1 Betta ]]> SuperMoto http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php?b=266 My Little Piece of the Ocean http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php?b=265 Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:27:42 GMT Saltwater reef enthusiast for the last three years. Upgraded from a 55 gallon reef to a 125 gallon saltwater mixed reef. This tank has been set up... Saltwater reef enthusiast for the last three years. Upgraded from a 55 gallon reef to a 125 gallon saltwater mixed reef. This tank has been set up now for 11 months. At the moment my saltwater reef does not have a sump/refugium tank set up. I have roughly about 140lbs of figi live rock in the tank w/about 50lbs of aragonite fine and medium sand. The sand bed 3"-4" inches deep. For filtration I have (2) Hydro Koralia #4, and (1) Hydro Koralia #3 circulation pumps. Total circulation is 3,250 gph throughout tank. The protein skimmer I use for this tank is a Red Sea Prizm Pro Deluxe Hang-on Protein Skimmer. For lighting I am using Coralife 72 Inch Aqua light w/4-96 W. Sq. Pin Base and 5-3/4W Lunar Blue-Moon-Glow LED Lamps Compact Lighting.

Fish in Tank:

Purple Tang (Zebrasoma Xanthurum), Blue Hippo Tang (Paracanthurus hepatus), Sleeper Gold Head Goby (Valenciennea strigata), Six Line Wrasse (Pseudocheilinus hexataenia), South Sea Demoiselle Figi Blue Devil Damselfish, Golden Spotted Foxface Rabbitfish (Siganus chrysospilos) & Tomato Clownfish (Amphiprion frenatus)

Invertebrates in Tank:

Caribbean Black Brittlestar Fish, Tuxedo Urchin, Nassarious Snails (3), Mexican Turbo Snail,
Margarita Snails, Sandsifting Starfish (hitched on Sand), Coral Banded Shrimp aka Boxing Shrimp,
Coco Worm, Green Bubbletip Anemones (4) & Rock Flower Anemone (White w/purple dots)

Corals in Tank:

Evergreen Starburst Polyp (Briareum sp.), Pink Birdnest Coral (Seriatopora hystrix), Fluorescent Green Birdnest Coral (Seriatopora hystrix), Branched Frogpawn Coral (Euphyllia paradivisa), Green Cup Coral (Tubinara peltata), Toadstool Mushroom Leather Coral (Sarcophyton sp.),
Green Striped Mushroom (Actinodiscus sp.),
Rhodactis Mushrooms, Button Polyp (Protopalythoa sp.), Glove Polyp (Clavularia sp.), Blue Zoanthids,
Green Bay Pakers Zoanthids, Orange Zoanthids & Pulsating Xenias ]]> Wordflo http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php?b=265 125g Mixed Reef Tank http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php?b=264 Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:16:48 GMT October 11,2009: Tank is a mixed reef with the following fish .... Scopas Tang, Coral Beauty, Sailfin Tang, Powder Brown Tang, Bi-color... October 11,2009:
Tank is a mixed reef with the following fish ....

Scopas Tang, Coral Beauty, Sailfin Tang, Powder Brown Tang, Bi-color Psuedochromis, 2 blue Damsels, Mimic Lemon Peel Tang, Tomato clown, and a True Percula clown

Also housed in this tank are:

Couple of peppermint shrimp, 2 Cleaner shrimp, 2 Sally lightfoot crabs, one Pom-Pom crab, one Cuc, bunch of Cerith snails, bunch of Zebra hermit crabs, and some Sand Dollars.

Fish are fed Spuralina flakes most times, sometimes I give them garlic soaked brine shrimp. Never issues with Ich using that. I sometimes chop up krill and throw it in the tank for all the shelled critters. I hardly EVER feed the corals. Dont need to, the bratty clownfish keeps the sandbed stirred up, so by the time I would feed the tank for the corals, he has already done that for me

I have found that every time he does this, the corals open up BIG and send out their feeders. They get plump and full of water, the gorgs get all hairy lookin and everything just seems to start doing a water ballet. I have a Lamnelia that is supposed to be target fed, but I havent fed that thing since I got it, which was three months ago. So I know the sand has things in it that the corals use.

I run a Coralife 64 SS in a 30g sump. I have three powerheads totaling about 1600gph for movement.

SUMP:
Sump houses Chaet with some Halimeda plant, liverock, zebra Hermit crabs, and sand in the refugium section.

I am currently using a 200 micron sock on the inlet part of the sump. On the top of this sock, I have laid a piece of fine filter material (white) on the top of the sock, then tucked the ends down into the rings on the mouth of the sock, then pushed the center down just enough so that the water wont overflow the top...this allows the fall of the water to be more quiet, but also lets the water fall into the sock too. This material is also an added way to filter more of the fine particles coming from the main tank. In the bottom of the sock I have a bag full of chemipure. This gets washed out with every sock change.

I change out the socks about every three or four days, depending on how heavy I feed or how fast they get dirty. It also depends on how bratty my clownfish are at stirring up the sandbed. My Percula clown digs holes in one particular spot, dont know why, but he is testing my patience doing this. :grrr:

When I clean the socks, I just throw them into the washer on the delicate cycle, dump some bleach in, and let her rip. I have three tanks with socks on them, so when I change out socks, I let them soak in a bucket until I get enough for a load. The white filter material I use on top of the socks are reusable as well, so they get thrown in the bleach wash too.

OVERFLOW:
My tank isnt drilled. I have an ESHOPPS dual overflow . I had a 120 one time that was drilled. I sold it to a nice Gentleman for 350.00 just to get it off my front porch. It had a skimmer and sump with it, so that price was giving it away, I suppose, to some. I was just too intimidated by those type tanks then, and I was wanting it off my porch.....my loss, his gain. :grin:

I used to run three 227 Eheim filters on this tank. They did a pretty good job at keep things clean and the water was clear all the time. Since I put a sump in, though, water clarity has become a problem for me. But I think that has to do with that brat Clownfish spoken about earlier. I didnt have him when I had the Eheims running.

SKIMMER:
Now, to explain why I have a Coralife 64 on a 125g tank.

I have been in this hobby since 2004. I have learned a lot of things over the years, and I have found that what I do with my tanks is unheard of by the majority of reefers out there.

How many of you have ever heard of someone using an under rated skimmer on a tank? Here is my line of reasoning.

I run the skimmer 24/7 along with the sump light. I have SPS, LPS, and Softies in my tank, and I know that zoas like a little bit of dirty water but SPS like cleaner than clean water.

When I put the 65 skimmer on this tank, I did so with the thoughts of bringing a happy medium to those corals likeing a little dirty water, and ones likeing clean water. The skimmer puts out very dark stuff, so I know it is getting plenty out, but it isnt stripping the water of things other corals need. Ive not lost one single coral due to water quality. If I lost a coral, it was due to me being clumsy and dropping something on it or having it too close to the lights when it should have been lower, or vice versa.

I figure that if I use the recommended skimmer for this tank, I would have to dose the non-photo croals or the tank period. I think running on under, then the water column has what the corals need, but also keeps the DOC in check to keep things from harm.

I dont test anything but Salinity, PH, calcium, Alk, and Magnesium. I only do this when I see something amiss, which is rare. I dont do water changes unless the calcium is low, then I dont first do a water change, I dose Turbo calcium. This may occur about every 6 months. My salinity is kept at 1.024 to .026

I have every kind of natural sponge growing in my tank you could imagine. I have learned that if you have these sponge just pop up, that your tank has reached a balance and dont need all the fuss of testing this and that, changing water weekly and so on.I dont test for Phos or nitrates or amonia. If I dont see anything acting strangely, I dont bother with it. Dont fix what isnt broken.

Apparently the Chaeto is keeping the trates down enough that no harm is done to the main tank, and I do have corals that need the trates as well. So there is a balance there. I have LOTS in my tank that uses calcium, and these things are growing like crazy, but yet I hardly ever have a problem keeping calcium at 450 to 500.....500 most times.

MAINTANANCE:
I hate to have dirty, salty anything. So I bought me a 6" squeegy that I use to get the salt off the sides of the sump. I dip it in freshwater after every pass of the sump sides. I hardly have anything to scrape off the sides below waterline, but if I do, I take one of those scraper refills (the red ones) and use that to scrape the sides of my acrylic sump. I dont use it in the scraper holder because it is just too bulky and the refill is like holding a razor. LEss to get in your way when scraper and can reach more places.

I wipe my light down with a freshwater dipped rag when I start seeing salt splash from the inlet hose. Dont get much because of that white filter material being on top of the filter sock, so I dont have to wipe the light down but every other week.

When Im done squeeging the sides of the sump off, I take a turkey baster and load it with freshwater and squirt it on the sides to remove saltwater droplets that may have gotten on the fresh cleaned sides when I put my hands in to do other things.

I do all of this daily.

I also use a freshwater rag to wipe down my MH reflectors, canopy, and any cords that may have gotten wet and dried with salt left behind. One thing I cant stand is to see peoples equipment all salty and yucky when all it takes to keep it clean is a little time and commitment.

Any time I ffol in my tanks, I know there will be water dropped on something, and I also know that when this water dries, it leaves salt behind. So I am always keeping my eyes out for dried salt on anything and I remove it. This is why so many people have cords go bad on them on their equipment because the salt eats through the cords after so long of it being on them.

When people see my sumps, they think I have just put them in because they are so clean. Having a sump for a long time doesnt mean it has to look lik eit. Pride people PRIDE! :wink:

So anyway......I havent talked about the lighting on this tank.

LIGHTING:
I run two 400w metal halide lights, 14k ReefOptic bulbs....these are some awesome bulbs....

When I first set the tank up, I was using PC on this tank. I wanted my corals to grow, so I took off the PC and had the LFS install the MH. They sold me 10k bulbs with the setup, and although the light was different from the PC and brighter, I didnt like the yellow look of them.

So off to Ebay I went to find 14k bulbs....Im an Ebay fanatic and buy most anything I use in life on there...thats where I go first before any other place.

I found a Canadian seller selling 400w bulbs for $20....9.99 for the bulb and 9.99 to ship. Ok, I bought two. They arrive and I put them in, and boom! I have color after all on those corals....The bulbs are pretty good for that price. Never had a problem with them.

So, I wanted to see what 20k would do, so I went back to Ebay and looked the same seller up that I bought the 14k's from and bought 2 20k's.Too blue for me.....
So I put the 14k's back in and left it at that.

Then as I was reading up on PAR readings and such on Reef Central, I ran across someone talking about Reefoptic bulbs and how they bought some of them for their MH setup and liked them.

When I got the MH setup in, I wanted more actinics so that my corals colors would stand out more without the lights being totally blue. I dont have room under my canopy for any additional lighting equipment, so I had a delima.......how do I implement more of the actinic look without the light being totally blue?

The Reef Optic bulbs makes coral colors pop but without washing everything out blue.Now that I have the color like I want, I now need some night light for my fish.
You guessed it, trip to Ebay is in order

I bought a set of moon lights last night, Monday is a holiday, so they wont be here until Thurs or Friday of next week. Cant wait to see what they will do ]]> LadyofTheReef http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php?b=264 September 12, 2009 http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php?b=262 Sat, 12 Sep 2009 18:07:21 GMT I started my tank in the beginning of March, and I've made a few mistakes since then, like all good beginners :P

I am actually looking after two tanks at work, one 8 gallon and one 14 gallon, both Biocubes.

I do a weekly water change of about roughly 20%, plus keeping the glass clean, etc. So far so good!

Anyway, what I've ended up with is the following:

8 gallon - Boss' Tank
1 clownfish
1 sixline wrasse
1 blue tang
a couple of tiny fragments of zoo's, orange and green
1 frogspawn (or euphylia)
1 turbo snail
1 feather duster
1 gonipora
1 emerald crab

The gonipora is currently failing, but trying to nurse it back to health with more consistent lighting. There is also a slight red algae problem, but I'm going to cut back feeding and see if that helps.

I understand (now) that the blue tang is probably way to cramped in the 8 gallon, but it's got a spot that it likes to hide in right inside a rock, so I'm not sure I can get it out to bring it back to the fish store. The LPS seem to think I should leave it alone, since everyone seems to be happy.

14 gallon - My Tank!
1 royal gramma (named Pandora)
1 black and white clownfish (named Wiggles)
2 sexy shrimp
1 star polyp
1 glove polyp
1 drendrophyte
1 sun polyp
1 anemone (new)
1 trochus (sp?) snail
1 emerald crab (Emeril)

The sun polyp is currently in decline - I had been trying to target feed and up to a few days ago, it seemed to be doing well. I have it set up in it's own little "cave", not exposed to too much light, but I think I will just take it out from the tank for feedings from now on. Currently it's sitting in a glass surrounded by brine shrimp. I will be going to the LFS this week to pick up mysis shrimp instead and feed at roughly the same time every day (except for weekends when I'm not there). Right it's sloooooooowly opening up to eat the brine, so since I'm at work doing some work anyway, I'll keep checking on it and using the turkey baster to keep the brine moving around. Also decided to give the sun polyp a base so it's not sinking into the sand, and hopefully that will help.

The anemone has been erratic. It seemed to be doing well at first, but now it's totally closed up on itself. I don't know if it will make it, but as of last week I've set timers on both tanks for the lights to be on for about 8 hours a day. I assume it'll keep moving itself around until it finds a spot that it likes.

On the plus side, my glove polyp is doing really well, as are my other corals. The glove is having babies, so I've placed a small piece of live rock near it. Hopefully it will propagate and my boss' tank will have a nice new addition. :)

I will try that this week and see how that goes.

Wish me luck! ]]> Wynky http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php?b=262 Fresh Setup http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php?b=261 Tue, 21 Jul 2009 03:28:17 GMT Image: http://dskidmore.com/~denise/aquarium/photos/Desktop20090720.jpg

]]> dskidmore http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php?b=261 Going Back to Work!!! http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php?b=260 Sat, 18 Jul 2009 06:42:32 GMT I got the go-ahead from somebody on the management staff on my team. The aquarium is going in to work!!! I've started packing up. The tank has been rather neglected at home, so I decided to start from scratch, cleaned off the old moss wall mesh, rinsed the sand, packaged up all the plants I'll want to take into paper towels and baggies. ]]> dskidmore http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php?b=260 More additons http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php?b=259 Sun, 12 Jul 2009 03:23:19 GMT Today I added another fire shrimp and another cleaner shrimp, flasher wrasse, yellow head goby, diamond goby, star polyps, more zoe's, and candy coral.

There was an incident with the flasher wrasse so I am worried it may not live due to the stress. ]]> R6Chick http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php?b=259 tests http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php?b=258 Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:46:37 GMT Got some updated readings today

SG-1.025
Nitrate-10
Phosphate-0
calcium-540
pH-7.8
kH-7'

The anthias I ordered a while back ended up starving to death. They simply refused to eat any food offered. I ordered some green chromis and blue reef chromis to replace them. ]]> jrp1588 http://www.fantasyreef.com/blog.php?b=258