Kodski's 80gal office lagoon

[Projects with Sam]

wow I'm kind of stumped why I need to dose Mag every other night then... like 20-40ml... brand new Salifert test; confirmed using old test kit...

 

[Kodski]

wow I'm kind of stumped why I need to dose Mag every other night then... like 20-40ml... brand new Salifert test; confirmed using old test kit...

Interesting, every tank is different I suppose. Could be type of corals, number or corals, salt, ect.

 

[Kodski]

Who can guess what I’m making now?

 

[Projects with Sam]

Who can guess what I’m making now?

Giant size Algae scrubber?

 

[Kodski]

Correct!!

my cheato Kees melting away but I have plenty of random algae in it’s place so I decided to try an algae turf scrubber out. Here is the finished project running. So far so good!

The glass I used was 11x14 to give you a rough idea of the overall size of it. I designed it so that it will fit in the frame of my 40 breeder sump, hence the wider base and drain configuration.

 

[Kodski]

In other news, I got my order in from BRS today. Gonna try making my own frozen food blend tomorrow. Currently I’m feeding a mixture of pellets, Reef Frenzy, and spirulina misis shrimp. Almost everyone is fat and happy. But I’m struggling to get my gold rim and Midas blenny to put on any mass. Both you can see their bone outlines despite feeding twice a day and them being with me for a while now. I’m chalking it up to the diet that I feed. I’ve been feeding a lot more nori lately, I shoot for two clips 5 days a week. I also try to soak it in Selcon before putting it in. So my second phase of trying to get my fish healthier, is to make my own food. I’m following BRS’s recipe and adding a few things of my own to it. One thing I’m really excited to try is Brightwell’s Amino Omega.

 

[Projects with Sam]

Correct!!

my cheato Kees melting away but I have plenty of random algae in it’s place so I decided to try an algae turf scrubber out. Here is the finished project running. So far so good!

The glass I used was 11x14 to give you a rough idea of the overall size of it. I designed it so that it will fit in the frame of my 40 breeder sump, hence the wider base and drain configuration.

awesome idea to route channels for the glass in the PVC board. really makes it look good and was probably a whole lot easier then the alternatives. I am definitely going to copy you on that...

I used the whole foods frozen medley after rising in RODI. I added a gelatin packet as a binder. surprisingly got a ton of garlic juice from just squeezing a bunch of crushed garlic cloves in wax paper by hand.

good luck!

 

[Kodski]

awesome idea to route channels for the glass in the PVC board. really makes it look good and was probably a whole lot easier then the alternatives. I am definitely going to copy you on that...

I used the whole foods frozen medley after rising in RODI. I added a gelatin packet as a binder. surprisingly got a ton of garlic juice from just squeezing a bunch of crushed garlic cloves in wax paper by hand.

good luck!

Yeah I just ran the pieces over the table saw to groove out the pvc for the glass to sit in. Quick and easy way to get it done. I was worried about how well it would hold water as the bottom is grooved end to end, but so far so good.

I’ve got a bottle of garlic oil laying around I’ll be adding as well. As far as the protein base this is what I have.

-Yellow fin tuna steaks
-Scallops
-Squid rings (couldn’t find whole squid)
-Small raw shrimp peeled and deveined
-TDO pellets
-freeze dried krill
-freeze dried mysis

For my tangs I want to add some amount of herbivore diet to the mix.

-hikari seaweed extreme pellets
-A whole bag of two little fishes purple seaweed nori chopped

Then for supplements and other smaller foods

-AminOmega
-selcon
-Spirulina powder
-paracoccus powder
-rotifers
-calanus
-garlic oil

 

[Kodski]

Whew, Just finished up making the frozen food. That sure was quite a lot of work. I ended up with 7 quart sized bags about 1/2" thick. Two were thicker so in reality it was probably 8 quart sized bags full of food. So with all that I'm sure I wont need to do that again for a good 6-8 months. I fed a bit to the tank and everyone seemed to like it. It was neat to see each fish hunt for their favorite morsel of food.

 

[Kodski]

Day 2 of feeding the diy food and I can really tell the fish love it.

today I decided to add the first new corals in a long time since I lost all my sps. I decided to try two mushrooms. One ricordia and I think the second is a Yuma. These are my first two mushrooms so I could totally be wrong about that though.

I spent some time rearranging the coral in the tank today. Most corals don’t look great, but my zoa’s continue to thrive and grow.

 

[Kodski]

Did some maintenance tonight along with a water change. Cleaned both the return pump and manifold pump. While I was at it I cleaned out the sump as it had become pretty dirty. While I was down there I remember to snap a picture of the growth on the algae scrubber. I’m pretty happy with the growth so far, it’s a nice deep green algae.

 

[RedoubtReef]

Great thread. Love the way you did the stand with plywood.

 

[Kodski]

Great thread. Love the way you did the stand with plywood.

Thank you very much! I’m very happy with how the stand turned out and would recommend something similar for all but the largest tanks. I’d be willing to park a truck on top of it and the best part is, I can lift it with one arm.

 

[Kodski]

Got a few new pieces of equipment for the tank this week thanks to some fellow reefers.

I’ve been wanting to get a temperature controller for some time now, but have put it off due to the built in alarms on my Sicce return pump. I also have nothing but the highest of faith in my eheim Hager heaters. Over the years I’ve had close to a dozen of them in every size available and not one has ever failed me. I came across a like new Inkbird 306a for a good price and decided it was time to pull the trigger and add another redundancy to the tank. I Finally got around to installing it today.

I also picked up a used GHL 2.1 dosing head from a fellow reefer here on the forums. I have a two headed Jebao one now and it works ok, but that’s ask I have to say about it. Plus I wanted another head for dosing magnesium. I was going to set it up today but I noticed it is missing the dosing tube nozzles so I’ll have to order those. I may just order a maintenance kit right away while I’m at it.

Another update on the ATS. It’s doing very well, growth has doubled in just a couple of days now. I’m starting to see some substantial length to some spots and it’s starting to grow into a nice mass. It’s a little hard to see in the picture though.

 

[Kodski]

Haven’t had a whole lot of time to spend with the tank lately due to the fact my Fiancé and I will finally be tying the knot on the 8th. So the tank has been taking a back seat while we organize and get everything ready for the wedding. I did clean the ATS for the first time since Putting it into operation. I’m very happy with the harvest. Phosphates are still high, sitting around 0.5ppm, but holding steady. I think after this weekend when I have more time to keep an eye on the tank, I’ll run some rowaphos in a reactor to get it down to where I want it. I think it’s just too much for the ATS to lower on its own.

 

[Projects with Sam]

good harvest! congrats on knot tying!

 

[Kodski]

Stopped by my LFS looking for a few supplies and walked out holding this guy. He is HUGE. Around 6” from what I can tell and absolutely beautiful. Perspective from the picture makes him look smaller, but I promise he is every bit of 6 inches

I’ve got him in an acclimation box since I have two other lyre tails, but both appear to be females so at this point it’s just a precaution. This guy is so big, he might just be the largest fish in the tank now. Cuzco the gold line rabbit fish might be the only other fish bigger than him. I’m a little concerned about the three tangs as well but again, his size should help him.

Also my LFS had another male swallowtail angelfish. They had just gotten it today so it wasn’t ready to come home with me yet. So as long as the fish eats over the next few days I plan on giving adding a male another shot. Super excited about that potential addition!

 

[adittam]

Nice looking tank! My tank is the same size, but not set up the same...feel free to take a look at my build thread if you've got time.

I'm curious how all of your tangs are behaving together. I had a two-spot bristletooth and added a baby captive bred yellow. Ended up rehoming the bristletooth because the bristletooth went berserk when the yellow decided he was king of the tank (which happened on about day 3 that I had him) and never got over it. I'd love to try another small tang sometime, but don't want to upset the apple cart, either.

 

[Kodski]

Nice looking tank! My tank is the same size, but not set up the same...feel free to take a look at my build thread if you've got time.

I'm curious how all of your tangs are behaving together. I had a two-spot bristletooth and added a baby captive bred yellow. Ended up rehoming the bristletooth because the bristletooth went berserk when the yellow decided he was king of the tank (which happened on about day 3 that I had him) and never got over it. I'd love to try another small tang sometime, but don't want to upset the apple cart, either.

Thanks!

my tangs do great together. In fact, I hardly see any aggression from them, even between themselves. My gold line rabbit fish is the one who picks on everyone, especially the tangs. I originally had an orange stripe bristletooth tang by himself in the tank. He was a jerk. I moved him to my frag tank. I’ve since come to realize that having a single tang in a tank for an extended period of time is bad.

The owner of my LFS is very knowledgeable and told me that tangs establish their territory in around a 14 day period. Which means all additional tangs you plan on keeping should be added within 14 days of each other. However, it’s always best to add all tangs at once for the best chance of them getting along. I added my current three tangs all at once and have had zero issues ever.

Another thing to consider adding tangs is the genus. You’ll want to stick with a single tang from each genus. The exception is zebrasoma tangs, but only if you can add multiple at the same time. I would also recommend either a single tang, or three tangs. Two tangs and they will pick on each other until one is left. With three, the aggression is spread out. So in your case, I would consider adding two more tangs for the best chance at success. Adding another zebrasoma outside of that 14 day period though would be rough I would think. So maybe something like a bristletooth and an acanthurus tang of some kind.

if the yellow has been in the tank for some time by itself, you will probably have the same issue though, even with two tangs. I’d trade that yellow in for a new yellow and add all three tangs at the same time. This way you could also consider doing two zebrasoma tangs if you wanted.

 

[adittam]

Thanks!

my tangs do great together. In fact, I hardly see any aggression from them, even between themselves. My gold line rabbit fish is the one who picks on everyone, especially the tangs. I originally had an orange stripe bristletooth tang by himself in the tank. He was a jerk. I moved him to my frag tank. I’ve since come to realize that having a single tang in a tank for an extended period of time is bad.

The owner of my LFS is very knowledgeable and told me that tangs establish their territory in around a 14 day period. Which means all additional tangs you plan on keeping should be added within 14 days of each other. However, it’s always best to add all tangs at once for the best chance of them getting along. I added my current three tangs all at once and have had zero issues ever.

Another thing to consider adding tangs is the genus. You’ll want to stick with a single tang from each genus. The exception is zebrasoma tangs, but only if you can add multiple at the same time. I would also recommend either a single tang, or three tangs. Two tangs and they will pick on each other until one is left. With three, the aggression is spread out. So in your case, I would consider adding two more tangs for the best chance at success. Adding another zebrasoma outside of that 14 day period though would be rough I would think. So maybe something like a bristletooth and an acanthurus tang of some kind.

if the yellow has been in the tank for some time by itself, you will probably have the same issue though, even with two tangs. I’d trade that yellow in for a new yellow and add all three tangs at the same time. This way you could also consider doing two zebrasoma tangs if you wanted.

Thank you for the tips! My @Biota_Marine yellow tang isn't going anywhere; Jeff Goldblum is my favorite fish and eats nori out of my hand. I might try putting Jeff in the sump for a week or two while I introduce two other tangs, and then move Jeff back into the display. That's would be some time down the road though, after one or two of my current fish move on to greener pastures, as everyone is very happy right now and I don't want to mess with that.