125 build thread after almost 2 years

[inktomi]

Looking good! I like the big colonies you've got growing.

One of the best gifts I ever got was a little 3 foot folding stepladder - I use it all the time to get into the tank!

 

[Auquanut]

If your ever this way again, your more than welcome to have some corals from my tank. Torch, candy canes, montipora cap (red, green), birds nest, blue digitata. Free.

Just pm me when and I'm sure we can set a date and time.

You're on! If I ever figure out how to pm, I'll do it. I try to make it up that way every month or two. It would be nice to put a face to all of the posts I've read.

 

[Auquanut]

Looking good! I like the big colonies you've got growing.

One of the best gifts I ever got was a little 3 foot folding stepladder - I use it all the time to get into the tank!

Thanks. I've got to start fragging soon. Haven't done that yet, but I've got a couple of colonies that are starting to irritate their neighbors.

 

[Flippers4pups]

You're on! If I ever figure out how to pm, I'll do it. I try to make it up that way every month or two. It would be nice to put a face to all of the posts I've read.

Click on the person's icon

Then the "start conversation" and Bam! Your PM'ing! Lol

 

[Auquanut]

Okay. Livestock. I'll try to be brief and dates are approximate.

Fish
2 engineer gobies August 17
melanaurus wrasse August 17
ocellaris clown August 17. died Mayish 18
bi color blenny August 17. died December 17
yellow tang August 17
one spot foxface September 17
flame hawkfish September 17
yellow eyed kole tang November 17
hippo tang November 17
platinum percula clown March 18. died June 18
yellow maroon clown July 18. died October 18
2 banggai cardinals October 18 (mated pair)

Inverts
2 skunk cleaner shrimp August 17. died ?
assorted snails August 17
assorted hermit crabs August 17
red tile starfish September 17. died December 17
pink rose urchin November 17
large arrow crab November 17. died January 18
another red tile starfish January 18. died May 18
maxima clam January 18
sea apple May 18
derasa clam May 18
5 peppermint shrimp Juneish 18. I know there's at least 1 left
harlequin shrimp January 19

Lessons learned:
1. Clowns scare me! The ocellaris and platinum clowns each found their way into separate overflows and perished before I could get them out. The maroon clown was a rescue from a local store where he was getting beaten up badly. He made a full recovery and his fins had completely healed before he just died. Fine one night, dead the next day. Gonna stay away from clowns for awhile.

2. Engineer gobies are awesome but move more sand than you would believe. Anything in the sand near the rocks will get covered. And they get huge. Here is a pic of Gregg doing the sexy dance for Mazey in April 18. They've gotten much bigger since then.

3. Starfish are not for beginners. I had read that they were hard to keep and that mortality rates are extremely high. But I know better than the rest of you, right? WRONG! It took me 2 tries to learn my lesson.

4. Okay, sea apple. I actually researched this before I got it. If it were just me, I would have stayed away, but my wife (who doesn't ask for much) was captivated by it. It gets target fed Brightwell Phytochrome daily and seems to be doing well. I've had him for just over a year. He is the only one in a large tank and I run GAC in the reactor 24/7 just because of him. Even still he makes me nervous and probably won't get another. Having said that, it's the first thing people notice and comment on when they come over.

5. Harlequin shrimp are awesome if you have a large tank with an asterina star problem. This little guy keeps them in check like you would not believe. I'd love to have another, but I'm afraid there wouldn't be enough for 2 to eat. I was a little worried initially about the melenaurus wrasse, but they completely ignore each other.

6. The urchin does a great job keeping the tank clean. He cleans the coraline algae from the rock work and back of the tank, allowing for new growth which I think is important. But anything that's not glued down really really well becomes a hat.

Well, that's enough for now. It occurs to me that this is not coming together much like a build thread, but it's the only way I can think of to get caught up.

 

[Jon Fishman]

Are those the shorter black-box lights? They must be. I am going to run 3x 32” Black boxes over my tank (build underway)

 

[Auquanut]

Are those the shorter black-box lights? They must be. I am going to run 3x 32” Black boxes over my tank (build underway)

Yeah. Very old, plain Jane, but seem to promote good growth even deeper in the tank and the acros are growing well.

 

[67chevellemalibu2]

I'm a little apprehensive about starting a build thread after so long, and especially after viewing the incredible builds our members have achieved. But my system has evolved so much in the past two years and I have no documentation. Hopefully I can give an accurate account of the tanks progression so far. Be warned. It's pretty low budget.
Here we go.

May 2017:
Purchased a used 125 gallon 72" tank on craigslist.

It came with:
the stand
aquaticlife MH/T5 lighting fixture
Iwaki 1300 GPH external return pump
30 gallon wet/dry filter
mixing tub and mixing pump
misc plumbing
about 60 lbs of live rock

Purchased:
BRS 4 stage 75 GPD RO/DI unit
Simplicity protein skimmer
50 pounds of BRS dry rock
Caribsea argonite substrate. (way too much!)
a couple of cheap power heads
Heaters that had to go into the overflows, because there was no room in the filter.
probably more, but I can't remember.

I put the live rock in a brute trash can with a power head and an old T8 light fixture on a timer to keep it alive. Painted the back of the tank black. Lined the bottom of the tank with egg crate. I knew I wanted engineer gobies, so the rock work had to be solid. I used flexible hose to plumb the system because the lid on the wet/dry filter had to be removed for maintenance.

On July 4th 2017 I turned it on for the 1st time. No leaks!

First lesson learned: I shouldn't have put it so close to the wall. It's really hard to get back there. One good point is that the back of the stand is open, allowing for decent air exchange under the tank and what I can't reach from the top and sides, I can generally reach from the bottom.

I used shrimp in stockings to cycle the tank. Didn't use any bacteria in a bottle. The system cycled surprisingly fast. I was growing a nice crop of diatoms, hair algae and coraline algae in less than a month.

Well, that is enough for now. Not trying to write a novel. Keep in mind that my system today hardly resembles what I started out with. Will continue the journey soon. My wife says I've been a good boy and we're going to the LFS today.

How much was the tank and stand?

 

[Auquanut]

How much was the tank and stand?

Got the whole bundle for $650. Thought it was a much better deal when I thought I would be able to keep the wet/dry filter and MH/T5 fixture, but still think I didn't do too bad. Still have the lights and filter if anyone is interested.

 

[Auquanut]

Okay. I'm going to wrap up the history of this build this morning, so I can get on with current and future plans/dreams.

Looking back, I may have started adding corals a little early.
In August,17 I started with a rasta zoa frag, a fox coral, 2 toadstools, a ricordia mushroom, some GSP that I harvested from the biocube, and a couple of acans.
By March,18 I had started adding some simple SPS: Encrusting montipora, stylophora, posilopora.

Until I changed out the wet/dry filter for the sump/fuge, I really didn't see much growth. I lost one of the toadstools, an acan and the mushroom. That was about the time I quit lurking and joined R2R. Should have done it much earlier.
Up to this point I had been manually topping off my RO (about a gallon a day). I was also manually dosing BRS two part daily. When the corals started to really grow, and the consumption of alk and calc started rising, I decided that I needed an ATO and an auto doser.
In July,18 I purchased a Bubble Magus BM-T01 doser and a Tunze Osmolator 3155 ATO. Best investments I ever made!
Since then I've added way too many corals to list.
At some point, maybe September or October 18, something clicked and the growth of all of my corals exploded. I think the tank finally found it's happy place. I think that was about the time I took the dive and added my first acro. A green slimer. Since then I've added several more, and all seem to be doing well. Good color and growth. Especially the red planet (it's almost scary how fast it's growing).

One more thing I've got to add, and I'll rap this up. Maybe someone will comment on this. My nitrates have always been high, but not dangerously so. 20 to 25. I had been doing about 30 gallon water changes weekly, and decided to go to every 2 weeks in January ish. After making the change, my parameters didn't change dramatically, but I noticed an immediate and dramatic decline in a few of my corals. The slimer, monti cap, hollywood stunner chalice, birds nest and rastas started failing. Everything else was fine, including my other acros. I know it's widely accepted that water changes will replenish trace elements, but I started dosing Red Sea Trace A,B,C,D anyway at about 2/3 the BRS recommendation. The change was amazing! Not only did my corals instantly start to recover, but the growth and coloration of everything is awesome. Maybe if my nitrates were lower I wouldn't need to dose? That's something I'll be working on, but that's for another post.

 

[dantimdad]

I really like your setup. Looks great!

I would try to get your nitrates down. I think people worry too much about that.

You coral colors look good.

 

[Auquanut]

I really like your setup. Looks great!

I would try to get your nitrates down. I think people worry too much about that.

You coral colors look good.

Thanks. Been battling nitrates since day 1. I love my tangs, but they poop a LOT!

 

[dantimdad]

It's just fertilizer.

 

[Auquanut]

It's just fertilizer.

Everyone tells me that I'll get better coloration if my nitrates are lower. That would be great, but I can't imagine them being too much better. My biggest concern is that if something happens, and my nitrates rise, I cold be looking at disaster. I don't have much wiggle room. If that makes any sense.

 

[dantimdad]

It makes perfect sense and I whole heartedly disagree about color. I like my nitrates around 20 for best coloration.

 

[Flippers4pups]

40-50 N03 here. Mine will pale a little when my P04 drops to .00.

Old photo.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Untouched photo.

 

[Auquanut]

40-50 N03 here. Mine will pale a little when my P04 drops to .00.

Wow! Okay. I'm going to stop stressing nitrates right now. Or try to anyway.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Wow! Okay. I'm going to stop stressing nitrates right now. Or try to anyway.

Here's a couple great reads on "parameters" on some of the most well respected reefers in the hobby.

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/tank-parameters-of-some-masters.263/

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/following-the-masters-part-two.301/

It's a eye opener!

 

[Auquanut]

Here's a couple great reads on "parameters" on some of the most well respected reefers in the hobby.

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/tank-parameters-of-some-masters.263/

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/following-the-masters-part-two.301/

It's a eye opener!

Awesome articles. Definitely an eye opener. Makes me feel better about the health of my tank. Thanks.