45 Gallon Shallow Reef Build

[CBonito]

You came at it hard and gave those corals a cozy diverse environment and plenty of light. Looks like it worked!

I'm sure glad it did because I would feel like such a moron if it didnt. hahaha!

Honestly though, I think when you set up a tank, you need to keep your sight on common-sense and build the environment incrementally from the ground up, you need to be patient and you need to have a sense of humor too because not everything goes like clockwork or without bumps. You have to start with the basic stuff and add as much biodiversity as possible and putting corals in a tank not ready for them is reckless in my opinion. I don't worry about pests because pests always manifest themselves anyway over the evolution of any tank. You can't avoid it. But the more diversity in bacteria and microfauna keeps enough competition to keep everything in balance. And that's the key word. My tank isnt perfect, but I'm just incrementally working toward getting as close as possible. And if this freaking algae would go away already it would be perfect to me.... :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

I still have a new tank really. We're coming up on the 5 month mark now I think. So I can't say I'm disappointed at how things are going. I still have not lost one coral. I dont even have one coral that looks bad! The "problems" I have now are minor. And ironically I've seen no pests on anything. I figured the mud would have SOMETHING not good, but so far we're alright and I will recommend their mud and sand to anyone starting a tank. I appreciate the lead on that BTW!

 

[JoJosReef]

I'm sure glad it did because I would feel like such a moron if it didnt. hahaha!

Honestly though, I think when you set up a tank, you need to keep your sight on common-sense and build the environment incrementally from the ground up, you need to be patient and you need to have a sense of humor too because not everything goes like clockwork or without bumps. You have to start with the basic stuff and add as much biodiversity as possible and putting corals in a tank not ready for them is reckless in my opinion. I don't worry about pests because pests always manifest themselves anyway over the evolution of any tank. You can't avoid it. But the more diversity in bacteria and microfauna keeps enough competition to keep everything in balance. And that's the key word. My tank isnt perfect, but I'm just incrementally working toward getting as close as possible. And if this freaking algae would go away already it would be perfect to me.... :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

I still have a new tank really. We're coming up on the 5 month mark now I think. So I can't say I'm disappointed at how things are going. I still have not lost one coral. I dont even have one coral that looks bad! The "problems" I have now are minor. And ironically I've seen no pests on anything. I figured the mud would have SOMETHING not good, but so far we're alright and I will recommend their mud and sand to anyone starting a tank. I appreciate the lead on that BTW!

The mud is full of bristleworm eggs, I'm sure. For my 40, no problem. Got wrasses taking care of things. For the 10, I think they might become a bit more pervasive. Thinking about what kind of predators might work for a 10g. Not many, so I might have to set occasional traps to keep them at manageable levels. Theu don't really bother me if they are small and doing their job.

 

[Mattiejay6]

good tank build thread man, keep up the good work!!

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

Any updates?

 

[CBonito]

Any updates?

I'm Back!

A lot has happened. I had an RTN event in my corals and it wiped them out and honestly, I got so mad I needed to take a break and spend time with my guitar playing and my cars. But honestly, it was probably my fault for pushing things too fast. It's safe to say now that the tank is fully matured. I have a lot of "stuff" living in my sand. Like a lot! Pod Populations are high. I think it might have had something to do with all the florida keys sand and mud I added to my system, but I'm not crying over spilt milk. I know how this hobby works. LOL It could also be that I gave them too much light with my ATI straton...I have cut the power of that down quite a bit and will play with that in the future.

But the tank has been running all this time. I didnt quit. I still have my Melanurus wrasse, my anthias and my chromis. The Diamond goby developed a problem and died. His tongue swelled up and he couldnt eat. Weird. My flame hawk somehow got out of my tank. Not sure about how because I have a lid.

Several of my acropora that were ok were moved to a friend's tank after a dip and they're doing good, so I have acros if I want them. I think I'm going to get a few montipora digis and caps and stay away from acropora. I seem to always get to a point where everything is in its happy place and then one acro starts the BS chain reaction...ugh. hahaha

Anyway, I have a bunch of new fish coming friday.

Diamond Goby
Exquisite Fairy Wrasse
Red Head Solon Fairy Wrasse
A school of 12 green chromis
3 dispar anthias (they're more compatible with my shallow tank)
And 4 peppermint shrimp.

These fish should add a lot of schooling action to the display and since my equipment is all total overkill there is no problem with a higher number of peaceful fish. Should be an interesting introduction. Excited about it.

In the time since my tank crashed, I had a huge algae bloom that died off on its own and a huge aiptasia bloom too.

So what I'm doing over the next couple days is eradicating the aiptasia manually at least where I can spot treat until they're gone and the peppermints should do their diligence too. Freshwater dipping all rocks with peroxide will clean that off the rocks and since they are fake rocks, there really isnt too much on it. The sand is heavily biodiverse now too. Lots of worm track and pods and all kinds of stuff. My refugium is full of life.

I think in the future here foral wise, I'm going to start buying a bunch of zoos and lps type stuff for a while and stay away from the acropora for a while. I still have a few colonies of zoos, but it'll all pick up quick.
If I do get any acropora it will be some kind of large stag as maybe a centerpiece.

I think now that the tank has had the chance to run all this time undisturbed, it will be a lot better this go-around (famous last words)

Anyway, I'm back and It's time to move forward again. In all this time the system has been dead reliable man. Keeping the electronics in a cabinet is where its at. And no leaks or any mishaps from my plumbing. I need a new quartz sleeve for my UV though...that broke a few months ago so I turned it off and let it sit. I just reminded myself about that. ha!

The tank thread continues...

 

[Fish & Coral Store]

following, best of luck in your journey!

 

[CBonito]

following, best of luck in your journey!

It's good to be jumping back in.

 

[CBonito]

The mud is full of bristleworm eggs, I'm sure. For my 40, no problem. Got wrasses taking care of things. For the 10, I think they might become a bit more pervasive. Thinking about what kind of predators might work for a 10g. Not many, so I might have to set occasional traps to keep them at manageable levels. Theu don't really bother me if they are small and doing their job.

Hey Jojo! Yes, you are right. It was full of bristle worm eggs among other things. hahaha

But the massive increase in biodiversity in the tank is amazing. I have massive amounts of pods, tons of worm track, tube worms...all kinds of stuff.
I find all kinds of weird stuff in my refugium where I put the mud.
The biodiversity was what I was after, though you always get stuff you didn't bargain for along with it. It's ok.

Even though my corals went south from either too much light or whatever, the tank has been maturing the entire time, so I look forward to better results. I had a big algae die-off in my display for some off reason too recently. Maybe because the lights are turned down, The water took on a greenish sort of hue. I'm filtering it all out with carbon today and the aiptasia assault has begun. Nice thing about moving all my corals to a friend's tank is that I can pull all my rocks and give them the ro/peroxide dip and kill off the aiptasia. I have some on the back wall too. I am just going to scrape them and carbon out the remnants. I'm just going to wash the carbon and throw it into my filter socks in the sump for a few days and dose peroxide as that has done really well for me in the past.

My Melanurus Wrasse must be a fatty for that reason. he's in peak health.
I don't know if fairies eat them, but I have 2 coming with a bunch of fish on friday. The diamond goby will stir things up too. The melanurus in the past liked to follow my other one around and eat stuff he kicked up.
I want lots of schooling and activity! So I'm rebuilding the crew for starters. They'll be here friday.

In the tank now is my melanurus, 3 blue chromis and 2 bicolor anthias. It's going to be busy in there, but with plenty of food, everyone should be cool all these are peaceful fish for once.
My system is total overkill so my skimmer will easily keep up.

So yeah, one or two fish.
It's better to add them all at once and let everyone get over their doo doo up front.

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

I'm Back!

A lot has happened. I had an RTN event in my corals and it wiped them out and honestly, I got so mad I needed to take a break and spend time with my guitar playing and my cars. But honestly, it was probably my fault for pushing things too fast. It's safe to say now that the tank is fully matured. I have a lot of "stuff" living in my sand. Like a lot! Pod Populations are high. I think it might have had something to do with all the florida keys sand and mud I added to my system, but I'm not crying over spilt milk. I know how this hobby works. LOL It could also be that I gave them too much light with my ATI straton...I have cut the power of that down quite a bit and will play with that in the future.

But the tank has been running all this time. I didnt quit. I still have my Melanurus wrasse, my anthias and my chromis. The Diamond goby developed a problem and died. His tongue swelled up and he couldnt eat. Weird. My flame hawk somehow got out of my tank. Not sure about how because I have a lid.

Several of my acropora that were ok were moved to a friend's tank after a dip and they're doing good, so I have acros if I want them. I think I'm going to get a few montipora digis and caps and stay away from acropora. I seem to always get to a point where everything is in its happy place and then one acro starts the BS chain reaction...ugh. hahaha

Anyway, I have a bunch of new fish coming friday.

Diamond Goby
Exquisite Fairy Wrasse
Red Head Solon Fairy Wrasse
A school of 12 green chromis
3 dispar anthias (they're more compatible with my shallow tank)
And 4 peppermint shrimp.

These fish should add a lot of schooling action to the display and since my equipment is all total overkill there is no problem with a higher number of peaceful fish. Should be an interesting introduction. Excited about it.

In the time since my tank crashed, I had a huge algae bloom that died off on its own and a huge aiptasia bloom too.

So what I'm doing over the next couple days is eradicating the aiptasia manually at least where I can spot treat until they're gone and the peppermints should do their diligence too. Freshwater dipping all rocks with peroxide will clean that off the rocks and since they are fake rocks, there really isnt too much on it. The sand is heavily biodiverse now too. Lots of worm track and pods and all kinds of stuff. My refugium is full of life.

I think in the future here foral wise, I'm going to start buying a bunch of zoos and lps type stuff for a while and stay away from the acropora for a while. I still have a few colonies of zoos, but it'll all pick up quick.
If I do get any acropora it will be some kind of large stag as maybe a centerpiece.

I think now that the tank has had the chance to run all this time undisturbed, it will be a lot better this go-around (famous last words)

Anyway, I'm back and It's time to move forward again. In all this time the system has been dead reliable man. Keeping the electronics in a cabinet is where its at. And no leaks or any mishaps from my plumbing. I need a new quartz sleeve for my UV though...that broke a few months ago so I turned it off and let it sit. I just reminded myself about that. ha!

The tank thread continues...

Welcome back! This hobby has a way of sucking us back in, regardless of how frustrated we get! I am glad you are back! You, @skey44, and @JoJosReef have helped me so much along the way! Looking forward to the Zoa/LPS build out as they are my favorites!!!

 

[CBonito]

Welcome back! This hobby has a way of sucking us back in, regardless of how frustrated we get! I am glad you are back! You, @skey44, and @Jojosrhavevhelp me so much along the way! Looking forward to the Zoa/LPS build out as they are my favorites!!!

Good to see ya!

Yeah, it will be fun. Right now, I'm just getting the tank in order. I'm peroxide/ro dipping my rocks to kill aiptasia. I had them all over. I have to tweeze them out of the sand too. I got them all off the sides of the tank.

I might get some more rock just to have more hiding spaces since I'm going to have 18 more fish on friday. haha!
And the peppermint shrimp will hopefully hold off any recurring aiptasia...hopefully my melanurus wrasse doesnt eat them. He would be the only one who might. All the rest of my fish are totally peaceful. We'll see what happens!

Just getting the system nice and clean for everyone to arrive.

At the moment, I have the melanurus, 2 bicolor anthias and 3 blue chromis. Fish coming friday are in the list above. They should all be awesome together and I need that diamond goby to eat through the sand. My last one died a few month ago. His tongue got really big and he couldnt eat.
It's gonna be a full house, but without any fish that are territorial they should all school just fine.
And my skimmer and refugium will handle the load no problem. Tanks been running now for a while and there is a lot of life in my refugium and in all my sand. I'm going to try and not feed any corals I get and just let the fish feed them.

 

[CBonito]

Alright, so I'm smoked. Been up all night working on my tank. I peroxide dipped the rocks and it killed all the aiptaisia and probably everything else, but they're clean. The aiptasia turns into these little dead slime balls in like 20 minutes. Just mix a bucket of RO and a few big shots of peroxide. The skimmer and the tank will take care of it. Got rid of a lot of bristle worms! Aiptasia almost eradicated. It's in my overflow too, but I'll scrape that down at a later date and just catch them all in the filter bags. I have 4 real peppermint shrimp coming which may help. We'll see.
They're good to have for any reason and a new diamond goby will make short work of the sand.

Waiting for my fish to be delivered. I re-scaped the tank into two islands so water can flow between and so there are lots of caves and stuff. I'm going to have like 20 or so fish. LOL I think I'll have a school of 15 chromis in total which is going to be killer with 2 bicolor and 2 disbar anthias as well.

I think by introducing them all at once everyone will go hide, come out later and find their spots.

I got my skimmer running right last night and it's been running since then. It's pulled a half cup of really dark stuff so far.

I'll get some pics up when I can later.

 

[CBonito]

You know you're delirious when you're watching the UPS customer appeasement realtime map...tracking the UPS man down like the CIA or some crap. hahaha!

"Aww come on man!!! you're going the wrong way!!!"

 

[CBonito]

Ok so all of the fish I got yesterday seemed fine. This morning, my diamond goby all of of them was near death with his tail nipped off. I wonder who could have done it? Granted he was a bit small, but I wouldnt expect anyone to pick on him.

I have:

Melanurus Wrasse (always been peaceful and is about 4 inches)
2 Bicolor Anthias Females (male disappeared a couple months ago)
2 Dispar Anthias
An Exquisite Fairy (he's been schooling with the damsels and Anthias)
A redhead Solon Wrasse who is hiding
4 peppermint shrimp
15 chromis.

So whodunnit?

All fish are well-fed and everything. None should really be aggressive.
Now I have to go to my LFS and spend more money and get another...this time much larger because I need one and now I'm going to end up buying other stuff. I just know it.

 

[CBonito]

Alright, I went to my LFS and scored another diamond goby. He's in the tank.
I also scored 3 blue eyed anthias because I thought they were really pretty. I now have 7 anthias of three types. They're all schooling except for one that is hiding in the rocks. He'll come out eventually.

I also figured out that my largest anthias is what ate my first diamond goby. But this one I just got is larger so he's not going to be able to pull that crap anymore. We'll see if his behavior calms down and if not, I'll have to remove him and someone local will score a fish I guess. LOL

I think at this point I'm going to read more about anthias since I want to know more and I want to know why this one I have is being a big D.

 

[CBonito]

Ok so I guess perhaps these fish see each other all as one harem and homeboy is trying to establish dominance.
I guess my solution is to feed the juveniles good so they get big enough to use kung fu more effectively. That was easy. That was also wrong. I'm going to see if anything changes overnight. I have read that these fish will change sex in situations where there is more than one male, and that if a male dies a female can change to a male.

And my aggressive anthias, it's not showing any male coloration. It's like a beta-moron or something or he needs some vitamins, I dunno. It's complicated.

I don't want any fish aggression in this tank at all and I have a lot of fish. I think in a few days if nothing happens it will calm down.

It looks like a real reef even without corals. There are a lot of fish. Just letting the fish all settle in and then I'll get a batch of corals to try.
I'm not jumping the gun on that again.
I threw in a whole cube of food a little while ago and it was demolished in like 30 seconds! So unlike before there is no waste. They just reduced it to nothing. No peppermint shrimp have been eaten, so that's kinda good.

My redhead solon wrasse that has been hiding made a short appearance too when there was food, so he's good. Just settling in I guess. He came out, gave me a nice toothy little smile and went back into his hovel. He'll get bolder in time I guess. The exquisite wrasse is pretty weird, he likes to bolt around the surface with his head out of the water. I'm betting he's looking for an exit in my lid. Fat chance Francis! Not happening.

I'm thinking some live rock for more hiding space next. Maybe place a tampa order....

 

[CBonito]

 

[CBonito]

good tank build thread man, keep up the good work!!

Thank You!

It was going great until it went not so great, but I'm not a quitter...the saga continues. Nothing is foolproof and humans make mistakes. I need to put Elon on this one.

 

[CBonito]

Ok so my Aiptasia that I went to war with the other day is not completely eradicated. Shocker...It was a really valiant effort because I got rid of like 95 percent of them on my rocks, but I'm never going to eradicate them manually, the peppermint shrimp are great at eradicating fish food, but not Aiptasia, so I bought ten nice sized Berghia Nudibranchs and I am going to put those in my tank, overflow and refugium. They will in turn lay eggs and new ones will eventually flourish and eradicate it on their own. If I have to do a few manual kills myself in the meantime it's all good. Screw those things man! They're doomed! I've had it with this crap.

The Berghia Cometh!

I'm also eyeballing corals. I want some montipora caps and digis, a few nice thick acro stags and some acans/blastos.

 

[Patx]

I hope history will not repeat itself.
Wish you the best.

None of your fish can eat Berghia?

 

[CBonito]

I hope history will not repeat itself.
Wish you the best.

None of your fish can eat Berghia?

Well, naturally I hope not, but I think it'll be alright! They're going in places that fish cant get to as well.

Lots of people successfully keep them in their tanks, only one way to "find out!" They are going in my mud refugium, sump and tank.