55 gallon reef re-entry

docforestal · Feb 19, 2023

Hi all, new to the forum and back to salt after 8 years away. My 200 crashed with ich back then and I left due to frustration.
Still have the tank, but decided to start with a 55 to get back into it; I’m already re-obsessed.
Plan is Indopacific patch reef, will have banghai cardinals , aiptasia filefish, coris wrasse (for potential future baddies),kole tang, a couple clown gobies and down the line a watchman goby.
Corals will likely be pavona,pyrites, stylo,and a few lps on the sand
I have 4 inch sand bed, hob skimmer (just getting dialed in),small hob filter for carbon and some macro
Got starter light now, but some nicer leds coming , corals will be months down the road once tank parameters are stable with the fish and then will get better lights.
I have two sicce powerheads 925gph each, still playing with position
Tank has been up 7 weeks, cycled with pods,dr Tim’s, and 15 of 55 pounds real reef rock cycled by pacific east aquaculture.
Sand seeded with IPSF wonder mud, worms,
Have 6 nerite,6 certitude and 6 blue leg hermits so far, they cleaned most of the rock in the first two days they arrived
Bunch of pods from algae barn,dosing photo.
So far 3 banghai cardinals are in, stressguard, dip and copper for two days, the rest of the fish will be full quarantine (I never did before)
They are eating well
Yellow citron and green clown goby and filefish arrive from seahorse savoy arrive this week.
Keeping video diary on YouTube (boring but fun to record progress)

larryl · Feb 19, 2023

Looking good so far!

Gumbies R Us · Feb 20, 2023

Love the way your tank looks!!

docforestal · Feb 20, 2023

thanks.
Decided on upgrading my quarantine setup with a couple smaller tanks for small fish and less water for water changes - going to use air stones for water movement/aeration - these were neat little rimless ones.

aiptasia eating (matted) filefish, yellow citron and green clown goby arrive tomorrow .
My cardinals are hungry and eat then spit out their flake and pellet given by blue zoo where they came from, added Rod's frozen and they seemed to like but can't tell if they are taking a bite or don't like - will see - i think they need tiny particles, so will grind up more

kevgib67 · Feb 20, 2023

Well thought out, following.

docforestal · Feb 20, 2023

update, while out getting some supplies/car from the shop, my ATO by prism overflowed a gallon or so- wife was here to prevent it from being 20 gallons.
as i have a rimmed tank, the clip to hold the sensor does not stay so i have it sitting in the magnetic ring, but any pull on the wire pulls it out (my guess is weight of wires or a cat)
any ideas/fixes for this - i want it secured or i cannot use
thanks

p.s. salinity didnt change appreciably so no worries to the tank itself

docforestal · Feb 20, 2023

so not using quarantine prior, i thought i had it down, using small tanks with no filtration, but air bubblers for water movement and aeration and doing daily 50%water changes to maintain clean water; reading some articles on here talk about having cycled filters - i will do my way for the next fish tomorrow but hold off and cylce a qt tank for the rest, want to do it right - i still plan on doing copper treatment and then prazi and 2 weeks before going into the tank

docforestal · Feb 21, 2023

I am using the Hanna test kits to measure most of my readings - Calcium 450, alk 7.8, Phosphate 0.1, Nitrate 10, Mg 1200,
temp is kept at 78-79 and s.g. 1.026

docforestal · Feb 21, 2023

so my green clown, yellow citron goby and aiptasia eating filefish came from seahorsesavy.com - they look great - got home (shipped to work) and my quarantine setup worried me - no filters and i worry can i keep ammonia from spiking with daily water changes, without stressing them; they come from a place that holds them for 2+ weeks before shipping out, making sure they are healthy and feeding and to top it off the temp from the heateers was not well maintained and a little cool
I decided to place them in the main tank as it will be less stressful for them and I hope they are healthy
No more fish for a while and I will dial in my quarantine setup prior.
Now I will let my tank mini cycle and do water changes and skim and perhaps add more CUC as demand may be needed.
The file fish is a bit stressed but healthy swimming around the edges, the gobies found spots in the back to hang out

docforestal · Feb 23, 2023

Hopefully not annoying but this helps track too
Fish are doing well
New lights aquareef leds that are programmable, love them,no corals for a while so time to save up
Today nitrite 0.25,nh4 0, nitrates up from 10 to 20
20 gallon water change
S.g. 1.025 ,was 1.026 before the over ato debacle
Salt water is b ionic, mixes fast decent readings with it although alk a little low and ca a little high
Might change , note a residue on the holding tank after a few days
Readings after water change settled in:
Nitrites now between 0 and 0.25

Also if like me and you hook up ro to a bathroom sink as needed,make sure to put the waste line in the sink,and don’t tell your wife no leak,just making water
Doh

forgot to mention calcium initially running high from the start 504, now down to451, and alk initially 11,.9, down to 8 and after dosing kalk last week went to 8.2, today is 9.7 but ph down to 8.2 from 8.3
Tank settling in but will watch the ph and dose some kalk soon perhaps
Link to video of fish

docforestal · Feb 23, 2023

Another note, adding 6 more snails (nassarius and nerite) my rocks and sand are completely clean despite heavy feeding
Getting a feel for how much they eat- mostly my sis, so still some flake for pods and CUC

docforestal · Feb 24, 2023

Tank and mini fish room update
Fish doing well, next week a red head solarensis wrasse (tank conditioned from seahorsesavvy) arrives to upgraded quarantine tank.
Hope posting video links is ok.

docforestal · Feb 25, 2023

struggling to find a good solution for the irregular shaped lid, to allow open to the air but keeping fish jumping and things falling in: i have a diy kit from bulk reef but not sure this is ideal.
found this on amazon and this may allow fairly easy customization

will see and post if works out.
A canopy might be good too, but not sure how to build one and making sure looks ok, and easy enough to do maintenance and feeding

907_Reefer · Feb 25, 2023

Looking good! Following along, also curious what you end up with for a lid - I need to add one to my 55 as well.

docforestal · Feb 25, 2023

Hi 907 - thanks for following
glass is ok but with stuff hanging, just doesnt work and i keep dropping in the tank, and i do want air flow, so keep you updated

docforestal · Feb 25, 2023

not good at making nice looking things but ok functionally - tried my hand this afternoon at starting a tank hood
it is cheap plywood, so i will see how well lsanding and painting looks, i can always repanel wiht nicer wood.
Thinking of trim and 2 up swinging doors i the front, and I am going to cut down the 2x4s to 1 inch for more clearance and i really dont need the beefiness - make it lighter
the light is decent for softies and maybe lps according to their par readings, but i did not get it for coral and it fits nice up top and stays off the surface - the lights are in dusk mode now so not very bright

docforestal · Feb 25, 2023

fish continue to feed and look well, getting almost a full cup of nasty from the skimmer every 2 days
readings today:
pH 8.2
spec.grav. 1.025
Calcium 480
Alk 9.2
phosphate 0.08
NH4 0.5 (ick - mini cycle, hope it peaks here and drops - have added another dosing of Dr. Tim's to help)
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20 (went to 10 after 15 gallon water change tues.)
Little concerned with the mini cycle but in past i know this happens, no new fish for 3 weeks (assuming the quarantine on next fish is smooth, and then not getting any more fish for 4-7 weeks.

any thoughts welcome but i think it is moving along and i am correct in not wanting to add cholamine?