GfordQC's 90 Gal. Cube Mixed Reef

[gfordQC]

Got the Pods in last night and the chaeto in the sump. My small diatom blume went away. Sand is looking pretty clean and rocks are not to bad. I think i can see some coraline algae grow...my daughter class algae...allergie lol. Had to correct her on that one lol. Cleaner shrimp malted the other do so all is going well.

Don't plan on getting the Clownfish until after i get my Artfully Acrylic cover comes in sometime after the new year.

 

[gfordQC]

Nothing crazy to report at this point...Scooter blenny is doing fine poking around at the pods. Fuge is good looks like i am getting some growth from the cheato. Did a ~20% water change on Saturday morning all went swimmingly there. Changed filter socks and skimmer cup and did some tests.

Results:
Salinity: 1.025
Alk: 8.4
Ca: 435
Mg: 1500
Nitrate:20
Nitrite: Didn't test
Ammonia: Didn't test
Phosphate: 0
pH: 8.0

Skimmer is doing good even at 10" (Just getting what i need to raise it to the 8" it is recommended for).

Going on Vaca on Friday so i'll be gone for a week. Look to add some more fish and my first coral once i return. I think i'm going to start out with either a frogspawn or a torch.

 

[gfordQC]

Unfortunately, I found my scooter blenny sitting on top of my overflow cover this morning. He must have jumped last night. Sucks def. will be waiting for the Artfully Acrylic cover to come in before getting any more additions.

 

[gfordQC]

Tank Update:

Nothing crazy going on. Dealing with a bit of Cyano that grew quite a bit while i was gone on Vacation. Did two water changes ~18gal each and siphoned the sand and below off the algae on the rocks. Not feeding the tank to much as there is only a cleaner shrimp in there along with some snails and a few crabs.

Went to a few LFS while i was off to look for either a lawnmower blenny or a Bi-Color with no luck.

 

[gfordQC]

Started a H202 treatment last night. Hope to rid myself of the Cyano. I performed the test to determine if it was Cyano and it did as was suggested. Water changed color and algae turned green. Hope to see how things progress shortly.

 

[gfordQC]

Most of my Cyano is gone from the rocks. Working on removing the remaining from the sand. Hope to get a sand sifting starfish at some point to help that out. AA(Artfully Acrylic) lid is on its way should be here on Wed. so expect some pics from that.

A friend of mine is getting out of the hobby and wants me to take his fish. He has a mandarin, 1 Clown(He had one jump), and a blue Tang. Not sold on the Tang. I may take that one and just sell it my tank is way to small for that fella. He also has quite a few RBTA, which i'm considering 1 or 2, but his has split quite a bit. Trying to get to see his tank sometime this week to take a look.

I would take a pic, but not a lot to look at just Rock, Snails, and crabs lol.

 

[gfordQC]

Lid is in! Fits like a glove. Only problem i had which wasn't a problem with the lid, but my overflow cover doesn't fit perfectly around the overflow so it stick up a bit. I need to modify that in order to get that to move down. Otherwise the lid is great.

Here is the FTS..pretty bare, but looking to go pickup some frags this weekend at the LFS. I turned up the white to take the picture as i cannot use the computer at the moment as our son decided to play red rover with our charger and broke it . New one should be in on Friday.

 

[gfordQC]

Got the lid and so now we can get some fish! Went to the LFS and picked up a Starry Blenny and a Hammer Frag.

Nice looking fish when the lights are on especially. The Hammer frag is two heads, but i believe i may have cracked one of the heads when i was taking it off of the frag plug. I put some IC Gel on it this morning so hopefully it survives.

 

[gfordQC]

Here's a pic of the first coral. Little Hammer around 1" on both heads. One head the lower skeleton cracked and i had to superglue it together. Seems to be holding up so far. Gonna watch this one for a bit and i look to get some more LPS and a few test SPS in the coming months. My friend went out of the country on a trip so i'm waiting on his return before bringing over his fish.

 

[revhtree]

Nice!

 

[gfordQC]

Nice!

Thanks! Only now I got home and the one on the left was all closed up. I tried to move it around to see if something changes. I'm due for a water change this weekend.

Parameters:
Temp: 78
Salinity: 1.025
Nitrate: 0
Alk: 9.1
Calcium: 410
Mag: 1220

I need to check phosphates tonight but they have always been 0 so we shall see.

 

[gfordQC]

This is lights out, but the one in the back is super closed up. I'll leave him be and see what he looks like tomorrow. I tested my phosphates and its 0

 

[john.m.cole3]

Very nice build! May I recommend getting your nitrates up a little, like between 2to 5? LPS like it a little dirty esp for the alk being at 9.1. Keep us updated, good work!

 

[gfordQC]

Very nice build! May I recommend getting your nitrates up a little, like between 2to 5? LPS like it a little dirty esp for the alk being at 9.1. Keep us updated, good work!

Yeah that is what i have read. I'm hoping the addition of some more fish will increase that now that i'm feeding a little more with the blenny being in there. I was fishless for a few weeks after the scooter jumped so i wasn't feeding as much and my nitrates dropped.

Coral was open this morning the same as the other. I'll get an update from the wife to see what it looks like when the lights are on later.

 

[john.m.cole3]

good deal man, sounds like you're on top of things. following for sure.

 

[gfordQC]

Update: Wife said both corals heads are out and looking fine. I did notice last night that my temp calibration was low as i measured 76° with the thermometer and my mercury thermometer i have in the sump. I calibrated the apex to the temp and I should be good to go now. I also changed my GFO and Carbon.

 

[gfordQC]

Some Pics...Getting the new additions this weekend.

The algae that I am currently dealing with ATM. Goes away pretty quickly once the cool white goes out on the light. I believe its diatoms...what say u?

FTS..Coral is moved onto the first rock on the left of this shot.

 

[gfordQC]

Some new pics from yesterday...

Latest FTS...

 

[gfordQC]

Picked up an Acan last week. Settling in well. I started Dosing Alk and Calc. and those numbers are steady at 9.1 and 420. Was dealing with Dinos(You can see on the Acan pic) and i started Dino-X on Friday. Things are starting to clear up already so i'll continue to monitor.

SPS is showing about a 1/8" of growth.

 

[gfordQC]

Long time no update...

Tank is doing great got through the uglys for the most part. Got some more coral. Green Frogspawn, Eagle Eye Zoas, & some Artic Zoas. I will take some pictures tonight and try and post. Coral are growing well the monticap has grown nicely and is almost doubled in size. The Green Digitata has added length, however i did hit it once during a water change and broke one of the branches off. More to come...