GOFOR'S 52" X 36" X 26" CDA Peninsula & SoCal Tank Room Build

[gofor100]

FISH UPDATES

So over the last several weeks I have resisted turning on my lights and have been slowly but surely adding fish through my quarantine tank (usually 2 or 3 at a time, each group with about 3 weeks total quarantine), and I also plan on obtaining a few fish through vendors that will quarantine for you. While I am not even close to the number and variety of fish I plan to have, I think I’ve put together a pretty cool group of fish so far.

As I have posted before, I have the Bluespotted Jawfish, who is probably one of the biggest characters of the tank and known around the house as “Jaws”. He has made a few dens/burrows that he seems to rotate between every several days or so, and adds a very different kind of fish to the tank (especially since my kids like to see where he’s made his latest burrow).

I also have a single Bangaii Cardinalfish, “Bandit”, who I tried to pair up but to no avail. Another very different looking fish with very cool patterning and I feel is an underrated “common” fish in our hobby.

Another fish that I’ve added is the Royal Gramma, “Kobe”, another underrated “common” fish in our hobby that adds an awesome splash of color in the tank.

Benny the Starry Blenny is another member of the fish family. Another “character fish” that has a ton of personality. And, honestly, this was one of the fish my wife specifically requested, so I HAD to get one.

I also added a Yellow Longnose Butterflyfish, who has been named “Bubbles” because when I saw him in the LFS, there were some bubbles in the tank that he constantly tried to eat. Not the smartest fish, but is another interesting looking fish that adds a nice splash of yellow.

Another member of the tank is a Firefish who has yet to be named (suggestions are welcome). I’ve always enjoyed these fish with their splash of red and white with their “spike” dorsal fin, and very intricate purple and yellow markings on their face.

Finally, I’ve added two Longfin Ocellaris Clownfish, who my kids simply call Nemo and Nemo Goforth (my last name), but I’m trying to push some other names (suggestions are welcome). I originally wanted to just pair an orange and a black/white Ocellaris, but when I saw the Longfin variety, I just had to have them. Clownfish have a hard enough time trying to swim, and these two seem to "trip" over their fins at times which is pretty comical. They are like the French Bulldogs of the fish world (almost not even functional fish).

 

[Reefer Reboot]

It looks like the rockscape has evolved. How about a FTS please.

 

[gofor100]

It looks like the rockscape has evolved. How about a FTS please.

I haven't changed anything about the rockscape, other than adding a little make-shift PVC/man-made burrow for the Jawfish (which he hasn't used yet BTW).

I snapped these two photos earlier this week (one in the midst of the only 15 minutes of light my tank gets from the LEDs). Hard to get a full tank shot on a peninsula tank, but I'll see if I can get a shot of the "other side" later.

 

[Rhoads238]

Wow thats one THICC tank! Love the dimensions. Awesome fish choices also. Blue spot jawfish are definitely one of my favorites. I love their irritable personality. I used to have one but unfortunately he managed to jump straight through my screen top. Looks like the tank is off to a great start. I'll be following along

 

[chousecat]

Really appreciate how much detail you go into each of your posts. Has the coral QT tank been set up yet? What is the timeline for corals?

 

[gofor100]

Wow thats one THICC tank! Love the dimensions. Awesome fish choices also. Blue spot jawfish are definitely one of my favorites. I love their irritable personality. I used to have one but unfortunately he managed to jump straight through my screen top. Looks like the tank is off to a great start. I'll be following along

Thanks! I tried to plan this out as much as I could, and I'm happy so far with the equipment choices and fish choices. I've got a screen top on already, and the tank is 26"T, so hopefully mine doesn't decide to go carpet surfing.

 

[gofor100]

Really appreciate how much detail you go into each of your posts. Has the coral QT tank been set up yet? What is the timeline for corals?

Thanks! I figure if I'm going to take the time to post something, it might as well be a little useful!

I do have the coral QT set up (it's the same as my invert QT that currently has all of my hermits and some chaeto being QT'd), but my first goal, before corals, is to establish a little bit of a CUC (and QT accordingly). I've been running the lights on the coral QT for a few months now with not SUPER clean water (I've been averaging phosphates at about .18ppm and nitrates at about 10ppm), trying to build up some algae for the CUC that I've been QT'ing (so they don't starve). But shortly after I transfer the chaeto over to the DT (which should be early next week), I'll turn on the lights in the DT and will put the hermits in the DT. After that, I'll probably get some Trochus snails, Nassarius snails, and a Fighting Conch to place in the QT which I didn't want to put in with the hermits in case the hermits got a little hungry or wanted bigger shells. At the same time, I'll probably acquire a few "forgiving" corals (looking for a Weeping Willow leather and a Pink Nepthea along with some zoanthids/palys) to place in the QT so that the clock starts on those.

So to answer your question, I'll probably acquire some corals in December, but they won't make it out of QT until early 2021 (which sounds like a long time, but I'll continue to acquire fish during this process to pass the time).

 

[gofor100]

GETTING READY FOR CORALS PART I- PREPARING FOR EXCESS NUTRIENT REMOVAL

I’ve been adding all of these fish without turning the lights on in hopes that I will get through the uglier phases of many new tanks without the tank getting too ugly. The rationale, of course, being that if I don’t have lights on while the phosphate/nitrate levels are not optimal, the nuisance algae won’t have much of a chance to take hold of the tank. So far, this has worked perfectly, since I didn’t really have any algae to speak of before turning the lights on (there was a very minor diatom bloom on the side of the tank where the sun hits in the afternoon after my first group of fish went in, but that went away within a matter of days).

So, I have been checking the nitrate and phosphate levels about every week to see any trends and address any upward/downward trends by increase/decreasing my auto water changes.

And now that I have detectable levels of both (been averaging about .16 ppm phosphates and about 7-10ppm nitrates), I decided to add on my refugium after acquiring some Chaeto from PodYourReef (and quarantining it in my invert/coral quarantine tank for over 16 days to ensure no fish borne diseases make it to the DT and observe for any other pests) and my refugium light.

Now that this component of the filtration is online, I’ve continued to monitor the phosphates/nitrates weekly to make sure I adjust the auto water changes and/or refugium light schedule/intensity so that I still have detectable/stable levels of each in the range of .03-.1ppm phosphates and 1-10ppm nitrates. Ultimately, when my tank is fully stocked with fish and corals, my plan is to see how effectively I can export excess nutrients by running the refugium at 100% - the sump chamber full of chaeto and running the A360X at 100% intensity for 12 hours – balanced with a specific percentage of auto water changes. If all I have to do is test my tank’s nitrates/phosphates weekly/bi-weekly and tweak the auto water changes to increase or decrease excess nutrient export in order to stay within my desired range, then that would be pretty awesome (since it is extremely easy to do with the APEX DOS). And if I need to make more dramatic changes that may not be addressed by increasing or decreasing my water changes, then I can turn to my refugium (intensity/duration) and/or my skimmer (wetter or drier skim).

Finally, I also introduced coralline algae using the ARC Reef “Coralline Algae in a bottle” to get the coralline algae seeded while turning on just the T-5 lights for now. Once I get some herbivores in the tank, I’ll turn on the Radions too, but no need at this point since I don’t have any corals in the DT yet.

Next up is adding more fish (two of which are the top-2 fish on my wish list!) in the coming days and weeks. I plan to have most of my planned fish list (minus some smaller fish) in the tank by a week into 2021, but we'll see.

 

[Smite]

The whole setup is gorgeous but that stand is so smooth and clean. Such a nice build!

 

[gofor100]

The whole setup is gorgeous but that stand is so smooth and clean. Such a nice build!

Thanks! Yeah, I'm really happy with how the stand came out. I wasn't 100% sure it would match the surrounding furniture, but it fits right in (as much as a 210 gallon and stand can).

You'll have to come take a look in person one of these days.

 

[Smite]

Thanks! Yeah, I'm really happy with how the stand came out. I wasn't 100% sure it would match the surrounding furniture, but it fits right in (as much as a 210 gallon and stand can).

You'll have to come take a look in person one of these days.

Sounds good, I'd love to see it.

 

[i_declare_bankruptcy]

This is coming along great!

 

[Ol' Sarge]

Great thread with lots of good info! Following!

 

[gofor100]

This is coming along great!

Thanks! I hate to put this in writing (since I don't want to jinx myself) but, up to this point, everything has gone extremely smoothly. I know there will be some bumps down the road, but I guess this is what happens when you plan something out for months on end before the tank even arrived.

Some major fish updates should be coming along soon.

 

[gofor100]

Great thread with lots of good info! Following!

Hahaha... thanks! Happy to have you join along in the journey.

 

[gofor100]

FISH UPDATES

I figured I would get one last update before the end of 2020…

This is where my fish list gets pretty interesting, and to a certain extent, a bit riskier. “Risky” in the sense that the fish are historically a bit more difficult to acclimate to the home aquarium, and also because they pose more of a threat to corals. My plan here is to first, just accept that I may not have the best polyp extension on certain corals while still maybe even having to remove some corals altogether. But, to avoid this as much as possible, before adding a single coral in the tank, I will be making sure that the “risky fish” are eating a variety of foods (pellets, frozen, nori, etc.) 3 times per day. My thought here is that if they are already well-nourished and being fed a constant, varied diet, then they will be less inclined to be “hungry” and, therefore, less likely to pick at corals (which, to my understanding, is not part of their natural diet). If I were to introduce these fish after corals had been added, while they were still figuring out what is and is not food, acclimating to the feeding schedule, etc., my thought is a hungry fish will be more likely to go “taste” a little bit of everything and might actually like the taste of something they try.

As for the fish, I obtained them both pre-quarantined from Deven/Docs Aquatics, and I have to say, they were both in excellent health, even eating the first day they were in the tank.

• Moorish Idol: this has always been one of my favorite fish. I had successfully quarantined one in my previous tank and it was a model citizen with corals up through the time I had to break my tank down. This one (yet to be named) EATS EVERYTHING I put into the tank. I feed a mixture of frozen foods and New Life Spectrum Pellets, and he goes after it pretty hard. His streamer also seems to grow overnight, so he seems to be settling in quite well.

• Regal Angelfish: my other favorite fish is the Red Sea Regal Angelfish. The colors on this fish are second to none in my opinion. This is also a fish I have never kept before, so this will be my first go-around. This one (also not named yet), LOVES NLS Pellets and will eat larger pieces of frozen with gusto, but not as aggressively as the Moorish Idol. I think this is more of the Regal’s nature (a bit more cautious) and less about his actual food preferences, but either way, they are both doing extremely well.

I have also added (through my own quarantine) a few more fish…

• Pintail Fairy Wrasse: I wanted to add some more active swimmers with some different colors than what was already in the tank… and the pink/purple/yellow patterns of this wrasse are pretty awesome. I’m planning to add a few more fairy wrasses down the road, but was able to find this one relatively cheap and in good health.

• McCosker’s or Carpenter’s Flasher Wrasse (not sure which to be honest): another active swimmer and added some orange/yellow color schemes to the tank. He’s so active, in fact, I, for the life of me, could not get a decent picture. So here you go… just use your imagination a little.

• Sunburst Anthias: a bit less of an active swimmer (likes to swim in the current for a while then go back into the rockwork), but a beautiful fish with shades of pink/yellow.

Next up, is my tang gang… all are in quarantine and will be ready to go in very soon.

And if anyone has any ideas on fish names, please share. My kids’ ideas include things like “Blue” for blue fish, or “Stripes” for fish with stripes… so this is what I’m working with and I don’t feel too creative these days.

Happy New Year Everyone!

 

[gofor100]

FISH UPDATES

Hey Guys,

It has been a while since I last provided an update with any substance. In part, that was due to me simply being extremely busy, but I’ve also run into a few issues. I’ll start with some fun updates…

I added what I expect to be some of the last fish residents for the tank that I’ll be adding for a little while (I’ll likely add some more wrasses or other smaller fish later), here is my team of tangs that will hopefully keep the peace AND clean up any algae that pops up in the tank…

• Powder Blue Tang: in my opinion, one of the prettiest tangs out there, and made it through my QT very easily (as did all of my tangs). He seems to still be sizing up the other tangs and my Starry Blenny (who tells him to “Get off my lawn” every now and then), but, at this point, he seems to be all flare with no substance behind his threats… the supermodel of the group.

• Purple Tang: out of the Zebrasoma genus, one of my favorites. Not many fish with it’s deep purple, almost blue coloration, and the intricate lines running laterally down its body make this fish stunning.

• Whitetail Bristletooth Tang: not to be outdone by the prior two tangs, and one of the prettiest tangs in the “Bristletooth” family, this guy is a worker and has very underrated colors/details. A nice deep purple rim, with a deep red body, yellow eyes, and a bright white tail… the beauty of this fish is really hard to capture in a picture.

And the grazers are at work...

Interesting story (that may be of interest only to me) leading up to me placing the tangs into the tank… in preparation of introducing the Moorish Idol and the Regal Angelfish into the tank, I turned the lights on a week in advance to promote some algae growth on the rocks so the MI and Regal would have stuff to pick on throughout the day if they decided to go on a hunger strike when first introduced (which didn’t happen). Thinking that since my excess nutrient levels were at good levels (Nitrates at around 7ppm and Phosphates at about .10), that excess algae growth would not be a problem. Something I didn’t take into consideration was the fact that I was going to feed my tank significantly more than I had before once I introduced the MI and Regal to make sure they were eating a wide variety of foods, and the resulting byproduct that ultimately fed the very little algae already present in the tank. Long story short (or maybe a medium-sized one), my tank went through a little bit of a hair algae outbreak. So, while I waited for all of my tangs to go through QT (which was over a month since I didn’t have room to QT them all in the same tank and wanted to introduce them all at once), I had to take a toothbrush to my rock and siphon as much of the hair algae out as I could two times before my tangs would make their debut. I honestly was a little concerned with whether or not my tangs would be able to make a dent in the rainforest of algae (slight exaggeration, but still) that was now in my tank. All of my planning to try and avoid the “ugly phase” and here it is, staring me straight in the face.

So, I figured I would just add the tangs and see what kind of dent they could make, then help them out in a week or so if they couldn’t keep up with the algae growth. Well, I am EXTREMELY happy to say they took out ALL of the hair algae within 24 hours of being introduced to the tank. There is still some green algae that coats part of the rock and keeps them busy, but it looks MUCH, MUCH better. Just waiting now for the calcareous algae to start popping up.

And not to be outdone by the tangs, I also picked up a very beautiful fish that I hope won’t hide TOO much…

• Helfrichi Firefish: I hesitated in adding this fish to the tank because of its shy nature, but it is just such a pretty fish. With that in mind, I initially placed him in one of those acclimation boxes that you attach via a magnet on the side of the tank. Apparently, he did not agree and, after about 36 hours, decided he would wiggle his way through one of the slits in the acclimation box and find his home in the tank. I guess he was ready, since for now, he does not seem to get bullied by anyone and just cruises in the current waiting for bits of food. Hard to get a good picture of him though…

 

[gofor100]

NOT-SO-GREAT UPDATES

As for the not-so-great updates… I’ve lost a few fish. First up was my Firefish, who somehow found his way through my mesh top and I found laying on top of the euro-bracing of the tank (this happened before the Tangs were introduced). Then I lost my Yellow Longnose Butterflyfish to what I suspect was bullying by the Moorish Idol. I noticed it mostly at feeding, where the MI would essentially charge the YLB if they were going after the same food and would sometimes even nip at him. I didn’t think anything of it and thought it would settle down after a while (especially since I feed so much), but then I noticed what looked to be a slight discoloration (a darker spot) on the YLB, and his appetite being suppressed, then ultimately him passing. Finally, I lost my McCosker’s Flasher wrasse, which is a bit more of a mystery, although I think it may have been due largely to the addition of all of the tangs, because it seemed shortly after they were introduced, he simply went into hiding (along with my Royal Gramma) and did not want to come out. It’s odd since I don’t see the tangs ever interact with any of the other fish except for the Starry Blenny (as noted before). Some of these deaths could also be explained by my other update below, but I inspected the bodies very thoroughly and did not see ANY signs of disease/parasites before or after they passed.

The other not-so-great update… something may have gotten through my QT (or could have been introduced by the two fish I had someone else QT for me – not placing blame on anyone, just saying that it was either my oversight in QT protocol, or the one other source I received the fish from). I don’t know what the parasite/illness is yet, but I first noticed a few spots with no flashing or behavioral signs on my Moorish Idol. My first thought was that it very likely was lymphocystis since I know that my YLB had this during quarantine, and while it is not curable, it also is not deadly. Then, I figured that if anything was in the tank, it would show up on the tangs, so I figured they would be my “canaries” of the tank. After about a 10 days in the DT, I did notice a few spots on the Purple Tang’s body (none on the fins) but no behavioral signs, and then those slowly went away (again was thinking lympho here). Then the Powder Blue Tang had 2 or 3 spots on the body (none on the fins) with no behavioral signs, which also slowly went away. Having said that, since the spots have gone away, I have seen the Powder Blue Tang flash here and there. So, I decided, before I even entertain the thought of taking all of my fish out and placing them into quarantine, I would try dosing Hydrogen Peroxide for about 2 months to see if that would address whatever is in the tank. I’m about 2 weeks into this and still don’t see any spots on the fish, have seen some flashing here and there by the PBT but everyone is eating great and behaving. So, we’ll see what happens, but I wanted to give you guys the GOOD and the BAD of this build… and this is the first roadblock that I will have to navigate.

 

[gofor100]

GETTING READY FOR CORALS PART II- ACCUMULATING CORALS IN QT

One good part of having a coral QT is that it is a pretty good excuse to have another aquarium. As I had mentioned before, I bought a Waterbox 20 Cube to act as my coral/invert QT, and so far, so good! My plan was to always go a little cheaper with the equipment on this tank, but to not skimp on quality. With that said, I’m running two AI Prime 16HDs, which are more than capable of providing the spread and PAR that I need for whatever type of coral I have in there. I also just recently upgraded my flow, from a really small Korallia pump (I already had one on hand), to the AI Nero 3.

Also, to keep up with the calcium/alkalinity uptake, I had been just doing 25% weekly water changes along with topping off with Kalkwasser. This has been working fine, but was always going to be temporary, since I don’t really like the inconsistency dosing kalk in your auto top-off brings, and when I start QT’ing the more difficult corals like Acros, I’ll need more stability. So, I bought a Kamoer X1 Bluetooth Micropump to separately dose my kalk.

And all the while, I’ve been picking up some corals (and a clam) here and there for the first wave of corals to be introduced to the DT.

Here is the list so far:

• Blue Maxima Clam
• JF Beach Bum Montipora
• ASD Rainbow Phoenix Montipora?
• Bubblegum Digitata
• Space Invader Pectina
• Firework Clove Polyps
• Mint Green Duncan
• Green/Purple/Orange Lobo
• Koji Wada Pink Nepthea Leather
• WWC AOI Zoas
• Bowzer Zoas
• Rainbow Lord
• Red/Green Blasto
• Red Blasto
• Hammer Garden (orange tip, bi-color, green stem/purple tip)
• Mia’s Pot of Gold Favia
• Baby’s Breath Favia
• Jawbreaker Mushroom
• WWC Fruit Loop Goni

And the good news is that all of the corals are doing great. I just have a few Nassarius snails in the sand bed along with a few Trochus snails to eat any algae that pops up, and I feed the Nassarius snails some pellets here and there, and the corals get a couple of broadcast feedings a week with Phytoplankton and/or some Polyp Lab Reef Roids.

The only pests that have popped up so far is some bubble algae (which is isolated right now to the clam shell and I’ll likely treat the tank with Vibrant to eradicate), and a few aiptasia that I think I’ve eliminated with some F-Aiptasia.

Now onto the continued prepping of the DT...

 

[gofor100]

GETTING READY FOR CORALS PART III- NUTRIENTS & SUPPLEMENTATION IN THE DT

Hey Guys, it has definitely been a while, so I’ll catch you up on the progress of the tank.

The tank went through a decent ugly phase (despite my best efforts to avoid this). To help move things along though, I used Brightwell’s Microbacter Clean to rid the rocks and sand-bed of some sort of algae that was building up, and it just so happens that this stuff really worked. I unfortunately don’t have any “before-and-after” pictures, but went pretty aggressive with my approach for about one month, where I added the product daily at the recommended dosage, and then I would do one weekly manual water change (in addition to my automated water changes) where I would scrub the rock and siphon as much of the algae out as I could. I say the product works because, despite my manual removal of algae, I did notice that, not only did the algae’s growth slow after about a week to 10 days of use, but I also noticed that the algae came off the rocks MUCH easier as the weeks passed. From my understanding, the product is intended to make it easier to remove nuisance film/algae from surfaces, rather than be relied upon to remove those items by itself, so a little elbow grease is necessary for the product to work its magic (I also went through a few rolls of my fleece filter roller during this time). After about a month of dosing Microbacter Clean, I switched over to Microbacter 7 since I saw some cyano on the sandbed and spots of filamentous algae popping up. After two weeks of dosing Microbacter 7, the sandbed and rocks are all looking pretty good. In fact, I can actually see a ton of coralline algae spots growing, so it looks like the tank is finally ready for the first phase of corals. Here is where the tank stands now:

Major Element/Ion Supplementation:

Now that my nutrient levels are on par and I’m not growing a forest of algae, I’ve started the process of getting the major elements/ions in optimal ranges and testing this on a regular basis. My approach with supplementing the major elements (Ca/Alk/Mg) is somewhat gradual.

• DAY 1: At first, with only coralline algae and elemental needs, I’ll just try to get away with dosing kalkwasser, which I have been dosing separately from my ATO using the Ecotech Versa continuous duty peristaltic pump. My limitation here is that I will only be dosing a maximum of 5 gallons of kalkwasser per week so that I only have to mix it up in a 5 gallon bucket and swap it out (easy maintenance). I might just get a bigger bucket or a Kalk reactor if I find I’m going through kalkwasser faster than this.
• DAY 2: Eventually, I will add on dosing using a modified version of the Balling Method (dosing 2-part using the BRS Calcium/Alkalinity, and using the Tropic Marin Part C). The reason I’ve decided, at least initially, to go with the Balling Method is purely to maintain stability among the major ions as much as possible (since the Part C is dosing all of the elements EXCEPT for sodium chloride so as to achieve ionic balance and avoid instability in salinity), and to try and keep my pH up.
• DAY 3: Ultimately, I may add on a Calcium Reactor for the long-term. Having said that, like I said before, I’m not sure I will ever completely move away from dosing kalkwasser due to its benefits in increasing pH, and I also really like the “tunability” of the 2-part dosing, where I can dose to my tanks needs (not sure if Alkalinity and Calcium will be consumed at different rates). I might even go with a 3-in-1 approach eventually, dosing Kalkwasser for the pH benefits, run a Ca Reactor to provide the main Ca/Alk supplementation, then use the 2-part dosing to account for any uneven consumption rates between Ca/Alk or elevate any one element.

And how will I make sure I am within these optimal ranges? Well, I do have a few test kits on hand, but I actually bit the bullet and took advantage of the Black Friday deals several months ago (plus a decent amount of store credit I had built up) and got the Neptune Trident. I’ll continue to test Alk/Ca/Mag on a somewhat regular basis (to make sure the Trident is doing its job), but my testing schedule just got A LOT easier.

pH Goals:

Something that I didn’t really concern myself with on my last tank was trying to keep my pH up. I don’t plan on taking any extreme measures at this point, but I’ll use this time to see where my pH is at with my Ca/Alk/Mg at optimal levels and with the lights on, and determine what, if anything, I need to do in order to get it as close to 8.3 as possible. More of a Day 2 item (or in my case, Day 202 or so).