Head-High IM 100 EXT

[Head-High and Glassy]

After steady nagging from the kids for a dog, my wife finally agreed to a fish, apparently thinking it would be less money, less work, less noise, and less mess. I don't like to quibble over little details like that, so I did what anyone would do, which was to quickly buy an IM 100 EXT before she changed her mind (probably would've been a redsea, if not for all the issues described on R2R).

Although the stacked crates arrived in all their garage-busting glory in early December, we had to wait to set up the tank until we could replace the tile where it would go (and all the other tile on the ground floor), because of the sudden realization that the tank might be pretty difficult to move when filled with water, and some of the old tiles were already cracked, didn't look nice, etc. One of the unexpected benefits of this was that the three guys replacing the tile turned out to be quite capable of moving the empty 100 gallon tank from the freezing garage into the house.

Another unexpected thing was that when the tile was finished, we no longer liked the spot for the tank (not enough clearance from the dining table, and moving the table would have meant the ceiling light was not centered over it, and even I had to admit that moving the ceiling light was not the type of thing we signed up for when originally agreeing to a fish). So we (i.e., the tile guys) put the tank on the hard wood floor after all. And they even humored me in getting a thin plastic sheet they had left over in the truck and putting it underneath, after explaining that it would absolutely not protect the floor.

Two months later, and the whole family is now enjoying this empty tank (and the tile) and congratulating me on spending more than they had thought possible for such a simple pet (while I'm waiting for a good opportunity to suggest a couple more xr15 to take this empty water from TMI-type blue scare to full radioactive meltdown)!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!

 

[Head-High and Glassy]

Still nothing in the tank yet, but did unfortunately have something get out, and we were briefly able to enjoy empty water both in the tank and on the floor. Not too bad though. Was able to, at least temporarily, fix the leak pretty quickly, although not before certain hurtful words were willy-nilly being tossed around like "warped" and "corroded."

Turns out the blue circled part (is that a bulkhead or something?) was leaking and the water, instead of just spilling back into the sump, which seems logical, was doing a conga line across the top of the sump and escaping over the front and onto the floor.

Ordered some live rock from TBS which should be here in a week or so. Hopefully limited excitement until then.

 

[eye_dr_reef]

Great build so far, curious to see how this develops over time! Following along

 

[Head-High and Glassy]

Thanks!! While waiting for the live rock, and without any disasters to report in the last 48 hours, I'll go ahead and admit what is probably obvious anyway, which is that I have never kept a reef tank and have no idea what I'm doing. Not sure there will be any dialing-in or fine-tuning happening in this thread. Probably just stumbling around in a more-or-less random fashion. Comments and suggestions will be very much appreciated!

 

[Head-High and Glassy]

Got 5 buckets (100 lbs total) base live rock from TBS yesterday and added to the tank. Very good experience over all. Super responsive company. Only issue was navigating EWR. The rock was delivered to united quick pak in terminal C, not united cargo.

The ultimate goal, although trying to keep expectations low, is an SPS dominated tank in several years.

Does this look like enough rock or 1-2 buckets more, maybe premium this time?

Started the 2 xr15 pro on AB+ for 9 hours with a 1 hr ramp each way. I also ordered two more xr15 that should arrive next week.

Does anyone run two daytimes, one in the morning and one at night to maximize light while people are home, or does that screw up the coral?

There's no fish right now. Hoping to get a couple clowns next weekend, if everything looks okay.

Do I need to feed the live rock in the meantime?

Also started the Octo Essence 130 skimmer. It's not doing much, hopefully just because there's not much organics.

Kids are enjoying trying to find snails and crabs in the rock. They've named one snail "shelly." Hearing some clicking, so I assume there are mantis shrimp and ordered a trap.

Ordered some filter socks to replace the puffy balls that came with the sump.

 

[Head-High and Glassy]

Added 2 more xr15 g6 pro, for total of 4.

Also added a toadstool leather, mushroom, 2 tiny clownfish, a melanurus wrasse, and a yellow watchman gobie.

The wrasse did an immediate noise dive into the sand and haven't seen him since. Clownfish have been paddling for their lives. Gobie just sitting on the bottom.

 

[Head-High and Glassy]

The good news is that the tiny clownfish and the wrasse are eating. The bad news is it looks like the yellow watchman was probably eaten. Might give the X-terminator trap another spin and stick to a larger midas or starry blenny next time. But the goal is to resist the urge to add anything for a week or two and see how things go.

 

[TexAgReefer]

Looking good! Glad your wrasse has made an appearance and is eating. That clicking could also be a pistol shrimp. I don't have a lot of experience with a mantis, but I've had many pistols and they click rather often.

Why do you think your watchman got eaten? Just haven't seen it or did you see some remains?

 

[Head-High and Glassy]

There is definitely a lot of clicking, but have not yet seen the source of it.

Haven't seen the watchman today, whereas all yesterday it was just hanging out in a corner. No remains though. Fingers crossed.

 

[TexAgReefer]

There is definitely a lot of clicking, but have not yet seen the source of it.

Haven't seen the watchman today, whereas all yesterday it was just hanging out in a corner. No remains though. Fingers crossed.

Maybe he's just burrowed under somewhere on the backside. Also possible he's linked up with a pistol you hear but haven't seen yet. Hope he shows!

 

[Head-High and Glassy]

I wasn't able to resist. Got a sunrise monti, frogspawn, flame hawk, and 10 astreas. Little bit of brown algea that seems to be giving way to green, hence the snails. Upping the lights to 80% for 1-8-1. Nitrates between 5-10. Undetectable ammonia. Did a 10% water change a couple days ago, which was a little clumsy without a pump, and ended by just dumping into the display from a 5-gallon bucket, but no major problems. Everybody's eating, except haven't seen the yellow watchman again. We're gone next weekend, so no chance of adding anything for a couple weeks, and then fingers crossed maybe try an acro.

 

[Head-High and Glassy]

No real updates, as we're away from the tank today, but felt like musing a bit. Yesterday, the toadstool did not extend for the first time while the lights were on, so a little worried. I feel like it's been difficult to figure out the right amount of flow. I had the mp40s set at about 40% (which was still blowing the microscopic clownfish out the back), but then couldn't find a spot for the frogspawn that didn't seem too intense. So I lowered to about 25% which is 2000 gph each, and the frogspawn looks happy but now having toadstool issues. Also having trouble keeping the frag plugs glued down (but not because of flow) so lots of trial and error there.

The melanurus wrasse wakes up at around 8 am to eat and then heads back under the sand by 3 or 4 pm, although there's a fun dynamic with the flame hawk. The wrasse likes to circle around the side of the tank opposite the mp40s, while the hawk continuously patrols the entire rock structure, and when they meet sparks fly. I really think it would be fun to add another layer of live rock to create some more territory, and to get another wrasse. Without that, not sure there would be enough room in this 100 gallon to keep everyone happy, but I'll probably try anyway.

Overall, glad I went with live rock so far. Definitely have some pests that I have no idea how to get rid of, but it's more encouraging than the horror stories of the uglies that apparently come with the spaghetti-scape look. I'm not sure i could handle 6 months of that, since I'm already stressed about this toadstool and it's only been one day.

The astrea snails are machines. Only have 15, but 1 per rock is doing damage. Will likely get more soon. And nutrients have been relatively low but not too low.

In general, spending a heck of a lot of time worrying about and maintaining the tank, but still going strong, and if something other than algea starts growing... then jackpot!

 

[Sdbuehler1]

With TBS rock, the clicking you are hearing is most definitely a mantis shrimp and with that much rock you probably have a couple. I added 150 lbs of TBS rock to my Waterbox 230.6 and there were 5 mantis shrimp. I caught two of them when unpacking the rock and the other three appeared with in a few weeks of adding the rock to the tank. Eventually the shrimp will get real bold and come right out into the open. I was able to net two of them a year later and I’m still working on catching the last one in the display. I would avoid adding any small snails until you know what you are dealing with. I added some small trochus snails and watched the mantis come out within seconds and drag it away. despite all the high hikers , TBS rock. Is awesome though.. so much life on it. Good Luck!

 

[Head-High and Glassy]

Thanks for the thoughts! Following your tank thread. I did just notice the shells of one of my bivalve hitchhikers that we'd been watching turn up in a new spot every couple of days, now split apart on the sand and clinically cleaned out, but still have not seen the actual mantis shrimp(s). Maybe they'll start eating each other or is that wishful thinking. I'm finding there's a lot of scope for swinging wildly between optimistic wishful thinking and depression in this endeavor.

 

[Head-High and Glassy]

Got one of these IM DIY lids from saltwater aquarium.com for $75 plus a million shipping. Was not impressed with the quality...at first. It's like plastic netting and some scuffed up aluminum bars. But then I nearly choked when I read the instruction to measure the bars and cut them to the size of the tank with a HACKSAW. A hacksaw cuts aluminum bars? I gave up when it became apparent I was more likely to slip and cut my hand off than dent these things. All I ended up doing was scratching some of the paint off. I think it's a little misleading to sell something and not mention that it requires using a hacksaw to cut an inch or two off a metal bar. I'm surprised i even had a hacksaw. When I saw that instruction, I had the same reaction as when my rental car gps in Iceland told us in the middle of snowstorm to make a right turn and then "navigate off road" to get to a waterfall. "Navigate off road" is like polite gps-speak for "now crash your car in a ditch and freeze to death" or DIY lid-speak for "now amputate one of your limbs in a futile attempt to shave off a few millimeters of this titanium bar." Like, nah. No thanks. 0 stars.

 

[skey44]

Loving your honest lighthearted perspective and creative writing style! This hobby is definitely full of worrying. Hopefully the leather is back out. Corals definitely don’t look their best everyday and leathers go through natural closing cycles and typically open back up in a few days if all is well. I think you have enough rock, but that’s really personal preference.
I got one of those similar lids too and risked fingers to get the job done. I knew what I was getting into, but it still wasn’t fun.

 

[Head-High and Glassy]

Thank you and appreciate the comments! The toadstool is looking better, and I have a theory. I had just done a 10% water change, but it had never occurred to me that I should try to match the new saltwater to the tank water, until watching reefer matt's video. Even then, the tank seemed too new, with only two small hard corals, to consume much alkalinity. I'd mainly been testing for nitrates, and although I tried once or twice testing alkalinity with the salifert titration method, I figured based on barely passing chem lab in school many years ago (and deciding then to never work in a lab ever) that I was probably doing it wrong. I tried testing it a few more times and got a little more familiar with the method (e.g. not to put my face right above the vial when swirling the new drop), but I was still getting 5-6 dkh which didn't make any sense to me. But then I tested the new saltwater and got 10 dkh, and started panicking. This was right after I was congratulating myself for never needing to add any chemicals to the tank. So I bought some all for reef and two part dosing components, and managed to figure out (with help) where we keep the baking soda. Two teaspoons later, and we're at 6.7 instead of 5.7, like magic! Tried one teaspoon the next day and it stayed at 6.7, so I'll try another 2 today and see what happens.

 

[justjes45]

"Because they thought it would be cheaper" than a puppy....
I love following along here! I think my husband WISHES we got a puppy instead...

Great job so far!

 

[Head-High and Glassy]

Week 6

Last Sunday, earned some rewards points at the LFS and two free zoas, by way of a sleeper goby, a pintail wrasse, a cleaner shrimp, three tuxedo urchins, a "solar flare" acro, and a tunze osmolator 3.

The sleeper goby has taken over everyone's favorite rock, and appears to be bunkering down for the end of days.

The pintail (aka Sunset) went through a rough patch. Thought we were going to lose him from a really bad looking eye. Not sure how it happened but it was gnarly. He was just laying against the glass protecting his eye for a few days. Kept eating the whole time though and the eye looks much better now and he's becoming more active.

Shrimp just hangs out upside down under the rocks. Will not come out to eat but I've used one of the testing syringes to get food near enough for him to pounce, although it didn't take long for the flame hawk to understand that the syringe means more food.

My monti cap is growing. The acro hasn't died yet. The toadstool shed its skin and polyps are back out. Frogspawn looks good so far.

Started manually adding 10 ml of all for reef and supplementing with baking soda as needed. Testing a lot.

One urchin died, which is our only loss so far through 5 weeks. Not sure how, but ended up dinner for something.