Jay's 135 reef tank build

[jsiker]

Hello all!

I just purchased a new 135 gallon aquarium and got it setup this past weekend. I had to go with lower end items to get things started but I hope to buy better equipment in the future.

Below is my first pic of the tank with sand, water, rock and lights on. I am cycling it from scratch so it will be a slow process getting it going.

I started with live sand and dry rock. Just starting to get my ammonia levels up in the tank now. I will add pics as things change.

 

[Maddlesrain]

Congrats on the new build!!
Any stocking plans you have in mind?
Can't wait to see how it turns out!

 

[jsiker]

I started off with dry rock and live sand, so I'm basically cycling old school. Finally have my ammonia coming up as of yesterday so hopefully the nitrite cycle will start soon as well. I'm going to be getting a little bit of live rock from my sister-in-law this weekend to help kick start the coralline production as well.
Since I am cycling from scratch basically the picture updates will be slow at first. I will post more as things start to change.

I will say that I'm starting to see that my rock (which was bone white at first) is starting to take on a pinkish color, so I'm hoping that is a good sign of the cycling starting.

 

[jsiker]

Hey all, I need some help/advice.

I've had the tank up and running for 2 weeks not. As stated above I went with live sand and drive rock. Salt is between 1.023 and 1.024. Alk is 8.2-8.4. No fish or other livestock in the tank yet. I have a Penn Plax canister filter running and 3 powerheads going as well. Water temp is between 80-81 degrees.
I've had 3 small, raw, uncooked shrimp in the tank for over a week and I'm am seeing little to no decay from them, my ammonia is at 1 ppm and I have 0 nitrites and 0 nitrates. At this point, given how much shrimp I have in the tank and NOTHING else I would have thought to see more decay/spiking ammonia so I'm at a loss as to why this isn't happening.
Should I turn off the filter for a few days but leave the powerheads going?
I'm trying to be patient as I know the cycles can take a while, but I thought I'd have way more ammonia at least by this point, especially with live sand in the tank.

Any help/thoughts/guidance would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jsiker]

Here is a week 3 picture. Tank is finally cycling nicely. I also got a few small pieces of live rock from my SIL to help thing along

 

[jsiker]

Week 4. We have the brown crud!!! Hehe. Diatoms are in full bloom and the tank is progressing nicely.

 

[jsiker]

Week 5 update. CUC is doing a great job of cleaning everything that is getting out of control. The fish I have in the tank are doing well and I think the diatoms are receding so I am expecting the ugly phase to start any day. Here are some of the latest pics:

 

[mmw64]

Looks great. Following along,

 

[jsiker]

Well it has been 2 weeks since my last update so here are some current pics. I am also working on a 40g plant/fuge tank that I will be linking to this 135g.

Here are a couple of pics of the 40. It is still in the early stages of cycling.

Main tank is coming along nicely. Already getting coralline growth on a lot of the rock. Parameters are good and stable. So far so good!

 

[jsker]

The tank look like it is coming along well, looking forward to the progression of the system

 

[jsiker]

Well it's been a few weeks since I posted any progress pics. I have been dealing with an ugly phase of green hair algae but I have lowered my light time and the intensity and have it under control and even backing off a bit. I also got a lawnmower blennie and he's doing a great job of extra cleanup.

Anyway, my parameters are all in control and stable.

Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 5-10
Salt 1.024
Calc 500
Mg 1400
Dkh 9.8

In the tank so far I have a yellow tang, maroon clownfish, 1 lonely blue/green chromis, lawnmower blennie and a small puffer (not the larger ones). Everyone is doing well.

 

[jsiker]

Hit send early. Sigh.

I recently got a few coral frags.
First some random zoas:

Next a meteor shower:

And finally one I would like an ID on if possible:

And here are a few tank shots including a FTS:

Thanks for taking a look!

 

[jsiker]

Hello all. I haven't posted an update in a while. I had some changes happen in the tank since the last post. Had some Velvet issues so took all the fish out to quarantine them. Since I had to get them out I had to remove a lot of the rock so I took the opportunity to rearrange the rockscape and get some more flat surfaces available for more corals. I've also added some more corals and gotten some new lights.
I am on a budget but knew I needed to get some better lighting for some of the corals I wanted to put in the tank. I purchased a 72" Current IC LED light. Stats below:

Description: 72” Orbit™ IC LED Light
Max. Watts: 63
Dual Actinic 445nm/460nm LEDs: 36/36
Dual Daylight 6,700K/10,000K LEDs: 28/28
RGB LEDs: 16
Total LEDs: 144
IP Rating: IP65
Voltage: 12VDC

The tank itself has been pretty stable for months and the new light looks AMAZING. Pictures below:

 

[jsiker]

Here are a few of my latest additions and just a couple of corals that I think are doing really well right now:

 

[jsiker]

#reef2reef, #worldwidecorals, #mywwccontest