@powers2001 that's a good question. It all depends on how quick the cycle goes. I'll be adding SmartStart Complete (live nitrifying bacteria) so the hope is it helps to drastically expedite the cycle so we can add livestock. Many say they can almost immediately add livestock after using live nitrifying bacteria to populate the tank. I'll be coupling the SmartStart with some ghost feedings to get things going, I hope that's sufficient. I'll be testing the parameters 1 or 2 times/day during the beginning to closely monitor the water and see when livestock can go in.
Kavo11's Red Sea Reefer 250 - My FIRST tank ever!
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mjlash22
Well-Known Member
Nice work on the plumbing!I apologize for the long delay in posting. Since last time, lots of goodies arrived and progress has been made! Dad and I decided to switch out the Sicce Synchra Silent 4.0 for a Reef Octopus Varios8. We decided to hard plumb the tank so it made sense to get a powerful DC pump that can be dialed back, but will have definitely have enough flow. I decided the Reef Octopus 150sss would be a perfect skimmer for the setup. It fits well in the sump and should be able to handle a heavy bioload in this 65g tank. Decided to go with Salifert for the PH and MG tests and also got a TDS meter for redundancy to periodically check the RODI unit. For hard plumbing, we went with blue schedule 40 PVC tubing as well as grey schedule 80 fittings all from BRS. I have to give my dad credit here as he captained the plumbing job with me as the assistant. We hard plumbed a manifold with 3 valves. As of now, we have 2 aquamaxx reactors, one for carbon and one for GFO. We may turn the stock ATO into a refugium. If so, we'll use the extra valve to run that or possibly an algae reactor. I think the plumbing turned out excellent overall.
I'm very happy with my final aquascape. If anyone wants to see the progress pics of the initial idea to where I ended up with the design, let me know and I'll add those pics too. I didn't use any glue or rods, the pukani holds together well how it's placed. I hope my gut is right on that!
Tomorrow seems like a big day for our tank progression! I'm making RODI tonight and should be filling the tank up sometime tomorrow to begin it's cycle barring no unforeseen issues. I'm stoked!
powers2001
started reefing 1999
Be careful with that hand held TDS meter and don't test saltwater with it. It could ruin it. That happened to mine.
I appreciate the tip @powers2001. Dad wanted that mainly to test our home's TDS to see where our drinking water is measuring at. I might use it every so often to ensure the TDS meters on my RODI unit are measuring accurately.
IT'S ALIVE!!!!!! Over the past few days, I've been making RODI water in my brute 44g container and filled the tank up last night!!! After accounting for the sand, rock pump and skimmer I was able to add just over 60g total. The tank is looking very clear this morning. I didn't even bother using the bio magnet clarifier that came with the Caribsea sand to clear it up faster so that was a pleasant surprise to wake up to. Temp is holding steady at 78 degree Fahrenheit using a single 150w Cobalt Neotherm heater. Still deciding if I want to operate the tank at 78 or 80 degrees. I'll be ordering an inkbird controller probably today so I have measure in place to prevent catastrophe should the heater ever get stuck in the on position. Specific gravity is currently reading at 1.024. I'll most likely follow BRS's guidance and raise it to 1.026. I added half a bottle (6oz) of the SmartStart live nitrifying bacteria after filling the tank up and did a light flake food ghost feeding as well. I'm hoping those two actions will be enough to let the tank cycle. I'll add the other 6oz either next week or the week after and will do a light ghost feeding weekly until she's ready to add livestock. I also had a mail call today, the red Filter Media Cups I ordered came in. I still need to buy filter floss before using them, but upon initial inspection I'm quite happy with how sturdy they are.
What's your thoughts on the ideal specific gravity as well as temperature for a mixed reef? 1.026 and 78-80 degrees? Also, is ammonia the main parameter I should concern myself with right now?
What's your thoughts on the ideal specific gravity as well as temperature for a mixed reef? 1.026 and 78-80 degrees? Also, is ammonia the main parameter I should concern myself with right now?
mjlash22
Well-Known Member
IT'S ALIVE!!!!!! Over the past few days, I've been making RODI water in my brute 44g container and filled the tank up last night!!! After accounting for the sand, rock pump and skimmer I was able to add just over 60g total. The tank is looking very clear this morning. I didn't even bother using the bio magnet clarifier that came with the Caribsea sand to clear it up faster so that was a pleasant surprise to wake up to. Temp is holding steady at 78 degree Fahrenheit using a single 150w Cobalt Neotherm heater. Still deciding if I want to operate the tank at 78 or 80 degrees. I'll be ordering an inkbird controller probably today so I have measure in place to prevent catastrophe should the heater ever get stuck in the on position. Specific gravity is currently reading at 1.024. I'll most likely follow BRS's guidance and raise it to 1.026. I added half a bottle (6oz) of the SmartStart live nitrifying bacteria after filling the tank up and did a light flake food ghost feeding as well. I'm hoping those two actions will be enough to let the tank cycle. I'll add the other 6oz either next week or the week after and will do a light ghost feeding weekly until she's ready to add livestock. I also had a mail call today, the red Filter Media Cups I ordered came in. I still need to buy filter floss before using them, but upon initial inspection I'm quite happy with how sturdy they are.
What's your thoughts on the ideal specific gravity as well as temperature for a mixed reef? 1.026 and 78-80 degrees? Also, is ammonia the main parameter I should concern myself with right now?
If you plan on adding corals, 1.025 at approx 78 degrees.
So far, so good! I decided to raise salinity to 1.025 and temp is still at 78. I've been monitoring my parameters since the tank was filled. Shortly after my last post, I decided to let a raw table shrimp decay some overnight to ensure the cycle really kicked off. Within a day or two, I saw ammonia spike and it also went back to zero after a short period. This indicated that the live bacteria did its job and really helped expedite the cycle time. Since ammonia, nitrite and nitrate were all in check, I decided to add my first bit of livestock this past Friday! I chose a pair of beautiful super fancy clowns and absolutely love them. I drove straight home and acclimated them using the drip method with no issues. They seem to have taken right to the tank as they were feeding the same day I got them and have been happily swimming around like they own the tank. I also decided to get a Vortech MP40 for flow. So far I'm extremely pleased with it and am glad I didn't skimp in this department. Flow will be vital once I start popping corals in the tank. I can already foresee another MP40 in the not too distant future. In addition to the MP40, I got the Tunze Care magnet scraper. I chose this scraper as it can be used all the way down to the sand bed with no fear of scratching the glass.
My apologies for the poor picture quality. I’m sure my fish photo skills will improve with time.
My apologies for the poor picture quality. I’m sure my fish photo skills will improve with time.
Last edited:
powers2001
started reefing 1999
Fish pictures!!
Hey everyone, sorry my lack of posts! I have zero good excuse other than being lazy and spending too much time looking and tinkering with my tank!
Since adding the 2 super fancy clowns, I've added my CUC as well as my first corals! For CUC, I first opted to go with 6 nassarius snails, 6 trochus snails and 2 cleaner shrimp. I chose nassarius for their sand moving abilities to keep things churned (although they seem a bit lazy!). I chose trochus since they are excellent at cleaning glass, sand beds and the rock along with their rare ability to flip themselves over. I didn't want to play flip the turbo snail every day, so these seemed like the obvious choice. I'll likely be adding some cerith snails once my lid arrives from Top Lids as they're apparently known for escaping the tank. That should arrive within 2 weeks. The cleaner shrimp seemed like a great addition not only for their obsessive cleaning, but to add some movement and color to the tank. I've since added 2 more nassarius in hopes they aren't as lazy along with 1 fire shrimp. I just love the bright red colors of fire shrimp so I had to have one.
I just added the first five corals this past Saturday (03/17/18) from Blue Ribbon Koi in Cartharpin, VA. I went with 1 lobophyllia, 1 scolymia, 1 purple tipped hammer (euphyllia), 1 green trumpet and 1 cyphastrea. So far, I'm very pleased with them except for 1 thing! The hammer coral had some aiptasia on it that I didn't see at John's store!!!! This was frustrating to say the least as I've taken every step possible to keep this tank pest free from day 1 (bleach curing pukani etc). I frantically drove to another LFS and got some Red Sea Aiptasia X ASAP and injected it to the little buggers. There were 3 heads total on the frag plug. I haven't seen any more show since (this was last Monday) although that doesn't mean no spores were released and it won't rear its ugly head again . I actually planned to get peppermint shrimp when I got the Aiptasia X, but ended up leaving with the fire shrimp instead (amazing impulse buy lol). The guys I trust at that shop said the peppermint shrimp tend to be lazy and get decently large so I didn't want to bother (oh and nip at coral!). The coral have been doing great since I got them and will be doing even better when their food arrives next week! I just ordered BRS Reef Chili along with Polyp Labs Reef Roids. They have amazing reviews all around and I'm confident my coral will be ecstatic when I begin target feeding them. Ill be building a makeshift target feeder with half a soda bottle to cover the coral as they feed since the cleaner shrimp are so greedy. They ate the mysis shrimp right off the coral when I target fed them the other day with no cover. I want to avoid that happening again so the coral don't get stressed all the time.
I'm finally using the filter media cups as well since the floss arrived. They are great, but I foresee one big issue. I plan to convert the stock ATO into a refugium to allow copepods a safe haven to grow. I know a mandarin dragonet is in my future so a robust pod population will be critical to its survival. The issue with the cups is they cant slide out like the filter bags could, they must be lifted straight out. I dont see myself disconnecting and lifting out the fuge once or twice a week when I have to change the filter floss, so hindsight 20/20 they may not have been the best move. Oh well, live and learn. Speaking of ATO, I put together a much larger aftermarket ATO. I'm using the 20g long tank I originally bought to use as a QT tank as the ATO. I could see the stock ATO would only last a day or two with my rate of evaporation which was unacceptable. Now I can go for a solid week without topping off, huge win! The Tunze Osmolator 3155 is phenomenal as far as keeping the tank topped off and also alerting me with a loud alarm if the sump gets filled too much for any reason. My only gripe is its fairly noisy when it turns on to fill, but thats me nitpicking.
What's to come:
Since adding the 2 super fancy clowns, I've added my CUC as well as my first corals! For CUC, I first opted to go with 6 nassarius snails, 6 trochus snails and 2 cleaner shrimp. I chose nassarius for their sand moving abilities to keep things churned (although they seem a bit lazy!). I chose trochus since they are excellent at cleaning glass, sand beds and the rock along with their rare ability to flip themselves over. I didn't want to play flip the turbo snail every day, so these seemed like the obvious choice. I'll likely be adding some cerith snails once my lid arrives from Top Lids as they're apparently known for escaping the tank. That should arrive within 2 weeks. The cleaner shrimp seemed like a great addition not only for their obsessive cleaning, but to add some movement and color to the tank. I've since added 2 more nassarius in hopes they aren't as lazy along with 1 fire shrimp. I just love the bright red colors of fire shrimp so I had to have one.
I just added the first five corals this past Saturday (03/17/18) from Blue Ribbon Koi in Cartharpin, VA. I went with 1 lobophyllia, 1 scolymia, 1 purple tipped hammer (euphyllia), 1 green trumpet and 1 cyphastrea. So far, I'm very pleased with them except for 1 thing! The hammer coral had some aiptasia on it that I didn't see at John's store!!!! This was frustrating to say the least as I've taken every step possible to keep this tank pest free from day 1 (bleach curing pukani etc). I frantically drove to another LFS and got some Red Sea Aiptasia X ASAP and injected it to the little buggers. There were 3 heads total on the frag plug. I haven't seen any more show since (this was last Monday) although that doesn't mean no spores were released and it won't rear its ugly head again . I actually planned to get peppermint shrimp when I got the Aiptasia X, but ended up leaving with the fire shrimp instead (amazing impulse buy lol). The guys I trust at that shop said the peppermint shrimp tend to be lazy and get decently large so I didn't want to bother (oh and nip at coral!). The coral have been doing great since I got them and will be doing even better when their food arrives next week! I just ordered BRS Reef Chili along with Polyp Labs Reef Roids. They have amazing reviews all around and I'm confident my coral will be ecstatic when I begin target feeding them. Ill be building a makeshift target feeder with half a soda bottle to cover the coral as they feed since the cleaner shrimp are so greedy. They ate the mysis shrimp right off the coral when I target fed them the other day with no cover. I want to avoid that happening again so the coral don't get stressed all the time.
I'm finally using the filter media cups as well since the floss arrived. They are great, but I foresee one big issue. I plan to convert the stock ATO into a refugium to allow copepods a safe haven to grow. I know a mandarin dragonet is in my future so a robust pod population will be critical to its survival. The issue with the cups is they cant slide out like the filter bags could, they must be lifted straight out. I dont see myself disconnecting and lifting out the fuge once or twice a week when I have to change the filter floss, so hindsight 20/20 they may not have been the best move. Oh well, live and learn. Speaking of ATO, I put together a much larger aftermarket ATO. I'm using the 20g long tank I originally bought to use as a QT tank as the ATO. I could see the stock ATO would only last a day or two with my rate of evaporation which was unacceptable. Now I can go for a solid week without topping off, huge win! The Tunze Osmolator 3155 is phenomenal as far as keeping the tank topped off and also alerting me with a loud alarm if the sump gets filled too much for any reason. My only gripe is its fairly noisy when it turns on to fill, but thats me nitpicking.
What's to come:
- As stated, the lid from Top Lids should arrive within 2 weeks. I have to say I'm a bit disappointed with their customer service as they told me 3-4 week lead time when I sent them money and placed my order on 02/26/18. I messaged them yesterday and was told "probably within 2 weeks". I don't even mind the extra waiting too much, but what I do mind is the lack of proactive customer service. I haven't received a single message from them since placing my order. I understand its a 2 man operation, but a quick 30 second facebook message letting me know the lid would be slightly delayed would have more than appeased me. Hopefully the quality will make me forget the subpar customer service.
- I have a Royal Gramma on hold at my preferred LFS (they have a TRUE qt process that I trust enough to put their fish directly in my DT). I'll be waiting for the lid to arrive first to ensure it doesn't jump out, so hopefully it arrives sooner than later!
- I'll be tidying up the external cords by building a dividing wall (insert Trump joke here). This will be for aesthetics and to keep water from the electronics should I splash water or in the unlikely case, my sump overflowing. I bought the American DJ power outlet so I'll have individual switches to easily turn off components rather than unplugging them.
- I should have a BRS order arrive today which includes marine pure spheres, BRS Kalkwasser, and GFO. I'll be loading up the first chamber in the sump where the water drains with the spheres to add even more space for beneficial bacteria to propagate. The Kalkwasser will be added to my ATO. This will keep my calcium, alkalinity and pH in check as the Tunze kicks on to keep the water level consistent. The one test kit I dont have is for phosphates. I don't believe mine to be high since I bleach cured my pukani for weeks before filling the aquarium, but it'll be good to have on hand so I can instantly turn on a reactor if I believe phosphates to getting high (algae outbreak etc).
A BRS order arrived yesterday. I got a 2 qt box of marine pure spheres, the pharma kalkwasser starter package, and 2lbs of BRS bulk GFO (granular ferric oxide).
The marine pure spheres will add even more surface area for beneficial bacteria to populate in addition to the broken up plate I already had in the sump. A wise reefer once told me this hobby is all about bacteria, so I want to give it as much real estate as possible. My original thought was to put them in the first chamber of the sump before the filter cups. A fellow reefer provided some feedback in the redsea fb group last night telling me it could cause a detritus trap. Heeding his advice as it made perfect sense, I moved as many spheres into the bubble trap container where I have the current plate and then the excess spheres went into the return pump chamber. I figured it made more sense to go there then the skimmer chamber where they would be in close proximity to my heaters.
I'm excited to see how the kalkwasser keeps my parameters in check. I love that BRS sends you a bag of magnesium mix, calcium chloride and sodium bicarbonate in case you determine that kalkwasser doesn't do the job of keeping the big 3 params in sync. I plan to add it today.
I need to finalize gluing together the 1/2" PVC to run from the far right reactor to the sump. This is where I'll be running the GFO. I may get around to this today, stay tuned....
First pic is where I had originally placed the spheres last night. Second is where they're at now. I still have a little chunk of the marine pure plate in the first chamber. I don't think it'll be too much of a detritus issue. If I have to set up a QT tank, I'll likely pull that little chunk out to bring beneficial bacteria to the tank and pull some established tank water out of the DT during a water change to get things going.
The marine pure spheres will add even more surface area for beneficial bacteria to populate in addition to the broken up plate I already had in the sump. A wise reefer once told me this hobby is all about bacteria, so I want to give it as much real estate as possible. My original thought was to put them in the first chamber of the sump before the filter cups. A fellow reefer provided some feedback in the redsea fb group last night telling me it could cause a detritus trap. Heeding his advice as it made perfect sense, I moved as many spheres into the bubble trap container where I have the current plate and then the excess spheres went into the return pump chamber. I figured it made more sense to go there then the skimmer chamber where they would be in close proximity to my heaters.
I'm excited to see how the kalkwasser keeps my parameters in check. I love that BRS sends you a bag of magnesium mix, calcium chloride and sodium bicarbonate in case you determine that kalkwasser doesn't do the job of keeping the big 3 params in sync. I plan to add it today.
I need to finalize gluing together the 1/2" PVC to run from the far right reactor to the sump. This is where I'll be running the GFO. I may get around to this today, stay tuned....
First pic is where I had originally placed the spheres last night. Second is where they're at now. I still have a little chunk of the marine pure plate in the first chamber. I don't think it'll be too much of a detritus issue. If I have to set up a QT tank, I'll likely pull that little chunk out to bring beneficial bacteria to the tank and pull some established tank water out of the DT during a water change to get things going.
Looks great!!! You're off to an awesome start!
I've not actually read about the tunze ato creating a siphon, but I've always had the outlet higher than the resivoir going into bigger tubing to prevent the siphon. If you have any extra 1/2" PVC you could drop your tunze outlet into it, which is what I planned on doing. Just haven't got around to it... 1 year later!
Circled below is the tunze output into some bigger soft tubing. Just something to think about!
I've not actually read about the tunze ato creating a siphon, but I've always had the outlet higher than the resivoir going into bigger tubing to prevent the siphon. If you have any extra 1/2" PVC you could drop your tunze outlet into it, which is what I planned on doing. Just haven't got around to it... 1 year later!
Circled below is the tunze output into some bigger soft tubing. Just something to think about!
Looks great!!! You're off to an awesome start!
I've not actually read about the tunze ato creating a siphon, but I've always had the outlet higher than the resivoir going into bigger tubing to prevent the siphon. If you have any extra 1/2" PVC you could drop your tunze outlet into it, which is what I planned on doing. Just haven't got around to it... 1 year later!
Circled below is the tunze output into some bigger soft tubing. Just something to think about!
Thanks @pelphrey! I'd be lying if I said I didn't watch some of your videos for inspiration as the tank and plumbing we're being planned. It can absolutely cause a siphon effect where the output will keep dripping top off water into the sump. This happened to me first when I had the output angled down a bit. To solve this, I just pulled the output hose back a bit to where it sits level with the ground (hope that makes sense, I'll post a pic). That very slight adjustment has stopped the tunze from siphoning extra water into the sump. Still a good modification to consider, you've got me thinking now. On a sidenote, I was watching your video last night where you put the mollies in the sump. First, sorry that happened! Losing fish has to be a big bummer no matter the cost and I'm not looking forward to the day I lose my first fish. I actually have a question for you about the video. You mentioned you were battling 0 nitrates? Did you mean that you were battling getting them to 0 or battling to get them to rise from 0ppm? How do mollies help in that situation?
Perfect ATO solution!!!
My tank had nitrates during the cycle, eventually they went to ZERO after a lot of testing and still reading 0 I ran out of testing solution and stopped testing them. Fast forward I've been testing nitrates for months now and they always read 0. The system is fairly mature at this point being 18ish months old add the pond matrix, skimmer and the ATS and I've set myself up for a ULNS. I've added a few fish here and there and need to add more, so my and a reefing buddy were speaking and got to talking about the mollies. The objective was to add them to the system in return they would increase my bioload. Well that plan backfired quickly, in return I had to pull my skimmer. Since I had the skimmer out and I cleaned the crap out of it I left it out. I've also removed some of the pond matrix. I do have some of the GreenLeaf kno3 mixed up and ready to dose nitrates, I am just experimenting right now to see if I can get them up without dosing nitrates. End result I bet I end up dosing nitrate! Phosphates on the other hand have been zero multiple times and been sky high, when phosphate readings drop I add some reef roids to the tank which increases the phosphates.
The reason I am chasing this nitrate issue.... Most if not all of my SPS are struggling and some have lost the battle. It could be the 0 nitrate or it may be something else. My gut says its the nitrates, and after reading about it I feel like most people prefer a higher nitrate reading VS none at all. I did add some miracle mud to the sump this morning, I am going to give it some time to see if there are any real benefits for my tank. At this point its all one big experiment that I am trying to figure out!
My tank had nitrates during the cycle, eventually they went to ZERO after a lot of testing and still reading 0 I ran out of testing solution and stopped testing them. Fast forward I've been testing nitrates for months now and they always read 0. The system is fairly mature at this point being 18ish months old add the pond matrix, skimmer and the ATS and I've set myself up for a ULNS. I've added a few fish here and there and need to add more, so my and a reefing buddy were speaking and got to talking about the mollies. The objective was to add them to the system in return they would increase my bioload. Well that plan backfired quickly, in return I had to pull my skimmer. Since I had the skimmer out and I cleaned the crap out of it I left it out. I've also removed some of the pond matrix. I do have some of the GreenLeaf kno3 mixed up and ready to dose nitrates, I am just experimenting right now to see if I can get them up without dosing nitrates. End result I bet I end up dosing nitrate! Phosphates on the other hand have been zero multiple times and been sky high, when phosphate readings drop I add some reef roids to the tank which increases the phosphates.
The reason I am chasing this nitrate issue.... Most if not all of my SPS are struggling and some have lost the battle. It could be the 0 nitrate or it may be something else. My gut says its the nitrates, and after reading about it I feel like most people prefer a higher nitrate reading VS none at all. I did add some miracle mud to the sump this morning, I am going to give it some time to see if there are any real benefits for my tank. At this point its all one big experiment that I am trying to figure out!
Ah I see. I had no idea that 0 nitrate could be a bad thing. I do plan to keep SPS in the somewhat near future. Since starting the tank on 02/14/18, I've not once registered any nitrates. I saw an very brief ammonia spike (due to using bottled live bacteria to speed it up), then I watched nitrite rise then fall to 0. Nitrite has been zero for weeks now and I still can't get any nitrates. As of now, my only bio load is a pair of clowns. Not sure if CUC and coral are part of the load too, but even factoring those in I only have 2 cleaner shrimp, 1 fire shrimp, 7 nassarius snails, 6 trochus snails and then the 5 coral I just added. I'll have to keep monitoring as I do plan to load it up with fish and see if I can register at least some nitrates. I'm setting up my GFO reactor right now. I don't have a phosphate checker so I've no clue what my levels are if I even have them. I bleach cured my dry pukani for well over 2 weeks so I imagine that wiped out almost all organic matter on the rock.
What's your current livestock list?
I am far from the best to say that zero nitrate is bad, but seems like most people prefer to keep their nitrates at 2-5ppm. Although it is worth mentioning that for many many years everyone either wanted or did run their tanks with 0 nitrates and 0 phosphates. You may not even need the GFO, if you do add some just add a little. A little will go a long way!
2 clowns, wrasse, blenny, bristletooth tang, couple shrimp, few snails, few hermits. Hermits aren't my favorite as they tend to knock glued corals off the rock work before they can encrust. Corals do add to the bioload, I'm just not sure how much.
It's interesting to see how hobbies progress over the years. I'm just glad I'm entering now as it seems the reefing community has made leaps and bounds of progress over the last few years! Good call on the GFO. Being as I don't have a test kit yet, I'd rather err on the side of caution and not blast GFO 24/7. Even though I don't believe my phosphates to be high, I know large swings are never good. So in case I'm wrong and phosphates are higher than I think, lowering them to zero in a day probably isn't smart. I may run it for an hour or so a day until I get a kit. I'll order one from BRS by Monday, probably the ultra low range Hanna checker and hopefully have it by Wednesday or Thursday.
You definitely don't have too much stock in the tank to produce a large bioload. I'm trying not to move too fast with adding new stock although it's hard to resist the temptation. I'm still trying to decide if I'll go pick up my Royal Gramma that's been on hold tomorrow or Sunday. Being as I still don't have my lid though, I'm a bit tentative. From my knowledge they aren't persistent jumpers like wrasse, although I have heard of them jumping or darting in caves when spooked.
So I went to my LFS today to pick up my royal gramma that they had on hold for me. I had placed a 50% deposit weeks ago and today was the day it was supposedly ready to go after their QT process. According to the employee, it jumped out of the tank....Based on her body language etc I almost wonder if they just sold it to someone else by accident and we're trying to cover their mistake. I'd always rather just be told the truth and hopefully they did, although part of me wonders. Needless to say, they ultimately made it right and I'm a happy camper. They had a gorgeous twinspot anthias (female I believe) marked for $70. Due to their mistake in not calling me before I made the 1 hour drive to pick it up, they gave it to me for $32. The shop will get a few more royal gramma next week and then put them in QT and I've been assured I'll get one of those. While I was really looking forward to bringing home my gramma today, I'm very happy with the way I was treated after their mistake and have no ill feelings. After all, we're all human! The twinspot anthias is gorgeous and should bring lots of personality to my reef (fingers crossed). I temp acclimated for a solid 30 minutes followed by a 35-40 minute drip acclimation. I used a 5 gallon bucket on my first go round with the clowns, but I changed it up a bit this time. I cut the upper portion off a clean, empty 1 gallon water jug. I figured this smaller container would allow more water height for the fish when I initially drop it in compared to the 5 gallon bucket. While drip acclimating has many benefits, there is one big downside in my opinion if not dealt with, temperature change. To combat the container losing temp during the drip process, I did the following. Filled the 5 gallon bucket with a gallon or so of 79 degree tapwater. I run the tank at 78, so I wanted it to be a degree higher as I know the temp will drop during the process. I then emptied the anthias and store water into the 1 gallon jug and placed the jug into the 5 gallon bucket. I believe this method enables me to keep a darn near consistent temp for the fish while it drip acclimates. When I put the clowns in using just the 5 gallon bucket, I wasn't able to drip acclimate as long as I wanted do to the temperature loss. I believe this will be my future method for acclimating all fish. She's hiding in the pukani holes since I put her in the tank, but I hope she'll meander out sometime tomorrow and I'll snap a pic or two.
I also got a redsea phosphate pro test while I was there (only $30, seemed like a steal as BRS has them on sale for $36 off $42 right now). Measured once I got home and I'm at 0.04, just about perfect. I believe I read somewhere 0.03 to be the perfect goal. I ran the reactor for a good 3-4 hours tonight, so I wouldn't be surprised if I'm at or a bit below 0.03 tomorrow when I check. We shall see. I'm hoping to get the kalkwasser running tomorrow (today I mean, its like 2am). To be continued!
I also got a redsea phosphate pro test while I was there (only $30, seemed like a steal as BRS has them on sale for $36 off $42 right now). Measured once I got home and I'm at 0.04, just about perfect. I believe I read somewhere 0.03 to be the perfect goal. I ran the reactor for a good 3-4 hours tonight, so I wouldn't be surprised if I'm at or a bit below 0.03 tomorrow when I check. We shall see. I'm hoping to get the kalkwasser running tomorrow (today I mean, its like 2am). To be continued!
Update time! I went to my favorite LFS this past Friday to put a deposit down on a Royal Gramma (again) as they got a few more in. They'll be clear from QT on 4/8/18, so I'm patiently waiting til then. Of course a trip to the LFS wouldn't be complete without leaving with something in hand, am I right? In all seriousness, I try to avoid impulse purchases. I went there with full intentions of bringing home a frag or two, ideally a bubble coral. Well, the LFS employees steered me away from the bubble coral for now, recommending I wait another month or two for the tank to establish itself more. I ended up going home with a nice acan as well as a WWC gold bullion favia. I've been eyeing that favia frag since my first trip to this store and I knew I wanted an acan as well for the sandbed. I'm very happy with both.
After doing some perusing online, I found out something pretty sweet. Jason Fox of Jason Fox Signature Corals happens to live in my home state of Maryland as well, just over an hour away! I sent him an email asking if local pick up is an option and even went a step further to see if he'd allow me to tour his full setup. I'm cautiously optimistic about the latter as I'm not sure he wants strangers in his house which I can fully understand, but maybe later down the road as I get to know him he'll be open to the idea. We shall see. Either way, I'll be a very happy camper if he just gets back to me saying I can do local pick up. With Reef A Palooza right around the corner, I'm not expecting a quick response as I'm sure he's bustling to get ready if he's not already down there, so we shall patiently wait for that as well!
What else have I been up to? Well, I've had it in my mind for awhile now that I WILL have a mandarin dragonet in my reef. Knowing their propensity to only eat pods, I've decided to add a fuge. My initial thought was to use the stock ATO, but then it occurred to me that doing so in its standard position wouldn't allow me to use my filter media cups as they only lift straight out. Nobody wants to play "move the fuge" every few days to change out filter floss. I decided that putting it directly to the right of the sump would be best so dad and I took white PVC board and got to work. We're putting a dividing wall in place to keep water from the right part of the cabinet as we'll be putting an ADJ power strip under there. Electricity and water= no no. We're putting a front facing board in place to mount the power strip to so there's only the individual switches exposed giving a nice clean look. All controllers will be mounted there as well. Theres a cutout and stand built as part of the setup for the fuge to sit on. It's only a 2.5g tank so it doesn't take up loads of space. I actually drilled it already which was quite easy to do. I added a strainer to the inside of the bulkhead so loose chaeto won't clog up the plumbing. The fuge will be fed by soft tubing off my remaining open valve. Stay tuned for pics of the completed setup. My BRS order will be here Friday so I'm planning to have it up and running by the weekend (minus the chaeto and pods, those will get ordered from AlgaeBarn once everything is up and running properly).
Pics!!!! I'll have to wait a bit to add pics of my new coral. Lights are still off and I haven't taken any pics of them yet.
After doing some perusing online, I found out something pretty sweet. Jason Fox of Jason Fox Signature Corals happens to live in my home state of Maryland as well, just over an hour away! I sent him an email asking if local pick up is an option and even went a step further to see if he'd allow me to tour his full setup. I'm cautiously optimistic about the latter as I'm not sure he wants strangers in his house which I can fully understand, but maybe later down the road as I get to know him he'll be open to the idea. We shall see. Either way, I'll be a very happy camper if he just gets back to me saying I can do local pick up. With Reef A Palooza right around the corner, I'm not expecting a quick response as I'm sure he's bustling to get ready if he's not already down there, so we shall patiently wait for that as well!
What else have I been up to? Well, I've had it in my mind for awhile now that I WILL have a mandarin dragonet in my reef. Knowing their propensity to only eat pods, I've decided to add a fuge. My initial thought was to use the stock ATO, but then it occurred to me that doing so in its standard position wouldn't allow me to use my filter media cups as they only lift straight out. Nobody wants to play "move the fuge" every few days to change out filter floss. I decided that putting it directly to the right of the sump would be best so dad and I took white PVC board and got to work. We're putting a dividing wall in place to keep water from the right part of the cabinet as we'll be putting an ADJ power strip under there. Electricity and water= no no. We're putting a front facing board in place to mount the power strip to so there's only the individual switches exposed giving a nice clean look. All controllers will be mounted there as well. Theres a cutout and stand built as part of the setup for the fuge to sit on. It's only a 2.5g tank so it doesn't take up loads of space. I actually drilled it already which was quite easy to do. I added a strainer to the inside of the bulkhead so loose chaeto won't clog up the plumbing. The fuge will be fed by soft tubing off my remaining open valve. Stay tuned for pics of the completed setup. My BRS order will be here Friday so I'm planning to have it up and running by the weekend (minus the chaeto and pods, those will get ordered from AlgaeBarn once everything is up and running properly).
Pics!!!! I'll have to wait a bit to add pics of my new coral. Lights are still off and I haven't taken any pics of them yet.
heifinator
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Looking good man! Nice first tank.
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