My first saltwater tank mixed reef

[ZX6Reef]

Good on you for moving the GSP to its own rock. That stuff can get out of hand really quick just like Xenia.

Following along!

 

[Digitalfirex]

Good on you for moving the GSP to its own rock. That stuff can get out of hand really quick just like Xenia.

Following along!

So I hear! Def growing pretty fast for me, one of the few I have seen a noticeable change in my tank.

 

[Digitalfirex]

Purchased an emerald crab to tackle my bubble algea. Was afraid it wouldn't get along w my CBS, but to my surprise no fighting! Also purchased 2 Mexican Turbo snails, 2 black Margherita snails, 1 hammer frag (unknown what specific color or type?) And a small BTA! BTAs are really expensive in my area (most lfs have osci. Clown fish at like $50 ea). This small head was priced at $60, but lfs had a 30% off all livestock sale so figured I'd give it a try on my first BTA.

 

[Digitalfirex]

I forgot to mention. I added more snails because my cuc seemed to have been slowly reduced to empty shells. I caught my CBS eating a snail 1 time too!

Also added another power head. Decided to try the aqamai kps wifi model. Figured needed more flow to help with the algea and cyano outbreak.

 

[Digitalfirex]

Update. Ditched the aqamai kps power head. The app was just horrible. Went instead with the nero 5. Yes it's overkill for a tank this size but it's amazing in comparison. I can transfer to a different tank if I ever need it... now it's highest at 15% and lowest at 1% in its random mode.
Have been testing with hanna dkh, consistently at 8- 8.2 daily. Loosing about .2 alk daily... decided to dose all for reef for stability.
Still dosing phyto, added ab+ dosing daily aswell. Ordered a new power strip, it's wifi capable, this allows me to schedule skimmer to shut off daily for 1.5 hours. Allows me to dose, empty cup and bacteria to catch up I guess. Also found a apc battery backup on amazon for $50 new, 450 watts to run nero 5 for 5 hours in case of power failure!

 

[Digitalfirex]

Update: good news bad news....


The bad news is that I ran out of room for cool frags in my tank. Current tank picture below (current as of TODAY)

You may notice it has chaeto, some kenya tree, star gazer zoa on rock and the marleti, two clown fish... Unseen is a small mandarin dragonette.

 

[Digitalfirex]

The long story short version... the tank was exploding with pods (hence the small, happy mandarin) and now it's basically a frag / QT... mostly because I have all the necessary equipment and it's cycled. The clowns are two sizes, because 1 is new. The old mate was eaten by a coral. More on that later. So far the older clown and the newer clown get along... so that's good.

 

[Digitalfirex]

Now the good news...


I got myself a reefer 250. Transferred all the fish and coral etc to that tank.

Stock list with new tank:

4 clown fish (2 larger mated pair)
Large Mandarin Dragonette
6 line wrasse
2 blue green chromis
Firefish

Coral:
Additional to original frags

Large bi color bubble
Mohawk zoas
Pandora zoas
Green palys
Large GSP rock
Kenya Tree
Unknown zoas?
Unknown coral (monti?)

 

[Digitalfirex]

I bought the RS 250 here on the forum. I wanted one. One was for sale. It just happened. I went to pick it up. See below.

 

[Digitalfirex]

@Alanna102499 a few month update... you will appreciate this story...

The bi color bubble ate 2 of my fish. The mandarin (I don't have any proof, disappeared) and 1 clown fish.

I was SOOO upset. I told my wife, "that's it, I'm selling the bubble"... she likes it tho. It stays.

 

[Digitalfirex]

Few days from the "bubble ate my fish" incident my 6 line goes missing. Look all over. No trace. Obviously I'm worried and thinking the bubble ate it.

NOPE. I find it behind the tank a couple days later. :'(

 

[Digitalfirex]

So now my stocking of 9 fish is way down.

3 clown fish.
2 blue green chromis
Firefish...

Time to shop for stuff.

I decided to visit reef a palooza NYC. First time, didn't know what to expect. I bought a small mushroom rock, and a torch, 1 head. Got home, torch melted away.

I dont think I'll buy coral at RAP NY again. The visuals were great, I might stick to the raffles or equipment purchase with discounts, but not coral. Cash purchase, zero DOA policy (no receipts)... I'll stick to ordering online and paying for shipping. At least in case it arrives dead or something you can get something back imo. Live and learn.

 

[Digitalfirex]

I ordered a few new fish for the tank.

Stock is now
2 mated clown fish
2 blue green chromis
1 royal gramma
1 firefish
2 pj cardinals
1 springeri damsel fish
1 leopard wrasse
1 redfin wrasse
1 carpenter flasher wrasse
1 six line wrasse

Yes that's pushing the stock for the tank... but I ended up keeping the 20g tank running with all the equipment. I purchased 1 clown fish and moved the odd clown left into the 20g tank. I also purchased a small mandarin dragonette, so those 3 fish are in the 20g tank. At some point I will move another fish into the 20g from the 250 aswell, for now since the fish are small I'm testing compatibility etc. I can move the firefish, since those do well in nano take anyway, or the chromis depending on any aggression that may develop. The demsel or gramma can also be moved into the 20g at somepoint in the future too, again depending on how everyone gets along. I also didn't add everyone at once either. I ordered the mandarin, clownfish and wrasse from LA since they had a 4th of July sale with 15% off... and the PJ cardinals, demsel, gramma, came from my LFS previously. Still deciding who is moved and who stays. So far firefish is in the running tho because it's one of the more boring fish in the tank, sorry to say.

 

[Digitalfirex]

Remember the crack in the stock reefer 250 tank? Well believe it or not the sump holds water. Been the sump running the whole time. But it has bothered me in the back of my mind, what if it starts leaking or something. Well a guy at my job was throwing out some new acrylic sheets. I guess they had been purchased to set up dividers for Covid, had not been used for whatever reason... then some department decided to just toss them. So I asked if I could keep them. The person throwing them wasn't my boss, different department... but green light on the panels. So that's been my current side project. It's on going, as I put an hour here and there at night on this project.

They are 1/4" high quality acrylic... so I've designed my own sump to replace the stock reefer 250 v1 sump. When it's all done it will be about 25" long, with the same filter footprint of the stock sump. What I did is decided to add an extra compartment at the end, this will be roughly 3 gallons for the ato. The reason to keep the same footprint otherwise comes down to keeping the same plumbing. So the design will be as follows. Overflow and emergency flow drop into the first chamber. This I might populate with bio balls or chaeto. Most likely bioballs to increase my biological filtration. Then I will add the sock filter chamber. This consists of a 4in round cut out on an acrylic wall, set up with a 10" baffle. The reason is this will accommodate a klir4 or 4 in red sea sock or filter cup. I'm mostlikely going to do the klir. Next is the largest chamber, eventually this flows into the skimmer chamber and then the return pump chamber. I wanted the space in the center cheer as a fuge, not sure what I'll be running there yet tho. Maybe chaeto... mostly I wanted a space for a large pod population. Another idea is that it can serve as a frag tank. Throw light rack diffuser, a cheap LED nicrew light ect and should grow frags no problem. At 6 or 7 inch water depth should get 150 par no problem. Also thinking I can run GFO under the sock chamber to help too... haven't quite decided yet. The point is however that the sump design will give me the flexibility of going in any direction I need with the filtering of this heavy bioload. The good news is that if my design fails (new to welding acrylic) all I really spent on it was the weld on 4 purchase.

 

[Digitalfirex]

The sump is still an on going project. In the middle of that tho.. the six line wrasse that jumped out the tank has bothered me. Mostly because I have a "lid" on the tank. So I used some left over cut outs from the acrylic panels and made small tops /lids for the small openings on the back if the tank next to the overflow. Surprisingly they don't look too bad. Fix the issue and free? I'll take it.

Also decided to re-scape the tank 1 more time. Added more caves for the wrasse. So far I like it. Think it's more interesting to look at, more dynamic if you will. It's entertaining watching the wrasse jump in and out of the rock work.

 

[Gedxin]

Great write up! Sorry to hear about your clownfish and wrasse. I see a lid on your 250, how the heck did the wrasse get out?!

That bi color bubble is gigantic! Looks like it could eat just about any of your fishes, any concern it'll gobble up something else?

 

[Digitalfirex]

Great write up! Sorry to hear about your clownfish and wrasse. I see a lid on your 250, how the heck did the wrasse get out?!

That bi color bubble is gigantic! Looks like it could eat just about any of your fishes, any concern it'll gobble up something else?

There is a lid on the tank! It's squared tho, so only explanation I can think of is that it managed to pass in the openings next to the overflow. I've since fixed that with acrylic pieces I layed over.

The firefish scares me daily. It likes to swimm very close to the bubble >.>

 

[Digitalfirex]

Great write up! Sorry to hear about your clownfish and wrasse. I see a lid on your 250, how the heck did the wrasse get out?!

That bi color bubble is gigantic! Looks like it could eat just about any of your fishes, any concern it'll gobble up something else?

This is the firefish right now :O

 

[Gedxin]

Oh no, deathwish fish!

 

[Alanna102499]

Keep feeding that bubble coral. Reef tours and LPS pellets. That thing is getting HUGE!