My High Energy Rainbow Garden - Niji No Niwa

[rushbattle]

Still not done with the build...... [emoji20]

Here are a few updates though (Pics to come)

1. Tank is doing very well. Zero ugly phase!. Display doesn't look any different than the last shots I posted. I'm very happy with the rockwork.

2. Purchased and installed "Holy Grail " lighting system - Giesemann Spectra. Saving up for 2 x Reefbrite XHO bars (already have dimmer). Absolutely incredible light!

3. Ran LDPE tubing for all dosing and water change tubing. Have been feeling uneasy about its use since installation - not because it's not working, but I'm dreading the frequency of replacement!. I'm currently outfitting my DOS and FX-STP for HDPE (RODI) tubing. Will begin installing once all parts arrive. DOS is currently performing a 4 g daily water change.

4. Decided to implement a kalkwasser reactor in my setup. Installed reactor in water storage closet. Initially set it up with PMUP, but am not confident about its dosing volume consistency. Going to use FX-STP that was initially installed for calcium reactor, and purchase another FX-STP later....

5. Still need to organize powerhead and lighting wiring. Need to install some wire mounts and purchase and install blue wire loom for lighting cords. Will probably wait until I have Reefbrites installed before buttoning this up....

6. Still haven't set up coral QT yet.... Found a busted seam on tank I was going to use originally.... Sourced a new 60 g cube, which is taller than I wanted, but I like the additional water volume. Will plan plumbing system in next few days. Won't be as nice as the display plumbing, but will stick to the grey/red/white theme here.

7. Current Display stock list-
a) Pair of 6 yr Snowflake Oscelaris
b) 2.5" Acanthurus pyroferus (Lemonpeel Tang)
c) 2.5" Ctenochaetus strigosus (Kole Tang)
d) 2.5" Gramma Loreto (Royal Gramma)
e) 1.75" Ecsenius stigmatura (Tailspot Blenny)

8. Current QT stock list -
a) 1.5" Acanthurus tristis (Eibli Mimic Tang)
b) 4" Siganus magnificus (Magnificent Foxface)
c) 5" Zebrasoma rostratum (Black Tang) - display centerpiece.

9. On wishlist
a) small Acanthurus triostegus
b) small pair Oxycirrhites typus
c) various small fish to hide in rockwork

10. Money was burning a hole in my pocket and I purchased 2 x Eclectus mushrooms. One yellow and red, and the other bright orange. Managed to get a Red Devil shroom thrown in for free. My brother will hold these for me until my coral QT is ready to go.

Going to stick to all mushrooms first- this will make QT much easier. Also going to purchase WWC OG Bounce, Kali Kid Black Mamba Bounce, and Kali Kid Juggernaut Bounce. Then I'll move on to Zoas next.....

11. Installed Kessil H380 over refugium. I was originally worried that I was going to have a deal with a hot pink beam eminating from my open stand at night, but the light is much cooler than I expected. Gives a very neat look to the inside of the stand when it's on.

12. Pulled the Algae Barn Chaeto out of QT, and placed in the fuge (been in there 100 days or so). I think I'm just now getting to a point where there are enough nutrients in the system to support its growth. Once it gets to an appreciable size, I anticipate it will buffer my nightly pH drop which will be nice.

That's all I can think of for now......

Be good!

Nice update! Glad you skipped the ugly phase, it's such a bummer. I use Vibrant to sort of skip such a thing, but you still need grazers.

I thought you were going mostly SPS, I must have you confused with another build thread. Any plans for Acropora sp.?

Your lighting is my holy grail as well. The LED strips for pop and fill PAR coming in at a lower angle on either side are crucial. Looking forward to seeing pictures once it's fully installed! I would have done the same with my setup, but I would have needed 6-8 250w Radiums (330w), over both tanks (5280w total). I didn't want to install high volume fume extractors to remove the heat so I went with LED/T5 instead.

I'm deciding on lime reactor versus still reservoir myself. Fully planned on a still 100g reservoir because that's what Randy HF recommends, but it's really tempting to save space and potentially CaOH if I mix in too much every time versus just dissolving it over time like the reactor.

Why do you think LDPE would need much more frequent replacement? High pH causing degradation or something?

We want pics! Thanks for the detailed update!

 

[naterealbig]

Nice update! Glad you skipped the ugly phase, it's such a bummer. I use Vibrant to sort of skip such a thing, but you still need grazers.

I thought you were going mostly SPS, I must have you confused with another build thread. Any plans for Acropora sp.?

Your lighting is my holy grail as well. The LED strips for pop and fill PAR coming in at a lower angle on either side are crucial. Looking forward to seeing pictures once it's fully installed! I would have done the same with my setup, but I would have needed 6-8 250w Radiums (330w), over both tanks (5280w total). I didn't want to install high volume fume extractors to remove the heat so I went with LED/T5 instead.

I'm deciding on lime reactor versus still reservoir myself. Fully planned on a still 100g reservoir because that's what Randy HF recommends, but it's really tempting to save space and potentially CaOH if I mix in too much every time versus just dissolving it over time like the reactor.

Why do you think LDPE would need much more frequent replacement? High pH causing degradation or something?

We want pics! Thanks for the detailed update!

Hi, and thank you!. I have been reading on the UWC line - they look like quality products. Yes, the grazers were definitely planned. Actually, originally I was planning on a large Angel, a shoal of Anthias, and a shoal of Chromis. I think this is when my mind was set on strictly SPS tank (i don't think you were mistaken).

I have never been keen on softies and LPS but some of the colors in these species are absolutely stunning, and a little movement in the display creates a different visual dynamic. For these reasons I've shifted to a mixed reef target. I'm simply starting with the easiest-to-keep corals first. By the time I get to the Acros my tank will be very stable, established, and ready!. Lots of high end sticks planned. [emoji851]

With the decision to keep soft corals, my idea of a large Angel (likely P. annularis) went out the window. At this point I started researching Tangs, and fell in love with them. I actually hand picked the Z. rostratum from the procurer (okay, picture-picked [emoji846]) when I had enough to buy it. May be one of my favorite fish of all time. Received it in excellent health, and is doing very well in the QT. Only about 6 more days to go.....

Agreed! Going with two XHO Blues, one in the front and back, staggered to sit lower and shine "through" the tank from both sides. I was toying with the idea of 2 x Orphek UV LED strips in addition to the XHOs. Overkill?.

I definitely get it on the heat and power of halides especially with a large tank footprint. I was originally planning on Orpheks for this build, if you recall. I think the DIY option also has a ton of potential, but I am not as LED savvy as you. I would have botched it!. Lol lol at the "fume extractors"!

I decided to use the Kalk for pH purposes. Living in a small apartment means high CO2 levels, and when the calcium reactor went online it would have been even worse. Space is definitely the main reason I chose reactor. I have no idea how people dose saturated kalkwasser in their ATO, but I know I would have needed a reservoir for fresh water and a reservoir for lime water, to be dosed separately. I simply didn't have the room for the third reservoir in my repurposed coat closet. Otherwise, it would have been an excellent solution.

I don't think you will need to worry about overdosing the calcium hydroxide - the undissolved portion will simply settle out of the fully saturated solution, and will dissolve upon addition of (lower pH) freshwater.

You know, I don't have any scientific basis for my switch away from LDPE really. My "gut" was thinking that with potentially high pressures realized by the dosing pumps, that the LDPE would have suffered from fatigue stress..... Although now that I'm saying it out loud it doesn't make as much sense. The biggest factor is probably my laziness..... Getting to and disassembling the panduit and rerunning the lines at whatever point is going to be a chore. I just figured the "harder" tubing will probably last longer before I need to replace the lines.

Definitely will work on some pics. Actually I'll probably repost my last post and attach pics with it. Once I'm completely done, I will work on a full video tour of the system!

 

[rushbattle]

Hi, and thank you!. I have been reading on the UWC line - they look like quality products. Yes, the grazers were definitely planned. Actually, originally I was planning on a large Angel, a shoal of Anthias, and a shoal of Chromis. I think this is when my mind was set on strictly SPS tank (i don't think you were mistaken).

I have never been keen on softies and LPS but some of the colors in these species are absolutely stunning, and a little movement in the display creates a different visual dynamic. For these reasons I've shifted to a mixed reef target. I'm simply starting with the easiest-to-keep corals first. By the time I get to the Acros my tank will be very stable, established, and ready!. Lots of high end sticks planned. [emoji851]

With the decision to keep soft corals, my idea of a large Angel (likely P. annularis) went out the window. At this point I started researching Tangs, and fell in love with them. I actually hand picked the Z. rostratum from the procurer (okay, picture-picked [emoji846]) when I had enough to buy it. May be one of my favorite fish of all time. Received it in excellent health, and is doing very well in the QT. Only about 6 more days to go.....

Agreed! Going with two XHO Blues, one in the front and back, staggered to sit lower and shine "through" the tank from both sides. I was toying with the idea of 2 x Orphek UV LED strips in addition to the XHOs. Overkill?.

I definitely get it on the heat and power of halides especially with a large tank footprint. I was originally planning on Orpheks for this build, if you recall. I think the DIY option also has a ton of potential, but I am not as LED savvy as you. I would have botched it!. Lol lol at the "fume extractors"!

I decided to use the Kalk for pH purposes. Living in a small apartment means high CO2 levels, and when the calcium reactor went online it would have been even worse. Space is definitely the main reason I chose reactor. I have no idea how people dose saturated kalkwasser in their ATO, but I know I would have needed a reservoir for fresh water and a reservoir for lime water, to be dosed separately. I simply didn't have the room for the third reservoir in my repurposed coat closet. Otherwise, it would have been an excellent solution.

I don't think you will need to worry about overdosing the calcium hydroxide - the undissolved portion will simply settle out of the fully saturated solution, and will dissolve upon addition of (lower pH) freshwater.

You know, I don't have any scientific basis for my switch away from LDPE really. My "gut" was thinking that with potentially high pressures realized by the dosing pumps, that the LDPE would have suffered from fatigue stress..... Although now that I'm saying it out loud it doesn't make as much sense. The biggest factor is probably my laziness..... Getting to and disassembling the panduit and rerunning the lines at whatever point is going to be a chore. I just figured the "harder" tubing will probably last longer before I need to replace the lines.

Definitely will work on some pics. Actually I'll probably repost my last post and attach pics with it. Once I'm completely done, I will work on a full video tour of the system!

I love Vibrant, and Chroma as well. They both work really well in my experience. So much so that they have dedicated dosing lines in each setup.

I’m glad my mind isn’t totally gone on the SPS thing. Your setup is definitely capable of keeping any (commonly kept species) photosynthetic corals, no limitations there. Which I probably why I thought you were going heavy SPS. Seems like you have coral and fish selection really well thought out, that’s great for both you and the creatures! I like your ideas about both coral and fish selection. Really looking forward to the Z. rostratum contrasting with colorful coral tissue!

r.e. Orphek UV strips... ALL OF THE YES. The more 390-450nm you can get without green added in like T5 does, the better! You are going to have crazy fluorescence!

DIY LED is actually super easy. You wouldn’t have a problem at all once you understood a few basics. The hardest part is mounting the parts to a heatsink properly, otherwise it’s just a few connections. But MH is my preference if you can do it, and you can

The lime thing was just my concern that I would waste the CaOH powder because I would add too much, beyond saturation, and would effectively waste it when I clean the reservoir. The new BRS Pharma is much more dense than Mrs Wages or other food grade, so that’s what started me thinking about it. I have more space than you, but space is always a concern no matter what.

r.e. tubing, I offer my gut feeling which is worth what you paid, the replacement frequency is likely tightly correlated to the tubing “gunking up” rather than failure from fatigue due to flexure, cracking, etc.

Looking forward to when you get a chance to upload some visuals, we appreciate it! Take your time, reefs are long time constant ideas anyhow.

 

[naterealbig]

I love Vibrant, and Chroma as well. They both work really well in my experience. So much so that they have dedicated dosing lines in each setup.

I'll have to take a closer look at their entire product line - may be able to use something in my setup. ;Writing

I’m glad my mind isn’t totally gone on the SPS thing. Your setup is definitely capable of keeping any (commonly kept species) photosynthetic corals, no limitations there. Which I probably why I thought you were going heavy SPS. Seems like you have coral and fish selection really well thought out, that’s great for both you and the creatures! I like your ideas about both coral and fish selection. Really looking forward to the Z. rostratum contrasting with colorful coral tissue!

Yes, I have spent a lot of time putting the stock list together - I love the fish so far. The QT protocol I am using (thank you @HotRocks) has worked very well. The Z. rost will be the largest fish in the tank, and even in the QT he/she has a "presence". My hope is that they will all leave the coral alone!

r.e. Orphek UV strips... ALL OF THE YES. The more 390-450nm you can get without green added in like T5 does, the better! You are going to have crazy fluorescence!

DIY LED is actually super easy. You wouldn’t have a problem at all once you understood a few basics. The hardest part is mounting the parts to a heatsink properly, otherwise it’s just a few connections. But MH is my preference if you can do it, and you can

Will definitely move forward with the plan for the 2 x Orphek UV units. Will probably be a while though - I still need to get the coral QT set up (which I will try to knock out this weekend), and purchase the XHO's which I plan on also using for "moonlighting".
I know time will eventually run out for the halide - when it does, I'm coming to talk to you!

The lime thing was just my concern that I would waste the CaOH powder because I would add too much, beyond saturation, and would effectively waste it when I clean the reservoir. The new BRS Pharma is much more dense than Mrs Wages or other food grade, so that’s what started me thinking about it. I have more space than you, but space is always a concern no matter what.

Didn't think about the waste during cleanup - I bet Randy has a nice calculation that will tell you how much to add. Although if the pharma-grade potency is different than the Mrs. Wages, it may be worth reaching out to BRS on. Incidentally, I am using the same product in my Kalk setup now. Love the fact there is no PO4.

r.e. tubing, I offer my gut feeling which is worth what you paid, the replacement frequency is likely tightly correlated to the tubing “gunking up” rather than failure from fatigue due to flexure, cracking, etc.

Did not consider this - great point. May move forward with the LDPE tubing I have now. Will keep posted.

Looking forward to when you get a chance to upload some visuals, we appreciate it! Take your time, reefs are long time constant ideas anyhow.

Will-do. QT right now is hideous - lots of orange algae growing on the (once clean and white) PVC, powerheads, and glass. Likely opportunistic, and taking advantage of the additional ammonia in the water with the large fish load.... I'll tidy things up a bit and get some shots - maybe a video.

As an aside, a few days ago I decided I wanted a little extra flow in my QT. I went onto Amazon and picked up a magnet-mounted sunsun (or something - definitely a Tunze knockoff) "rated" @ 2100 gph or so. I was certain that the rating was an overstatement, and installed into the 40b QT a few days ago. To my surprise, the unit really moves some water - so much I thought it might be an issue for the fish (especially the tiny A. tristis). After a few hours of it running (and some initial shock from the fish) they seem to do really well in the high flow. The remarkable note from this, is the enormous feeding response I have gotten from the all three fish. They are literally tearing food from my hands when I go to feed, and I feed VERY heavy while in quarantine. Guess they are burning some serious calories with what equates to an in-water treadmill.

 

[rushbattle]

Fish QT is so important these days. Glad you have fish that are eating well! Water movement is highly underrated with fish in aquaria in my experience. They go from an ocean with the water sloshing and running all over at great velocity to a stagnant tank, it must be depressing if nothing else. But I am quite sure they need exercise just like humans do. Definitely helpful. And it ensures gas exchange, which is also highly underappreciated by hobbyists. In aquaculture we measure O2 really often just to be sure we are at saturation, and it doesn't take much to pull O2 down from there.

 

[naterealbig]

Just picked this up. 10x to 180x magnification on a flat screen monitor. This will be the main component of my coral quarantine. While chemicals can be hit or miss, a flatworm the size of a softball on my computer screen will tell me all I need to know. Also picking up some as surgical instruments for manual removal of pests, eggs, algae. All coral will be grown from single soft/lps polyps, and Sps frags so 100% inspection will be a snap.

 

[rushbattle]

Just picked this up. 10x to 180x magnification on a flat screen monitor. This will be the main component of my coral quarantine. While chemicals can be hit or miss, a flatworm the size of a softball on my computer screen will tell me all I need to know. Also picking up some as surgical instruments for manual removal of pests, eggs, algae. All coral will be grown from single soft/lps polyps, and Sps frags so 100% inspection will be a snap.

Nice! We need a review after you’ve used it a few times. Maybe even some images from it!

 

[JMM744]

Wow, just wow!! That plumbing is stunning. It’s a good feeling when you do all that work and then leak test with the results you got. Super nice build and the finished product is sweet!
Jim

 

[naterealbig]

Nice! We need a review after you’ve used it a few times. Maybe even some images from it!

I work at a medical device manufacturing facility, and we use similar (same?) devices to inspect components and electrical boards - they work very well. I'll have it on Monday, so I will post some remarks and definitely some images on it soon. Very excited!

 

[naterealbig]

Wow, just wow!! That plumbing is stunning. It’s a good feeling when you do all that work and then leak test with the results you got. Super nice build and the finished product is sweet!
Jim

Hi Jim, thank you for taking a look, and thank you for the very nice review. Yes, it was definitely a huge relief to get water running through it and see that the time and attention to detail paid off!. Things will look even better once I get all of the wiring and covers buttoned up. I'll have a "grand opening" soon [emoji23]

 

[naterealbig]

As promised, a pic for now. Hate showing the QT tank in this state, but while it's hideous, the algae augments the filtration. And, the cleaner the water, the happier the fish, and along with this comes a lower risk of stress....

Either way, here are the fish in QT. One more dose of Metronidazole tomorrow, and they hit the display on Monday. The Z. rostratum is so black, she looks Photoshopped in.

More to come.

 

[rushbattle]

Looks great to me honestly! My QT is in quite a state right now...

 

[rockskimmerflow]

As promised, a pic for now. Hate showing the QT tank in this state, but while it's hideous, the algae augments the filtration. And, the cleaner the water, the happier the fish, and along with this comes a lower risk of stress....

Either way, here are the fish in QT. One more dose of Metronidazole tomorrow, and they hit the display on Monday. The Z. rostratum is so black, she looks Photoshopped in.

More to come.

I don't think there's anything to be ashamed of in that picture. Quite the contrary in fact. It's a functional, effective system and that's what counts. FWIW that's how my QT's often look. I've never sweated the grayish, greenish, or brownish film algae that attaches to the PVC pipes once well into the timeline on a batch of fish. I try and run quite low lighting levels on QTs to avoid fast algae buildup and keep fish stress levels as low as possible. That Z. rostratum is gorgeous! Has never been my favorite high end tang, but every time I see one I go hmm.... maybe I really should get one lol

 

[naterealbig]

Looks great to me honestly! My QT is in quite a state right now...

Thank you - it certainly gets used a lot!

 

[naterealbig]

I don't think there's anything to be ashamed of in that picture. Quite the contrary in fact. It's a functional, effective system and that's what counts. FWIW that's how my QT's often look. I've never sweated the grayish, greenish, or brownish film algae that attaches to the PVC pipes once well into the timeline on a batch of fish. I try and run quite low lighting levels on QTs to avoid fast algae buildup and keep fish stress levels as low as possible. That Z. rostratum is gorgeous! Has never been my favorite high end tang, but every time I see one I go hmm.... maybe I really should get one lol

Hi there - yes, very true!. It's always weird stuff that grows in there. Might be the one time I'd welcome some good ol' hair algae. Yes, it certainly is a beautiful fish. For the same price I was also eyeballing some of the Koi Tangs that were popping up - I really thought I would be happier long-term with the Black. Some of my other favorites are A. achilles and A. fowleri. While I would like both of these, I'm going to stop at the A. tristis for Tangs. Which are your favorite?

 

[sofaknlo]

awesome

 

[naterealbig]

awesome

Thank you @sofaknlo !

 

[rockskimmerflow]

Hi there - yes, very true!. It's always weird stuff that grows in there. Might be the one time I'd welcome some good ol' hair algae. Yes, it certainly is a beautiful fish. For the same price I was also eyeballing some of the Koi Tangs that were popping up - I really thought I would be happier long-term with the Black. Some of my other favorites are A. achilles and A. fowleri. While I would like both of these, I'm going to stop at the A. tristis for Tangs. Which are your favorite?

I have never been a big fan of the koi tangs myself, so I think you picked right with the longnose surgeonfish - especially with how much I see the koi tangs going for at times. I've been lucky enough to have A. guttatus, A. sohal, N. unicornis, A. maculiceps, Z. xanthurum, and a hybrid powder specimen from my list of favorite species. Have worked with all most all the commonly available surgeonfish species except for the black tang and achilles. One day soon that will change hopefully haha.

Can't wait so see your fish in the display!

 

[naterealbig]

I have never been a big fan of the koi tangs myself, so I think you picked right with the longnose surgeonfish - especially with how much I see the koi tangs going for at times. I've been lucky enough to have A. guttatus, A. sohal, N. unicornis, A. maculiceps, Z. xanthurum, and a hybrid powder specimen from my list of favorite species. Have worked with all most all the commonly available surgeonfish species except for the black tang and achilles. One day soon that will change hopefully haha.

Can't wait so see your fish in the display!

The Maculiceps is a stunning fish, along with the Achilles. I hope hope it changes for you soon!. It definitely was a toss up between the Achilles and the long nose. My wallet would have preferred the Achilles. [emoji28]

I tried to shoot some pics off using Lightroom on my phone, but couldn't get the color temperature right with just the t5's on... I'll try with the halides on.

@rockskimmerflow:. By-the-by - My 2" strigosus beat up my smaller (1.5") A. tristis pretty bad when I let him out of the acrylic box I had him in, inside of the display. I got him back in the acrylic box, and all is well for now. Should I just give it a couple weeks with the tristis in the box, or would I have better luck putting the strigosus in the box and letting the tristis out?. No aggression from any of the other fish.

If it matters, the strigosus beat on the pyroferus pretty bad when I first added it, but the pyroferus was about the same size as the strigosus, and it only lasted about 24 hours.

Thoughts?

 

[rockskimmerflow]

By-the-by - My 2" strigosus beat up my smaller (1.5") A. tristis pretty bad when I let him out of the acrylic box I had him in, inside of the display. I got him back in the acrylic box, and all is well for now. Should I just give it a couple weeks with the tristis in the box, or would I have better luck putting the strigosus in the box and letting the tristis out?. No aggression from any of the other fish.

If it matters, the strigosus beat on the pyroferus pretty bad when I first added it, but the pyroferus was about the same size as the strigosus, and it only lasted about 24 hours.

Thoughts?

Hmm. Can't say I'm surprised haha. The strigosus can be real jerks. Nori availability and ample hiding zones will help. Maybe a bit more time in the acclimation box like you suggest. Make sure the tristis is really well fed and bulked up too. That will help it weather the inevitable greeting when he does come out of the the box again. There's no magic secret to adding tangs to a display piecemeal unfortunately. My secret for clients is I put in all the tangs at once, or in 2 sets depending on the tank. Best case is I can QT them all together, but sometimes that's not feasible and some have already been in a post QT holding tank. Even so the principle remains the same- add the tangs before anyone has set territories and there tends to be minimal targeted aggression before a stable hierarchy is established. I put a unicorn, regal blue, purple, orange shoulder, and hybrid powder into one of my personal tanks all on the same day and there were only a few skirmishes for the next couple days but nothing severe. Some of the size differences were pretty significant too.. Good luck with the compatibility! Every fish has it's quirks for better or worse