My New Reef Project ( WB AIO 25 Peninsula)

[Luckki]

Following along!

Awesome! Welcome to my build thread. Today is a bit of a calm day. Tomorrow is when it gets interesting. Tomorrow Five small Zoas arrive from tidal gardens. I have no idea what they are sending. I decided to go with their "Feeling Lucky pack" and not just because the name. I cannot wait see them open up and to have them in the tank. It will be nice to have something to look at while the fish are in quarantine. Maybe I should put the Zoas in the tank and then as they open I can take some photos and we can all see what they are! That should be fun.

Current Day 18

Base PH		≈ 8.1
Ammonia	NH3/NH4	≈ 0 ppm
Nitrite	NO2	≈ 0 ppm
Nitrate	NO3	≈ 10 ppm
Alkalinity	KH	≈ 8dkh

Salinity 1.026 or 35ppt

No parameter changes. The lights are now at about 30% of what they will be when the tank is up and running. I am hoping that with the introduction of Zoas and Phytoplankton and copepods the uglies will not be to much longer. That way I can get a clean up crew started.

Fun fact about 97% of the animals species in the sea are invertebrates.

With that being said, I am going to head off. I need to go find the camera battery charger so I can take pictures tomorrow. Till then,

Luckki is out!
Later!

 

[Luckki]

So today is a bigger day. I did all my tests:
Current Day 19

Base PH		≈ 8.0
Ammonia	NH3/NH4	≈ 0 ppm
Nitrite	NO2	≈ .5 ppm
Nitrate	NO3	≈ 10 ppm
Alkalinity	KH	≈ 8dkh

Salinity 1.026 or 35ppt

---1030--- I added the five corals from Tidal garden to the tank, they are not in their permanent home yet, but they be slowly moved to their final points once they all open. I want to make sure that the light is okay since I have a slightly different set up and I do not want to melt them or make them reach for light.

---2006---- around 1400 they were all open I had to work today so I could not watch, to observe, but all of the Zoanthids have opened and they are doing well. In the mean time the Clowns have arrived. I have them being dripped acclimated for the quarantine tank now. Though I have to ask. These fish came straight from the breeder and they are really small. maybe 3/4 to 1" in length, do I need to quarantine them? In order to raise the fish from fry to the size they are there is a lot of care that is imparted in their rearing.

 

[Luckki]

Current Day 20

Base PH		≈ 8.0
Ammonia	NH3/NH4	≈ 0 ppm
Nitrite	NO2	≈ 0 ppm
Nitrate	NO3	≈ 7 ppm
Alkalinity Phosphate	KH PO3/PO4	≈ 8dkh .15 ppm

Salinity 1.026 or 35ppt

I am Not sure why my phosphates are at this level?



Today is kind of sad, one of the two fish that we got died before I got home from work. Last night I went to the store and picked up the fish, and drove home with the cargo. As soon as we got home I set to work getting them ready for the QT. I first floated them for about 30 minutes to get the acclimated to the water. Then I drip acclimated with a heater in the bucket for about 1 hour. I released them into the tank and that is when I noticed that one ( the smaller about .75") had a fin that did not look right. It was a light gray and the fish was breathing fast. I thought well its odd, but the fish is pale and it needs time to get used to the tank. In the morning I saw that its color was much better, but it's fin was still gray upon closer inspection it looked like it might have had something hanging on it. I could see something hanging off it. I took a video and asked some of the people here if they thought it was fin rot, the general consensus was that it was most likely damage due to shipping. I still started a treatment regiment for fin rot/ ich/velvet ...etc. The larger fish is breathing normal and is swimming like all clowns do; with that little "shimmy shake", the smaller clown was lying on the bottom like and would swim around but looked like it was having issues floating or swimming in place. I got a call to work, told my wife that the fish was not doing well and to let me know if anything happened. I got home and the fish had died. It is sad but I have a video of the fish, for an example of what to look out for.

 

[Luckki]

I thought that I posted this yesterday, but I guess I did not hit the post button. Today my order of Copepods arrived with their phytoplankton. I add them to the tank water is taking a little while to clear up, but that is expected. As for the tank I have started to notice some small brown pox on the rocks. algae or diatoms are on the way. Just taking a quick look around the tank and it looks like the Zoas are doing well. all the polyps are fully extended, they do not look to be reaching up either. They are still attached to their plugs, I plan on the ones that I can from the plug. In about a week just to make sure they are happy where they are at. I am planning on the bottom portion of my tank being covered in Zoanthids. I was thinking when I get the uglies under control of adding a hammer and a birds nest near the top of my aqua scape.

parameters are as follows.

Current Day 21

Base PH		≈ 8.0
Ammonia	NH3/NH4	≈ 0 ppm
Nitrite	NO2	≈ .4 ppm
Nitrate	NO3	≈ 18 ppm
Phosphates	PO3/PO4	= .13 ppm
Alkalinity	KH	≈ 8dkh

Salinity 1.026 or 35ppt

This weekend I will conduct a 50% water change to get the Nitrates back around 10 ppm.

I still need to get an orange filter for my camera, but here are some starting pictures for the zoas. They are still attached to the plug while i make sure they are happy where they are in the tank.

 

[Luckki]

Current Day is 22, The Zoas are looking great. I made sure to have water made before the winter storm arrives. I have a heater and pump running in the 35 gallon RODI reserve tank. This should keep it from freezing over over night for a few days. I have started to notice some brown spots appearing on the rocks around the tank. I cannot tell if this is diatoms or the start of an algae outbreak. They are growing slightly with the light and have darkened as the day progressed. I have started dosing the tank with phytoplankton and Coralline algae. I hope this helps the tank mature. The bottle said that it would take between 8-10 weeks to form pox on the rocks.
I also ordered a clean up crew it is mostly snails, but they all have different jobs, most are algae eaters, but some are algae film and diatoms, some are Hair algae grazers and I have some sand dwellers that are going to help keep the anerobic pockets from building up as they eat the missed food from the clowns.

The Clowns are doing well. Since the little one died. I replaced it with one from the LFS. They are currently swimming together in the corner of the tank together. The larger of the two is showing the little one how to eat the pellets. I have been feeding them Nyos Goji, mini Mysis shrimp frozen, and copepod pate. The little one is not eating the pellets very easily yet because they are a bit too big and need to be broken before dropped in. Tomorrow I will be conducting a 50% water change to make sure that my phosphates do not get out of control before the clean up crew gets here. Oh with the clean up crew I also ordered two macro algae. One is a pencil cap on that will help with the phosphates and nitrates, and some Chaeto. I am hoping that these will help keep the green hair algae to a minimum. Oh yeah I have started only testing twice a week for a while as the cycle is now complete and we are trying to balance the eco system. I will still test after adding new critters and corals, and on Tuesdays and Fridays.


Until tomorrow,

Luckki

Current Day 22

Base PH		≈ 8.0
Ammonia	NH3/NH4	≈ 0 ppm
Nitrite	NO2	≈ 0 ppm
Nitrate	NO3	≈ 20 ppm
Phosphates	PO3/PO4	= .15 ppm
Alkalinity	KH	≈ 8dkh

Salinity 1.026 or 35ppt

 

[Luckki]

Day 23
The Zoanthids seemed to be happy. I removed several from their plugs and added them to rubble rock and glued them to the aquascape. I also conducted a 50% water change to lower my phosphates to help ward off the diatoms that are starting to grown on the rock, till my clean-up crew arrives. My clean-up crew will be arriving Wednesday. I look forward to adding the critters to the tank. Turned on the lights during the water to change to see, and I have already noticed some, not all of the zoanthids have started to emerge aging. They are not too happy right this moment but some are already springing back. I conducted tests to get a weekly baseline.

Current Day 23

Base PH		≈ 8.2
Ammonia	NH3/NH4	≈ 0 ppm
Nitrite	NO2	≈ 0.1 ppm
Nitrate	NO3	≈ 10 ppm
Phosphates	PO3/PO4	= .04 ppm
Alkalinity	KH	≈ 8.5 dkh

Salinity 1.026 or 35ppt

The tank is cruising along. I really like my Chrysanthemum Zoanthids. I think I might get a couple more frags to add to the tank in the back to help the tank fill faster. In the mean time I have ordered a 52mm orange filter and a macro lens for my camera. The water has quickly cleared up and I will be putting it to bed.

I should probably look into dKH and how to monitor that better or keep it at 8.5 or higher should I start SPS or LPS. I am not sure I really want to though. I kind of like the idea of a Soft coral tank.

Question: What corals will tolerate clowns hosting it that look nice and are easy to care for? I really do not want to have a bubble tip decide to go on a walk randomly and kill all my Zoanthids.

 

[Aaron75]

Day 23
The Zoanthids seemed to be happy. I removed several from their plugs and added them to rubble rock and glued them to the aquascape. I also conducted a 50% water change to lower my phosphates to help ward off the diatoms that are starting to grown on the rock, till my clean-up crew arrives. My clean-up crew will be arriving Wednesday. I look forward to adding the critters to the tank. Turned on the lights during the water to change to see, and I have already noticed some, not all of the zoanthids have started to emerge aging. They are not too happy right this moment but some are already springing back. I conducted tests to get a weekly baseline.

Current Day 23

Base PH		≈ 8.2
Ammonia	NH3/NH4	≈ 0 ppm
Nitrite	NO2	≈ 0.1 ppm
Nitrate	NO3	≈ 10 ppm
Phosphates	PO3/PO4	= .04 ppm
Alkalinity	KH	≈ 8.5 dkh

Salinity 1.026 or 35ppt

The tank is cruising along. I really like my Chrysanthemum Zoanthids. I think I might get a couple more frags to add to the tank in the back to help the tank fill faster. In the mean time I have ordered a 52mm orange filter and a macro lens for my camera. The water has quickly cleared up and I will be putting it to bed.

I should probably look into dKH and how to monitor that better or keep it at 8.5 or higher should I start SPS or LPS. I am not sure I really want to though. I kind of like the idea of a Soft coral tank.

Question: What corals will tolerate clowns hosting it that look nice and are easy to care for? I really do not want to have a bubble tip decide to go on a walk randomly and kill all my Zoanthids.

Clowns love toadstools

 

[Luckki]

Clowns love toadstools

Thanks Aaron I will take a look at some toadstools then. Do you have any favorites?

 

[Aaron75]

Thanks Aaron I will take a look at some toadstools then. Do you have any favorites?

I've never had a toadstool, it's just been an observation. Duncan's as well. Or hairy mushrooms. Anything that resembles the generic texture/shape. Then again, they could choose a powerhead, a rock, a zoa. Who knows.

 

[Luckki]

I've never had a toadstool, it's just been an observation. Duncan's as well. Or hairy mushrooms. Anything that resembles the generic texture/shape. Then again, they could choose a powerhead, a rock, a zoa. Who knows.

It seems that they would prefer a front left corner of the QT right now. I have a PVC pipe joint in the tank for them to hide in and they choose to "hide" in plain sight in the corner. I am hoping that they will take a liking to the new Display tank aqua scape, but I might have some weird clowns.

 

[Aaron75]

It seems that they would prefer a front left corner of the QT right now. I have a PVC pipe joint in the tank for them to hide in and they choose to "hide" in plain sight in the corner. I am hoping that they will take a liking to the new Display tank aqua scape, but I might have some weird clowns.

All clowns are weird. Lol

 

[Luckki]

At this point the clean up crew needs to arrive. My phosphates are low and so are my Nitrates, however brown algae has taken over every rock in the tank and portions of my sand bed. I increased the flow in the tank to get most of the spores in the filter section should they leave the rocks. My spare sock filters will be arriving tomorrow. At that time I will be able to change it and get rid of some of the breeding area. I think that I will have to conduct 10% water changes daily for a while to help the clean up crew with the brown algae.

 

[Fishy Guy]

Following along! Clowns being weird definitely seems to be the norm ha; mine hang out in the front corner of my tank as well. They've buddied up with a cardinal who also hangs out there now.

 

[Luckki]

Following along! Clowns being weird definitely seems to be the norm ha; mine hang out in the front corner of my tank as well. They've buddied up with a cardinal who also hangs out there now.

Yeah they are crazy little critters, but I love that shimmy shake they have

 

[Luckki]

The uglies are in full swing and I finally got the camera lens that I needed. The clean up crew is on its way and I cannot wait for them to show up. I ordered more sock filters to help with the diatom outbreak that is happening now. I also removed a few of the corals from their coral plugs and attached them to rubble rock to blend them in. I have two more that need to be addressed too, but they are slower to respond to the tank. The Kryptonite and the Nirvanas have been making me guess if they are happy where they are at or if they need to move.

Finally some update pictures:

 

[Luckki]

Current Day 28
Everything has been progressing normally so far. I have added the clean up crew to the tank and they are making remarkable progress to cleaning the rocks, substrate, and glass. I have been dosing 5mL of Phytoplankton for one week and will continue till next week to assist with the filter feeders and the copepod population in the tank. Sadly I believe the clowns ate most of the copepods in the tank. I have ordered a kit to start propagation of mixed copepods I have about six 32 oz mason jars that I will be using to make several populations as things progress. I figure that I should be making the food that I can so that I do not have to worry about the critters as much.

Out of the clean up crew the two critters that I really like the most are The larger blue legged hermit that I got. It is currently on the trip around the tank looking for a new home. I have added some shells, but I guess I need more because he keeps running around looking for a new home. The second is the Tiger conch that I got. This guy is so cool to watch. With its' elephant like snout it roams around the tank eating anything within a one inch reach. It has been cleaning all the lower rocks. As for the rest. I am shocked at how well the Virgin Nerites Snails are doing. So these are normally a brackish water fish, but reefcleaners has managed to breed them in full 35 ppt salt water. The day that I put them in the tank they were zooming around eating algae all over the place. I would say that they are better algae and diatom control that the Cerith, Astraea, Trochus, and hermits. While the hermits are devouring the longer algae bits, the Nerites snails are cleaning the rock. There is one snail that has been sitting at the top of the tank since I put them in and has cleaned an entire rock of all brown algae and some of the green that is now growing in the brown algae's place. The corals get fed some reef-roids once a week, but for the most part they just get "sun" and some phytoplankton should they want it.

I added to my middle section of my AIO a 6000k white light and some Chaeto macro algae. I am hoping with the flow and the break down of stuff in the sock filter. Will feed the Macro algae and help it grow. I will be changing the sock filter out twice a week, and I will clean the filters a few times before I toss them and get new ones. Right now I have four that I am alternating between. Once every 3-4 days should be good and that gives about a 12 day rotation for the filter.

This weekend I will conduct a 10% water change as the parameters seem to be pretty stable. I have also stepped up the light settings from four hours at peak intensity to five hours with a thirty minute ramp up on either side of the peak. This will be this way for about two weeks and then it will be six hours with a thirty minute ramp up on either side. With my sun rise and set ramp up and down respectively.

Base PH		≈ 8.1
Ammonia	NH3/NH4	≈ 0 ppm
Nitrite	NO2	≈ 0.1 ppm
Nitrate	NO3	≈ 7 ppm
Phosphates	PO3/PO4	= .08 ppm
Alkalinity	KH	≈ 7.5 dkh

Salinity 1.026 or 35ppt

 

[Fishy Guy]

That conch is so cool! I want one eventually.

Interesting about the nerites; I have them in freshwater tanks and they're not very good algae eaters there ha. I've avoided them for my reef tank for that reason.

 

[Luckki]

Well, It has been a little while, I got stuck working out of town for a few weeks and I am just getting around to posting about the tank. Right now I have a bunch of diatoms in the tank. I have been fighting them for about a week. I know they are using the silica in the sand and remnants in the tank, and that this could last for weeks, but I would really like it to speed up a little as my Zoanthids are shut and staying shut. They were fine until this diatom out break. I know for a fact that this is Diatoms. I have a microscope have images of the ship shaped critters. I also have not seen anything tear drop or shield shaped in the tank.

Parameters are as follows

Nitrates 10 ppm
Phosphates .06ppm
Ammonia not readable but present
Nitrite not readable but present
PH 8.2
Salinity 35 ppt
KH 7.5
Temp 78 F
water slightly cloudy, but not really bad, I am guessing that these are diatoms in the water column.
Additions made to the tank over the past few weeks. 1 zoanthid, 1 green striped mandarin, 1 hammer and 1 Montipora (Mystic sunset if i remember properly, this was a bonus coral that someone gave me.) Oh and 1 emerald crab as right before my out of town work started I had some green hair algae start to grow.
all parameters were stable when these changes were made.
I have tested several areas of sand and rock and all I find are diatoms. Any suggestions would be great.

 

[acabgd]

There's nothing else to do than wait. This hobby does require a ton of patience. Pay attention to the Mandarin in order not to starve it.

 

[Luckki]

There's nothing else to do than wait. This hobby does require a ton of patience. Pay attention to the Mandarin in order not to starve it.

When I got her, she was really thin, I actually just ordered some more copepods to help maintain the population, as well as some phytoplankton. They are some cool fish.