New 150 Gallon SCA Tank And Custom Stand Build

[vpierce3]

I have been having trouble with my Elegance Coral (posted about this in a separate thread).
And it was about to let go a week ago after a two week decline, so I decided I had nothing to lose.
It was exhibiting all the signs of elegance coral syndrome. And my LFS said it’s quite possible that it came from Indonesia instead of Australia.
So I gave it a 12 minute fresh water bath, put it back in a low light area of the tank on the bottom. Then I stole the plastic strainer from my wife’s salad spinner and placed it over him.
Today, a week+ later, I noticed it was still fluorescent green and puffing back out a bit. So I touch it and he quickly retracted…..still alive!!!
I blew the gunk off of him, put him in a spot on the bottom, partially shaded.
And now the wait begins to see if he recovers or if something starts picking at him.
The two fish I’m watching too are the flame angel and the matted filefish. So we’ll see…..

 

[vpierce3]

The other thing that’s gone wrong is I walked into the room and saw the flame angel picking at my dead clam. The clam was fine that morning.
So I currently have the Nyos floating fish trap in the tank for the fish to get used to.
Too bad because that flame angel is gorgeous. But he’s become aggressive towards other fish as well.

 

[vpierce3]

Good news! I finally caught the flame angel. It took him a while to trust it….he knew something was up. Lol. Also caught my Sailfin tang at the same time….he was NOT happy.
Anyway the Angel is now in my sump until I can sell him. Too bad though because he’s such a gorgeous fish and nice and fat.

 

[vpierce3]

At any rate I can recommend the Nyos floating fish trap. Super easy to use and works well.
BTW, earlier I saw him nipping at my recovering Elegance coral. So he may have been the problem all along.

 

[vpierce3]

I re-homed my Flame Angel and Filefish today. They were nipping on corals.
I replaced them with a beautiful Purple Tang and a Lubbock Fairy Wrasse. Beautiful fish. I will post pics after they have settled in.

 

[vpierce3]

I get a little bit of sunlight on my tank for about an hour during the winter and it makes for some pretty pictures. I ordered the Orphek lens kit for my phone so I can take better pics.
Anyway here are a few of my purple tang and fairy wrasse.
Also a shout out to @GrapevineReefs for selling me these gorgeous fish.

 

[vpierce3]

You may have noticed the little bit of cyano on the sand bed. My phosphates are undetectable so I ordered some food grade trisodium phosphate powder and will slowly dose until I can get a reading. Once I do get that up a bit, I’ll add some microbacter7 and maybe some more pods.
The other issue I’m having is keeping my kH high enough without the Ca going too high. So for now I’ve adjusted the dose levels of my 2-part until I decide how I want to supplement the kH.

 

[vpierce3]

Another thing I finally accomplished was making proper containers for my 2-part. So,

I made the perilous journey to Target with my teenage daughter where I bought the containers. She tried to get me to go to the makeup section….heck no, that’s a trap, we’d be there for hours. So after crying and begging and complaining she got tired of listening to me and we got out of there in 20 minutes.

 

[vpierce3]

I had some fun on Fusion 360 the other day. I modeled and printed some vortex accelerator return nozzles. They just push into the 3/4” bulkheads in my tank.

 

[vpierce3]

Been adding a lot of stuff to my tank. It’s really starting to shape up nicely.
Added some coral that I got from @GrapevineReefs and some new fish as well. I added another Derasa clam now that the flame Angel and matted filefish are rehomed.
I still have some cyano on the sand bed that I’m battling; getting my nutrients above zero, dosing microbacter7 and added pods.

 

[vpierce3]

I added a gorgeous White tail bristle tooth tang that is currently hiding out. I expect him to hide for a few more days in his cave. He swims around the backside of the rocks some. When he comes out I’ll post a picture.
I also added a Convict Tang today. He’s a little small so I have him in an acclimation cage until lights go out tonight. I changed some rocks around and added corals so it should calm my hippo down. So far I see no signs of concern.
Here is his temp cage.

 

[vpierce3]

 

[vpierce3]

I just got the Orphek lens filter kit and I’m slowly learning the photography part of the hobby. Not sure which is harder: keeping fish and corals or taking good pics of them.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

I added a gorgeous White tail bristle tooth tang that is currently hiding out. I expect him to hide for a few more days in his cave. He swims around the backside of the rocks some. When he comes out I’ll post a picture.
I also added a Convict Tang today. He’s a little small so I have him in an acclimation cage until lights go out tonight. I changed some rocks around and added corals so it should calm my hippo down. So far I see no signs of concern.
Here is his temp cage.

Love your thread and loving the convict! I want one as a final fish, but I'm worried about the 4 zebrasomas I have going bananas over it.

 

[vpierce3]

Love your thread and loving the convict! I want one as a final fish, but I'm worried about the 4 zebrasomas I have going bananas over it.

Thank you. Your zebrasomas shouldn’t bother it too much because a convict is an Acanthurus like a hippo tang.
But if you’re worried, release the convict into an acclimation cage and leave him in there until dark. Once he finds a cave to hide in, he can come out when he feels safe.
You can also hang a mirror and over feed for a day or two to keep everyone happy.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Love the clams you have!! !

 

[Cthulukelele]

You may have noticed the little bit of cyano on the sand bed. My phosphates are undetectable so I ordered some food grade trisodium phosphate powder and will slowly dose until I can get a reading. Once I do get that up a bit, I’ll add some microbacter7 and maybe some more pods.
The other issue I’m having is keeping my kH high enough without the Ca going too high. So for now I’ve adjusted the dose levels of my 2-part until I decide how I want to supplement the kH.

Increasing phosphate isn't usually a treatment I've seen for cyano. Usually if you have undetectable nutrients with cyano a lot of the time it's because the cyano is consuming everything in the tank to spread.

 

[nuxx]

Great looking tank and nicely stocked

 

[Chris Spaulding]

Loving the the tank I to have a SCA 150

 

[vpierce3]

Increasing phosphate isn't usually a treatment I've seen for cyano. Usually if you have undetectable nutrients with cyano a lot of the time it's because the cyano is consuming everything in the tank to spread.

The nutrients hit zero and then the cyano came along. Cyano and Dinos flourish in zero nutrient conditions. I need to up the nutrients a bit so that other organisms can out-compete the nuisance.