New 64 Gallon softy build

[bigdrew]

Leaving for vacation for a week...I calculated that I lose roughly 16 ounces of water per day. Multiplied by 8 days, that is 128 ounces or 1 gallon. On 67 gallons of net water, that results in an increase from 1.023 ppt salt level to 1.041, assuming no water top off. I think I figured out how to hook up an ATO, but the issue is that the ATO was delayed shipping...so a bucket it is!

Here is my "out of town" setup:

1) 1 Eheim auto feeder. Set to feed twice a day. Medium sized pellets.
2) 1 battery controlled "bubbler." If the power to the outlet fails, that fires a relay inside the device that closes the "loop" and enables the batteries to turn on the air stone.
3) The ATO DIY kit from BRS (~$45) and a Tom's pump purchased from Walmart ($25) and a Homedepot bucket. Used my aquarium "veggie" feeding clip to keep the buoyant airline at the bottom of the bucket. If the pump decides to somehow run continuously there is only about 3 or 4 gallons in the bucket, but the sump has space for about 5.5 gallons of additional water. Knock on wood, I won't have an issue!

Here are some pictures:

 

[bigdrew]

Haven't posted in a while. A bunch of updates:

1) I managed to squeeze an ATO underneath the tank. I bought a custom one from advancedacryllics.com and it's awesome. It's 5 gallons, 3 inches wide, 20 inches tall and 20 inches deep. Perfect fit. Bought the Tom Pet Products pump from Walmart for $23.00 and used some of the suction cups that came with my BRS.com $45.00 ATO kit to suction cup the "air tubing" water lines toward the bottom of the ATO. It has been working great.
2) My flameback and Tomini have become very aggressive. They have formed a partnership with each other, but terrorize my other tank inhabitants. They flip hermit crabs and I think they killed my clown. They also chase my hawkfish around. He's starting to stress a bit, so I need to figure this out. I overpaid for him from the LFS, so I don't want to give him up for nothing or take him back for marginal store credit.
3) I have been consistent with 5 gallon water changes every Sunday (about 7% of the total water volume). It has been working well.
4)I bought 3 corals from Liveaquaria on their Mother's Day sale. Not sure how much of a sale it really was, but I got a Hand Leather, Finger Leather and a single Lavender mushroom for $106, including tax and shipping. Shipping was free at $99.00 or more.
5) Back in April/March I acquired a large colony of zoas. I put that right in the middle of the tank.
6) A friend of mine gave me a frag of his toadstool. That's on the far right.

Finally, I used an underwater epoxy from Petco to cement the frags in place. Beyond the AWFUL smell of the epoxy and the fact that it's cloudy and made my skimmer go haywire for about 4 hours, the epoxy set after 24 hours and has really held well. One of my hermits acts like a bull and seems to topple everything over when it's not cemented down. He hasn't been able to move any of these. The epoxy is called Fluval Sea Aquatic Epoxy Stick. Here is a shot of the tank:

 

[bigdrew]

It has been a while. A few quick updates:

1) Struggling to get nitrate above 0. I doubled my fish load and voila, I registered a .5. That's better than 0, albeit not even 1 yet. So, still working on that. I just went three weeks without changing my water (19 days to be exact) and it's still hovering around .5, so I think it's still a case of a new tank

2) In relation to item number 1 above, once I didn't change the water for 3 weeks, my coral seemed to really grow and expand. The only coral that didn't seem to like it was the firework polyps. I don't know why?

3) I have been mixing Red Sea Coral Pro and Instant Ocean Reef Crystals. My brother had a bunch of the Instant Ocean left over after he tore down his tank. I will continue to do half and half as I have not noticed a single negative thing. I haven't read anywhere yet that this would be a problem either, so I'll keep going.

4) Had to do some minor aquscape changes. I found a hitchhiker (it doesn't look like a gorilla crab, as I have one of those in my sump), but I went after him to no avail. Hopefully he gets big and one day I can get him out. I have not noticed any sort of nipping on corals, but my sixline and my little perc clown both went missing. Randomly. Hopefully that isn't indicative of something. The crab is very small, so I do not think it could be him, but who knows.

5) Had a very brief bout with ich. I used a cricket tank for my little frog as a fish trap. I gave freshwater bathes and that really seemed to help. I also dose vitamin C by Kent Marine and a liquid marine garlic mixture every 5 days or so. That seems to help too, as my fish and coral both seem more vibrant...which could also be related to finally not having 0 nitrate. Either way, no fish currently have it and it only lasted about 10 days.

I also attached a picture. Good luck everyone! This tank has been a ton of fun and I really enjoy the maintenance aspect of it, which is kind of funny. People think it's a bit strange when I say that.

 

[bigdrew]

Just a quick update: I've lost two fish to my overflow. I wrote an earlier bit about how I stopped my hawkfish from going into the overflow with a piece of white PVC, but now I am losing small fish through the slits of the overflow. Frustrating. Trying to figure out what I can do to stop this.

 

[Ruben's Reef]

Tank looking great. Following>>>

 

[bigdrew]

Thanks @spyder813. I just saw your build thread too. Great stuff! I'm following along on yours.

 

[Ruben's Reef]

Thanks @spyder813. I just saw your build thread too. Great stuff! I'm following along on yours.

Thanks @bigdrew . If you have any question don't hesitate to contact me.

 

[bigdrew]

6 months since the last update and I have learned an amazing amount, mostly thanks to Reef2Reef articles, forums and threads. Thanks to this forum and everyone that makes it happen!

1) I found a hitchhiker coral about 6 months ago on my firework clove polyps. It has really turned into something! I had no intentions of doing SPS, but it sure looks like this is SPS and I cannot bring myself to give it away or sell it. Anyone have any ideas what it is? I continue to do almost 0 reading or education about SPS tanks, but this thing has really taken to my water parameters and my mess ups...with no issues, which brings me to the next topic...(excuse the blurry pic. I was in the middle of a water change).

2)....I started dosing Kalkwasser. I noticed one day that the limited coraline algae I had suddenly all turned white. I hadn't checked my Alk in 3 weeks and that test read 6.0. Amazing that this little unknown SPS seemed completed unfazed. I now use the BRS Kalkwasser and it's awesome. Very simple to load the ATO up and then keep moving.

3) I am facing a little dino or diatom outbreak. It's minor but I really believe it's diatoms because Phosphate is .1 - .12, and I have sponges growing like wild in my tank, which I read is a classic sign of silica or silicate presence. I believe it's coming from my RODI water, but I am not sure. I am getting 0 TDS readings all of the time. To fight this, I have stopped trying to store huge amounts of backup water in my brute trash can. It seems to get a musky or moldy smell after a few weeks, and my RODI filter goes un-touched or used for about 6 weeks while I use up that water. This means I have to reflush the thing and throw away large batches of water before I am at 0 again, despite having just replaced filters. I upped the water pressure through the RODI (I read that the DI resin has a better shot of "catching" the silica passing through at a higher pressure, so why not try it?) and I am only storing water for about 1 week. I am only making 15 gallons or so at a time.

4) I love the stress relief and challenges this hobby brings. It has certainly been a welcome "inward" focused thing since COVID hit.

Stay safe and healthy everyone. Thanks for reading.

 

[bigdrew]

Didn't mean to post the same picture three times. Here is an updated full tank shot.

 

[bigdrew]

Forgot to mention I fragged my sinularia. The last picture kind of shows it on the left. There are two little fingers rubber-banded to little frag rocks and placed behind the "mother" coral. They seem to be doing great. Hopefully they attach soon and I can remove the rubber bands. It has been maybe 2 weeks since I did that.

 

[bigdrew]

Haven't posted in nearly a year, but just haven't had time. Work, life, etc. However, the tank continues to be my stress reliever and while I haven't posted on here, I have indeed spent quite a lot of time on it.

Here are a few updates:

1) My tank has turned into a full blown mixed reef. That little SPS from earlier posts turned out to be a pocillopora, and it's doing incredible. As a result, I went all in on a SPS frag pack with 7 supposedly more easy to manage SPS corals. They are all doing well.

2) Started dosing 2 part and eliminated using kalkwasser. Bought a Jebao dosing pump. It has worked like a charm. I was having a diatom battle (nothing horrible, but not small either) and I noticed that my diatoms would get worse whenever I was actively using Kalkwasser. The switch to 2 part has decreased the diatom issues, although I still have them. I think perhaps my Kalkwasser batch had silica in it. Not entirely sure.