Potomac Reef 2 - 500 gallons of fun!

justingraham

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Aww man I thought u were close
I know Mr Saltwater has a couple fish from tam is that how u heard about them?
 
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emvanburen

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Aww man I thought u were close
I know Mr Saltwater has a couple fish from tam is that how u heard about them?
Correct. He recommended them. I really like their quarantine rigor. I will likely get most of my livestock from them because I am not sure I have time to really babysit a substantial quarantine program and want to be as sure as possible this is a success.
 

justingraham

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That’s what I do
When u watch the fish from day one go thru the qt process they have it seems kinda pointless for me to try to qt them

All my fish are from TSM and I have never seen any disease even when my fangs were super aggressive towards each other
 
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emvanburen

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We have life!!!

E26C0A94-B681-4E18-AF56-055813F29926.jpeg
 
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emvanburen

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The startup battle continues. Having to move my fish out of their sold temp tank got them into the new tank a little faster than I would have liked. Bacteria aren’t getting the job done and we have detectable ammonia. I have been doing water changes. Adding bacteria. And I just added the marine pure block from the old tank that was in a vat with some of the old rock and warm circulating water. Hopefully things catch up quickly. Any other ideas ?
 

crusso1993

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The startup battle continues. Having to move my fish out of their sold temp tank got them into the new tank a little faster than I would have liked. Bacteria aren’t getting the job done and we have detectable ammonia. I have been doing water changes. Adding bacteria. And I just added the marine pure block from the old tank that was in a vat with some of the old rock and warm circulating water. Hopefully things catch up quickly. Any other ideas ?

Sorry I cannot recall but did you place the rock from the temporary set up into the new tank?
 

SPR1968

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The startup battle continues. Having to move my fish out of their sold temp tank got them into the new tank a little faster than I would have liked. Bacteria aren’t getting the job done and we have detectable ammonia. I have been doing water changes. Adding bacteria. And I just added the marine pure block from the old tank that was in a vat with some of the old rock and warm circulating water. Hopefully things catch up quickly. Any other ideas ?
Get some Marine ATM Colony (or a lot more of your bacteria of choice you’ve used) quick as you can and add it. I used 5 of the large bottles followed by 30 fish. Get enough, or more than enough for the water volume if you have ammonia showing.

If your using new live rock and one ‘seasoned’ block of marine pure I doubt the bacteria will cope due to the size of the tank.

And unless you need to I wouldn’t do any water changes as until the bacteria establishes itself in the live rock etc., it may be floating in the water column, especially if you add bacteria from a bottle, and your just going to remove some of it in the water changes.
 
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emvanburen

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Yes I started with several bottles of dr Tim’s and the first few fish for a week. Then added a bottle of microbacter7 and the rest of fish. I’ll be at the LFS tomorrow and get more bacteria and go to town. I’ve been testing twice daily At it’s staying at .2. But zero is where the fish want it.

the size of this tank is dawning on me. A water change is 100 Gal. That’s almost one bucket of salt per. Wow.
 
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emvanburen

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That stinks otherwise you could have used it to help with seeding the new tank.
Well it was part of the plan to not use it to avoid pests. I just think selling the old system put pressure on to get all the gear to the new owner - like my old skimmer and lights- which put pressure on me to get the fish into the new tank - and the bottles of bacteria are not keeping up.
 
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emvanburen

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Good amount of time spent reefing this weekend. Added two more bottles of Dr. Tim’s and total ammonia is < .2ppm, but not zero. Not where I want to be on this front- I’m sure blending the anemone didn’t help any. Fish behavior seems normal thus far but it’s not like I can ask them how they are doing.
Got a bigger fan into the fishroom. Hopefully this will give me some headroom on humidity. Nothing like standing on a bucket on a platform to work on the ceiling!
C0332B8B-1A90-43D5-9CFA-C7F97385CCDC.jpeg


Diatoms are starting. Progress!
Also put together a double ended Algae clip for the tangs. This way it doesn’t impact the front glass.
50FC1C52-334D-44E1-AA4F-5CFDFB5D281F.jpeg

Still a million things to do but it is coming along
Lots of apex tweaking and cable adjusting. Got my dosing pump set up to deliver Alk.
Still a million things to do but it is coming along F1D04A09-C5BF-4457-993D-8A51C261F5A8.png
 
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crusso1993

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Good amount of time spent reefing this weekend. Added two more bottles of Dr. Tim’s and total ammonia is < .2ppm, but not zero. Not where I want to be on this front- I’m sure blending the anemone didn’t help any. Fish behavior seems normal thus far but it’s not like I can ask them how they are doing.
Got a bigger fan into the fishroom. Hopefully this will give me some headroom on humidity. Nothing like standing on a bucket on a platform to work on the ceiling!
C0332B8B-1A90-43D5-9CFA-C7F97385CCDC.jpeg


Diatoms are starting. Progress!
Also put together a double ended Algae clip for the tangs. This way it doesn’t impact the front glass.
50FC1C52-334D-44E1-AA4F-5CFDFB5D281F.jpeg

Still a million things to do but it is coming along
Lots of apex tweaking and cable adjusting. Got my dosing pump set up to deliver Alk.
Still a million things to do but it is coming along F1D04A09-C5BF-4457-993D-8A51C261F5A8.png

Have you considered throwing some Zeolite into the sump to help adsorb the ammonia?
 

crusso1993

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I’m

Had not considered that. Does it make a big impact?

I cannot say that I've run any in a SW system. However, I do know that they are very efficient and effective in FW systems. That being said, if you do decide to try it, make sure you get Zeolite for SW as there can be a difference inbetween the FW and SW Zeolite.
 
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emvanburen

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Tank is coming along with various doodads arriving for me to install. I’ve got alkalinity at about 8, we have nitrate at 5, diatoms a plenty, and 6 xr30 g5 pros coming soon. Will likely be putting them end to end down the tank - the 27 inch width gets rapidly chewed up by the sea swirls, the t5 supplements and general clearance. I think having 6 of them at 12-18 inches should give me a fairly smooth coverage with somewhat of a peak in the centerline down the tank - where a lot of my mounting spots are. Just don’t see a way to cleanly get them in perpendicular - plus the new design seems to have a bigger spread. Hope the par meter approves.
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 73 37.6%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 66 34.0%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 12.9%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 28 14.4%
  • Other.

    Votes: 2 1.0%
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