Ron Reefman's new 90g build

[ReefGrammie]

I've never tried it, but in a tank that is set up and running that developed an aiptasia problem, I sure would. But since I had mine all torn down, I could inspect each rock closely. Every rock that had any went into a 5g tank I had set up and got treated. I used Aiptasia-X until I had used up what I had leftover (an old supply). Then I mixed up a new batch using kalkwasser to make a seriously thick paste. It worked GREAT. It was like pouring underwater concrete on the aiptasia. And because the rockscape isn't permanent yet, I could flip over rocks so the aiptasia was on the top surface making it easy to treat.

I have used kalkwasser paste before also, but usually end up clogging up my syringes or squirting it all over good stuff by accident! You are definitely better off since yours is torn down. On my 90 reboot, I'm trying SO hard not to deal with nasties like aiptasia in the first place, but you just never know when something like that is going to creep in. I'm getting my first batch of corals this week, where I will scrub the plugs and then dip the frags. We'll see! Sounds like you're on the right track with the aiptasia. Good luck!

 

[Ron Reefman]

I have used kalkwasser paste before also, but usually end up clogging up my syringes or squirting it all over good stuff by accident! You are definitely better off since yours is torn down. On my 90 reboot, I'm trying SO hard not to deal with nasties like aiptasia in the first place, but you just never know when something like that is going to creep in. I'm getting my first batch of corals this week, where I will scrub the plugs and then dip the frags. We'll see! Sounds like you're on the right track with the aiptasia. Good luck!

Thanks Rhonda. I hope all goes well with your new corals.

I spent over an hour yesterday pulling some fine macro algae out of my new setup. I know it's due to the 2 months of abuse while it was in the holding tank and I was busy with re-plumbing the entire house and setting up the new system. But I have chaeto in the fuge and a good light over it, so algae growth in the DT should slow down and my algae eaters will take over!

 

[ReefGrammie]

Ron, those pictures of your 40....OMG!!!! Amazing!!!

 

[Ron Reefman]

Ron, those pictures of your 40....OMG!!!! Amazing!!!

It was really a difficult decision to tear it down and build a bigger tank. Everybody was growing and the RFSa were breeding. But I had no room for anymore RFAs and they are my passion.

Besides, now that I've built a few tanks I wanted to do one last tank and make it the tank I really wanted. The 30" front to back was a big deal, the overflow with 5 holes was important, and it's turned out to be dead quiet! My wife appreciates that. I also wanted to do white instead of black (just to be different) and use low iron glass on the front. Oh, and I wanted the pyramid egg crate shelf for the rockscape rather than the ramp I used in the 40g. It was very difficult to get under the ramp to collect things. But the pyramid has a removable upper level and getting things out from inside will be quite easy.

 

[Ron Reefman]

My week away on vacation allowed some fine hairy algae to get ahead of me and I needed to do something. So yesterday I spent over 2 hours working on algae removal. I just picked what I could off the bigger rocks and the corals attached to them. But there were a lot of frag plugs and some smaller rocks that I could get out of the tank easily. So I pulled them out, picked off algae, gave them a 1 minute dip in H2O2, rinsed them off and moved them to a 16g holding tank. That way I can really keep an eye on the algae and if it keeps growing, it will be easy to clean and dip them again.

For the most part the zoas weren't too upset and after a couple of hours in the holding tank, looked OK. I on the other hand, didn't fair as well. I believe I got some paly toxin through handling too many corals with bare hands. Last night was a bit tough. I had pretty severe chills, very achy joins and muscles and a headache. But the worst part was a very upset stomach, to the point that I nearly threw up. It took a while but I found that my stomach got riled up whenever I moved, and it would settle down if I lay still and took deep breaths. But laying still was difficult with the aching joints and muscles. This condition kept me awake until 3am when I was finally able to get to sleep. But even then, every 30 to 60 minutes I would wake up and struggle to get back to sleep. By the way, antacids like Rolaids had absolutely no effect on the stomack discomfort, even after taking double the recommended dose.

It's now 8am and I feel considerably better, but certainly not normal. I still have a nasty headache and muscle aches. I told my wife I feel like I'm 70 years old! She reminded me that I actually am 70 years old. But the point is, I felt worse than my normal 70 years old!

I guess the point of this post is to warn you that handling zoas and palys can be risky even just through touching them. I knew getting their fluid in my eye, mouth or nose was a big issue, but even just prolonged contact with your hands is an issue. Now the search for a good glove, like a surgeon wears, will start.

 

[crusso1993]

My week away on vacation allowed some fine hairy algae to get ahead of me and I needed to do something. So yesterday I spent over 2 hours working on algae removal. I just picked what I could off the bigger rocks and the corals attached to them. But there were a lot of frag plugs and some smaller rocks that I could get out of the tank easily. So I pulled them out, picked off algae, gave them a 1 minute dip in H2O2, rinsed them off and moved them to a 16g holding tank. That way I can really keep an eye on the algae and if it keeps growing, it will be easy to clean and dip them again.

For the most part the zoas weren't too upset and after a couple of hours in the holding tank, looked OK. I on the other hand, didn't fair as well. I believe I got some paly toxin through handling too many corals with bare hands. Last night was a bit tough. I had pretty severe chills, very achy joins and muscles and a headache. But the worst part was a very upset stomach, to the point that I nearly threw up. It took a while but I found that my stomach got riled up whenever I moved, and it would settle down if I lay still and took deep breaths. But laying still was difficult with the aching joints and muscles. This condition kept me awake until 3am when I was finally able to get to sleep. But even then, every 30 to 60 minutes I would wake up and struggle to get back to sleep. By the way, antacids like Rolaids had absolutely no effect on the stomack discomfort, even after taking double the recommended dose.

It's now 8am and I feel considerably better, but certainly not normal. I still have a nasty headache and muscle aches. I told my wife I feel like I'm 70 years old! She reminded me that I actually am 70 years old. But the point is, I felt worse than my normal 70 years old!

I guess the point of this post is to warn you that handling zoas and palys can be risky even just through touching them. I knew getting their fluid in my eye, mouth or nose was a big issue, but even just prolonged contact with your hands is an issue. Now the search for a good glove, like a surgeon wears, will start.

A little surprised you don't already have gloves and wear them but happy you're pulling out of the sickness today.

Sending good vibes!

 

[Ron Reefman]

Thanks. I knew better, but sometimes it can be hard to teach an old dog new tricks. Until recently I've never had any issues. But I never handled zoas and palys for so long at one time before. So nearly 20 years into the hobby and still learning!

 

[Ron Reefman]

Wednesday update:

The frags and small rocks that I picked algae off of, then dipped in 3% H2O2 for 1 minute and then put in a holding tank to observe are doing great. The leftover algae has all turned a translucent whitish color and is now disintegrating into the water column.

My female clown jumped out of the tank (chasing a young male I think) and has now passed.

The algae still in the larger rocks and corals in the DT is still alive but I think is starting to weaken. I've had chaeto in the fuge and good lighting for a few weeks now and I've been adding 10ml of H2O2 to the DT every evening. I turn off the return pump, put the H2O2 in the tank and leave it for 10 minutes, then the return pump comes back on. I'm hoping that the fact tha H2O2 reacts with water rather quickly will mean that the 10 minutes will reduce or eliminate the effect of the H2O2 on the chaeto in the sump!

I'm one of 3 people in a group to try and become better photographers. I gave an older bridge camera to a friend and this group exercise will help her learn the functions of the camera. I can use some of that help with my camera as well. But for me the exercise is more about trying to be more creative and artistic with my photography. Last week's exercise subject was friends. This was my photo:

These two spend way more time together in my tank than they do apart.

 

[jtl]

I tried many different approaches to eradicate HA and the H2O2 dip worked the best. I even dipped rocks with corals on them in diluted H2O2 with no problems. Just make sure the corals are closed before putting them in the dip. I didn't have much success treating the whole tank at a safe level. As you know HA is tough to eliminate entirely but we always stayed on top of it so it was never a problem. When I see tanks that have been neglected and overrun with HA and the owner is looking for a quick cure I just shake my head.

I once used Vibrant and not only did it not work it seriously stunted my coral growth.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I tried many different approaches to eradicate HA and the H2O2 dip worked the best. I even dipped rocks with corals on them in diluted H2O2 with no problems. Just make sure the corals are closed before putting them in the dip. I didn't have much success treating the whole tank at a safe level. As you know HA is tough to eliminate entirely but we always stayed on top of it so it was never a problem. When I see tanks that have been neglected and overrun with HA and the owner is looking for a quick cure I just shake my head.

I once used Vibrant and not only did it not work it seriously stunted my coral growth.

Hi John,

I dipped small rocks with coral on them and frags of coral (mostly zoas) and they all did fine in 3% H2O2 for 1 minute. I didn't even think about getting them closed up before I dipped. Thanks for the suggestion.

Like you, I'm not sure the 1ml od H2O2 per 10g of system water is really effective. But I figures while I'm just getting started with the new system I could give it a try. I've also read that this can reduce the speed at which diatoms will force cleaning the glass.

I'm seriously considering dipping the big rocks with algae as well.

 

[jtl]

Ron, I would dip the large rocks using the same technique as the small ones. I could see the algae "melt" off in the bucket with no harm to the corals.

 

[crusso1993]

Wednesday update:

The frags and small rocks that I picked algae off of, then dipped in 3% H2O2 for 1 minute and then put in a holding tank to observe are doing great. The leftover algae has all turned a translucent whitish color and is now disintegrating into the water column.

My female clown jumped out of the tank (chasing a young male I think) and has now passed.

The algae still in the larger rocks and corals in the DT is still alive but I think is starting to weaken. I've had chaeto in the fuge and good lighting for a few weeks now and I've been adding 10ml of H2O2 to the DT every evening. I turn off the return pump, put the H2O2 in the tank and leave it for 10 minutes, then the return pump comes back on. I'm hoping that the fact tha H2O2 reacts with water rather quickly will mean that the 10 minutes will reduce or eliminate the effect of the H2O2 on the chaeto in the sump!

I'm one of 3 people in a group to try and become better photographers. I gave an older bridge camera to a friend and this group exercise will help her learn the functions of the camera. I can use some of that help with my camera as well. But for me the exercise is more about trying to be more creative and artistic with my photography. Last week's exercise subject was friends. This was my photo:

These two spend way more time together in my tank than they do apart.

Sorry about your female clown, Ron.

Good luck with the photography part of your journey. Fortunately, there are many people in the photography forum who really know what they're doing and share their knowledge.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Thursday afternoon and evening we had a fairly strong cold front go through. That only happens a handful of times during Dec thru March and not at all during the rest of the year. That gives us some westerly winds and washes some interesting stuff up on the beach other than shells! So Friday morning I was at the beach just before sunrise.

I was a bit disappointed as there were no sponges and very little algae on the beach. I walked an hour one way and at one point, for a few hundred yards there was a red urchin every few feet on the beach. Yes, probably 200 or more! Sea birds were having a field day eating some. Many were dead, some had managed to survive. I collected 2 small ones that I couldn't tell for sure if they were dead or alive. They weren't moving at all, but their spines were only a little 'droopy', so I figured they had a 50/50 chance.

I also found a small sea star in the same basic condition. And 4 small mollusks, 2 clams and 2 slipper shells attached to an empty fighting conch shell. When I got home they all seemed to be alive and the went into my 16g holding tank.

This morning they all seem to be doing OK and to my surprise, the 2 clams were open and filtering water! So not a great day for collecting, but a good 2 hour beach walk (an hour out and an hour back) and at least a few animals to enrich my DT in time.

 

[crusso1993]

Thursday afternoon and evening we had a fairly strong cold front go through. That only happens a handful of times during Dec thru March and not at all during the rest of the year. That gives us some westerly winds and washes some interesting stuff up on the beach other than shells! So Friday morning I was at the beach just before sunrise.

I was a bit disappointed as there were no sponges and very little algae on the beach. I walked an hour one way and at one point, for a few hundred yards there was a red urchin every few feet on the beach. Yes, probably 200 or more! Sea birds were having a field day eating some. Many were dead, some had managed to survive. I collected 2 small ones that I couldn't tell for sure if they were dead or alive. They weren't moving at all, but their spines were only a little 'droopy', so I figured they had a 50/50 chance.

I also found a small sea star in the same basic condition. And 4 small mollusks, 2 clams and 2 slipper shells attached to an empty fighting conch shell. When I got home they all seemed to be alive and the went into my 16g holding tank.

This morning they all seem to be doing OK and to my surprise, the 2 clams were open and filtering water! So not a great day for collecting, but a good 2 hour beach walk (an hour out and an hour back) and at least a few animals to enrich my DT in time.

A bad day walking the beach beats most days anywhere else!

 

[Ron Reefman]

Last Saturday I went to a Frag Swap Show in Lakeland, FL. It was a good swap with a lot of coral vendors. I got 6 zoa frags (nothing special) and 1 frag of Bubblegum Digitata (colorful and pricey). I got 5 good looking RFAs (colorful but not uncommon) and 1 RFA I think is very cool. The oral disk is purple or magenta and the tentacles are gold with green flecks in them. Unfortunately the oral disk doesn't fluoresce, but the gold tentacles really shine.

Today I moved the digi and the RFAs from the holding tank to the DT. As soon as they settle in and open up, I'll get some photos.

I also got some Dragon's Breath macro algae and found out that my tangs like it. Not because it's cool looking, which it is, but because it must taste good! So it may be destine to stay in the holding tank until it gets bigger and then I'll move some that I can 'harvest' from the holding tank to the DT and let the tangs have a feast! I also moved the 2 clams and the sea star I collected off the beach last Friday. One or both urchins will probably go in the refugium soon with the coral banded shrimp that lives there.

 

[crusso1993]

Last Saturday I went to a Frag Swap Show in Lakeland, FL. It was a good swap with a lot of coral vendors. I got 6 zoa frags (nothing special) and 1 frag of Bubblegum Digitata (colorful and pricey). I got 5 good looking RFAs (colorful but not uncommon) and 1 RFA I think is very cool. The oral disk is purple or magenta and the tentacles are gold with green flecks in them. Unfortunately the oral disk doesn't fluoresce, but the gold tentacles really shine.

Today I moved the digi and the RFAs from the holding tank to the DT. As soon as they settle in and open up, I'll get some photos.

I also got some Dragon's Breath macro algae and found out that my tangs like it. Not because it's cool looking, which it is, but because it must taste good! So it may be destine to stay in the holding tank until it gets bigger and then I'll move some that I can 'harvest' from the holding tank to the DT and let the tangs have a feast! I also moved the 2 clams and the sea star I collected off the beach last Friday. One or both urchins will probably go in the refugium soon with the coral banded shrimp that lives there.

Sounds like a good haul! Looking forward to pics.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Update: Things are progressing along slowly but surely. I decided to pull a few big rocks out of the DT and dip them in hydrogen peroxide to kill off the nuisance algae. It seems a 5 minute dip in normal, store bought 3% H2O2 does a number on the algae but the zoas, RFAs and a few other soft corals have done fine. I'm hopeful that in the next couple of weeks I'll be ready to start setting up a more permanent rockscape and get all my zoa frags placed in the rocks.

I have a few new little fish. A pair of tiny Ocellaris clown and a really small Banggai Cardinal. Tomorrow a new Blenny should show up along with some new lps and sps corals. I was just using up a gift certificate (before it expired) and credits from Live Aquaria.

Peace River, a fellow member of the Reef Squad here, and I have been talking about doing RFA breeding / grow out tanks. I'm not 100% sure I'll do it, but it's possible. I'll make a decision after I get the rocks and corals that are in the holding tank now recovering from the peroxide dip. The algae takes a few days to rot and come off the rocks and I don't want that debris in the DT. I'd take the 16g holding tank I use now, add some black sand and an auto top off. It already has a HOB filter and a Tunze in tank skimmer that works pretty well. Then I'd pull all the RFAs that are in end caps out of the DT and move them to the 16g tank. I might even get crazy and start pulling some of the RFAs that are on rocks in the DT as well. At last count I think I have 50 RFAs, but most of them are still rather small.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Friday, after a cool front had just passed, my wife Elaine and I went for a sunrise beach walk. I hoped to find some soft orange sponges we occasionally find after a front goes through. But no luck.

Instead I brought home a few live scallops that will end up becoming food for some of the other hunters in the DT. Also a couple different types of red macro algae, just to see if it will grow and to see if the blenny that is also in the holding tank is interested in eating it.

I also brought home the biggest barnacle I've ever seen. Along this coast lots of shells have small tons of small barnacles. Very rarely we'll find a grouping of slightly bigger barnacles that I think are a different species. But there was a carapace of a big Blue Crab at the water's edge and it had 3 barnacles on it. They are all the same species but very different from any I have seen before... not that I normally pay a lot of attention to barnacles! One is quite small, one is bigger and one is HUGE! Maybe an inch or more in diameter. They are in my holding tank and still alive.

Hopefully photos to follow later today.

 

[crusso1993]

Friday, after a cool front had just passed, my wife Elaine and I went for a sunrise beach walk. I hoped to find some soft orange sponges we occasionally find after a front goes through. But no luck.

Instead I brought home a few live scallops that will end up becoming food for some of the other hunters in the DT. Also a couple different types of red macro algae, just to see if it will grow and to see if the blenny that is also in the holding tank is interested in eating it.

I also brought home the biggest barnacle I've ever seen. Along this coast lots of shells have small tons of small barnacles. Very rarely we'll find a grouping of slightly bigger barnacles that I think are a different species. But there was a carapace of a big Blue Crab at the water's edge and it had 3 barnacles on it. They are all the same species but very different from any I have seen before... not that I normally pay a lot of attention to barnacles! One is quite small, one is bigger and one is HUGE! Maybe an inch or more in diameter. They are in my holding tank and still alive.

Hopefully photos to follow later today.

What do you mean, "Hopefully?" We better get pics! Lol

 

[SMSREEF]

What do you mean, "Hopefully?" We better get pics! Lol

Second Vote for Pics Today! Come on Ron