The Highway Reef

Highway reefer · Jun 20, 2020

Intro to the Highway Reef

End 2019 we had change our freshwater tank after 20years, so we ended up visiting some stores for a new tank.
Mostly it's okay when i go to the lfs with my wife, i do always end up in the saltwater department, having look but never buying.
Being a truckdriver, i'm usually 14 days gone, that kept me from starting, although 10Years ago i had a reeftank, with little success.
This time it was a bit different, the itch came back a little stronger than usual.
Since i did check out the forums from time to time, i thought a pico tank might work.
So i bought a 5 l diamond shape tank, i still had a box with dry rock, witch was cleaned in muriatic acid back then.
The selected rock were rinsed in saltwater for several weeks.
Then i added bacteria, made a scape with the rock and live sand, fed the bacteria with some frozen food.
After the tank was cycled, i waited another month to put the first coral a hermit and 3 snails.
then after 2 month i seeded the thank with copepods and rotiffiers, en 3 times a Week some drops live phytoplankton

The pico setup
diamond shape 5l tank
smal internal filter, for flow, with chemipure blue nano
Heater
Blau reeflight, blue on 70% 30% white

Maintenance
every 14 days 100% waterchange
every month pump, heater cleaning
every 2 months chemipure change

Livestock all frags ( at breakdow of thank)
Zoas.
st thomas rhodactis
florida rico
goniopora 2
favia
acan
candycane
cyphastrea Bizaro
2 bumble snails
1 nasarius snail
1tectus or trochus snail
1 hermit
1 mitrax crab

With my basic knowledge and reading allot about reef jars , this went suprissingly well.

andrewey · Jun 20, 2020

Cool design!

Lasse · Jun 20, 2020

Looks good

Sincerely Lasse

Casket_Case · Jun 20, 2020

Looks great!

Highway reefer · Jun 21, 2020

The Highway Reef
Intro 2

Although I thought that pico tank was great, it also gave me stress, especially when cleaning the windows.
So I started looking for something bigger.
Ultimately, 2 tanks remained.
The inovative marine 10G and the waterbox 10G.
My choice fell on the water box, because it could be ordered in the Netherlands from a seller with a very good reputation.

In the meantime I had picked some rocks, and put them in a box with salt water, to rinse, after 2 weeks after the water change, I also started adding bacteria.

Along with the aquarium, I bought an AI prime 16 HD, and over the course of a few weeks, the other stuff I thought I needed.
Some things I had from the past.

When my ordered tank came home, I first rinsed it and tested everything for leaks.
After this I started the scape with cured rocks, and the sand I had left from the pico.
I added 2 pieces of rock from the pico, along with a few scoops of the living sand.
5ml of bacteria were added daily, and half a block of frozen food was added weekly.
The water was tested every 2 days.
On May 30, the water had been testing 0 amonia, 0 nitrite for a week, I transferred all from the Pico, rock, sand, corals and inverts.
Since the last water change in the pico, the corals no longer opened nicely, and 1 zoa frag had melted away.
Afterwards I found out that one of the snails had died. I think that caused too much pollution in that small tank.

Amonia, nitrite, remained nice at 0 over the next week.
So I think the transition was successful.
Nitrate has fallen from 25ppm to 0ppm over the course of 20 days, which is too low.
Phosphate has not been higher than 0.08ppm over those 20 days.

Last week, I thought it was time to bring in a fish and expand the cleanup crew.
So a trip to an Lfs that I knew from the past, and that has good and well-kept stock.
After looking and googling for a long time, I ended up with the Ctenogobiops tangaroai in symbiosis with a pistol shrimp.
The pistol shrimp was nowhere to be found, so it remained with the gobie.
The snails I wanted were no longer there, so I took a red-legged hermite and a blood shrimp.
Meanwhile, of course, also looking at the corals.
Then my wife said it's your birthday next week, pick something.
There were so many beautiful lps corals there that it was not really easy to choose something.
But I was attracted to 2 super beautiful Trachyphyllia corals from the start.
After consulting Google, i decided to take the plunge.
In addition, there was also a red Pectinia coral frag, again consulted google. And the pectinia whent in shopingcart
I bought a milwaukee PH pen and some small equipment, along with a bag of live copepods.
And I returned home, happy as a child.
Back at home, the corals were dipped before entering the tank.
The fish and inverts were acclimated over a 2 hour time span.

Because I wanted some extra cuc, I started searching online. I ordered 4 Caribian cerith snails, 1nerita polita snail and a pistol shrimp, which were delivered the next day.
All acclimatized for 2 hours.
And so my cuc is sufficient for now.

Last Friday, maintenance was due.
12l water change (25/30%). The pumps were cleaned, I removed the santa monica ats I installed. was too much noise to my liking.
And I did a little rescape, because the trachy must be in the sand, and the footprint of the rocks didn't really allow that.
The corals where replaced.

In the meantime I had seen on brs tv that they had made a video about the AI prime 16 Hd.
I've been taking these settings over for the moment, with a little less cool white.

Yesterday morning, when the lights came on, the goby swam to the window.
A few hours later he was still there, I thought that was suspicious, when I checked, I had to determine that he was dead.
I still had to test my water, I immediately started, but all parameters were normal.
I suspect that working in the tank the day before was too much stress.
But I am not sure.
Yesterday a trip to an LFS was already planned.
The owner has a lot of experience in the reef aquarium world.
I asked him what could be the cause of the dead fish.
He couldn't answer that, because it could have been anything.
After another good conversation, and some good tips.
I came home with 3 new residents.
An Amblyeleotris randalli, a Doryrhamphus excisus and a button scolly.

I think this is sufficient as an intro

Highway reefer · Jun 21, 2020

First scape, with all the corrals of the pico, and some oft the new

Final scape

.

Highway reefer · Jun 21, 2020

The Highway reef

Set up

Tank ; Waterbox cube 10G Light ; AI prime 16 HD
Return pump ; Stock. Powerhead ; Aqamai kps
Heater ; Denerle 50W. Controller ; Aqua light temprature controller
Ato ; Auto aqua Smart ATO duo Filter ; Intank media rack

Substrate

2,5 kg Dry rock ( cured)
4/5 cm Caribsea Live sand Ocean Direct aragonite 1-3mm ( dry and live mix)

Filtration

Rock and sand (Biological)

Chamber 1 ; Chemipure blue nao
Chamber 2 ; rock ruble

Lighting scheme

Highway reefer · Jun 21, 2020

The highway Reef
Live stock
Coral

Calustrea frag - ricordea florida 2 - Ricordea yuma - Osculifera Rhodactis - rhodactis inchoata - Trachyphyllia - Discosoma marmoratus blue - Favites sp. or favia sp. - Gonipora onixio - Gonipora pink - Pectinia alcicornis red - Acanthastrea lordhowensis - Button scolly

Fish

Doryrhamphus excisus - Amblyeleotris randalli

Inverts

Lysmata debelius - Engina sp. - 4 Cerithium Atratum - Clibanarius sp. - Mithrax sculptus - Calcinus sp. - Nassarius sp - Nerita Polita - Alpheus bellulus - Trochus snail

Water parameters

20-6-20
amonia 0 ppm - Nitrite 0 ppm - Nitrate 0 ppm - Phosphate 0,05 ppm - Salinity 35 ppm - PH 7,8 - Alk 10,6 dkh - Ca 500 ppm - Mg 1600 ppm - temp. 25 C

Alk,Ca,Mg is high,
this is because i use red sea coral pro salt.
I'm going to change this. I just don't know which salt yet.

Nitrate, phosphate is low,
I think this is due to the chemipure.
Maybe it goes up now that I feed a little more

Until now,
I lost a zoa frag, a snail and a goby.
The ricordea yuma has come loose and is well hidden somewhere.

I only had some brown diatom algae at start-up.
Green algae so far, not yet.

The pistol shrimp has molted, and I have not seen it so far. I hope she pairs with the goby

Highway reefer · Jun 28, 2020

Last Tuesday my new streaming pump came in, so tunze out, Aqamai in.

i used te preset lps settings to start out.

Wednesday I ramp the power up and changed some flow presets, I also made some change on the lights, less cool white. Those changes seemed to help, the shrooms op up more , the candy cane is a little more puft up, and keeps on splitting in to two mouths, the accan is nice open, favia starts getting is color back. The pink gonio started to open, the purple gonio doesn’t op at all.

Today I did a 10 % waterchange, i changed the purple gonio to the other side, the button scolly seemed to do well, so I glued him .

I needed ro water, so whent to the lfs, came home with some extra snails, torch coral, and some zoas polyps ho wher detached from there stone, so glued the on a piece of rock.

after maintenance, I trew in 2 pouches life copepods and 1 one pouch live rotifiers.

i finally seen my goby eat, the blue stripe pipe fish is always picking on the rocks.

the pistol shrimp I haven’t seen since,I put him in, I hope he just found a spot, and one day Hé team’s up with th the goby

water values

sg 35ppt - temp 25c - alk 9dkh - ca 480ppt - mg 1600ppt - ph 7,9 - nitrate 10ppm - phosphate 0,050ppt

only ca and mg are way to high. There is consumption,the figures are lower than Last Wednesday

the rest seems ok , for a 2 month old tank.

still have some brown algae,an onthe windows green film

vetteguy53081 · Jun 28, 2020

Unique !!

Highway reefer · Jun 28, 2020

Some pics

Highway reefer · Jul 5, 2020

Today is my last day of vacation, and im pleased with the way my little ocean goes on.
The last 14 days I had the chance to observe the tank daily, and I must say some of the corrals that looked like I would be loosing them, actually revived.
I seen the thrachy open up after 2 weeks, not all the way I guess, but still she was alive.
My gonio’s are getting there also, with the pink opening more and onxyo staying a little behind, but she starts.
This morning the Pectinia looked beter than ever before .
The pipefish is cruising en picking , en when I put food in he/she eats.
The goby is always hiding , but comes out to eat, The bloodschrimp owns the tank when feeding time is there.
Actually ,in short all is well.
The tank is 3,5 months young, water values stay fairly stable, with high Ca and Mg, and little low Ph.

Tomorrow ill be gone for 14 days, so waterchange will be every 14 days, so Im going to feed a little less.
I was thinking every 2 days frozen for the fish and 1 day reefroids for the corrals.

Highway reefer · Jan 9, 2021

It has been a while since I have posted, but it has been busy the last few months.
Our house was sold last summer and we had to move at the end of November. Normally we moved to Hungary, but covid decided otherwise. We now live in my mother's house for the time being, until the borders open again.
At first I wanted to sell everything, because I was a bit afraid that the animals would not survive. But finally decided to try it. And that went well. I have not lost any animal because of the move.
My work regime has also changed, I'm usually on the road for 3 weeks now. During that time my wife keeps an eye on things.
Over the Christmas holidays, after the tank has had some rest from the move, I changed some things so that my wife doesn't have to do too much in the aquarium.
I installed an auttoaqua aws, so she doesn't have to change the water. And when I get home next week, there will be a new flow pump and return pump waiting to install. I also have a refugium light ready to be installed.

Highway reefer · Jan 9, 2021

The highway reef is now 8 months old, and I have only had few problems so far. that has probably been more luck than wisdom. The water values remained fairly stable until I changed salt. Now my Kh has increased to 11dkh, which is still within the limit. But I normally stayed between 8 and 9 dkh. Nitrate and phosphate are always low, No2 0.5 and Po4 0.05, Ca and Mg are always too high, but that has always been the case. When I look at the corals, most of them are doing well, and some have even grown a bit.
For the moment I only have some kind of refugium filter with cheato, and when I get home I will add some activated carbon, because the water turns yellow anyway.
I add 0.4ml of reef elixir daily, this is a new all in one product from the Netherlands, but I have yet to see the results.
I also give some phyto every day.
In those 7 months I lost three fish, the blood shrimp has not survived a salt fluctuation, and one of the gonioporas is not going to make it either, I think. The pectina coral has also withered away, my tank was probably not suitable for that.

Most of the corals I have have now been in it for 6-7 months. Only a black torch, green pavona and a few rhodactis mushrooms have been added.
And a circus gobie, already a month now, and he eats well.