The richreef saga, 55g to 125g

[RichtheReefer21]

Today is 7 months since I dove into the salty side of life. Couldnt be happier with my choice.

Just wish I had the money to get the sump together. It might have to wait till tax returns sadly.

Tired of the eye sores/wires etc... cant paint until I drill due to the nature of the operation. Will have to look at it all winter like this sadly. Meh.



Keep calm and reef on.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Added 30 nesars, 10 turbos, 10 astreas, 2 tiger conches today.

Proceeded to toothbrush the entire tank as the rocks started looking like bubble algae was taking over... everywhere..

If the cuc buff today doesnt show progress in the next week, I am going to have to try vibrant. Been told to go slow as it strips tank parameters too much if abused.

Fingers crossed I get it done the natural way.

Current CUC:
1 sea slug
1 sea hare nudi
2 tiger conches
80ish nassar
20ish astrea
14 mexican turbos
Unknown population of Bristle stars
1 stomatella
1 red star
1 red coral banded shrimp
1 blue coral banded shrimp
1 cleaner shrimp

Then my zebra tang. I guess theres always room for more CUC, but sheesh, common...

 

[RichtheReefer21]

#RedSoxNation

 

[Retro Reefer]

Tank is coming along nicely Emerald crabs will help keep bubble algae in check..

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Tank is coming along nicely Emerald crabs will help keep bubble algae in check..

Thanks, every time I add any crab they die. Probably the coral banded. I also caught my cleaner shrimp appearing to be digging at a smaller turbo snails underside... I'm wondering if he has turned into a snail killer at night. I have found at least 6 Astrea shells empty since I added about 24 of them over the last month.

 

[HotRocks]

Thanks, every time I add any crab they die. Probably the coral banded. I also caught my cleaner shrimp appearing to be digging at a smaller turbo snails underside... I'm wondering if he has turned into a snail killer at night. I have found at least 6 Astrea shells empty since I added about 24 of them over the last month.

Some wrasse will eat snails as well.

What salinity do you keep your tank at? Crabs are usually pretty hardy.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

.26 salt
6 line wrasse, but it's less than 2"

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Snowflake eel was found dead this morning too... bleh

The strawberry psuedo is doing just fine. Parameters are perfect in the QT 55g

 

[HotRocks]

.26 salt
6 line wrasse, but it's less than 2"

1.026?

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Yes. .026..
Sry

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

CURRENT FTS: 10/11/18









Started with this (used and neglected)

After a overnight vinegar mix soak and 4 hours of scraping and scrubbing:

Random Stuff he threw in as well, Filter, pumps, biobags, heater, old school HOTB protein skimmer, etc..
Soaked, literally, every single thing in vinegar mix in buckets and rubbermaid storage containers over night, and then brought it all to the bath tub and rinses for about an hour and used a poly-bristled scrub brush to ensure it was clear of any residue.

Then dipped and wiped down everything in a bucket of RO Fresh Water before hooking anything up.

Here is the Aqueon 75 that I packed full of Matrix and sponges to help boost the bio-potential for bacteria. I have since upgraded to a Aqueon 400 Canister with some of my old media and new, along with de-nitrate and some fresh Matrix as well.

So then I Headed to my LFS, grabbed the premixed salt rodi (didn't wanna mess with mixing my own water when I had no experience), live Bimini pink Fine and coarsed mixed sand, and about 45lbs of rock, One 10 lbs piece of live rock and a large bottle of AquaVitro Stability to help expedite the cycling) 2 turbo snails, 4 hermits, and 4 nessarius snails to get the tank running the cycle.

Week 1: Finaly got the tank to clear after 2 days of running the filter with Fine-Threaded bags to polish the fine sediment out of the water.

Week 5: First Big Water change (50%), Had some Hearty Fish (Damsel and 2 clowns, Stability added daily) and some easy upkeep coral frags in and was just starting to Experiment with placement and flow. And then, Wham, First Algae bloom, it got real bad for a couple days, so I dropped my Full-power run time on my light from 7 hours to 5hours a day to help.

1st pic is the start of it, 2nd pic is the new cleanup crew I hired to buff up my cleaning community ( +2 turbos, +4 hermits). 2 Days later, Algae was all but gone. Never dosed or scrubbed. Lets the snails and hermits do their job.

Week 8: Coral purchasing is out of my control at this point, I wanted it all, and now. Upgraded to the Canister filter and a new Fluval 3.0 Strip with smartapp programmable etc... Added the blue background. And a Tuxedo urchin.

Week 12: Kept getting bubbles between the glass and film of the blue background, removed it and continued adding Coral and set up some new rock for the forest of SPS and Acros coming soon. Also added a 2 spotted Goby and a Starry Blenny.

Week 13: Floating a new Powder Brown Tang, and LPS and Softie corals are all in and settled. Just got Acros and SPS left to add.

Great job. Thanks for sharing

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Great job. Thanks for sharing

Thanks. It's been a struggle since the ich/velvet outbreak. Had to rush this 125 setup in a hurry to save everything running fallow. Wish I could've waited and had it drilled and sumped etc.. but it is what it is.

All in due time it will come together. I will say this, this tank is proof of what can be accomplished with a simple remora hotb skimmer and a canister filter of proper size for the tank.

It saved my booty.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Snowflake eel was found dead this morning too

That is a real bummer. Sorry to hear.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

That is a real bummer. Sorry to hear.

 

[Fudsey]

Sorry to hear Rich.....

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Green blasto before, u can see little off-color bands forming on the edges.

It is developing some orange bands/stripes on the inside edge of the polyps. Here it is waking up this morning.

Pretty exciting watching colors just form out of no where.. guess I am doing some good along with the numskull mistakes.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Put 2 emerald crabs in the DT to help with bubble algae, hopefully.

Also got a large starry blenny in QT with the psuedo.. he will definitely help knock down the algae as well.

Going to stop target feeding and amino/phyto feeding to see if it helps starve out the uglies as well.

Now we wait.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Tripled in size in 2 months. Happy to see him on the rock that is getting the worst of the algae.

Hes well fed sadly. LoL

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Hard at work.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Hes well fed sadly. LoL

But it is working, so that is awesome news.