120 Gallon Mixed Reef in progress

[Tristren]

Just a quick update to say that we now have fish!

Two happy little black and white Clowns, and a cleaner shrimp have joined the small CuC and the hitchhiker crab.

Steady as she goes...

 

[Tristren]

Checked my numbers. Still need to do calcium though.

KH - 9.2
Nitrate - 5 (or 6ish)
Phosphate - 0

My salinity is sitting at 2.026. Temp is 78.

How does that look?

Tony

 

[Auhiwayman]

Checked my numbers. Still need to do calcium though.

KH - 9.2
Nitrate - 5 (or 6ish)
Phosphate - 0

My salinity is sitting at 2.026. Temp is 78.

How does that look?

Tony

Hope you mean 1.026!

 

[Tristren]

Hope you mean 1.026!

Right!

 

[Tristren]

Quite a lot happened with our tank in the last month, which is never a good thing!

Some fun parts included moving the sump downstairs to a fish shelf (like a fish room, but less so):

I'm pretty pleased with it actually.
I had OttawaFishGuys come in to to the "drilling a hole in the floor" part to get the pipes down to the basement, as well as the plumbing and building the refugium. This because I learned from my first go around that I really don't like that part.

My wife pointed out the illuminating fact that I really enjoy the planning, problem solving and design part of diy. But less so the execution part.

In this case I also didn't want to flood the utility room or the rest of the basement, so an expert seemed like a good idea and it worked out great.

I got foam board for the shelves and foil backed foam to wrap the whole thing up and protect the rest of the (unfinished storage/furnace) room from splashes and creeps.

I have an existing sink and toilet across the room and so snaked a tube down from a python upstairs to drain waterchanges, and plugged into the sink for my saltwater "mixing station". For now that's the two Brute tubs on the floor but I may fix that up later.

So now I have a 120 gallon DT, with a nice sized sump for a protein skimmer, probes and dosing etc (eventually). And then I have a ~25-30 gallon refugium as well.

Really happy with all of that.

On the livestock side we had some bad luck stemming from some bad choices. I will cover that in a different thread soon but our clowns have both died and we are starting over on the fish side. The rest of the life in our tank is doing well, but we are really upset about our fish and looking at a very slow and cautious move back into that.

I'm still in love with all of this, but man is it a kick in the gut sometimes.

 

[Tristren]

Coraline algae seems to be starting up nicely on the dry rock:

 

[Tristren]

So while we are fishless for another few weeks, the rest of the life is doing well.
And now we have corals!

Big brain

Close up

In situ

And down the other end:

Still settling in though.

 

[Tristren]

Fish!

We are a few weeks out from the end of the fallow period (5-6 weeks). We have the nice 30g QT and am keen to have a good look at the next fish before anyone gets close to the main system.

So we have two little fish in quarantine. A Filefish and a purple Firefish.

No good photos yet, but here they are:

Both were active and eating at the LFS. They went in yesterday and spent the night hiding.

I turned on the lights today around noon and put in a bit of frozen Mysis with Selcon and a dash of garlic. They came right out and ate the lot. The rest of the day they have been out and about, sticking near their preferred hiding places and nipping in when needed. They both ate dinner well as well.

There is no copper or anything in the water now. I have it, and Prazipro ready to go but I'm still on the fence about prophylactic medication for all fish. Watching and waiting for now...

Really happy so far and hope this goes well!


Tony

 

[tupes]

Looking good Tony. Good job with the updates. Keep up the good work. Don't forget to ask questions when ever you have some.

 

[Tristren]

Absolutely, this forum has been an amazing source of information.

I have to say that so far these fish just seem healthier. So I am hopeful. But at the same time I am certainly not going to rush anything. They are not going near the main system until it's full fallow time is through.


Tony

 

[Tristren]

After a long long fallow period, there are now fish back in the tank : )

 

[Tristren]

Four fish in the tank now. All of them came through the observation / QT set up.

 

[Tristren]

All of the fish are still doing well. And all of these original corals actually.

However I've been battling GHA and it's getting me down a bit. Hence the lack of updates. Still really enjoying it though.

I went in a scrubbed, have cut back on lighting, and added a bit of phosphate minus. That seems to have slowed it down.

Oh, right, that's on top of the 300w MarsHydro I put over the fuge... Plenty of growth down there.

So I think I'm on the right track, but I need to stay ahead of it. Starting to look at skimmers... The Vertex looks good.

Here are a few shots since the last update:


Not the best photo, but shows the good polyps on the Gorgonian, and the new GSP behind it.

Here's the tank at, just about, it's hairiest... Mid December.

And here after the scrub. Just after new years.

Looking back it's much better now than it was at its worst. But certainly the GHA is regrowing.

Ah well. Onwards!

Cheers, Tony

 

[najer]

What is your flow like and what CUC do you have?

 

[Tristren]

The flow is good I think. I have two Gyre 250s, one horizontal near the top, one vertical at the other end (corner overflow makes it so I can't mount the other one horizontally as well). They are running on the Gyre's ocean Gyre cycle. There is plenty of movement with stuff floating around, the soft corals (the GHA) and the fish all reacting to the shifts in flow. Some sand movement towards a buildup in the middle from the vertical Gyre, but the sand isn't tossed about at all.

In terms of Clean up Crew I have a bunch of snails and hermits.
I'd say there are probably close to 15-20 crabs (mostly out at night).
There is one Emerald Crab that keeps busy.

There are six Nassarius snails that come out at night. There were two others that came out in the day but the Filefish thought that they looked interesting, so they're gone.

Then there are the other snails. And I have two concerns about them. There are a few (~4?) trochus snails, and I'd say a bit under 10 Mexican Turbo snails.

Based on numbers I should be able to have more in my system, but I'm not happy with mortality rate of them. I suppose I don't know what is normal in a tank, but I would say that I lose about one a week on average. They tend to go in groups of 3 or so every couple of weeks. Given how long lived they are in the wild, that concerns me.

The other thing is that they don't stay on the rocks. I put them on the rocks, and they will munch away there for a bit, but aside from a couple of them, they all migrate to the glass and spend most of their time at either the top edge or bottom edge of the glass.

Usually there are a few that stay around the bottom and they will only move an inch or so a day. Those are the ones on the way out.

So because of that I am reluctant to add a bunch more...

On the other hand I have also started to see some baby snails around. And the Cleaner Shrimp pair spawn monthly. And the fish and softies seem health. The Starry Blenny has been flashing his white mating colours around...

I also had a Sea Hare in for a couple of weeks (~3) who seemed to be doing well. He moved on to the sand/glass as well after a while but would pop back on to the rocks every now and then.

He died too though, a couple of days after the "big scrub" and water change, so I wonder if it was stressed from that?

Another point to make is that I have been using tap water with Prime. Now our water up here in Ottawa is actually really good, and a lot more people use this than do in the states it seems. But just in case, I now have an RO/DI system, so I will be starting to change out the water for some fresh mix with RO/DI.

Also no Skimmer yet, though I guess it is next on the list.

It's curious... Mixed messages.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on it @najer.


Cheers, Tony

 

[najer]

What tds was the tap water, the algae has to be getting food from somewhere?
What are your nitrates and phosphates?
Do you have a pic of the fuge please?
It could still be catching up down there, hopefully it should out compete the gha soon.
How much do you feed?

 

[Tristren]

What tds was the tap water, the algae has to be getting food from somewhere?
What are your nitrates and phosphates?

Not sure about the TDS, but I was testing nitrates and phosphates for the first few months. So while it was ramping up, before and algae, and then while the algae was growing. Registered 0.5 nitrates once, then 0. Always had 0 phosphates on the test. So obviously there were nutrients but being taken up.

As you say, it is getting food from somewhere. I would say that the likely causes are the fact that I like whiter light over bluer, and I feed too much.

No mystery there... But now what I'm looking to do is bring my system up to the point where it can handle those levels of nutrients I suppose. And manage through in the meantime.

I've cut back on the lighting, and boosted the fuge (more on that below). I'm reluctant to pull back on the feeding given how happy the fish, soft corals, and shrimp are.

Another point is that I am not getting terrible growth on the glass. Don't have to clean it that often, and when I do it comes off easily as opposed to the more tenacious growth in the fuge for example. It's a more "powdery" algae on the glass in the DT, as opposed to the GHA on the rock (and sand in parts).

Oh, another point is Coraline algae. Didn't have much. I do test alk, and through the fall it stayed up even without dosing. Makes sense as I only have one very small SPS frag. I dose Tropic Marine Biocalc which is a powder. My LFS recommended I keep up a dose, even if just a tiny amount daily. I've been doing that and am now starting to see more Coraline appearing and spreading.

Do you have a pic of the fuge please?
It could still be catching up down there, hopefully it should out compete the gha soon.
How much do you feed?

Yes, I'm sure that is part of it. Until about six weeks ago I just had a 20w led grow light on the fuge:

That small bunch of chaeto was about the same size that it had been since I'd got it. But the GHA was doing we down there too.

Before Christmas I got a 300w MarsHydro. Excuse the mess, but it is what it is:

I pulled out a mess of GHA from the fuge when I cleaned the display at the start of Jan. But you can see that the chaeto has also taken off. It went from around 6" across to around 18". So a big jump in terms of volume.

That corresponds with the slowdown in the speed of GHA growth in the tank. But it also corresponds with the reduced whites up top as well, and the GHA is definitely still growing up top.

The light on the DT is just one Marine Orbit. Which is only 90w or thereabouts. So frankly the tank should be able to handle it at full (once it is stable). And the Zoas don't seem to really like the new reduced lights (or something else, I dunno).

How much do you feed?

I have one 5" magnificent Foxface, one Filefish, a Starry Blenny, and a purple Firefish. Plus the corals and inverts.

I feed a mix of frozen (depending on the day some reef frenzy and a bit of pe Mysis, or a bit of Hikari brine shrimp) and Reef Nutrition foods (R.O.E at the moment) . If I'm being honest it is probably a bit over two cubes a day. Every other day there is some phyto mixed in as well.

We do spread that out throughout the day though. A bit here and a bit there, so pretty much all of the visible food gets eaten. Same with the strip of Nori I put in in the morning.

The last couple of weeks I also mixed in some clams. So a couple of days a week, I would put in half a live clam (well, live from the grocer, then frozen overnight, then thawed in the fridge in some tank water). I would cut back on the other food those days. Everyone seemed to really like it and it overlapped with the reduction in GHA from other stuff. But I've paused that for a bit until I can figure things out more.

Oh, at the same time I put two actual live clams in the sump. About a month now and they are still alive and, presumably, filter feeding. I'm watching them closely to pull them out if needed. I know @saltyfilmfolks has some... Not sure what the signs are for a dead clam. I know these ones aren't yet as they are sometimes open a bit, and then closed again.

Oh, also have a sea cucumber. He has been in the main tank for 4 months or so. Shortly after he arrived he climbed up under some live rock and has stayed in the same spot (moving a little day to day) ever since... Lazy.



Cheers, Tony

 

[Dilan Patel]

If you are still looking for a skimmer. I highly suggest the Bubble magus curve 7. Runs around 300$ and about 220 on sale. I just set up a new seapora 135 so really close to yours witht he same stand just turned it backwards lol. Anyways this skimmer may feel cheap but it works awesome. You can strip it all the at to just the bottom plate so very easy to maintanence. As well as extreamly quiet. I also have a 180 gallon with an external skimz which works good too I forgot the name of it but i bought this one on brs. I really recommend the bubble magus if it is going to be anywhere near you when you enjoy the tank. if you would like video and or pictures of it lemme know also I can get the name of the skimz skimmer if you would like

 

[najer]

The fuge looks like it is doing great.
Wow at the food you put in, the fox face and the starry blenny should feed themselves, not sure what the others need, I had a 3 inch fox face and star / jewel, they got fed as a treat, they didn't "need" it, just IME.

 

[Lasse]

Hi Tristren

You have two fishes that can eat your algae if the get a little bit hungry. I can say that you feed your fishes a little bit more than I feed my 30 + fishes. I only use frozen food and maybe 2 cubes a day - sometimes more and sometime less. I should also look for an urchin or two. The long spin blacks are very good in eating unwanted algae and they are like a ballet dancer between the rocks. They do not push them away – just dancing over rocks and corals.

Like you I use tap water – the quality here in Gothenburg is very good and the only thing I concerned about is copper from the copper pipes that’s is in common use in Sweden. However – it seems not to be a problem in my house and because of all algae you have - I do not think its a problem for you either .

I think that the best strategy is to ad some more algae eating animals, starve a bit the one you already have, clean you fuge from GHA rather often – take up the Chaeto ball and clean it from unwanted algae and spread it out over the bottom of the fuge. I have hermits and snails in my fuge too.

I will not give the advice to try to lower your PO4 and NO3 levels – you will get a plenty of that type of advises but when a GHA problem already exists – my believe is that its total uninteresting what the levels are – the algae will grow anyway. The only way to get rid of them is to maintain a stable clean up crew and as much as possible manual removing. And what are your NO3 and PO4 levels anyhow because the algae in your fuge does not look like what I’m calling a GHA. I should not be surprised if your NO3 levels actually is low.

Edit Najer was faster with the fishes

Sincerely Lasse