125 Gallon Office Tank

[James_O]

So the tank has been cycling for over 2 months now. Ph 8.0, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5ppm nitrates At what point can I add shrimp to the tank?

Also, when should I start considering adding macroalgae to the fuge?

I would say you’re good to add shrimp now. Has the ammonia/nitrite levels been a consistent 0?

No clue on the macroalgae, sorry.

 

[bluecheese]

I would say you’re good to add shrimp now. Has the ammonia/nitrite levels been a consistent 0?

Ammonia and nitrite at 0 since the end of August.

 

[bluecheese]

Tank has been up for 4 months now, and running strong. All inhabitants healthy and accounted for. I made a discovery Saturday night; I headed to the office after the LSU game - around 10pm - and noticed that the Chromis hide in the rocks at night, and the clownfish huddle together on the substrate in a corner. Kind of cute, really.

Fish are fed twice daily. Every day, all fittings are checked for leaks, auto top off is checked to make sure it is adequately filled.

Weekly maintenance, done on Mondays, is 10 gallon water change, filter sock replacement, fill auto top off, clean glass.

Parameter testing is done every Tuesday. I used to test daily, but parameters have been holding steady for months, so I don't expect any large swings.

We still haven't set up the lights yet. I want that done, to see how the tank itself reacts, before adding any new livestock.

Though I did add copapods to the fuge and the display this past Friday.

I bought a phosphate test kit, and plan on testing this tomorrow. Based on that I'll decide whether or not to add macro algae to the fuge.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Nice. That rock looks so ‘new’ still, without lights, doesn’t it. Lol.

 

[bluecheese]

Nice. That rock looks so ‘new’ still, without lights, doesn’t it. Lol.

Yeah. I'm going to be a wreck once we put lights on this thing.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Maybe instead of lighting the tank, hand out flashlights to the office staff.

 

[bluecheese]

It's been a minute since I've updated this thread, mainly because there hasn't been much to update.

We got $250 worth of Amazon gift cards at work from one of our vendors for ordering a lot of product from them. I used the cards to get a Sicce XStream SDC powerhead.

I really like this thing. Real time updates on the app. I can customize schedules. And the app alerts me if there are any issues (temp fluctuations, power outage, loss of wifi). Right now I have it set on Reef Crest mode from 8am to 6pm, going from 5% power to 100% power in 5 second increment. At 6pm it's set to go from 5% to 50% for the night.

I also, finally, set up the lights today. The current set up is only temporary, as I need to run the power strip to a hidden socket, hang the lights above the tank, and mount the controllers. Two Current USA Orbit Marine lights. They are set at 50% intensity on both channels, and are set to start sunrise at 8am and sunset at 6pm with a 4 hour moonlight period. I'll decide on changing the intensity once we are ready for corals. I'm bracing myself for an algae outbreak.

 

[JumboShrimp]

The fish look happy. It’s all gravy after that.

 

[bluecheese]

They have a reputation for killing each other off, 1 by 1, through bullying. As in 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, perhaps. But you do have a 125-gallon, and you are introducing them all at once, so I’m pulling for your success! Keep us posted, and best wishes, as they are quite beautiful.

Update on the Chromis: all 8 still alive and accounted for.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Very nice! (Applause in the background.) You are a Chromis Whisperer! ;Happy

 

[bluecheese]

Very nice! (Applause in the background.) You are a Chromis Whisperer! ;Happy

Maybe that's my super power?

 

[bluecheese]

I assume these brown spots are diatoms. I also assume they will go away on their own.

 

[mangos reef]

try a wrench for an oil filter there made for tight spots i was in kinda the same spot once and if i didnt work on cars it would have never crossed my mind

 

[bluecheese]

Yesterday after work, I hung the lights and cleaned up the mess of wires somewhat. Excuse the cord running down the middle of the tank. I still need to drill holes in the bookshelf and drop the wire to an outlet there.

Diatoms are starting to take over.

The tank is at the point where coralline algae can be added (at least I think so). So, I added ARC Reef’s Purple Helix and Pink Fusion to the tank. I’ve seen some mixed reviews on this, but I hesitate to introduce a live rock from someone else’s tank or put some empty snail shells in here. I’m a little paranoid about hitchhikers right now.

 

[bluecheese]

Cleaned up the wires a little this morning. I may put some sort of canopy up here to hide most of this.

 

[bluecheese]

Decided to test Magnesium, Calcium and Alkalinity since I know these are important for coralline algae growth. First of all, the way these test kits work at pretty cool; just keep dropping regent in the test vial until the color changes. Much better than trying to match up 10 different shades of blue to a color chart.

Anyway, the parameters came out as:

Magnesium: 1320ppm
Calcium: 430ppm
Alk: 9dKH

Which is right in line for good coralline (and eventually coral) growth. I'll add these three tests to my weekly testing regimen.

 

[bluecheese]

Doing my weekly maintenance, I noticed this:

See that purple spot? Is that Coralline, or something else? I just put the ARC Reef Coralline in a bottle in the tank last week, so it seems kind of soon to have such a large coralline spot already. Maybe I'm just lucky?

I also noticed two green spots. Not sure what kind of algae this is.

 

[Salt Daddy]

AWESOME! Pure Awesome.

 

[bluecheese]

AWESOME! Pure Awesome.

Thank you. So... you think its coralline, and not something sinister like cyano?

 

[Salt Daddy]

I think it's too soon for something like that....but I am not seasoned enough to say for certain. I was commenting on the project.