90 Gallon shallow reef

[Giancarlo]

You got a long spine urchin? Watch out besides eating all the coraline in my tank, mine poked me in my knuckle and I had to have it surgically removed and a month of rehab. They do eat tons of algae. Just keep an eye out when your hands are in the tank.

A month of rehab? thats nuts! I am fine with it eating a bunch of corraline algae, although that algae is a good sign, im a firm believer that it needs to be cleaned for the live rock to work efficiently. Were you able to move your hand at all?

 

[Giancarlo]

I love the look of shallow tanks! Where did you get the tank? What kind of filtration do you have?

I got the tank from a local reefer, who bought it from a LFS around the area (Toronto Ontario). I believe the LFS makes the tanks themselves, not too sure about that. Filtration wise im using a Bubble Magus Nac7, which is allright, im considering upgrading maybe after christmas, i run a phosphate reactor, and pretty much a typical fuge with cheato.

 

[pickupman66]

What sort of lighting do you have over it? I saw a single MH fixture?

 

[bige]

A month of rehab? thats nuts! I am fine with it eating a bunch of corraline algae, although that algae is a good sign, im a firm believer that it needs to be cleaned for the live rock to work effienctly. Were you able to move your hand at all?

The spine tip broke off in my knuckle sheath. It hurt to move and touch. I waited 2 months to go to doctor and then was sent to hand specialist that removed it. Then after surgery I couldn't move my finger so I went to rehab. They stretched and worked it till I could move it again. Its fine now. I just didn't realize they could do that.

 

[Giancarlo]

What sort of lighting do you have over it? I saw a single MH fixture?

Yeah i have a 250 MH along with one of those Kessil 150A's LED's or whatever which i am actually really impressed with. Before i transferred everything over to this tank i just had the 250 over a 40 gallon cube, and was considering getting a second unit for this, but instead i am thinking within a year or so im going to transfer to 100% LED, like most people i assume. But for now i am fine with what i have, especially since its so shallow, its all about the placement really.

 

[Giancarlo]

The spine tip broke off in my knuckle sheath. It hurt to move and touch. I waited 2 months to go to doctor and then was sent to hand specialist that removed it. Then after surgery I couldn't move my finger so I went to rehab. They stretched and worked it till I could move it again. Its fine now. I just didn't realize they could do that.

The stuff we go through for this hobby! Good to hear your fine.

 

[Giancarlo]

So finally decided to update this, I have been fighting a serious cyanobacteria, and diatom bloom. But after diligent water changes and a finely tuned protein skimmer its been over a month and the sand has never looked whiter.

Not many new coral purchases, i have lost plenty of colour in a few pieces, which i am assuming was due to the excess nutrients. So i don't plan on purchasing any big pieces until i see them start to colour up again.

Fish wise i sold 3 cardinals to a fellow reefer, and recently got a flame angelfish which has been pretty good so far. It had started to pick at a pocillopora, so i gave the piece to a local reefer. Other than that it has not been touching any other pieces. I have seen it contemplate a bite off the mini carpet anem. but bailed on that... probably the smarter choice.

As far as equipment goes i purchased a tunzee ato, and haven't looked back. This piece of equipment is amazing.

I am considering purchasing new lights, i want to get LED's but im leaning more to an ATI setup. But this will be a summer purchase so who knows what info/ new products will be out by then. Also i am thinking of Getting an Apex controller, read enough reviews to think it is the best product.

If anyone has any comments about the lighting/ controller id love to hear it.

Anyway some pics from the ol iphone.

G

 

[Giancarlo]

 

[Giancarlo]

So my goals for the next few months before i make any big moves are to effectively reduce my nutrients, so i can minimize the use of a phosban reactor and hopefully the lack of nutrients will allow the corals to colour up.

I have been diligent for the past few months with 20 gallon water changes and it proves successful, especially against cyanobacteria. So i will keep up with this, read up on low nutrient systems and go from there. If anyone has any advice i am always welcome to hear it. Thanks for reading!

 

[Giancarlo]

So ended up getting an Apex controller which came in the mail today!! Just at the office though, but i had to unbox it while im here. Will post more when i get home and get things rolling.

 

[slugwall]

Wow!!!

 

[Giancarlo]

Thought i would give this an update.

Apex controller was a great buy, no regrets there. Still having some networking issues but soon enough it will be all ready to go... aside from that pretty simple to use. hooked up my doser pumps lights temp and ph probe. Going to set up the heaters to shut off according to the temp prob this weekend.

Another little piece of equipment i bought was a bubble king 180. A local reefer offered me a great price on it so i had to have it. Not sure if i want to sell the bubble magus nac7 or maybe keep it for a future tank, it was a great skimmer and extremely quiet.

Besides that i have not bought any live stock lately, though corals have been growing and colouring up finally! I do plan on buying a longnose butterfly fish. I'm willing to take my chances with it picking at my corals, and possibly a carpet anemone depending on how they look at the lfs. They always seem to look super stressed out.

Unfortunately my lubbocks wrasse made the jump out of the tank. I guess it was a matter of time with how shallow the tank is.

Here is a couple pics of the skimmer, literally minutes after i plugged that baby in.

 

[Giancarlo]

 

[Giancarlo]

Picked this guy up last week. Its in the Q/T tank for now and probably will be there for another 3 weeks. As you can see there seems to be some battle scars. I am hoping this will heal with time, as it is swimming around and eating great. Right now its eating brine shrimp / mysis / and mosquito larvae. In a few days i will start fresh squid/shrimp/scallops and go from there. I have treated with prazipro for flukes and worms. Hopefully the scratches will heal up soon and i will begin copper treatment. Anyway i am really excited about this new fish, it's about an inch and a half in size so its in a 10 gallon q/t for now until i believe it is ready for the display.

G

 

[Giancarlo]

Copperband butterfly is doing great. Hasn't touched my clam or any other coral for that matter. Eats like a pig, though has not touched flakes or pellets as expected. I feed this guy chopped up shrimp/scallops/mussels all soaked in selcon. Occasionally I'll feed with mosquito larvae. The larvae was the initial trigger for the butterfly to start eating, was not going for anything before that.

 

[Giancarlo]

The first day the flame chased it around a bit. But nothing more than them trying to establish the dominant fish. Haven't seen any fighting since.

 

[BarbH]

Tank looks good, congrats on you new addition.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Glad to see the CBB doing good. I love that fish myself.

 

[Giancarlo]

Heres the updated crew, minus a watchmen goby that just darts around within the liverock.

Heres a bit of info on the Purple tang -

First time i have ever owned a tang, never had a tank big enough, still might be on the small end of tanks but anyway started this guy off in a 20 gal q/t tank. Fish looked fine for about a day or two, was hiding in the cheato, but for the most part looked healthy. Day 3 one eye started to look really cloudy, day 4 both eyes started to look cloudy. Then day 5 one eye got better and then around day 7 both eyes were back to normal. I added Prazipro and Cupremine on day two so i don’t believe these medications would have helped with the eye. I was however feeding with nori soaked in Selcon which I think might have helped.
During this period the tang started to develop what I think was HLLE. It started very slightly above the eyes, and along the jaw line, at first I was hoping it was just flashing from weird angles with lights on the scales, but a couple days later (around day 5/6 in the q/t tank), it was very distinct, and very obvious that it was growing. So i got pretty nervous, did a big water change, fed with nori, soaked in selcon, and hoped for the best.
I was advised by Bob Fenner, from Wetwebmeida, to take the chance and put the tang in the display as the stress of the small tank might have influenced the erosion. So I thought about it for a day, and figured the copper treatment would have already done its job, fish was eating fine, so it was probably the best choice of action.
Going back, 3 weeks ago in anticipation of getting the tang, I removed activated carbon from my tank, and have been doing the normal 15 gal water chance once a week. It’s been about 4 days that the tang has been in my display tank and I am pleased to report that the HLLE has fully healed over. And another great note, the sps in my tank really started to colour up quick in that time frame. I’m not sure if this is a direct result to the carbon for both circumstances, but I don’t think I will be adding it back anytime soon. On the other side of things, there is a faint “sea” smell now that the carbon is out…

Anyway Tang is doing great, and all visual signs of HLLE are gone.

 

[Giancarlo]

I'm having issues loading pictures to their proper size, but I swear the HLLE is gone!!!!