Amalee’s 75g Build

[AmaleeC]

If I must say tho... if you hard a hard time keeping a clown... torches are gonna be incredibly hard

Lol that was almost a year ago, when I first started. I kept adding the fish before the cycle was done! I have upgraded to this 75 gallon tank since then and have to say my biggest mistake was going about the dinos all wrong. Not using just solid carbon for my filtration, and turning to additives when I needed to fix my water chemistry. But, you live and learn

 

[fnlyreefready]

Lol that was almost a year ago, when I first started. I kept adding the fish before the cycle was done! I have upgraded to this 75 gallon tank since then and have to say my biggest mistake was going about the dinos all wrong. Not using just solid carbon for my filtration, and turning to additives when I needed to fix my water chemistry. But, you live and learn

This is my second run in the hobby and this time around I cycled with live rock in 4 days I took 69 gallons of water from an established tank and brought it home and put it in my tank with 5 fish I had one alk drop and it was simply neglect of adding too many corals and not testing. This weekend I plan on having a 90 gallon lagoon tank with full leds and dosing pumps in and transitioning everything from my 74 gallon tank into it and upgrading to full leds. With about 15 new corals excluding the 8 zoas I currently keep along with 2 nems. I must say I am stoked! Beat of luck with whatever you decide to do in this hobby and that’s what makes it awesome!... the possibilities are endless and you make the tank of your dreams the way you want to. Happy reefing <3

 

[AmaleeC]

This is my second run in the hobby and this time around I cycled with live rock in 4 days I took 69 gallons of water from an established tank and brought it home and put it in my tank with 5 fish I had one alk drop and it was simply neglect of adding too many corals and not testing. This weekend I plan on having a 90 gallon lagoon tank with full leds and dosing pumps in and transitioning everything from my 74 gallon tank into it and upgrading to full leds. With about 15 new corals excluding the 8 zoas I currently keep along with 2 nems. I must say I am stoked! Beat of luck with whatever you decide to do in this hobby and that’s what makes it awesome!... the possibilities are endless and you make the tank of your dreams the way you want to. Happy reefing <3

I love this! Thank you so much for sharing and sending good wishes my way. I am happy we have people such as yourself in the hobby, welcome back!!

 

[AmaleeC]

Well it’s time for an update friends
Fish
- Everyone is alive and thriving! I’ve noticed lots of growth in my lyretail anthia, and my melanarus wrasse who’s sloowwlllyy changing color (which I’m very excited about!).
- I’ve got an engineer goby and a springers damsel on order with one of my LFS. I’m excited to add an engineer goby as an alternative to an eel. Ive always wanted an eel, but I love my inverts and shrimp Lol Whenever they arrive I’m taking in my Fiji damsel, he’s getting an eviction from the sump!
- I recently added a black leopard wrasse (last week? Two weeks ago?). She is settling in very nicely, absolutely 0 conflict with my other wrasse of my tang.
- I’m considering adding another clown once my Duncan grows a few more big heads. It’s growing like a weed! Id like an occellaris gladiator blood clown, the design looks very cool on the gladiators. Mainly because I miss having a clown in the tank. I have been watching my ammonia, some may disagree but I feel that this as is is a lot of fish for a 75g. Granted, everything is kind of small and the bio filter on the rockwork will continue to develop as the fish do. But you can never be too safe.

Corals
- I’ve been buying torches lately and had to put myself on a budget! I’ve been getting great deals, but may have gone a little spend crazy, as most of us tend to do in this hobby ;Hilarious Photos to follow of the additions of course!
- I did make a rookie mistake of raising my light intensity too quickly, which made some of the torches bleach. But I’ve started feeding them CoralVue LPS pellets and dosing phytoplankton - theyre now coming back nicely and so is my copepod population!

Algae
- Now to the nitty gritty, I have officially ID’d my dinos as large cell amphidium a.k.a the hardest dinos to get rid of!! They stay on the sandbed at night so a UV doesn’t cut it. However, they are non toxic, and tiger conch’s do eat them so mine have been enjoying them for the past few months lol
- My attempts: I was, for about two weeks, dosing hydrogen peroxide but my zoas have had 0 tolerance for it. They’re closed up and losing color. They’ll gain the color back, but it’s still not a pretty sight. I tried Microbacter7 to no avail. I tried maintaining adequate water parameters (balanced nitrate & phos). So far I have maintained decent phos and used the whole bottle of Brightwell NeoNitro, in addition to feeding more and they’re still coming back. I tried getting my RODI water from a different source with 0 TDS and that also failed.
- so here’s my new attempt: leaving things alone. I can’t recall who, or when, or even where, but someone once said my tank is just an ecosystem that is trying to find its balance (hence why we get these pest algaes). If I could restart this tank, I would have gone with live rock from the get-go. But, sadly, it’s too late for that. Just like I let my fish fight off ick with their immune systems, id like to use natural methods to fight off these nasty pest algae’s. First, I’m going to let my tank get dirty (no glass cleaning) and hope and pray the other algae’s that are growing back (cyano/GHA) outcompete the dinos. Second, I’m going to purchase the oldest pieces of live rock possible from my local fish stores or even smaller additions from the beach itself if possible (after all, Florida IS lovely this time of year!). There are some microfauna that eat large cell amphidium, I believe one type is called tanaids. I’ve been reading about them in the Dino thread, and my theory is that if there’s one that eats them on a microscopic level - theres probably more. Hopefully, I can get some of that with some well established live rock. Third, I’m going to continue raising my CUC. I'm thinking two more tiger conch’s, and 3 or 4 more hermit crabs. I don’t want to go too crazy, since there’s a lot going on. Fingers crossed friends. Say a prayer for my tank tonight lol

On the BRIGHT side: I can FINALLY see purple coralline algae growing on one or two spots on my rockwork! Boys and girls, there really is a light at the end of the tunnel lol I’m hopefully it will continue to grow as I add live rock and evict these other nasty pest algaes as it does so.

P.S kinda funny/crazy that algae has its own section on my build thread updates now! What a pain

 

[fnlyreefready]

I love this! Thank you so much for sharing and sending good wishes my way. I am happy we have people such as yourself in the hobby, welcome back!!

Thank you! These are what I ended up with after the big moves !

 

[Reef Nutrition]

Well it’s time for an update friends
Fish
- Everyone is alive and thriving! I’ve noticed lots of growth in my lyretail anthia, and my melanarus wrasse who’s sloowwlllyy changing color (which I’m very excited about!).
- I’ve got an engineer goby and a springers damsel on order with one of my LFS. I’m excited to add an engineer goby as an alternative to an eel. Ive always wanted an eel, but I love my inverts and shrimp Lol Whenever they arrive I’m taking in my Fiji damsel, he’s getting an eviction from the sump!
- I recently added a black leopard wrasse (last week? Two weeks ago?). She is settling in very nicely, absolutely 0 conflict with my other wrasse of my tang.
- I’m considering adding another clown once my Duncan grows a few more big heads. It’s growing like a weed! Id like an occellaris gladiator blood clown, the design looks very cool on the gladiators. Mainly because I miss having a clown in the tank. I have been watching my ammonia, some may disagree but I feel that this as is is a lot of fish for a 75g. Granted, everything is kind of small and the bio filter on the rockwork will continue to develop as the fish do. But you can never be too safe.

Corals
- I’ve been buying torches lately and had to put myself on a budget! I’ve been getting great deals, but may have gone a little spend crazy, as most of us tend to do in this hobby ;Hilarious Photos to follow of the additions of course!
- I did make a rookie mistake of raising my light intensity too quickly, which made some of the torches bleach. But I’ve started feeding them CoralVue LPS pellets and dosing phytoplankton - theyre now coming back nicely and so is my copepod population!

Algae
- Now to the nitty gritty, I have officially ID’d my dinos as large cell amphidium a.k.a the hardest dinos to get rid of!! They stay on the sandbed at night so a UV doesn’t cut it. However, they are non toxic, and tiger conch’s do eat them so mine have been enjoying them for the past few months lol
- My attempts: I was, for about two weeks, dosing hydrogen peroxide but my zoas have had 0 tolerance for it. They’re closed up and losing color. They’ll gain the color back, but it’s still not a pretty sight. I tried Microbacter7 to no avail. I tried maintaining adequate water parameters (balanced nitrate & phos). So far I have maintained decent phos and used the whole bottle of Brightwell NeoNitro, in addition to feeding more and they’re still coming back. I tried getting my RODI water from a different source with 0 TDS and that also failed.
- so here’s my new attempt: leaving things alone. I can’t recall who, or when, or even where, but someone once said my tank is just an ecosystem that is trying to find its balance (hence why we get these pest algaes). If I could restart this tank, I would have gone with live rock from the get-go. But, sadly, it’s too late for that. Just like I let my fish fight off ick with their immune systems, id like to use natural methods to fight off these nasty pest algae’s. First, I’m going to let my tank get dirty (no glass cleaning) and hope and pray the other algae’s that are growing back (cyano/GHA) outcompete the dinos. Second, I’m going to purchase the oldest pieces of live rock possible from my local fish stores or even smaller additions from the beach itself if possible (after all, Florida IS lovely this time of year!). There are some microfauna that eat large cell amphidium, I believe one type is called tanaids. I’ve been reading about them in the Dino thread, and my theory is that if there’s one that eats them on a microscopic level - theres probably more. Hopefully, I can get some of that with some well established live rock. Third, I’m going to continue raising my CUC. I'm thinking two more tiger conch’s, and 3 or 4 more hermit crabs. I don’t want to go too crazy, since there’s a lot going on. Fingers crossed friends. Say a prayer for my tank tonight lol

On the BRIGHT side: I can FINALLY see purple coralline algae growing on one or two spots on my rockwork! Boys and girls, there really is a light at the end of the tunnel lol I’m hopefully it will continue to grow as I add live rock and evict these other nasty pest algaes as it does so.

P.S kinda funny/crazy that algae has its own section on my build thread updates now! What a pain

What kind of phytoplankton are you feeding?

Chad

 

[AmaleeC]

Hey Chad. I add CoralVue’s phytoplankton, both liquid and gel at night. I won it in a giveaway when I started reefing about a year ago.

 

[AmaleeC]

Hello everyone! I noticed two days ago that the water was cooler than usual when dipping my hands in to feed my precious fish children. I didn’t think much of it, but a few days later the water was still colder than need be (71-72°). Turns out my heater broke! I bought an off brand originally, and regret it. But bought a replacement Eheim heater and it’s arriving today.

Two days ago today I noticed my red longfin wrasse was hiding a lot and this morning he was swimming weird. I pulled him out and put him in a separate makeshift “quarantine tank” aka Tupperware with a heater and bubbler lol He’s doing better with some heated water, added air, and some betta fix (it has tea tree oil and works as a natural remedy). It’s all I had on hand, but it’s good for now. I plan to purchase a larger Tupperware container, a small heater just for the qt, and I have copper on the way. I also noticed my royal gramma showing the sign of a slight bacterial infection.

My thought process is that the lower temps led to compromised immune systems. The heater that is coming in today is going to be in the DT for a bit, then moved over to the sump once the water is a bit warmer. I think all of the fish will be okay. Currently there’s no sign of parasites or dangerous infections.

 

[TriggersAmuck]

Sorry to hear about the heater, but at least there was no loss of life. I lost about half of my livestock (fish-wise) a few years back when I failed to plug the power back in on my 125 gallon system after doing maintenance, and between the temperature falling drastically and the dissolved oxygen being depleted from lack of circulation it ended in disaster. One small fail safe controller you might want to look at is the AutoAqua "Smart Temp Security" gadget. And replace your heaters every two or three years! (Find the Bulk Reef Supply TV video on heating equipment, as they explain why).

 

[AmaleeC]

Sorry to hear about the heater, but at least there was no loss of life. I lost about half of my livestock (fish-wise) a few years back when I failed to plug the power back in on my 125 gallon system after doing maintenance, and between the temperature falling drastically and the dissolved oxygen being depleted from lack of circulation it ended in disaster. One small fail safe controller you might want to look at is the AutoAqua "Smart Temp Security" gadget. And replace your heaters every two or three years! (Find the Bulk Reef Supply TV video on heating equipment, as they explain why).

Thank you for this advice!

 

[AmaleeC]

Hi everyone! Just wanted to update the thread. Photos to come

Fish
- I’ve lost a few fish since my last post. I lost my royal gramma after a bacterial infection, and I lost two other fish (fire fish & long fin fairy wrasse) who showed no signs of illness.
- I’m planning on purchasing another longfin, and another royal gramma

Coral
- Everything is doing really well in terms of coral! I did lose two torches from my last post but they have been replaced since then, torch mountain is now thriving!
- I’m planning to sell one of my torches once it splits which I’m excited to do, since it’s more coral money lol But later in life, I’ll be buying a torch similar to a Todd’s, 2 - 3 RFAs, and some zoas in the future.

Algae
- I continued dosing phyto on/off and let the dinoflagellates run their course. I pretty much left the tank alone, and eventually cyano grew in. I vacuumed the layer of dinos & cyano off the sand bed, leaving behind diatoms and bryopsis on the rock work. I turned off my whites, and started a reef flux treatment for bryopsis.

 

[AmaleeC]

Updated photos

 

[AmaleeC]

Hello everyone! Updating the stock list to reflect the current fish & what I’m planning to add.

Current fish:
- Yellow Coris Wrasse
- melanarus wrasse
- leopard wrasse
- misbar clown
- lyretail anthia
- bicolor blenny
- azure damsel
- kole tang

future additions:
- orchid dottyback
- coral beauty (hopefully captive breed)
- Longfin fairy wrasse
- engineer goby (third times the charm?)

I also purchased some coral! 2 rock flower anemones, a pink Goni, and some zoas. A friend also gave me 3 heads of frogspawn which has been placed on torch mountain.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

Today I built the light hangers! Definitely took me awhile and a lot of hard work. But I have saved myself a lot of money.

I used 3 conduit ($5.70 ea.), 3 screw eye w/ hex nut ($2 ea.), 9 tube straps ($5.6 per pack of 20), 9 carriage bolts @ $3.51, and 9 hex nuts @ $1.53. For about $35, I made 3 light hangers to hold my lights. I also bought two spray paint bottles to color them black and a neat chain to hang the lights down with instead of what the ropes they originally come with. So that’s an additional $10. Still saved some money and have a nice design.

Tomorrow I’ll be working on the plumbing which after hours of researching, I have finally figured out! Couldn’t get to it tonight as I work early tomorrow and had to redo the first baffle on my sump. It was a little crooked so the water would flow through that corner only, instead of having a more uniform flow. No worries. 20 mins later and it was fixed. Leaving it to cure now.

Can you take some closer pictures of your light hangers please? Impressive DIY work all around. I haven't seen anyone make a light from scratch.

 

[AmaleeC]

Can you take some closer pictures of your light hangers please? Impressive DIY work all around. I haven't seen anyone make a light from scratch.

Hey Elaine123! I only wish I had the capability and patience it takes to make a light from scratch lol! I did make the light hangers using PVC, conduit, and hook eye screws. I bent the conduit, drilled some holes into it and inserted the hook eyes. The pieces in the front holding the conduit in place are all PVC. Originally I had just the conduit, but after they wouldn’t stay in place we built that little holder with PVC. Everything is spray painted black to look like one piece. The conduit pipes are basically strapped to the stand

 

[AmaleeC]

Also, I’ve got some new additions coming in tomorrow that I’m very excited about. They will be some of my final additions in terms of fish: an orchid Dottyback, a coral beauty (a bit risky, but that’s okay), and a Linespot Flasher Wrasse. I may add additional fish in the future (possibly some kind of fancy wrasse, or some cardinals, or a variation of goby), but these new additions will be the “icing on the cake”. They will be adding both activity and color.

I have one more coral in mind to add to torch island and then it will be a matter of letting everything grow.

 

[AmaleeC]

Hi everyone! Just attaching some updated photos. Zoas are finally coming in very very nicely

The new fish additions are doing well, and I’m selling/trading one of my torches for the one I want. The torch garden should be finished very shortly here actually.

 

[AmaleeC]

Hey friends Finally pulled the trigger and made a “dream” purchase. It’s not an expensive addition, just one I was a bit nervous about so it doesn’t disrupt the balance in the tank. But I could not be happier to have this guy!



Torch mountain will be finished up next week too! I got the last torch I needed. The tank is looking so good these days too. I’m excited to watch things grow in and grow up.

 

[fishguy242]

"FRIENDS" i like that ... ;Happy
@TriggerFinger @sfin52 @danieyella @MERKEY @F i s h y to name a few ,tag who i missed all...

 

[AmaleeC]

"FRIENDS" i like that ... ;Happy
@TriggerFinger @sfin52 @danieyella @MERKEY @F i s h y to name a few ,tag who i missed all...

Haha you all have encouraged me to maintain the tank, and given me solid advice during the highs/lows of my reefing journey. I definitely consider those to be friends!