Dodgersfan's 90 Gallon build thread

[C-Reefer]

@SB Reef Lights interested in this as well. From what I've read, coral growth slows when color temp stays above 20,000k, but colors come out more. Lower color temps induce faster coral growth, but not as good colors. Not an expert by any means, that's just what a few google searches turned up.

 

[Dodgersfan]

So I think I’ve talked myself into putting off the flasher wrasses until after we get back from vacation next month. 6 at once and not being home the week after they go in the DT scares me. So I think I’m just going to add my maintinence fish (diamond goby, lawnmower blenny, melanurus wrasse) and a chalk bass (just because I like them and I needed a few more bucks to get me to free shipping at LA) and then 4 weeks later add the 4 flashers.

The complete stocking list (in order) right now is:

Diamond goby
Lawnmower blenny
Melanurus wrasse
Chalk bass

Carpenter’s flasher wrasse
McCosker’s flasher wrasse
Blue flasher wrasse
Line spot flasher wrasse

Exquisite wrasse
Lubbocks wrasse
Orange back wrasse

Lineatus wrasse

Blue spot toby
And the last fish is up in the air, maybe kole tang, maybe sunburst anthias, my LFS has had some timor’s Wrasses lately that are really cool. LA divers den has had some blue spot toby pairs lately which is also an interesting idea... but I’ve got some time to decide, this group probably will go in sometime around August-october

 

[leahfiish]

Love the list and I also really like timor wrasses.

 

[Dodgersfan]

So I was sure this was a dead coral banded shrimp:

I didn’t think they molted antenna too, so when I saw them along with the claws having color still and not being transparent I thought for sure it was dead, but when I checked his favorite cave low and behold there he was

It’s hard to photo the cave and he likes to hang out facing the back wall, but you can see him in there...

 

[Dodgersfan]

Also, can blastos split? I thought they reproduced by budding around the base, which this blasto has been doing, but it’s developing a line of the dark purple rim that is moving towards the mouth, sure looks like it’s splitting:

 

[C-Reefer]

Glad he's OK. Molts can give you a fright sometimes.

I'm not sure on the Blasto. Looks like it is though...

 

[leahfiish]

My shrimp molted yesterday too. And yes they can

 

[Dodgersfan]

Blasto watch 2018: it’s definaltely budding around the skeleton as well as splitting, my 1 little blasto head might be as many as 6 soon, I think I see 4 new heads around the base:

Also I cannot get phosphates to budge. They just hover at 0.08, and I think it’s stressing some corals. My bigger zoa colonies (10+ heads) are ok, but I’ve had some small 1-3 head frags just wither away or never open up. Also my little trial SPS trio doesn’t have good PE. I was nervous about trying GFO, for every person saying it fixed all their problems there’s another saying it nuked their tank... I’m trying some out (about 1/4 the recommended dose) and will probably only keep it in for 48 hours or so initially it’s been holding steadily at .08 forever, so theireticially if I can knock it down a little it will then hold steady at that level, hopefully I can cut it in half. If the GFO doesn’t work I might try larger water changes. It’s almost time to set up the QTs for new fish so maybe I’ll do a 50% water change next week and use half of the change water to set up my first TTM tank.

 

[Dodgersfan]

I’ll be ordering my first batch of fish this week. I’ve been giving serious thought to getting more than 1 chalk bass, maybe 3 or 5, but then I’d be adding 6-8 fish in the first batch, which is too many, so I’d have to split the batches into two, which may work out since live aquaria is sold out of chalk bass right now, so I may have to wait to get the chalk bass later anyway. What do you guys think? Should I consider a group of these instead of just 1?

 

[leahfiish]

I think a group would be awesome

 

[Dodgersfan]

QT rack is up and tanks are being filled! I’ve got about $300-ish into this QT system including the rack and stockpile of meds.

Set up stats:
- 2x 20 gallon long and 2x 10 gallon, I’m not planning on running all 4 simultaneously, but can if needed.
- No filtration in use since I’ll be doing TTM, aquaeon 65 gallon two output pump in use to power air stones in the tanks, I’ve got splitters to run all 4 tanks at the same time if needed. But generally will only be running 1-2 at a time. I also have a Hagen aquaclear 30 hob filter with sponges seeding in the DT in case I switch from TTM to straight quarantine with copper if velvet shows up. I may grab a second one if they go on sale any time soon.
- Flow is two el-cheapo powerheads from MD
- Cheap preset heaters for its seperate digital thermometers I got a very good deal on.
- Spare pvc parts from the basement plumbing project I just finished
- ammonia alert badges and glass lids for everything
-bucket o’ meds: The only med im planning on administering to all fish is prazi, I will treat for other conditions when/if they show up. But I’ve read too many tank emergency threads with: “help! My fish has disease X and my LFS doesn’t carry med Y, and the fastest I can get it is 48 hours...”. So I just went ahead and bought everything to have it on hand, I’ve got: Prazi, CP, cupramine, ruby reef rally, ich-x, kanaplex, metroplex, api general cure, methalyne blue, & a big Bottle of prime.

I made 1/2 plywood tops for 3 if the shelves, just cut them out 16x36 and used a 2” hole saw to notch out for the legs:




Here’s the setup without water:

I also made myself this cheat sheet with what needs to be done every day in calander form so I can just write dates on it when I start A TTM batch and go:

 

[Dodgersfan]

quick update for this week, there are things with gills in QT! i don't want to talk about it yet because the first rule of QT is you don't talk about what's in QT!! had some speed bumps so far but nothing disastrous yet (knock on wood)

the only other thing i have to say is, boy, TTM is tedious and time consuming!

 

[Dodgersfan]

Its been a while since I updated my build thread. First quarantine went mostly good, these guys made it through just fine and are now in the DT:

But this poor little guy didn’t make it... he made it all the way through the 2 week QT, but died a few days after going into the DT, I never observed him eating in QT, he may have starved. I tried about a half dozen different frozen foods and even put a bunch of stuff with film algae on it from the DT in QT with him, but I never saw him eat anything... I’ll be getting the next one from the LFS rather than the internet and be sure it will take Nori or some sort of frozen food before I take him home:

I’ve been fighting a bad outbreak of GHA followed by Cyano... honestly I think it was my BRS dry rock still leaching phosphates after 6 months. Phosphates were in the 0.08 to 0.1 range for a long time. I did a 2 week blues only period, added GFO and kept dosing vibrant, it is now mostly gone. There were some casualties though. Two of my zoa frags got overrun by GHA and killed, luckily I had backups of both. A third zoa colony was almost killed but I managed to save it with daily algae plucking. A few other LPS were nearly overrun but were saved as well, so it’s not all bad, but I lost 2 of 3 of my SPS, one head on one of my teal hammers died, one favia was overrun, and I’ve got 2 chalices and a torch that do not look happy, but are alive for now, hopefully I can get these guys into the ‘saved’ column.

Getting ready to order the next batch of fish, it’s gonna be wrasses, so I need to get screen tops before then.


#reef2reef, #worldwidecorals, #mywwccontest

 

[Dodgersfan]

Still battling the GHA and Cyano, i think it is starting to subside, I'm still scrubbing the rocks with a toothbrush twice a week, but its taking less time each time, and the foam filter blocks are clogged less when i do the water change an hour after cleaning. so fingers crossed we may finally be on our way out of the woods. I've added 2 hours of while light back into the cycle, I've noticed some of the corals fading a bit and generally not thriving under the blues only. particularly the green/turquoise colored ones, for whatever reason. 2nd batch of fish is going into QT either this week or next!

 

[Dodgersfan]

whoops double post.

 

[Dodgersfan]

still battling Cyano and GHA, and about to pull my hair out. about to resort to Chemiclean or Red Slime Remover, anyone have any experience with either? i started a thread for discussing them here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/r...ean-vs-red-slime-remover.407840/#post-4836491


in better news, there's more stuff in QT!! I'm not gonna talk about it till I've got it in the DT, but its exciting!!

 

[Mark Gray]

Hey in my 55 when I had GHA badly and it was starting to get on the zoo's I took them out and dipped them in hydrogen peroxide about a 50 50 mix with your tank water it will knock it out and I have never had a zoo that it killed.

 

[Dodgersfan]

Its been a while since i updated. the GHA battle finally looks to have been won (crosses fingers) went with the advise of my LFS and have been running blues only for 3 weeks now. corals don't seem to be affected and the CUC has been managing to slowly get ahead of the GHA now that its growth has been slowed. As for the Cyano, it seemed to have developed a resistance to the bacterial in the Vibrant or something. i stopped dosing vibrant for a month, then started dosing again and the Vibrant knocked it out. its starting to look like a tank again. and in other exciting news, i got a new frag tank for a steal of a deal, there's a big box of corals from @AquaSD 's live sale coming today, cant wait to get them all in the frag tank, iIll post pics!