Rattz 30g Softie build.

Rattzreef · Jul 21, 2018

well the new lights are just what the cyano in the tank needed to completely grow like mad.. lol not surprised by that I guess but it is rather ugly.. I decided to try 3 days without light to see if I can knock some of it back and I have 5g of fresh SW made up to do a waterchange and vacuum out the SB really well on Monday. I'm trying to do what I can without resorting to Chemi-clean. I placed an order at BRS on Friday for some GFO, another Koralia nano 240gph powerhead and a 1" diameter gravel vac. My current one is 2" and way too large to really be very effective cleaning this tank.. Even with pinching the hose off, I fill a 5g bucket too quickly to grab a lot of the detritus in the SB. I think a 1' tube will not only allow me to get into more spots, the hose is much smaller diameter, but should be easier to control, we shall see.
The new powerhead will help add some additional flow lower in the tank to blow around the cyano. More flow is suppose to help. I placed the one currently in there on the end glass as low as possible and Ill put the other just on the opposite.. that should give some good flow.. The GFO Ill put in a filter bag for a week or so once a month along with the occasional carbon

I've been trying so hard to not go buy a bunch of fish that its driving me nuts! So to combat my need to feed the beast I decided to go to Petco and buy a few new tanks cause their dollar a gallon sale is currently going on by me. I needed another 20g for my SW mixing station anyway and my girlfriend brought up the fact that I don't even have a QT setup even If I DID decide to purchase any new fish. So after salvaging what equipment I could and using the stand from my old 10g. I have a new QT tank filled and salted.. I ordered a 4 pack of sponge filters which should be here this next week also.

BoBoBREWSKI · Jul 23, 2018

Lookin' good.

Rattzreef · Jul 23, 2018

BoBoBREWSKI said:
Lookin' good.

Thank you.. lights come back on today.. we'll see how much cyano died off..

Rattzreef · Aug 4, 2018

Little tank update. It just reached the 2 month old mark and things are going well so far. The 3 days of darkness cause a lot of the cyano to disappear aside from a patch in the front corner of the glass and a few spots up high in lower flow areas. The 2 koralia nano pumps are now facing toward the front on each side to create a somewhat gyre effect while the Mp10 shoots across the front. Perhaps that will keep some of it ay bay now.
I decided to remove the HOB filter this last week and install my mini reactor I picked up from BRS a few months back. Im running GFO right now but I can always use it for carbon when needed as well. The HOB was working well but the trickling water sound was getting annoying. Its much quieter now and Ill get better use of any media in my reactor anyway. I did place a few sponge pads in the filter a few weeks ago to put into my QT tank to jumpstart the bacteria population so when I uninstalled it those went to QT. The sponge filters I ordered last week also came in so one went to QT also. It should be ready to house any fish I decide to buy in another week or two. Which, unfortunately has become necessary as my new chalk bass decided to jump out of the tank last weekend while I was camping. I found him on Sunday all dried up and stiff. So I immediately made an order to BRS for a screen top kit and now that shouldn't happen again.
I did also decide to remove the T5 fixture over the tank for now and Im building a canopy to put over the two A80's and cover all the equipment up. its mostly assembled and needs paint yet but I can slide it right over everything and I'm planning on installing a 24" T5 two bulb retro kit in there for my supplementals instead of the 36" 2 bulb fixture I have. That one can always go over a future coral QT or something down the road.
Here are a few pics at the 2 month mark (tank is a bit cloudy due to just doing weekly WC and maintenance) and the QT system:

Rattzreef · Aug 15, 2018

Quick update. I stopped by the local LFS over the weekend and picked up a few fish. A hi-fin banded gobie and a green chromis. The gobie went into the display right away and I plan on getting a pistol shimp Friday,but the Chromis I decided to try doing a hyposalinity treatment in the QT tank. I'd rather not deal with copper treatments due to too many variables and I have no experience with it. Hyposalinity just seems easier on the fish, IMO. I have an ATO on the tank to keep the Sg at 1.010. I slowly lowered it over the course of about 4 days. This fish was only $6 at the store so if it doesn't make it I'm not out a ton of cash(I really hope he does) and if he does then Ill have another active hungry fish in the display in a few weeks. Plus this will give me some hands on XP with hypo treatments and I will be able to improve things for future additions.
I picked up some Seachem Ammonia alert badges and will monitor the ammonia content so I can stay on top of that. I am going to need another 5g bucket for WC when needed so Ill grab one on Friday after work. He seems to be doing well at the low SG and very active. Ill be keeping an eye on pH also and can adjust it with 2 part if necessary tho I do need to recalibrate my Hanna pH probe when my fixtures and bulbs arrive for the canopy.

The display is doing really good. I starting dosing 10mg of 2 part to help keep alk somewhat stable and after testing how much it drops on average last week 10mg seems to be a good starting point. I may not need to dose as much Ca. but the coralline is starting to take off all over the LR now.. there are small dots of it everywhere. Ill test this weekend to verify it is remaining where I like (around 8dkh/ 440 ppm Ca). I can make adjustments accordingly. There is still a patch of cyano or dinos in a few spots around the tank. Nothing overwhelming and in places I can easily vacuum out. WC will be on Saturday so Ill attack that then. QT will get a 50% WC the same day. Ill post pics this weekend.

Rattzreef · Sep 1, 2018

The tank is about 3 months old now and I figure its time for some new corals. I placed an order to WWC yesterday for a 5 frag Zoa pack and an ultra Ricordia since they are having their Labor Day sale all weekend. They sent me some really awesome zoas too Im super happy. As soon as everyone opens up Ill snap some pics and post them. My Chromis is gonna be joining the tank on Monday I think. I've been raising the Sg. a few points each day for about 5 days now so I figure by Monday he'll be matched with the display. I wasn't confident enough to attempt a copper treatment in the QT this time but I'm going to be adopting a clown and apparently a small blue tang in a week and I may with them. I have an empty 20g that will have to work for a larger QT to house them till I can decide what to do with them.. he's not very big so I'm sure he COULD do fine in my tank for a little while but Im not one to put a tang in a small tank even if he's small .As badly as I would love to have another tang, Im gonna wait till I have a good home for one set up. I'll ask around for a local reefer to adopt him or even my LFS. The clown, tho, I'll keep and maybe get another in the future.
I scored a Red Sea Max 130D 34 gallon setup with a 12 bulb Cree LED light mod for $100 a few weeks ago and have been seriously pondering an anemone tank with just two clowns. the AIO setup is almost perfect for a small nem cube, I do need to replace the heater and get the new pump they replaced the old flow pumps with but it doesn't leak and the skimmer works.. WIN WIN.
Ill post some pics later this weekend enjoy your extended weekend fellow reefers.

Rattzreef · Sep 1, 2018

New arrivals from WWC:

Rattzreef · Sep 1, 2018

WWC Nuclear Halos(top) Bam Bams (bot)

Gaias (top) WWC Spectras (bot)

WWC Metallic Reds

Ultra Ricordia

Rattzreef · Sep 1, 2018

FTS:

Devaji · Sep 1, 2018

cool I love softies. check out penny at aquacorals for some good ones

NY_Caveman · Sep 2, 2018

Rattzreef said:
FTS:

Looking really good! Tough I bet with that narrow of a tank, but you are making it work.

Rattzreef · Sep 2, 2018

Thanks alot. Yes, a 12" tank is kind of a pain to work around and I would love to have set this up with a sump. That is probably the major reason this is going to be a softie dominate tank.. I have a 40 breeder with a 20g sump I'm in the process of building for an SPS dominate reef tank but I'm taking my time with that setup. I have most of the equipment I need for it but there are a few things I still need to get.

Rattzreef · Sep 7, 2018

All the new corals are doing well after the first week in the tank. I'm going to leave them in the frag rack for a bit and observe them before trying to find a place to glue them down. I placed an order earlier this week at LA for some more Reef Salt and a bottle of Coppersafe along with an API test kit for the QT. I placed the Chromis into the display on Monday and he's doing excellent. Very active swimmer' which is something this tank has really needed.. My black clown goby doesn't move around very often and sticks to the back of the tank behind the temp and pH probe most of the time.. I have noticed that Kronus( what we've named him now) tends to sleep very close to Sinbads area at night.. Perhaps he'll be more social now that he has a tankmate. we shall see..
I decided to try my hand and copper treatment in the QT with my next fish buy whenever that is so I guess I have some reading to catch up on.. Ill do a 5g water change this weekend and check params tomorrow after work. I hope everyone has a great weekend and those at MACNA be safe and take lots of pics.

Rattzreef · Sep 15, 2018

QT Update: A co-worker of mine is getting out of saltwater and gave me his fish that he purchased for his daughter years ago.. They obviously were on the Finding Nemo kick and bought fish that should have gone into much larger setups. I decided to keep the clown and got another small one from the LFS. After calling around to a few fellow reefers and checking LFS stores around me, I found one willing to adopt the Blue Tang. Thankfully too, I didn't want her stressed out in such a little tank any more than she already has been.. ( she was in a 34g Red Sea Max 130D for the last few years, which I purchased from same co-worker).
So now I have a pair of clowns that I plan on putting into the Red Sea tank after I keep them in QT for the next 4-6 weeks. I'm gonna attempt my first time at using copper in QT so this should be interesting and I'll update my progress. Tomorrow morning I'll start adding the first doses of Coppersafe.. The directions state 5ml per 4 gallons of water so I'll start with 1.5 ml for the next 5-7 days and test daily with my API test kit till I reach the correct levels. I've read through a bunch of QT and copper threads from @Humblefish and others so I know if I run into any problems or concerns there are experienced folks here to offer advice. The larger of the 2 clowns is almost 12 years old I'm told and so far they seem to be getting along.

Rattzreef · Sep 15, 2018

A few pics of the Red Sea Max 130D I picked up.. a little dirty and a few scratches but this will make a nice Anemone tank. It came with a Cree LED Mod with 12 LED's I had to replace the circ. pump cause they both failed and Red Sea recalled and replaced them with the Sicce pumps. It should be here in a few days and Ill replace the 150w heater with a new Finnex I picked up.. The skimmer pump works so Ill see how well it does in the tank after its set up. I was surprised they didn't use a pinwheel style impeller on the skimmer. I've watched videos on different sump mods so that may be an option down the road. I figure when the tank is mature enough in 7-8 months I can add a BTA or other type. I've been wanting one for years but no tank to house one properly.. perhaps this one will.

Rattzreef · Sep 16, 2018

Gave the QT the first micro dose of Coppersafe this morning. 1.5ml. I have 10gallons of water in the QT so according to the direction on the box. I'd need 12.5ml total to bring it to the proper level. I do have an API total copper test kit that Ill use to monitor the increase each day. Ill likely dose each afternoon and test a few hours later to allow proper mixing and dilution time. Also tested ammonia to verify my Seachem badge is working properly. 0ppm. Time to do some reading up. Enjoy your Sunday Reefers.

Rattzreef · Sep 16, 2018

Did a copper test and its currently at 0 ppm but I certainly see a discoloration in the test vial which mean that there is copper present after the 1.5ml I added this morning.

Rattzreef · Sep 20, 2018

I'm at 8ml of Coppersafe so far and I can't really tell which color is closer on the API tests very well. It would appear I am between the 1.0ppm and 2.0ppm color range to MY eye but if the room I am standing in has one type of light source and another room a different one, then they appear different shades. I have to place an order to BRS tomorrow for more alk. reagents for my Hanna and I think I'm goin just order the Hanna Copper tester along with it so I can be more accurate with my tests and not rely on my old tired eyeballs to do it for me.

Both clowns are doing very well in QT, They are eating regularly there has been no aggression between them. The QT will be their home until the Red Sea tank is set up and cycled.. I suppose I best start a build thread for that soon.. Do any of you know how to post our build threads in the signature? Its been a few years since I've browsed the forums a lot and I forgot a lot of those shortcuts..

NY_Caveman · Sep 20, 2018

The signature works just like a post. The button with the chain icon is for adding links. You can get to signature by clicking your username here

Rattzreef · Sep 30, 2018

I ordered some new goodies that should be arriving in the mail tomorrow from BRS and Marine Depot. BRS finally has carbon in stock again so I ordered more along with a magnetic feeding ring and a reef chili bottle to dispense food with. From Marine Depot I'm getting the PolypLab Lense filter for cell phones to take pictures of my tank with as well as some extra Copper tests for the Hanna. I decided to also pick up an extra wet side for my MP10 so I can swap them out for cleaning periodically.
The main thing I ordered was the XP Aqua Sumpless ATO from MD. https://www.marinedepot.com/XP_Aqua...o_Top_Off_Units-XP_Aqua-0X1849-FIDPAT-vi.html

I saw this debuted in July and thought it would be perfect for the issues I have with running a sumpless tank. Surface film and a touchy ATO. I have my ATO currently set up on my RKL using a switch and an Aqualifter pump feeding from a 5g tank under my stand. I superglued a piece of acrylic to the top rim where the top would normally sit and glued a section of PVC to that to act as a shroud for the switch to keep snails and other debris away. Its not the prettiest but it works and also keeps the water level in the tank to just above the bottom of the trim. The problem is that whenever the surface is really agitated by the MP10 ramping up, if the water has evaporated enough, the pump kicks on and off repeatedly as the switch bobs up and down. It also occurs whenever I'm walking around back and forth in front of the tank. It is only a 12" deep tank so a small footprint is effected by vibrations more than say my Red Sea tank with almost 18" front to back. It doesn't cause overfill issues and only happens at that peak time when just enough evap has occurred but it is an annoyance all the same and something I've looked into rectifying since discovering it. A lot of the ATO solutions out there are designed more for sump applications or AIO setups unfortunately. The XP design is different in that all the evap happens in the overflow box and its dual optical eye sensors adjust the water level in the box and keeps the tank level constant. PLUS is Skims the Surface!! Win,Win.. The unsightly surface film and debris is ugly and I'll bet effect my PAR readings also.. I have my mini reactor mounted to the wall behind the tank to occasionally use carbon/GFO but the pump hanging in the tank is an eyesore IMO and the sleek small profile black box will look much nicer in there. It has an internal pump so Ill keep the flow from the top like the reactor gives me now, plus I can always place a bag of carbon or other media in the media section of the box when needed for a water polish. The ATO sensor hides in the box and it works for rimmed aquariums. I'll do more of a review of it after I get to use it for a bit. But I thought it was a brilliantly designed concept for people without sumps.. The $150 price tag isn't terrible either.