ReeferRoo's Custom 125 (My First Tank)

[ReeferRoo]

Saw you from NSI as well. Love the organization on the sump, plumbing, and cord management.

@eschulist

Thanks. It's a work in progress. I am glad i went with the 3" cable raceways and its still really tight. I have been following your NSI posts as well, love the setup!!!

 

[ReeferRoo]

Okay, so i wanted to wait a week before i posted this...

Cycle completed fast using Bio-Spira. Ran ammonia to 0 within a week and a half, added 1ppm ammonia to the tank, back to 0 in 24 hours, nitrite 0 in 48. Nitrates were around 20 at the 48 hour mark. So i went and got some fish. 2 clowns...

Lfs had them for 2 weeks showing no signs of any issue, here they are in the tank, acclimation went smoothly, and they adjusted well.

My 4 year old daughter names them Branch and Poppy from the trolls movie.

Bad news...

2 days after being in the DT my gamble of not putting them through QT turned to a loss. They both showed signs of Ich. I wasn't heart broken i knew there was a chance. They got the ich under control on their ownafter a fee days and its not even visible now. So since they stabilized I Setup a QT using using DT water, added Bio-Spira to give the unit some additional support and am now setting the tank fallow for 72 days and of course added some clean saltwater. Inverts are due in Tuesday so i will add those to the DT to maintain algae and feed them as needed.

With QT i am tracking ammonia to make sure it can handle the bioload of the 2 clowns once i have a warm and fuzzy on that front then i will start cupramine treatment to eradicate the ich and anything else they may have. Any other recommendations while they are in QT? I will add a photo showing what i think was ich.

Good news is i got it early and its a good lesson learned out of the gate!!!

 

[ReeferRoo]

Ich photos

 

[ReeferRoo]

Alright been a while since an update. Clowns have been in QT for nearly 2 weeks now. I let them sit for a week + to make sure the bio cube had enough of a bio filter going with the addition of some filter foam and some rock that soaked for a week in the DT sump, after several feedings I pulled the rock and fed 2 more times and no spikes in ammonia, so on Sunday night 4/23 we added the first round of Cupramine. Things went well and ich started clearing up. Tuesday night we did second dose bringing copper up to the .05 dosage and fish seem to be doing great and still eating well!!!

Thinking of moving the QT to another room for transmission purposes and I would like to start on the tank cabinetry and tile the floors...the cladding on the DT at the moment is just a 3mm PVC panel we have at my sign shop. Closes things up nicely so I the kids dont play with the

On another note...

In trying to track the dates for QT and Fallow time, with dosage dates, and testing timers I went on the hunt for an app. Found one that is working great...not sure if it is for android but its definitely in Itunes app store called Multi Timer. You can have up to 24 work spaces/timers, you can do count downs, quick timers, stopwatch, count-up, etc, and you can color and label each work space. here is a pic...

It was awesome during cycling I was able to get the red sea tests all going at the same time and not miss the reading times. $2.00 to upgrade from the free to the non add version.

Anyway, the day after I moved the fish into the QT the inverts I had ordered from my LFS, Absolute Corals, 2 Cleaner Shrimp, 5 Peppermint Shrimp, 10 Emerald Crabs, 25 Nassarius Snails, and 25 Turbo Snails. Here is some of them in their new home.

The wife and kids are more interested in the inverts shenanigans than they are with the clown fish, but that is to be expected when things like this happen...
Had to start feeding the inverts shortly after, especially the crabs as they started going after the snails. Snail attrition has slowed down and then we realized we hadnt seen the pepermint shrimp. Finally last night I found two hiding in holes in the back of one of the Pukani Tower so I am sure the other 3 are doing the same.

Then a week later got my first newbie corals. Inspected them, Dipped them, inspected them again...not that I have a clue for what I am looking for, but anything I couldn't ID or didn't look like a shroom, polyp or coraline algae got yanked!!!
1 colony of zoa's sharing a rock with I believe a type of Sympodium Coral, and some Blue/Green Mushrooms. Photos below...not great so I will try to get better photos later and re-post. The shroom's were on 1 large rock with space so I had the LFS cut it in two. I will likely separate the Zoas and the Sympodium, if that is what they are this weekend.

Took a week but everything opened and seems to be doing well...crabs loved everything else that came on the rocks and picked them clean.

Trying to decide if I want to buy a plate from the LFS for $150 bucks which will have at least 6 types of zoas and 3 types of Sympodium or Xenia colonies or buy the beginner kit with 2 or 3 other items for $200 free shipping from WWC there are also a few things from Aquarium Specialty I like but not enough to get me to the $200.00 free shipping for their livestock. I don't mind spending money, but I hate paying shipping as a separate line item.

One the other hand Reef-a-Palooza NY is in June and I am wondering if I should wait... or buy now...and buy again later...

Planning on setting up a coral/invert QT...torn between a bio cube again or a fusion peninsula 20 with a third party light, or going completely lo-tech with a breeder tank HOB filter and light, need to peruse the forums for ideas or make a post requesting help.

That's it for now, this weekend plan to finish the Mixing station plumbing and leak test it, and change over from Stand Alone Mode to Connected Mode for the Apex ATK NSI!!!

 

[ReeferRoo]

wife just sent a video of the corals with flow...she's good to me, likes to keep me updated on the hourly occurrences of the tank!

 

[ws6kid]

Excellent job with the sump and plumbing. Everything looks so clean. Going to be an awesome tank

 

[ReeferRoo]

So things have been hectic and i havent had a lot of time to update. Tank is moving along nicely. Trying to get my testing and water change habits down. I have also been adding 4-6 frags a week. I started with some zoas/palys/mushrooms as noted above.

Then got a gobstopper zoa, a candy cane and my first acan from the ARC live sale.

After i got those a week later the acan was starting a new head. So i said why not...and bought an array of stuff from Legendary Corals. Quick pic from the order confirmation...

I also got a free Galactic Galaxia.
It has been 2 weeks and the birdsnest is showing buds, the toadstool has grown and the montipora is extending is plate edge. Polyp extension on everything has been fantastic.
I am still trying figure out how to get better photos...but to express how pleased i am i was able to get a good shot of the birdsnest under the blue lights.

Since this has been doing so well i decided to continue to try my luck so i went to my LFS and got a frog spawn a fire and ice zoa, a cool looking paly, a rainbow acan, another acan and a favia. Some were pretty hard to get photos of so i am just posting what i can until i get better at it...

That all being said...we will give it another week and see where i am at.

Also, the clowns i have in QT have been doing great. Cupramine treatment is done. Now i just have to wait another 45 days to put them back into the DT. They eat great. Up to feeding them once a day because they want it. Ammonia levels are maintaining at 0 and everything else is normal.

Overall my first reef tank experience is going very well.

 

[ReeferRoo]

Oh yeah...one thing...i did lose the mushrooms...not to anything other than the crabs picked them off and the floated away into cracks in the pukani...so in about 3-6 months i am sure they will start growing out of a hole somewhere.

 

[ReeferRoo]

Okay been a long time since I have done an update and since Reef-A-Palooza, NY was this weekend and my wife and I had a great time I figured I would update on the Tank and then post some pick of the new corals.

Some things I have done...

1. Played around with lighting schedules, Currently running the G4 Pro's through Apex, tried a variation of different schedules but settled on my own copy of Coral Lab AB+ and everything responded well, started at 35% and am working my way to 75% max intensity.

2. Got 2 Sand Sifting Sea Stars to cleanup my sand bed, it was a disaster and Setup AWC (This weekend Actually) after Reef-a-Palooza. I have been feeding the invert 2-3x per week and well...they are messy eaters. The clowns posted above finally get to go back into the DT on Thursday because they had Ich and I put the tank fallow for 73 days.

3. Got some additional Corals, 1 Alveopora, a Golden Torch (3 heads), some Acans.

4. Setup a Coral/Invert QT in advance of Reef-A-Palooza, NY.

5. Started doing some of the carpentry for the fixed cabinetry.

FTS Update...

Everything is doing well. New heads, more polyps, except a Cranky Toad Stool and a Ticked off Candy Cane, everything else is growing well.

Here are some closer pics, sorry for the poor photography, I think I am getting better but I have a long way to go...
1. Birdsnest

2. Frogspawn...since I got it, it has popped 10 or 11 new heads off the sides and one of the existing heads it splitting...You can see 4 of the new heads along the base. Polyps are not fully extended in the pic but when they are it fills out nicely, picked this up for like $40.00.

3. Favia - I believe it is called a Dragon Soul...confirmation would be appreciated. started off with 2 mouths and now I have 4 with green forming around all edges.

4. - Gobstoppers...My photo skills do not give this thing justice...

5. Acan 1 - Trying to find the name but been unsuccessful...

6. Rainbow Acan - Puckered up for some reason, normally it is full open

7. Neon Green Alveopora - the piece had one open spot that I was able to glue onto a spike off of my aquascaping, the thing blows up to the size of my fist when it has full poly extension.

8. Golden Torch, 3 Heads, got this for about 75 bucks, figured since I wanted a Dragon Soul Torch which I was hoping to get at Reef-A-Palooza, NY and I know the Dragon Soul Torches can Run about $100 per head, I wanted test with this guy...turns out to be a great blue light contrasting piece, photo doesn't do it justice, bright light blue tips with colorful gold and pink hued testicles.

9. Galactic Galaxia, Freebie from my Legendary Corals Order.

10. Purple Grafted Monti and a cranky Neon Green Toad Stool (Finally started to open up this weekend after about a month of being closed)

11. Rose Tip BTA - I know...tank is only 4 months old but it was beautiful and fairly inexpensive...$30.00, Red Tips, Purple plate, Green bases to Tenticles and the mouth has nice white or light blue lines, kids loved it and figured why not everything else seems to be doing great, why not give this a try...well..it worked out well, 3 weeks now in the tank, it settled on a spot within 12 minutes and has not moved since. Again my photography on this doesn't do it any justice. The kids love it when its feeding time!

12. Ultra Hatian Ricordea, Growing and one of the mouths is starting to split, so doing well.

I don't have photos at the moment of the starter colony I got in the beginning, or some Toxic Palys which have already popped 2 new polyps and all of the polys are walking off the plug.

So, that is it for the updates on the existing tank and its inhabitants. Coral QT and Reef-A-Palooza details will be posted shortly.

 

[Shadowspop]

Hey man, great set up. Really looking forward to watching this. I'm kinda embarrassed to start my tank set up thread now.

 

[ReeferRoo]

Reef-A-Palooza, NY ...The Spoils... and the Coral QT

So remember here...I am a newbie...so to me I am pretty excited about my buys...

First the Coral QT...I over engineer everything so this thing in my opinion is rather Beastly for the Coral QT you can agree or call me nuts either way it happened...
Equipment -
1. Innovative Marine Fusion 20 Nano
2. Innovative Marine Skimmer
3. Innovative Marine Media Basket
4. Cobalt Easy Therm 75W Heater
5. MPqd10 Powerhead (Need to order the chip to run through ReefLink
6. Radian XR15 Pro with RMS Mount - Running Through Reeflink
7. AutioAqua Micro Smart ATO - Have one on my fish QT and it is awesome.

I will have to add an FTS later, dont have one currently as I was eager to get photos of the new corals and forgot about the tank...

I will say, I am very happy I dip, still using revive, but after this experience I will move on to a bayer dip. Regardless, I came across a bunch of things, possible nasties, Including a Red and White Baby Bristle worm, he was still alive after the dip so I just plucked him off and let him bathe in the dip water.

Reef-A-Palooza, NY Spoils...

We got there around 10:30 am, line was out the door, we went in got our wrist bands and hopped on line. I would say based on the number of goodie bags left by the time we got to the door we were probably in the 425 to 450th spot in line, so we got the goodies!!! We were on our way home by 2pm. We also decide that next year we will stay there for the night so we can meet and talk with other attendees and vendors.

Anyway, show was great! Enough of the chit chat...here are the spoils...

1. Unnamed Ricordea

2. Purple Poly Birds Nest With Green Skeleton (Unnamed)

3. Green Monti...Honestly Cant remember the name...should have wrote this stuff down...but it is plating, if you know...please let me know...Under the lights the surface is a deep green and the edges are blueish purple, with small blue polyps.

4. Monti...I think...Similar in color to the one above but larger blue polyps, not sure if it is plating or encrusting or both...lol...

5. No idea on this one...I bought it with the first monti above with the expectation this would grow vertically like a Digi and then have the green monti plate out around it...we will see...

6. Superman Montipora Digi - Looking like it is giving a high five!!! Photo doesn't give it justice. small frag, $20.00 was worth it!

Zoa's, I cant remmeber any of the names so please let me know if you can ID

7. Zoa A - Orange Outside, inside it is Green/Yellow

8. Zoa B - Green Lashes, Red Ring, Purple Center, I thought they were watermelons but they corrected me and said they were something else.

9. Zoa C - Very Similar to Zoa A but different Pattern Inside and lashes are a different shade.

10. Zoa C - Green Everything, Various Shades, Yellow Center with a Blue Green Line

11. Sun Coral, Pink with Orange/Yellow Tenticles, Unfortunately I am not sure how this one is going to fair. It looks like it was freshly cut within a week, and I wasn't smart enough to look at all sides of piece as there ended op being open skeleton on the bottom with lots of black rot in it, I use dental pick and cleared out as much as I could during the dipping process and used a turkey baster to flush out as much as I possibly could, I did have some movement in the polyps last night but it is still hurting, tried to feed it but it wasn't hungry, so I may end up with a small Ammonia Spike in my QT, It was cloudy this morning before I left for work... . Cloudiness could be from a bacterial blood from rot, or from the feeding last night, the so we will see.

And here is what I am calling the prize of the trip, Thanks to WWC I was able to get a Dragon Soul Torch, 2 heads, yeah its in the process of splitting but there are 2 separate polyps, $150.00. My photography skills don't even come close to showing off this thing! The green, Deep Purple and Gold...

I also got, a 3 polyp frag of a clove polyp coral, I don't have a photo because it wasn't open at the time I was taking the pics, when it does open I will add a pic. I had one before that was doing great until I moved it and Muscles Magee our resident male emerald crab that is the size of my Big toe decided to pop it off the plug, the stress from being tossed around lead to its demise.

Well that's it for now...if anyone happens to know what any of the corals are called let me know! I plan to try and get better pics with our DSLR and post those pics in a separate thread asking for details. These are with my I-phone 6s Plus running an app for white balance.

 

[ReeferRoo]

Hey man, great set up. Really looking forward to watching this. I'm kinda embarrassed to start my tank set up thread now.

@Shadowspop Thanks for the props! Don't be embarrassed, I have been reading and researching for years, and begun buying stuff 2 years ago, it took me 1.5 years to have either the money or the equipment I wanted to do what I wanted to do. In hind sight, I should have gone smaller 75 gallon and more basic to start to learn the ropes, and your seeing final product, there were failures and iterations that were not posted that got me here. It's really about the journey and the progress over time, I am glad I have the forum to document and you will be to.

Tag me when you setup your tank thread I will gladly follow along!!!

 

[Shadowspop]

@Shadowspop Thanks for the props! Don't be embarrassed, I have been reading and researching for years, and begun buying stuff 2 years ago, it took me 1.5 years to have either the money or the equipment I wanted to do what I wanted to do. In hind sight, I should have gone smaller 75 gallon and more basic to start to learn the ropes, and your seeing final product, there were failures and iterations that were not posted that got me here. It's really about the journey and the progress over time, I am glad I have the forum to document and you will be to.

Tag me when you setup your tank thread I will gladly follow along!!!

Awesome, I'll definitely let you know when. I'm getting close to putting in my first critters, have a few things to tighten up and spend a week or so on chord management.

 

[ReeferRoo]

FTS of the Coral QT

 

[hatfielj]

Cool set up and great build! Almost the same size as my old Coast to Coast tank! Mine was 40 x 26 x 22

 

[ReeferRoo]

@hatfielj awesome looking tank! I am happy with the tank/ they talked me into the 30 deep for the 24 Tall and it was the right thing to do.

where did you get the magnetic wall mounts? I would like a couple for my tank, would like to put some SPS in the back center.

 

[hatfielj]

@hatfielj awesome looking tank! I am happy with the tank/ they talked me into the 30 deep for the 24 Tall and it was the right thing to do.

where did you get the magnetic wall mounts? I would like a couple for my tank, would like to put some SPS in the back center.

Thanks! Yeah 30" deep is my next tank too. I got the magnetic rocks from someone on r2r that sells them in small batches. I can't remember who it is though. I wanna say it's alternative reef maybe?

 

[ReeferRoo]

Big buy from the WWC 10 Year Anniversary Sale...

The Haul...

THANK YOU WWC!

Blue Ring Duncan - $25.00


Blue Center GSP - $15.00


Blue Sympodium - $22.00


Bubbleicious Zoanthids - $19.00


Christmas Favia - $15.00


Demon Eye Favia - $35.00


Galaxy Acropora - $5.00 yes...$5.00


Hawaiian Ding Dangs Zoanthids - $25.00


Magicians Zoanthids - $5.00


Mint Aussie Lord - @25.00


Purple Green Yuma - $35.00


Rainbow Aussie Lord - $29.00


WWC Festivus Favites - $25.00


WWC Blueberry Fields - $57.00


WWC Captain America Micromussa - $25.00


WWC Cherry Garcia Chalice - $42.00


WWC Monkey Brains Echinata - $32.00


WWC Watermelons Zoanthids - $25.00


After Sale...
Hellboy Chalice (Not WYSIWYG) -

 

[ReeferRoo]

Thanks! Yeah 30" deep is my next tank too. I got the magnetic rocks from someone on r2r that sells them in small batches. I can't remember who it is though. I wanna say it's alternative reef maybe?

FYI thanks for the direction, I ordered a magnetic reef shelf last week. Ordered it through Fragtastic Reef.

 

[ReeferRoo]

Okay going to redo my posts on the corals I got from the WWC Live sale for easier viewing.

1. Blue Center GSP - R08-66-713t - $15.00

2. Blue Ring Duncan - R02-18-277t - $25.00

3. Blue Sympodium - R10-04-560t - $22.00

4. Bubbleicious Zoanthids - R07-42-963t - $19.00

5. Christmas Favia - R01-45-741t - $15.00

6. Demon Eye Favia - R01-12-658t - $35.00

7. Galaxy Acropora - R14-59-406t - $5.00

8. Hawaiian Ding Dangs Zoanthids - R09-33-151t - $25.00

9. Magicians Zoanthids - R08-09-138t - $5.00

10. Mint Aussie Lord - R11-08-083t - $25.00

11. Purple Green Yuma - R10-58-122t - $35.00

12. Rainbow Aussie Lord - R11-50-082t - $29.00

13. WWC - Festivus Favites - R20-08-855t - $25.00

14. WWC Blueberry Fields - R16-11-445t - $57.00

15. WWC Captain America Micromussa - R01-60-803t - $25.00

16. WWC Cherry Garcia Chalice - R04-68-792t - $42.00

17. WWC Monkey Braind Echinata - R06-29-755t - $32.00

18. WWC Watermelons Zoanthids - R07-20-071t - $25.00


Then there was the WWC Afters Sale...

19. Hellboy Chalice - $52.00 (Not WYSIWYG)


And then there was E-bay...

20. WWC Ultron Micromussa - Ebay - $46.00


21. WWC G.I. Joe Micromussa - Ebay - $35.00


22. WWC Pink Floyd Chalice - Ebay - $50.00


23. WWC Plum Echinata - Ebay - $16.00


24. WWC Green Turbinara - Ebay - $16.00


So...yeah, tank is going to be pretty well stocked now!