Zac's Piece of the Ocean

zportell

zportell

Member
I thought since I am in the process of building a 100g reef, I wouldn't let me 37g starter reef become just a memory. So in this thread, I will submit my very first reef system containing a 37G DT with a 10G fuge. I want to use this thread as a comparison of my 37G to my 100G. So here it goes:

Equipment:
All glass 40g (30 x 12 x 24)
Home-made overflow system out of PVC
Maxijet 1200 powerhead for flow
36" Prestige LED Gamma (2 Actinic T5's & 2 Coral Plus T5's)

Filtration:
40 Pounds LR in DT
10 gallon fuge filled with:
Chaeto
5 LBS Live Rock
Loads of Pods
Mini serpent stars
Triton 5, 1350gph submersible return pump

Fish Stock:
2 - Osc Clowns (mated pair)
1 - Bangaii Cardinal

Corals:
Duncan Coral with 8 heads
Bam Bam Zoa's
Nuclear Zoa's
Devils Armor Zoa Colony
Watermelon Zoa Colony
Kenya Tree
Frogspawn with 3 heads
Red Mushrooms
Metallic Blue Mushrooms
Large Neon Green Star Polyps
Medium sized Clam

Pictures:

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40G DT

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Devils Armor Zoa Colony

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Frogspawn

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Nuclear Zoa Colony

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Bam Bam Zoa'

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Frogspawn - up close

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Green Star Polyp (center of tank)

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Mini Feather Duster

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My Clam

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Watermelon Zoa Colony (There are 2 tiny sponges in towards top center, only one visible.)

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"Aussie" Duncan Coral but with long tents.
 
zportell

zportell

Member
They vary during the day as there are 10 "timers" built into the light. I think when i took the pics they The Whites were at 70%, Blues at 99% Cyan at 70% and moons at 0% and then the T5's were all on.

I have the light set to replicate daylight as it would be in the summer. Lights don't start coming on until 9am. I have them programmed to gradually fade up to "midday sun" around 2pm. From 2 - 4:30 lights are at their brightest of the day (not 100% on). Starting from 4:30, i start bringing the lighting down to mimic a sunset. The whites and blues are off by 7pm and the moons are revving up. Moons are on until 11:30 and the all go off to make black out from 11:30p - 6am. 6am - 9am moon lights fade up until the whites and blues start coming back at 9am.

It's a very intricate setting, but I managed to get it just right, the way I like it and only pound the corals with "max" light for a couple of hours a day.. Seem to all be doing fine and it's been on for 2 weeks now.
 
zportell

zportell

Member
And now we upgrade!!! I've spent the last several days making salt water with my new 75GPD RODI unit from BRS. Excellent piece of equipment, if you don't already have one. Since all of my water has been brewing the past few days, I took the time to mix all of it today. Salinity to 1.025. Again, spot on with my other new toy the almighty refractometer from BRS. (Another great purchase, if you don't already have one.) Once my mix was done, I headed to Reefwise and picked up 114 pounds of Live Rock. My goal was to create 3 pillars where the fish can swim around and through the rock, thus creating more of a racetrack swim pattern instead of the "long runs" most reefers use.

The pillars were made using fiberglass rods. The rock was drilled in specific points to hide the rods as much as possible. Hopefully in due time, the parts that are noticeable will be covered in Coraline Algae. All of the rock is Pukani Rock, which is excellent for creating more surface area for beneficial bacteria and allows better coral placement. The sand is a nice sized sugar sand, which it came live so I could skip the "sand rinse". (After the water brewing, my impatience was getting the best of me.) There is 120 pounds of sand which will hopefully assist in bacteria filtration. I would say the depth is approximately 3-3.5 inches. It could reach 4-inches near the back of the setup.

I am not looking forward to the cycle of this tank, as my patience is running slim. I want it ready for livestock! But for now, this is currently the status of the build.

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zportell

zportell

Member
Yesterday was the start of my cycle in the new build. Some of you may have talked to me about this post already in the chat box. However, since I am anal and like to take notes about the tanks progress, I am a bit confused on the readings of the water parameters, ive tested three times now and each test has proven to be a better outcome than the previous.

The first test read .50~.25 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 0 nitrates with. Ph level of 8.0
The second test read a little less than 1.0 ammonia 0 trites and 0 nitrates. Again, ph level is 8.0
The third test now reads 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 5.0 ppm nitrates. With ph staying the same.

I know it's only been approximately 30 hours since cycle started, but shouldn't there be some sort of a spike in the readings showing a cycle is occurring?

I am kind of baffled by what seems to be perfect water chemistry on day 2 of the cycle.
 
zportell

zportell

Member
The following livestock has been added since previous updates:
- Magnificent Rabbit (fox face)
- Hawaiian Squirrel Fish
- Branching Hammer Coral
- Gold Torch Coral
- Green Toadstool Coral
- Orange Lobo Coral
- Colony of Eagle Eye Zoas
- Small Nuclear Dragon Eye Zoa Frag
- Small ultra green star polyp colony
- Rose Bubble Tip Anemone

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zportell

zportell

Member
So I finally got my all-time favorite fish in my system, a Harlequin Tusk Fish. Just picked him up from AquaPros a couple of days ago. he's eating like a champ and adds so much more to the system. Love this fish! Just thought I'd share him with you all.

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Sawdonkey

Sawdonkey

Premium member
These fish are great. They seem really smart. Mine is really active and fast. Some of the other fish in my tank try to chase him around from time to time, but he is way to elusive for any of them to come close. He loves to grab huge pieces of food and hide in the corner while eating the whole thing. Mine is just an Indo, but I really like him:

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zportell

zportell

Member
Steve1986 said:
Nice looking tusk! They are a great addition. What is he eating?
Click to expand...
He's eating a variety of Rods foods and krill. Finicky when all the other fish in the system eat, anything left over or that makes it through the fish cluster, tusk cleans up. Did notice him nip at a snail but found s piece of krill instead.
 
zportell

zportell

Member
Update on my little piece of the ocean. As of 6 days ago, I recognized my newest and most favorite fish, Harlequin Tusk was showing signs not wanting to eat larger chunks of food and was being a bit lethargic. 3 days ago, it is apparent that ICH had been introduced to my tank. Im not 100% sure how it got there, but the infestation has become a pandemic.

I immediately removed all of the fish from the 100G DT and placed them into a 40BR. I am dosing copper every 4 hours to keep the copper level up to 3.0. Since moving the fish into the QT Tank, The Tusk Fish took a nasty turn for the worse. She was covered in ICH (white spots). she was laying on her side and not eating. Since then, the following has occurred:

Harlequin Tusk Fish - Deceased
Solaris Wrasse - Deceased
Clarke Clown - Deceased
Midas Blenny - Deceased
Blue Hippo Tang - Infested with minimal movement and heavy breathing.
Flame Hawk - showing no signs of white spots - breathing normal
Occ Clowns (pair) - showing signs of white spots on fins - swimming and breathing normal
Green Chromis (4) - showing no signs of white spots - breathing normal

This is the first time in the 3 years in this hobby, that I have dealt with ICH. I do not know how it was introduced into my tank as I have bought livestock from multiple places and have traded with multiple people.. But what I do know, ICH is preventable by not spreading it. If you have had ICH in your tank within the past 6 months, you should inform the person that you're trading with or selling to before they infest their tank with the disease. Im just upset I am having to learn the hard way.
 
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