New 75g Reef Tank

pegasus

Well-Known Member
Pegasus, I read the article that you posted, and it pretty much reaffirmed what I already knew. Why wont you do it? What's so wrong?
I'm not knocking it, because I'm sure it's good stuff if you know how to set it up and use it. I watched a vid on BRS TV earlier today talking about how it takes constant tweaking to keep consistent levels, and little things like changes in evaporation rates can alter levels. As the article said, changes in CO2 levels can affect how it reacts. Little stuff like that. I am already past the point where Kalk would do anything for me, anyway. I'm having to dose Mag, Alk, and Cal almost every day just to keep levels reasonably stable...
 

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
The 20g quarantine is now up and running. I put a filter from the emperor 400 in the main tank so it would get some bacteria on it overnight.

I'll be finding some large PVC pieces at work today for hiding spots and hopefully I'll be able to catch him. I'll go get some better food stuffs and some maracyn 2 treatment this evening
 

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
The angelfishes eye looks a lot better today for some reason. He is still in my tank and I still have the quarantine tank up and running. I think I am going to give it another few days to see if it just keeps getting better. If it does, then I'll take the quarantine down. If it takes a turn for the worst, I'll go ahead and quarantine. I just don't want to stress the fish out more then what it needs to be.

This Saturday I pick up my two tangs. I'm pretty excited. Is there another fish I can add after the two tangs? I'm just curious if I've done all of the fish buying that I can do. Keep in mind, full grown, those cinnamon clowns would be about 4".... I guess that means I should be done... lol.

I've been feeding the little guys at least two to three times every evening and been giving the angelfish plenty of nori to nibble on. I'm going to buy some frozen meaty foods for the clowns eventually as treats. The rest of my fish are algae eaters, so I shouldn't have trouble with them.

The TLF kalkwasser stirrer is now up and running and is on the automated top off system. I'm happy with the system so far. I checked it to see if it worked (meaning, I raised the float sensor intentionally and let kalk in the system. It did what its supposed to. I had to put it on the back of the tank, unfortunately. Where I wanted to put it in the sump, it wasn't designed for and wouldn't work without major modification. I'm excited to see what a raised calcium and alkalinity level will do for the system now that its up and going. I'm hoping that everything will turn pretty purple in no time.

Even though they say that a full cycle should be about 30 days, at the end of 30 days in this tank, I started seeing coralline grow. That's just amazing to me - that it was that fast. Good signs, good signs.

I need to start taking pictures again. It's hard to upload via photobucket on my phone with this new forum software.
 

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
The angel fishes eye problem seems to have to e away on its own. I'm going to end up using the 20g of water from the quarantine tank to do my first water change on the system.

The kalk stirrer has been up and going and everything is still alive. In the next few weeks I should start to see a coralline explosion. :)

I'm thinking about washing up some dry sand and adding it to the sump along with some cycled live rock rubble and take the light off the fuge and just put some fan worms and NPS filter feeders down there. I think the flow is slow enough to grow some sponges too. Anyways, we will see.

I really want the photon 48" light from Reefbreedera but I'm looking at a couple of CCLEDs again and hooking them to my Apex.
 

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Got them home and acclimated. I turned the lights off for an hour or so. Now they are both out and swimming around. My coral beauty angel is even checking them out. :) the Angels eye looks a lot better today. I don't think I am going to stress him out by QTing him.

I'm gonna let the tank mature some and do its thing for a couple more weeks. No new changes for a while.

Now I just have to save for those lights and then I can start adding some SPS corals.

Anyone know where I can buy some Bayer Advanced?
 

lmforbis

Well-Known Member
Bayer advanced as in the insect killer. Going to dip my SPS frags.
You are going to dip your coral in insect killer? Could you explain the reason to me? I'm new to the coral part. It seems if it kills bugs it would kill coral. Obviously it doesn't or I imagin you wouldn't use it.
 

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Bayer Advanced is used as a coral dip- as far as I know, people have only used it on SPS corals. Insects are actually pretty closely related to crustaceans - they have many of the same characteristics. Since two of the most prominent SPS "bugs" are AEFW (acro-eating flat worms) and red bugs, it seems to do a pretty good job of killing them.

Most people take it a step further and also cut or break the SPS off of the old frag plug and put it on a new one to get rid of the flatworm eggs as well.

The difference between an SPS tank that has no pests and one that does is unbelievable.

Today I am seeing a lot more coralline flecks on all of the plastic fittings. The existing ones are growing bigger. I think the kalk stirrer is functioning perfectly. I went grocery shopping today and got a gallon of vinegar so I can dose my reservoir with a low dose once a week. I'll have to research to find out what the dose should be.

I'll try to post some pics of my new fish soon and the progress.
 

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
My wife is house hunting. Which means I'm buying a house. I don't know if I want to add corals to my tank until after I move the tank or not. I guess it just depends on when we find a house we like and how everything fits together for buying it.
 

lmforbis

Well-Known Member
Bayer Advanced is used as a coral dip- as far as I know, people have only used it on SPS corals. Insects are actually pretty closely related to crustaceans - they have many of the same characteristics. Since two of the most prominent SPS "bugs" are AEFW (acro-eating flat worms) and red bugs, it seems to do a pretty good job of killing them.

Most people take it a step further and also cut or break the SPS off of the old frag plug and put it on a new one to get rid of the flatworm eggs as well.

The difference between an SPS tank that has no pests and one that does is unbelievable.

Today I am seeing a lot more coralline flecks on all of the plastic fittings. The existing ones are growing bigger. I think the kalk stirrer is functioning perfectly. I went grocery shopping today and got a gallon of vinegar so I can dose my reservoir with a low dose once a week. I'll have to research to find out what the dose should be.

I'll try to post some pics of my new fish soon and the progress.
That makes sense.
 

pegasus

Well-Known Member
My wife is house hunting. Which means I'm buying a house. I don't know if I want to add corals to my tank until after I move the tank or not. I guess it just depends on when we find a house we like and how everything fits together for buying it.
If the move is any time in the near future, I would definitely wait on buying any Acros. From what I've read on them, they don't like changes, and even moving them around in the tank can cause them to expel their zooxanthellae algae. I'm pretty sure that's why my new color-tip looks like a frosted Christmas tree...
 
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