A day in the life of the newbie reefer

druluv

druluv

Member
Hi Everyone:I Have embarked on a journey few will take. I'm going to attempt to start a full scale reef tank with just a refugium system.Yes that's right no protein stripper! However, I added a skimmer to document its worth. I'll update you guys once a week with pics and a status of how the tank is doing:I'm also highlighting the growth, maintenance, and ups and downs of a reef aquarium. Let me Know What you think.
Experiment Details Started 4/16/04:
Tank Specs:
180 Gal - Custom Design w/ two overflows
45 Gal refugium- Live Sand & Miracle Mud & Fuge Creatures (Dual Returns)
24 X 18 X 14W - It houses the Kent Protein Skimmer
fuge creatures: (These Creatures Keep the fuge clean from algae, and detritus)
I add photoPlankton to help with the critters offspring.
sand bed clams
Baby Bristle Worms
MicroHermits
Nerite Grazers
trocus grazers
turbo grazers
Strombus Grazers
Nassarius Snails
Bubble Bee Snails
Amphipods
spaghetti Worms
mini-Hawaiian Reef Brittle Stars
Fuge Plants
Grape Caulerpa
Feather Caulerpa
Shaving Brush
Gold Tang Heaven
Red Tang Heaven
Ulva Blade
Fuge Lights:
Coral Life 130 watt power compact (65watt 10K & 65watt actinic)
Regular 18 watt atinic buld (moon blue)
Filtration:
One custom built Fuge System
One custom built Sump
Live Rock (display & Fuge - Fully Cured for a year (Tonga Branch, Fuji, Marshall)
Pumps: water circilation
return : mag 2400 Pump - 2200 Gph
powerheads: via aqua 3600 - 1000 gph, sen 500 - 474 gph
3 - maxi-jet 1200 on a wave master power strip - 295 gph
1 - turbelle stream pump 6060- 1600 gph
Salt:
Tropic Marin
Calcium Supp:
B-ionic Calcium Buffer System - ESV - every day - 30ML of both to help Coralline production
Neilisen Reactor -PM -using EVS KALK -
Ultra life Top-off hook-up to a float switch -
dosed by aqua-medic dosing pump - Should Help precipate PO4
Phosphate Reactor - tlf - rowaphos - maxi-jet 500 pump
Calcium Reactor - PM - coming soon
Water Supply - Kent Max deluxe ro/di filter
Weekly water changes - Tropic Marin
Additives
1.Ecosystem Reef Solution
2.Kent Marin Zoe
3.Vita-Chem
4.Ecosystem Garlic exlir
5.Selcon
Food
Frozen - Liquid Life CoralPlankton, Mysis, Brine, water fleas, Squid
Flake - Ocean Nutrition - Formula Two Flake & Pellet
Flake - Ocean Nutrition - Prime Reef
Flake - Julian Sprung's Seaveggies - Mixed Seaweed Flakes
Freezed Dried - Cyclop-eeze, Julian Sprung's Seaveggies - Purple Seaweed
Other - Sweetwater ZooPlankton
Inverts - squid is added to the above mixure.
Lighting
4 160 watt uri bulbs - ice cap ballast(2) (3 Actinic and 1 10K)
2 400 watt pulse start ballast - 10k bulbs
1 coral vue led nite light -
2 HQI MH 400 Watts - 2 Radiums - coming today.
1 coral vue 4in fan - In hood
Lighting Duration
Morning Sun-light approx. - 4hrs -
2 vho actinics - 12hrs
1 vho actinics & 1 - 10 K bulbs - 11hrs
2 - 400 watt MH 10K - Ushio
2 - 20ks- 6 hrs - Radiums
Temperature Control -
1 50 watt heater
1/2hp chiller Pacific coast
Water Parms
NO2- undetectable - sea chem
NO3- 0.5 ml/g - sea chem
PO4- undetectable - sea chem
PH- 8.3 Hanna - pHEP tester - 6:30
alk - 3.5 meq - sea chem
CA - 400 - seachem
Notes:
 
druluv

druluv

Member
Live Stock: Date statusFish:
Yellow tang med - 4/07/04
Blue Regal tang med - 4/15/04
maroon clown tiny - 4/15/04
Engineer goby - med - 4/15/04
Kole Tang - med - 4/20/04
yellow pymgy angel med - 4/20/04
Neon Blue Goby - 4/22/04 - Some got lost in the overflow box
Blue Devil Damsel - 4/26/04
Bagg. Cardinal - 4/26/04
Coral:
Soft
Sarcophyton sp- - 4/15/04
Green finger - 4/17/04
ToadStool Leather - 4/22/04
encrusting soft Coral - 5/12/04
LPS
Fox Coral(Jasmine) - 4/20/04
Bubble Coral - White - 4/22/04
Candy Cane - - 4/22/04
Button Coral - 4/22/04
Plate Coral - Orange - 4/22/04
Hammer Coral - green tips - 5/05/04
neon green Candy Cane - 5/12/04
Hammer Branch - Tan - 5/14/04
Long Tenticle - Green - 5/21/04
Flat Brain - Pink - 5/21/04
Polps
Pumping Xenia -silver - 4/22/04
Green umbrella Mushroom - 4/20/04
Green ricordea Mushroom - 4/20/04
Polyp on a rock - 4/20/04
Mushroom rocks - 4/20/04
Zoo-Pink Finger - 5/06/04
Zoo-Pink Eye - 5/06/04
Zoo-Intense Pink Splotch - 5/06/04
Zoo-Gold - 5/06/04
Zoo-mixed - 5/06/04
Clav sp. - 5/12/04
zoo-mixed - 5/12/04
zoo-blue - 5/21/04
zoo-assorted - 5/21/04
Clams
Dersa Clam - 4/22/04
Tonga Clam Red - 4/27/04
SPS
Montipora Encrusting Orange - 4/22/04
Leaf Plate Montipora - 4/22/04
Montipora digita w/ blue tips - 4/22/04
INVERTS:
clump ball sponge - 3/15/04
sand sifter star - 4/15/04
blood red cleaner shrimp - 4/17/04
cleaner shrimp - 4/17/04
hermit crabs -
Sand sifting cucumbers - 4/19/04
various Snails -
Sally Light Foot - deceased - will not buy again
sand sifting crabs -
Cleaner Clams - Should Help with cleaning the water
Rose Bubble Tip Anemone - 4/22/04
Future Hit List:
reef safe eel - Gold Spot Snake Eel
reef safe angel - Bellus Angel
interesting Sps Corals - Sky Blue Montipora Capricornis, Acropora tortuosa
rare zoo's - More Blue Zoos
 
druluv

druluv

Member
Tank Status:Week six of the experiment:Tank enjoyed a good week of good parms again. I did no major water changes and the skimmer works a little better this week.
Fish
Added no fish this week. Blue Tang ich is cleared more this week. Almost ich free. Added more cleaner shrimps because neon gobies
keep getting lost in the over flow.
Coral
Nothing to report this week. Added a couple of lps and more zoos. I would like to seriously get into sps corals
Problems To OverCome:
1. Need To Add More Flow - corrected by adding the maxi & stream pump
2. Need To Add More Light - corrected by adding 4 400 watt ballast
3. Need To Add More Sand bed Critters
4. Soft and Hard Corals Living Together
5. Blue Regal Tangs and Parasites
6. Properly placing corals in a good area.
7. Sand shifting cucumbers, stars, and large turbo snails keep bumping my corals and clams.
8. Getting the skimmer to work(This not last though).
Things I Like Best about the Tank
1. Good Coralline Growth
2. New organisms popping up in the Fuge.
3. Fish Are Eating
4. Crappy Hood I built but saved over $200 dollars - But Used it buy a HQI ballast
5. Using small frags to get a natural growin
6. The New powerheads added brings more flow into the tank
Newbie Tips do's:
1. Patience - Give Tank time to grow
2. Research - Everybody is a master reefer, take everyting with a grain of salt, and do your own home work.
3. Acclimate properly - when fish come in those overnight bags the ph is about 7.8.
4. Generate enough flow around the tank.
5. Research the coral you want to put in your tank. Know lighting requirements, feeding habits,
placement, and agression.
Newbie Tips dont's:
1.Buy too much live stock for delivery - Take too much time to properly acclimate everything.
2.Placing Newly bought Live rock in your display tank without curing in a separate container.
 
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