m0nk's 55 gallon diary (yup, here's another)

[m0nk]

Now that I've moved into a house I have the room to setup the 55 gallon that I purchased months ago. The 12 gallon tank that's been running for over 6 months did great during the move and all the inhabitants and rock will eventually journey into the 55 gallon. The nano will then become a QT/frag tank. I'd eventually like to setup a 125 or 180 gallon in the living room, though that may be a few years down the road.
So, here's the 55 gallon; it's not drilled and I don't have an overflow so I'll be doing bio-filtration and have an HOB skimmer, plus regular water changes. If in the future I see the need I'll add an overflow and sump/fuge setup. The HOB skimmer is a Prizm Deluxe (so that I can run carbon directly in the skimmer if needed). I have 2 Seio 620 powerheads, a Visitherm deluxe heater, and a Current Satellite with 260w 50/50 PC lighting (couldn't find good T-5's with individual reflectors within my price range so I went with PC's for now).
On friday I laid out the 20lbs of live sand, 15 lbs of base sand, and filled the tank with salt-water. On saturday I added 25 lbs of live rock and 20 lbs of base rock (again, all I can afford right now, and that was pushing it). There is about 15 lbs of live rock in my 12 gallon that will be moving over then as well. Still, 45 lbs of rock looks so tiny in a tank as small as a 55 gallon...heh. The cover is egg-crate, cut to fit the skimmer and power cords for the power-heads.
And so the cycling begins; will be ghost feeding this week and I've also poured in the water changed out of the 12 gallon when I did the last water change. After I've confirmed the cycle is complete I'll start by adding a firefish plus cleanup crew and making sure the tank is stable and the new fish is happy before moving anything over.

 

[rebelprettyboy]

It looks like a good start! Are you going to get more rock?
Do you have a sump?

 

[m0nk]

Thanks. I'd like more rock, just can't afford it right now (son wanted me to set the tank up but ex-wife lost her job and isn't paying child support). The 15 lbs in the 12 gallon will help, when the cycle is complete I can bring it all over to this one. I've also been looking for someone local who might want to donate a little but haven't found anyone. A guy was going to hook me up with about 15lbs but haven't gotten responses to my emails, so for now it'll do. I'm sure everything will work out great in the end.

Also, there isn't a sump currently.

 

[chankanaab]

Looking good. Is the prizm quite?

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by Chankanaab
Looking good. Is the prizm quite?
Yeah, fairly, when it's throttled back. I don't need it running full blast so I've got it back at almost 1/4 flow. I have noticed that when it's full blast that there are tons of microbubbles, but then I also heard that they go away after running like that for at least a day, which I didn't do.

 

[m0nk]

K, testing results for the past week...
Saturday (LFS)
pH- 8.2
Ammonia spiked between 2.5 and 4 (had LFS test it and couldn't be specific, probably should have tested myself as well since it seems rather high for such a small amount of live rock)
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Monday (My test matches LFS)
pH- 8.2
Ammonia > .25 but < .5
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Today (My test only, so far)
pH- 8.2
Ammonia < .25
Nitrite between .2 and .5 (can't get more specific with my kit)
Didn't test Nitrate this time (I should actually be working right now)
I'll have the LFS test sometime this weekend and will test every day starting Monday but I have a feeling the cycle should be done by mid-next week. I like the ghost feeding idea, speeds up the cycle time for sure.
I haven't yet decided if I'm going to chance putting in a new firefish next weekend (provided the cycle is done early next week) or wait, and my LFS was trying to convince me that I should put in a chromis since they're hardier and cheaper (surprisingly they didn't just want money), but I dunno if I really want one in my tank. Some snails will go in when fish do (thinking 10 Astrea and 5 Margarita, since I'll be adding about 10 snails from the nano). I also just want to be sure the tank will be good to my clowns before migrating them from the nano since it would be quite sad to loose them - my son sure loves 'em.
Anyone have thoughts on the firefish vs chromis addition? I'll probably eventually add a firefish anyway, somewhere on down the line. The other fish I'll be adding (nice and slow-like) are some sort of wrasse and possibly a goby or blenny, plus the 2 ocellaris clowns from the nano.

 

[golgi aparatus]

Monk, I have a question about your lighting. I am thinking about getting a Current USA light fixture as well, the Nova Extreme T-5 fixture, 48". My question for you is do you think that the fixture is small enough to fit inside a canopy? The frame of the fixture I believe is pretty much the exact same specs as yours. I want to keep mine inside my nice canopy for my 55g.
I just like the look of a tank with a canopy way more that without...

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by Golgi Aparatus
Monk, I have a question about your lighting. I am thinking about getting a Current USA light fixture as well, the Nova Extreme T-5 fixture, 48". My question for you is do you think that the fixture is small enough to fit inside a canopy? The frame of the fixture I believe is pretty much the exact same specs as yours. I want to keep mine inside my nice canopy for my 55g.
I just like the look of a tank with a canopy way more that without...
If you're going to get that fixture you might want to purchase individual reflectors as well, since it doesn't come with them; it's just one giant parabolic reflector across all the bulbs. I thought about that fixture but with the reflectors I would have ended up spending twice what I got this fixture for. I may upgrade to t-5's in the future, though I doubt it on this tank.
As for adding that fixture to a canopy, I honestly don't know. I don't have a canopy myself and don't really intend on getting/building one. You may be able to find something in the DIY section. Best of luck!

 

[m0nk]

I didn't really keep up with posting the test results this week but as of this morning, after a 5 gallon water change last night, all my levels (ammonia/nitrite/nitrate) dropped to 0. After fighting the urge to pick up a fish, I did get a cleanup crew:
12 Margarita Snails
5 Astrea snails
5 red-legged hermit crabs
1 Peppermint shrimp
I also added a ton of emtpy shells, plus 2 blue legged hermits and 2 pieces of coraline covered (literally covered) live rock from the 12 gallon, in hopes to seed the new tank a bit. Maybe next weeked I'll get either a firefish or a royal gramma to start the tank off. In a couple weeks I'll think about moving the clowns and coral from the 12 gallon, perhaps a piece at a time. Although I'm certain about what coral I plan on adding to this tank I'm not sure about what fish I'll really end up putting in. So far the list is something like:
2 clowns from 12 gallon
1 firefish
1 royal gramma
1 lubbock's wrasse (maybe)
I'm not definitively settled on the wrasse, nor do I have any thoughts of other fish. The royal gramma was sort of a last minute addition as well. Anyone have ideas?

 

[prevwon]

Looks good, do you plan on putting an eel in there? (Just curious because of the egg crate top).

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by PrevWon
Looks good, do you plan on putting an eel in there? (Just curious because of the egg crate top).
No, not too fond of those, personally. I actually have the egg crate because wrasses and firefish are jumpers. I also have a 3-year-old who has a tendency to throw things at times.

 

[m0nk]

Here are a couple of new pics. The first is a mushroom that I put in to see how coral will do (got a ton of those watermelon ones in the other tank). It's been doing great, though it's only be in there since Saturday. The color has certainly enhanced with the brighter lighting and it's expanding nicely during the day. As you can see though, I have a bit of an algea problem at the moment. I think it's hair algea, the second pic is a little closer. It's also sprouting up in the sand. I only have the cleanup crew in there and was thinking of adding a couple Nassarius snails to the mix as well, to help with cleaning up the sand. Can anyone ID it specifically as hair algea, and possibly suggest anything? I've decreased the lighting schedule to around 8 hours or less, and could go even further.

 

[m0nk]

Here's a few updated pics. I've mostly cleared up the algea issues, there's only 2 rocks left with any on them and the mexican turbo is in the process of cleaning those up. I also discovered a hitchhiker zoanthid on one of the rocks and although it's too small for a pic, it's doing well. The watermelon mushroom is also doing well, so I decided to add some of the zoa frags I just got and a couple of rocks with coral from the 12 gallon tank as well. I also picked up the first two fish today, a royal gramma and a firefish. If everything goes well, I'll probably add the rest of the rock/coral/fish from the 12 gallon in 2 weeks or so.
firefish:

royal gramma:

mexican turbo snail:

red striped mushroom (watermelon):

purple spotted mushroom:

dragon eye zoas:

enigma zoas (I believe, unless someone can id them):

orange zoas (unable to id):

I also have this unusual looking hitchhiker that I can't ID. It sorta looks like a snail, sorta like a slug. I know it's not a stromatella because it's transparent with only a red spot in the middle of it's back. If anyone can I ID it I'd certainly appreciate it:

 

[m0nk]

I have a correction on 2 of the zoa ids in there. The one labeled dragon eyes are radioactive dragon eyes, and the one labeled enigma I believe are actually electric skywalkers. I still don't have an id for the orange ones, and that pic isn't the best, but I'm sure it'll be easier to label them when they're bigger anyway.
Comments anyone?

 

[m0nk]

I've decided to add a couple pics of the 12 gallon. I have a "then and now" set too, and even though I've moved a few pieces of rock into the 55 and added a few coral frags strapped to little rocks, it almost looks the same again, only more mature...
February:

This morning:

Frogspawn this morning:

New candy cane frags:

 

[mike22cha]

Awesome corals in your 12. Your 55g is coming along.

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by MIKE22cha
Awesome corals in your 12. Your 55g is coming along.
Thanks! I decided to go the lesser expensive route and get everything in "frag-size" and watch it grow. The frogspawn has about doubled, but when I stick it in the 55 I'm expecting it to grow a lot quicker. Same goes for the zoas, but the mushrooms grow like weeds in the 12 gallon so they've all grown and split quite a bit. They're all staying close to the bottom when they go in the 55 to make sure they don't take over....haha.

 

[mike22cha]

Too bad the only frags I find here are SPS. Oh well I found a store that sells huge corals for 40$ which is the same price as smaller ones.

 

[monalisa]

Hey Monk,
Things are looking awesome!! Nothing like switching tanks, eh? You'll do great. What a cool hobby to share with your little guy...very nice.
Lisa

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by MonaLisa
Hey Monk,
Things are looking awesome!! Nothing like switching tanks, eh? You'll do great. What a cool hobby to share with your little guy...very nice.
Lisa
Thanks a bunch! Yeah, he sure loves looking at the new tank, it's "head-height" for him right now so he can just stand there in awe....haha.