Novahobbies' 37g column tank reset build

novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
It goes well! Thanks for asking. The cycle is over, and the first fish are in! This cycle took longer than usual (probably because there was absolutely zero live rock) and we went through an extended diatom phase. Nasty stuff, but it's all part of the game.
It looks nice and clear now.


One of the new tenants. Got these as a gift from a very kindhearted friend of mine who knows a local breeder.



Both together:
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
I'm going to start looking out for a nice sunset BTA, but I will most likely wait another month before I add that. I want to make sure the tank settles in properly. I have a sun coral that will probably go in here as well. Gonna start collecting zoas and palys soon!
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
Thanks! I'll be hitting up a store or two tomorrow for a Clean Up Crew. And I have to start thinking seriously about the rest of the fish list for this tank. Wife wants to keep a juvenile Koran angel, knowing full well that we'll have to swap it periodically. I want to keep a potter's wrasse. I may shoot for one more fish in this tank, but I think that will probably be it for this system.
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
Total CUC for now....5 blue legs, a half dozen Cerith snails, 7 or 8 Atlantic grazers, 4 Nassarius snails, and a pair of fighting Conchs. I need some more blue legs, but the store was low on them today.
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
Not yet! I'm letting this really settle in before I start adding more stuff. That, and I had a few young cousins in town last week, so of course we had to do Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure to go thru all the Harry Potter rides. Which of course meant that all my money was GONE! Heh.

But in terms of this tank, I'll probably start filling it in with a few corals fairly soon. Need to get a nice Sunset BTA and maybe some nice zoas. As for the next fish, that's totally up to The Wife....since this is technically her tank. ;-)
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
:D Momma, forgive me 'cause I done went out and did bad. To the tune of one purty little rbta, 5 nice lookin' zoa frags, a pair of gorgeous rics, and a stunning 3 or 4 head branching purple frogspawn. All for this tank.

Time to start dipping.....
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
I am a little unimpressed with this cheap chinese LED light I currently have. My corals just don't seem to like the spectrum. I have some kind of crappy slime-like brown algae on the upper faces of the rock that doesn't blow off easily. Not sure what it is, haven't identified it yet. And the zoas have all been mostly closed since I added them. Even the ricordeas look blah. I feel like this is mostly light related....maybe the red bulbs are too strong. I'm tempted to either go back and find an older version of the CCLED that has just blue & white, or bite the bullet and get another Onyx fixture like I use on my 110g display. I LOVE that light, I just don't know how I feel about the PRICE. Decisions, decisions.
 
eric b 125

eric b 125

Active Member
Everything is looking good man! I'm also not sure how I feel about the LED's I use (ReefBreeders Photon 32's). Since setting this tank up I've had to deal with more nuisances than I ever did with MH's.
 
novahobbies

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
I love the onyx led fixture I have for my big tank. I don't know if I'm just forgetting the steps of the "extended cycle" if you know what I mean. Even after you cycle, the tank takes time to mature....maybe this weird algae is part of that process.
I scrubbed a lot of it yesterday and added the sun coral from the big tank over into this system. It will be much easier to feed here, I can tell.
 
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