Spill your guts!

[ryebread]

How about a little sharing session on what some of our routines, inhabitants, equipment, etc... consist of?
120 gallon Reef Ready All-Glass Aquarium
*30 gallon Acrylic sump, no Bio-balls.
*MagDrive 9.5 @ 950 gph
*25 watt UV sterilizer.........just in case. Not used on a regular basis.
*E.T.S.S. 600 pro Protien Skimmer - Runs 24/7
*IceCap 660 ballast
*Dual PFO Ballast (soooo heavy)
*440 watts of URI VHO ~ 2 Super Actinic R, 1 Aquasun, 1 10,000k
*2 x 250 watt 10,000k Metal Halides by Hamilton (yuck, too yellow)
*Three timers for lights and Fans
*2 x 5" IceCap Fans
*1/3 Horse Power Custom Sealife Chiller
*2 x Hagen (Aquaclear) 802 powerheads
*Kent Maxxima Hi-S RO/DI Unit
*Octopus 3000 Pinpoint PH/ORP controller
Inhabitants
*115 lbs of Fiji and Marshall Islands Live Rock
*60lbs of large particle Aragonite Sand........very natural look. No DSB for me.
*Pacific Mimic Tang
*Cross' Damselfish
*Diamond Goby
*Citron Goby
*Bi-Color Anthias
*2 Lyretail Anthias
*Flame Angel
*Blue-fin damsel.......wimpy little guy.
*No clean-up crew yet.....adding them slowly as I need them.
*No corals yet either.......waiting on the tank to mature and bio-load to balance out.
Routines
The tank has only been set up for a couple of months now. I have done one 10% water change and none of my levels really changed.
I have some high metabolism species in the tank, therefore, I have to feed two or three times a day in small portions.
*Brine shrimp/bloodworms/mussles/clam mix is feed in the morning........just a little bit. I soak it in Kent Garlic Xtreeme for twenty to thirty minutes along with some tank water to thaw out frozen mix and allow garlic to soak in.
*Wife feeds Cyclop-eeze/Spirulina Flake/Mysid mix with Selcon at about 4:30pm.
*I feed another small amount of brine/cyclop-eeze for the Anthias at about 8 or 9 pm every other day.
*Nori or Seaweed Salad/Tang Heaven is soaked in garlic extract and tank water for a few minutes and I clip it to my little fake clownfish thingy for the Tang and Flame Angel every couple of days.
*Water evaporates at about 3-4 gallons a day. I top off with RO/DI and also use this as a good way to add a little bit of salt if the salinity needs adjusting a tweak.
I am possitive that I am forgetting all kinds of stuff that I do but, this is what I thought of while I was slow at work.
Lets hear some of your routines and stuff that you are working with or towards.

 

[bang guy]

Very good idea for a post!Daily
Toss a large chunk of homemade frozen into the tank
Rubberband 1/2 sheet of Nori to a rock
Run the Tunze across the glass a few times
Gaze in awe at the wonders
Weekly
Fill the Kalk hopper
Fill the auto feeders with VibraGro
Remove 5 gallons of Caulerpa
Dump the Skimmer Bucket
Test the water
Monthly
Clean the Limewater bucket
Change 3% of the water
Clean the Phyto container
Clean the Powerheads
Scrape the Coralline off the glass
Wipe the salt off all bulbs
Bi-Monthly
Replace a VHO Bulb
Clean the circulation pumps

 

[mlm]

120 gallon glass tank made by Ocea and drilled by LFS
30 gallon long sump with plexiglass dividers
1 Lfs made ETSS skimmer with Mag 12 pump
1 MAG 24 return pump with to outlets in tank.
1 Lifereef Calcium reactor.
1 Pinpoint PH controller
1 Auto top off with 10 gallon trash can.
2 Blueline 400 watt E ballast with Ushio 10k bulbs
1 Hellolights VHO ballast with 2 110 watt Uri actinic bulbs.
2 Office depot clip on desk fans in canopy
1 Aqualogic 1/4 hp chiller
1 maxijet 1200 powerhead
2 timers for lights
120 lbs assorted live rock
240 lbs Florida keys live sand
Blue Hippo Tang
Manderin Goby
Tomato Clown
Six line wrasse
Green Brittle star
Red Serpent Star
brown/black serpent star
3 Fighting Conchs
2 Blood shrimp
3 Peppermint shrimp
1 Scarlet Cleaner
About 10 Red and Blue leg hermits
60 or so assorted snails
1 lettuce Nudi
11 Acropora colnies
1 Pocilapora
1 Stylophora
1 Seritapora
3 Branching Montipora (red, green, purple)
2 Monti Cap (red, green)
1 Hydnophora
3 Closed Brains (Favia and Favites)
1 Green open brain
1 Big colony of green candy cane.
1 Pink Plate
1 green tounge
1 Boulder Porties w/lots of big Christmas Tree worms
1 GSP colony in sand not alloed to spread
7 Clams (3 Crocea, 3 Maxima, 1 Deresa
Routine
Daily:
Look at every living thing in tank, ck that calcium reactor is bubbling, look at ph controller LCD, feed mysis soaked in garlic, ocean nutrtion pellets (with garlic) and Kent algea pellets with Zoecon, and pass algae magnet.
Every 3 or 4 days fill up Auto top off.
Weekly:add 1.5 table spoons of Seachem Advantage Calcium (I know I have a calcium reactor but it just seems to make the coral grow even faster), and feed Marine Snow.
Bi-weekly: Add a little Iodine
Monthly: Change 20 gallons of water and clean protien skimmer.
Sorry about any mispellings.

 

[overanalyzer]

Originally posted by Bang Guy
Very good idea for a post!
Daily
Toss a large chunk of homemade frozen into the tank

Bang - do you just let it melt in tank or do you thaw it first??

 

[fulcrum]

For the 125 FO:
Equipment:
125 Gal. Acrylic Tank
CPR 900 wet/dry (replacing media w/ live rubble)
40 Gal Sump
Euroreef CS6-2 Protein Skimmer
55 watt (I think) UV sterilizer
Iwaki 30RLXT return pump
4 Rio 600 powerheads for current (I know..rio sucks)
4.5" DSB all black indopacific aragalive
Ornamental coral from SigNature Coral
48" 4x65 PC Helios Light fixture
Inhabitants:
Niger Trigger 2.5"
Humma Humma Trigger 2"
Velvet Damsel 2"
Red Volitan Lion 3.5"
Regal Tang 3"
Random hermits and snails (not a prob w/ triggs...go figure)
Routine:
Feeding every other day
Lion: feed krill or silversides soaked in Zoecon
Triggers and Damsel: Formula 1 and Trigger formula
Tang: Sea veggies in a clip
Empty Skimmer cup twice a week
Algae clean and filter pad cleaning every Friday
15% water change once a month
For the 92 Reef
Equipment:
92 Gal. Corner tank, curved front
Berlin Calssic Skimmer
20 Gal Sump
Mag 9.5 return
Drip system
Red Sea Wavemaster
4 maxijet PH's (200 gph?)
Lighting hood
250 Watt 12000K MH
2 x 55 Watt 10000K PC
2 4" Icecap fans
100 lbs Fiji Liverock
5.5" DSB (home depot 100% silica seeded with 40 lbs aragalive)
Inhabitants:
Hitchhikers (darn cool ones at that)
Routine:
WAITING (its cycling) Ahhhhhhhhhhh!

 

[rabid frog]

55 gal reef
EQUIPMENT
10 gal sump (forget brand name)
aquac urchin protein skimmer (in sump)
home made kalk doser
2 250 watt 10,000k mh, 2 96 watt attinics
50lbs of figi lr, 30lbs araga live sand 20lbs of another type of sand.
max jet 1200 rio 800 and powerhead 301 for tank circulation
rio 2100 for return pump
OCCUPANTS
Sixline wrasse
sailfin tang(I know)
maroon clown
flame hawk
2 blue chromis
scarlet cleaner
pepermint shrimp
halloween hermit crab
electric blue legged hermit crab
scarlet hermit crab
lots of blue legged hermit crabs
sebae anemone
purple sea matt polyos
green zoo's (I think)
colt
red open brain
green brain
leather
2 elephant ear mushroom
various assorted mushrooms
green brittle star
feather duster
galaxia
Routine
Daily:
morning top off 1 gal of ro/di water
dose 20ml of b-ionic
clean galss if it needs it
check protein skimmer cup
feed omega one veggie flakes
kent platimun reef herbivore sinking pellets
change food
feed formula one sponge formula
bio pure squid
bio pure ocean plankton
every other day
feed brains and anenome krill
feed colt and polyps dt's
drink a beer and gawk at the fishes
Weekly:
10% water change
dose 5ml of kent marine essential elements
dose 5ml of kent marine tech-1
check salinity
check cal, alk
buy something new for the tank

 

[dfishh]

my stuff pales in comparison to urs but here goes.
55 gallon, oak canopy and stand
jalli pc 4x55 watt 50/50 bulbs
CC substrate
live rock (never really counted it all by pound)
magnum HOT
powersweep ph
seaclone 100
inhabitants
4 ocelaris clowns
spoted hawk
firefish
6line wrasse
20 various hermits
15 snails turbo, bumblebee, trochus
gold cbs
condi and lta anemones
sexy anemone shrimp
porcelin crab
star poyps, zoos, red shrooms, ricordias, torch coral, and feather duster
feed flakes in afternoon, then frozen clam/brine soaked in zoe later
iodine evry other day, and buffer evry tue.
change filter media evry 3 weeks, roughly
w/c monthly
empty skimmer evry other day
im prolby forgeting stuff, but o well, im also thinking bout getting a wet dry, i posted bout it in this forum, need help please
DAVE

 

[plum70rt]

Tank described below, also have 60 gallon sump, ampmaster 3000 pump, Dual overflows , pressure is varied on returns creates natural currants
actinic VHO 2 x 140watt come on timer at 930am also fan in top of canopy comes on, goes off at 9pm
white VHO 2 x 140watt come on timer, also 10ich fan blows in sump area at 1030am,go off at 8pm
1130am Three fans come on timers I big 12inch blowing and 2, 4 inch sucking air out of canopy,they go off at 630pm
12pm 2 400 Watt MH come on, they go off 6pm, moonlights come on 9pm go off 1am , 6 timers in all, all on battery back up except main lighting
I feed everyday at 1130am, 1 cube Mysis shrimp, 1 cube meaty mix seafood home made some times a few silversides, switch off,
some seaweed, either green purple or red, soaked in Zoe and selcon, also some shrimp pellets , and spectrum thera A pellets,
12am auto topoff doser pump replaces the 3 gallon lost during the day, RO/DI is stored in 30 gallon container, fill every 10 days,
Denitrator cycles 3 times a day, cycles 10 gallons of denitrated water at 12 am , 8pm, and 6am, clean skimmer once a week,

 

[plum70rt]

Also have to add, Dts every 3 days or so,
and dose 10ml of Natureef calcium and Alk, additive everyday at 12am, have I left anything out? Im sure I have
Edit, ok ready, 100 or so turbo snails, 10 Trochus snails
2 sea cucumbers, a dozen or so feather dusters , they keep appearing, pair coral banded shrimp, Nite appearances only,
blonde Naso Tang, 2 Sailfin tangs, 1 red sea, 1 Atlantic, Purple tang,Sohal Tang, 2 fox faces, Pair,Blue spot tang, Green Bird Wrasse, I know but he behaves,Red spotted hawk fish, 4 Blue devil damsels,1 yellow tail, 1 Domino damsels, scissortail goby, blue head wrasse,GSM clown, perc clown, Flame angel ,
3 anemones Blue carpet,2 Sabaes, 1 red serpent star, 1 green serpent star, 1 sand sifter star,
and for corals ahhhhh lets just says lots

 

[rabid frog]

im sure we all have I have edited my post like 3 times to get all that I have forgotten

 

[bdhough]

You loose 3 gallons a day? Dang. Thats a quarter of my 12.... Question. How do you do a auto top off?
Hourly
STARE REALLY CLOSE AT EVERYTHING.....
No scaring the fish though.....
Daily
Feed both tanks.
Check around for out of place things.
Mon,Wed,Fri
Drop some phytoplex in.
Fri
Dose with coral vite, essential elements, and tech Iodine(Xenia)
I top off when needed Usually once a week.

 

[plum70rt]

Well, I have seen talk about float switches and all, but I dont feel comfortable with that too many ways to fail, so I found a really good doser pump, medical grade, and played with timers till it dosed the amount of water I needed, its on battery back up so if power fails at adding time it cant fail,
I knew it, forgot to add 50 scarlet hermits, and 25 blue legs to the list
edit again, 4 sea urchins 3 pencil , 1 long spine
edit again , Orange linkia

 

[bang guy]

Originally posted by overanalyzer
Bang - do you just let it melt in tank or do you thaw it first??
My homemade is basicly minced seafood & tank water so I just toss in a chunk of it and let it thaw in the tank.

 

[ryebread]

Exacly how large is this, so-called "chunk"?

 

[jarvis]

Daily-feed corals blended variety of stuff, fish get leftovers.
Alternated feeding live phytos and feeding the plate corals silversides.
do a few passes with the magnet.
do some reading on the mesage board.
weekly-fill limewater bucket add recomended weekly dose of iodine in with it.
Clean skimmer.
Test water.
Try my damnbdest not to buy new corals.....it rarely works
monthly-clean the bucket
clean the bulbs.
adjust the overflow to raise the tank level to clear up salt creep.
run some carbon.
kill the main pump, open a valve, connect the tubing to a pump, biggity bam 15%water change.

 

[bang guy]

Originally posted by RyeBread
Exacly how large is this, so-called "chunk"?
<embarassed> well... I don't recommend this, but the "chunk" is about the size of a ... a ... large Tang...
remember, I have a LOT of worms & 'pods. The typical tank just cannot process that much raw meat.

 

[spsfreak100]

80 gallon Glass Aquarium
48”Lx16”Wx24”H
Wet/dry sump- holds 20 US gallons (without the bio-balls)
The tank is lit with 2x 400wt 20,000k Radiums on PFO HQI ballast with 2x 24” spiderlight reflectors
2x 4” Ice Cap fans
2x Timers
Ebo-Jagger 300wt Heater (2x)
Cyclone 5-Stage RO/DI Unit (Air, Water, Ice)
Salifert Test kit.
Nitrite/Ammonia- 0ppm
Nitrate-20ppm
pH- 8.2
Calcium- 450ppm
Alkalinity- 13dKH
Temperature- Between 78-82 degrees F.
Salinity- 1.025
Current is made with 4x 1200 Maxi Jets, 1x 2500 RIO powerhead and 1x 800 RIO powerhead.
80lbs of Fiji Premium Liverock. 40lbs of Lava Rock. 30lbs of Tonga Liverock. 150lbs total.
Corals Include:
Small Polyped Scleractinia:
Acropora Millepora (Green/brown)
Acropora Millepora (Bright yellow/white)
Acropora Millepora (red w/ blue tips)
Acropora Millepora (brown w/ yellow tips)
Acropora Humilis (Yellow with lime green polyps)
Acropora Valida (The true Purple Monster!)
Acropora Yongei
Acropora Gemmifera (Blue Tips)
Acropora Formosa (Blue/Green Tips)
Acropora aculeus
Acropora secale (tri-color)
Montipora Digitata (Brown)
Montipora Digitata (Orange)
Montipora Capricornis (Orange)
Hydnophora Rigida (Electric Green)
Seriatopora hystrix (Bright Pink)
Heliopora Coerulea (Blue Ridge)
Pocillopora damicornis (Green/Brown- Fuzzy)
(Many of the corals are frags)
2 unidentified species of Acropora
Soft Corals:
Green Zooanthids (zooanthus sp.)
Yellow Zooanthids (zooanthus sp.)
Orange Zooanthids (zooanthus sp.)
White Zooanthids (zooanthus sp.)
Blue Zooanthids (zooanthus sp.)
Kenya Tree (Capnella sp.)
Invertibrates:
Blood Shrimp (Lysmata debelius)
Skunk Cleaner shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis)
Tube Anemone (Green/Purple)
Stomatella Snails
Strombus maculatus
Many Bristol Worms
Amphipods
Copepods
Isopods
Feather Dusters
Pineapple Sponges
Way too much stuff to list…
Fish Food consists of frozen Krill, Squid, Shrimp, Brine, Blood Worms and Kelp. Nori is also fed daily. I feed occasional flake foods.
Daily Routine includes:
Checking inhabitants
Making sure everything is running clearly
Top-Off Water
Bi-Daily Routine includes:
Emptying Skimmer Cup
Feeding Fish (small pieces of Krill, Squid, Shrimp, Brine, etc.)
Cleaning Coralline/Algae off glass walls
Add 2 capfulls (roughly 5-10ml) of “ZooPlex,” by Kent Marine
SeaChem Sugar-Based Reef Calcium. The stuff is great for getting good coralline growth!
Weekly Routine:
Test Calcium & Alkalinity (I never check the other levels, unless the corals show any signs of stress. Usually they’re the ones that tell me if I need to test or not.)
Dose Kalkwasser
Monthly Routine:
Electric Bills
Yearly Maitence:
Replace Lighting Bulbs (one bulb two months before the other)
Take Care,
Graham

 

[leigh]

Specs in the sig file
Daily: Check to make sure Godzilla hasn't killed anything. Check to see if Godzilla needs any food to keep him from killing something. Feed a light feeding to all the fish & toss a cocktail shrimp or two in the invert tank. Top off as needed. Add a lil calcium sup.
Every other dayish: spot feed all spot feeding corals/starfish and make fish's daily feeding a lil larger to allow some of it to hit the bottom and help out the clean up crew/inverts/passive aggressive blennie.
Wednesdays & Sundays: add phyto for filter feeders--toss a cocktail shrimp to the anemone if he's lookin hungry (yes, he does have a distinct hungry look)
Weekly (Sundays): test water, 5-10% water change -or- supplement with iodine, molybednum/strontium, and essential elements (well below suggested dosages on bottle).
er, that's it i think

 

[leigh]

DVS, I've been thinking about doing daily smaller doses of phyto, but it seemed like a hassle with always turning on/off the skimmer, do you deal with that? Do you find the skimmer skims the phyto? Do you have your skimmer on a timer? etc...? -leigh

 

[leigh]

Oh, hehe, I guess that's the answer :-D...and I can see the skimmer-gorgo connection--I've been running my skimmer only about half the week and my gorgo has been much happier lately. (Though I am, and always will be skimmer dependent--I've got caulerpa, many happy filter feeders including a recent burst of q-tip sponges, and my skimmer certainly keeps pulling crud outta the water...que sera sera).