Step-by-step account of my first reef (with lots of pics)

[Dudester]

Thanks for starting that office tank thread. I am getting so excited I can't hardly take it. I'd like to request a fish, if I may . The copperband butterfly is my favorite fish of all for the reef aquarium, bar none. John, we've gotta have one of them, eventually. But make sure it eats prepared foods in one of your tanks first - I couln't bare to see it starve to death. I'd also like a blue-spot jaw fish, but it might get lost and never be seen in a tank of that size. As far as tangs go, I really like the Red Sea sailfin tang, as well as purple tangs and, of course, everyone's favorite, the yellow tang. Shoot, while we're at it, why don't we throw in a naso and an achilles, too! We should have a bunch of wrasses too. Geez, this is fun. I've spent so much time thinking about equipment I haven't even considered what fish would occupy the tank.

All right, I better catch my breath and slow down. We need to take a rational approach to stocking this tank, but I'm sure you've already got some good ideas, your dudeness.

[thedude15810]

One copperband? I was thinking a school of three!

[Dudester]

Originally posted by thedude15810
One copperband? I was thinking a school of three!

Now you're speaking my language!

[mr.wilson]

I have a pair of blue spot jawfish in a 450. They shared a den at first, but now they're at opposite ends of the tank. They eat flake and frozen food readily.

I like them a lot more than yellowhead jawfish, as they're more active. They pop up and down in their holes like a prairie dogs, and have a more animated way of looking around. The online pictures don't do them justice, the blue spots really stand out in real life.

[Dudester]

Yeah, I really love blue spots. Maybe eventually ... I hear that they're hard to come by these days.

I'm anxious to re-stock with acros, but yesterday I spent another 2 hours or so pruning nuisance algae from my little tank. I can't imagine having a 280g tank full of hair algae and/or bryopsis and having to prune it - that would be a full time job. I guess much of the burden would be placed on herbivores to do the pruning, eh? If I place a bunch of frags in my tank now, it would only increase the difficulty of pruning, as I might knock the frags over. I should probably show continued restraint and wait until my algae problem abates.

[jnarowe]

I wouldn't add any frags until the algal problem has been dealt with. One sea hare would do the job. Snails of course will help, but if you are having tangs, they do a great job too. In my system I have hundreds of snails, a sea hare, lawnmower blenny, various tangs, etc. and they more than make up for my lack of reefkeeping skill.

[techreef]

I'll also submit the idea of mollies as algae eating machines. I agree that they don't truly "look" like SW fish, but some of the sailfin mollies are pretty. they will eat algae like no tomorrow, esp. hair algae.

[mr.wilson]

Originally posted by techreef
I'll also submit the idea of mollies as algae eating machines. I agree that they don't truly "look" like SW fish, but some of the sailfin mollies are pretty. they will eat algae like no tomorrow, esp. hair algae.

Do mollies eat Briopsis hair algae, or just Derbasia hair algae?

[techreef]

sorry mr. wilson, but from my google image searches of bryopsis and derbesia, I honestly can't tell the difference between the two or tell you which of the two i have in my tank. i have soft, flowing strands of X in my tank, that grows in clumps and is very difficult to pull off of whatever it's on. it doesn't look like the fern leaf pics I saw of bryopsis (similar to feather caulerpa) but apparently bryopsis has more than one phenotype, so that doesn't rule out the possibilty that I have bryopsis in my tank (which my molly is eating) I'll try and post a pic of it here; maybe you guys can id it?

[Dudester]

Jonathan - I wish I could have a sea hare, but my tank's far too small.

techreef - Still waiting for that pic of your algae . Of course I'm not one to demand photos of other people, I've procrastinated as much as anyone in the past.

I went ahead and killed off the cyano in my tank again with Chemiclean. That stuff is absolutely amazing! The cyano just melted away within 24-48 hr. What the directions should mention but don't is that when you turn the skimmer back on, it's going to go nuts! After 2 hr of skimming, the collection cup was overflowing with a very dilute, wet skimmate. I emptied the cup and it was full again only 3 hr later. I rose the cup so that it would skim dryer, and after a 20% water change it's skimming at its normal pace.

Tomorrow I leave for Steamboat for 6 days so the tank will be attended by the same sitter who watched it in the past (for those who have been following this thread for a while, please wish my sixline wrasse luck!). I've portioned out food in a plastic daily pill container, filled the ATO reservoir, and changed out the siphon tubing for the overflow. I may try to prune some algae tonight so it doesn't get out of control while I'm gone. I'll check back when I return.

[fishypets]

Mike,

If the algae problem persist you can always pull your rock out and cook it. You have no idea how much crap comes out of the rock during the process. I still have detritus at the bottom of my swoosh buckets three months into. Can't wait to have a tank with clean rock

[Bax]

Originally posted by Dudester
Jonathan - I wish I could have a sea hare, but my tank's far too small.

Don't you have a 450 that could use one down the road?

Get the hare and move it over to the 450 later.

[Rustylugnuts]

Techreef I think I may have the same stuff, Grows in clumps and a hard bristled toothbrush wont even scratch em. Mine branches off like bryopsis without the feather like appearance. Been there for a few weeks along with a couple chunks of valonia ( Ive been too lazy to do anything but waterchanges lately)

[techreef]

techreef - Still waiting for that pic of your algae .

LOL! sorry dudester, et al. i forgot all about that promised pic! i've been so busy the past 2 weeks, trying to get a second career started while the 1st one still pays the bills, that I've promised pics to three different RC threads and delivered on none. Pic of ruby crab up for trade: nope. Pic of my algae: nope. Pic of the ulva algae feeding my pods in fuge: nope.

[Dudester]

Just got back from vacation and I'm happy to report that there were no mortalities while I was away. I did some algae pruning today, changed the carbon, and ran a full battery of tests. All was well except my alkalinity is a little low at 7.2.

When I got home last night, I checked the pH monitor and it read 8.8. It's been running a bit higher than the Salifert tests for a couple weeks, so I figured it just needed to be recalibrated. When I went to recal today, I saw the "lobat" indicator on the monitor was lit. Go figure - a new 12V battery dropped my tank's pH from 8.80 to 8.16. After recalibrating, it was corrected to 8.11. I'll need to add "change pH monitor battery every 4 months" to my maintenance schedule.

Regarding the sea hare, that's a great idea to just transfer it to the office tank. I may just do that.

techreef - don't sweat the pics, paying bills is more important.

[Dudester]

Yesterday I did a water change and pruned more algae. In doing so, I managed to knock off the piece of LR that formed the arch on the left side of the aquascape. I reformed the arch, but instead of keeping it parallel with the side of the tank, I angled it inward toward the back, giving a more angled look and, unintentionally, increasing the surface area to mount more corals in the future. I really like the way it looks, but I didn't take any pictures since I want to get the algae situation under control first.

When I tried to restart my Deltec MCE300 skimmer, the pump wouldn't crank, so I removed the skimmer and it's been soaking in muriatic acid since last night. Hopefully it will fire up properly tonight when I get home and I'll be able to reinstall it. I think I'm close to adding some corals back to the tank.

(yawn, boring post)

[Bax]

Originally posted by Dudester
I really like the way it looks, but I didn't take any pictures since I want to get the algae situation under control first.

Hey! I showed you my horrific algae !

Be careful about soaking too long in muriatic, it is much stronger than white vinegar and can damage some less durable parts. Remember, they etch cement with this same stuff!

[thedude15810]

Muriatic acid... you know it's strong when... it hits dirt and smokes

[Dudester]

All right, Bax, I'll take some pics of my tank'o algae.

I use quite a dilute solution of muriatic acid, so I'm not too worried about damage. I soaked a Mag5 impeller in the stuff for more than 3 weeks and it emerged without any noticable ill effects. I did remove the skimmer parts this evening, cleaned everything thoroughly with a rag, and it fired up beautifully. I may need to get up in the middle of the night to empty the collection cup, as it's going crazy immediately after start-up.

[Dudester]

After several weeks of pruning bryopsis, it seems to be spontaneously dying back as quickly as it came. I'm not sure what's causing it to surge and regress. It may just be a function of it laying dormant for a while before surging up again. My phosphates are a little higher than usual, but still undetectable on Salifert test kits. Maybe the level was higher when the algae was blooming, and perhaps it's on the downslide with the bryopsis' disappearance?

Now that the algae has decreased, I finally picked up the 3 remaining corals that survived the AEFW treatment. All of them are monti digitata, and 1 had some substantial growth in the interval. They're all brown now, since they've moved to several different tanks in the interval and for the past few months they've been laying on a sandbed, but they're alive nonetheless and I'm pretty sure they'll color up in no time.

Sorry for the quality of the following pictures; the glass isn't all that clean, I didn't turn off any pumps, and I was too lazy to get the tripod so blurry images are the rule and not the exception. In this full frontal, you might notice the brown twigs to which I was referring.


Here's the left side of the tank.


And here's the right.


Loyal followers might notice less clutter on the sandbed, as I've gotten rid of several undesirable zoanthid rocks.

Here's a new frag that John gave me, a monti nodosa (I think?).


This is the little frogspawn frag that I got a while ago. It's growing and still looking good.


And here's the toadstool, which has grown considerably since introducing it into my tank. I'm most impressed with the increased girth of the "stem."


And as promised, despite the pruning and regression, there's still plenty of bryopsis in these photos for all to enjoy.

[gkarshens]

Looking good. I still have your Acro frag sitting here waiting for you.

[Dudester]

You bet, Gabriel, I can come by some time this week if that's okay with you. I'll send you a pm with my cell # and we can talk about it. Thanks for taking such good care of it for so long, and thanks to Jonathan for sending it home with you. I'm really anxious to restock my tank with acros now that the AEFW are gone. Due to the recent algae bloom, I'm nearly 2 months behind schedule, about 4 and 1/2 months total without any acros in my tank.

I mentioned previously that I had slightly altered the arch on the left side of the tank. With the modification the arch is significantly larger -- here are some shots.

Like my knuckes on the MaxiJet?




With the replacement of the arch rock, it was also rotated slightly, and I like how this showcases the layering of the monti cap.


My nano stream hasn't arrived yet, and according to the Tunze forum they're not expected to arrive until late March. In the meantime, I so dislike the MJ suction cups, so I got an Algae Free Sure Grip Magnetic Powerhead holder on which to mount the MaxiJet. I'll also use that opportunity to get rid of the crop of bryopsis that has grown on the suction cup mount (seen in the first photo). Oh yeah, and I got an extra magnetic PH holder for my salt mixing trashcan. I'm tired of the MJ1200 falling off the wall of the container and spinning uncontrollably, which twists up the cord. It's just not tidy. As a final "oh yeah," I also replaced my previous wimpy trashcans for a Rubbermaid Brute 30g trashcan as a salt mixing container. Someone a long time ago warned me that the containers I was using were weak and flabby and could rupture over time. This Brute is SOLID; I can see why everyone likes them so much.

Thanks for continuing to follow this thread (if you still are), and hope you like the updates.

[Bax]

Originally posted by Dudester


Thanks for continuing to follow this thread (if you still are), and hope you like the updates.

Heeee's baaaack!!!

Lookin good ... let's see how long you can go with a two part addative now!

[Dudester]

Originally posted by Bax
Heeee's baaaack!!!

Lookin good ... let's see how long you can go with a two part addative now!

Well, considering there's absolutely no room for a calcium reactor and I had about 25 acro frags before the flatworm plague that were growing with 2-part, I'd say I'll keep this up as long as I have this 30g tank (which hopefully won't be too much longer!).

[Bax]

"I'll keep this up as long as I have this 30g tank (which hopefully won't be too much longer!)."


EXACTLY!