Cirolanid Hunter's 75g New Tank Journal, Research, Pics and Hunting Tips

[BrianPlankis]

Hello All,

I have decided to start this thread for four reasons:

1. To document the process of setting up my 75gallon tank and all the mistakes and good ideas I had along the way. Sometimes with pictures! I'm doing this to hopefully help new reefers avoid as many mistakes that I've made as possible.

2. To gather as many of the useful links I've found as possible into this thread so I can get to them no matter which computer I'm on.

3. Get input into my tank and philosophy from other reefers.

4. Share my isopod misery...I mean cirolanid isopod story.

OK #5. A place to gripe and complain when something goes wrong

I am working on my 75 gallon SW reef tank that has been up for about 6 months now.

My philosophy:
I've always been interested in responsible reefkeeping and I figure it is time to backup my thoughts with actions, so I want to put together as responsible a reef as possible. I want to do this so I make myself more aware of responsible reefkeeping issues and also so my project can serve as a useful source of information for others, especially local reefers.

I want my reef tank to have a minimum amount of impact to wild reefs, support captive propogation and breeding efforts and raise awareness of responsible reefkeeping issues. A side philosophy will be to recommend ways to cut costs and avoid terrible equipment.

My current setup:
75 gallon Oceanic Tank
29 gallon all glass sump/refuge

Lighting:
2 x 175W MH lights with Hamilton magnetic ballasts
2 x 110W VHO super actinics with icecap 660 ballast
2 x 19w Home Depot 6500K PC bulbs for fuge/QT

Equipment:
Ranco Temperature controller that controls:
1 150 W heater
3 computer fans
Top Fathom 110A protein skimmer rated for 110 gallons
Ehiem 1060 Return pump

Water/Additives/Test kits:
Spectra Pure MD-60 RO/DI unit that makes about 50 gpd
Kent Marine Sea Salt and/or Crystal Seas Bioassay Salt
Kalkwasser and Ms. Wage's Pickling Lime will be used
Kent Turbo Calcium
Sailfert pH, Calcium, Alk, Phosphate kits
SeaTest Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate kits
Refractometer for measuring salinity

Current Live Rock:
85# of aquacultured LR from www.floridaliverock.com
50# of aquacultured LR from www.tampabaysaltwater.com

I am looking for input on your thoughts as I get started. Any constructive criticism is welcome and wanted.

Up Next.....Lesson #1: Research Before You Start And How I Should have Done More.

Welcome!

Brian

[BrianPlankis]

I was definitely and impatient 27 year old when I decided to make the switch from freshwater (FW) to saltwater (SW). I was a single guy in Chicago and decided it was time for SW. I quickly went to my FW store and asked the Local Fish Store(LFS) employees a bunch of questions and came home with a 29 gallon tank to start. Back then I was barely aware of the internet and had no idea reefcentral even existed. I wish I had because it would have saved me a bunch of money and time. I also didn't know about the local hobbyist group that would have helped tremendously.

To make a long story short I made a series of mistakes and I was out of the hobby after 3 years. I started thinking about getting back into the hobby again in the fall of 2004 and got to thinking about what to do to avoid as many mistakes as possible. After many hours of reading and research I came up with the following lists:

The top 10 things you NEED to start a saltwater aquarium

I also experienced some growing pains in switching from freshwater to saltwater and wish I had known some of this:

Going saltwater vs freshwater and common pitfalls to avoid

In doing my research for compiling my opinions I found the following On-Line Links useful:
Develop a Successful Reefkeeping Strategy

A hobbyist in Texas that is great for DIY stuff and NICE too!
http://www.melevsreef.com/

Not as popular as reefcentral, but some good reefers here and a nice FAQ on hitchhikers:
http://www.reefs.org

One very cool reefer (Steve Weast) in Oregon with some advice(warning, you might experience lost time if you follow this thread!):
http://www.oregonreef.com

Some threads I found on Reefcentral that are very helpful:
Our TBS by Patsan

Melev's new 280g Starfire tank thread

I also found the following thread INCREDIBLY funny
The continuing Adventures of Tim (Supermantis)

Also, I found that Dr Ron and Dr Calfo's forums are chock full of information.

What Did I Do Wrong?
Most of my mistakes were made on my first time around in this hobby, but I did make some more. Here are some highlights:

1. I was still rather deep in debt and I converted my 29 gallon to SW. I should have just paid off my debt first as the 29 sucked up a ton of money and was too small which caused me to get a 55 and the problems spiraled from there. My advice would be to wait until you are in a good financial situation before starting.

2. I listened exclusively to the LFS when I started. They sold me so many crappy products that cost me a bundle of money in the beginning that limited my purchasing power later. I ended up buying a Seaclone 100, Rio pumps and a 55 gallon tank. The Seaclone and Rio pumps are horrible products in my opinion and should never be purchased. I spent a lot of money replacing them. Research all your equipment before purchasing it and never purchase on impulse. Talking only to your LFS is not doing research.

3. The 55 gallon tank was a well constructed tank, but the 12 inches front to back was way too narrow for aquasaping a reef tank. Avoid anything less than 12" front to back if you are going to do a reef tank. I personally think the 58 or 75 gallon tanks with 18" front to back are great beginning tanks.

4. Research all your livestock before purchasing it. Get some good books on the aquarium livestock commonly available and never buy something before knowing what it takes to take care of it. Did I do this in the beginning? Nope...and I made several livestock mistakes. Here are the top three I did:

1. I bought a sand sifting sea star for my 55 gallon. Not only did it kill my sandbed resulting in cyano and sandbed problems, it starved to death and caused another cycle in my tank when it died. I personally think the sand sifting sea stars (Astropecten polycanthus) should not be sold in the hobby and almost all of them will slowly starve unless they are in a very large tank with a deep and live sandbed.
Here are a little more info on sea stars:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-12/rs/index.php

2. I bought a purple tipped sebae anemone for my 55 on the recommendation of the LFS. I bought it too early (after the tank was only up 4 months) and I didn't know how to care for it. The LFS assured me it would survive on light and phyto. It did for 3 weeks (under my 175W MH, at least I had that OK), but expired when the lack of food and still changing water parameters did it in. The Anemones and Clownfish Forum is full of great info:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/f...p?s=&forumid=36

3. I collected a local hermit crab from the Gulf of Mexico and it decimated my feather duster population. If you live near an ocean and want to collect, only bring home what you know. AFTER I collected it I found out you CANNOT release animals from your aquarium back into the wild because of the chance of exotic species being carried back into the wild. So one hermit crab died because I didn't research enough.

More later....less negative, but hopefully just as informative, rants later.

Brian

[BrianPlankis]

When I decided to get back into the hobby in the fall of 2004 I decided to take a nice and slow approach to try to avoid some mistakes I made earlier.

It took me 3 months of research and joining the local fish club in Houston, MARSH(www.marshreef.com) before I decided I had enough info to do serious planning. My planning was almost stopped before it got started because we only had one decent place in the house for the tank and it was only 49" wide. I really wanted a 4 foot tank and the tank would fit, but all the standard stands and canopies were too wide being at least 50" wide. I talked with Oceanic and even trimming off the bottom decorative trim on their stand would void the tank warranty. So it was either go with a custom tank(pricey), go with a narrower tank or DIY the stand and canopy.

Here is where I saved myself some bucks. I chose the Oceanic RR 75 gallon tank with megaflow(600gph). I purchased it at one of our better LFS in Houston for just over $200 with tax. The cheapest I could find an Oceanic stand, canopy and tank was just over $750 with tax.

So I purchased the lumber needed to build the stand, canopy and skirt for my stand. (I wanted to be able to remove the skirt covering the stand to allow better access to the stand and also leave 2.5 sides open to the air to reduce heat issues). I also purchased the misc. screws, hinges, magnets, foam brushes and polyurethane coating to make everything waterproof. I already had the necessary tools to build everything in my garage. I also had some wood stain that we use to touchup things in our house, so that saved a little bit of money.

Canopy, Stand and Skirt pricelist:
Lumber for all: $100
Polyurethane and brushes: $15
Screws, hinges, magnets: $15
Having HD cut the wood: <$5 (Priceless)

So I put together everything for $135 give or take a few bucks. A lot better than $550! Keep in mind before this the biggest wood working project I had done was a birdhouse in wood shop when I was 16 The biggest problem encountered was warped wood; I had to buy 2x4s a couple of times because they were just too warped when I assembled everything. Looking back I would have made everything out of 2x4s as well, it would have been cheaper and stronger.

My one long term concern is my stand causing my tank to crack. The stand only needed one tiny shim and was level, but that is just a worry in the back of my head.

The whole process of the stand and canopy can be seen here:
http://www.marshreef.com/modules.ph...iewtopic&t=4359

But here are some summary pics:
The finished stand:


The back of the tank painted and the canopy being adjusted:


The tank in place with water and my first live rock on 01/30/2005:


Up Next….My Research on Equipment and first new mistakes

[angelces]

ok so whatever name you choose to use. should still be an interesting read. :lol

[BrianPlankis]

Hey all,

So as I was researching my 75 gallon tank I tried to put in a lot of research on my equipment choices. Here is what I decided to do and some of the links for sources that helped me:

Skimmers

Old mistake: When I first started my 55 gallon tank I was told by the LFS the Seaclone skimmer was a great beginner skimmer. That is opposite from the truth, they are a difficult skimmer to tune and new people, and possibly experts, should avoid them. You can modify them, but most people just starting out don't want to modify. I gave up on it after three months and replaced it with a CPR BAK PAK 2R. That was doing a very good job, but I've heard the AquaC Remora is better. I would recommend either skimmer for a 75 or less tank.

I'm also intrigued by the new Corallife superskimmers:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...=super+skimmer

But I eventually replaced my CPR with a Top Fathom 110, which is no longer made because they went out of business. It is a fair skimmer, but probably not much better than the CPR. The advantage of this one is it fits nicely in my sump

Lights:
I had 2 175W MH light setups from my old 55 gallon tank and I decided since they were "free" they would be my main lights over my 75

I then got lucky and won a JEBO 220W PC light canopy at our local club's Christmas party. I decided to try them for a while and had to modify my canopy to fit them. They quickly added a bunch of heat to my tank and I did some math on replacing the bulbs vs VHO and T5 and PC quickly became a maintenance drain.

My quick calculations:
4 PC bulbs replaced every 6 months = ~$22 x 4bulbs x 2 times per year = $176/year

2 VHO bulbs replaced once a year = ~$28 x 2 bulbs x 1 time/year = $56/year

2 T5 bulbs replaced once every 18 months = ~$30 x 2 bulbs x 0.67time/year = $40/year

I used to switch out my PC bulbs in Chicago over my 29 every 6 months, because if I waited until 8 months then I got algae problems from the changing spectrum. Sure PC light fixtures are cheap, but long term they eat up a ton of money with the replacement bulbs.

This is where another DIY project saved me a bunch of cash. I made my own 220W VHO actinic setup using an old Icecap 660 ballast (8 years old and still runs great...another fabulous company...you pay for it, but their product lasts....http://www.icecapinc.com/index.htm)

I was very tempted by the T5 bulbs, but I heard the actinics are not as good as VHO, so I went VHO.

VHO project:
Reflector: $35
VHO endcaps(2 pairs) $10
2 VHO URI Super Actinic 46.5" bulbs: $48
Ballast: free (New 660 costs 180)
Wiring harness: $15
Total project: $108

Here are the lights after I wired them together:


Why did I go VHO actinics? Because they really make some of my corals pop:




One of the most informative threads I've ever read about lighting(funny too):
Alright Newbie; Let's shed some light on this subject

Some of my favorite light vendors:
www.hellolights.com (carry the 46.5" URI bulbs which are my actinics)
www.reefgeek.com

I use the following HD bulb for my refugium light:
http://www.melevsreef.com/fuge_bulb.html

I use the SKU 772-429 from HD, I also recently purchased the Lights of America (LOA) bulb from Wal-mart to try next since they were slightly cheaper. $8 for a bulb and $5 for a clip on lamp and I have a refugium bulb. Cheato grows GREAT and I also use these as QT lights when I'm doing my QT tank. No growth in coral in the QT, in fact some corals didn't like the light(hairy mushroom and SPS), but most of my zoas and discosoma species were happy. I'm going to try them in the future for coral propogation.

Up Next: More equipment choices and mistakes

Brian

[lossman]

Fantastic thread!! It should be a "must read" for any newbie.

Sally

[phil519]

Brain, err I mean Hunter... Looks like a great thread...I just have to find time to read it!

[BrianPlankis]

Thanks for the replies everyone! Sure is amazing how fast this thread gets buried

Phil you have a point, it is a little wordy. I'm going to try to rant less and include more pics!

Brian

[patsan]

I would also recommend the ASM skimmer. It's a fantastic skimmer for the money.

[BrianPlankis]

Originally posted by patsan
I would also recommend the ASM skimmer. It's a fantastic skimmer for the money.

Yes, I've heard they are very good. Right now there isn't a good reason to replace my skimmer though, I'm getting my 1-2 cups of skimmate a DAY from my skimmer, so I can't complain. How did I get this mediocre skimmer to do that?

Well, I'll teeeeellllll you. (Distant quiet singing in the background: "He's going to tell, he's going to tell....." Anyone catch that movie reference?)

First I read this thread...everyone who runs a skimmer should read it:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=554786

I read it before I modded my skimmer and scoffed at the idea of getting 1 cup per DAY, I was getting 1 cup per WEEK. Well, Anthony convinced me and I made some mods to my skimmer.

1. First, I replaced the crappy Rio2500 with a Mag7. This produces a LOT more bubbles and flow in the skimmer body. Why did I replace the pump? Because Rios are crap, mine seized up on me and sent my tank temp up to almost 90. I had to use a towel to pull it out of my sump because it was too hot to touch. Don't believe just my opinion though...read this thread:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=103466
The smaller Rio pumps (600 and under) seem to work OK for me, but I've had several larger ones seize.

2. I placed my skimmer pump in the first compartment of my sump, this allows the most raw water to enter the skimmer pump.



3. I stopped the rapid left flow from my drain pipe by placing it in a bubble tower and this directs the flow right at my skimmer pump.



4. I modified my skimmer pump intake with a 90 degree elbow and sponge to pull most of the water from near the water surface in the sump where most of the Dissolved Organic Carbons (DOC) hang out.



By doing these simple and inexpensive(other than new pump, but that was required) mods, I'm getting one cup per day now and my cyano issues in the main tank are slowly getting better. Nutrient export people!

Many thanks to Pat to helping me remember to post this.

Brian

[robilium]

hey brian this link is broken http://www.marshreef.com/modules.ph...iewtopic&t=4359

[BrianPlankis]

Thanks for the heads up, I can't access MARSH during the day anymore from work, but I'll try to fix it this weekend.

Brian

[BrianPlankis]

Originally posted by robilium
hey brian this link is broken http://www.marshreef.com/modules.ph...iewtopic&t=4359

I've looked at this thread and it appears to be working now:
http://www.marshreef.com/modules.php...359&highlight=

I'm out of time right now for my next big update, but here are a couple of hitchhiker pics from yesterday:





Brian

[BrianPlankis]

Hello all,

It is time for another long detailed and somewhat informative post

Since I haven't said it yet, my opinions in my thread are only my opinions. I like to think of them as informative and correct, but I'm still a relatively newbie in this hobby (only 4 years experience). Please do additional research before making any decisions based off my thread I like to get 3-5 opinions before I'll make a decision on anything. Typically the mistakes I've made have been based on one or two opinions.

As I've thought over my old 55 gallon and my current 75 gallon I've realized two other equipment areas where I made a lot of mistakes and wasted money, so I hope I can help people avoid these problems

Powerheads:
When I first started off in this hobby I bought Rios at the suggestion of the LFS. I've already told you how that worked out. I slowly worked on replacing the Rios and have tried several other powerheads. Here is my brief review of each:

Maxi-jet 400: A dependable powerhead, I've heard these are nearly indestructible, I used mine for 3 years and traded it away and it is still going. Its 106gph was just too weak for my 75.

Hagen 301(now called Hagen 30): Another dependable powerhead, but I traded it away for some corals Its 174gph was too weak for the 75.

Powersweep 226s: A fellow reefer sold me two of these for $15 so it wasn't much lost money, but I don't like these. It was a cool idea that they sweep back and forth to create random water motion, but after about 1 week from being cleaned they stop sweeping. I also had one in a small LR curing tub and it raised the temp to 92, so it either failed or just produces a lot of heat. I wouldn't recommend these.

SEIOs: I currently have an 820 and 1100 in my 75 and really like these. The amount of water they move is very good. Nothing like a Tunze, but still much more than any of the powerheads listed above. It doesn't feel super strong in front of the powerhead like the maxijets, but I see water movement and corals moving all over the tank, so I'm happy. I'm a little concerned about these as they are made by the same company as the Rio pumps, but I've heard they are better engineered.

Magdrives: I have a Mag7 driving my skimmer and it is a great pump that refuses to quit. My only negative on this is that it generates a lot of heat. If I could have planned better I would have run this pump outside of my sump to reduce the heat it puts in the water. I'm considering replacing this pump with a quietone 3000 as it generates less heat.

One thing any new aquarium hobbyist should consider is the amount of electricity each pump uses, as the pumps are typically the greatest users of electricity after your lights.

Here is a brief calculation as a demonstration. Lets say you have a 75 gallon that you want to have 2500 gph flow in the main tank(33x turnover which is good for SPS).

I have the 820 SEIO(18W), 1100 SEIO(21W) and one Eheim 1060(65W) for 2320gph which use a total of approximately 104W. According to RC electricity calculator(found here: http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/tank_elec_calc.php) that is costing me $9.11/month.

You could use the Eheim 1060(65W) and 7 maxijet 1200s(20W each) for 2465 gph which would use a total of approximately 205W. Cost? $17.96/month.

Or the Eheim 1060(65W) and one Tunze Stream 6000(15W) for a total of 2250gph at 80W at a cost of: $7.01/month

Of course the Tunze is a bit more expensive than the SEIOs, it would take some time to recoupe the extra cost of the powerhead. I just wanted to throw these out as examples to demonstrate gph, different powerheads and the costs involved.

Also keep in mind the more watts you have submerged in your tank for powerheads, the more heat you are putting into the system.

I'm going to look into the idea of a closed loop on my next tank, but haven't taken the time to give advice on those. I've heard they are great for flow lower in the tank. I do have some small deadspots on my sandbed despite my flow, my next tank will probably have a closed loop to keep detritus off the bottom.

Up next: My poor sump.

Brian

[BrianPlankis]

Sump Design:
I started my 75 with a 20 gallon long as a sump. This was a bad idea for numerous reasons, but here is a recap:

1. A 20L is only 12 high, which means you can't have more than 12-15 gallons or so sump capacity, not very useful.

2. I put my baffles too high and I was at a risk of spilling water onto my carpet(bad place to put a tank BTW) with any power outage and/or top-off failure.

3. I didn't put any bubble trap baffles in the sump because I was too impatient and wanted the tank going. As a result I had a lot of microbubbles in my main tank.

4. My skimmer pump was not in the first compartment of the sump and a lot of flow by-passed it, so my skimmer was not being very useful.

5. My return section was very small (less than 2 gallons) and ran dry a couple of times, if you are making your own sump, make the return section as large as possible.

Here is a shot of the old sump. Notice how high the water level is in the sump, this is the normal level. When power went off, the water level went above the trim on the tank!



Here is the plan for the old sump, it is a BAD PLAN, DO NOT COPY. I'm just putting it up to show how small my return section was and how my skimmer pump was sectioned off from most of the water.


I remade a 29 gallon into a new sump with a bubble trap, a larger return section and my skimmer pump sitting in the first compartment. It has made my skimmer much more efficient and virtually eliminated microbubbles in my main tank. It also can easily handle a lot of extra water from the main tank, it can handle the entire overflow draining with room to spare

LEFT side with return and bubble trap:


RIGHT side with refugium and skimmer pump in drain section:


Of course my sump is not ideal, in fact I found a lot of my flow bypassing my skimmer pump because the drain was shooting the flow to the left. I put in a bubble tower to force the flow past my skimmer pump and reduce the bubbles entering my bubble trap.

Without bubble tower(Notice all the bubbles and flow to the left):


You can see the bubble tower in action and the reduced bubbles in one of my previous posts.

Where did I get all these ideas? I read these sources:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=462212

I discussed my new sump with Marc beginning here:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...5&pagenumber=8

You can see a video of a bubble tower in action at:
http://www.melevsreef.com/links.html
Click on bubble tower under videos.

That is all for now, next time more pictures

Brian

[melev]

And one more link for those that need a course in Sumpology 101: http://www.melevsreef.com/what_sump.html

[BrianPlankis]

Marc,

Thanks for the added link, I did read that several months ago. I looked at it again, should the page now say 1.5" off the sump floor for the bubble trap? That is what you told me in your thread.

Brian

[melev]

Yeah, I should probably update that slightly. I go with 1.5" now. Mainly because I want the top of the middle baffle to be up out of the water a little bit higher.

[angelces]

any updates?

[BrianPlankis]

Angela,

Things are crazy at school right now, I hope to have another big informative rambling post in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime here is a new zoa frag I picked up on 9/10. It was still adjusting to the move, I'll try to have a new pic soon. It is in front of my favorite zoas, candycanes.



Brian

[angelces]

trust me. I hear you on not having time. Just curious as I'm rebuilding my 75 gallon reef as well. enjoy the rest of your weekend.

[ratherbediving]

Brian--

You've done a great job documenting everything. Thanks for taking the time to put this all together!

[BrianPlankis]

Originally posted by ratherbediving
Brian--

You've done a great job documenting everything. Thanks for taking the time to put this all together!

Your welcome, glad to try to help some new reefers. I hope there is still something to document after this weekend! Hurricane Rita is bearing down on our house. At a minimum we will see tropical storm force winds. I've gone into protect the house and reef tank mode.

Plywood is sold out everywhere within a 50 mile radius so I can't board my windows up I should have planned better and bought some earlier. I have some plywood flooring in my attic that should cover a few windows, but I'm waiting until tomorrow to do that. In the meantime I'm cleaning up the yard of any projectiles.

I've also come up with the best reef protection plan I could within my budget:

1. I have 3 battery backups that should run my cooling fans for 1-2 days.

2. I have 3 battery powered air pumps with a total of 14 D batteries available. I don't know how long each D battery will last...so we'll have to see.

3. Plenty of timers to stagger the air pumps if they can run off the battery backups. anyone know how many watts a typical 15 watt analog dial timer uses?

4. 6 2-liters of water frozen in the freezer to cool down the tank.

5. I'm doing a 10 gal WC today and running carbon to clean the water as much as possible. I'm making up another 15 gals of SW today and running my RO/DI to fill up my 45 gals of fresh water.

6. Thinking of begging Melev to let my wife and I sleep in his fish room

We make our decision tomorrow to flee or not.....

Brian

[Shooter7]

Stay out of harm's way, Brian. Good luck to you and your reef!

This is happening so often, maybe someone should come up with a "reef hurricane survival kit".....or at least a detailed list of what to have around.

[melev]

I hope all of the MARSH & MAAST clubs are doing all they can to be prepared for H. rita.

I have to imagine that timer is using 15w of power, from your post. Do a search on Air Lift tubing. You can use rigid PVC and an elbow as the riser tube. The base of that tube should be cut at a 45 degree angle.

Next insert rigid tubing down through a 3/16 drilled hole of the elbow, so the airstone is right at the base in the angled cut. This will circulate water from the base of the tank to the top.

Timers or no, you might need to stagger the energy consumption to turn on for an hour, off for an hour, and back on....

I hope you guys will be okay.