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

[jnarowe]

His sole job is to open the tank room refrigerator, and get me a beer!

Notice his foot is resting on a 1000W MH ballast...

[Dudester]

techreef, Bax and Jonathan - Thanks for the updated information regarding your manifolds. I'm definitely considering this for a future upgrade, and when the time comes, I'll look back to you guys for additional advice.

mr. wilson - I've read your posts in other threads, and it's great to see that you've checked out this thread, whether or not you're following along. I really could have used your input a year ago when I was losing fish at a rapid clip; glad that's over with. I'd love to get your thoughts on my next fish additions. I was thinking of a Swissguard basslett and a yellow assessor to replace the mimic tang that will be moved into my office tank.


I've got some cyano growing along the front of my display. I've only had cyano on 1 other occasion, and that was in my fuge. I wiped it out with Chemi-Clean at the time. I'd rather not to treat with it again, as I'd prefer to treat the source of the problem. Maybe putting the nanostream into the tank will provide enough flow to combat continued cyano growth. I have noticed that after the massive pruning I did about a week ago, the re-growth of the bryopsis hasn't been too bad, although I will have to prune again.

Where is that nanostream, anyway??

By the way, anyone check out the TOTM for January? That thing's friggin awesome.

[bcoons]

Hmmm, I've been battling a rash of red cyano on the sand in the front part of my display for a couple of months, also. Don't know what started it, as I don't think I changed anything. I also don't want to use chemicals to treat it, and would rather do it naturally. Is more flow over the affected area a possible solution? I could maybe re-direct a power head toward the front a bit more.

[mr.wilson]

Sorry, I just checked out this thread recently. Your distress call about the sick fish must have missed my perch atop Mount Olympus

I love Swissguard Basslets, but prefer its' cousin, the Candy Basslet.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/10/fish

Assessors are another favorite of mine. I just got a blue one yesterday. The yellow one is a good substitute for your tang as far as color goes, but a Yellow Wrasse or some Midas Blennies will serve the same purpose. The Blue Assessor is a more unique color IMO. I would get a pair as they breed in captivity.

How are your phosphates and silicates? Make sure you have a 0 TDS reading with your source water, rinse frozen foods well, take it easy on phytoplankton feeding, and use some ferric oxide based media in your sump. Increasing flow is an inefficient method of dealing with red cyanobacteria.

Vacuuming the substrate will lose some nitrate consuming bacteria, but you'll lose a hell of a lot more nitrate causing detritus in the process.

[Rustylugnuts]

I had a cyano problem myself a few months ago what a pain! Cant say for sure what exactly got rid of it but I went to town on it with a turkey baster and kinda started the food rinsing (seem to forget the rinse quite often but no recurrences) and it seemed to go away after a couple weeks. Quick question, does anybody have a link to a pic of bryopsis? Before I left for vacation I had a few small branching pieces of what appeared to be macroalgae. When I got back the rock it was on was covered. Cant say I like the look of it but I guess ill be at it with the ol hemostats sometime this week.

[Rustylugnuts]

Here is a page I found using google. What I've got has the same general look without the feather like appearance off of the smaller branches.

[techreef]

Dudester, you probably read it too, but I recently have been reading 2 or 3 warnings about using ChemiClean. They are along the lines of "1 out of 14 uses (random #s here) of ChemiClean resulted in a nuked tank." no one could figure out what the deal was. the people reporting nuked tanks were very clear that they followed the Chemi-Clean directions exactly. Sounded kind of like perhaps the manufacturer doesn't have strict controls over its product?

Anyway, I know you prefer to correct the source of problems, not use bottled gimmics. Just a head's up on it.

I just ordered a Mix & Match special from IPSF.com in Hawaii. While their website is rather comical, the owner seems nice. I'll report back on how the package turns out. (I bought mostly sandbed critters and a pod breeding kit)

[gkarshens]

Mike, are you running any phosphate removing media? I was getting a little cyano a few months ago. I added a 2 little fishies reactor with some Rowaphos and the it was gone the next day. Never came back either.

[Dudester]

College football has been very good to me. All of the teams that I follow won their bowl games this year (Maryland, West Virginia, Texas, and of course, Florida - GO GATORS!!).


Bruce - As mr. wilson mentioned, increasing flow is not a good solution for cyano. He listed many of the other potential sources, so you may need to do some more investigating. Of course, directing a PH to the cyano temporarily couldn't hurt anything, so you may want to do that in the mean time while you search for the true source of the problem.

mr.wilson - I, too, love the candy basslet, but it comes at a much higher price than the Swissguard. I was under the impression that both yellow wrasses and midas blennies are skilled high-jumpers, so I passed them over in my open top system.

I've never tested silicates, but John used a high-sensitivity phosphate kit test on my tank a few months ago (even before I installed the Deltec skimmer) and the level was actually lower than recommended. Phosphates have never been detectable using the Salifert test kit, so I don't think that's my problem. I need to retest, however, so I'll let you know if that changes. I certainly do intend to start siphoning my sand bed. My tank's been up for more than 15 months now, and I've never siphoned, although I feel that I have maintained a fairly good clean up crew with sand-stirring invertebrates (e.g. Nassarius snails and a fighting conch, in particular). My 5-stage RO/DI unit produces water with a TDS of 0, and I don't add phytoplankton to my tank. I don't rinse my food, although it was prepared at my house with fresh ingredients in a food processor. I assumed that any ice attached to the food contained nutritious oils/vitamins that would benefit the occupants of my tank - not true? I don't know if Seachem's Purigen contains ferric oxide, but I run it in my sump 24/7 along with carbon.

Rustylugnuts - Sorry, I looked through my archive of photos and despite the problems I've had with bryopsis, I don't have a real good picture of it. The description you give sounds highly suspicious for bryopsis. The photo you linked may be deceiving, as large clusters of this algae more closely resembles GHA than what you see in that picture. The feathery appearance is not as obvious as what is seen in that image, and you have to look closely to see the architecture of the "leaves" to appreciate the pattern. IME, fingers work much better than hemostats for pruning. I'd suggest you get on the task ASAP and prune regularly, or it will truly get out of hand. Turn off your flow pumps while pruning, since you don't want any to fall out of your grip and seed other areas, and dip your fingers with the pruned bryopsis into RO water before placing them back into the tank.

techreef - Thanks for the heads-up regarding the ChemiClean. I'm aware that the darker-colored batches are not useful, but I've not heard of any tank crashes as a result of that product. I have used the current batch that I have once a few months ago when there was some cyano in my fuge, and it did a great job with no ill-consequences, so I'm comfortable with my current product if I decide to use it.

Hope your order turns out well.

Gabriel - No, I'm not running any phosphate removing media (see reply to mr. wilson above). If, after retesting, I discover that I do have a problem, I would definitely find a place for a TLF reactor in my cabinet. Glad it's working for you!

[thedude15810]

Mike,

We need to get a thread started for your new tank! I'll provide pictures this time!

John

[mr.wilson]

Sometimes bad things happen to good tanks. Red slime algae is a type of cyanobacteria, and should be treated like any other bacterial infection.

While bacterial infections are more common in problematic tanks with high stress levels, they can happen to any tank. I use antibiotics to level the playing field, and with good water quality, it stays away.

Whichever method you use to get rid of it, it will release toxins into the tank as it dies, so use lots of carbon or poly-filters, and make sure your skimmer is tuned.

As for the phosphate testing, the salifert test kit measures only inorganic phosphates, not organic orthophosphates. The Merck test kit measures orthophosphates.

[Dudester]

Originally posted by mr.wilson
As for the phosphate testing, the salifert test kit measures only inorganic phosphates, not organic orthophosphates. The Merck test kit measures orthophosphates.

The test kit measured orthophosphates as well. John, please correct me if I'm wrong.

John - You bet, a thread is in order. It's probably most appropriate for the large tank forum, but I also like the reef forum since more eyes land there. I'd prefer that you and Brian host that thread, since you will ultimately be responsible for it more so than I. Sound OK?

[thedude15810]

Mike,

Sounds like a new thread is in order then! Large Tank Forums is where I see it fall into unless you'd prefer to do it in general.

Mr. Wilson,

The test we used is distributed by D&D but is the Merck kit. Really great phosphate test kit, just a little on the pricey side.

John

Anyone want to offer a clever name for our new thread? It'll be a 450 gallon reef tank in Mike's new waiting room!

[melev]

How about: 450 gallon reef tank in Mike's new waiting room!

[Dudester]

Great idea, John, to query folks on the title. I agree to put it into the large tank forum. Just so you all have more info, it'll be a 450g display tank, mixed reef, with a 150-180g sump/fuge. It will be built-in, viewable on 3 sides, and serving as a longitudinal partition for the waiting room. The side that's not viewable will be adjacent to a "tank room" that's also built into the waiting room and adds to the length of the partition. Hope that's understandable.

Titles, anyone?

[Dudester]

Originally posted by melev
How about: 450 gallon reef tank in Mike's new waiting room!

[melev]

Glad you approved.

[gkarshens]

How about "A good reason to go to the doctor"?
or
"A reason to wait"

[gary faulkner]

DUDESTER'S 450 PROJECT [SIZE=3][COLOR=royalblue]

[gary faulkner]

Now, how did that happen?

[mr.wilson]

I wish I had a doctor named Dudester with a giant reef tank. All I get is Womens day and O (prah) magazine.

[techreef]

How about "The Hulk"? Have you guys started building/installing it yet? That's really exciting. Dudester, are you planning a QT tank built in right next to it?

[Dudester]

Those have been some great suggestions so far! I really like "A good reason to go to the doctor", but it may be a little pretentious. John, I'll defer the privilege of assigning a title to you since you'll be the Thread Master.

Techreef, the fish room and sump are built, we have most of the supporting equipment, and the aluminum stand is in place. We're waiting for the actual glass box to arrive, and once it's put in place, the builders will be able to apply the cabinetry around the tank. The cabinets will go from the floor to the ceiling, protecting against anyone from trying to feed the poor, caged fishies. Quarantine will take place at John and Brian's shop at first, but I see a QT in the future of the tank room.

[thedude15810]

I think I'll probably title the thread "Not your typical doctor's office waiting room" or something of the sort.

A QT really won't be necessary for Mike's tank as I'll be doing it for him at my shop. Our fish system which we finished plumbing today has around 700 gallons, three sequence darts running the system, a Deltec AP1003 skimming, 4 200 micron filter socks, around 300 pounds of liverock, an 80 gallon fuge, UV sterilizer, and soon to add ozone. With my heavy feeding tendencies and general love for fish, these guys should come into Mike's tank after snacking at the all you can eat buffet!

Oh and if anyone has a fish request, I'd be more than happy to take it into consideration. Please remember that Mike doesn't like triggers (although he's getting them anyway ) and that I already decided a mystery wrasse was in order!

[thedude15810]

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...53#post8957553