So You Want To Do A Reef Aquarium - A Glance Along The Way

rjwilson37 · #1 02/08/2004, 11:08 AM

So you want to do a Reef Aquarium. I definately had my problems along the way and ran into ich, algae blooms, bad acclimation procedures and just being impatient. It cost me to try and shortcut here and there but I definately learned along the way and now have a great start to a beautiful Reef Tank.

Here are some pictures from start to where I stand now. I have above the picture what week I was in and maybe a small blerb about what I did in that time.

Day 1 Starting the tank. This is a 29gallon Acrylic with a Seaclone 100 Skimmer, a Flual 2Plus Underwater Filter and a Aquaclear 301 Powerhead, with a 100w submersable heater.

Day 2-3, put in 40lbs Live Rock and 40lbs Live Sand from LFS

Week1, got a pair of clowns, snails and hermits.

Week4, I got a Bubble Tip Anemone around week2. LFS said they were hardy, but not that I should wait around 3-6 months.

Week5, I got a Feather Duster, a Green Brain, a Pulsing Xenia and a couple Fromia Starfish. The bubble split, at that time I thought it was healthy when it was really stressed which is why it split. Also got some cleaner shrimp and added another Power Head for better water circulation.

Week7, I added some cured Live Rock in Week 6. My wife liked the urchin, little did I know they eat all the coraline algae like a sanding machine. I also got a ridge coral which I did not know was hard to keep.

Week10, My first set of fish died from ich around week5, so I had gotten a quarantine tank and put some fish in it. I let ich cycle through my main system without fish for over 4 weeks. No Fish... No Ich... I finally was able to add my quarantined fish, oh what a happy day. I also got a nice finger leather.

Week12, I got a soft coral order from GARF and my GSM clown beat the heck out of my BTA's. I did not know the GSM Clown was doing this at the time, so I got another BTA thinking I knew more about keeping them now.

rjwilson37 · #2 02/08/2004, 11:29 AM

Week14, The new BTA was extending and touching some corals around him, so I rearranged the rock work a little. I had gotten a squamosa clam in week12 and now I added a nice frogspawn and a purple mushroom rock.

Week 20, I forgot to mention in week 14 I put a Neon Blue Yellow Belly Damsel in from quarantine. I got a zoanthid order in from Blane at Farms at the Sea and did a little more rearranging. My wife wanted this red brain, so we got that as well.

Week 22, I did a big switchover from my 130w Power Compact, to my 96w T5 lighting which is suppose to be alot more par light than the Power Compacts and a better spectrum for coral growth and color. It was a big difference to my eyes.

Week 24, I swapped out the squamosa clam for a maxima, since I now had the lighting for it. The Fromia stars did not like the T5 lighting and went into melt down. I even tried some other's with proper acclimation and they melted to. I got a blue linkia and he is still doing just great.

week26, I got a nice Brain Maze and Red Mushroom Rock from one LFS and a nice small Zoanthid colony from another LFS. I got a shaving brush coral but they get eaten by the Emerald Crab nipping at it, which I did not know. I had to get rid of the Ridge coral, he got to shocked with the lighting change and went down hill.

Week 30, This is where I stand right now. I added a nice small Blue Tang, that was perfect for my 29gallon tank. I know it will need a bigger tank and am looking at a switch over to a 90gallon at the end of the summer. I got a big zoanthid colony from the LFS and broke it off into several large pieces and some smaller frags to give away to some local reefer friends. I got a few small SPS frags from a local reef buddy to see if they will do well.

Hope you liked this thread and you will see the cost along the way is well worth it.

rjwilson37 · #3 02/08/2004, 01:23 PM

By the way, my second bubble tip anemone died. I have found that my GSM Clown is just to ruff on the Bubble's and stesses them out. I am not getting another Bubble Tip because I also found out that 91% of us kill them in less than 6 months. Another 4% can keep them up to a year or two and the other 5% can keep them up to and beyond 2 years.

The odd's are not with us to keep a healthy BTA, but having one established/aquacultered and not getting a clown that beats the heck out of them really helps.

Comments about my reef are welcome.

Strandedthinker · #4 02/08/2004, 01:26 PM

Looks nice, I just gotta drop my nitrates a little and Im ready. The only thing Id say is you definitely put in livestock to early. Id start out with regular sand, use some garf grundge?, and add live rock and let it cycle for 2 months.

rjwilson37 · #5 02/08/2004, 01:58 PM

Yea, well I started off with what the LFS said I could do, some of them are just not right and will sell you anything. I started with cured LR and LS and it cycled in 1 1/2 weeks. Anyway, they said I could put hardy fish in after 3-4 days. I had gotten a fish from the same LFS that was an ich carrier and then it was down hill for fish until I got all fish out at week5.

I will do things a bit different when I start up the 90 gallon at the end of the summer, patience is the key to a successful reef tank as well as being a member of Reef Central.

This is where I have learned alot of what I know now. Some advice is good advice and some is just advice of what worked for someone else. The other key to a good Reef Tank is finding out what works best for you. Every reef tank is different in one way or another and these differences seem make some things work in one tank and not work in another. So don't get frustrated, just work through your problems and keep going becauase we all have them.

CeCe803 · #6 02/08/2004, 02:21 PM

Great thread - really like seeing the progression. Just added LS and LR to my 75 last wed - hard to be patient. :-)
(but I will be!!)

Strandedthinker · #7 02/08/2004, 03:52 PM

haha

speccialj922 · #8 02/08/2004, 04:59 PM

agree with the above. livestock was introduced way too early. after a cycle, fish should be added 1 every 2-3 weeks. also the fluval will more than likely become a source of nitrates. for a reef they do much more harm then good. LR, LS and a good skimmer is all a reef really needs. i dont want to sound negative, its a great looking tank. i love the pics

cwbroden · #9 02/08/2004, 05:23 PM

Cool photo progression.

jakano · #10 02/08/2004, 06:39 PM

hey do you have a lid on your acyrilic tank or is it open. i have a 40 gallon with no lid.i made a lid from some acryilic i got at lowes but it bends and doesnt fit tight.iused the thickest plactic they had but it still warped.

SPC · #11 02/08/2004, 06:51 PM

I notice that the sponge on your power head seems to be getting a bit more grungy with each picture, rjwilson37. My advice would be to keep that filter clean as this is a sure way to elevate the organic levels in the tank.
Steve

rjwilson37 · #12 02/08/2004, 07:25 PM

SpeccialJ922, I clean the fluval sponges every week with the water change, using the water from the tank to clean them. I flip the carbon around bottom to top then replace the carbon every other week. My nitrates run about 0-10 even after going 10 days without the water change/filter cleaning, it does not cause me a problem. It is maily there for the carbon, some water movement and capturing larger particulate matter.

jakano, It came with a acrylic cover in the center and does not really warp at all. I leave it on because I read somewhere that the glass/acrylic cover over a tank even a bit dirty does not stop that much light from getting through. It was some kind of study that was done, so it should be fine.

SPC, I clean the sponge about every 4-5 days and clear the air intake tube connection every other week of salt build up. This system seems to be working very well for me. The seaclone is working wonderfully, pulling out a nice bit of smelly skimate every day. I typically clean the collection cup in the evening and in the morning. It will collect a little over an inch every 12 hours.

Strandedthinker · #13 02/08/2004, 08:11 PM

what kind of lighting do you have?

rjwilson37 · #14 02/08/2004, 08:22 PM

I have the Tek-Light T5's 4x24w from reefgeek online. I am using two Blue Pluses, one Sun, and one Aquablue. The Aquablue is basically a 60/40 bulb (60 Sun and 40 Blue) and the blue pluses are pretty much like actinic. They use the spectrum to promote coral growth and color almost as good as Metal Halide but you don't get the high heat output like Metal Halides can put out.

I will be getting Metal Halides with VHO Actinic when I get my 90 gallon tank, but for this smaller tank the T5's work nicely as of yet.

sfsuphysics · #15 02/08/2004, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jakano
hey do you have a lid on your acyrilic tank or is it open. i have a 40 gallon with no lid.i made a lid from some acryilic i got at lowes but it bends and doesnt fit tight.iused the thickest plactic they had but it still warped.

That's most likely from the heat, my first attempt at using a lid I could cut holes to fit also came from acrylic, figured "heck it doesn't bend under its own weight out here in the 60 degree garage then should be fine!" *bzzzzzzzzzt* wrong answer. Solution though was to cut semi thin strips of acrylic and use PVC cement to glue them to the end perpendicular to the original acrylic (sort of like a sideways I beam) this worked out great no more drooping. Of course I had two pieces of acrylic for a lid, where the length was WAY bigger than the width.

rjwilson37 · #16 02/08/2004, 09:17 PM

Well, I just really noticed how much better the T5's are by looking at my own pictures. If you look at week 20 then week 22 up top on this thread, you can see not much coraline algae at all.

Now look at Week 24 through Week 26. Only two weeks after I put in my T5's, I had an extreme amount of coraline growth compared to when I was using the PC's. If you look at Week 30 my final one, you can see after just 6 weeks I have a ton of coraline which I would attribute to the T5's.

rjwilson37 · #17 02/08/2004, 10:34 PM

Someone asked what fish I have and critters.
Fish:
Gold Striped Maroon Clown, Brazilian Royal Gramma, Neon Blue Yellow Belly Damsel, Blue Tang.

Critters:
10 or so asstd. hermits, 14 or so asst. snails, 1 fire shrimp, 1 skunk shrimp, 1 pepperment shrimp, 1 emerald crab, 1 blue linkia starfish, 1 sand starfish, and 2 black brittle starfish.

speccialj922 · #18 02/08/2004, 11:46 PM

rjwilson, i must say, thats very admirable. i think 1 out of every thousand people actually do that. keep up the good work.

RonE · #19 02/09/2004, 12:24 AM

very Nice....I like it alot..just a few questions/

no sump/ refugium?.....just weekly water changes and check ups to reduce nitrates?.........why do you replace carbon so often?...are you using the fluval canister carbon or a carbon bag?

BOMPH · #20 02/09/2004, 01:07 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by rjwilson37
Well, I just really noticed how much better the T5's are by looking at my own pictures. If you look at week 20 then week 22 up top on this thread, you can see not much coraline algae at all.

Now look at Week 24 through Week 26. Only two weeks after I put in my T5's, I had an extreme amount of coraline growth compared to when I was using the PC's. If you look at Week 30 my final one, you can see after just 6 weeks I have a ton of coraline which I would attribute to the T5's.

Im just about to set up a small (30-40g) tank to tide me over until i can get into a house and set up my 120 that died in a move a few years ago..

I was gonna go with CF's, but I saw these pics and loved the quality of the light those T5s put out. I have a question about the hood they come in, can it rest on top of the glass, or does it have to be mounted on the wall or suspended from the cieling. The pics i've seen make it hard to tell.

Love your tank dude, i start at step one sometime this week or early next!

rjwilson37 · #21 02/09/2004, 09:23 AM

Ron-E, It is just a rectangle carbon that fits right inside the Fluval Filter. I just replace it every 2 weeks because I like to keep the tank as clear as possible.

BOMPH, I just made 4 little legs with a doll rod and superglued them on. Here is a picture of the 2 1/2" legs. It just sits ontop my tank and my DIY hood goes over the top of that.

DIY Hood

doliver · #22 02/09/2004, 12:29 PM

Hi RJ,

I've been looking at the Tek-Lights too but I noticed on reefgeek that they say the hoods are not recommended for operation inside a canopy, and instead suggest the retro kits.

Do you know why that is and have you done anything to address potential problems? The hoods are cheaper and I'm assuming easier to deal with than the retro kit, so I'd rather do something like you have here.

rjwilson37 · #23 02/09/2004, 01:03 PM

I am not sure what they mean with the exception that there is no shield/cover for the bulbs. I leave the acrylic cover on my tank, so the salt creep or possible splahing does not effect the Tek-Light or my Canopy. I would think a retro does have a splash guard or any other protection for the bulbs either.

MNgirl · #24 02/09/2004, 02:17 PM

Do your shrimps and emerald crab seem to leave your corals alone....I have read that peppermints will nibble on mushrooms, do yours??
Also, is you blue star difficult to care for??? Did you have a orange star in one of your pictures?? I want to buy an orange star....what are your thoughts of them.
Sorry for questions that don't pertain to your thread....just thought I'd ask.
Thanks!!!

pickle311 · #25 02/09/2004, 02:46 PM

nice progression, but I must say that I will be surprised if the blue tang makes it in a 29 gallon tank. I know you said your setting up a 90 at the end of summer, bet even a small blue tang like yours requires a lot of open area. I hope he does do good for you, but from what I've read about them, you will need a little luck.