Here we go...
And it's about darn time! I've been waiting over a year for this. I began researching for my tank in March 2006. Sixteen months later I am finally putting it together. Too much research? That's impossible. The good thing about waiting and still learning while I did is that I think my tank will be pretty close to what I really want it to be without really redoing things.

I decided to go with a 90 gallon tank originally because I read that that was the smallest reccommendation for mandarins and that may be my favorite marine fish. Anyway I later found out that with large healthy refugium they could still thrive. At that point I would have scaled down my tank if I hadn't already gotten a great deal on a brand new 90 gallon AGA tank with overflow. Though the tank is really not a huge part of the setup cost. As far as equipment and the look of the setup, I am probably keeping toward the higher end of a basic setup and make sure it looks good too.

I needed a place for my tank so I completed my basement office. This was part of the delay in starting my setup. But before that I had other house projects to complete since we moved (2 years ago now). Now all that's behind and the tank is the task at hand. So here is where it is today...

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070610a.jpg

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070610b.jpg

I was going to put shadow box moulding below the chair rail in the office but realized with the tank, a couch, my desk, and a bookshelf on the four walls, you would hardly see it anyway. If I ever move the tank I will add it in, or I may even be able to do it with the tank in place if I took out the sump.

Tank and Stand
Anyway, my setup is an AGA 90 gallon tank with overflow. (Have to say I'm really not to crazy about their 'Megaflow' overflow and I wish it was in the corner since it takes up so much space.) Also an AGA Classic Mission Series stand in maple finish. I would normally go with a darker wood color but I like the idea of it being brighter in the sump and hood areas, I thought it would look good with the navy walls, and salt drips would show up less.

Lighting
After really leaning towards using 6x54W T5, I changed my mind and ordered 2x54W T-5 actinic and 2x175W 10k MH. I got retrofit kits from HelloLights and I think it was a good deal and they work great. I did get the cheapest magnetic ballasts for the halides and they do hum a bit. If I do any upgrades ever to the lighting it will be going to electronic ballasts or switch to all T-5. I really like how little heat the T-5 give off. I also have two glass lenses to completely separate the lighting from the tank. No, they will not be on top of the tank. I am putting wood strips in the hood to hold the glass a couple inches above the tank. I will also add one or two fans to keep heat and humidity pushed of the hood. These fans will blow accross both the water side and the light side of the lenses. The MH reflectors were much larger than I expected. I mounted the T-5s on top of some wood scraps so they were the same level and weren't partially blocked the the MH reflectors. There are also two current white LED moon lights. All ballasts are mounted on the back of the hood which makes for heavy hood lifting.

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070610c_lights.jpg

Other Equpiment and things that will be happening soon...
EuroReef CS100
30 gallon sump (half will be refugium)
QuietOne 3000 return pump
Tunze 6060
Tunze Nanostream 6025
maybe another powerhead? (second 6025?)
DSB
Mix of base rock and live rock

Livestock
My goal is to keep the bioload a little bit more on the light side. I plan to have mostly SPS, some LPS, maybe no softies. Probably some zoanthids. And I really like gorgonians. Fish will be Mandarin (maybe a pair eventually), firefish, yellow tang, royal gramma, and maybe some chromis or ocellaris pair.

Stay tuned, this week I will be adding base rock, sand, water, and the sump. Next will be live rock. I will try to keep up on pictures, progress, and lessons learned.

Speaking of which, first lesson:
Use glass paint for the back of the aquarium. I tried using the same paint from the walls to have it perfectly match. It stuck ok, but I was concerned that heat and moisture would cause it too start pealing. Plus it scratches easy. I pulled that off in one big sheet of latex paint and used glass paint from Michaels craft store. This took four 2oz bottles of Delta PermEnamel paint. Plus there was a primer to clean the glass first before painting. I painted one coat, waited a day, then a second coat, waited a day, and then touched up a bit yet. It did come out nicely and doesnt come off too easily. They had a glaze to use over the paint also. I experimented on a scrap of glass and found that the glaze almost seem to make the paint a little softer and easier to scratch. Of course I didn't wait for days either to see if it hardend more.

Sounds like a great system in progress. Look forward to watching everything come together.

Good idea on buying glass paint- something I never thought of. I used spray paint so I hope it sticks good.

Very cool.

I don't think you can ever over research something like this. No matter if you are a rookie or a veteran there will always be problems and you my friend are more than one step closer than i was when i started and probably better off than a lot of people in this great hobby.

Looking good. Is that a Penn State room or what? Even the couch is blue & white!

Looking good. Is that a Penn State room or what? Even the couch is blue & white!
Not intentionally, but my diploma will look good in there! I just liked the color and the couch we had and looked good as well.

Last night I put in base rock and sand. I used a layer of eggcrate first in the bottom of the tank. It gives another 1/4" or so and the rock isn't drectly on the glass. I put a little sand in just to cover that. Then I put the base rock in and made sure it was firmly in place. I drilled and put two acrylic rods through the tall piece to keep it stable. Next I filled in with sand and pushed as much as possible in any voids under the rock. There are a couple lage flat base rocks in the empty area that will give a good sturdy base for the larger pieces of LR. The sand bed is over 5" in places and just about 4" in the low corner. I used sugar fine sand as that seems to be what is reccommended for best life in DSB. Though I have heard lots of stories about long lasting sand storms with the fine sand. We will see how that goes.
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/IMG_3926Small.jpg
From MarcoRocks, very nice base rock. Very porus and lots of holes for critters. Marc was great but UPS was brutal to my box. Marc picked out thee nice pieces for me and it ended up bing five and some rubble. Marc said he hadn't had much trouble with shipping before and offered to make it right but it worked out well as it is I think.

And I got a little hitch hiker when I was rinsing my rock. Ok well he didn't make it since it is long dead and dry base rock. But still cool anyway.
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/IMG_3917Small.jpg

I am debating about getting a large trashcan to mix SW to fill the tank with. I don't want to just fill with RO because I figure that will soak into the sandbed and be lower salinity. And then it will take me a while and I will keep adding salt until all that stabalizes. Seems like it would be easier to start with proper SW.

I am also expecting alot of milky water from the sand so I might just fill up 1/3 the tank then siphon out the dirty water and replace it a couple times to get the worst of it out.

patience is key in this hobby.

In time, you will come to learn this young padawan.

Lol, you prolly know more than me N'e ways. But i just went through this and it is really hard not to just rush anything.

Rushing has not been an issue since I have been working too much and have other things to do. I just hope I can keep up on the maintence so this tank is all it should be.

The base rock is really smelling ripe. As if rinsing it triggered more decomposition. There are some small dark patches in various places that almost look like it was burnt. Must be some organic matter rotting away on there. Maybe getting some water in there would help. I picked up a trash can on the way home so I can start making some RO and mixing salt.

Getting some water in finally...

I got a 32 gallon rubbermaid trash can and first rinsed it out with some vinegar and RO water. I then filled it with RO (takes about 8 hours to make 30 gallons). Put in two 200W heaters to warm it up and added some salt. I have a Tunze 6025 mixing and threw in my return pump (Quietone3000) also to mix fast. MY MJ400 couldn't quite pump it out of there so I used a Mag7 (backup return pump) to move it into the tank. That worked great but I have 1/2" OD tubing which just fits loose inside the Mag7 outlet. I wrapped a rubberband tight around the tube about a 1/2" from the end. Then stuck the end of the tube in the outlet and it wouldn't slide in past the rubberband. Then I pulled the band around the inlet to hold it in place. Glad I used the mag as it made for quick filling. I stopped the pump before it ran dry with a couple gallons still in. This is with two fill ups. Over 50 gallons.

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070619.jpg

There isn't quite as much clouding as I expected. It actually looks worse in the picture. I just have a MJ400 in there now to circulate without stirring too much up. There is a heater also. The one thing I did find is that once I put the water in the sand really compacted. It also worked its way in under and between the rocks as I expected. Once I got all the sand soggy I added about another 15 pounds to keep in the same level as it was dry.

I also worked on the sump. I siliconed in the baffles. Not the prettiest job but it will do. There is skimmer section, baffles, return, and a refugium. The baffles that go to the bottom are sloped slightly to cause less splashing and bubles as it flows to the return section. My overflow drain will split between the skimmer and fuge. I plan on rather light flow through the fuge (100gph max?). I might also put some eggcrate or drilled acrylic if needed (to reduce bubbles or keep stuff out of the return) where water flows out of the fuge.

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070619sump.jpg

Hopefully later this week I can get some more water in the tank. If its still rather cloudy in a couple days I will do a huge water change. I hope to hook up all the plumbing this weekend.

looking good !!

Looking good! My tank was much worse than your's and it took about a week to clear.

This morning is is cleared enough to see the back of the tank now. Visibility might be up to 20". I might not need to do a water change. Will see what happens when I add some more water and circulation.

I nearly topped off the tank last night. But not going through the oveflow yet because my sump isn't setup yet. That may be tonight. The water is clearing quite nicely but lots of foam and gunk on top. I think I will try skimming that off by hand. I tried the 6060 (1600gph) and it started stirring the sand bed so I cut it. The 6025 (600gph) at least circulates lightly through the whole tank wihtout stirring up anything so I have that running for now.

I will get some more pics up this weekend because I will get the sump setup and add some LR. I have some LR that is basically cured in another tank. (It's been going for 2 months and could use a little cleanup crew now.) But I will need more than that. So I was thinking I would put the new stuff in the new tank and at least let it go a couple weeks before adding the fully cured stuff. Or would it really matter if I put it all in at once since there is nothign special on it?

It seems to me if there has been nothing in the tank with the LR and you haven't been feeding it adding it to the tank with the curing rock would encourage the bacteria to multiply. I guess the other thing would be the ratio of cured to uncured rock. However, I've never done this so I could be all wet. :)

I put fresh LR in yesterday. It came from Froster and smith. It is nice rock and even with overnight saturday delivery it was $6 a pound, but the packaging was lousy. 30 pounds of rock and one sheet of newsaper. There was hardly any liquid in there. Not that it mattered because the bag was not even twisted shut, just wide open and the rock had ofcourse punctured the bag and the weight cracked the bottom of the styrofoam cooler. Anyway its in the water now. I did move one piece of the cured rock I have in with it. Thats the piece on the far right upright. Some of the pieces I will move the the refugium once I get that going.

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070624.jpg

Today I got the sump going. Well not the refugium yet, but the circulation and skimmer are running.

My quietone3000 return is a little louder than I had hoped. If I hold it off the bottom it doesn't really make a significant difference. And I don't think the PVC is carrying that much viration because even if I hold it tightly in a few places it doesnt make much difference. Maybe I will try switching to tubing.

The drain droping into the sump is a little more noise than I expected as well. I also realize I will need to do something to keep bubles out of my refugium.

I am ending up with lots of microbubbles in the display. Is this part of skimmer breakin? I tried adding a filter to the return pump intake but that doesn't seem to have done much. Would a filter pad between the baffles help this?

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070624sump.jpg

Yes you could stick a piece of sponge between the baffles if the micro bubbles are becoming a problem and making it back into the tank. Just make sure that you clean or replace it often.
I wouldn't really expect you to have micro bubbles with your baffles in place though. Can you see the bubbles making it back to the return pump?

Yes they are definitely coming from my skimmer section right into the return. There is alot of flow there. Maybe more than I expected. There is a full 1/4" of water flowing over all 12" of baffle. Maybe I should try my mag7. It may not push as much through.

I now suspect the microbubbles may be coming from my drain plumbing. I had the skimmer on without the return and there were large bubles but I didn't notice any microbubbles. Of course the water level is also elevated without the return on. When I turned on the return and the drain started flowing good again out came the microbubbles.

I might try some different plumbing for the drain. For starters I think I will just run a long piece of tubing straight from the bulkhead deep into the sump and see what happens.

I was glad to see tonight lots of pods on the cured rock that I transferred in with the new rock. They seem unaffected by the transition. Also I found what I think is a cerith snail. He is at least twice the size he was when I found him two weeks ago. I'm pretty sure it is a cerith but he is very black color. Much nicer looking than ones I see pictures of. I'm glad he looks like he survived the move.

Nice set-up so far! I'll enjoy following along. Great ideas for my future tank set-up (like the way you set-up and plumbed your sump/fuge.)

All the best!

Well I use 2 different methods for keeping bubbles, noise, and detris out of the Refugium. I use a filter sock and on the return line I use Spa flex tubing. The noise it eliminates is amazing.

hey bud, overall nice job you got going there,.

i would have paid just alittle more time on the baffles thoughhttp://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070619sump.jpg
you have the grace cause your baffle height is low so overall water volumes in the sump aren't heigh, so your definately safe, however looking towards any future projects, there is a reason why baffle widths remain consist, just think of bottle necking when you have high flow rates & your create your own mental picture.

good work, look forward to your progress bud

right you are V. they work OK but too easy for bubbles to get sucked through. If I ahd extra space one more baffle might help but I wanted as much refugium as I could get. I'm goign to try some different drain line options and see if I get less bubbles from it since I think that is where most of them come from.

I tried tanking out the drain PVC and going with just a longer hose deep into the sump. Then I just ended up with siphoning in the overflow. So I cut the hose so it was just above the water line and now its loud and still have siphoning. Guess I proabably need to increase the size of the air intake on top of the durso.

coming along nicely it looks like. that crab was real cute, anyone know what type it was?

can't wait to see it when you got the coral and stuff, keep us posted!

I finally got my hood finished and on. It is a little heavy with the magnetic ballasts mounted on back. I put two glass panels in it a couple inches above the tank edge to separate the lighting and water. These will be much easier to clean up than wiping down lamps and reflectors. There are two DC fans that I took from the power supplys of a couple really old computers. These are mounted on either side in the rear of the canopy and blow both above and below the glass panels. They kept the hood cool even with the MH running.

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070629hood.jpg

Even though the hood is heavy I found out I can put a small board under the feet on either end. Then I can carefully slide it back or forward a few inches for easier tank access.

The plumbing still is not setup right. Once the flow was unrestricted I noticed that the AGA Megaflow durso standpipe would start siphoning and lower the wier level until it got enough air. So I drilled a few more holes in the top of the standpipe. This eliminated the siphoning but is a bit noisier. I put a piece of tape over one hole as I found that two were enough to prevent the siphon. That reduced the extra noise slightly. But it is still noiser than originally and sometimes has a slight wistle. I may try gluing a little piece of small diameter tubing on the new holes like the original hole has to see if that helps.

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070629overflow.jpg

And here is the current tank shot. Only one MH is on so you can see some of the actinic effect on the left side. The right sides was lit last week with a 24" T5 fixture (one 10k one actinic) and already has a bunch of brown stuff. Diatoms or cyano? Or maybe its on this side because this is where the fully cured rock was placed.

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070630.jpg

I removed a few tube worms from the one rock that came from the existing cycled rock I had. I will put the other worm rocks that are heavily populated in my refugium. But I spotted one more left last night, so I will have to get him too. Check this thread to see why I removed them http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/general-marine-discussions/4027-feather-duster-preadator.html

Hopefully I will have some time to figure out my sump/fuge/plumbing and get that going within the next couple weeks. I think an extra baffle in the skimmer section may help keep the microbubbles out of my return. If that works out, then I think I will just run a small pump out of my return to feed the refugium at a low flow rate. I'd rather let it get some of the less skimmed water from the display tank but I have to keep the bubbles out of the fuge or they would just end up in the return.

I did clean up the glass with a magfloat and it looks much better. But lots of diatoms in there. The rock on top of the shelf on the left will eventually end up in the fuge. The rest of the rock may just stay where it is. I wasnt too sure about the layout before but its growing on me. I gotta get that ugly heater and themo out of the front of the tank too, but I'm holding off until the sump is properly set because I will proably be emptying it to add another baffle to stop the microbubbles. So that would mena no sump for a day or so.

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070701tank_640.jpg

I was looking at my tank last night and thinking that I shoudl be getting more flow from my 6045 (the 6060 isn't running yet because it blows too much sand around). And I realized that it was running in reverse. In the above pic you can see the water disturbed above teh 6045 instead of out in front of it. Basically it starts out in reverse at least half the time. I had the same issue with the 6025 (on the right side) and the shaft was not secure. I will have to inspect it closer and get another replacement. I love the size of these powerheads but can't really reccommend them after a second bad one.

Exhaust Fan
Something else I wanted to mention is having an exhaust fan in the fish room. My tank is in a room in the basement so not a lot of air circulation (unless the heat or A/C is on and even then it is at the end of the vent run so not a lot of air flow). That may be part of it, but I think any larger tank could give off quite a bit of humidity, not to mention heat and the smell of curing rock or a full skimmer. I put an exhaust fan in when I finished off the office/fish room and I am very very glad that I did. I think it helps greatly with humidity, heat, and odors.

can i make a suggestion, id dispense with the holes to regulate & add a riser & a terminator cap. kinda like an old style pressure cooker bell @ the top of the standpipe. its completly self regulating & quiet. if you want an example you can look at my nano thread for a visual idea of what im talkin about.
your doing well.
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070629overflow.jpg

Thanks V, but I can't quite tell from your pictures what you ahve goin on in your standpipe. Maybe you could give a diagram or disassembled pics? It looks like you might have some kind of fitting and a larger end cap over that so it isn't tight and that is where the air gets in.

Found some clear tunicates yesterday that I thought were cool. I actually managed to get a better pic than I expected. There are a few more smaller ones you can't see.
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070705squirts.jpg

yeah you prob right,i didn;t really break it down at the time. just push or screw a reducer fitting with a riser (pvc pipe offcut..ect)into the top of your standpipe, place the same diameter (dome works well) terminator cap as your stand pipe on top of that, so that the riser keeps it just suspended. i post up some breakdown pic this weekend if you want. Its simple & effective & your'll never have toubles again
http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/attachments/member-tank-projects/1373d1174647586t-pico-nano-old-school-3.jpg (http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/attachments/member-tank-projects/1373d1174647586-pico-nano-old-school-3.jpg)

Test results:
SG: 1.025
Phosphate: 0 or close to it
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20ppm
I thinking great until I tested nitrate.
The diatoms seem to have stopped and may be receeding some. The amphipods from the cured rock have made it all the way accross the tank, but not making their way out into the substrate yet. There are copepods all over glass. Also there are lots of little white curly things everywhere. Are these little pods or baby snails or what?

Over the weekend I finally quieted my drain! I can't get a good picture because my skimmer is infront of it all but here is a diagram. It works great. The vent has the elbow and side extension because sometimes it woudl buble out there and spray salt everywhere. Just making it a little taller would probably have done the trick, but with the elbow and extension there is just a trickle every now and then instead of bursting bubbles.
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/drainmod.jpg
The milk jug is to help keep the microbubles from heading towards the return. the rock just keeps it in place and helps break up the flow. It works somewhat but I still get some bubbles in the return. I might need to try a little taller container.

Its been six weeks and water quality is looking decent finally. I plan to get some snails next week. I'm thinking maybe starting off with about a dozen and keep adding as time goes by. I am dissapointed in the quailty and life of my live rock. The stuff I bought at the LFS is great, but what I ordered from LiveAquaria was not very live. It was so dry and I even paid extra for overnight. I doubt much of anything remained alive on it. Anyway at least I don't have any bad critters I'm aware of. (Though I know there are some flatworms that I saw in the other tank I had the LR in. They were the clear type. But haven't noticed any yet in this tank.)

Here's the monthly tank shot that I will try to keep up.

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070801small.jpg

There are plenty of diatoms and some macro for the snails I add. Hopefully they will start to clean things up.

lookin good man. I just went through this phase. You'd be surprised at how ammused you can be by staring at a bunch of snails lol

I'm sure I will be mesmerized. ...I spend time staring at the amphipods!

lol, me too me too. Now i got a really cool torch to stare ayt for hours :D

(soon brother, soon)

I did pick up some snails last week. I got just a dozen mix of trochus, cerith, and nassarius. One of the tronchus was a dud, but I plan to have a couple hermits for entertainment so I'll want some extra shells around anyway. The ceriths are doing a great job on the film that was growing on the sandbed. I definitely am getting more of those this week.

Most of the diatoms seem to be gone and now I have quite a bit of algae and algae film on the substrate. And even the algae seems to be waning already.

I really should get my fuge going but I'm still not sure how or if I want to adjust my sump. There aren't that many micro bubles coming out anymore, so I may end up leaving it as it. The main change in the design is going to be that I will use a small pump to provide flow into the fuge from the skimmer or return section instead of splitting the drain.

I am most excited that I can now run my Tunze 6060 without blowing substrate everywhere. I slightly repositioned it so that it aims straight accross the top middle of the tank instead of at an angle form the corner. I think that helped, but mostly I think there is enough settling and organic stuff in my subtrate now to support the higher flow.

I adjusted my topoff level in my sump so my return section is a little higher. That means the water coming out of the skimmer section isn't rushing down into the return with the force that it was. This seems to help trap more bubbles in the baffles and I think I am satisified with my sump at this point. Once I get a good topoff container to squeeze in next to the sump I will get the refugium setup. For now the fuge has been my topoff resivoir.

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070819sump.jpg
If you notice the MJ and hose coming out of the return section, I was just getting ready for a water change. I just empty my skimmer and return section (8-9 gallons) to do water changes.

I have had this plan to make an overflow cover for some time. I wanted this to keep light out (to hopefully keep some things from growing in there) and to keep animals out (It would be such a pain to 'fish' someone out of there!)

Top
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070819cover2.jpg

Bottom
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070819cover1.jpg

Side
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070819cover3.jpg

Installed
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070819cover4.jpg

I used a piece of black acrylic that I ordered from McMaster-Carr (http://www.mcmaster.com/) , some eggcrate, and zipties. The lower eggcrate level fits inside the top edge of the overflow and under the upper tank molding (typical AGA tank and megaflow). The middle eggcrate layer is a little wider to set on top of the overflow but is smaller in the back where the tank moulding sticks out. The top acrylic layer fits over the tank moulding. I cut the eggcrate to fit over the return and standpipe air intake.

The most difficult part of this was cutting the acrylic. I tried a dremel and hacksaw but the stuff is just too tuff. Of course the table saw worked fine but I have a rather coarse blade that even has a few missing teeth so it wasn't the neatest job. And I definitely should have worn earplugs even though it only took a few moments to cut. The acrylic was easily the loudest thing I've ever run though the saw. At least it was easy to drill.

It fits great. If you're wondering, I'm sure you could skip the middle layer of eggcrate, but my return piping is just a little over the top edge of the overflow. Also I thought the middle layer of eggcrate might be useful if my overflow intakes would start to clog for some reason, then it would still be easy for the water to flow in through parts of the eggcrate.

Very cool, i have to make myself a pair of those...

I was originally planning to glue the overflow cover together but the zip ties are easier, quicker, and easy to take apart if I wanted to clean it up or something.

Monday night I got more snails and a dozen mexican red leg hermits. The hermits are interesting to watch. Sometimes they fall off the rocks! I'm not a big hermit fan because I like my snails but everything I've read seems like this type is the most likely to be friendly and the LFS dude said they are great with the algae. So in they go with the snails. But I will be ready to start picking them out if I start loosing any snails.

Trochus and Cerith
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070822snails.jpg

Mexican red leg hermit
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070822crab.jpg

Cerith
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070822cerith.jpg

Trochus
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070822trochus.jpg

I now have:
12 mexican red leg hermits
15 cerith
3 nassarius
9 trochus

The hermits immediately went to work on the rocks and seem to be pulling their weight. Though they are quite small. The trochus do great job on the glass and overflow. Trochus supposedly don't get stuck flipped over as much as astrea but I have had to roll a few over already. The ceriths do a great job cleaning up the sand bed. The nassarius burrow under the sand and are normally seen during feeding. But I am not feeding yet (there is plenty of algae for everyone), so I don't see them out much. Occasionally I see one roaming accross the tank or spot a snorkel sticking out of the sand.

September 1, 2007

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070901small.jpg

If you go back to the picture from August 1, you can see how well the snails have cleaned up the diatoms. Still more work to be done but it's getting better. Also algae really started showing up soon after August 1 and the snails and hermits have done well on that also. You can still see some in the tank but it seems under control. At least until I was slow on the water change this week and seems to be some extra algae and diatoms now.

This weekend I plan to get more snails and maybe even a frag or some zoas.

Here's a larger image

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070901.jpg

I finally setup my auto topoff container, so I will be setting up my refugium soon. I will be by the LFS that carries sugarfine sand this weekend and hopefully they have a bag for my fuge. They are usually out when I'm there. If so, maybe I will try something different for the fuge.

I managed to wedge a much large than expected trashcan next to my sump for the topoff water. I can't fill it all the way or it would start a siphon but I have at least 5 gallons in there which is much better than the little 3 gallon can I thought I would have to use. At least I can be sure it will hold out for a weekend away.

I used two trashcans plus a bag in between because of my previous incident where my large 30 gallon can I mixed water in started to leak. I figure two cans and a bag should be pretty safe!

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070901sump.jpg

Thank you for taking the time to post your story and pics it has been very helpful !

I made if back form MACNA XIX today. I could drive there and my parents are about an hour away so it worked out nicely. I heard some good talks and I did get some good deals on some frags this morning. On friday I got to say hi to Rob and Carmie and Aaron. I missed out on Saturday because I got up a little late and the first two talks were the ones I most wanted to hear for the day. Anyway it was still worth it.

I brought the frags home in some styrofoam coolers to maintain temp as best as possible. I stopped at the LFS on the way home and picked up a 5.5gal tank for the frags. I filled it with some tank water, a heater, and MJ400 (could use a little more flow actually, but I think the 1200 might be a little too much since it moves nicely in my 10gal). I floated them for a while in the bags. I opened the bags and put a couple short rods through the tops of the bags to hang accross the tank. Then I periodically dipped the bags to get a little more tank water mixed in.

One of the frags I got was a piece of frogspawn. It is split in half but wasnt completely separated. I loosely put a rubberband around it for now. Maybe I should try superglue? Or is it doomed? I am guessing that it broke when the vendor broke it off the frag plug. I hope it pulls though because, even though it is a little smaller specimen than I would have preferred, it has really great bright green color. At least the others seem to have opend up.

The frag pics aren't the greatest. I thought I had asjusted the white balance some but it didn't seem to do much. I will try some more pics later while they are still in quarrintine.

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/20070916frags1.jpg

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/20070916frags2.jpg

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/20070916frags3.jpg

good to see you bought on your travels & these events being so close to home, killer!
sweet, you got some rampet growing species my friend, your tank will be cluster ^$%ed in no time! I like the rockwork set-up, works well, ample space on all sides where flow can reach. the rockwork itself as well, some interesting formations. very good bud, your flying! :up:

Thanks for noticing Corey.

V - Glad you like the rock. I'm not so pleased with it now, but I think it will look great when the top half of the tank is full of SPS. And I hope the little frags grow fast. I have a big tank to fill.

David,

It was great meeting you at MACNA! I didn't buy any livestock, instead I kept repeating "I can't take anything home, I can't take anything home" even on Sunday when everything was super cheap. I don't know what to say about the frogspawn, I think if it was mine I'd just wait and see.

I would recommend doing plenty of water changes and perhaps running carbon in your frag tank. I had QT'd a bunch of frags and they ended up not looking so good due to allopathy. I take the water for the QT water changes from my DT and add the new saltwater to by reef.

I change 20% in the frag tank with water from the main tank every couple days. I try to keep it fresh with all those frags and such a small volume. Also i got another MJ1200 to try and see if it is not too powerful becasue I would like a little more power than the 400 outputs to keep anything in the water suspended better and more surface breakup. Also since there is nothing really in my main tank to ruin, I plan to have them in within two weeks. Any reason I should wait longer if the only things in my tank are rock, snails, hermits, and algae?

I forgot to mention, the frogspawn that is split is open up nice and far. So far it looks OK. I'm just wondering what the long term effects will be. Maybe it could be more prone to catch something with the trunk split open. I'll keep posting the progress.

You would be surprised how resilient the frogspawns can be. It will form its skeleton in not time and repair itself. No worries IMO. I still have a piece of my frogspawn from my first reef tank that is going on 13 years old - one of the first corals I have kept.

Love the set up - nice work - Definitely like the frag set up as well. I am sure MACNA was incredible. I am going to have to make it there someday. I will be chiming in on your progress - I can tell you are taking things nice and slow;)

Good to hear you think its tough. Heres how it looks...

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070920frogspawn.jpg

I found baby snails? in my frag tank. Very small. The inset one is maybe 1/4 the size of the other one on the eggcrate. The tiny one is very conical. The other is a little more elongated and a little bit flatter. Both very black. Any ideas on what they are? I would try to snag them, but I don't think I could with out harming them. So until I have a reason to remove them they can hang out.

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070920snails.jpg

You want to QT the corals long enough to make sure you don't have any undesirable hitchhikers. They can have zoa eating nudis, redbugs, flatworms, etc all things you don't want to battle in your tank. Of course some times you get hitchhikers that are good like your snails may be. I can't tell what they are, maybe someone else will be able to help. If they were mine guess I would wait and see when they are bigger. :)

The frogspawn wasn't quite as inflated the last day or two, but now looks nice and full.

Thanks for the great journal. It made me wish I'd kept more detail as I went along. I really appreciated the descriptions of the plumbing. I've got a noisy drainpipe in the overflow and i got some ideas from your experiences of how to fix it. Also just today when I was cleaning the algae out of my overflow i was thinking there must be a way to make a cover for it so the light doesn't get in. Your design is great, i'll see what I can do to replicate.

The coral from MACNA is amazing. I look forward to seeing it grow!

Have fun, Martha

Hi David,

I thought of you today, I had my son at the ER with an asthma attack and the nurse had an I Love Penn State badge holder. :)

Carmie, I know you have mentioned battling HA a few times. Then today to MMaz you said that you siphon through a mesh bag to catch the algae then dump the water back in. That made me think...

If you can secure the bag and the hose over your sump, start the siphon, and the return can keep up... It would be real easy way to vacuum the tank!

I may see if I can set up something like that. I guess you would probably want a valve on the hose so you could fill it up, get it in the tank, then open the valve to start siphoning.

Good idea! That would be easier than dumping a 5 gallon jug back in my tank!

good to see your thread is helping others:up: to bud

Well, my frags weren't doing do hot. Well actually they were hot. Way too hot. I found that my little frag tank was getting over 85 F. The frogspawn was easiest to notice that it was getting a bit deflated. I put a fan accross them and it cooled off, but I decided it was time to make the move. I would normally QT longer but I really don't have anythign else in my tank yet so I'll risk it. Anyway everything is looking much better though some of the zoas I banged around a bit getting them into position some of those didn't open yet. Hopefully they will be ok.

Frogspawn Euphyllia divisa
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070929frogspawn.jpg

Zoanthids Zoanthis sp.
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070929zoas3.jpg

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070929zoas2.jpg

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070929zoas1.jpg

Moon Brain Favites sp.
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070929moon.jpg

Bird's Nest Seriatora hystrix (actually is the brown the same species as the pink or not?)
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070929birdsnest.jpg

Brown Acro Acropora sp. - I ma hoping this develops some color under the MH.
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070929acro.jpg

This is my fovorite but I am a little concerned about it because it did loose a little bit of color. Alos does anyone know what this thing on the upper right is? I thought at first it was a snail, but no. It has not moved for two weeks, but has gotten about twice as big. I am going to take it off tomorrow and see if I can get a better pic. It seems to be kinda a outward curl and I see a head or fan or something (its very small) move when a pod or something steps on it or by.

Superman Encrusting Montipora Montipora tuberculosa (Superman because it is blue and red.)
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20070929superman.jpg

I mounted my frogspawn in place with superglue gel which was a PITA. It did not work well using under water since I was mounting it directly to a large rock. I am going to see how much of the glue mess will comeoff and redo it with aquastick putty. I also need to secure the acro. Everythign else seems to sit nicely in its place, though I may have to move the orange zoas because they are hard to see and mgiht nto be getting much light were they are. Just how much light do zoas need?

Zoas are pretty low light. Until I got my Solaris I had mine on the bottom under PC lights.

Your S-man is definatly hugging the contures of the rockwork. your right though, it is abit drab in colour. i cant see what the dark thing is, not clear enough. Maybe bubble Alg like the on the left. its it on the animal or on the rockwork beside it?

Alos does anyone know what this thing on the upper right is? I thoguth at first it was a snail, but no. It has not moved for two weeks, but has gotten about twise as big. I going to take it off tomorrow and see if I can get a better pic. It seems to be kinda a outward curl and I see a head or fan or something (its very small) move when a pod or something steps on it or by.


I think Renee got the ID here...
http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/snails-crabs-others/5125-id.html

vermetid snail - there is a good article link I found also
Snails That Worm Their Way Into Tanks by Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rs/index.php)

Anyway sounds like this guy has got to go. Looks like I have a Spiroglyphus annulatus. They can reproduce quickly and as fast as it grew I believe it.

whooowho id solved.

well, after many documented attempts with amp on the id thing, you would think i would give up by now..lol , maybe one day i'll get one! owning the same doesn't always garentee success though:huh: Beer goggles, thats my excuse & im sticking to it! :unsure:

The corals look very happy today. All the polyps are bigger than I have ever seen them. The frogspawn is huge.

On another note my skimmer hasn't been producing much the past couple weeks. I am wondering if this is part of the maturing system and just not as much gunk in there. There really shoudn't be any kind of significant bio load for a 90 gallon. I haven't turned it up any. Any thoughts?

I think I got some good shots so I'll post some new photos this week too.

Sunday
I removed the vermetid from the monti. Then I cleaned up and put the lid back on and immediately spotted another on one of my snails! Yikes. I took that off also. To remove them I used a utility knife and it was more like pokining in the hole and cracking it apart. The shells are very tough.

Thursday
Another spotted on another snail! Luckily it was up on top of the rock and easy to nab. These snails are spme of the most recent ones I got a couple weeks ago. Another good reason to QT everything! Anyway I hope they weren't all getting along too well because I don't want to fight vermetids.

The Frogspawn is looking great...
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20071001frogspawn.jpg

October 1, 2007 - FTS
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20071001_1024.jpg

I have only been doing water changes (10-12 gallons) about every other week. But my water parameters rock. I am assuming that the good water parameters, a reasonably cycled tank, and very light bioload is why my skimmer hasn't been producing too much. Everythign seems happy, so it works for me. I do want to check my skimmer and return pump this week and see if they need cleaning yet. I figure even if the skimmer pump is reasonably clean, getting some stuff on the needle wheel impeller could be impacting the performance. Anyone have any reccommendations on how ofter they clean their skimmer pump? (If you have somehting similar to a Euro-Reef CS100.)

I cleaned my powerheads last week. And once again my Tunze 6060 is too powerful and blowing the sand around at the other end of the tank. I have it lowered all the way down to just over the rock to stop that. You can kinda see in the pic above as the current came down the right side from the top it was pushing the sand. I really need a Vortech so I can adjust the flow! :D But that is not in the budget for now. I am considering a piece of plastic to block some intake to tone it down. I also my just try the large Koralia. Then I could compare that to the Nanostream 6045 that is in there since they are similar flow rattings.

I picked up a peppermint shrimp tonight. It is already in the tank after a slow acclimation. Inverts like this are especially sensitive to water parameter changes. I don't drip acclimate, but I cup just a little tank water and add it every few minutes to the acclimating species. The shrimp seemed ok when I put him in. He covered some rock area for a few minutes checking all the holes and must have found one he likes because I can't find him anymore.

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20071005peppermint.jpg

David,
Is that the frogspawn from MACNA? It looks great!

It sure is. It plumped up nicely the second day it was in the DT.

If you take enough photos, you're bound to get a decent one at some point...

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20071007frogspawn2.jpg

I spotted a hermit that is not one of my redlegs, but I'm certian that he came with them. Anyone know what type this is and what their disposition is? He has white legs but blue and white stripped antenna and eyes. Maybe some black in there too.

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20071007hermitx.jpg

What a great image of your frogspawn! Gotta love digital, I throw away tons of pictures for every one I keep.

I don't know about the hermit but there is a school of thought that says hairy crabs are bad crabs. I don't know if this is really true or if it is does it apply to hermits. however, under better safe than sorry maybe you should put him in the sump until someone who knows for sure chimes in.

Quick update on things...

The white hermit has not been bothering anything so I am not concerned about him at this point.

What I am concerned about is the vermetids. I have spotted a few more. All on my trochus snails. I guess they came with the free bonus! I am going to have a little inspection and removal party later this week.

I finally cut the acrylic overflow baffle for my refugium so that is now siliconed in place and I will get it running and post pics soon.

Stupid move

I unplugged the topoff while doing some work and forgot to plug it back in. Realized it the next day when I saw that the temperature was below 76! Then I see that my heater is dry (as much as I don't like the Hydor Theo heater at least it shuts off instead of burning up if running dry). And my return would soon be sucking air! Quickly topped off a gallon or so and the temperature slowly returned. Nothing seems affected.

That was lucky. I'm glad everything seems to be OK.

Refugium

The refugium is up and running. It is almost half of my 30g sump. It has 5" DSB with the top 1-2" being a coarser sand (CaribSea seafloor special grade 1-2mm) that did not cloud the water at all. The rest of the bed is sugar fine. I'm glad the coarser stuff caused no clouding like the sugar fine did in the main tank because I was able to immediately start it circulating with the main tank water. It still blows around a bit so for now I am using an MJ400 instead of the MJ1200 I was planning on. I expect a good biofilm will help. There is some cheato and some rock that already has extablished pod population. I plan to move a few more rocks form the display eventually also. There are also 3 trochus snails in there for now. Will be adding a few cerith and nassarius eventually also.

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20071103refugium.jpg

I have some of this algae growing on the rocks. No one eats it. I am slightly concerned that it could get out of hand. It is redish and wirey. Is this red turf algae?
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20071103algae.jpg

Hi David, the fuge is looking good. I have some red wiry algae that no one eats, I try to pull some of it out every time I'm in the aquarium.

I added two small peppermint shrimp this weekend. With them the larger one I have must be more confortable. I don't see any of them much but much more than I did. In other news the birdsnest is growing like crazy. Even in this shot where it is tiny I think you can tell from the last one. I also got a dozen trochus snails and a dozen nassarius.

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20071102_640.jpg

Great growth on the bird's nest!

Its been a while! But not much to report. Nothing new and the tank is doing ok. The coral is growing nicely. The fuge is running and I see more pods than ever (not that there was any lack of them before). The fuge is a bit messy with some fresh algae and diatoms. I need to move a few snails in. The peppermint trio seem happy and show themselves a little more.

There is a bit of algae that seems to be clearing up lately. I attribute it to forming partly from setting up my fuge with some rock that had a bit of algae on it and that my skimmer wasn't performing up to snuff. I found that I need to run fresh water into the venturi tube every couple days to keep the skimmer performing well. For that I just slip my topoff hose over the valve and trigger the topoff float valve. This keeps it skimming well.

The other thing I have noticed lately is that I don't see many of my cerith snails. How long do they live? Are they more fragile than the trochus or nassarius? I am wondering if the new sand and LR from another tank could have caused a slight cycle. I guess if they died while burried in the sand I might not know but I would be the nassarius snails would be all over them the way I have seen on a couple trochus that didn't make it. And it the nassarius were digging at them I would expect at least some of the shells to surface.

Anyway, I plan to stop at the LFS this week and get some more snails. I might even pick up a fish! We'll see if they have a royal gramma or firefish.

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20071202_640.jpg

Heat adjustments
The other thing I have noticed this week is that my temperature hasn't been varying a few degrees. Nothing extreme but for quite a while I had a very steady 80 F. It never varried by more than 1 degree. But lately I saw it down to 78 so I turned up my heaters, then when the lights were on it hit 83. Anyway I thought maybe it was low because it was actually too cold in here so I added a third 200W heater today to see if that helps. It is the one that I can't turn down any less and used to keep the tank a little warm, but being 10 deg cooler in the house now I don't think it will be an issue.

Topoff water
The other thing that colder weather and using the furnace brought is dry air and so my topoff has gone to nearly 2 gallons a day. Running water through the fuge overflow may be contributing also but there is a lid over the rest of it so general evaporation in the fuge should be fairly low. Humidity in the room is only 25% right now. I estimate the topoff was a little over 1 gallon per day before.

Something else I wanted to mention... The bracket on my Tunze nano stream broke. (You can see in the pic above it is out of the bracket and just hanging in the corner.) It's not the little tabs that hold the magnet on that everyone breaks. (I glued that together long ago.) Its one of the curved arms that hold the pump. I noticed that it was almost falling out last time I cleaned it a while ago. I adjusted it today and then noticed it had come free a moment later. Anyway my two cents is that I can't reccommend a Tunze nanostream. Though I love my 6060. Which BTW I might be selling if I get a Vortech for christmas!

I would email Tunze, I have heard that they are very good about replacing defective parts.

...yeah Carmie, I'm sure they will. They already replaced the motor and prop on my 6025 because it wasn't quite right either. On the early units the shaft came free. I used to be all for these and they will be a great product when all the kinks get worked out. But for now I would recommend a Koralia (though I have not actually tried one out yet).

New Frags!

I picked up a couple new frags last night...

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20071206blue.jpg

The photots don't do this thing justice. It is so bright green even in daylight.
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20071206greena.jpg

Under the actinics it shows a little better in the photo.
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20071206greenb.jpg

...yeah Carmie, I'm sure they will. They already replaced the motor and prop on my 6025 because it wasn't quite right either. On the early units the shaft came free. I used to be all for these and they will be a great product when all the kinks get worked out. But for now I would recommend a Koralia (though I have not actually tried one out yet). I recently got two Koralia 2's (from koralia (http://www.theculturedreef.com/koralia.htm)) and I am very pleased with them. They move a ton of water and I've not had the first bit of trouble.

I posted a pic of a tiny snail I found last week in another thread ( http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/snails-crabs-others/5487-tiny-snail-id.html )and have since seen up to five at once so I am sure there are more of them. I believe theses must be hitch hikers.

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20071206snail.jpg

But what I really am excited about is finding a baby cerith snail. I spotted it last night on the glass and a hermit was happening by and knoed it off while using it as a foot hold. But I saw it again tonight and got a decent pic. Anyway I was a little worried because I havn't seem my cerith population around as much. But the last couple days I have seen a little more of them. I am thinking with the algae outbreak (since adding the refugium) that they may just be finding easy eats and quickly head back to rest under the sand.

(Its about 1/4")
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20071218babycerith.jpg

Nice picture. My cereiths hide all the time too.

First Fish!

My first fish just six months in. I was actually planning to wait a couple more months but just couldn't. I felt that wiht my fuge running that I have enough pods to suport my favorite fish... a mandarin. I know there are plenty of copepods because if I dont clean the glass for a day or two there are plenty of them on there. I actually got him two weeks ago when I got the frags but dint get a decent pic until yesterday. He spends most of his time weaving around the rock work and is usually in the shadows. He seems happy and healthty as far as I can tell. There is no noticable hit in the copepod population either.

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20071216mandarin.jpg

It is a male mandarin because the first spine on his dorsal fin is longer than the rest (can't see it in the photo). Two male mandarins can't be kept together becasue they will fight. It is normally advisable to wait longer than I did to ensure a solid copepod population as that is usually their sole diet. It is also advised to have at least a 75 gallon tank and a refugium.

First Fish!

My first fish just six months in. I was actually planning to wait a couple more months but just couldn't. I felt that wiht my fuge running that I have enough pods to suport my favorite fish... a mandarin. I know there are plenty of copepods because if I dont clean the glass for a day or two there are plenty of them on there. I actually got him two weeks ago when I got the frags but dint get a decent pic until yesterday. He spends most of his time weaving around the rock work and is usually in the shadows. He seems happy and healthty as far as I can tell. There is no noticable hit in the copepod population either.

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20071216mandarin.jpg

It is a male mandarin because the first spine on his dorsal fin is longer than the rest (can't see it in the photo). Two male mandarins can't be kept together becasue they will fight. It is normally advisable to wait longer than I did to ensure a solid copepod population as that is usually their sole diet. It is also advised to have at least a 75 gallon tank and a refugium.
I love mandarins! I think that you are in a different set of circumstances that the "average" hobbyist. After 6 months you are just adding your first fish.

There is a great article from Borneman that greatly influenced me. It describes really taking your time to establish a tank. This includes lots of cycle time (2+ months) getting coral established first and then finally adding fish. The tank woudnt be fully stocked for a year or more. I must have the link at home. I will check for it later.

Found it here...

The Building of a Reef (tank) (http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic23945-9-1.aspx)

It is actually referenced on TR where I first found it! Thanks Gwen.
http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/general-marine-discussions/2401-what-order-add-livestock.html

Here's another little snail I found. I actually think he may have come along on my first live rock months ago and was about half the size then. It is 3/8" long. I was afraid it might be a bumble bee snail because the stripes look yellow. But bumble bee snails have much broader stripes and are not shaped quite like ceriths. I believe this is some varity of cerith.

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20071221snail.jpg

Bumblebees have a snorkel and it doesn't look like there is one on this snail.

New Fish and Frag
Last night I was near the LFS and had to pick up some salt and snails. I also found a green birdsnest frag and a yellow tang. The birds nest is a pale color with bright green polyps. I hope it grows as fast as my other one as it is much smaller. I am excited about the tang also. It looks great in the tank though I only got him in with the actinics. (BTW, this is not something I would ever recommend to anyone. Good quarrantine practices would be much safer when adding new specimens. I have just been so busy lately that I know they will be better off in the more stable main tank.) The unfortunate thing is that my wife went away with some girlfirends this weekend and took the camera with her. So I will have to wait until next week for pictures. The tang is nice size maybe around 3". The birdsnest has two main stalks about 1.5" each. The polyps came out immediately once I put it into the tank. But then a peppermint shimp kept picking at parts of it.

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p114/NaClFinatic/tank/20080113tang640.jpg

David, he looks nice! Yellow tangs always remind me of a sunny day!

All doing well, especially the red slime

The fish are doing well. The mandarin seems much more comfortable coming out of the rockwork with another fish around. And the tang seems great.

On another note my red slime cyano bacteria seems to be getting worse. And I'm sure now adding nori for the tang is helping that! I have been feeding a little more lately and slacking on water changes. Ouch, that'll do it. So I will be starting siphoning and chaning water more. I was looking into chemi-clean, but doesn't seem like the best idea. I may try it if the siphoning doesn't work so well. I have tried to get some off with a scraper occasionally and most doesn't come off too well.

Frogspawn

My frogspawn started looking bad after I adjusted my powerheads for more flow. This was quite a while ago. I finally got it moved down low in an area with less flow but it got worse. Well I thought maybe it wasn't getting enough light and had written it off with only a couple litlte limp polyps left. Well the past week or so it appears to be recovering. Looks like it has more polyps, all still small but inflated nicely. I will post some pics up one of these days and show the progress.

I know that mine likes to be waving but not beat up.

It's been a while since I updated. I was on vacation the end of January and have been catching up on everything else since. Anyway, the bad news is that the frogspawn did not make it. The good news is everything else is great. I am still battling the cyano. I now do water changes by putting an extra 4 gallons in my sump then siphoning that much out of the tank taking as much cyano as I can with it. I do three buckets for around 12 gallons total changed out. It at least looks a little better in the display. If I can get to this more than every couple weeks or so I figure it might start to help. I also want to get a reactor or two to run activated carbon and phos-ban. I will probalby just try one and alternate the media when I change it. I also need to get one of those scrapers that glues to a magfloat to get the coraline that is encroaching from the corners of the glass.

Great tank so far! I am tagging along since I am setting up a tank almost identical to yours! I have a 90 AGA with the same stand and canopy. I went with the 6 T5 setup and I plan to follow the Borneman was to setup a tank (Get live rock wait a few months, then CUC, the corals, then fish).

Hi Krash and :welcome: to TR.

I will also follow the Borneman method the next time I start a tank out.

Thanks for the welcome Carmie. I hope I have the patience to try the Borneman method. So far it has been 3 weeks and I just have a bunch of rock and algea. It is going to be rough seeing that for the next 2 months!

Thanks for reading Krash. And welcome.

I definitely recommend the borneman method despite my current cyano problem. I attribute this to when I added the refugium. Seriously refugiums are good, but the rock I put in had some cyano and I am questioning the extra sand I added also.

The battle rages on...

I have been weekly siphoning off cyano from the upper rocks in my tank when doing water change. If anything it just comes back thicker and faster!

So I finally got my phosban reactor this week. I chaose the Kent model because it had piping glued on that hangs over the tank so I figured it would be less likely to leak hanging outside of the sump... Well one of the joints leaks anyway! Great. So I will get some epoxy this week and patch that up so that I can start running it. Hopefully that will help.

Lights!

I got new bulbs. The old were 9 months old so I figured they could be starting to shift spectrum and it couldn't hurt to try this also to fight the cyano. Plus I have been anxious to try the reeflux bulbs to see if it improves color of my coral.

Old bulbs: 2x TRU Actinic 03 T5, 2x 175W XM 10k MH

New bulbs: 2x Giesemann PowerChrome Pure Actinic T5s, 2x 175W Reeflux 12k MH

Result: WOW
The T5s are awesome! (and at $30 they better be!) They actually look much whiter than the old ones but seem to give even more florescence to the corals.
The reeflux are much bluer than the old bulbs. (of course 10k to 12k) They also give much more florescence to most of the coral. And I think I like the look. I will get some pictures in a week or so once they go through burn in. (The spectrum can change a little initially as new bulbs get used.) I am mostly hoping to see more coloration in the coral from using these bulbs.

Good News...

The new lights appear to be holding the cyano at bay. It is hardly expanding anymore. Maybe not at all.

I do not yet have the phos-reactor hooked up yet so that is not helping yet. after I epoxied it there was still a drip. I will try again this weekend and hopefully get it up and running. I still need this going because I have some hair algae expanding. I'm sure this is partially a result of regular seaweed feeding for the tang.

Great thread NaCl! I have a general question if you don't mind me posting it in your thread. As I am following the Borneman method for stocking a tank, he mentions that the first corals stocked in the tank should be pioneer corals and not climax corals. What corals are considered pioneer and what are consider climax? Thanks.

Im not sure about pioneer vs climax. Pioneer species are probably those more likely to propogate and grow in a fresh area in the wild to begin a new reef area. The climax species probably are more picky about environment and don't show up until the reef is better established. I would just start out with the hardier species and work your way up to the more challenging specimens. But not to say you couldn't thow a piece of anythign in and have it do fine. Mainly I think it is to experiment with some and be sure your parameters are steady and slowly increase the number of specimens (and along with that more food causing more bioload).

I am a very light feeder. Most would say not enough. I feed just a little zoplankton, frozen cyclops, or frozen plankton about twice a week. Plus seaweed for the tang. Right now I wrap a bit of nori and red seaweed on a broken plastic hanger and tape that to the tank edge. It takes the tang 2 or 3 days to finish that then I wait a day before adding more.

just tagging along on this thread. It all looks great!

-Matt