Amphibious' 135 gal Reef

[RocketSeason]

I ask, because I am wanting to get a Mandarin soon and I do not want the competition for pods.

[Amphibious]

Tell me a little about your tank, Matt, size, length of time in service, water parameters, filter system, etc.

Dick

[RocketSeason]

37 Gallon cube with Softies. sump with a 6 gallon fuge section. 95 lbs of LR. I have 1 O. Clown right now and a cleaner shrimp. (also the usual cleanup crew. Snails, crabs, starfish.) The whole thing has been running for 5 years.

Parameters are horrible right now but I am getting it back into shape again. My wife had a tough pregnancy and I neglected my tank for 9 months.

I do have a decent sized pod population now. ( I hope they are the right kind of pods) the whole reason for so much rock is specifically so I could get a mandarin.

Here is the most recent page of my tank journal: Matt's 37 Gallon Reef

[Amphibious]

A message to all,

I hate to disappoint you RocketSeason but, your system will not support a Mandarin. It will clean out your pod population in a few weeks and then starve to death. This is what happens to most Mandarins collected, unfortunately. Their beauty and food requirements are their down fall. It requires a large system (100 gals minimum) to support a reproductive pod population to support one Mandarin and that assumes no other fish are consuming pods. Most fish will opportunistically eat pods cutting the population down. So, please, do not attempt keeping a Mandarin. It takes discipline to do the right thing. I know because I have several fish in my 135 that are not dependent on pods but, I see them eating them regularly. So, I have put off buying a Mandarin, one of my favorite fish, for that reason. It's all about being a responsible reefer.

Sorry if I come across the wrong way but, we must take responsibility for our actions or a Government body will do it for us. There are forces at work right now wanting to limit or STOP all collection of reef critters because of the feeling that we (the captive reef keepers) are responsible for the destruction of coral reefs world wide. Of course we are not out there collecting with cyanide, dynamiting the reef and killing countless critters, destroying coral BUT, there are collectors that still practice those methods. We buy what survives and that drives the collectors. Yes, this still goes on!

Let's do our best at being responsible reefers.

Dick

[RocketSeason]

Cool, cool. Trust me when I say that I hate it when I see so many Mandarins go out the door of a petshop in the hands of people who have no idea how to care for them. I certainly don't want to become one of "those people"

Quick question though (I don't want to hijack your thread so if you would like, we can discuss this elsewhere) I have always been under the impression that the reason for a large system for a Mandarin was because it took alot of rock to support a pod population large enough to keep a mandarin happy. (that, and a fuge big enough to keep the system renewing itself.) I have a small tank yes, however I have 95 lbs of LR. Perhaps I have been mislead in the past?

edit: Perhaps the tank size is important as a way to spread out the grazing range of the Mandarin over a larger area? that way Pods are less concentrated and therefore, less likely to be eaten faster? (I am just thinking...)

[Amphibious]

I'm thinking you answered your own question, RocketSeason.

Dick

[Privitor]

looks like a cool tank dick i cant wait to see it!

[cr8signs]

Hi Dick, how are you?
So when you had your algae problem awhile back, what did you actually do get rid of it? Any one or two actions that you feel really kicked its butt?
PS Purple Tang is doing great. Getting bigger and fat. Almost time to get her/him in the DT tank. Just slowly adjusting the saliniy back to 1.026 . Thanks for your advice, without it I am sure I would have lost her/him.
What kind of foods are best for the blennies?

[Skurvey Dog]

Hey Dick! Where are we with the building now? Just curious as summer is on the way!

[Amphibious]

I am so far behind on my thread, sorry!

Originally Posted by cr8signs

Hi Dick, how are you?
So when you had your algae problem awhile back, what did you actually do get rid of it? Any one or two actions that you feel really kicked its butt?
PS Purple Tang is doing great. Getting bigger and fat. Almost time to get her/him in the DT tank. Just slowly adjusting the saliniy back to 1.026 . Thanks for your advice, without it I am sure I would have lost her/him.
What kind of foods are best for the blennies?

Hi Renee, I'm great, thank you. When I had my algae problem? It's still around but, not as bad. I added more small hermits and more snails, two dwarf slugs that promptly disappeared. There supposed to eat Bryopsis.
So glad your Purple Tan is doing great. They are such a showie fish. the Blennies eat BS, Mysis, flake, pellet, almost anything including algae. They are not too fond of Bryopsis though. I had to let them get hungry before they would nibble on the algae.

Good to hear from you Renee.

Dick

[Amphibious]

Hi Skurvey, the building is on hold right at the moment. I ordered 3 skylights and when the building was delivered and I saw the very fragile looking skylights, I decided not to put them in. So, we just started putting the building together and now we're as far as we can go until material from the factory arrives, hopefully this week. We need to get this puppy done before hurricane season rolls around. Here is a pic of the building as it stands now, taken of the inside - (should update my building thread, too)...



This will give you an idea of what the inside will look like.

Dick

[Amphibious]

It's really cool having two hobbies that compliment each other like reefing and photography. For those that are curious I shoot a Nikon D70 with the standard 18-70mm lens. I have a set of 3 close-up rings that I use for Macro. I'm going to show several pictures of the same subjects at various photo times to give a better pictorial of the tank and how the inhabitants interact or for some other reason.

I should mention this 135 is lite with the PFO Solaris I4 72" LED fixture set at 100% solar whites and blues and in lunar mode the whites are at 0% and the blues are at 5%. The current version has been on the tank since Sept '07. Prior to that time I had the earlier versions of Solaris.

Got some new fish and corals to bring you up to date and a review of some oldies that have been in the tank for awhile. It was two years ago this month that I brought home 2 Crocea clams from IMAC. I'm happy to report that they are still with me and have more than doubled in size. I also picked up a third about a year and a half ago. Here are some recent pictures of the Croceas.



This clam turned himself completely around from how I wanted him to display. You can't really get a good look at him. So...



I turned him around so we could see him better. Next is a set of two pictures, the first of another Crocea in a frontal view...



This angle shows a rather drab colored clam. This is how he was when I bought him. In order to enjoy his true beauty you have to look from above, like this...



Same clam, same lighting, same camera settings. Quite different color reflection from above. This is why ZeroEdge aquariums are becoming so popular. They are designed to be viewed from above, the way clams are best viewed. The other two Croceas where not in a position conducive to shooting them from above. Here's the third one...



This one always ends up leaning to his left side. I think he leans into the flow of the water current.

I've been feeding a combination of Phyto-Feast and Roti-Feast produced by, Reef Nutrition twice a week.

More to come tomorrow.

Dick

[suep]

Actually, I kind of like the reddish view from the side, but that's only because I have two deep blue/purple clams already! Nice clams!

[mariog]

Hello Dick,
Thanks for responding to my question in the other thread. I have been looking at your system for raising the rock. It sounds like a good idea to cut holes in the pipes. I understand the concept but, I guess my question is, when you cut the holes, did you cut only one side of the pvc then move a few inches down and cut another hole on the opposite of that, or did you cut straight through so you have a complete hole through both sides on the same section? I'm sorry if it's a little confusing what I'm trying to say, I really don't know a better way of wording it.

What did you use to cut the holes through the pvc?

Also, what are your thoughts on a 2" sand bed, and can this method be used as well?

I'm new to this and want to make sure that I cover everything to eliminate having to redo things in the future.

Thank you for your time.

[Amphibious]

Originally Posted by suep

Actually, I kind of like the reddish view from the side, but that's only because I have two deep blue/purple clams already! Nice clams!

Thanks, Sue. Be sure to watch your Calcium and Magnesium levels. Clams will suck up a a lot of Calcium in producing their shell and Magnesium levels will fall, too. Those are two of the most important additives. The third is Alk/Ph for maintaining Alkalinity.


mariog, I used 1 1/2" PVC and cut 1" holes using a hole saw. One hole near the top and one hole near the bottom on opposite sides. Not sure it is necessary but that's how I did it.

A 2" shallow sand bed (SSB) will work fine as an aerobic area for the conversion of Ammonia and Nitrite but not deep enough to create the anaerobic conditions for the final step, converting Nitrate to Nitrogen gas, that a DSB of 4" or more will provide. That leaves you with the real possibility of Nitrate accumulation which is near impossible to eliminate with water changes.

I hope this answers your questions.

Dick