Cabbageheads 135 gallon reef

[cabbagehead]

This tank is the product of two years experience in this hobby. I know I still have a lot to learn but I decided to get a tank that would give me the ability to keep a wide range of corals and fish. All of the rock and coral were transplanted from my old 55 gallon. I decided to start over with the fish population so I traded in all of my old fish. The stand is made from bird's eye maple and was framed with 2x4 and 2x6 to give extra support. This is the stand about 75% complete.
Attachment 4

This is the stand complete before staining and poly coat.
Attachment 5

[cabbagehead]

This is the stand with the lights installed 3x175 MH 4x65 PC
Attachment 6
This is a picture of the tank after the transplant ( sorry about the flash)
Attachment 7

These are some pictures of my favorite corals
Attachment 8
Attachment 9

[Rob]

tanks looks great.. thanks for sharing...
hope to see some more soon...

[badu11]

good job on the stand. I really like the grain of the maple. It gives the stand a professional look! I know you weren't able to walk into a HD or Lowes and pick up wood like that. Where did you find that wood?

[cabbagehead]

Thanks badu11 & Rob
I got the wood at a local cabinet shop that also deals in hardwood and trim. I was originally just looking for a high quality maple with zero nots but when I saw this piece I had to get it. The bad thing is that it put me about two months behind on my budget. I also took my time cutting it as it could not be replaced easily. Thanks for the positive comments!

[gwen_o_lyn]

Awesome tank- looks great!!

[cabbagehead]

Just got a monti cap frag today. Looks like it is already starting to sprout.
Attachment 16

[ghostbear29]

now thats a nice tank. great clean job! looks nice.

[mopecula]

I just love the wood work, nice job!!

[cabbagehead]

Well good news to report today as I have reduced my nitrates to less that 1ppm. My new sump configuration has had a positive effect on the performance of my skimmer. I think for the past year I have been under powering my skimmer through some bad plumbing methods. I was able to shorten the length of flex hose and eliminate two elbows and now my skimmer is producing a thick foam all day long. Most of my diatom bloom is gone and all other tank parameters are within normal ranges. I did lose two fish over the past week but that was due to a new local fish store that I tried and the less than experienced clerk. I bought two skunk clowns from this store at $9.99 each (great deal I thought!!) Well it turns out theses little guys had been in a tank with a trigger fish that had stressed them beyond recovery. I went back and talked to the owner who explained what had happend and said he never planned on selling those fish to anyone. Needless to say I got credit. Future plans for the tank include new MH bulbs ( I bought the ones I have used). I planned on getting 14000k but after listening to the most recent podcast I think I will read Dr. Sanjay Joshi article in reefkeeping mag before I make my decision. I would also like to have some feedback on my aquascaping as I am planning a remodel. I want to limit the spread of my GSP and put my clams in a more visible location.
Thanks to all who have posted
Jack

[pham411]

bad plumbing can effect skimming? you mind sharing that story cabbage? i ask because i just got a new euro-reef 180 and it seems to be having problems producing foam.. maybe its my plumbing..
thanks

[cabbagehead]

When I plummed the mag7 for my skimmer I had the intake line to the skimmer plummed using elbows and way too much flex hose. This resulted in not enough flow to the skimmer and foam production was very limited

[cabbagehead]

Greetings!
Well my tank is coming along nicely. I changed the aquascape a little to go along with my original plan to have a lot of open water. I do have a problem a big problem
Cynobacteria...
dcp_2172.jpg
This has spread to various places in my tank and is a real eyesore. I have done three
40 gallon water changes in the past three days and it has not seemed to affect it one bit. Here are my tank parameters as of 03-04-06
Nitrate- 15
Phos- 0
PH - 8.1
Calcium- 480
Salinity - 1.025
Am - 0
Nitrite - 0

I was gone for a month and the instructions I left for the tank were followed to the tee!! I only feed one cube a day of either Formula 2 or mysis. This is my current fish list:
1 Yellow tang
1 Hippo tang
1 Purple tang
1 Six line wrasse
1 Pink skunk clown
35 nassarius
15 mex turbos
15 hermits
2 peppermint shrimp
1 cleaner shrimp
1 coral banded shrimp

I know that this is a lot for a tank that is only 3 months old but everything came from an established setup. This is my first experience with MH lighting and the retro that I bought was used including the bulbs (3x175 MH 4x65 PC). So now I have some questions

1. Could the old bulbs be the cause of the cyno. Should my next purchase be new bulbs?

2. With a nitrate of 15 I have some kind of nutrient in the tank that is not being processed what could it be.

3. I currently have 110 pounds of live rock in a 135. Do I need more for it to become an effective nitrate processor.

4. Flow... I currently have 4 maxi jets which I know is not enough for my tank. my return pump is a quiet one 5000 at close to 900gph at my head. Should my next purchase be a set of TUNZE?

Sorry for all the questions.. Now for some NICE pictures of the tank
dcp_2155.jpg


dcp_2162.jpg
dcp_2171.jpg

[gwen_o_lyn]

Feeding less and adding flow seems to rid cyano. If I see even a teensy little bit, I skip the meal and see how it looks the next day. I feed every other day. You are importing more than you are exporting when you have a cyano or algae problem. Also would work on doing water changes to get rid of the high nitrates.

Talk looks great btw- love the clam.

[Jimm]

I love that stand. Nice job.

[fishcounter]

Well done! It looks like the set up you have is pretty close to the one I am planning. Thanks for the pics becasue it helps me to see roughly what I am getting into. It looks great!

[FibberMcGee]

I agree with gwen, skip a meal or two the fish will handle it, and up the flow cyno dosn't like flow. I am assuming that you are using RO or RO-DI water. If not big water changes may not be the answer, but it maybe adding to your problem. We all assume that throwing more money at our tanks will take care of the problem, when a little TLC will take care of most of them. Nothing good ever comes fast in this hobby.

[FibberMcGee]

Oh, by the way the whole setup looks great. Good luck.

[Amphibious]

Cabbagehead

I know that this is a lot for a tank that is only 3 months old but everything came from an established setup.

Hey man, I hate being the one to shake you into reality but someone has to do it. You are making the classic Newbee mistake. You have 74 animals in a newly established tank. It doesn't matter that they came from an established tank, you put them into an un-established tank. That's the critical point you seem to be missing. Either that or I'm missing something. If I am, please tell me. I'll be the first one to apologize!

This many animals need a fair amount of food on a daily basis and of course they all "poop" continuousely which the end result is more Nitrate. You appear to have a crushed coral substrate which traps detritus also causing your Nitrates to rise. You have 110lbs of LR when you should have 200 to 270 lbs.

Your skimmer will not pull Nitrates. You need to find a different way to export the nutrients that is causing the cyano problem.

Please answer the following questions.

Do you have a crushed coral substrate?
What are you running in your sump for nutrient export?
How long are you leaving your lights on each day?

Your tank looks good now, but looks can be deceiving when problems are imminent. And I think you are heading for a disaster.

As I said in the beginning, I hate to be the one to shake you into reality but, you come to this forum asking questions, expect answers to be to the point. That's the only way you can be helped. Sugar coating your problem will do you no good.

[gwen_o_lyn]

This has spread to various places in my tank and is a real eyesore. I have done three
40 gallon water changes in the past three days and it has not seemed to affect it one bit.

Are you using RODI? This is VERY important. From this comment, it sounds like you are not.

I personally think you have enough live rock in your tank. Your bio-load isn't overkill either. You are going fast, however. Let everything stabilize and rid the cyano before you add anything else. Not sure what kind of skimmer you have, but having an efficient skimmer is extremely important.

For now, you shouldnt be feeding more than every 3 days- there is plenty of food for your fish if you are growing cyano.

Please update us on your tank.

[cabbagehead]

Amphibious:
I will continue to appreciate all feedback on my tank as I still consider myself a newbie. Please feel free to offer any suggestions or comments. This is the way I learn.
Question#1 : I have 100lbs of live sand as my substrate (Aragalive bimini pink)
Question#2 : I have an AquaC ev120 skimming about a cup of goo every other day
Question#3 : 1st MH comes on at 10:30am till 5:30pm, 2nd and 3rd MH comes on at 11:30 and goes off at 6:30. PC come on at 9:00am and turn off at 9:00pm, moonlights all night long.

Gwen:
I always use RODI water. My TDS has read 0 untill two days ago when it began to jump from 0 to 3.

I will cut back on the feedings to see if this makes a difference. I hope it is still ok to put up a piece of algae for my tangs as they really enjoy it. Thanks to everyone for helping with this problem I will never take offense to comments made to help me .
Jack

[Rob]

Dick, thank you for stepping in and bringing us back to reality.. (including me) you have many valid points... and i agree with you fully...

Jack...
take a good look at Amphibious' posts, he's is right on many things.. you are moving quick.. and if you dont take a step back you could have a mess on yer hands..
we can work to keep everything cool.

i would concentrate on water changes, increase the water flow, and the LR.. and monitor closely... along with the stuff mentioned by Amphibious

[Rob]

are you after a DSB for de-nitrifacation? if so that is less than 1/2 of what you need.
if you are after a SSB and you are going to maintain as such, then you should be ok...

[cabbagehead]

Thanks Rob I will do that. I am not going the DSB route though I thought about a remote DSB next to my sump. I know I am moving fast. Patience is a weakness of mine.

[Rob]

i feel ya, i think thats is the simple hardest thing about this hobby.. probably even harder than budgeting...lol
if you have the setup for it, a remote DSB is an option...