# 60 Gallon MonkE Reef - controller setup and Rescape



## monkE

Well I just received a 20 gallon tank that i think will become my first venture into salt water. Figure i can start small seeing as that i'm completely green to marine tanks and this will be vital knowledge before i attempt to change my 125 over to salt in the future (oh yeah that's happening at some point). 
The tank came complete with a penguin bio-wheel HOB filter but i don't even know if i can use this on marine. 

As i understand it, the live sand and live rock act as the filter media... is that correct? Powerheads are used to force the water around the tank and through the rock? do i not need any filter at all then???? 

I figure i would start FOWLR - don't want to dish out for a real high end light just yet. 
I'm looking to start this tank on a budget - i have a girlfriend to answer too... lol
There are a few things i simply don't understand... don't laugh when you read these... i've spent a lot of time learning planted tanks, never spent any time on marine

What the hell does RO/DI mean? and how does it apply to the tank? i gather it's something about water changes but that is one abbreviation i see everywhere and it seems that everyone just knows what it means! lol 

What is a protein skimmer???

How exactly do i mix salt in with the water? 

How does the cycle process differ from fresh water (or if i buy live rock is it instantaneous???) 

Do i need special lighting for fish or is it like freshwater in that the light is for the coral and fish do fine without it? 

What are the water change and maintenance requirements? 

I know that smaller tanks are tougher to maintain water parameters, so am I setting myself up for failure by starting out on a 20 gallon??? 

What equipment am I going to absolutely need to purchase?? 

I have a 10 gallon tank as well and was thinking that I could use it for a sump on the 20gal.... but then i thought about it and realized that I don't even understand the purpose of the sump! And how would i make an overflow for a tank that's not drilled??? saw lots of pictures but never understood the mechanics of it. 

Any and all advice would be great guys.. thanks for all the help!!!


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## Diztrbd1

If you haven't read this: http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/marine-chat-10/saltwater-beginners-part-1-getting-started-1791/
it could be a good start to answer some of your questions. Good luck buddy, may follow your lead in the near future lol


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## The Guy

Way to go Mike, your going to like it!!


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## monkE

The Guy said:


> Way to go Mike, your going to like it!!


Thanks Laurie!



Diztrbd1 said:


> If you haven't read this: http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/marine-chat-10/saltwater-beginners-part-1-getting-started-1791/
> it could be a good start to answer some of your questions. Good luck buddy, may follow your lead in the near future lol


Thanks for the link John, very helpful!


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## monkE

OK i'm thinking after reading a bunch about this to try and use a 10 gallon tank as a sump for this setup... where can I get a HOB over flow??? is J&L the best place for marine equipment or is there anyplace closer to Vancouver???

and how do you mix the salt with the water??? do you do it in a bucket before dumping it in the tank?? 

can you add salt once the water is in the tank??

Do you have to use RO/DI water?? can i just use conditioned tap water?? 

Can i no longer use my python for water changes???


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## PurpleMonkey

What the hell does RO/DI mean? and how does it apply to the tank? i gather it's something about water changes but that is one abbreviation i see everywhere and it seems that everyone just knows what it means! lol

Reverse Osmosis/DeIonized - essentially the goal here is 0 TDS water. Very highly recommended to use RO/DI as it will minimize/prevent unwanted algae/diatom growth. I found that my area is quite low TDS out of the tap, so I don't use DI, just an RO. JL has kits as does BRS.

What is a protein skimmer???

A protein skimmer basically uses air bubbles to help remove dissolved organic carbon/compounds from the water. The idea being to get rid of the waste before it becomes nitrate. Recommended, but there are some great tanks that have been done without (but lots of w/c's then!!! YVR.. (forgot his full alias) has a great example of this. This is a piece of equipment where quality is very important.

How exactly do i mix salt in with the water?

Everyone has their own way, but generally, RO water in bucket, powerhead + heater, add salt until desired Salinity. Ideally, let it mix overnight to let everything dissolve and pH to stabilize. Cover the bucket with a lid lightly to prevent contamination. Get a refractometer, it is much more accurate and less likely to give false readings. As a tip, the first time you add the salt, keep track of how many scoops/cups you use so you can approximate it next time ... Always test!!! ie. I need 8 of my protein scoopers for 1.025 in 5 gal of RO.
How does the cycle process differ from fresh water (or if i buy live rock is it instantaneous???)

Do i need special lighting for fish or is it like freshwater in that the light is for the coral and fish do fine without it?

Bingo, most prefer the 10k-20k range for colour

What are the water change and maintenance requirements?

Many factors play into this so there is no clear cut answer. For w/c, it is recommended 30% a month, how you split that up is up to you though. I started with multiple 3 gallon w/c's when I started, but I've settled into 2 x 15% w/c now. If you are using filter floss or socks, clean every couple of days. Carbon generally changed once a month. Phosphate absorption media as required. Clean glass. Blow of detrius (sp?) from rocks 1-2times a week. This is just a starting point, you will have to find what works for you.
I know that smaller tanks are tougher to maintain water parameters, so am I setting myself up for failure by starting out on a 20 gallon???

What equipment am I going to absolutely need to purchase??

I have a 10 gallon tank as well and was thinking that I could use it for a sump on the 20gal.... but then i thought about it and realized that I don't even understand the purpose of the sump! And how would i make an overflow for a tank that's not drilled??? saw lots of pictures but never understood the mechanics of it.

For a new HOB overflow, JL. The sump is basically an extension of your tank where you can place addtional rock, macro algae (to absorb excess nutrients), skimmer, heater, reactors, etc to keep them out of your display tank. It also gives you more water volume. The more volume, the more stable your tank, and stability is key to a successful SW tank, IMO.


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## PaulCheung

I have started my 33 g FOWLR just over a year now. 

I do not use RO water nor protein skimmer. I am doing weekly 15% wc. There is algae but nothing too crazy. Also got a bit cyno problem but with consistent wc and some medication, it is under control. From what i read, it is a waste of money in using a nano protein skimmer. Also I am very cautious of not overfeeding.

I am also thinking about getting a sump. Since my tank is no drilled, I will need an overflow box. I want to move some of the LR to the sump so that there is more open area in the DT. The sump will also give me option to set up refregium.


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## PurpleMonkey

With a sump, you wouldn't need to use a nano-skimmer....


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## monkE

Thanks guys for all the info! i think i'm starting to get an idea of what's going to happen now. 


I got a bunch of supplies tonight from Tommy (ultreef) and have begun the process. After talking with multiple people I've decided against doing a sump for now. I'm going to run the 20 gallon tank with my penguin HOB filter and eventually a nano protein skimmer to help it out. I've got lot's of sand and some cured live rock. Tonight i'm going to add the sand (after a good rinse) and then add water and mix my first batch of salt. I'm using Instant Ocean Sea Salt (from IPU). I've got the live rock in the 10 gallon tank with about 5 gallons of salt water from Tommy. I've put a 600GPH maxi-jet powerhead in there for the night and will add the live rock tomorrow when the main tank has the proper salt levels and temp. Then it's a matter of testing the water and seeing how much of a die off i've got from the live rock after moving it. 

Then the real questions begin.... how long do I have to wait before adding fish or even a clean up crew of some sort - still have to figure out exactly what that is in marine lol 

What's the best way to get the PH to the proper level over 8? I used PH buffer in my african tank, is that going to work for this? or is there marine specific buffers to use??


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## aQ.LED

patience is everything in Saltwater, if you take your time and you will be rewarded. Cycle a tank for a marine tank can go from 4 weeks to up to 2 months. You will need to test your parameter to see nitrate go down then your cycle is mostly completed.
For salt water, you donnot need to dose any PH buffer, your salt mix, Live Rock and Sand substrate should be enough to keep your PH at about 7.6 to 8 (where it would be lower when light is off). As of when you can put fish in it, in most cases, when ammonia is close to 0 then you are able to place fish in it. There are many ways to do it, some people against to use live fish during cycle, I actually put couple Black molly in my tank when my ammonia is close to 0 and it works out well, the pair of my black molly actually is able to cycle all my tanks even start breeding in one of them. However, I do use existing filter/LR or sand so my cycle time is very short.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic

In general, the salt mix and your substrate (aragonite sand) will buffer the pH above 8.


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## JTang

Nice to see another member joining the "Bright Side" on BCA! You are doing the right thing! Ask lot of questions n do tons of research! When i first started, i visited the library every 2 weeks n took home all the saltwater aquarium books. Most are outdated though but they did give me a good image of the salty backbone! Plus i've learned a brand new library of fish from these books. And of course, there were uncounted hours of web browsing... 
You have a great start. Thanks to your Master! Lol
Personally im a fan of protein skimmer. You don't need it in the beginning though. I didnt have one until several months later. If you are keeping the bio-load low, limiting the feeding and doing frequent (at least once a week) WC, you will do fine in the first year or so. As the tank ages and more fish/corals are added, you might run into algae problem. These stuff is 10x as bad as the FW ones. Trust me, it won't be a pretty sight! Lol
Like I just said you will be fine for now but grab one if you find a deal. My favourite is the AquaC Remora. The Nano will be perfect for your 20gal! No matter which one you pick, stay away from the Coralife Super Skimmer! They are no "Super" but a piece of garbage!
As for fish, I added couple of Chromis after week 2. I started with LR as well...
Well I better leave the rest for the Reef Pros. I'm just a newbie on the "Bright Side"... Have a great journey n I'm sure you will love it


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## monkE

So no turning back now! I've got the live rock staying alive in the 10 gallon for the night, and i've just filled up the 20 gallon and added the salt.... should have taken the pictures before the salt cause it looked great! lol don't know what I expected  wow was that ever a lot of salt going in there, had to read the tub a couple times to make sure I wasn't being stupid! i can see now why everyone say's to wait at least 24 hours. 
For the time being i'm runing a HOB filter as you can see and two Hydor powerheads... that is a ton of current in there from what im used to but I guess it's pretty standard for marine. 
After seeing Tommy's tank today I'm excited and determined to have a reef going at some point... charles, we'll talk about that light!

well here's some pics.. not so exciting yet, but I don't know if i'll sleep tonight or make it through the day tomorrow without picturing this tank all going! wow I love that new tank feeling lol

being a mechanic, i have to get creative with my stands... what better way than my old tool chest! lol 









live rock with Tommy's water (thanks a ton for that!) with a powerhead and a heater









salt added









top view









Live rock in tomorrow if my salinity is correct??
for now I don't have a light... shouldn't be any problem for the cycling process right????


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## spit.fire

I cycle without lights, I find I get less of an algae bloom


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## ludds

Tank should clear up by the morning.
I cycled mytank with light off just turned light on to see what little creatures the LR had growing.

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk


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## gklaw

Yike. Want to swap the tool box for a proper stand


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## monkE

morning update...

salt cleared right up overnight... checked salitnity this morning and i'm right at 1.028 I guess thats slightly high from what i read, i'll add some more fresh water this morning and bring it down a little. also noticed that i have a bit too much sand in there... after reading a lot of arguments about deep sand, light sand, no sand... it seems that they all work so maybe i'll leave it... might scoop a bit out, we'll see when i move the LR in there tonight


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## The Guy

looking good so far Mike.


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## target

Looking good. I'm going to be making the journey to the salty side soon, so I'll be watching this one carefully.


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## Diztrbd1

gklaw said:


> Yike. Want to swap the tool box for a proper stand


lol Gordon ...that's a "Mans" stand lol he doesn't need a proper stand.....he needs another tool box to get it to a proper height lol 

Looking good Mike!


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## monkE

Diztrbd1 said:


> lol Gordon ...that's a "Mans" stand lol he doesn't need a proper stand.....he needs another tool box to get it to a proper height lol
> 
> Looking good Mike!


hahaha I was thinking the same thing!! lol

really would be nice to have a stand but I'm already over budget and I've got no problem working with what I got!


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## monkE

target said:


> Looking good. I'm going to be making the journey to the salty side soon, so I'll be watching this one carefully.


sooooo much new information buddy, I'm certainly learning a ton 
I'll try to go as step by step as I can on here as I progress 
hopefully it helps


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## monkE

The Guy said:


> looking good so far Mike.


thanks laurie it'll look great with that skimmer on the back! lol


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## Diztrbd1

Good to see your doing so much research with it. Can never have too much info! Btw I have a stand, collecting dust, you can have if you want, will pm you the details


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## JTang

monkE said:


> thanks laurie it'll look great with that skimmer on the back! lol


Good choice man! Im getting a Remora Pro for my 46gal. The tank has been running skimmerless for the last 10 months since I got raid of the Coralife "Stupid" Skimmer. It has been running alright until I added some dieing corals n threw the balance off. Most of the rocks are covered with algae now....


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## target

monkE said:


> sooooo much new information buddy, I'm certainly learning a ton
> I'll try to go as step by step as I can on here as I progress
> hopefully it helps


I know what you mean. So much new information to take in and gear to learn about. I'm planning a 14g tank, and thinking of going sump right away. But might just keep the stock very low and just rely on the LR and water changes. Could always add the sump later on.


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## monkE

Diztrbd1 said:


> Good to see your doing so much research with it. Can never have too much info! Btw I have a stand, collecting dust, you can have if you want, will pm you the details


pm replied john if it can fit in my car I'll grab it tonight!


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## monkE

JTang said:


> Good choice man! Im getting a Remora Pro for my 46gal. The tank has been running skimmerless for the last 10 months since I got raid of the Coralife "Stupid" Skimmer. It has been running alright until I added some dieing corals n threw the balance off. Most of the rocks are covered with algae now....


ya it seems that there really is no negative to it other than the cost... and laurie is giving me a good deal so I figure it'll make my life much easier


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## aQ.LED

try not to mix salt in your actual tank in the future, just think I should toss it out there lol


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## monkE

target said:


> I know what you mean. So much new information to take in and gear to learn about. I'm planning a 14g tank, and thinking of going sump right away. But might just keep the stock very low and just rely on the LR and water changes. Could always add the sump later on.


my thoughts exactly bud, I figure I'd save the cost, and go sump less for now, a hob overflow should be an easy thing to add later


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## Claudia

monkE said:


> pm replied john if it can fit in my car I'll grab it tonight!


I am sure it will fit


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## spit.fire

target said:


> Looking good. I'm going to be making the journey to the salty side soon, so I'll be watching this one carefully.


Haha you should buy my bowfront because I know you can build a stand for it lol


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## monkE

aQ.LED said:


> try not to mix salt in your actual tank in the future, just think I should toss it out there lol


lol ya was warned about that one but cause there's nothing living in there yet I thought I'd be ok


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## Claudia

monkE said:


> pm replied john if it can fit in my car I'll grab it tonight!


I am sure it will fit or u will make it fit


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## monkE

Claudia said:


> I am sure it will fit or u will make it fit


oh ya one way or another it's getting in there! lol


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## Diztrbd1

lol where there's a will....there is a way! This seems more true for us fish nuts eh? lol the 3' log in my 75g, I carried home on my bike lol 
pm replied to Mike


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## monkE

Diztrbd1 said:


> lol where there's a will....there is a way! This seems more true for us fish nuts eh? lol the 3' log in my 75g, I carried home on my bike lol
> pm replied to Mike


lol that brings back memories of riding home with a 2-4 balanced on my handlebars!!! lol done that once or twice


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## target

monkE said:


> my thoughts exactly bud, I figure I'd save the cost, and go sump less for now, a hob overflow should be an easy thing to add later


I'm thinking since I will be buildig the tank (acrylic) I will pre-drill it for the overflow and return, and just cap the bulkheads until I get around to ding the sump.


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## Diztrbd1

monkE said:


> lol that brings back memories of riding home with a 2-4 balanced on my handlebars!!! lol done that once or twice


lol thats where I had the log, between my legs and over the handlebars...I got a few weird looks I'm sure haha 
We could probably start a thread about that subject alone lol Lord knows I have lots memories and stories :lol:
Look forward to seeing that tank up higher so you can get more enjoyment out of it bud!


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## gklaw

monkE said:


> my thoughts exactly bud, I figure I'd save the cost, and go sump less for now, a hob overflow should be an easy thing to add later


The think with a overflow box is you have to keep a decent flow to avoid the air trap that will break the siphon. That may mean too much flow and noise for a small tank.
I would bite the bullet and drill that tank now. Even if it is to be plugged.


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## monkE

got the stand from John last night... when I got home I realized that I'd have to re-arrange my Leaf's room to accommodate the larger stand and not make the tank look out of place. So what should have been a simple job took 5 hours! lol

But it looks great now! thanks a ton for that stand John, makes a huge improvement. I'm pretty surprised I didn't get chirped any more for using my tool chest! lol

So once I got the tank on the stand I checked my salinity and it was quite high 1.030 so I siphoned out some water and added some fresh until I got it down to 1.025
PH was 7.8-8.0 with no live rock.... should come up with the LR in right?? 
Temp 78
then I moved the live rock from it's holding tank into the display.


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## target

I like all the caves and holes in the rock. Looks good.


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## The Guy

Wow Mike, looks great I like your LR placement.


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## Claudia

Nice stand Mike, see John did a good job giving u that stand its bigger so u r ready to upgrade already  lol


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## Diztrbd1

lol that was the idea Claudia. Im willing to bet he has a 33-35g on it before summer lol 
Looks great Mike! Your very welcome buddy....glad to see that stand is able to get some more use out of it lol 5 hours rearranging eh? I feel your pain my friend....been there done that lol


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## monkE

target said:


> I like all the caves and holes in the rock. Looks good.


thanks man, you gotta do it buddy... the tank has nothing in it and yet I can't stop starring at it already  I really lucked out with the rock, Tommy had lots to choose from.... so I got the holiest ones I could find


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## monkE

The Guy said:


> Wow Mike, looks great I like your LR placement.


thanks laurie, I keep looking at yours and hoping mine will get there!


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## monkE

Claudia said:


> Nice stand Mike, see John did a good job giving u that stand its bigger so u r ready to upgrade already  lol


thanks Claudia, I'm already telling myself that I don't need a bigger tank  well see how long that lasts


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## monkE

Diztrbd1 said:


> lol that was the idea Claudia. Im willing to bet he has a 33-35g on it before summer lol
> Looks great Mike! Your very welcome buddy....glad to see that stand is able to get some more use out of it lol 5 hours rearranging eh? I feel your pain my friend....been there done that lol


I'll take the under on that bet!


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## Claudia

monkE said:


> thanks Claudia, I'm already telling myself that I don't need a bigger tank  well see how long that lasts


I started with a 29g and about 3 month after i upgraded to a 65g. I am supposed to b packing and maybe downsizing for my move and what did i do? I got a 29g tank last nite with seahorses hahah so keep on telling yourself u r not upgrading but i dont think it will work...for long


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## target

monkE said:


> thanks man, you gotta do it buddy... the tank has nothing in it and yet I can't stop starring at it already  I really lucked out with the rock, Tommy had lots to choose from.... so I got the holiest ones I could find


Yeah, will be soon. I just need to build the tank first. LOL


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## monkE

Got the light tonight! Thank you to Frank from aQ.LED for the great deal. I have a controllable LED fixture. It's pretty slick, you can actually use an SD card to map out your light schedule on your pc and then load that information into the controller.... can't wait till tomorrow morning when i can watch the sun rise next to my couch! lol

here's full ON White, Blue, and Moon all at 100%
















the blue is really neat reflecting off the LR... can't wait to get coral in here! 








moon light 100%








and here's a shot from the top


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## aQ.LED

make sure when you have coral, have the light turn on about 50% max, unless the coral you getting are already under LED. Otherwise you will have a high chance give your corals sun burn.~!


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## JTang

Wow LED on your first Salty tank! I'm still using the same PC fixture from FW. So jealous...


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## gklaw

Looking good !! That is a pretty quick dive into the bright side 
You may not like the splash on the light from your HOB which I think may not be necessary any way with that much LR and sand.


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## monkE

aQ.LED said:


> make sure when you have coral, have the light turn on about 50% max, unless the coral you getting are already under LED. Otherwise you will have a high chance give your corals sun burn.~!


I've got it set a pretty much the same that you had, but I adjusted the length of time the white light is on to a little less... just took the pic at 100% cause it looked cool  


JTang said:


> Wow LED on your first Salty tank! I'm still using the same PC fixture from FW. So jealous...


ya i was looking at a bunch of options, i just wanted to make sure I got something that I wouldnt have to upgrade when wanted to get into some higher demand coral. 


gklaw said:


> Looking good !! That is a pretty quick dive into the bright side
> 
> You may not like the splash on the light from your HOB which I think may not be necessary any way with that much LR and sand.


Thanks Gord, patience has never been one of my strengths! lol the more I speak to people and see their tanks the more I want get excited about it. Johnny's (ultreef) and Franks (aQ.LED) display tanks look like something out of discovery channel and that changed my mind from FOWLR pretty quickly... just have lots of learning still to do

I was worried about the splash as well
So I don't need the HOB filter at all??

I'll be getting a HOB skimmer tonight, is that going to cause some splash as well?


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## gklaw

Haha, you are going to have to get a new light anyway when you get a bigger tank. That will happen soon enough.
I won't use the HOB. Depend on the skimmer, you have to minimize the fine air bubble carried to the outflow. I found the bubbles bursting generates lots of fine splashes. If it returns with a pipe, you can tie a foam to it to reduce the bubbles.


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## monkE

I did think about that... this aQ one can have up to 4 lights on one controller! so i can just add to it for when i swap my 125 over

already thinking hard about that one! might be my summer project 



gklaw said:


> Haha, you are going to have to get a new light anyway when you get a bigger tank. That will happen soon enough.
> I won't use the HOB. Depend on the skimmer, you have to minimize the fine air bubble carried to the outflow. I found the bubbles bursting generates lots of fine splashes. If it returns with a pipe, you can tie a foam to it to reduce the bubbles.


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## The Guy

See Mike I warned you that you would like it! LOL, BTW nice light there buddy ha ha, see you later.


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## Sidius

Claudia said:


> I started with a 29g and about 3 month after i upgraded to a 65g. I am supposed to b packing and maybe downsizing for my move and what did i do? I got a 29g tank last nite with seahorses hahah so keep on telling yourself u r not upgrading but i dont think it will work...for long


This is the main reason why I haven't started a SW tank. How difficult are they to move? I have a 29g tank that's not doing anything at the moment and I would like to do my first SW tank, but I live in a rental and I will most likely end up moving in the next couple years.


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## target

looking good.


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## aQ.LED

Sidius said:


> This is the main reason why I haven't started a SW tank. How difficult are they to move? I have a 29g tank that's not doing anything at the moment and I would like to do my first SW tank, but I live in a rental and I will most likely end up moving in the next couple years.


My personal experience, moving every year in the last 4 years, is don't do it during winter. If you are moving to a new place, you should always have a spare tank raedy and running at the new place so you can just get the coral/fish in the bucket and just transfer them into the established tank. (You do still need to adjust the temperature.

Moving 29g is not a hard thing consider I have moved couple times with 120g which I did lost some fish and coral even being very careful. I am about to move again this summer and my plan was using the frag tank that I got from Laurie and set up at my new house. Will move some of my current LR that in my sump to there to let it run for maybe a week. Then on the move day I will drain all water out into 5 to 10 buckets with coral live stock split and drive over to new place and palce everything in a rubber tub to adjust the water temp. 
And I will pay someone to move my main tank to the new house lol.


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## monkE

Sidius said:


> This is the main reason why I haven't started a SW tank. How difficult are they to move? I have a 29g tank that's not doing anything at the moment and I would like to do my first SW tank, but I live in a rental and I will most likely end up moving in the next couple years.


I don't think it would be any more difficult to move than a fresh water tank except the fact that you have to keep the sand and rock alive just like the fish all that means is a couple more buckets full of water

also I guess frank is right about having a tank setup first to allow you to go straight in when you get there, but you can always use a plastic tote or bucket as a temp home for anything while your salt dissolves and temp comes up

not that I really know what the hell I'm talking about but from what I've learned so far, that's how I would try to do it


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## monkE

Ok here's another addition... Remora Nano Skimmer, thanks Laurie!

now there's no more spending till I stock the tank... time to be patient.... it hurts already 

I removed the HOB filter to make sure I wouldn't have any splash issues with my light.

I do have one concern with this skimmer.. it seems to be quite noisy. Is that normal for these??? I was hoping it would be pretty quiet because it's sitting right next to my couch. I hope there is something I can do to quiet this. To me it sounds like the pump is some how aerating... don't see how though because the pump is completely submerged

Anyway here's some pics


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## Claudia

I have hear of people saying that remoras are noisy but i cant complain, mine is not noisy at all


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## monkE

Is this method mentioned to silence the skimer going to cause any issues with the operation of it??

Silent Remora Mod (Free, Easy) - Do It Yourself - Nano-Reef.com Forums


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## monkE

the method actually works quite well.... i just want to make sure there is no negative in doing so


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## Claudia

This is what i was looking into doing before i got my remora but didnt need to do it at the end 
Aqua C Remora Silencer - YouTube


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## monkE

Claudia said:


> This is what i was looking into doing before i got my remora but didnt need to do it at the end
> Aqua C Remora Silencer - YouTube


nice! going to do that right now... brb


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## Claudia

monkE said:


> nice! going to do that right now... brb


Lol glad i could help  I think is an awesome idea and is DIY with stuff we usually have at home too  inexpensive


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## monkE

done! worked like a charm Claudia! thank you very much


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## Claudia

monkE said:


> done! worked like a charm Claudia! thank you very much


Awesome


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## JTang

Nice mod! I havent done any mod on my Remora Pro. My overflow is way louder than the skimmers! Lol. The skimmer won't be as loud once it has broken in and started skimming. My other skimmer on the 120 gal is even louder than the Remora but I'm already used to all the noise in the room. My fix is simply crank up the TV! Haaha!

You have a great setup. It might have cost u quite a bit but now you are all set and don't have to worry about upgrading down the road... except you might want a bigger tank soon!!!


----------



## monkE

Thanks a lot man! your 120 is crazy nice and I just hope mine turns out so beautiful.

Oh and I'm already working out a parts list to convert my 125 to salt! lol



JTang said:


> Nice mod! I havent done any mod on my Remora Pro. My overflow is way louder than the skimmers! Lol. The skimmer won't be as loud once it has broken in and started skimming. My other skimmer on the 120 gal is even louder than the Remora but I'm already used to all the noise in the room. My fix is simply crank up the TV! Haaha!
> 
> You have a great setup. It might have cost u quite a bit but now you are all set and don't have to worry about upgrading down the road... except you might want a bigger tank soon!!!


----------



## monkE

So Ammonia = 0, Nitrites = 0, time to have some fun!!!

Another drive to Burnaby - this time with the girlfriend along for the ride. Best possible thing i could have done because as soon as she saw those tanks her eyes lit up and I finally saw that same excitement that I've had since my first aquarium (go figure it would take a $500 20 gallon tank to do it! lol). But as long as she's on board, then I have much more options as far as how much cash I can spend and how much room in the apartment I can take up 

So while we were at J&L's I spoke with one of the women in the back (who was a fantastic help!) but I can't remember her name. When I explained the tank setup and that I've got 0 ammonia she still cautioned me to start slow, but that I could safely add a bit to the tank. So we picked up two Clown fish (osso something?) as well as 5 Common hermit crabs. Then I jumped right in with a couple pieces of soft coral (ya like I was going to wait after buying that light!)

So far one of the hermits has already been killed by I assume the other hermits, found him out of his shell and ripped in half! 

Here's new pictues!


----------



## target

moving right along eh? I need to get started


----------



## 77_Bus_Girl

This may be a dumb question, but I know nothing about corals... or salt water tanks...when you buy them do they come already attached to a rock? or do they do that themselves?


----------



## aQ.LED

77_Bus_Girl said:


> This may be a dumb question, but I know nothing about corals... or salt water tanks...when you buy them do they come already attached to a rock? or do they do that themselves?


They most come with a "plug" at the bottom of the coral. Some smaller frag can be lose, but very unlikely unless you got them for free. You can glude them to the live rock etc.

And to Mike, those are great placement of the 2 soft corals, just make sure don't blast them with 100% light yet, you will melt them


----------



## Claudia

R u sure your shrimp died? maybe just molted


----------



## dabandit1

I keep trying to go back to FW but once youve had a taste of SW its over lol Congrats looking good.
Skimmers are allways loud for the first week or two while they "break in" I'd caution you about adding any more hermits they love pissing off coral with their sharp little legs I've been snail only on my past few tanks and I love it...a few crabs for entertainment though they crack me up lol


----------



## The Guy

Your clowns look like Oscellaris to me, neat fish


----------



## monkE

target said:


> moving right along eh? I need to get started


Ya buddy, the lack of patience certainly helps when my live rock was already pretty established. Loving it man, I'm already selling off my big tank to make room for another one! lol



77_Bus_Girl said:


> This may be a dumb question, but I know nothing about corals... or salt water tanks...when you buy them do they come already attached to a rock? or do they do that themselves?


The one on the left side had a small stone attached to it, so i could just place it anywhere, the one on the right was loose, but it was pretty squishy so i just kinda stuffed it into a cave in the rock and it seemed to do the job  that was totally new to me too... the texture was really neat on that one on the right, thought it would be more solid but it's very soft. I guess that's why they call them softies!



aQ.LED said:


> They most come with a "plug" at the bottom of the coral. Some smaller frag can be lose, but very unlikely unless you got them for free. You can glude them to the live rock etc.
> 
> And to Mike, those are great placement of the 2 soft corals, just make sure don't blast them with 100% light yet, you will melt them


Thanks Frank! I originally had them in different locations but when Harp (Purple Monkey) came by to grab some fish he gave me a few pointers and I relocated them to more suitable places.

The blue hits 100% for 3 hours, and I just adjusted the white to only reach 80% max, and that is for 5 hours. is that OK? should I have more blue than white??



Claudia said:


> R u sure your shrimp died? maybe just molted


A buddy suggested that, and i hope your right, but it sure looks like a dead half a crab there



dabandit1 said:


> I keep trying to go back to FW but once youve had a taste of SW its over lol Congrats looking good.
> Skimmers are allways loud for the first week or two while they "break in" I'd caution you about adding any more hermits they love pissing off coral with their sharp little legs I've been snail only on my past few tanks and I love it...a few crabs for entertainment though they crack me up lol


My crabs are lazy though, they don't wander around as much as I expected... they sorta move, then graze for a bit, then move but i thought they'd be constantly crawling around! maybe when i get a few more they will



The Guy said:


> Your clowns look like Oscellaris to me, neat fish


ya that's the ones! i love them! the colour is awesome  and I named them Hans and Frans after my fravourite SNL bit


----------



## monkE

So I've seen in the last to days that my Xathia is not looking great and I've got an algae growth that seems to be gassing something off the live rock, or producing air bubbles for some reason.

I've tested my water,
Salinity 1.026
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0-5 (bright yellow) 
Temp. 78

The clowns look fine and are eating normally.
Are these air bubbles normal?

I'm going to pick up a phosphate test kit tonight, don't have one yet.


----------



## The Guy

My rock was covered in bubbles for a few days as well, seems it's part of the process, your exenia is having a time out just leave it should open up again soon. Mine do the same thing sometimes. Relax and enjoy Mike. You might want to take in the Feb. 13th Vahs meeting they are having a speaker on setting up salt water tanks.


----------



## Claudia

Some corals take their time to recover so dont worry to much, i still waiting for one in the seahorse tank to look nice and has been over a week now  any day now tho


----------



## aQ.LED

After closer look, that looks like cyanobacteria. Do you feed your fish often and can they finish the food or has always some left over? Initial thought was diatom but now looks more like cyano. They also like nitrate and phosphate, but excessive nutrient, small water flow and high lighting source is the main driver of them.


----------



## monkE

The Guy said:


> My rock was covered in bubbles for a few days as well, seems it's part of the process, your exenia is having a time out just leave it should open up again soon. Mine do the same thing sometimes. Relax and enjoy Mike. You might want to take in the Feb. 13th Vahs meeting they are having a speaker on setting up salt water tanks.


Thanks Laurie, I'll keep an eye on it, and I will look into that meeting. Havn't been to one yet.



Claudia said:


> Some corals take their time to recover so dont worry to much, i still waiting for one in the seahorse tank to look nice and has been over a week now  any day now tho


Thanks Claudia, makes me feel better... though i don't like thinking that i'm doing something wrong when all my tests seem positive.



aQ.LED said:


> After closer look, that looks like cyanobacteria. Do you feed your fish often and can they finish the food or has always some left over? Initial thought was diatom but now looks more like cyano. They also like nitrate and phosphate, but excessive nutrient, small water flow and high lighting source is the main driver of them.


I think your right Frank, i have fed them about 1/8th of a cube of mysis shrimp with a drop of Garlic Xtreme (kent product) and they don't manage to eat it all so there is definitley some waste there. Tested my Nitrate again this morning and it's showing 0. Should i tone the light down more? I think i have it only get to 90% Should I do more white or more blue? Can the moon lights be at 100%??


----------



## Claudia

The way i have it setup is: 11am blue lights then at 12 the whites, 8pm white goes off, at 10pm blue go off and moon lights go on till midnite. U can leave your moon light on all nite if u want too but i just have it like this cause the canopy has a timer in it. In seahorse tank i still have to put the lights on a timer but i try to fallow the same times, the only difference is that the moon lights stay on 24/7


----------



## dabandit1

Its diatoms/slime algae die off. The bubbles are nitrogen if im not mistaken the result of the bacteria in your live rock denitrifying your water...GOOD THING part of the cycle. Your coral is likelly pissed off due to a sudden drop in nitrates/phosphates it will get over it in about 3 days.
Good luck


----------



## dabandit1

What is your phosphate level? did your nitrate level drop in the past week?


----------



## monkE

Claudia said:


> The way i have it setup is: 11am blue lights then at 12 the whites, 8pm white goes off, at 10pm blue go off and moon lights go on till midnite. U can leave your moon light on all nite if u want too but i just have it like this cause the canopy has a timer in it. In seahorse tank i still have to put the lights on a timer but i try to fallow the same times, the only difference is that the moon lights stay on 24/7


Thanks for the info Claudia, my led controller will let me change the intensity from 1-100% for each light so i don't know if its a matter of turning it down or just turning it off....



dabandit1 said:


> Its diatoms/slime algae die off. The bubbles are nitrogen if im not mistaken the result of the bacteria in your live rock denitrifying your water...GOOD THING part of the cycle. Your coral is likelly pissed off due to a sudden drop in nitrates/phosphates it will get over it in about 3 days.
> Good luck





dabandit1 said:


> What is your phosphate level? did your nitrate level drop in the past week?


Thanks man that sounds very reassuring. i don't have a phosphate tester, and I didn't do a nitrate test until after I saw the Ammonia and Nitrite come down... then it was right near 0 as soon as I tested it. Possibly 5.0 but it was pretty bright yellow.


----------



## dabandit1

No worries its a common scare for newcomers. Many snails love the stuff they will clean it up in no time. You NEED a phosphate tester its presence is often the trigger of many types of algae including diatoms,swings in phosphates levels + or - will anger your coral as well. Run gfo if you find any over .2 ish which you likelly will if you have diatoms or cyano.
Im really not convinced thats cyano due to its color,does it only bubble on your rock and deep parts of your sandbed?


----------



## monkE

dabandit1 said:


> No worries its a common scare for newcomers. Many snails love the stuff they will clean it up in no time. You NEED a phosphate tester its presence is often the trigger of many types of algae including diatoms,swings in phosphates levels + or - will anger your coral as well. Run gfo if you find any over .2 ish which you likelly will if you have diatoms or cyano.
> Im really not convinced thats cyano due to its color,does it only bubble on your rock and deep parts of your sandbed?


didn't notice any bubbling on the sand... just on the rock.. could be wrong, i'll check again when i get home. the sand has a couple spots that have gotten a dark brown colour very similar to what i saw on your thread.

What's GFO???


----------



## dabandit1

GFO is granular ferric oxide it absorbs phosphates amongst other things,you put 1 tbsp per gallon in a reactor or a filter. 
Definetlly what I thought it was ''diatoms'',your sandbed just isnt deep enough to denitrify or not denitrifying yet. Its not cyano or anything you need to worry about,but you do need to check your phosphates a.s.a.p,if they are dropping your tank can handle itself if they arent you need to use gfo or you will get an outbreak of hair algae....or worse
If you do decide to run gfo which I recomend highlly start at half reccomended dose as it will irritate your coral as the phosphates drop...they will get over it in 3 days or so as mentioned.
Within 2 weeks of running gfo/carbon my current tank cleared up,sand is nice and white now diatoms are 100% gone

Congratulations on having a FULLY cycled tank by the way:bigsmile:


----------



## dabandit1

By the way you can change the title to first sign of success lol....when the diatoms are gone


----------



## monkE

dabandit1 said:


> GFO is granular ferric oxide it absorbs phosphates amongst other things,you put 1 tbsp per gallon in a reactor or a filter.
> Definetlly what I thought it was ''diatoms'',your sandbed just isnt deep enough to denitrify or not denitrifying yet. Its not cyano or anything you need to worry about,but you do need to check your phosphates a.s.a.p,if they are dropping your tank can handle itself if they arent you need to use gfo or you will get an outbreak of hair algae....or worse
> If you do decide to run gfo which I recomend highlly start at half reccomended dose as it will irritate your coral as the phosphates drop...they will get over it in 3 days or so as mentioned.
> Within 2 weeks of running gfo/carbon my current tank cleared up,sand is nice and white now diatoms are 100% gone
> 
> Congratulations on having a FULLY cycled tank by the way:bigsmile:


Had a friend over yesterday who knows reefs and he suggested I use a HOB i had lying around and put in some Carbon. so that's on there running now... this morning the xania was stretched out more but still hasn't opened up fully. I guess like you said it will need a little bit of time.

Also i turned out that my skimmer wasn't skimming anything so we had to play with it a little bit to get it to foam properly.



dabandit1 said:


> By the way you can change the title to first sign of success lol....when the diatoms are gone


Oh yeah! hahaha so that will just clear up on it's own?


----------



## monkE

dabandit1 said:


> GFO is granular ferric oxide it absorbs phosphates amongst other things,you put 1 tbsp per gallon in a reactor or a filter.
> Definetlly what I thought it was ''diatoms'',your sandbed just isnt deep enough to denitrify or not denitrifying yet. Its not cyano or anything you need to worry about,but you do need to check your phosphates a.s.a.p,if they are dropping your tank can handle itself if they arent you need to use gfo or you will get an outbreak of hair algae....or worse
> If you do decide to run gfo which I recomend highlly start at half reccomended dose as it will irritate your coral as the phosphates drop...they will get over it in 3 days or so as mentioned.
> Within 2 weeks of running gfo/carbon my current tank cleared up,sand is nice and white now diatoms are 100% gone
> 
> Congratulations on having a FULLY cycled tank by the way:bigsmile:


Had a friend over yesterday who knows reefs and he suggested I use a HOB i had lying around and put in some Carbon. so that's on there running now... this morning the xania was stretched out more but still hasn't opened up fully. I guess like you said it will need a little bit of time.

Also i turned out that my skimmer wasn't skimming anything so we had to play with it a little bit to get it to foam properly.



dabandit1 said:


> By the way you can change the title to first sign of success lol....when the diatoms are gone


Oh yeah! hahaha so that will just clear up on it's own?


----------



## dabandit1

monkE said:


> Had a friend over yesterday who knows reefs and he suggested I use a HOB i had lying around and put in some Carbon. so that's on there running now... this morning the xania was stretched out more but still hasn't opened up fully. I guess like you said it will need a little bit of time.
> 
> Also i turned out that my skimmer wasn't skimming anything so we had to play with it a little bit to get it to foam properly.
> 
> Oh yeah! hahaha so that will just clear up on it's own?


Yes,once phosphates are in check. Your tank might do that on its own now that your running carbon and your skimmers working better. Goodluck and check your phosphates!!! lol


----------



## monkE

dabandit1 said:


> Yes,once phosphates are in check. Your tank might do that on its own now that your running carbon and your skimmers working better. Goodluck and check your phosphates!!! lol


alll right man i'll get a test kit today


----------



## monkE

Big thanks to Harp (Purple Monkey) for all the help tonight.

I went out to J&L's to bring back a cleaner shrimp that died before i even got him out of his bag. (i got him with the clown fish) and while there I grabbed a colt coral and a rock full of green button polyps. I also grabbed a ELOS phosphate test kit and a Sybon refractometer (my ventrex one didn't compensate for temp so i wasn't sure of it's accuracy...and i'm not a fan of math!)

Harp came by my place to trade some of his frags for driftwood/fish. He brought with him his test kits from home to make sure everything is ok with my water chemistry. All tests came up good. - phosphate was right at 0.05

After floating the frags for a while we started to place them around the tank. Some opened up immediately, others took a bit, but now they are looking good. The tank is glowing under the moon lights and i wish i could get a decent picture but no luck so far.

I already forgot the names of most of these but here's some pictures. I know there is hammer coral, a couple zoas, an electric green lps (dont remember what harp called it) and some more.


----------



## Claudia

There is a hairy monster in the tank  lol Looking good, u will b always checking for frags to add to your collection from now on


----------



## The Guy

Hard to resist those corals eh! Looking good Mike.


----------



## target

Man, that is looking good. I am liking the corals.


----------



## PurpleMonkey

I think the one you are forgetting the name of is Candycane.

SW is an addiction... kinda like coke... Corals are like crack....


----------



## monkE

PurpleMonkey said:


> I think the one you are forgetting the name of is Candycane.
> 
> SW is an addiction... kinda like coke... Corals are like crack....


and apparently just as expensive!!!! hahaha oh yeah i'm gonna end up at the betty ford if this keeps up


----------



## monkE

So while most of the coral in my tank has seemed to look healthy and happy, one rock of Green Star Polyp which from what I read is a pretty hardy and easy coral to maintain never opened at all in my tank. I repositioned it a few times to give it more light, less light, more flow, less flow, and nothing. So I brought it back to the LFS that I got it from and they just swapped it out for another piece that was the same price. After peeking through their coral tank I chose one that looked awesome.... yup, had no idea what it was, but it looked cool! When I got home i realized my mistake. Turns out what I picked up was a Flower Pot which is a tough coral to keep apparently. Well I got it home and got it in the tank, moved my button polyp into the front and found a nice open spot away from everyone else to let this aggressive flowerpot stretch out. oh yeah and I got a second cleaner shrimp while I was there... tired of getting my manicure only one hand at a time 


























it is damn hard to focus on a colt coral when it's swaying around all over the place


----------



## monkE




----------



## monkE

Well it's the 4 week mark.... damn i'm not patient enough, I thought it was a lot longer than that.

Well here's the low down, this morning I did the 3rd water change after testing the parameters and here's what we got: 
PH 8.2
Temp 77
Phosphate between 0 and 0.05
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0 
Nitrate 0

The denitrifying bubbles stopped and the detrius on the sand stopped both about 2 weeks ago i think, but yesterday just noticed the bubbles coming back and another couple spots of detrius... i guess the cycle is not completely done although my water chem seems to be in a good place. I still haven't picked up a calcium tester - but will be purchased next time i swing by J&L. 
I've added another coral piece, though once again the name has slipped my mind... becoming a bad habbit i know, but i'll get there 

Here's the newest pics... oh and I just got a new samsung galaxy s3 and the camera seems to be real impressive, these are almost on par with my DSLR.

Enjoy! 
















here's the new one... any help with an ID would be great. Its tips look very much like my flower pot, but it doesn't stretch nearly as far out


----------



## monkE




----------



## dabandit1

Looking good!!!! The denitrifying will never stop thats just the liverock doing its thing,you'll only see the bubbles in weaker flow areas and when they get covered in algae and trapped. Your tanks about the same age as mine,I'm running gfo and carbon and happy to report no diatoms and the green crap on my rocks is losing color and dying off. I cant remember do you run gfo?...it will help. I think what your seeing now is new tank syndrome where your tank will mini cycle from time to time this can go on for 5 months to a year  keep an eye on it if it starts getting out of control you may need to think about adding further nutrient export. I shoot for undetectable on phosphates (its still there but quicklly used up by your tanks inhabitants)
Also hard to tell in the picture but that almost looked like cyano on your rock where its bubbling a better picture of it and myself or someone else could tell ya.

Anyway Im jealous your tank is looking awesome!!!!


----------



## monkE

dabandit1 said:


> Looking good!!!! The denitrifying will never stop thats just the liverock doing its thing,you'll only see the bubbles in weaker flow areas and when they get covered in algae and trapped. Your tanks about the same age as mine,I'm running gfo and carbon and happy to report no diatoms and the green crap on my rocks is losing color and dying off. I cant remember do you run gfo?...it will help. I think what your seeing now is new tank syndrome where your tank will mini cycle from time to time this can go on for 5 months to a year  keep an eye on it if it starts getting out of control you may need to think about adding further nutrient export. I shoot for undetectable on phosphates (its still there but quicklly used up by your tanks inhabitants)
> Also hard to tell in the picture but that almost looked like cyano on your rock where its bubbling a better picture of it and myself or someone else could tell ya.
> 
> Anyway Im jealous your tank is looking awesome!!!!


thanks a lot man!

here's some more pictures of the rock... maybe this will help. I don't know what cyano looks like. I'm only running an HOB with Carbon sheets, and a nano skimmer


----------



## dabandit1

Hmmm hard to tell theres definetlly diatoms there,cyano typically is reddish (not allways) and the bubbles will lift it off your rock. Is that red area coraline algae? if not its likelly cyano. Im all for using filters on saltwater but keep that puppy CLEAN,it could be fueling your diatoms and cyano if you have it. Try a media bag with gfo in your h.o.b,I cant emphasize enough how great gfo works when used right (half dose to start)... and its cheap!! 
Looking forward to next months update:bigsmile:
Im even jealous of your phone I have the s2 cant get a decent tank picture to save my life lol
Love your rock work,good coral choices,nice nice


----------



## The Guy

Tank is looking good Mike, love the scooter blennie, I got one last week very cool fish. BTW you are probably going to see lots of brown diatoms for a while, I was told not to be real concerned as it's part of the cycling process, I hate the look of it though.


----------



## monkE

so guess what I got today? a new (to me) 58 gallon drilled tank. This was a previously kept tank by a canreef member. I have been scoping the classifieds both on here and Canreef to find the upgrade i've been looking for... I didn't want to go too big, but the 20 gallon is just too small for me, plus i wanted something drilled with a built in overflow so here we go!

This is a 58 gallon with a nice footprint 36x18.5x21 
The tank is drilled and has a built in centre overflow as well as a black pine stand 
(thanks for that stand John - but it's getting replaced! I'd be happy to bring it back for you if you still have use for it)

I also got with the deal a factory Aqeon Porflex Model 2 sump.

Now it's a matter of competing the plumbing and installing a return pump... due to my position as a boat mechanic i think i'm going to install a 750gph bilge pump that i can get much cheaper than an aqueon or eheim one and it's just moving water so i don't think there is any problem running it... the hard part will be making a power supply to convert the 120v from my outlets into 12v to run the pump. I'll look into prices for that, or possibly try to frankenstien one with an old laptop power supply (computers all work on 12 volts).

So I got the whole deal for $300 which I thought was a great deal, the sump alone sells at J&L's for almost 3 hundred itself. The sump also came with 6 filter socks.

What do you guys think? 58 gal for 300 but with the sump and stand and the fact it was a factory drilled tank i think i did good.

well... Let the games begin!

P.S. I never claimed I was a patient man!


----------



## Diztrbd1

Im thinking in a couple months the 58 will be too small and you'll wish you'd kept the 125 lol 
Nice set up bud, look forward to seeing it with some life in it!!
And lol just pass the stand on to someone else ....Im going bigger not smaller :bigsmile:


----------



## Foxtail

300 is a steal... it looks almost new... what are you going to run for lights? One of aQ.led's units?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


----------



## dabandit1

Lol that didnt take long your 20 isnt even fully cycled yet Great deal!! now you get to do a real build...and spend some real money too lol.
I find myself looking at my newish 35g thinking hmmm I miss my tangs lol,just pray you dont catch the tang bug at 120g+ .....didnt you just sell a 120 oh ya I went there lol


----------



## The Guy

Great deal you got there Mike, Now the real fun starts LOL!


----------



## Claudia

I knew i should of bet with u lol see i told u that u were going to upgrade in less then what? 3 months? hahahhahaha


----------



## JTang

Diztrbd1 said:


> Im thinking in a couple months the 58 will be too small and you'll wish you'd kept the 125 lol
> Nice set up bud, look forward to seeing it with some life in it!!
> And lol just pass the stand on to someone else ....Im going bigger not smaller :bigsmile:


Oh yeah I think you should keep the 125g. I upgraded from a 46g (which is still running) to a 120g within 2 months. The downside: the bigger the reef tank = the deeper the $ pit!


----------



## monkE

Diztrbd1 said:


> Im thinking in a couple months the 58 will be too small and you'll wish you'd kept the 125 lol
> Nice set up bud, look forward to seeing it with some life in it!!
> And lol just pass the stand on to someone else ....Im going bigger not smaller :bigsmile:


All right bud I'll find a new home for the stand. I can't wait either... i think i'll be doing a run to the hardware store for pvc pipes today and maybe out to j&L's for the bulkhead fittings... oh man sooooooo much work to do



Foxtail said:


> 300 is a steal... it looks almost new... what are you going to run for lights? One of aQ.led's units?
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


I'm thinking that i'll try to use the 24" aQLed one that i have already.. i am planning on only piling the rock up around the centre overflow so it should do fine... i hope anyway.



dabandit1 said:


> Lol that didnt take long your 20 isnt even fully cycled yet Great deal!! now you get to do a real build...and spend some real money too lol.
> I find myself looking at my newish 35g thinking hmmm I miss my tangs lol,just pray you dont catch the tang bug at 120g+ .....didnt you just sell a 120 oh ya I went there lol


lol na that's just too big right now... plus i really wanted that overflow built in, the HOB ones scare me 


The Guy said:


> Great deal you got there Mike, Now the real fun starts LOL!


Thanks Laurie! it's going to be a ton of work but i'm just looking at all the space and already planning where i'm going to put everything! 


Claudia said:


> I knew i should of bet with u lol see i told u that u were going to upgrade in less then what? 3 months? hahahhahaha


ya you called that one for sure! lol and it was only 4 weeks  


JTang said:


> Oh yeah I think you should keep the 125g. I upgraded from a 46g (which is still running) to a 120g within 2 months. The downside: the bigger the reef tank = the deeper the $ pit!


Ya my pockets are already pretty dry! that 125 is just too big... i think this will be a nice compromise. Large enough that I can have a variety of fish and small enough that it's manageable. I think i'll start off with most of my existing equipment (if i can get that nano skimmer to work in the sump) and then slowly upgrade to a little higher tech.


----------



## dabandit1

Lol I've told myself that one before,compromise leads to regret,leads to another upgrade come tax refund time lol
You should probably buy equipment big enough to handle your next upgrade too


----------



## monkE

oK So here's the plan... 
1) get the salinity and temp to the proper level in my 10 gallon water change tank... 
2) Move LR, coral, fish, crabs, into it temporarilty with just LR and a powerhead along with the light fixutre.... i'll probably place the skimmer on too... 
3) Siphon all the water out of the 20 gallon tank into pails
4) Move the 20 gallon out of the way
5) Place the 58 gallon in its space
6) Transfer all the sand over to the new tank... and add more sand (I have a bucket full of dead sand) 
7) Fill with old water plus top up to just below the overflow (have not completed the plumbing yet) and get salinity to correct level
8) Move most of the LR into new tank
9) Check levels
10) Move inhabitants over to new tank


I'll also be adding about 30lbs more cured live rock... i think my existing lr should seed the new stuff and make the cycle pretty quick, plus they all came from the same place originally. (Thanks Tommy) 

What of this plan will work, and what will I have to change??? 

Thanks guys


----------



## dabandit1

Its going to cycle a bit no matter what when the anerobic bacteria in your dsb is disturbed and the lr adjusts, a good idea to keep your stock in a your holding tank until your sure the cycle is tolerable for your coral.
Sounds like a plan,looking forward to pics!!


----------



## monkE

dabandit1 said:


> Its going to cycle a bit no matter what when the anerobic bacteria in your dsb is disturbed and the lr adjusts, a good idea to keep your stock in a your holding tank until your sure the cycle is tolerable for your coral.
> Sounds like a plan,looking forward to pics!!


Ok that won't be a problem.... how much live rock should i leave in the holding tank with the livestock??? i can also run a small submersible ehiem filter on it, but it has not been running so it will need time to seed


----------



## dabandit1

OOO tricky question,I'll take a stab at it....AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!!! lol the test kits are your friend for sure frequent water changes might be the answer there? thats usually how you maintain water in a nano. Just an educated guess Im sure someone might know a trick or two.
Good luck


----------



## monkE

Well i guess i'll just wing it! lol shouldnt be too hard


----------



## Claudia

Its so exciting to upgrade  even if is not me lol


----------



## monkE

So I haven't done anything with the new tank yet, but I might as well post an update on the 20 gallon.

I lost my first coral this week... i think the colt coral was being attacked by my flowerpot and he melted down... really gross actually when i moved it's remains... should have just let it be!

I moved the flowerpot into the center of the tank when i read that they are upper reef, and dropped the hammer coral down a bit... also found something growing on the side of the hammer, check the pick and let me know if it's something bad

Anyway here's new pics. 

































































































and here's the growth on the hammer... what the hell is that? is it bad? is it just another arm growing off???


----------



## dabandit1

wow that flowerpots big in that little tank lol you should frag it down to help pay for the new tank,coral looks beautiful what kind of zoa are those green ones? you best do something about that hair/turf algae before it becomes a real problem ooooooo I hate that crap


----------



## monkE

dabandit1 said:


> wow that flowerpots big in that little tank lol you should frag it down to help pay for the new tank,coral looks beautiful what kind of zoa are those green ones? you best do something about that hair/turf algae before it becomes a real problem ooooooo I hate that crap


Thanks buddy, 
I wouldnt even know where to begin when it comes to fragging. Plus ill have the bigger one up and running soon so ill have more space for it! Sure does look happy up on the rock instead of on the sand.. that is till the cleaner shrimp start messing with it. Kinda looks like a game of whack-a-mole when the shimp gets going.

No idea what that zoa is.. if harp (purple monkey) sees this then im sure hell id it cause thats where it came from

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2


----------



## dabandit1

Looks like dragoneyes? flowerpot sure does look happy up there. I keep a stick near my tank for knocking snails off my coral lol I wouldnt do that to a shrimp though lol good visual with the whackamole


----------



## PurpleMonkey

Yup, those are dragoneyes. He also has watermelons and some greenbay packers/mean greens with unknown palys.


----------



## PurpleMonkey

Just a thought for your impending tank transfer.

Drain down the 20 gal, save the water, move it to where your 10 gal is siting, put water back in. Leave it running there for the time being.

Now setup your new tank in the place of your 20 (thats where you wanted to put it right?), plumb in your sump. Fill with FW. Run and leak test/trouble shoot. Let it run for a day to make sure its running the way you want. Drain the tank, put the rock in, then add the new sand (general rule of thumb is don't reuse old sand unless you rinse it well.) Grab some frozen cocktail shrimp, put them in an old nylon stocking and drop into tank. Let it cycle. Once cycle is done, move livestock and corals over from your 20. Monitor for any ammonia spikes.

And I don't know if you have one yet, but I highly recommend an RO unit (I don't bother with the DI stage b/c I find I get 0 TDS with just the RO membrane). I know its another cost but it will save you so much headache and work in the future.

And if you can afford it, get you mp10wes's (or tunze counterparts) now. Keep an eye on the classifieds.


----------



## monkE

So school is over. Back to the grind! I've been real busy at home.... the girlfriend moved out... so let the MTS come back in full effect!!!!!!

I've had this 60 gallon drilled tank sitting here for a while and now it's time to get her full of water. First things first, I had to set up my first sump system. I took a couple trips out to JnL's and talked with one of the guys there to get a good understanding of the mechanics of the sump. I've been perplexed by them for a while, but now it all makes sence. So out comes the wallet and I got my return pump (eheim compact 2000) bulkhead fittings, gate valves and lock lines. They sent me to Corix Water Products for the PVC stuff. Ok so 10 feet of 1" and 10 feet of 3/4 plus a bunch of elbows and threaded adaptors. It probably took me an hour to map the system out in the store and make sure i had every peice i needed!

So i got home and went to work.

On the advice of the guys at JnL I decided to do a Herbie drain to keep the noise down a bit.

Now this is my first sump setup so if you see something weird with the plumbing just let me know please... not that I can do anything about it now, but let me know so i can learn.

Here's a good before and after shot! lol 


and the full tank shot


----------



## monkE

Got it all full of water... no leaks right of the bat! oh yeah high five!

Now it's just a matter of getting my S.G. correct and then add sand and move some rock across... i think i'll leave the coral in a quarantine tank for a bit but i'll move my shrimp and fish over immediately because i don't have enough rock to leave in the quarantine with the coral.

I know you'll jump on me for that one... it's two cleaner shrimp, hermit crabs, 2 clowns, and a firefish goby. Fully cured and cycled live rock, but i know it's new water.... i just don't have any other way of moving this across.


----------



## AdobeOtoCat

Where did you got those control valves? and those ruffles....haha.
looking good :thumbup:

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S2 LTE


----------



## monkE

AdobeOtoCat said:


> Where did you got those control valves? and those ruffles....haha.
> looking good :thumbup:
> 
> Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S2 LTE


thanks adobe! valves came from JnL's and ruffles came from superstore! lol


----------



## monkE

So... 50lbs of lr later....


----------



## jobber

Nice rocks. That was quick. Must of kept you busy overnight. Moving up the tank size ranks. 125 g reef tank!

Sent from my mobile phone


----------



## monkE

jobber said:


> Nice rocks. That was quick. Must of kept you busy overnight. Moving up the tank size ranks. 125 g reef tank!
> 
> Sent from my mobile phone


ya didn't expect to do it that quick, but my buddy (neoh on BCA) had a good connection so we went and grabbed it last night... just have to wait a bit and see the levels stabilize and move all my other stuff across!

don't know about the 125 reef.... . FOWLR maybe?? lol


----------



## JTang

Great job man! Looking good!


----------



## The Guy

Lookin' good Mike, Are you going to use the substrate from the 20 and add that rock as well?


----------



## monkE

JTang said:


> Great job man! Looking good!


Thanks bud! 


The Guy said:


> Lookin' good Mike, Are you going to use the substrate from the 20 and add that rock as well?


Ya i'm going to move all the rock and the sand over. Should fill out the 60 nicely!


----------



## monkE

So here we go! finally had a day off of work and it's time to make the jump. First thing i had to do was get some shelving brackets from home depot so i could suspend my 24" light fixture above the tank and allow the beam to spread out enough that i wouldn't have any shadows. With that task done, and my coral thoroughly pissed off, I began moving the 20 lbs of LR from my small tank into the new one... a few changes in formation later i think i have it where i want it. Man it's so much easier to plan an aquascape with plants and wood than it is with rocks! my first idea was to basically build a central pillar around the overflow box but that didn't look right with the rock mixing and matching so i did more open top water and a random rock formation by putting together the rocks that seemed to fit together.. just trying to do a natural feel but i've got rock from two different locations so it's a big mix and match anyway... let me know what you think, or any ideas you have. The next thing was moving the coral across... i figured id go at about the same water level with everything like i had it in the other tank but now the light is so much farther away i'm not sure what the best move is. I suppose it's going to be a wait and see scenario. If you guys see anything that looks totally off please let me know... i'm still a rookie reefer.

These pictures were taken about 10 minutes after i was done so that's why the coral is all closed up.... besides the xenia which stretched out almost immediately


----------



## Diztrbd1

Job well done bud! I am happy to see you have had minimal problems getting into the Marine aspect. Inspiring me to start one lol


----------



## monkE

Diztrbd1 said:


> Job well done bud! I am happy to see you have had minimal problems getting into the Marine aspect. Inspiring me to start one lol


easier than I thought it would be my friend... more work, but not nearly as difficult and confusing as i thought.

Definitely recommend it man!


----------



## Diztrbd1

lol Have to get my 125 up and going before I even contemplate that any further. But definitely one day.:bigsmile:


----------



## dabandit1

Looking good!!!! cant wait to see what direction you go with this....the foundation is definetly laid for success. Congrats


----------



## monkE

I don't have a clue what to do about livestock for this tank though. I've got currently 2 clowns, 1 firefish goby, 3 hermit crabs and 2 cleaner shrimp. 


any ideas?? is there any small fish that will school?? is this big enough for a yellow tang?? always wanted a tang


----------



## Diztrbd1

a Flame Angel would look great


----------



## monkE

Diztrbd1 said:


> a Flame Angel would look great


damn i just googled that and yes i'd have to agree!!! who sells those???


----------



## monkE

No flame angels, but I did find a beautiful Coral Beauty Angel. and some really cool snails


----------



## monkE

the angel is a little skiddish right now after the move so it's tough to get a decent pic


----------



## monkE




----------



## Diztrbd1

The Coral Beauty is a sweet addition.... same colors as the flame angel & looks awesome in there! Tee snails are cool too. Looks like everything is settling in nicely.


----------



## monkE

that judge on the end screwed me! 

lol ya everything seems to be doing pretty good except for the green palys.... i'll check it tomorrow and move it up a little higher if it doesn't open up better. 

that angel is awesome, i like this one better than the flames, the purple really pops out when he goes into the light


----------



## The Guy

Great choice with the Coral beauty, I have one as well. He's one of my favorites. Mine really likes the sheet seaweed on a clip, between him and the 2 tangs they have a feeding frenzie. It gets a bit messy so they only get it once or twice a week. The tank's looking great so far Mike keep up the good work.


----------



## monkE

The Guy said:


> Great choice with the Coral beauty, I have one as well. He's one of my favorites. Mine really likes the sheet seaweed on a clip, between him and the 2 tangs they have a feeding frenzie. It gets a bit messy so they only get it once or twice a week. The tank's looking great so far Mike keep up the good work.


thanks Laurie! He certainly is really cool! by sheet seaweed do you mean the stuff that you make sushi rolls with??? i think i'm going to get a yellow tang as well.


----------



## JTang

monkE said:


> thanks Laurie! He certainly is really cool! by sheet seaweed do you mean the stuff that you make sushi rolls with??? i think i'm going to get a yellow tang as well.


Add the yellow tang last unless you are only adding 1 tang. Most yellows are pretty aggressive towards other tangs. Tank looking good so far! Great upgrade!


----------



## dabandit1

Nassarius snails....favorite thing in my tank lol about 20 rise from the dead every feeding time and march in a line...ask the guy at JL for the snail show its pretty cool in their tank

Cool fish you got there...love it!!! Chromis are starting to grow on me, they do well in schools. I bought one to cycle my tank I was surprised how much I like it,great color,good personality...under 4$ too lol


----------



## monkE

JTang said:


> Add the yellow tang last unless you are only adding 1 tang. Most yellows are pretty aggressive towards other tangs. Tank looking good so far! Great upgrade!


The tank isn't huge so i'm not sure how many fish i can get away with, but I love the look of yellow tangs so that's probably for sure. I'll keep that in mind though. How will it be with the angel? 


dabandit1 said:


> Nassarius snails....favorite thing in my tank lol about 20 rise from the dead every feeding time and march in a line...ask the guy at JL for the snail show its pretty cool in their tank
> 
> Cool fish you got there...love it!!! Chromis are starting to grow on me, they do well in schools. I bought one to cycle my tank I was surprised how much I like it,great color,good personality...under 4$ too lol


Love those snails man! i've only got 6 right now but i'll probably put a few more in. So much fun to see them come out of the sand.

I actually traded in all my freshwater fish today and got 4 royal blue damsels. They seem to be right at home so far! I'll look into chromis too.

I'll probably get a blenny too but i lost the first one i had. I don't think there was enough small stuff in the rock for it to eat. I'm sure that's not a problem now but I don't want to loose another fish


----------



## dabandit1

I tought my blennie to eat frozen right away...theres a trick I've been using over the years. Take a pipette and put some food in it,cyclopeze,cut up mysis even pods collected from filter socks to start him off...take the pipette and gently blow the food on the substrate in front of him. Be slow and patient and he'll come over to you eventually. Ive had great success with this method with all types of dragonettes...put be prepared to supplement just in case...try a variety of food too,I found best success with cyclopeze and cut up mysis.
One of my favorite fish with great personality and good movement within the tank,worth a bit of extra work IMO...if Im not mistaken a 60g is able to sustain one...the very minimum but able

Love the royal blues nicer than chromis,good choice.
Pictures or it never happened


----------



## monkE

dabandit1 said:


> Pictures or it never happened


lol I will try that with the next blenny i get... they are such a fascinating fish so i certainly want to have one in this tank.

Quick update, got some frags off a guy on canreef today... as well as a couple more damsels, and so that is a perfect reason for a photobomb update 

no idea what this one is called

branching GSP... hasn't opened up yet

apparently easy SPS... forget what it was called (i know there's a theme here) 

beauty zoas (that is my official name for them) 

galaxy something


----------



## aQ.LED

Mike, those SPS you got, were the guy using LED before? If not make sure you start from the bottom of your tank, and also your GSP might not like the high intensity as well with that high. ( if I see it correctly on the last picture, it was on the top right)


----------



## monkE

aQ.LED said:


> Mike, those SPS you got, were the guy using LED before? If not make sure you start from the bottom of your tank, and also your GSP might not like the high intensity as well with that high. ( if I see it correctly on the last picture, it was on the top right)


he didn't have them under LED but they were up on the top rack in the frag tank. But they both opened up right away. The GSP on the other hand hasn't opened at all... but i've read that this branching type could take a week to open up... so i'm going to just leave it for a bit and see what happens, and yes that is the branch on the top right. Should look pretty cool when it opens up and spreads up there


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## PurpleMonkey

In order of unknown, purple pocci, forest fire digi, meteor shower cyphastrea (sp?)


----------



## monkE




----------



## crimper

You're making me envious Mike, excellent job. I want to go to the Dark Side now :bigsmile:


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## dabandit1

Very nice,cant wait to see the gsp open


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## PurpleMonkey

Come to the Dark Side... we have cookies


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## dino

may i ask are you using rodi water its the last thing i need to buy so im just curious


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## monkE

dino said:


> may i ask are you using rodi water its the last thing i need to buy so im just curious


So far im only using tap water and prime.. havent sprung for the ro yet but it is in the future plans

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2


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## monkE

PurpleMonkey said:


> Come to the Dark Side... we have cookies


And beer! Delicious beer

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2


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## monkE

crimper said:


> You're making me envious Mike, excellent job. I want to go to the Dark Side now :bigsmile:


Do it! Im hooked buddy



dabandit1 said:


> Very nice,cant wait to see the gsp open


Ya me too... it wants too, but ive heard that they take their time

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2


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## crimper

Cookies! I'm in... :bigsmile:


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## aQ.LED

well whenever you are ready Mike, I have these pharos ready for you MUHAHAHAH.


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## monkE

aQ.LED said:


> well whenever you are ready Mike, I have these pharos ready for you MUHAHAHAH.


lol your killing me Frank! When I sell the big tank, you'll be my first stop!


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## aQ.LED

crimper said:


> Cookies! I'm in... :bigsmile:


I am actually selling my 60G cube tank ... Maybe... lol I really shouldn't try to turn Mike's journal into market place LOL
Oh and sure Mike, if I don't have Pharos at that time, I am sure I would find you some good alternative


----------



## monkE

So I played around with buckets for water changes but decided to setup a little water change/water test station next to the tank - no gf here any more so it doesn't have to look pretty, just function! Im also planning on keeping a log of water parameters... not sure how long i'll stick with this but day one went smoothly! lol With this setup i can run a hose directly into my sump and pump water from the small tank into the large one for my water change. The drain for now will mostly stay with bucket siphoning - not enough volume in these water changes to pull the python out every time.

I am planning on getting a reefkeeper lite controller today as well, who is running these? I'm drawn to it mainly because I would love a quick and easy display for PH and temp (both probes are included in the kit) and the feed function to shut off the power heads is a very nice option. then i found out that it can be a wave maker controller as well... how effective is this? am i going to risk sending a wave of water over the side of my tank???? What extra would i have to get to have a proper auto top off running off that controller?


----------



## monkE

Picked up a Reefkeeker Lite and after some tinkering I have the system all running and working. I've also set it up with an auto top off, which almost became a huge problem when I didn't think about the top off hose siphoning the 5 gallon bucket straight into the sump after the pump was shut off... luckily it stopped when the water level equalled out and i didn't move the salt content too far so nothing in the tank seemed to be adversely affected. at this point i'm only an RO/DI unit away from having this system right where i want it.... ok a higher end LED light also


----------



## monkE

downloaded the myreef 2.0 software from the Digital Aquatics website and started to play around with the controller. I'm going to need a phone line splitter because there are no open ports in the system but i just removed the temp probe and temporarily connected my laptop using the usb cable that was supplied in the box. The one draw back i have found with the reefkeepr is there was seemingly no way to change the name of each channel so you have to keep a map handy to remember which channel was which component, but when i connected and ran the software i found that i could customize the channel names so now instead of my display reading CH1 - ON it reads LEFT P/H - ON, or SKIMMER - ON... SOOOO much better.


----------



## monkE

oh and i picked up this really cool feather duster from JnL's..


----------



## PurpleMonkey

It's appears your journey to the dark side is well underway... Now to get you to thinks sticks are sexy


----------



## monkE

i've been waiting around all day waiting for the leaf game to start... so i figured that i'd change my rock-scape up. I wasn't completely happy with it, and wanted something with a more natural look so i started moving things around. Here's some pics... most of the coral is pissed in the picture because of all the moving around, but they will be fine in a couple days im sure.

BEFORE:


AND AFTER:


----------



## The Guy

Hey Mike looking good You will probably tweek it a few more times for sure. Your Coral beauty looks about the same size as mine, they are always on the move.


----------



## monkE

The Guy said:


> Hey Mike looking good You will probably tweek it a few more times for sure. Your Coral beauty looks about the same size as mine, they are always on the move.


thanks laurie, that coral beauty is awesome... he always wants to know what's going on!


----------



## kacairns

Feather duster looks amazing, got to see that in real life now if I didn't have 100+ pleco's in my 180g I would probably convert it to salt water after seeing yours in person.


----------



## monkE

kacairns said:


> Feather duster looks amazing, got to see that in real life now if I didn't have 100+ pleco's in my 180g I would probably convert it to salt water after seeing yours in person.


all the more reason to grab my 125!  thanks bud!


----------



## kacairns

If you seen my tank room, you'd know why I haven't snagged it! Room is 7' x 9' has a 180g, 50g and I've just cleared room to do a stacker stand that'll hold 2x 29g... I would have to take the door off the room to add anything more!


----------



## jobber

60g? Thought it'd be the 125g freshwater switch to reef. That DA RK is sick looking. Going to look great with this setup once everything starts taking up root and growing.


----------



## monkE

jobber said:


> 60g? Thought it'd be the 125g freshwater switch to reef. That DA RK is sick looking. Going to look great with this setup once everything starts taking up root and growing.


Thangs buddy. I cant wait until it all grows out. Especially the zoas. 
I do want to do the big tank but im dreading trying to light that 6 footer! Plus I want one drilled with an overflow box

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2


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## monkE

controller is great, the auto top off is working beautifully... can't belive how quickly it uses a 5 gallon bucket though! Today i went in to get a couple reactors. Up to this point i have been putting carbon and phos-guard in my filter socks, but they seem to be clogging up really quickly with that method so I have picked up two phosban 150s to run my carbon and some rowa-phos.

Also because i cant seem to leave JnL's without some kind of livestock i got a tube anemone and a yellow tang! lol


----------



## scott tang

we need another fts full tank shot ! btw the tube nem needs to go in the sand and be conpleetly coverd with sand so your fish dont nip at it ( its realy cool waching it eat mysis shrimp )


----------



## monkE

thanks for the advice! i actually had to add more sand to the tank to accomplish this as i've only done a real thin sand bed on this tank so far... luckily I have sand in a bucket just lying around 

Tube anemone's new home

and FTS... while i was in there i moved the hammer coral a down to the left side of the tank and put the flowerpot down onto the sand... we'll see how they like this new arrangement


----------



## Diztrbd1

Nice new additions. tank looks great buddy! Your doing a great job!


----------



## monkE

didn't take long before it opened right up


----------



## crimper

Looks good Mike... I think I'm going to the Dark Side now.... :bigsmile:


----------



## msjboy

Nice setup.... now all you need to next Get- vortech..itdoes make a difference...or a cheapo jebao w40 or w25


----------



## The Guy

Hey That anemone looks like a cousin to mine, hopefully he likes it where he is. Yellow tang looks great I feed my tangs sheet seaweed on a clip as part of their diet, my Yellow goes after it before I even get my hand out of the tank. The tanks looking good there Mike, keep up the good work.


----------



## monkE

crimper said:


> Looks good Mike... I think I'm going to the Dark Side now.... :bigsmile:


it's about damn time buddy! lol


msjboy said:


> Nice setup.... now all you need to next Get- vortech..itdoes make a difference...or a cheapo jebao w40 or w25


thanks man, the powerheads make that much of a difference? why???


The Guy said:


> Hey That anemone looks like a cousin to mine, hopefully he likes it where he is. Yellow tang looks great I feed my tangs sheet seaweed on a clip as part of their diet, my Yellow goes after it before I even get my hand out of the tank. The tanks looking good there Mike, keep up the good work.


I've wanted one since i saw it in your tank. JL just got some in at a decent price and i've wanted an anemone for a while. As it turns out (because i do my research afterward like an idiot! lol) it's not even a true anemone and will not have a symbiotic relationship with my clowns and will actually attempt to eat them if it gets the chance! I love the look of it though. Have you had any issue with yours snagging a fish? im mostly worried about my scooter blenny who just loves to comb the tank and i'm afraid it will end up on the wrong end of these tenticals!

I have some algae growth in the tank that im hoping the tang will help with, i think i want to see him mowing down on that before i offer him more veggies to dine on, but if i don't see him eating then for sure i'll be getting some seaweed sheets. Is it anything special or can i use the sushi wrap sheets???


----------



## The Guy

monkE said:


> it's about damn time buddy! lol
> 
> thanks man, the powerheads make that much of a difference? why???
> 
> I've wanted one since i saw it in your tank. JL just got some in at a decent price and i've wanted an anemone for a while. As it turns out (because i do my research afterward like an idiot! lol) it's not even a true anemone and will not have a symbiotic relationship with my clowns and will actually attempt to eat them if it gets the chance! I love the look of it though. Have you had any issue with yours snagging a fish? im mostly worried about my scooter blenny who just loves to comb the tank and i'm afraid it will end up on the wrong end of these tenticals!
> 
> I have some algae growth in the tank that im hoping the tang will help with, i think i want to see him mowing down on that before i offer him more veggies to dine on, but if i don't see him eating then for sure i'll be getting some seaweed sheets. Is it anything special or can i use the sushi wrap sheets???


I was told they can snag a small fish about the size of a little clown gobie and I have one in the tank but seems to know to stay clear. Probably your scooter blenny will be just fine my Mandarin goes right beside the TA but seems to know to keep his distance.
And ya your tang will clean up algae for you if you wait on the seaweed. Spitfire says he uses the sushiwrap for his tangs as long as it's not treated with spices it's probably ok to use I know it's a whole lot cheaper that's for sure


----------



## AdobeOtoCat

Get vortechs! Those waves makes all soft corals flow and wavelike. Makes a lot of difference in my opinion. So jealous Im not allowed yellow tangs in my small tank  good thing you upgraded haha.

Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk 2


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## scott tang

nice tube ! you tryed feeding it yet they rely on meaty food bits so cool to wach


----------



## monkE

AdobeOtoCat said:


> Get vortechs! Those waves makes all soft corals flow and wavelike. Makes a lot of difference in my opinion. So jealous Im not allowed yellow tangs in my small tank  good thing you upgraded haha.
> 
> Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk 2


i'm not ready for that kind of cash just yet... for something that is purely for the look it seems like a crazy amount of money.



scott tang said:


> nice tube ! you tryed feeding it yet they rely on meaty food bits so cool to wach


Thanks! I gave it some mysis shrimp yesterday, very cool! I just hope it doesn't snag a fish! lol


----------



## scott tang

lol yup mine hasent yet


----------



## aQ.LED

Lol tang police will eat u alive. Cuz to be honest , tang should really only keep in groups and therefore it need a large aquarium . But I am with u, I love tangs and that's y I am slowly move up the size so I can provide them the better environment


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## PurpleMonkey

The wavemaker power head is not just for looks and it helps with creating random flow patterns, which would represent the natural environment on the reef (or at least a lil closer to it).


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## monkE

Update time! So it's not all roses in the tank, I've lost my flowerpot recently... no idea what happened, just melted away a couple days ago.. took about 2 days and it was gone! from what i read it seems that they do that inexplicably in captivity sometimes. If anyone has any ideas of something specific i should check then please let me know.

Here's my specs tested right after i removed the flowerpot
MG - 950 ppm - LOW
PO4 - 0
CA - 650! way high
Salinity - 1.026
PH - 8.1
Alk. 4 meq/L

I've been dosing AquaVita calcium and magnesium but I haven't been consistant enough with the dosages so that is why those specs are so far out. I suppose that could have been the reason for the flowerpot's demise.

Well I have been trying unsuccessfully to get some decent night pictures of the tank with my Nikon SLR - but I'm far from a pro star photographer. It's so frustrating seeing some of the canreef threads where guys have spectcular night pics of their corals glowing. Tonight by pure accident I've found the best settings that i've used so far. Have a look. If anyone knows photography please let me know what i can adjust to bring a little more colour out without over exposing the shot.












Not a pro-star photographer, but I do know how to make a watermark! lol


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## scott tang

love this aquscape over the other one well done ! looking good !


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## The Guy

Hey Mike your tank looks awesome, scooter blennie's are very cool eh! I had one little female in my 40 breeder frag tank, so today I just got her a boyfriend when I was at J&L. It's very cool how the male flies his front dorsal fin when he's around her. I'm hoping they will dance one day. I agree with you about the wave maker's cost maybe one day I'll find one for a good deal, I do like the effect just not the price.


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## spit.fire

You sure the gsp isn't a gorg? Got any better pics of it w/o all the blue?


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## crimper

You came a long way Mike. Really nice. What happened to the budget? lol it all started with a 20G Nano "budget" reef eh? :bigsmile: I think I fell into the same trap :lol:


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