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Greetings, ARC - new reef build, first reef build


BobcatReefer

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I used to lurk on the ARC boards years ago, but when I realized I wasn't going to be reefing any time soon, I quit coming by the forums. That was years ago, and the forums have certainly changed, and the community grown!

I currently have a 46g bowfront fowlr w/ diy sump and a half dozen fish and shrimp (about 15 years strong). I was recently gifted a 75g tank, plexi sump and fuge, have purchased lighting and protein skimmer, and am *this close* to starting my reef build. I'm going to lurk on the board a bit, especially the tank build and diy forums, hopefully hit up the auction next weekend, and am sure to have a ton of questions soon.

Look forward to learning from y'all!

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So here's where I'm at and what I want to do, at least to the degree that I know. What I'm hoping to get is some help on understanding where my gaps are, and how to solve those. If there's a more appropriate sub-forum for this, let me know. I've got probably 75k posts on a half dozen forums over the years, so I'm familiar w/ noobs screwing chit up! One of my forum peeves is people quoting long posts just to address one sliver of that, so I'm going to try and segment my thoughts, as I'll have quite a range of issues/questions/challenges and plenty of pics.
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Current set up: 46g bowfront, 20ish DIY sump, 60ish lb live rock, kinda-DSB, Red Sea Prizm HOB skimmer, HOB overflow box, standard LFS single bulb flourescent light.

Current livestock: Clown (regular Nemo style), Six Line Wrasse, Longfin Wrasse, Orange Diamond Spotted Goby, Cleaner Shrimp, Coral Banded Shrimp, Brittle Starfish, couple of Turbo Snails, four Nassarius Snais.

Tank has been set up for 15+ years, the sump was added maybe 12 years ago. Overall, it's been incredibly stable. Normal (bad) issues over the years: a/c goes out in the middle of summer, heater dies during winter while on vacation and 3/4 or the tank swims to heaven, bubble algae, hair algae, a*hole fish I shouldn't have bought terrorizing the innocent, etc. Never had Mantis Shrimp or any parasites/illnesses (to my knowledge). Currently have a bristleworm issue that I'll address separately.

Some of these are older pics, and not all of the inhabitants are still around, but same/same for the most part:

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Lately my big issue is gigantic bristleworms. For a while, they were out every night like the dirty vampires they are. I'm convinced they were attacking fish while they slept. About 2 months ago, they went back into hiding and I haven't seen so much as sign of them until this week when I saw one out on the sand. I despise them. They are my nemesis (nemesi?).

Nasty worms:

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What in the f*ing f*? For reference, that's about a 5-6" drop to the sand.

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They made quick work of this guy - he was alive and well the night before. Looks like they went in through his mouth and ate their way through his belly.

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New (to me) set up - this will be my first reef tank:

These were gifted to me, along w/ a 75gal glass aquarium. Initial water tests failed, so I welded them up.

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Passing grade. Might go over them again before the build, just to be sure. Good idea or bad to do so?

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Lighting: http://www.aquaticlife.com/light-fixtures/four-lamp-t5-ho $350 @ Aqua-Dome

Model #420037, 48-Inch T5 HO Light Fixtures (220 Watts Maximum Output)

(2) 48" T5 HO 54W 420/460 Lamps

(1) 48" T5 HO 54W 700+/10K Lamp

(1) 48" T5 HO 54W 460/620 Purple Lamp

(4) 1W Lunar LEDs

(4) Aquarium Frame Mount

Skimmer: Bubble Maggus Curve-5 http://www.bubble-magus.com/productinfo.aspx?id=469

Current status:

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The Plan - and this is where I'm looking for your collective knowledge, wisdom, advice, etc. My guess is that this won't start in earnest until the spring, but I'd like to be ready as soon as possible.

Acquire all remaining parts - plumbing seems to be the only major piece(s) left to the build. I do need a powerhead (maybe 2?), a new return pump, and would like to understand more about controllers and DIY dosing setups, although I think I have a lot of time. Light for the fuge. I'm sure I'm missing things here.

Break down current tank and stand.

Transfer all fish and critters to temp tank - likely the current tank, but on the floor. Need to figure out water movement and filtration, but I don't think it's going to be too tough. Put the skimmer on the tank, maybe drop the return pump into the tank as well.

Remove all live rock and stick it outside for a week to kill every last ******* worm. Transfer to tubs for curing process. Going to use the same rock, but can't have those leviathans coming over to the new house.

Take the stand outside onto the deck for prepping. It needs to be sanded, have the interior painted and exterior stained.

Assemble new build (hardware), aquascape rocks, add new sand, add fish and critters, acquire and add corals.

Thoughts?

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Oh - here's the plumbing plan. I'll run two overflows - I think the one I have now is a 1.5" and the other is a 1". The 1.5" will go into the sump via a filter sock, the 1" will go into the fuge. From the fuge, two overflows into the return section.

I'll certainly be looking for help on plumbing assembly. Know zero about it overall.

Blue: Flex tubing

White: PVC

The skinny rectangles are unions (do I need one on each side of each valve?), BV = ball valve, YV = Wye valve, PS = protein skimmer, RP = return pump

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I don't think the bristle worms are a problem. The definitely aren't the ones killing your fish, they're just eating up the dead fish. If you have rock that's been in a system for 15 years, I really wouldn't advise letting it sit outside and killing off all the good stuff. If you kill off those rock, you're going to have to cycle the new system a lot more than if you add the rock with all it's beneficial stuff.

My $0.02 is to keep the current tank running, set up and plumb the new system. Add new rock and sand, then let that cycle for a bit. Once cycled, add in the old rock. It might have a tiny bit of die off if you have a bunch of sponges and what not, but shouldn't be a big deal.

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I'm adding new sand to the new display tank, but not new rock, I don't think. Maybe a piece or two, if at all.

While they may not be the actual killers, they gotta go. On principal alone, I can't abide a half dozen (at least) worms that long. And that...whatever that last pic was of? I'm sure a couple of the smaller ones will end up in the fuge, as I'm planning on using sand from the current tank in the new fuge. I just want to get rid of the huge ones.

Any other way to accomplish their exit? If I put the rock in a tub w/ warmer/saltier water would that drive the worms out? Colder/less salty water? The only other way I've had success was during big cleaning break downs where I pull all of the rock out of the tank, but that only netted a single worm last time.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I don't think the bristle worms are a problem. The definitely aren't the ones killing your fish, they're just eating up the dead fish.

I've always heard this but believed it less and less over the last year, even though I had zero evidence. Today, I feel a bit better about my suspicions after I found this in my new MarineDepot.com product catalog (got a new powerhead on Black Friday): Pretty sure that's the first time I've ever seen it in print (or from any reputable source).

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I don't think the bristle worms are a problem. The definitely aren't the ones killing your fish, they're just eating up the dead fish.

I've always heard this but believed it less and less over the last year, even though I had zero evidence. Today, I feel a bit better about my suspicions after I found this in my new MarineDepot.com product catalog (got a new powerhead on Black Friday): Pretty sure that's the first time I've ever seen it in print (or from any reputable source).

2pseidt.png

Let's keep in mind you saw this in a product catalog for a company that sells products that can help you get rid of bristleworms. [emoji4]

Not refuting that they don't attack fish when they get larger but I've never removed any from any of my systems for 12 years now and some have gotten quite large. Can't say I've lost a fish or coral to any bristleworms yet. YMMV.

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There's a lot of stories in the hobby that seem to become "fact". I think brittle worms eating fish fall into this category.

As with Ty, we've had all sorts of bristle worms. In our old 125, we had insane number of them. I swear we couldn't pick up a single piece of live rock without getting stung by one. Never once did we have issues with them however.

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There's a lot of stories in the hobby that seem to become "fact". I think brittle worms eating fish fall into this category.

As with Ty, we've had all sorts of bristle worms. In our old 125, we had insane number of them. I swear we couldn't pick up a single piece of live rock without getting stung by one. Never once did we have issues with them however.

Oddly, I've never been stung by one and I've picked up rocks and corals all the time with them on it.
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We may have had fireworms in our 125... They were MUCH larger than the brittle worms we typically see. These guys were as fat as a pencil, and just as long. Their stinger-thingers were big enough that you could see them clearly. When stung it didn't really hurt instantly like a bee, it just slowly became irritating. It felt like if you rubbed against fiberglass insulation. Just an irritation that itches and annoys the crap outta you.

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We may have had fireworms in our 125... They were MUCH larger than the brittle worms we typically see. These guys were as fat as a pencil, and just as long. Their stinger-thingers were big enough that you could see them clearly. When stung it didn't really hurt instantly like a bee, it just slowly became irritating. It felt like if you rubbed against fiberglass insulation. Just an irritation that itches and annoys the crap outta you.

That's how a hydroid sting feels!
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