Grog's 33 Long Build

[+Grog]

I'm making a 33 long based build. 48" X 13" X 12"

I'm a noob to reef tanks but, it is fun to be a noob sometimes. This is my first marine attempt after having several reasonably successful freshwater tanks. I've done a ton of reading and I'm ready to move ahead! Probably know just enough to be dangerous. The space where I'm placing this tank is small, oddly shaped, and that space's geometry has driven many of my decisions. The space providing a design constraint has made this challenge more fun.

After much thought, I'm starting this tank with "The Package" from Tampa Bay Saltwater. I've got most of my stuff ordered from various vendors now, except for "The Package". I want to make sure everything works and fits together before I get critters, rock, and sand at the airport. In addition to the tank, the current build plan is to use the following equipment.

Lighting: Odyssea T5 4 Bulb 48" with the built in timer, running a mix of ATI and KZ bulbs. I ordered enough bulbs so I could have spares and mix and match to find the light that the critters and I enjoy. The plan is to use 2X Aquablue Special 1X Actinic and 1X Fiji Purple. Next build, I'll do the LED setup.

Skimmer: AquaC Remora with 1200 pump

Refugium: Converting an Aquaclear 110 to a refugium and plan to stick some cheato in there so the pods can have a place to play. So you have an idea of what I'm doing, I'm going to copy this DIY project about 90%. http://www.nano-reef...howtopic=192628

Circulation: 2X Korilla 240 I'm figuring this will be enough when combined with the output of the Aquaclear 100 and the skimmer's output. I have an extra one I can toss in if needed.

Heaters: 2X Eheim Jager 50W placed apart in the tank. I wanted these becasue they were small enough to fit in the tank, and I could have distributed heating and keep the temps consistent across the tank.

I may not use the protein skimmer after all, I'm still on the fence as to using a protein skimmer or not. I'm leaning towards thinking it is not entirely necessary but I'll wait till I get the refugium conversion completed before I turn the skimmer off. I'm going to add a surface skimmer to either the intake on the refugium or to a small HOB filter. Not certain which just yet, and I'm open for input.

Still unsure on the stocking plans. Everyone says to take it slow, and I intend to do just that. I'll have a few fish in the tank but honestly, the inverts and corals are more of what I'm into. I'm considering the following fish:

Small Goby to hang out with a shrimp. - This will probably be my first addition. Seems fairly innocuous and not a monster first addition.

Clowns

Mandarin Goby - I know to not get this at first. I will only get a Mandarin if the pod farm in the refugium is working. They are so very pretty but I want to be certain that I'm able to take care of it. This is my real goal, so I'm going to focus on being a pod farmer here at first. Even if I decide to not get the Mandarin, the pods will be a good thing in the tank.

I plan on adding Zoas, Frogspawn, and/or Bubble at some point. Zoas are my primary interest.

I have the tank set up, full of water, and supposedly my lights come in today. I'll order the live rock and sand this evening if my lights come in. UPS says they are on the truck but I know to not believe it until I see it. I'm thinking they are not making it tonight. 7:00 PM is too late.

Here is a shot of the tank for now. Not very exciting yet. I'll take some more pics when I get the rock in. The Fluval in the picture is hooked up to the FW tank to the left. Skimmers and heaters not in pic, this is a few days old before I got everything put together.

[victoly]

Looking good! I feel like 2 50w heaters may be a little undersized for the tank. Since we're in texas, it's not a huge deal, but just something to consider.

[+Grog]

Looking good! I feel like 2 50w heaters may be a little undersized for the tank. Since we're in texas, it's not a huge deal, but just something to consider.

I was a little concerned about this as well and I've been monitoring the temp with a temp probe all day and it is staying very stable, and we keep our house fairly cool. I will keep an eye on it though.

Thanks for the feedback! I'm going to need all the help I can get.

[JasonJones]

Sounds like a great build and that you are approaching things the correct way.

What are you planning to run for rock, live or dead?

Also, you may consider getting an ATI Blue+ or two. The aquablue special mixed with the fiji purple gives a pretty red light. I have one of each that comes on together in my fixture and that is my least favorite time of day with the tank, looks much better when the three blue+ kick in.

[+Grog]

Sounds like a great build and that you are approaching things the correct way.

Thanks, I hope so. I feel like I'm fumbling around. Kind of like when a kid first starts to drive.

What are you planning to run for rock, live or dead?

As soon as my lights come in, I'm ordering the 35 gallon package from these folks. http://tbsaltwater.c...kage/index.html My light fixture was supposed to be on the UPS truck today but I got this update "The package was missed at the UPS facility, UPS will deliver on the next business day." Blah! No brown truck of joy for me today.

Also, you may consider getting an ATI Blue+ or two.

I bought 6 assorted bulbs from Premium Aquatics last week as that's what fits in their standard shipping lot. I'll keep your advice in mind if I don't like the colors these are putting out. Their packaging was awesome BTW.

[+Grog]

Woo Hoo!

UPS came by today and delivered my lights. The Odyssea T5 4 bulb fixture with a built in timer. It also has 4 LEDs for night time. As soon as I opened the box I realized what I had to do. The lights were on two circuts like this:

1. Circuit A

2. Circuit A

3. Circuit B

4. Circuit B

LED Circuit C

I knew this would drive me nuts. So I proceeded to swap out the lights. Easier than expected because of the way they did the wiring. Yeah, it is cheap but I expected as much and it was easy to work with. Now after switching two connectors on both ends of two bulbs everything is working like I want.

1. Circuit A

2. Circuit B

3. Circuit A

4. Circuit B

LED Circuit C

The goal here was to have my bright bulbs on circuit A and the actinic and purple on circuit B. Now they aren't all in the front or all in the back, alternating and a little better distribution of color. Here is a picture of the connector swap. My first tank mod. lol

Over the next few messages, I'll post pictures of how the stock lighting looks and how it looks with the other bulbs so I can get some opinions on colors. This isn't a fancy light fixture by any means but I've seen much worse. I'm happy so far for $110 shipped.

[+Grog]

I'm using an old Canon Powershot A470, and my camera-fu is weak. This is using the night-time LEDs only.

Major score, I figured out how to use the "Add to Post" feature to make in in-line in the post.

This is will all of the stock lights on.

Now, I'm going to yank lights and try the ATI and KZ lights. This is kind of fun.

[+Grog]

Today was the day! Richard from Tampa Bay Saltwater e-mailed last night and said my first shipment of rock and sand was shipping today and will be at the airport after work.

Flight was supposed to be in at 6:05 PM. Southwest called me and said it had arrived. I was thinking wow! That's cool, I've never had a shipper call me like that. I got there and paid them the freight charges, and the boxes were absolutely perfect. No leaks and all 100% intact. Three boxes total. Two had rock and one had sand. Started out great IMO. I'm a fan of good packaging.

I drained several gallons out of the tank, thinking ahead and realizing that adding sand and rock would displace the existing water and cause a big mess. Yes, I do think ahead once in a while. After, I opened the the boxes up and found the sand, rocks, and a back of bacterial culture.

The bags were full of living matter. Countless crabs, sponges, snails, caulerpa (I think), and worms. There is one hole with some sort of crab in it kind of large but I left him be. The instructions said to smell the rocks, especially the sponges to see if any stunk and the did not. Everything was covered in a good coat of water in the boxes. Again, awesome packaging.

I kind of sorted the rocks and put the larger ones on the bottom. I didn't worry too much about aquascaping, just wanted to get them separated and in the tank. It was way too cloudy to make a permanent arrangement. I'll mess with that tomorrow night. Horay for the weekend.

Here is the obligatory FTS of cloudy water.

Now its time to watch the cycle and monitor everything for a few days. Overall, I'm fairly happy with this transaction and how easy it was. I expected some sort of nonsense or delay with the airline or to find damaged boxes. Everything was AOK.

I'll take another picture after the tank clears and I've had the weekend to do some aquascaping. Things are moving along now.

[+Grog]

The dust settled today so I was able to snap a few shots of some of the rocks before I rearranged.

Here is one with what I think is caluerpa. Is that correct?

Another rock

And a third rock with the same stuff as the first one

Later, I rearranged rocks and made a big cloudy mess. Its settling out again, I'll take another shot tomorrow. Here is a FTS from earlier, the pic tomorrow will look better. Last night I was in a rush to get the rocks into the water, today I did some decent placement making some nooks, crannies, and caves. Trying to make some good hiding spaces and aid circulation.

It cleared up pretty good but I need to clean the glass. While rearranging I did find an odd crab, about the size of a nickel with a purple body, two evenly sized red claws, hiding in between two (what I think) are chicken liver sponges. I'll try to get a snapshot of him tomorrow if he cooperates. Haven't seen one like this before. The claws are very bright red and slim, kinda cool looking but shy. My luck he will be a variety that gets 12" across. haha

Added a surface skimmer to a little Aquaclear 20. It is dedicated for the surface scum. I'll leave the bulk of the tank cleaning to the rock, CUC, and the Aquaclear 110/Fuge thingy.

Ammonia was at .25 so I did a water change too. Looks like no major screwups on my part so far.

Grog

[KevinB]

Looking good so far, I'd recommend using Fiji or another true reef rock to fill out your total rock count. The Florida rock is good for diversity, but very dense. You'll want something more porous in there as well.

Watch out for gorilla crabs or most hairy crabs, as well as isopods and mantis shrimp. Also be on the lookout for aiptasia.

Watch the sponges, the chicken

Liver will probably die, mine did. If it does, it will start coming apart in chunks. Be looking out for clams, I got a lot of them with my rock and most have survived.

[+Grog]

Thanks Kevin. He goes under the rocks and hides. I'm not going to try to root him out. I'm going to leave him be for now, he's the biggest thing in the tank!

But I've got my eye on him!

[+Hydro]

Looks great, when you are ready for some corals come on by since you are just down the road. I have some cheap stuff we can throw in there to see how it goes before you put in the good stuff.

[+Grog]

That sounds great Hydro. I'm going to take it slow with this tank though, so it may be a while before I'm ready to add stuff. I do want to see your set up some time though.

[+Grog]

Cleared up over night.

Here is the 'final' placement of the rocks. Do you think there is enough sand? I'm not going for DSB but it seems shallow to me.

I arranged the rocks so they fit together a little more cohesively. I'll probably wait to do any permanent gluing until I get the second shipment of rocks. If I glue now I'll probably have the perfect piece for a given arrangement and not be able to move it. haha So, I'll be patient. Here is a shot of some nooks and crannies I left for critters to explore.

This snail has been cruising around about 2" a day. Doesn't go very far but he is moving.

Is it just me or is keeping the glass clean a total chore? I guess the light shows all the little dirt and streaks. I've never had this kind of problem keeping my glass clean on my FW tanks. Anyone have glass cleaning tips?

All for today. Off to check the water and grab some lunch.

[Bannerfish]

Looks good so far! I've been wanting to get some of that rock from florida just to add a little variety. Watch that crab when you add fish/inverts. Sounds like one that was brought to our lfs one time cause it was eating their fish lol.

[+Grog]

Sand is settling in now. During water changes it is not kicking up as much as it was. Starting to from little dips and valleys. Still cycling and doing water changes daily.

I'm 90% certain that the crab I found, the red guy, is a red mithrax crab. He's still in there and alive, hiding between two rocks and some caulerpa. Noticed a few previously unseen feather dusters, a hermit crab, and some small hairy crab today. I'm thinking the hairy guy is a gorilla crab, so he may get banished soon. Not too concerned tonight, its late, and there isn't much for him to destroy.

[+Grog]

I'm excited,

Tank cycled and all my numbers have been at zero for a few days. Richard e-mailed this morning and the second half of my live rock and critters are on a plane from Tampa. Rock was in the gulf yesterday, will be in my tank tonight.

I ordered a little extra material than what I needed for my 33. I'll move a couple of rocks and the extra sand to a 10g tank and make that a mantis display. Yes, another tank in the house...

Grog

[+Grog]

Wow! I'm totally happy with my rocks and Richard put a lot of extras in the shipment. Decorator crab, macros on the rocks, an anenome (which may be several in a clump, haven't opened the bag yet).

Stuff was all packed very nice. Here are some of the bags acclimating to the tank. Going to start adding water to them now. You can see the macros all over one of the rocks. I'd say half the rocks had macro on it today and two of them had massive sponge colonies of a variety of colors (black, yellow, red, orange).

Richard even included some sea grasses in one of the bags. Totally unexpected bonuses made my day.

[KevinB]

That looks like a gorgonian to me...

[Michae52]

Looks like christmas to me.

[+Grog]

That is my thought too. I didn't take a picture of the sea grasses yet. Went back and read my post and it probably looks like I thought that was grass. lol

[subsea]

Looking good! I feel like 2 50w heaters may be a little undersized for the tank. Since we're in texas, it's not a huge deal, but just something to consider.

From a redundacy point of view two small heaters are a good move. No matter which way the heater fails, on or off, it is not so much a big deal.

Patrick

[subsea]

Grog, you now know why "The Package" is "The Bomb". Maybe, Michael said it best, "Looks like Christmas".

Patrick

[+Hydro]

From a redundacy point of view two small heaters are a good move. No matter which way the heater fails, on or off, it is not so much a big deal.

Patrick

+1

I would hope everyone goes with 2 smaller heaters instead of one for the reason mentioned above. Out of all the equipment that I have the thing that breaks down the most are those heaters.

[+Grog]

Today's update with lots of pics. Hopefully some of this can be IDed, as I have no clue what some of it is.

I did try to bust up some live rock today. Wanted to take the less attractive piece and smash it so I could have some rubble for frags and stuff. Chisel and hammer, busted two pieces off and saw something wiggling. Yup, mantis in the rock. Good I got him out of the display tank, but I wonder how many more are in there. lol So I made a hasty trip to Petco and slapped together a 10g mantis only with live rock tank. We will see how he does. HOB filter, sand, and ~10# of live rock. I may get another few pieces at a LFS in the next week or so.

After moving the mantis to a more suitable environment, I did a bit of aquascaping and planted some of the stuff a little more firmly in the substrate. This is one of the things that I initially thought was a seagrass but it is hard. Is this some type of sea fan or mushroom?

Planted one of the gorgs I got a little better than it was last night. Not sure if this one is open or not. Seems kind of lanky.

This is the anemone, a flower anemone Richard says, either way it looks really pissed off to me. Its all closed up and looks generally unhappy. It buried its foot pretty deep in the substrate today. Maybe it will stay here? Would be a cool spot for it to roost as it is in prime viewing. I just hope it cheers up.

By contrast, this gorg is happy, opened up right away and looks nice. Hope it makes it, both Carol and I enjoy looking at this one.

Here are some sponges that came on the rocks.

This is another thing that I initially thought was grass in the bag, but again it is hard. Any ideas of what it may be?

Decorator crab is sporting some macro. I may get another one of these guys, I like their odd behaviors.

Donkey dung looking for a meal.

If any of my IDs are wrong, please clear me up. If you know what my unknowns are, I would appreciate a proper ID.

Time to do a water check and make sure everyone is happy.