nuxx Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 Well I decided not to go through with the 240 build after deciding it would just be too small for what I want to keep. I'm rather impulsive and buy things with not fully thinking them through... hence the 135 I bought and sold before getting wet and the 240 I just sold. I plan on keeping a few large tangs together and think a tank around 120x30x30 would be best... I'm really going to put some thought into this build knowing ahead of time I want to keep and Achilles and Sohal together. We're going to pull the trigger after our pool is put in (started last week), so hopefully late Spring or early Summer for the new tank. This will buy me some time to really plan out what I want... even though I already have a very good idea I've had this 55 running for about a year and a half, but never had it setup well. The main issue was placement (between two rooms) and the lighting (Marineland hood with terrible LEDs). Last Saturday I tore down the tank, cleaned all the rock and crushed coral. I also painted the back of the tank black. The tank was setup on a stand we got for a fellow ARC member which we modified to hold two of the LED fixtures I had bought for the 240. Also sold our Skeletor Moray Eel to an ARC member, didn't think it fair to him or the other fish to keep it in the 55 any longer. Everything is back up and running and everything seems happy. The goal with this tank is to learn how to keep coral before getting an exponentially bigger tank and getting my wife back into the hobby... the 9-10 month 240 build really left a bad taste in her mouth. Will be buying some coral very soon, which she is really interested in When the new tank is up, this tank will serve as a holding tank for all new fish and coral before either going to the DT or a QT tank. Equipment: Marineland 55 Gallon Glass Tank (2) 120 Watt Dimmable LED Fixtures - 55 x 3 watt LEDs each Sicce Voyager 2 Powerhead Aqueon 500 Powerhead (Modded MJ1200 were too strong) Eheim 2075 Canister Filter (Didn't want a sump on this tank) Aqua-C Remora HOB Skimmer w/ MJ1200 Ehiem 300watt Heater (Old heater broke, nothing smaller around) Livestock: Yellow Tang (2.5") Yellow Belly Blue Tang (2") Black Ice Clownfish Ocellaris Clownfish Frogspawn (Only thing I could keep with the bad lights) Hermit Crab / Snail CUC ~ 80lbs of Live Rock Crushed Coral (Kept from old setup) Aragonite Sand Here's a Video: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 Looks great! I like the black ice clown. I want a designer clowns so bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fightinghippo Posted December 23, 2012 Share Posted December 23, 2012 looks great. what LED fixtures r you using? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuxx Posted December 23, 2012 Author Share Posted December 23, 2012 looks great. what LED fixtures r you using? Cheap Chinese 120 watt fixtures with dimmable white and blue 3 watt Bridgelux LEDs. (55 LEDs in each fixture). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuxx Posted December 23, 2012 Author Share Posted December 23, 2012 Our clean up crew from Reef Cleaners came this week. With Christmas they got stuck in the mail for 4 days. I was a little worried due to the time and the bags were cold. After a few days I'd say 90% have moved from where we put them in the tank. Was a good collection of snails, and John naturally sent more than was ordered. Also picked up a few Electric Blue Hermits to help out with the cleaning. Before these new arrivals, we had two smaller hermits and a few Nassarius snails. Hoping the CUC will be good to go now. We also picked up two Coral frags as well. A Kryptonite Candy Cane and Northern Lights SPS. Never really kept coral before, so I didn't want to go overboard trying it out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nwehrman Posted December 24, 2012 Share Posted December 24, 2012 Looks good so far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuxx Posted December 31, 2012 Author Share Posted December 31, 2012 Went by Austin Aqua Farms this weekend and picked up some new coral They run a really nice place, need to stop by if you haven't yet! Picked up: - Yellow Tipped Torch - Aussie Acan - Electric Green Goniopora Also since I've really only run FOWLR with bad lighting and pretty high nitrates before I'm seeing a lot of new stuff after having much cleaner water, a proper CUC and high intensity lighting. I've been seeing air bubbles on some rock (de-nitrification?), sponges are popping up on the rock and even saw a Zoa start to come out... when I've never had Zoa's before. It's funny I've had this rock for 2 years and have never seen any of this before My little Northern Lights SPS frag is looking pretty good after just over a week as well. Knock on wood... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 Looking good! Keep testing the water for nitrates, phophates, and ammonia. Hopefully the denitrifying bacteria in your tank is keeping up with the added bioload quick enough. Dosing some bacteria if you aren't already doing it should help avoid possible spikes while your system adjusts to the new bioload. Keep an eye on the bubbles. Typically when I see bubbles on my rockwork, it is only bad news. During the initial stages, the bubbles were a first indication that my tank was still cycling... which is not a good thing if you already have fishes and coral. Ammonia in a system can kill things very quickly. During the latter stages, bubbles could be possibly dinoflaggelates, cyano, or some type of nuisance macro algae forming. No, you're not in imminent danger, just noting to keep on eye on it just in case. Could be no big deal at all. My old nano used to bubble all the time and I never had nuisance algae and it definitely wasn't cycling for 6 years. Haha. Give a shout out to the club if you have any questions! Glad you are jumping right back into it after getting rid of the bigger tank. -Ty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuxx Posted December 31, 2012 Author Share Posted December 31, 2012 Thanks I kept about 50% of the water when I moved tanks. All the rock is 2 years+ old as well. Only thing added new to the tank was the sand, which I mixed with all my old crushed coral after I rinsed it in tank water. I'd be shocked if it were cycle issues. Nitrites are 0, no traces of amonia. Nitrates around 10... was much higher before moving and doing a few more water changes. The bubbles are not there in the morning and only appear after a few hours with the lights on. Also, no weird smells from the tank. BTW: Putting in a little SmartStart Complete every week or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 Excellent, looks like you got it covered! I just wanted to mention just in case... I hate to see people on their first venture with a coral tank to be put off because of a bad start. Once it spirals... it's a pain!!! I actually use the Smartstart myself, seems to help out when I need it. Keep us updated on all the goodies! -Ty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuxx Posted December 31, 2012 Author Share Posted December 31, 2012 Will do... I'm paranoid so the first hint of anything wrong and I go a little nuts trying to solve it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 Paranoia will take you far in this hobby! I stare everyone morning with a flashlight to look for signs of flatworms and red bugs on my beautiful SPS. I used to stare for nudibranchs on my zoas but those colonies are so old, if there were any, they wouldn't have made it this far. The SPS are newer (only started keeping a year ago), so I am constantly staring at them, making sure nothing is snacking on my precious SPS. Haha. -Ty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggieMEDIC Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 The bubbles are not there in the morning and only appear after a few hours with the lights on. I would watch those bubbles if they appear after the lights are on. I had a dyno problem that I was able to kick using 4 days of total darkness and a steady regimen of peroxide. Like ty said not trying to scare you but better to be observant now than sorry later. I see dead people. Then I bring them back to life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuxx Posted January 2, 2013 Author Share Posted January 2, 2013 I hope not Haven't seen any red/green/brown algae lon the rock. Just random tiny air bubbles every now and then directly on the rock (non-metallic). Looks very similar to when I drop an escaped snail back in the tank and it's shell will get the same bubbles as it falls back into the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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