Bobcat's 75gal First Reef Build

[FarmerTy]

My personal QT method:

TTM for the first 12 days, swapping fish from one tank to another tank before 72 hrs has passed. Only thing I run is a heater and air pump with air stone. No equipment is transferred, just fish and as minimal water as I can move the fish with.

Day 0: new tank, new water, new air stone, heater (separately cure dry live rock and cycle it with quick start bacteria in a brute trash can to use in the extended QT tank)

Day 3: move all fish to new tank, new water, new air stone, different heater, add prazipro. Transfer as little water as possible and try not to scrape the bottom trying to catch the fish. Dry and clean the empty tank and equipment and leave it dry until the next transfer.

Day 6: move all fish to new tank, new water, new air stone, different heater. Dry and clean empty tank and equipment and leave until next transfer

Day 9: move all fish to new tank, new water, new air stone, different heater, add prazipro. Dry and clean the empty tank and equipment and leave it dry until the next transfer.

Day 12: move all fish to extended QT tank for observation. Start regular water changes and keep an eye on ammonia levels.

I add a skimmer and the live rock that I have been curing and cycling in the extended QT tank at this time. Make sure the rock was dry and completely dead before curing and cycling it for the QT tank. Unless you're treating a lot of fish, you usually don't even have to worry about ammonia in the TTM tanks since the water is new every 72 hrs. Do not ever go past 72 hours in any tank or you'll have to start over. If treating a lot of fish in TTM, I typically add Prime daily to neutralize ammonia buildup in the tank. This is only if I'm treating a lot of fish at once.

[+BobcatReefer]

Thanks for the help y'all. I only have a 20g long tank to work w/, so not sure the TTM is going to work here. So working from Reburn's post:

I have a HOB Fluval 50 w/ filter floss and some carbon in the media basket. I just need to remove the carbon and I should be good to go on that front.

I have a small powerhead that I can add an airline to - will that work in place of an airstone? Don't have an air pump.

Are Prazipro and Paraguard available locally or do I need to order those online?

[Reburn]

I don't know if either are available locally I Amazon almost everything nowadays.

I just picked up a cobalt oxypro for like 35 on Amazon. You really need a proper air stone in my experience.

[+BobcatReefer]

Had a heck of a night tonight.

Needed to do an algae scrub and water change, was going to do a bit of extra cleaning as well (overflow boxes, back glass, sand line, light) and add another powerhead to the other side of the tank. Do 80% of the scrubbing, drain the water, and get to the last part of the scrubbing while at "low tide" and the light was off so I could get to the backside of the rock. Knowing darn well there's a well camouflaged sea hare somewhere nearby, I don't do a thorough check and make sure it's safely out of the way before scrubbing and sure enough...give it a solid poke. Enough that it starts squirting purple liquid - ink. Now I'm in frantic mode trying to get it out and into the QT in case I've killed it (I didn't) and put the dang tank back together so I can add the new water and dilute any poison badness.

Somehow in that process, my Starry Blenny ends up in the small overflow (the one there's zero chance of getting my hand into), so I unscrew the union going into the fuge and put the catching net under the pipe exit, then flip the valve...but he holds his spot in the 1/2" of water, so I've got to try again. Close the valve, let the water fill back up in the oveflow, and grab a chopstick to chase him down the tube with. He's not having it so I'm working harder on the chasing and not the holding of the net, so once I get him down the pipe, he's in the fuge which is so hard to access. At least he's got algae to nibble on and plenty of room to swim. I'll worry about getting him out later this weekend.

I've got another batch of water mixing so I can do another change tomorrow night to further mitigate the potential toxicity of the ink. Hopefully it doesn't kill everything in the tank by then. I'm already seeing some grumpiness.

My skimmer is running too strong so it's just dumping back into the sump. Two weeks ago I couldn't get bubbles to breach the top of the neck, now I can't get them to slow down/thicken up.

Wally passed away yesterday. I found him because I saw a shadow spinning in the body of the skimmer.

[+BobcatReefer]

Everything looks pretty decent this morning. Sea Hare is moving around w/ no issues in the QT, so I'll put her back in the DT before I head to work. She's been a beast vs the algae!

Skimmer is acting right now as well.

[FarmerTy]

That's a shame about all the fish losses. Glad the sea hare made it out okay and the inking didn't cause too much trouble.

[+BobcatReefer]

Thanks Ty. I think Wally suffered when I cut back on feeding to control the algae. Dan gave me big wide eyes when he saw how much I was feeding! He was like...uh, no wonder you have GHA issues! Because I was feeding less, I started using the feeding mode on the powerhead to keep more food in the DT so at least the fish could get to it before it went over the falls. I didn't really account for the tiny guy not getting his share down in the sump.

*fingers crossed* on what's going on in the tank when I get home. Hopefully any damage from the inking would have shown itself by this morning and everyone is back to being happy!

[Dan H]

You'll probably want to change out your carbon when you get home tonight and get some fresh stuff in there to help pull out the ink.

[+BobcatReefer]

Man, I JUST put new carbon in this week.

And I JUST made a BRS order for GFO, but not carbon on Wednesday.

[+KimP]

Man, I JUST put new carbon in this week.

And I JUST made a BRS order for GFO, but not carbon on Wednesday.

I have lots of extra carbon I can bring you if you're going to the meeting tomorrow.

Had a heck of a night tonight.

Needed to do an algae scrub and water change, was going to do a bit of extra cleaning as well (overflow boxes, back glass, sand line, light) and add another powerhead to the other side of the tank. Do 80% of the scrubbing, drain the water, and get to the last part of the scrubbing while at "low tide" and the light was off so I could get to the backside of the rock. Knowing darn well there's a well camouflaged sea hare somewhere nearby, I don't do a thorough check and make sure it's safely out of the way before scrubbing and sure enough...give it a solid poke. Enough that it starts squirting purple liquid - ink. Now I'm in frantic mode trying to get it out and into the QT in case I've killed it (I didn't) and put the dang tank back together so I can add the new water and dilute any poison badness.

Somehow in that process, my Starry Blenny ends up in the small overflow (the one there's zero chance of getting my hand into), so I unscrew the union going into the fuge and put the catching net under the pipe exit, then flip the valve...but he holds his spot in the 1/2" of water, so I've got to try again. Close the valve, let the water fill back up in the oveflow, and grab a chopstick to chase him down the tube with. He's not having it so I'm working harder on the chasing and not the holding of the net, so once I get him down the pipe, he's in the fuge which is so hard to access. At least he's got algae to nibble on and plenty of room to swim. I'll worry about getting him out later this weekend.

I've got another batch of water mixing so I can do another change tomorrow night to further mitigate the potential toxicity of the ink. Hopefully it doesn't kill everything in the tank by then. I'm already seeing some grumpiness.

My skimmer is running too strong so it's just dumping back into the sump. Two weeks ago I couldn't get bubbles to breach the top of the neck, now I can't get them to slow down/thicken up.

Wally passed away yesterday. I found him because I saw a shadow spinning in the body of the skimmer.

Ugh, that sounds awful! Sorry about the fish. I'm glad the sea hare recovered.

[+BobcatReefer]

Thanks for the offer Kim. I have some more carbon, but it will likely empty my tub and would have been much more convenient for me to screw all this up a couple of days ago before I made the order!

[+BobcatReefer]

Can we see an overall? I've been wanting to see the whole tank, stand, and top. Not jst pieces. I'm curious bc of the dimensions you told me

Here ya go Christy:

All in all, everyone looks pretty happy and normal after last night's hoopla.

Now to get going on the water change and carbon swap. Yaayyy, reefing!

[Christyef]

Nice!! Couple of questions: what's the capped PVC w/the holes drilled in it for; and do u have your hydor wave makers set to run intermittently? I ask bc I have the exact same WM and one of them is so noisy when it starts I jst leave it on all the time. The propeller vibrates up and down and makes a terrible noise. I've tried to take it apart, even wrap the shaft. Nothing works

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[ShawnM]

What kind of pump is it some puns are not made to turn on and off like that

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[+BobcatReefer]

what's the capped PVC w/the holes drilled in it for

That's the pipe from the #2 overflow. It goes into the fuge and I have the flow at about 25-33% (vs 75-66% on #1 that goes into the sump). Cap/holes is simply to keep flow gentle in the fuge.

and do u have your hydor wave makers set to run intermittently?

I have them set to alternate on 15s intervals. Both are brand new though (I just installed the 2nd one yesterday), so they run very smoothly - no noise whatsoever.

[Christyef]

What kind of pump is it some puns are not made to turn on and off like that

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Hydor koralia smart wave. The fish actually got used to the racket, but I never could bc I "knew" it wasn't supposed to do that.

[Christyef]

Oh cool! I like that. My WM are only a couple months old, but that one has always done that. I hoped that it would lessen w/ use and/or algae, but no such luck. Lol

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[Christyef]

I'm also jealous you can draw on your photos. [emoji6]

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[Christyef]

I'm also jealous you can draw on your photos. [emoji6]

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[+BobcatReefer]

lolz - that's just MSPaint!

[Christyef]

Ah, I don't have a computer anymore... Miller chewed the power cord. [emoji19]

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[Christyef]

Ah, I don't have a computer anymore... Miller chewed the power cord. [emoji19]

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[+BobcatReefer]

So, there was some discussion in another thread about using hydrogen peroxide to fight algae, and because I have a bunch of algae, I figured I would do that. I also have a tendency to only read the first paragraph or so and assume I know the story, so true to form I didn't do more research to figure out how much to use. Just put some in a coffee mug (maybe 3/4c) and started squirting. The good news is that ish works like a champ! Most def kills the green stuff. However...the Palys and Candy Cane did not appreciate the generous dosing into their environment. Moral of the story is be careful about how much H2O2 you use or your corals will hate you.

Here's the progression over the last two weeks:

Day 1:

Day 3:

Day 6:

Day 10:

Day 14:

I didn't get pics of the Palys over the timeframe, but it was like the little tentacles got burned off and the color gone - these are Candy Apple Palys, and the green just came back in the last 2 or 3 days (dosing was 12 days ago).

Today:

[Christyef]

What were those lights called again?

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[+BobcatReefer]

Light on my display tank: http://www.aquaticlife.com/light-fixtures/four-lamp-t5-ho

Light in my fuge: http://innovative-marine.com/auqa-gadget/magnafuge.html