Forestals Reef

2006-05-14T19:07:00.000-04:00

5/14/06:

120 Reef: 30 g WC; Specific Gravity: 1.025, Alk = 90mg/L, Ca = 400mg/L, pH = 8.4 , Ammonia = 0.0, Nitrite = < 0.1mg/L, Nitrate = < 5mg/L

2006-05-08T18:47:00.000-04:00

May 6, 2006:

took down the anemone tank, put the rock and anemonae in the seahorse tank, only 1 seahorse left, with rockwork, is now lower level for seahorse to stay safe.

Reef tank getting too warm sitting in the window on sunny days, chiller not an option now.
Moved the tank to the wall, since I was doing this, decided to put the MRC sump in the stand, giving more room for live rock and more water; the skimmer is 36x18x18, approximately 40 gallons effective water held. This took several hours, since to get the sump in i had to remove the tank from the stand. now done and looks great, rearranged the rock a bit better, so more open areas, less dead space to flow and less rock in the main tank.
In the process 50 gallons new water added, 30gallons old water discarded.

2006-04-23T18:42:00.001-04:00

Seahorse Tank: 10 gallon water change

Anemone Tank: 10 gallon water change

120 Reef: 30g water change

Reef parameters: specific gravity = 1.025, pH = 8.2, Alk = 80mg/L, Calcium = 400mg/L, Ammonia = 0.0, Nitrate = <5mg/L, Nitrite = <0.1mg/L

2006-03-12T17:36:00.000-05:00

Tank Maintenance - 3/12/06:

Seahorse Tank: 10 gallon water change

Anemonae Tank: 10 Gallon water change

120 Reef: 40 Gallon water change

Reef Water parameters: Temp 74-78, Specific Gravity = 1.024, Alkalinity = 90 mg/L, Calcium = 400 mg/L, Ammonia = 0.0, Nitrate = <5 mg/L, Nitrite = <0.1 mg/L, pH = 8.2

2006-03-05T16:44:00.000-05:00

Tank Maintenance - 3/5/06:

36 Bow:
All is well, 10 gallon water change done

Seahorse Tank:
Doing well, 10 gallon water change done, added some snails from florida pets

120 Reef:
Added a bunch of snails (cerith/nerite/trochus) and some hermits from Florida Pets, another great order from them. The cyano is slowly fading, growth on the sps and lps continues, most of the zo's are looking better.

Tank readings prior to water change: Specific gravity = 1.024, pH 8.4 (hmm - maybe from the reef plus additives over time, or perhaps the carbon change), Alk = 90mg/l, Calcium 400 mg/L (i have cut in half the reef plus to start watching the calcium closer to see when i need to supplement), NH3 = 0.0, N03 = <5mg/L, N02 = <0.1 mg/L

40 gallon water change made with premixed IO and RO (tds 0)

still not getting much out of the skimmer , i am maybe getting a cup/weekof dry nasty stuff.

2006-02-25T13:08:00.000-05:00

I decided to use this as a way to track all my tanks happenings.

36 Bow - Anemone Tank:
The anemonae and 2 clowns are doing well. I am feeding mysis soaked with vitachem 3-4x/week , still skimming, not getting much, but thick crud that dries faster in the collection cup than i can drain it. Have a bit of a hair algae issue, but read below on the ro/di aspects to see probably why, as this tank is low nutrient.

2/25/06: 15 gallon water change; still topping off approx. 2 liters/week.

Seahorse Tank:
death of Fleck, he never fed strongly and while shifting rockwork i bumped him, never saw any damage, but i am guessing this shocked him. The others are doing well, and feeding actively on vitachem soaked mysis 2-3 blocks/day split 2x/day. Spike is still releasing approximately 100 fry per 8 week period, altho he does it at 5 am, so many more may be sucked up by the filter.
I notice a cyano problem as this is a high nutrient tank, but usually if i don't do a weekly water change. January only did one water change, but am back on track doing weekly x 3 and already cyano disappearing.

2/25/06: 15 gallon water change, approx. 1/2 gallon topoff/week.

120 Reef:

Lots of changes. First, I decided to improve the circulation, and removed about 40/50 pounds of live rock (placed in the seahorse tank), to lessen dead spots, looking to improve the long term health of the tank. I removed a lot of the softies, zo's, ricordea, mushrooms, and a few big pieces of purple tipped monti. I want more room for the corals to grow out. I like the look of a sparse coral tank, but well grown in. My stony corals are growing nicely. On a frag from last years IMAC of candy cane, 2 new mouths plus a bud that has almost seperated. Acro's and plating monti are growing fast.
I am considering adding another tunze or vortech pump for improved flow. My calculations are currently 4-6x/ tank volume turnover per hour.
I changed carbon and phosban after a month 3 weeks ago, and forgot to soak the carbon in ro water, and since then have had a small cyano and hair algae outbreak.
However, when i went to change out the RO filter membrane, i discovered the extra i had was actually the one i should have installed to begin with--- I have been running DI but not RO and TDS (have been lazy checking since new setup) has been in 20-50 range, so i am sure this is not helping with the algae issue.

2/23/06: 30 gallon water change, cleaned off the pumps (tunze and seio), scraped off a lot of the coralline on sides and edges and scooped with fish net about 2 cups worth of yuck.
I am finally getting the skimmer dialed in better, have added an air pump to improve air bubble volume and use venturi to tune in nice and small.

I am considering addition of ozone in the next year , and if i do, will add this to the current skimmer (as ozone decreases lifespan of acrylic) and get another skimmer to improve skimming.
I am back and forth on importance of skimming as i am doing frequent water changes, but i think it is important.

2/23/06: water parameters: specific gravity = 1.025, pH = 8.2, Temp 74-78, Alk = 100 mg/L, Calcium = 440 mg/L, nitrite = < 0.1 mg/L, nitrate = < 5 mg/L, ammonia = 0.1 mg/L (rechecked and zero, think is contaminant)

Feeding: using 1/4 tsp cyclopeeze, pinch oyster eggs, 3 blocks of hikari mysis, tsp zooplex, pinch of flake, and several drops of vitachem to soak. I also have been using a capful of Seachem Reef Plus additive, and i think there is improvement (from what i can tell), but this has been maintaining Calcium as I seem to use 10-20 mg/L per week by testing prior to adding this. I am not anywhere near the recommended dosing, but since i am not testing mg, strontium, etc, i don't feel comfortable doing so.

2/25/06: 40 gallon water change with REAL RO/DI water, still using IO; approximately 5 gallon fw topoff per week (at least in winter as is dry), decided 40 gallongs weekly will be the goal, i now have a big collection of buckets :)

2006-01-28T11:58:00.000-05:00

1/28/06:

15 Gallon Water change performed on the reef and on the Seahorse tank.
New Carbon and new phosban put in sump of Reef.
Reef Parameters: Specific Gravity 1.024, Temp:75-78, pH 8.2, Ammonia 0.0mg/L, Nitrite <0.1mg/L, Nitrate <5mg/L, Calcium 440mg/L, Alkilinity 90mg/L.

It's been 2 weeks since last water change, so perhaps some calcium is leaching from rocks, growth of sps and lps is really starting to take off, needing to clean almost daily coralline on front glass. Odd the calcium staying high...considering another test kit (different brand) to confirm.
Trying to tweak my skimmer on the reef, having difficulty, now the darn thing doesnt work as well as it did.
Going to add the large Finnex skimmer to the anemone tank.

2006-01-12T11:02:00.001-05:00

120 Reef maintenance- 20gallon water change done after 3 weeks without one , finally.

all is looking good, producing ~1/2 cup skimmate/week, afraid to turn it up any higher for fear of sucking the water out while i'm not home.

Testing done: S.G.: 1.024, pH: 8.2, NH3: 0.0, NO2: <0.1mg/L, NO3: <5mg/L, Alk: 90mg/L, Calcium: 420mg/L

still not supplementing the calcium, but coralline algae and coral frag growth is starting to be visibly noticable weekly...i can no longer keep the back glass clear, as half is encrusting with coralline..

Seahorse tank did a 15gallon water change, took the clown out and put them in the bta tank, getting too pushy at feeding time.

2006-01-12T11:02:00.000-05:00

2006-01-11T19:24:00.000-05:00

Started up 36 gallon bowfront tank:

It is a species tank for my green BTA's Entamacea quadricolor anemonae...keeping bioload low...some aiptasia but doenstn matter, as peppermint shrimp have snacks.
3 days into the tank, and one anemone has split already.

2006-01-08T17:15:00.000-05:00

started up my 36 gallon bowfront tank to house my BTA (Entacmacea quadricolor) green... for a species specific tank,and leave less stress in the reef tank.
have a cpr overflow running to a 5 gallon bucket for the sump with mag drive pump wiht manifold style return..see my website for details...the bta's seem to have tolerated the move...have lots more space in the reef tank now...spread the frags out a bit to give them room to grow...havent done a water change in 2 weeks...too much personal stuff...but plan to do one in the coming 5 days...
also took most of the live rock out the seahorse tank and brough to the lfs...didnt want the horses getting stung by hydroids or aptasia anemonae

2006-01-06T19:42:00.000-05:00

2006-01-06T19:40:00.000-05:00

2006-01-05T18:40:00.000-05:00

Here are my most recent testing on the 120 reef and changes made:

Water changes made with RO/DI water from Aqua Fx system, using Instant Ocean salt:

Unless otherwise stated, I use RO/DI freshwater from above system 5 gallons/week for fresh water topoff.

6/21/05: Ammonia = 0.0, Nitrite = <0.1mg/L, Nitrate = <5mg/L, Phosphate = 0.0, Specific Gravity = 1.022, pH = 8.2, Temperature = 76, Alkalinity = 80mg/L, Calcium = 420

7/3/05: Ammonia = 0.0, Nitrite = <0.1mg/L, Nitrate = <5mg/L, Specific Gravity = 1.024, pH = 8.1, Temperature = 74-78, Alkalinity = 75mg/L, Calcium = 370mg/L; Water Change =

7/21/05: Ammonia = 0.0, Nitrite = <0.1mg/L, Nitrate = <5mg/L, Specific Gravity = 1.023, pH = 7.9, Temperature = 74-78, Alkalinity = , Calcium = 200mg/L; Water Change =

9/19/05: Ammonia = 0.0, Nitrite = <0.1mg/L, Nitrate = <5mg/L, Specific Gravity = 1.023, pH = 8.3, Temperature = 74-78, Alkalinity = 70mg/L, Calcium = 440mg/L; Water Change =

10/22/05: Ammonia = 0.0, Nitrite = <0.1mg/L, Nitrate = <5mg/L, Phosphate = 0.0, Specific Gravity = 1.024, pH = 8.3, Temperature = 74-78, Alkalinity = 70mg/L, Calcium = 440mg/L; Water Change =

11/6/05: Ammonia = 0.0, Nitrite = <0.1mg/L, Nitrate = <5mg/L, Specific Gravity = 1.024, pH = 8.2, Temperature = 74-78, Alkalinity = 80mg/L, Calcium = ; Water Change =

11/13/05: Ammonia = 0.0, Nitrite = <0.1mg/L, Nitrate = <5mg/L, Phosphate = 0.0, Specific Gravity = 1.025, pH = 8.2, Temperature = 74-78, Alkalinity = 80mg/L, Calcium = ; Water Change =

11/20/05: Ammonia = 0.0, Nitrite = <0.1mg/L, Nitrate = <5mg/L, Specific Gravity = 1.025, pH = 8.2, Temperature = 74-78, Alkalinity = 90mg/L, Calcium = ; Water Change =

12/4/05: Water Change = 15 gallons

12/17/05: Ammonia = 0.0, Nitrite = <0.1mg/L, Nitrate = <5mg/L, Specific Gravity = 1.024, pH = 8.2, Temperature = 74-78, Alkalinity = 80mg/L, Calcium = ; Water Change =

12/26/05: 15 gallon water change

2006-01-05T18:21:00.000-05:00

I will be trying out the blog format to document my reef aquaria.

A little bit about me, I have been keeping freshwater aquaria for 7 years, mostly cichlids were my passion, especially from Lake Tanganyka, but when my wife gave me the go ahead in 8/03 to try out a saltwater aquarium, i dove in head first. I started with a 55 gallon tank, slowly adding live rock bits at a time. Over the course of a year and lots of reading, books and online, I added some basic soft corals, zoanthids, leathers and mushrooms, and a condylactis anemone. I added a 55 gallon tank underneath to serve as a refugium. I became a fan of Deep Sand Beds, going so far as to participate in Dr. Ron Shimek's online course in sand bed ecology which was lots of fun (and work) and I learned quite a bit.
I upgraded to a 150 gallon tank moving all over, which I ran for 6 months with nothing but lights, rock and sand then started transferring livestock. This tank ran for a year and I decided to move a tank upstairs from the basement since i wasn't enjoying as much. So the contents were transerred to a 120 gallon reef ready tank over 5 hours without a cycle and this tank is what is now my main reef.

[b]120 Gallon Reef:[/b] see my website: Reef Tank
Tank: 120 Gallon All Glass Reef ready, dual corner overflows/Mahogany stand/canopy
Lighting: PFO fixture: 2x 250watt 10K metal halides and 2x 96 watt actinic PC; Halides on 9-6/8:30-6:30 , PC actinics on 7am-9pm; then moonlighting with single LED
Sump: Tidepool filled with liverock, running coarse filtration and carbon
Live Rock: ~160 pounds in tank/sump
Substrate: 3-5" DSB seeded with Bill's Reef/IPSF and others every 4-5 months to keep diverse and powerful filter
Skimmer: MRC-1 (myreefcreations.com)
Water Flow: return via 2 lockline tubing, 1 tunze turbelle pump
Salt: Instant Ocean, salinity at 1.025 Water: RO/DI by AquaFx unit; 15 gallon weekly water changes, 4 gallon per week of FW topoff (currently manually)
Parameters: Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate at 0; Calcium 350-450, Alkalinity at 9mg/L - not using calcium addition yet as holds steady with water changes, watching closely tho; Temp: 74-78
Controller: Digital Aquatics Reef Keeper - controls lighting, prevents overheating of tank, and has a powerhead on a wave cycle
Backup: DPC battery backup - runs one return pump for 3 hours if power fails, automatically, considering adding another in series

I also have a 36 gallon seahorse tank with 5 young adult breeding H.erectus horses in a lagoonal type tank, a 6 gallon eclipse nano with 10 gallon sump.

I am looking to starting a seperate tank for just my anemones so they and my corals in the 120 will be less stressed out.