Dan's Reef

[DannyXL]

MY 90 GALLON REEF PROJECT

Well, I've had my reef tank up for about 3 weeks now, so I thought I'd upload a little timeline gallery, I am actually in week 4 this week, so these pictures are up to last thursday.

Ah yes, the beginning first week of July before my lights arrived. Poor Lonely rocks...
http://s88.photobucket.com/albums/k186/Steelman22/?action=view&current=Reeftank1.jpg

Can't stay away from LFS buying more rock, nope light hasn't arrived yet (Checks UPS tracking number for 12th time in the past hour)
http://s88.photobucket.com/albums/k186/Steelman22/?action=view&current=Reeftank4.jpg

Christmas! Knock at Door! UPS!!! Outer Orbit 2x130 Watt Actinics and 2x150 Watt MH, bout to churn up the light 560Watts here we come...
http://s88.photobucket.com/albums/k186/Steelman22/?action=view&current=Reeftank5.jpg

Another trip to get me some LR! Must GET MORE!
http://s88.photobucket.com/albums/k186/Steelman22/?action=view&current=Reeftank7.jpg

Wow, talk about a hitchhiker! The Lawnmower man Arrives (From Large Rock on Left)
http://s88.photobucket.com/albums/k186/Steelman22/?action=view&current=Reeftank8a.jpg

And, on this In Search of... Blenny stalks Sleeper Gobie
http://s88.photobucket.com/albums/k186/Steelman22/?action=view&current=Reeftank9.jpg

Whoah! Algae Bloom! No worries, back under control all LR complete, just a handfull of bioballs to be removed.
http://s88.photobucket.com/albums/k186/Steelman22/?action=view&current=Reeftank12.jpg

Current Stats:
Water Temp: 81
Salinity: 1.025
PH: 8.2
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: <5
(need to still test for Alk and Cal, but they have been ideal on every test)

Livestock: Da Crew:10 Nasarris, 10 Magarita, 30 Turbo, 10 Hermit crabs, 3 Emerald Crabs (en route 30 Cerith and 20 Nasarris snails)
1 Sleeper Gobie
1 Lawnmower Blenny
1 Green Chromis
1 Candy Cane Coral
1 Yellow Polyp
1 Orange Button Coral

I've seen Bunch of spagetti worms, some pods, fanworms, etc.

Fish wanted, to be added. Naso Tang, Flame Angel, Watchman, thats about it for now.

NOTES: All pics taken with my cameraphone, will be getting a digital camera in order to start putting up nicer pics. So, what do you think for 3 weeks?

[angelsj247]

you got a lawnmower hitchhiker?
do you have an ammonia test..
what kind of equipment do you have?

[DannyXL]

Yep, he was in the large LR on the left. What was crazy is that it was out of water from the LFS, and was didn't get placed in my tank for about 40 mins after leaving the LFS tank.

Yes Ammonia is fine.

Equipment? I have a Coralife PS, rated for 125, Rio 2500 return pump, 2 movement powerheads that rotate water inside, and one that just blows current behind the LR. Outer Orbit 560w (2x130 actinic)(2x150 MH), 8 hrs for MH, 10 for the actinics which come on 1 hr b4 the MH and go off 1hr after. Use RO water for my top off and water changes.

I just seem to get these occasional blooms, they come and go, when they leave, a ton of coraline algae is seen, then the dust diatoms come back for a while, then go again. I keep getting told this is normal for only a 3 week old tank, and it should subside around the 3 month mark.

I'm planning on doing a new battery of tests thursday after my weekly water change of 10 percent. I usually either test later that evening or midday the next day. Will have next set of pics up and results...

[yoboyjdizz]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7857095#post7857095 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DannyXL
MY 90 GALLON REEF PROJECT

Well, I've had my reef tank up for about 3 weeks now, so I thought I'd upload a little timeline gallery, I am actually in week 4 this week, so these pictures are up to last thursday.

Fish wanted, to be added. Naso Tang, Flame Angel, Watchman, thats about it for now.



Looks like your off to a good start now i would slow it down a bit alot of action in the first month... As far as addding a naso tang please don't. They get really huge and need very large tanks 8ft plus...

[Vin7250]

great start bro, i agree with the above....stay away from the naso tangs, and definitally slow down a bit. SW tanks rely on a delicate balance of benifical bacteria and as you increase your bio load(fish wastes etc.) your ben. bacteria needs ample time to catch up to create this balance. I would hate to see you go through what most of us seasoned reefers have and end up having a ton of deaths in your tank. Rockwork looks great, lights seem great, as for your algea, i would run your MH for maybe 4 hours a day for a month then slowly increase them an hour a week as to allow your tank to get used to this. And a side note....resize your pics on photobucket so that we can all enjoythem without saving them and resizing them ourselves.....otherwise great job

-vin

[DannyXL]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7858522#post7858522 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Vin7250
great start bro, i agree with the above....stay away from the naso tangs, and definitally slow down a bit. SW tanks rely on a delicate balance of benifical bacteria and as you increase your bio load(fish wastes etc.) your ben. bacteria needs ample time to catch up to create this balance. I would hate to see you go through what most of us seasoned reefers have and end up having a ton of deaths in your tank. Rockwork looks great, lights seem great, as for your algea, i would run your MH for maybe 4 hours a day for a month then slowly increase them an hour a week as to allow your tank to get used to this. And a side note....resize your pics on photobucket so that we can all enjoythem without saving them and resizing them ourselves.....otherwise great job

-vin Thanks guys for the input! I'll pass on the Naso. I like Tangs and I heard it was a great graiser. What about a Kole Tang? They look pretty cool and seem to swim alot through the LR? I don't plan on adding any more fish for at least a few months, that was my wish list for my tank, I don't want more than 4 to 6 fish in my tank total, want them all to have good room to enjoy the reef. I only had the watcher gobie and the small green cromis in there the blenny was the one I got free, lol. So that sorta happened inadvertantly. I've been doing weekly water changes with RO water for that reason to try and help the system out with such a load.

What size do you guys need the pics to be? I have one of those camera phones that takes the pics, phone has duostick compatibility and just saves it and I copy it to the computer. Hopefully within the next few months (If I can control myself and not build a new sump, I'll be picking up a better digital camera so you can enjoy clearer pics.

Any other advice would be great. New pics to come Friday.

[DannyXL]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7858059#post7858059 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by yoboyjdizz
Looks like your off to a good start now i would slow it down a bit alot of action in the first month... As far as addding a naso tang please don't. They get really huge and need very large tanks 8ft plus... Thanks for the advice, I've noticed the few at the LFS have gotten rather big quicky, what do you think about a Kole Tang? I have my heart set on a tang other than a yellow, any suggestions would be great. Thanks for the input!

Happy first time reefer! :D

[DannyXL]

Anyone? Kole Tang? Beuller? ;)

[one24fan]

kole tangs are great. very active

[DannyXL]

Sweet, I now have to be the patient one and wait (ho hum), to allow my tank to become more stable. I've seen several Kole tangs at the LFS and they look cool under the MH lights with those yellow eyes.

I need more cleanup crew though. Seems like hard to find a LFS that carries any Cerith or Nasarris Snails, and Online usually one store has one, and the other has some of the other. Would like to order it all from the same place, but the LFS sells Nasarris snails for like 2.25 a pop. OUCH. They only seem to carry Turbos, and I want a more versitle snail. Only hear great things about Ceriths. My Margarita snails actually do rather well.

[DannyXL]

Alright, pictures have been resized to 640x480 for easy viewing, I think one may be at 720x500 or something, but they all should load faster and won't need screen resizing. New pics to come this weekend, hopefully the right screen size... ;)

[DannyXL]

Tank as of 8/4/06

As you can see Algae bloom has just about run it's course, nothing more at this time exept that the button coral you see below had only 2 or 3 buttons on it just two weeks ago, and now it's about to move onto the rock below.

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k186/Steelman22/Reeftank13.jpg
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k186/Steelman22/Reeftank14.jpg