McPuff's new 300 (transfer from 120)

[Michael Hoaster]

I look forward to seeing how it works for you. Have you considered tin foil for the wrap? Besides blocking light spill, it would reflect light back in. Keep us updated!

[Sisterlimonpot]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

I look forward to seeing how it works for you. Have you considered tin foil for the wrap? Besides blocking light spill, it would reflect light back in. Keep us updated!

That's along the lines of what I was thinking, something with reflective properties but perhaps something more rigid than foil.

[McPuff]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

I look forward to seeing how it works for you. Have you considered tin foil for the wrap? Besides blocking light spill, it would reflect light back in. Keep us updated!

Good idea. I was thinking of something that would be reflective. Might as well make the most use out of the material. Still haven't done anything with it yet... too many other chores and mini-projects had to be done this weekend (especially outside, hooray!). I will say, however, that the chaeto is growing rapidly. It has at least doubled in size over the past few days. My feeling is that it'll need to be thinned monthly which is just fine.

BUT, I did complete the acclimation box. The step drill bit was excellent and despite drilling about 60 holes it went pretty quickly and there were no issues.

acclimation_box.jpg

The two large 'holes' you see are legacy. Remember, this is made from scrap material. I just placed a patch over each large hole and went on my merry way. Either today or tomorrow, the blueface will go into the 300 in the box. It's about the same size as a 10 gal so he shouldn't be too cramped. With the huge overall volume of the system, I should see pretty decent increase in growth rate and probably juvenile-adult transformation. Again, my main concern is that the annularis and/or scopas tang will pick on it.

Also dosed chemiclean over the weekend to rid my tank of cyano. It was becoming an issue and I could not keep it off the rocks for more than a day or two. Once it began to grow on the sand it was time to nuke it. Made sure to be more careful with dosing this time. Also dosed microbacter to ensure there would be enough of the "good" bacteria. I do NOT want to have another bloom that destroys my biggest coral colonies. Argh. Anyway, last night I put a canister filter on the sump with carbon to get the stuff out of there. Tonight I'll do a water change and get the skimmer back on line. It'll take two water changes of 30 gal each since I can only make 30 gal at a time. Adding the chaeto reactor was a bit overdue but with the addition I should be able to better maintain a more desirable nutrient balance. Pairing chaeto with a small GFO reactor has worked very well for me in the past though even that method can lead to nutrient stripping. Still, probably better than excessive nutrients.

[Michael Hoaster]

McPuff, you're really putting together a dazzling tank! Great fish selection and awesome aquascape. I would imagine your fish load would justify GFO and chaeto, and it should allow you to feed your babies well.

Chemiclean should do the trick. I suffered for three months of cyano hell before I gave in and used it. Never again!

[McPuff]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

McPuff, you're really putting together a dazzling tank! Great fish selection and awesome aquascape. I would imagine your fish load would justify GFO and chaeto, and it should allow you to feed your babies well.

Chemiclean should do the trick. I suffered for three months of cyano hell before I gave in and used it. Never again!

Yeah, if you're patient and dose correctly then ChemiClean is really good. If you're impatient and overdose it, then you lose some very large coral colonies. Wish I hadn't joined the latter club. But it was a valuable lesson and actually allowed me to pursue angels once again.

And you're right, the bioload is increasing and I've got to keep planning for nutrient export to keep the system looking nice. At some point I'll probably create a larger chaeto chamber so I can grow even more. Macro just does such a good job of cleaning the water. And it's so simple... I'm a fan of simple. The most complex thing I ever want to get into is the calcium reactor and thankfully that is running smoothly (just a tad undersized at the moment). Speaking of, I may add an effluent "burn-off" chamber to see if that helps to produce more Ca/Alk by removing any excess CO2 from the first chamber. I've already got something for the job so it's worth a try.

[Michael Hoaster]

Calcium reactors are nice. I ran one on my earlier reef version of the tank. Not sure how much good it did me, as I flunked reef keeping in general. I am finding much more success with a planted marine tank, where heavy nutrients are beneficial. The CO2 from the reactor will benefit your chaeto, and any other plants you might want. It is plants' favorite form of carbon.

[McPuff]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

Calcium reactors are nice. I ran one on my earlier reef version of the tank. Not sure how much good it did me, as I flunked reef keeping in general. I am finding much more success with a planted marine tank, where heavy nutrients are beneficial. The CO2 from the reactor will benefit your chaeto, and any other plants you might want. It is plants' favorite form of carbon.

It took me a while to decide to get a calcium reactor as it just seemed like a hassle. But really, it's quite easy and now I find it's a hassle to mix up any two-part for additional dosing.

I'll have to take another FTS of the reef with better color rendition now that it's looking a bit better. Also need to get a few shots of the blueface so I can have some sort of series with both him and the annularis. Again, the growth rate on that annularis is simply incredible. I feel certain that it will become the largest fish in the tank probably the end of the year. Thankfully he doesn't seem to be a bully (yet).

[McPuff]

Ugh, the pain with chemiclean is the absolute crazy amount of foam the skimmer produces for days afterward. I have added a carbon reactor to help minimize this. Have changed out 30 gal water and will do another 30 gal tonight. It will be nice to have the skimmer operating back to normal. All the corals seem fine this time around and I continue to dose microbacter daily just in case.

The blueface has officially been added to the display tank... in the acclimation box of course! Because there was no light on the QT his color was always a bit muted. I have to say he is absolutely beautiful! Thankfully he also let me take a couple very clear photos. But you can clearly see evidence of transition to adult pattern on body, face, and fins. It's exciting to finally put him into the display. Really hoping for no issues with aggression once he's released.

blueface_May9.jpg

Wanted to include a shot of the annularis as well to show how far along he is on transition. Unfortunately, he's not as willing to provide a quality photo. But you can see the pattern and how close it is to adult. The vertical stripes are nearly all gone and replaced by the brilliant blue diagonal stripes.

Annularis_May9.jpg

Most of my FTS are overly blue so I vowed to get one with better color rendition. This is so simple I should really do it more often. A tiny gel filter held over my cell phone lens creates pictures that are SO much better. Just after I added the acclimation box:

FTS_May9.jpg

For me, it's very enjoyable to see the tank from the side view as it gives a totally different perspective. Seems like I'm looking in a different tank and makes the system look like it's stuffed with corals. I really love how the purple-ish milka stylo pops between the different green colors of the surrounding corals.

side view_May9.jpg

Finally, I had to get a shot of the lagoon to show the progression. It's finally quite clean and now that I have the Kessil A350W over it, I can get nice growth from frags or "leftover" corals. The orange cap looks pretty cool in my opinion and I'm sure the others will also do quite well. This is more of an experiment than anything but I really enjoy it.

Lagoon_may9.jpg

So that's it for today. The system is coming back into a nice holding pattern. Nutrients appear to be on the wane and once the skimmer is back to proper functionality it should be even better.

[McPuff]

The tank has been up for about 1.5 year now... although it's been transferred several times so in some respects the tank has been running since 2005! :0) In face, I've had the watchman goby since then.

My final fish stock list is pretty much where it is at this point. I may add a blenny or two to the DT. I'll definitely get a trigger for the lagoon. Maybe a puffer as well. And a jawfish for the small tank that is also tied in (used to be for the clowns). Here is the list as it stands currently:

lieutenant tang
pyroferus tang
scopas tang
naso tang
foxface
annularis angel
blueface angel
pink spot watchman goby
blue chromis
talbott's damsel
pajama cardinal x2
starry blenny (though I haven't seen it in a month)
rudy sided wrasse
melanurus wrasse
solaris wrasse
caribbean spotted hawkfish
Darwin misbar clown (x2)

The first 7 on the list are the majority of the bioload and are going to grow quite a bit still. So I think that unless I add small fish, this is pretty good for now at 18. Anyway, it's really close to what I had envisioned when I picked up the tank. The system has fought through some tough times mainly due to negligence for various reasons. But it seems to be back on track now. Just have to make sure to pay attention to those small changes and stay on top of them. I'm glad to have added the chaeto. It's growing like crazy, at least tripling in size in just over a week.

[juanfdezdc]

Great list of fish, beautiful!

[McPuff]

Originally Posted by juanfdezdc

Great list of fish, beautiful!

Thanks! It's been almost 2 years since this process began. I've had to take it slow for many reasons but that has been a blessing as I was forced to think critically about the best ways to do things. And I've really taken the time to be careful and deliberate with fish additions. This last part has made a huge difference!

I just bought another calcium reactor as my DIY rig just isn't cutting it anymore. I knew it would happen at some point so no worries there. But this "new" one is huge! It holds about 3 gallons of media so, yeah, it's a monster. Just need to spruce it up a bit and figure out where I can put it. Otherwise, it should be pretty simply to make the switch. Should also be able to run the pH much higher (current is < 6.6) and get better performance. My DIY rig is only able to hold a calcium of 420 and ALK of ~7. I'd like both to be closer to 440 and 7.5-ish without supplemental dosing. May also try some of the Magnesium media so I no longer have to dose two part to maintain Mg.

As for the blueface, he's doing well. Still pretty shy in the acclimation box but starting to come out when he sees me. It's going to be a few more weeks at least before he can be released. I want to make sure he's eating with no hesitation (like he did in QT) because it's obviously a free-for-all in the DT. But he's definitely making progress!

[Sisterlimonpot]

When it's time to QT, I'm going to have to follow your advice and processes. The approach that you use definitely provides the best case scenario for a disease free environment. Be ready for lot's of questions...

[McPuff]

Originally Posted by Sisterlimonpot

When it's time to QT, I'm going to have to follow your advice and processes. The approach that you use definitely provides the best case scenario for a disease free environment. Be ready for lot's of questions...

Yeah, that is certainly fine! I have really just been following a version of what others have posted here. Some go to even more trouble than me, but I think it depends on a number of factors, including the type of fish. I'm happy to help.

[McPuff]

Hey y'all! Figured it was time for a few updates on the 3 hundo.

Decided to get a new and much bigger calcium reactor. Just hooked it up over the weekend and am busy dialing it in this week. The corals are really using a lot of Alk these days! This thing is huge... fits about 3 gallons of media. Considering getting one of the Kamoer FX-STP pumps to create a more stable effluent flow.

calcreactor.jpg

The annularis is really getting big. It's very close to full adult pattern too. Picture is not great but it's hard to get a good one of this guy. It's as if he thinks the camera is going to steal his soul...

annularis_061218.jpg

In a couple months, I'll post a time series showing how his size and pattern have changed over the course of 1 year.

The blueface is still in the acclimation box, and has been for a month. I've reduced his hiding places every couple weeks and now I put in these small rocks you see. He ate pellets right after the cleaning and habitat change so the shyness is clearly subsiding. Just hoping for a peaceful introduction! At this point, it'll be 3 more weeks in acclimation due to personal and business travel plans. Definitely want to be around for several days when I decide to let him out. Nervous!

blueface_061218.jpg

blueface2_061218.jpg

I'll say that the acclimation box has worked really well but it's a pain to clean it about every week or two. :0) I leave the top of the box just under water so the water inside gets circulated a bit more. Would actually prefer a bit larger box but this may actually be the first and last time I use it anyway... not sure I'm going to add any more fish that would require such acclimation. Since it only cost me a few dollars (for the drill bits) it was still worth it!

[Sisterlimonpot]

Did you say how big that acclimation box is? I must have missed it. And did you notice any stress due to being in the box?

[McPuff]

Originally Posted by Sisterlimonpot

Did you say how big that acclimation box is? I must have missed it. And did you notice any stress due to being in the box?

It's almost the size of a 10 gal tank. Off the top of my head I think it's 18" x 9" x 12"... something like that. Again, I would have made it bigger but I already had the acrylic and felt that it would be big enough. For you, I'd suggest going bigger... maybe something like 24x12x12. The other thing I hadn't considered was to notch the top edges just like an overflow. This allows you to place the box at the very top of the tank AND get surface flow to remove waste and provide higher oxygenation. I noticed a huge difference once I moved the box a bit lower to allow the top edges to sit about 1/4" below the water surface.

Have not found the box to be stressful to the angel at all. I have been working in iterations to try and make the transition as smooth as possible. It has taken, and will take, a while to get the blueface into the display but it should be worth the wait. But he seems to eat really well and quickly after I throw in the food. And it's eating whatever I throw in there. Only gets a little spooked when I'm cleaning the box but that subsides pretty quickly.

-Blueface added to box with 2 pieces of PVC (earlier pic shows this). Allowed him to hide as much as he wanted.

-1 piece of PVC removed to provide more open space and urge the blueface to be out in the open a bit more. Reduce shyness and hope to provide more visibility to the other fish (both ways).

-Removed second piece of PVC and replaced with 3 small pieces of live rock. This forms a little "cave" though it's mostly open. Also fully cleaned the bottom of the box so the blueface is visible to the other fish at all times. THIS WAS AN IMPORTANT STEP! Last night I noticed the annularis really checking out the blueface and even trying to get to him. VERY glad that I decided to add this portion of the acclimation... seems the other fish were not paying much attention to the blueface when he still had the PVC to hide in. Three more weeks in this configuration and I hope the aggression will be minimized from the annularis. I will say though, the annularis is MUCH bigger than the annularis. Can't say it enough just how fast that guy has grown. It is now about 6" in length, getting very fat, and almost totally adult pattern. When I got him the day before Thanksgiving he was 1.5" long. That's only about 6.5 months ago! By comparison, the blueface does not have the same growth rate (which I knew) but he's still growing at a pretty decent clip.

[nightOwl]

McPuff what bubble counter are you using on the new calcium reactor?

[Sisterlimonpot]

Very cool, Thanks for the clarification. Please keep us up to date on that process, I've acclimated like that before but never with that type of patience. In the long run, it will pay off, i'm sure.

[McPuff]

Originally Posted by nightOwl

McPuff what bubble counter are you using on the new calcium reactor?

It came with a small Knopp reactor that I'm now using as an effluent blow-off. Seems to work well though and the liquid does not evaporate. The bubbles are big so I don't need to have a constant stream of tiny bubbles.

[nightOwl]

Thanks...

[McPuff]

Ok, it's been just over a month since my last update. The nutrients are getting back to low levels (maybe ultra low?) so the film algae is really slowing down a lot. I can always tell the relative nutrient amount by looking in the lagoon. There was some hair algae forming a few weeks ago... I added GFO back to the system and now I see the algae retreating. Film algae growth is also slowing a bit too. So the combo of chaeto reactor and GFO reactor is working pretty well.

Just last week I found 2 majanos(!) in my display. This was a shock. No idea when or how they arrived. I haven't put any rocks or corals in the tank in ages. Could have been off a snail I guess though I haven't added a snail in two years. Found another majano just yesterday as well (3 total). Luckily I have a wand so I zapped the sh*t out of them. I'll have to be vigilant to make sure I got them fully... and in case any of them spread. They were in a crevice that is hardly visible so I'm hoping that is the extent of their expansion.

As for fish, the annularis is huge still, no shock. :0) The blueface is still in the acclimation box and it's now been over two months. I'm going to try the mirror trick to see if I can divert the annularis' attention. Hopefully that will happen this week.

Yesterday I bought a royal gramma and my first humu trigger since 2004. I'm beyond excited to have a rhinecanthus trigger again! It's a pretty small guy, about 1.5" so I'll get to watch it grow for a long time. And the grammas are always so cool in my opinion. It's really hard to beat their color. Anyway, they are hanging out in TTM and both appear to have eaten some mysis last night. They'll go through the full 12 days of TTM and then spend another month in QT (prazipro and metronidazole treatments). After that the gramma will go into DT and the trigger into the lagoon (after all, it IS a lagoon trigger!).

Will post pics soon!

[vikinglord13]

So many triggers in one tank!

[McPuff]

Originally Posted by vikinglord13

So many triggers in one tank!

I will only have 1 trigger, but it will not go into display. Right now, it's in the QT for about 4 more weeks. It's doing really well and the colors are SO much brighter than when I got the fish a couple weeks ago. As expected he eats like a little pig. :0)

trigger_TTM.jpg

It's been fun to try and document the growth and pattern change of the annularis. Here is the most recent shot of the big guy. He's about 6" now and overall quite large and piggy. Once December hits, I'll try to create a post showing the entire progression for the year.

Annularis_072718.jpg

The tangs are all doing really well and super fat. They get along pretty well after some initial hiccups in the first few months with the chocolate. That fish in particular is simply beautiful.

Tangs_July.jpg

The tank itself is doing pretty well. The algae growth has decreased substantially due to the chaeto reactor and GFO reactor. The trick is to simply stay on top of maintenance! :0)

FTS_July2018.jpg

And because I like to view the tank from the side at times, I wanted to include this shot. Different perspective is incredible sometimes... like looking into a different tank.

Side_July.jpg

Still need to finish the canopy but that's a winter activity. Same for the stand "shell."

[Michael Hoaster]

Your fish and corals look very happy!

[Sisterlimonpot]

Originally Posted by McPuff

And because I like to view the tank from the side at times, I wanted to include this shot. Different perspective is incredible sometimes... like looking into a different tank.

I love the side view of my tank, I'm glad that I had the foresight to create the rock work in a way to allow a clear view of the tank from the side. That 8' depth really makes for a great view!!!