Beignet
Guest
Hi BAR,
I've been meaning to start an official tank thread. My first post about this tank had to do with the initial leaky bulkheads (see the equipment forum). You can also see a bit about how my tank is plumbed there. But, we are past that and the tank has been up and running well since February 2013.
Here are the details:
Display:
60 gallon cube, rimless
MP10W circulation pump
Radion, first generation, light
Dry rocks to start, Marco Rocks
White enclosed stand with a black marble top
Sump:
20 gallon tank
Reef Dynamics INS 135 skimmer
Finnex controlled and a 300w titanium heater
HOT magnum hang on canister filter running carbon and GFO
Eheim return pump, model 1260 i think
No refugium
I have a filter sock, changed every 3 days
Livestock:
yellow-eyed kole tang, melanarus wrasse, chromis, harbor goby, tail-spot blenny, geometric pygmy hawkfish
CUC: nassarius snails, black-footed trochus, astrea snails, hermits
Cleaner shrimp, coral banded shrimp, peppermint shrimp
Corals: really a mixed bag of zoas, palys, lps, sps (see pics, attached)
Water:
RO/DI from a spectrapure 4 stage system
Reef crystals salt
No auto top off, replenish about 1 gallon per day manually
TEsting: REd Sea (Alk, Ca, Mg), Elos (Phos), API (Amm, -ites, -ates, pH)
Weekly water change of 12 gallons, no exceptions
Dosing:
BRS 2 part, dosed daily, manually (dosing approximately 30 ml of each, daily)
BRS magnesium adjusted weekly
"Fuel" dosed once a week at about half the recommended dosage
Feeding:
Daily PE mysis and spirulina-entriched brine shrimp
2-3 times/week, coral feedings are target feedings of the acans, plate corals, duncan, candy canes with mysis), the tank gets phytofeast and cyclopeeze (and sometimes rod's foods). I have a small clam and a goniopora so I'm paying special attention to target feed those the cyclopeeze and phytofeast.
Key issues I've had so far: much more trouble with fish than corals. I had ick and/or possible velvet run through the tank early on. I didn't QT my first fishes since there weren't any fish in the system to start that I was worried about infecting. This was a mistake as I ended up draining the tank to get the stubborn fish out, leaving the tank fish-free for 40 days, while QTing the fish elsewhere with Cupramine, before reintroduction. Things are going along fine now, but what a pain! I should have been more patient and followed good QT procedures from the start.
I had a clown goby in the tank for about a week and he was eating my sps (a beautiful red planet and my birdnest). He's in my 14 gallon tank now with another clown goby. I'm not sure they are going to get along. And, after seeing him eat my corals in my big tank, I've been watching my 14 gallon more closely and saw the original clown goby munch down on my birdsnest like a piece of corn on the cob. So, these fish may need a new home! I've had some issues with coral tissue loss from the base of my monti and birdsnest in my small tank that didn't have an obvious cause so now I'm thinking it may have been these gobies all along. I see them in reef tanks all the time so maybe mine are weird or my tanks are a bit small or don't have enough sps corals in them to disperse the damage so it's undetectable.
Corals have been doing well. No losses. Most seem happy where they've been places, but a few (cyphastrea, sunset monti, hollywood stunner) have needed a bit of movement but are now settling in. There seems to be a learning curve with the radion lights (especially for a new reefer like me) so I'm trying to be careful with the intensity and photoperiod.
Things I'm thinking about: starting to run an auto-topoff system (I have a Tunze Osmolator still in the box). Should I and should I use Kalk for my top off water??
BEst wishes,
Beignet
I've been meaning to start an official tank thread. My first post about this tank had to do with the initial leaky bulkheads (see the equipment forum). You can also see a bit about how my tank is plumbed there. But, we are past that and the tank has been up and running well since February 2013.
Here are the details:
Display:
60 gallon cube, rimless
MP10W circulation pump
Radion, first generation, light
Dry rocks to start, Marco Rocks
White enclosed stand with a black marble top
Sump:
20 gallon tank
Reef Dynamics INS 135 skimmer
Finnex controlled and a 300w titanium heater
HOT magnum hang on canister filter running carbon and GFO
Eheim return pump, model 1260 i think
No refugium
I have a filter sock, changed every 3 days
Livestock:
yellow-eyed kole tang, melanarus wrasse, chromis, harbor goby, tail-spot blenny, geometric pygmy hawkfish
CUC: nassarius snails, black-footed trochus, astrea snails, hermits
Cleaner shrimp, coral banded shrimp, peppermint shrimp
Corals: really a mixed bag of zoas, palys, lps, sps (see pics, attached)
Water:
RO/DI from a spectrapure 4 stage system
Reef crystals salt
No auto top off, replenish about 1 gallon per day manually
TEsting: REd Sea (Alk, Ca, Mg), Elos (Phos), API (Amm, -ites, -ates, pH)
Weekly water change of 12 gallons, no exceptions
Dosing:
BRS 2 part, dosed daily, manually (dosing approximately 30 ml of each, daily)
BRS magnesium adjusted weekly
"Fuel" dosed once a week at about half the recommended dosage
Feeding:
Daily PE mysis and spirulina-entriched brine shrimp
2-3 times/week, coral feedings are target feedings of the acans, plate corals, duncan, candy canes with mysis), the tank gets phytofeast and cyclopeeze (and sometimes rod's foods). I have a small clam and a goniopora so I'm paying special attention to target feed those the cyclopeeze and phytofeast.
Key issues I've had so far: much more trouble with fish than corals. I had ick and/or possible velvet run through the tank early on. I didn't QT my first fishes since there weren't any fish in the system to start that I was worried about infecting. This was a mistake as I ended up draining the tank to get the stubborn fish out, leaving the tank fish-free for 40 days, while QTing the fish elsewhere with Cupramine, before reintroduction. Things are going along fine now, but what a pain! I should have been more patient and followed good QT procedures from the start.
I had a clown goby in the tank for about a week and he was eating my sps (a beautiful red planet and my birdnest). He's in my 14 gallon tank now with another clown goby. I'm not sure they are going to get along. And, after seeing him eat my corals in my big tank, I've been watching my 14 gallon more closely and saw the original clown goby munch down on my birdsnest like a piece of corn on the cob. So, these fish may need a new home! I've had some issues with coral tissue loss from the base of my monti and birdsnest in my small tank that didn't have an obvious cause so now I'm thinking it may have been these gobies all along. I see them in reef tanks all the time so maybe mine are weird or my tanks are a bit small or don't have enough sps corals in them to disperse the damage so it's undetectable.
Corals have been doing well. No losses. Most seem happy where they've been places, but a few (cyphastrea, sunset monti, hollywood stunner) have needed a bit of movement but are now settling in. There seems to be a learning curve with the radion lights (especially for a new reefer like me) so I'm trying to be careful with the intensity and photoperiod.
Things I'm thinking about: starting to run an auto-topoff system (I have a Tunze Osmolator still in the box). Should I and should I use Kalk for my top off water??
BEst wishes,
Beignet
