Cali Kid Corals

Slims 120G

slim_jim989

slim_jim989

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Well I finaly decided to get my build thread on the way. Well for a little backround, I was in Puyallup, Wa for awhile and I had a 90 gal disaster. I bought a tank that was up and running from a guy who wa leaving, because it was my first tank it made it a little easer( so I thought). It was one thing after another and when I had to move to San jose, ca I decided I'm not taking it with me and I wanted to start off new. So when I moved down to San jose I came across a LFS who had a Oceanic Tech tank 120G. My wife and I really liked it so after some debats and research I purchased it. Its a 4X2X2 tank with a center overflow. The front glass is Starfire and thats the only one and it has a Eurobraced Top. Well I'll just start off the build thread with lots o Pictures.
Heres the tank, with egg crate to protect the bottom.
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The stand is the normal AGA stand not the Tech tank stand.
For the sump I just went out and bought a 40 Breeder as I wanted the maximum size I could get and I did :). I did the baffels myself and If you want a build thread on that I can.
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Now I used to have 2 400w MH but It gets hot down here during the summer and not really wanting to go back with them becaue I like a really open top look. So I went with the Sunlight Supply, Tek Light 8X54W. Didnt want to wait on the new Elite to make there way out.
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Now for the Skimmer I wanted to try out a cone but didnt want to fork over lots of money for one. So it just so happened that SWC was coming out with there new Cones for smaller tanks. At first I wasnt to sure about the 160 being able to handle as much as my tank is till Luke with Reef Filtration tested it out on his 150G (total) and he said it performed great and he was gonna run it on that. So I picked one up when it was on Promo.
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This is how the sump and skimmer fit inside my stand. I still am able t remove the skimmer but the only way for the sump is to tank the tank off lol.
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As for return I just went with a Ehiem 1260. I just want a slower turnover in the sump. It splits off to two returns as you can see in the pictures.
 
Then we need rocks in our tank right :) Well I didnt want to get live rock from others tanks as I had problems with my last tank. So I got a good deal on Key Largo Macro rock. I found a formation which I liked and I glued them together with Great Stuff Foam. ( and man you need to wear gloves with that stuff it gets everywhere lol). Heres the aquascape( and thanks to all those who helped me decide my path. Its still able to be changed but I like it so far leaves room for lots of corals of all different types.
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As for sand I was going to purchase some dry sand, but when my LFS said that hell sell me some live sand for almost the same price as dry I went with that. I used Sonoma Pink sand and I only have 80 lbs right now but I plan on getting some more when the cloudiness subsides.
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Ok now for the best part WATER :)
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And when it was a little hgher up I started dropping in the sand, I didnt pre rinse the sand because I wanted to fluid in the bags to help get the cycle going. I also got some free frozen krill to through in the tank for awhile. I'm using seachmen reef salt for right now wanna see how it does. But heres the rest of my pictures. Darn cloudiness.
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Thanks for looking and there will be more updates. :)
 
Well the water cleared up and I saw that I needed some more sand. I wanted to add the illusion of depth so I got one bag of Sonoma pink gravel #2, and one more of the Sonoma pink #1. Well i just used like a 4 cups of the gravel I didnt like that big of pieces so I tried to mix it up alot and I think it looks good for now, I used the other bag all up. So heres what it looks like all nice and clear with water. :)
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I have been checking my levels. My ph was low so I raise it up to 8.2, I have a rise Nitrite and cant see anything for amonia yet and of course I dont have a nitrate test kit so Ill see after my nitrites go back to 0
 
Ok well I tested my params on the 30th and had the LFS verify my test.
Im using Seacham reefsalt and for 37 bucks a bucket(160 gal) i cant complain
Salinity: 1.026 (yes i know its high im lowering it)
ALK: 10.9
CA: 440
Mag: 1440
PH 8.2
temp 79-80 constant all day around
PO4(phosphate): 0
Amonia: showing less then 0.5
Nitrite: 2
Nitrate: 10
Plus i picked up some bulbs for my8 lamp tex fixture heres what combo i went with right now
ATI Blue +
Aquablue special
KZ fiji purple
2 ATI Blue +
KZ fiji purple
aquable special
ati blue +
I took some pictures with my phone as my wife has the camera and it just shows blue not what it actually looks like. I might change the Aquablue specials for someting a little bluer not sure yet.
 
ok well its been three weeks now since i started my cycle. when i started my cycle i threw in some frozen krill let them rott completely, and i threw in some pellet food i still had. Well those were all gone and i saw a rise in my tests( well from what i can tell its hard to see on those test kits (salfiret)) and so in the middle of last week i threw in some more pellets like about a pinch or two, and well that discenteraded after a day. I just got done checking my nitrite, trates and amonia and im showing 0 on all
Could this be after only 3 weeks of cycle. Im going to take it in to my lfs and have them test my water just to make sure im not crazy lol.

Im waitng till this weekend to give it a whole month and well see if its the same and im already starting to get my water change ready.
 
We are looking for a larger tank to upgrade and this one looks like the right size. Where did you pick up the tank becuase it is right size to fit our space in our family room?

Regards

Mike
 
Man its been awhile since I updated here. Well I have a couple corals in the tank now. A big head Acan, he loves it in there, a favia, green slimer, trumpet coral, red monti cap, a tri color acro and some table acro. I love holidays because theres always sales :). for fish I have 2 cromis they have fun in there, and a yellow watchmen goby paired with a tiger shrimp( which im pissed at him because he decided to dig alot and moved my sand and to many small particles moved around. now tank is cloudy and I have fine sand collectig in my sump. I also cant really run my skimmer because I dont have that big of a bioload. The tank I recieved was from Robert at Neptune Aquatics. The only problem is Oceanic doesnt make my series of tank any more lol you have to look for an old one for sale which is hard to find or get an AGA tank.
 
So yeah there I was hoping not have to be able to by my CUC yet until I get paid on the 15th :(. Well I now have GHA all over my tank :( and starting to get some brown alge on the sane bed. I also had some red slime in my sump, but that was my bad for running my sump ligh for 24/7. So I killed the lights for 12 hours killed it and did a 30g water change. Killed the red slime and sucked it all out. But I also know how I now have my alge. Stupid frag plug from a LFS (im not gonna name names) but I knew I should have took the frag off and mounted them onto my own plugs. I also have a hitchhicker that I just saw on my glass when I was cleaning it and that as a baby snail :) yay for 1 piece of CUC haha. But now I just have t let my go bad :( till I can afford a CUC.
 
Jon, no matter what you do, algae will show up, don't sweat it, just keep you maintenance protocols in check to ensure good water quality and it should remain under control with out any issue. My last tank (40g) didn't have a CUC for most of the time that I ran it, currently I have a couple of snails in a 150g. If your snails starve and die one by one they can make for a hell of an algae problem ;)
 
Yeah I know but I saw little pieces of alge on the plug but I didnt get them all off but O well it will just be food for my CUC and or fish. I'm still gonna try and go hermit less though .
 
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