Trinituner Reefers, Saltwater Aquarium Fish Keepers

[HondaB20B]

Some small additions were done to my tank in relation to circulation and with some small additions of fish, corals and inverts.

I added 2 Hydor Koralia 1650gal powerheads to see if I can keep all the detritus longer in suspension so it will go into the overflow and into my sumps. Thought the extra water flow will be too much for the corals and fish but it wasn't. My tank sand bed is actually cleaner. So now its 3 Koralias and 2 = MP40's flowing in all directions. Movement for so!!!!!

Corals were some mushrooms along with some spaghetti leathers and devils hands that I fragged and grew out.







Spaghetti leathers. White on the left and neon green on the right.



This was the mother colony of the white spaghetti leather that I lost in November last year due to a temp swing. This is an old pic but the leather was the size of a basket ball. The yellow tang next to it is over 4".





This is my Montipora that I ketch meh tail with. I started with a piece approx 1" X 1/2" from Raj, and every time it started to grow nicely, my hippo tang will literally pick up the frag and carry it all over the tank and break it into pieces. Well a year after, this is it 7-8" in dia. he still breaks of small pieces now and then that I frag on plugs now. He throws all my small rocks and snail shells all over the tank now. Its a joke to see him transporting shells for a good 15sec all over



My serpant star. Tip to tip is about 12" now.



Love my leathers.





Plating coralline algae just taking over everything.

This hobby is really an addiction. A really bad one.

[HondaB20B]

is a 50% water change every 3-4 weeks too much?

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/index.php

[HondaB20B]

Silca

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/1/aafeature1

Tap water in the reef aquarium.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2004/1/chemistry

Water parameters

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.htm

[HondaB20B]

The good:

http://www.fishlore.com/activated-carbon-aquarium.htm

The BAD:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/ac ... ne-erosion

AND THE UGLY:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/ke ... eef-carbon

[UML]

thanks.

the reason I asking is that I do almost a 50% water change every month

and I find before the month due my corals start to retract. mushrooms good but candy cane and donut coral start to look "iffy"

I was thinking I should do a greater water change but from your reading I seeing 25-30% a month

maybe I doing too much a big water change? or too much food?

I feed pellets in the morning, mysis shrimp in the afternoon and freeze dried brine shrimp in the night (for my corals)

My phosphates are zero. Other parameters shakey.


that brings another question can I dose different amounts of calcium and alkalinity or does it has to be "equal parts"?

[HondaB20B]

Always 2 EQUAL PARTS from manufacturers. They cancel out each other.
Are you checking your Mag.......if this is out of sync, you will always have problems stabilizing Alk/Cal. I would think your Mag should be good seeing that you do such regular and large water changes. The brand of salt you also use should have a major factor on your Alc/Cal & mag readings also. I have been using the Instant Ocean Reef Crystals since my tank started 30+ mths now and my Mag has always been on the high end. My Alk & Cal depletes quickly on a daily basis due to the amount and size of corals in the tank (thank god its not a full SPS tank). I have been dosing 2 part 6 times daily (every 4 hrs) over a year now using dosing pumps and have gotten better results with less fluctuation in my readings. I am up to 17mls of each Cal/Alk - Total of 102mls daily-each.
Possibly what is happening is your corals are using up what ever supplements in the water within the time you change water and as you change the water they get that boost.
These are things you need to be looking at, What brand of salt you using, how effective is your skimmer working, are you dry skimming or wet skimming, are you both SPS and LPS, Whats your Alk, Cal & Mag readings. Are your readings fluctuating (>1.5dKh on a daily basis- Alk) or stable.

My parameters are as follows
Cal - 500+
Alk - 8.5-8.9
Mag - 1380-1400
PH - 8.18-8.36

Even though I run bio pellets 24/7, ever so often I dose some vodka (30mls) to give my corals a boost......like every 2-3 wks.

[HondaB20B]

Anyone have arrow crabs in their reef?
want to know if they picking/eating any of their soft corals, mushrooms or even any fish or inverts.

[thatlife]

tanks looks good honda, how old is it exactly?

what other types of fishes/inverts do you have?


i read that you don't use filter floss, how do you get detritus out?
siphon it from your sump?


i'm currently battling some bryopsis algae, i'm starting to suspect its the detritus, only today I noticed in the bottom of the sump where the skimmer is there's alot there and in the display tank between the rocks there's a cave where the shrimp usually hangs out is loaded with it

i have 2 koralias nano and the power head from the return pump so I think the flow is good, because food doesn't settle on the sand or rocks, always in suspension, its just that dead spot to the back of the tank between the rocks

[HondaB20B]

The tank is now 32 mths. From day one I never used bioballs or filter floss. (nitrate factory)
I designed my sumps (2 of them) so it would also trap my detritus and the skimmer will pick up most of it. Whatever bypasses the first sump stays in the second sump but never crosses into my return pump section. My return pump is a magdrive 18. When I do my 50gal water changes I siphon from my sumps so I get most of the gunk out.

Fish- over 2 yrs in tank

Royal gramma
Sailfin tang
powder brown tang
yellow tank
hippo tang
5 X pajama cardinals
1 blue/green chromis (had 10 - but they are fish that fight and they always dwindle down to 1)
algae blenny
yellow banded possum wrasse (16mths)

Lost my 5 bartlet anthias, solar wrasse and my geometric pygmy wrasse in Nov when the chiller controller went. The anthias and the pygmy wrasse are cold weather fish so they went early.
Had a mandarin goby that I added when the tank was about 6-8mths. he lasted less than a year. I never put one back in cause I decided to get a pod population going. hope to put a pair in soon.

I recently added 7 orange anthias (they hardly eating so I don't know their fait yet) and 4 fire fish

I also have close to 100 snails...... 5 different types. nazarius, bumble bee, turbo, fighting conch and truchus.
inverts - 1 pistol shrimp, 7 peppermints, 3 skunk cleaners and 1 fire shrimp, 1 brown serpent star and the green and yellow serpent star.

In my sump I have 1 marine betta (Marine fighter nearly 2yrs now) and a panther grouper.

[dgobo]

^^ wow, do you have an entire shot of your tank?

Also what chiller do you use, after i added salt water to my tank the temps went up compared to when i was just circulating fresh water. The temp around 31.9 now, was hoping a chiller would not have been needed but i guess not.

[HondaB20B]

This is an old pic but at least you have an idea. All the corals have grown bigger and I have fragged some. Also added like the finger leather. The gorgonians have doubled also.
Really need to take some full shots of my tank.... new ones that is

here is a side shot......about 3-4mths ago

[HondaB20B]

Also what chiller do you use, after i added salt water to my tank the temps went up compared to when i was just circulating fresh water. The temp around 31.9 now, was hoping a chiller would not have been needed but i guess not.

Cant remember the brand right now but you would need a chiller no smaller than a 1/2HP. Anything smaller and it will be running often if not constantly running.
31.9C is rather high. That's 89.4F. Then remember that temp will still go up when skimmer, powerheads, other pumps for reactors would be running. Some people have gotten away with 82. I run mine at 78F. The way how these days getting hot you never know what it will peak at. Inverts for sure wont last. Most fish will make it but will be under a lot of stress.

[UML]

steups

and i was starting to feel good about meh tank

#killjoypics

[HondaB20B]

steups

and i was starting to feel good about meh tank

#killjoypics

But you tank coming along very good..........by the end of the year you will be amazed on what it looking like.


This is my tank when I first started. All my corals started as little frags. I was busy with a clipper and glue and gluing stuff all over till I got it looking like it is now. So don't think I bought big corals and placed them

[HondaB20B]

Bought this toadstool as a 2" dia frag for $650 two mths into setting up the tank, Its over 12" now.



here it is about 7-8"





Here it is over 12". Its closed up now (Night time) but the algae blennie is about 4". He always in there sleeping or something.

[greenlime100]

Almost every time I see Honda tank is like a slight depression hit yes loll.
Tank sweet too bad man

Ill post some pics of mine next weekend.

Just upgraded my wavemakers to 2 mp10's so seeing some increase in flow.

Question: how often do you all do maintenance on your pumps. Just yesterday my main pump refused to come on. There was some calcium deposits on the impeller, a vinegar bath cleaned it up nice though. Just wondering how often I should do that. Every 6mths? Once a year ?

[UML]

Considering getting a dosing pump. What brand and type does raj sell, I want to do some research first.

Yea I buy frags as well, not only cause it cheaper but the joy is seeing it grow in ur tank.

[HondaB20B]

Every 4 mths (previously was 3mths) I take out every pump / powerhead in the main tank and sump (9), and take it apart and scrub with a toothbrush to remove any debris or coralline build up especially around magnet and impeller, also all reactor housings (2), skimmer housing, all hosed gets cleaned inside and out cause of all the build up of gunk. I check all air line tubings from backup air pumps and change where needs it, damaged or clogged airstones get replaced. All timers get checked, along with all plugs. The 2 Alk/Cal dosing pumps get a full check over and make sure the tubing leading to the bottom of the 5gal containers are still weighted down and secured. ATO is checked and the whole storage tank is cleaned. All T5 bulbs are replaced every 7-8 mths and all fittings are checked and everything wiped clean.

Greenlime - Where are you dosing the liquids (Alk/Cal)
It seems you are not getting a proper mix when the Alk is dosed and you are getting precipitation. Make sure the both are dosed at different intervals. I set mine about 5min apart and are dosed in 2 different locations of the sump. Under the Alk drip point i have one of those small powerheads (from a mini skimmer) facing upwards so as the Alk is dripped its fully mixed and i dont get that white cloud in the water

UML - As for the Dosing pumps, Its the Micom brand and i have it just over a year now with no issues.(knock on wood). Got good reviews on them. Raj had me like the guinea pig testing it out when he first bought it in. I can dose from 1ml to 99mls - every 1hr, 3hrs, 4hrs, 6hrs, once every day or every week. Bought it from Raj. Its small an can be daisy chained together with one adapter. (better on 1 adapter than 2 because in case one fails the other will continue dosing. I have 2 more to hook up to dose other products for the corals.
By the Way UML, i admire how your mushrooms are growing and look in your tank....better than mine. I get better growth with my yumas & ricordeas mor than my regular mushrooms. Want to get more mushrooms to load up on my base rocks.

[thatlife]

Even though I run bio pellets 24/7, ever so often I dose some vodka (30mls) to give my corals a boost......like every 2-3 wks.

when you say you dose some vodka every 2-3 weeks, is it over a period of days? and then lean off it?
or just one dose?

just curious, I did some reading up on it

[HondaB20B]

Even though I run bio pellets 24/7, ever so often I dose some vodka (30mls) to give my corals a boost......like every 2-3 wks.

when you say you dose some vodka every 2-3 weeks, is it over a period of days? and then lean off it?
or just one dose?

just curious, I did some reading up on it

I am already running bio-pellets which is a form of dosing which keeps my nitrates down and in return feeds my corals. And yes do I take 30 mls of regular vodka and throw it in my sump by my return pump. It then disperses it into my tank. Just one dose. If you gonna try vodka, vinegar, sugar or bio-pellets, just ensure you have a VERY GOOD SKIMMER.

[UML]

thx HondaB20B


this is another colony i started




going to move the parent mushroom soon to start another colony

[HondaB20B]

Yeah its very nice.
I trying the same with a few of mine. Cant wait for the first 2 pics to really go crazy






This last one is spreading nicely. They are about 3" and about 20 strong now. all on the other side of the rock too. I want to move about the mother colony.

[HondaB20B]

Invasive Indo-Pacific Xenia Spreading in Caribbean

http://www.reef2rainforest.com/2014/01/ ... caribbean/

[HondaB20B]

What is skimming.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-08/rhf/index.php#6d

[3pO]

must say honda your tank is amazing..
just some pics of my tank ,having a bit of an algae problem ,hopefully should be under control soon enough

[HondaB20B]

Tank picking up good 3pO..............

But I could ask you one question that has me baffled?
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HOW YOU DOES GET D WATER, FISH & CORALS TO STAY IN YOUR TANK WITH IT ON ITS SIDE............LOL.
Just kidding.................. my neck hurting just tilting my head to the side watching the pics.

[vs_unique23]

what is a good starter coral? my tank is abt a year and 2 mouths old.

[HondaB20B]

what is a good starter coral? my tank is abt a year and 2 mouths old.

All depends on the lights you have..........temp throughout the day is also a factor.

[vs_unique23]

what is a good starter coral? my tank is abt a year and 2 mouths old.

All depends on the lights you have..........temp throughout the day is also a factor.

well i have a chiller which keep my tank at 78 degrees its a jbj 1/4 chiller,which works great.
i also have some leds lights 120W Aquarium Coral Reef Fish Tank White Blue LED Light

[HondaB20B]

Was to say in the post above, before you start adding corals you should have been checking on your Alk & Cal. Reading should of been stable and within the range.

Good easy corals are Colts, kenyas, mushrooms, doughnuts, zoas, GSP