72 gallon build log

BarbH

For the rodi the piece that broke is the male elbow fitting that threads into the unit which the line from the water supply to the unit hooks into. Got a reply back from Marissa at the company and after sing her a picture was able to find what I need to get. So it is off to home depot today to see about getting the fitting. Also my hood came in today from the lps so will be picking that up flap.

BarbH

Rodi unit is now up and working, after connecting everything and finding a few areas where it was leaking from the connections all is good to go. Since I am setting this up in an apartment I am going to be using the sink diviter that came with it for my hookup. Getting okay pressure from the faucet about 42 psi, between the temp and the pressure may take a little bit longer to make up the water but it still beats having to go out and buy water and than hauling it up the stairs.

Here are some pictures of the tank and other pieces of equipment so far, the little orange guy is my kitten Taz who I have a feeling will be trying to "help" as much as he can as I work on this build. Also another note this is not going to be the final location of the tank, working on the process of tearing down my 50 gallon and this will go into the living room against the wall where the 50 sits right now.

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BarbH

Here is the package that arrived yesterday

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BarbH

Alot has happened since my last post. Last week my salt had arrived at the beginning of the week, at the end of the week my powerheads had come in. After that I had to wait for a week before I had help to move the new tank and stand into the living room so that I could start setting things up. On Wednesday I tore down my 50 gallon fw tank, a bit of a process but not as bad as I thought it would be. Later that night with the help of cardboard and a lot of caution I moved my tv and stand from the wall where it had been, the new location for my sw, to the wall where the 50 gallon tank had stood. After that I was at a stand still for what I was able to possibly be able to do on my own.

Last night in prepartion of today I sifted through my sand substrate and removed snail shells, bits of coral, small pieces of rock rubble and even a frag plug that had been in it. Created a bit of a dusty mess, but that was the least of the messes that I would deal with. I started going through my pieces of rock and determined which pieces I wanted to use and a general setup for my rock. On some of the pieces of rock was dried organic material, with the opinions of others some of it I am sure was hair algae, and the others some type of algae. So I decided the easiest way to soak and clean some of this rock was to soak it in the bathtub and scub it down with a nylon brush. Before filling the tub and placing the rock in it I filled the tub with regular water a few times and using paper towels wiped down the sides to make sure that no soap residue was in the tub. After that I filled the tub and placed some of the rock into it, here is a picture

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Soaked scrubed rinsed and repeated on the next batch. At the end this was what I had remaining in my tub


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As I was letting the tub drain was sitting in the livingroom I heard a crash from the bathroom, headed towards the door and was met by my youngest cat who had a bit of a disgruntled look on his face. An inspection of his paws showed that he ended taking a bit of a dunk in the tub.

Later on this afternoon the boyfriend came over, first job that I had for him was installing my gfci that I had picked up. I had already located the breaker for the outlet, and had even taken things apart to look at it, but once I had seen that I had six cables running to the outlet and couldn't figure how to get the wires detached from the outlet I decided that this was a job for him to do In about 10 minutes my new outlet was installed and we were ready to move the tank and stand into place. I had picked up a level and some shims from Home Depot yesterday incase things where not level. We got the tank in place and placed the level on it. Surprisingly everything was perfectly in level. Will be continue to check the level as I fill the tank but hopefully everything will work out.

For the back of the tank the previous owner had painted a piece of plexi glass that fits onto the back of the tank. With small pieces of double sided duct tape I got the plexi glass back into place. Next started working on placing my rock into the tank. I have made a few minor adjustments but I am thinking that I have come up with something that I like

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My next step was adding my sand in and starting to put in my rodi water that I had already had made up. I only had about 20 gallons of water made, so now I am in the process of making more. I have a feeling that I will be spending most of the rest of my weekend making up water One more picture, my young cat Taz decided to try out his dexterity and balance skills earlier today when the tank was still in the other room, I am hoping that with the fact that there is nothing by the tank or stand that he will not figure a way to get onto the top of the tank. But I will not know for sure until after I am able to add fish and have something in there that will catch his interest

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BarbH

Well it has been two weeks since my last update and things have been progressing along nicely along with a new addition today. On 4/9 I added my piece of raw shrimp to help make sure that my tank would cycle, I also took my water parameters for a starting pont was already getting readings on Ammonia and nitrites. Tested daily and removed shrimp about a week later when getting ammonia readings between 4.0ppm and 8.0ppm. Wasn't sure how long to leave the shrimp in and had a hard time finding an answer. After about a week my ammonia is now reading 0ppm for the last 2 days. Nitrites have been at 5.0 ppm since the day before I removed the shrimp and has been hanging there until yesterday. The color in the test tube looks closer to 2.0ppm on the color chart. Nitrates have been registering since day 4 of the cycle for awhile they looked like they where between 20ppm to 40ppm. Last couple of days looking more like between 10ppm to 20ppm. I also started running my skimmer about a week ago, it hasn't been pulling much from the water (which I expect) but it has pulled some gunk from the water.

I am planning on getting my cuc in the next week or two once the tank has finished cycling, I will be placing my order with reefcleaners, have heard nothing but good things about them. Also this week I will be getting some pods to add to my system that I am getting from another reefer. I have decided that one of the fish that I am going to get is a Mandarian Dragonet, so I want to make sure I have a good pod population going.

As for stocking this is what I am thinking
Blue green Chromis
Pair of Percula Clowns
fire fish (either a red or purple, haven't decided on which lfs has both)
Royal Gramma
One Spot Foxface
Barnacle Blenny (thinking two or three of these guys)
Mandarain Dragonet
Kole Tang
Thinking of either a Coral Beauty Angel or a Flame Angel possibly, know that these guys are not considered reef safe but have been researching and talking with others about thier experience in keeping them in a reef setup.

Still working on what I want to do for a refugium, will be doing a hob style. Until than I am going to try using a breeder net that hangs on the side of the tank to grow chaeto in for the purpose of replensing my pods.

Finally I had mentioned a new addition. I have my qt tank up and running and decided that since the display tank is getting close to finishing on the cycle I would start qt'ing my first addtion. I picked up two Blue Green Chromis today, would like to add one more when they get more in at the store. Again I have seen people say that multiple chromis can not be kept in the same tank. I have done a lot of research and have found people that have been successful, especially if feeding multiple times a day so that they do not feel that there is a competion for food. They will be spending the next 4 weeks in qt as long as no signs of illness show up. Here is a link to a video I took of them with my phone, quality is not that great. Will try to get some pictures of them in the next couple of days.

http://youtu.be/vgFmtNqL4Y4

BarbH

Here are a few pictures of the new additions, need to brush up on my camera skills

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onefish2fish

how many did you get? ive always heard that chromis will kill eachother until your left with one.

BarbH

I got two and plan on adding a third. I have heard the same thing, but I have also heard of people having success in keeping more than one in their setup. The common thing that I have seen to their success if doing multiple feedings which the thought is reduces the aggression due to competion of food.

onefish2fish

not to long ago i got an eheim auto feeder and have no complaints. i would asume a third would help vs a pair, best of luck - ive never kept them for that reason. on a side note i must say it seems your doing a fantastic job with your first set up.
is the kole or foxface one of the "key" fish your tank must have? when i set up a larger tank soon im considering a flame AND a coral b. i would just add them both at the same time ( prob. qt in seperate tanks though because of QT size ) there is a risk of coral/clam nipping but they are both nice fish. i vote purple fire fish if not helfrechi ( spelling? ) which would be alittle more expensive but a gorgeous fish. the purple is still nice too IMO. these guys are definate jumpers even though any fish can jump. personally suggest a net or canopy over glass. will the clowns be next?

BarbH

Will have to see about getting an auto feeder to help out especially when at work, still working on getting these guys to take pellets. They are showing some interest in them now, more than a couple of days ago, so there is some hope on that aspect, will keep making sure I offer them stuff they will take readily also.

The foxface is definitly one of my key fish, although the Mandarian Dragonet is probably the one that I have decided is a must have. So working on getting things set up to be able to keep this fish, it is one of those that I really like the pictues and videos that I have seen of it. What really sealed the deal on the decision was when I was actually able to see the fish in person, it is such a neat looking fish and the one that I saw at the store seemed full of personality.

For when you do the flame and coral b. from what I have read on other peoples experiences adding them at the same time will probably give you the best chances. From some other people that I have talked to on forums with their experiences with dwarf angels in a reef setting is that they have had good luck. Some nipping but no real damage, and sometimes having to not keep a certain coral if the fish has a real liking for it.

Right now I have a glass canopy on the tank, but I am hoping to be able to change that in the future. First I need to figure out if my youngest cat is going to try to get on the top of the tank. Right now he has been behaving himself, but than there is nothing in there other than rock and sand. So nothing to entice him, will have to see what he does once fish are in there. If he doesn't try to get on top of the tank I am going to see about doing a screen top, haven't decided if I will do it myself or see if someone can make one for me. With it being a bowfront it will not be as simple as making a regular screen which would be completely within my diy skills, have redone window screens before not much different. But not so sure about getting the frame to bend for the front of the tank. Also would have to figure out what to do with my lights since I am using t8s right now which are resting on top of the glass, if I haven't upgraded my lights by that time would have to figure how to mount them onto the tank.

Thanks for the compliment, have been spending a lot of time researching and reading along with working on taking things slow, which at times can be hard . But hoping this will turn out good, looking foward to when I will be able to upgrade my lighting and be able to try my hand at corals. Until than doing a lot of reading and will be looking into getting some good reference books to be able to read also.

My next fish that I will be getting is my clown pair, will probably wait a few weeks for them. This Friday the store that I go to should be getting in some more Chromis so I will be getting my third Chromis hopefully than.