45 Gallon Reef Diary From Setup To...?

[SkiFletch]

Ok well, today I was able to put my hands back in the tank and I'm pretty sure I found out what was fueling my cyano growth... One of my turbo snails was dead under the collapsed rock DOH! The poor thing STANK somethin fierce when I pulled it out of the tank. I guess only time will tell if that was truly the problem and source of my excess nutrients. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it was.

 

[SkiFletch]

Hey all, just wanted to update some progress on my cyano breeding tank...

After lots of water changes, vacuuming, and skimming, I was unable to stay ahead of the cyano. Through out, nitrates/phosphates still read 0. I introduced a bunch more cleanup crew including 10 blue leg hermits, 2 big turbos, two cerith snails, one lettuce nudibranch (little hair algae thing goin on too), and one as yet un-IDed snail. Concurrently I added a small amount of phosphate chemical binder all this on this past sunday. Its now been 4 days and the spread of cyano is MUCH less.

The hermits eat it sometimes but the real impressive guys are the lettuce nudibranch and the cerith snails. The lettuce nudi eats all kinds of hair algae, and the cerith snails leave any surface they pass over pristine with neither a trace of cyano or hair algae. Couple all this with the fact that the cyano doesn't seem to be spreading anymore and I think I may be cyano free in a couple weeks. I had added some zoos, zoas, and xenia to the tank a couple weeks ago which were all closed up on sunday. This morning, thursday, the zoas and xenia were all open and the zoos had begun opening back up. It seems that something was in the water that I couldn't test for. Either way, things are looking better. If my local shop comes through and gets me some more cerith's next week I'll be in complete business and I can go about adding more livestock.

Just goes to show how fragile and difficult these aquariums are to keep. I'm having all these problems on a medium sized 45 gal with sump. I'd hate to try all this on a nano...

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

Hopefully you can get rid of it all soon

I got rid of most of mine yesterday, one more water change and i should be 95% free My Ceriths did a great job keeping it down but i have none left and it just kept coming back....It's stopped growing now though and it will all be gone in a week or 2

Dan

 

[SkiFletch]

Thanks, I hope so too. Stuff is a PAIN to fight

 

[SkiFletch]

Hey all, been two months (hard to believe) since I started this baby up and after finally coming to a stalemate with my cyanobacteria, I decided to go ahead and get a couple coral frags First off though, I wanted to show how efficient these Cerith snails work at eating cyanobacteria for others that have the same problem as me. In this shot, you'll notice the "clean" area moving from right to left on the peice of rock where the cerith has cut a swath through the cyano to his current resting spot in the upper left. Also, a shot of my little lettuce nudi someone gave me (likes hair algae)

Next up, a local reefer accidentally fragged his pink palythoa colony when his rock collapsed, so he donated it to me. Also has a little Xenia frag which I hope to grow. The palythoas were a little hesitant to open up even after very slow acclimation, but they're slowly getting better and better everyday .

And last but not least, the steal of the century as far as I'm concerned. Found a mature green and purple open brain coral at one of my LFS' whose stocking up for a big grand opening sale. $30 for the frag, about 5 inches in diameter. This pic was taken with actinics off and my camera doesnt do the greens and purples justice, but they're there. My smaller clown has taken a liking to it, wondering if it will end up hosting it eventually

Some other new additions to the tank include an emerald crab whose too shy for the camera and a bunch of plain boring little blue leg hermits.

 

[WayneVT08]

Do you have an updated FTS? BTW nice looking tank and critters. Good job.

 

[SkiFletch]

Thanks for the compliment, I do. But first, I wanted to display another new addition. Got a double Yellow Tonga Leather (sacrophyton somethinorother) from the same LFS yesterday . After I interrogated the owner as to why the prices were so rediculously cheap on these guys, he mentioned that they were the beneficiaries of a wrong price quote rom their supplier. But since the supplier provided the quote they honored it, and now the savings are passed down to us. I was really tempted to buy a blue encrusting montipora frag that they had (whopping $30 for a 6" diameter piece) but decided to errr on the side of caution being that I only have PC lighting and a deep tank. I'd rather they survived than possibly perish in my tank regardless of how GORGEOUS they were. So here are the leathers. Nicely opened up after a night of darkness

And now, a full tank shot under 10K's only (minus the overflow box )

Please excuse the nuisance algae, haven't scraped (especially the back) in a little while. As you can see, the cyano is in remission (my sand bed used to be solid red) as I'm now up to 6 cerith snails to fight it. you can see the areas they've worked in the tank. All in all doing a great job on things, I'm very pleased.

I'm gonna hold off here as far as livestock goes for a couple weeks and concentrate on water husbandry for the interim. Looking into a home RO system as transporting all this DI from work is a PAIN in the butt. I also saw some scissortail gobies at my LFS today that I think I will just HAVE to have for my tank ultimately Hope you guys enjoy the pics

 

[Aquascaper]

Looking good Ski

 

[SkiFletch]

Thanks, compliments from experienced members always means a lot. I just hope this diary has helped some others out there learn along with me.

 

[SkiFletch]

Well everyone it's been a couple weeks and I figured I'd take a bunch of shots for a bunch of new additions. Please excuse my glass (especially the back) since its a little dirty . Anyway, on with the show.

I'll start off with a full tank shot before I get into individuals. You may notice the retreating cyano in certain spots here. My green open brain and yellow leather are doing fantastic thus far:

First up, I came across a sweet mushroom rock from a local reefer. Couple giant heads and a bunch of different species of smaller ones. Great find for $10:

Second, my zoos and palythoas are finally starting to open up after their little brush with cyano. Took em nearly 3 weeks to start coming back out, but they're with me still . Starting to color up nicely and the palys are even eating when I spot feed them.

Next on our tour is a little algae eater I've had for a while, my Lettuce Nudibranch. Just for some size comparison he's only about 1.5cm in length:

Also, my first stab at an acropora was a freebie from the same good man who sold me the shrooms. Its got its polyps extended and is nice and colored so I must be doing something right :

Here we have a shot of my new mexican red footed turbo snail. I'm hoping to get a shot of him on the glass so you can really see how red his foot is, but for now, he's pretty lazy. Mostly nocturnal from what I've seen:

Another very recent purchase is this hammer frag. Another local reefer sale here. Been doing very well thus far, although I'm going to move it now that its acclimated to the right corner of the tank (soon to be euphyllia alley ) to keep that sting away from everyone else:

And last but not least, my newest fish addition. I knew I wanted a wrasse of some sort and was possibly going to go with a 6-line but I really wanted something more unique and signiature like. Totally found him at one of my LFS'. They had him listed as a McCaskill Fairy Wrasse. He eats and behaves just like a 6-line, but WAY prettier. Please excuse the blurry shot, he's tough to get to stand still:

Anyway, hope you guys enjoy the pictures. And if anyone has any experience or knowledge about that wrasse, please let me know

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

That newfish is a stunner

I really like that hammer coral gotta get me one! (One day)

Goodjob, glad to hear thr cyano is on the way out

 

[Mr Miagi]

Oh yeah! Gotta love piccies! I think those shrooms were a much better buy than your brain! I pay $10 PER polyp for good colours! And those are great pattern... Tank is looking awsome, im jealous of those leathers!

 

[SkiFletch]

Thanks for the compliments guys. That wrasse really is a stunner, I love him. I am also very happy with the shrooms. Things have been looking up since the cyano retreat and the addition of more corals. Gonna have to start watching my alk and calc now though

 

[BOD]

ooo nice tank love the corals and that fairy wrasse is soooo pretty

 

[Matthew5664]

Comming along very nicely ski........ beat me to the SPS

sorry for not reading but what lights have you got?