Life

The tank finally has fish and some inverts!  It's been such a boring tank, and now it has movement.

First, I had to drip acclimate the three green chromis.  They didn't much like the process but are now swimming happily in the tank.  They have 150 gallons all to themselves, yet they hang around the overflow in the right corner.

I also added two cleaner clams and 10 hermit crabs.  The cleaner clams quickly disappeared beneath the sand, and the hermits went to work picking at algae.

My green star isn't doing well today.  It's been opening fully and very happy, but today, it's pouty.  I did find an aptasia growing on it, but I was able to get it out of the water and pluck it off.  I hope it opens back up today.

My leather coral is looking great!  It opens up in the morning and puffs.  I'm not entirely sure, but it looks like it may be splitting in two.

This sinularia coral never has been very happy.  It's not dead, but it's certainly not opening all the way.

Sooo boring

New tanks are so bleh.  Here it is though!  I noticed that the tentacles on my green star are turning white, so I'm thinking I have too many lights for it.  It was in a small tank with PC lights and now it's under T5 VHOs.  So, I'm only running the lights for 2 hours a day right now and I'll slowly increase that.  Fish and crabs should be in today.

I also am going to move the green star to the bottom corner.  It's on a rock right now, and I'm afraid it'll take over that entire arch, so I'm sequestering it.

Feather Caulerpa is in the refugium now too.

Setting Up the 150

We started setting up the 150 gallon tank last night.  I inherited some soft coral yesterday so we had to push up the date a bit.  I started with a full tank/sump of tap water, which we ran through the pumps and filters to check for leaks or problems.  All went smoothly!

Now, the refugium is full of salt water and is warming up.  When the sand settles, I will transfer the new soft corals into the refugium until the upper tank is full.

The Sump/Refugium

It's taking forever to fill the 150 gallon tank with the slow trickle coming in from the RO/DI unit.  It pushes out about 4 gallons an hour.  Patience, I know...

The tank itself is looking pretty good.  I didn't know our basement is tilted though, so the water level is 1/2" higher on the right.  I bet no one really notices, but it's going to drive me batty for a while!  

Corals I got yesterday from a fellow Utah Reefer:

• Green Star Polyps
• Kenya Tree
• Sinularia
• Mushroom Leather

There was a change on the lights.  I got a killer deal from a local reefer on a Coralife T5 light.  It is 10,000k instead of 14,000k but I can always change out the lamps later.

I've been shopping for days to find the best deals, and so far I have

An Aquatic Life Twist-in 100 GPD RO/DI system
Seaclone Protein Skimmer for the sump
80 lbs of Nature's Ocean Coral Base Rock
140 lbs of Nature's Ocean Bio-Activ Live Aragonite Reef Sand - Samoa Pink
Your every-day 6500k LED sump light
Sump Return Pump
Two SunSun 800 GPH Power Heads
A Refractometer
300w Heaters
A Return Jed Assembly


I realize that on Saturday when I put this all together, I'll be missing something.  However, that's what I have so far.  I realize I'll need to run to the hardware store after tubing, but I can do that later.

The Future

Here are some things I have in mind for this new tank.

First off, the lighting needs to improve.  The tank came with your every-day fluorescent lighting fixture.  That just won't do!

Lighting :
I'm going with an LED light that has 14,000K daylight and then blue lunar lights on a timer.  I found the perfect light bar on Amazon.  It's funny that my old blog has helped me create the new tank.  I couldn't remember which lights I liked, and I do remember having a set that was too yellow, and another that was too blue, and then I found a post about the 'perfect' lighting of 14,000K.

Clean up Crew:
My local fish store has a clean up crew package that has 40 snails, 40 crabs, and 2 emerald crabs.  I'll start off with those.  When things begin to flourish, I would eventually like to get a horseshoe crab and peppermint shrimp.

Fish:
Yep, it'll be a while before I get any fish.  Some of my 'must haves' are :

• 2 false perculas
• 2 banggai cardinals
• 1 lawnmower blenny
• 1 royal gramma

Inverts:

Some of my 'wanty' list

• Brittle starfish
• Rose bubble tip anemone
• Condy anemone

Coral:

Even longer aware are the corals.  I won't be doing LPS or SPS for a while, if ever.  I know I won't do SPS again because I won't mess with metal halide lighting.  I hated those and the electric bill they came with.  I prefer soft, flowing coral.

• Lots of mushrooms
• Frogspawn
• Zooanthids
• Green Star Rock
• Kenya Tree
• Xenia

The Tank

This time around.  I'm going with a 150 gallon tank and 40 gallon sump.  I already have the tank, which has been drilled twice with 1" bulkheads.  I have the back of the tank painted solid black with a black oil-based paint.  The old tank had latex paint and it beaded up when I painted, so I never got a solid color.  This oil-based paint looks amazing!

The bulkheads have strainers on them to keep fish out of the sump.

In the bottom of the 150 gallon tank, I have made a platform out of PVC pipe and fluorescent light grate.  I had one of those in my old 90 and I loved it!  It gives inhabitants a nice cave, plus it saves on rock by building up a little bit.  Once I get the silicone in, I'll glue the grate to the PVC using silicone.

It has a basic black stand, which will house the sump.

The 40 gallon breeder tank (which I bought used for $40) will eventually have baffles separate it into 3 compartments.  I have a protein skimmer and return pump ordered.

Returning

Hello all!

I took an 8 year reef tank hiatus.  First off, I got rid of my old tank for numerous issues.  When I set up my old tank, I went cheap on absolutely everything!  The rocks came out of the Utah desert.  The sand came from a bucket that'd been in someones garage for years.  Nothing was done correctly.  I caved to peer pressure and moved from a 90 to a 120 gallon, and nothing ever survived in it for long.  Even with metal halide lighting, I couldn't keep coral alive.  It go to frustrating that I sold it off.

Now?  Now I have a bigger house and the PERFECT spot for a new tank.  I'm going in a completely different direction.  The tank is going to have real live sand put into it, live rocks, and it's bigger and better than before.  This old blog has helped me a ton.  I'm old enough that I've forgotten a lot of things I did.  Some I liked and will replicate, and some I hated and won't do.  I'll try to detail this new journey.