First marine tank build (New pics/changes Feb 3rd)
 

Hey everyone!

I'm somewhat new to the boards, spent much time using this account or my friends to research all your wonderful builds and begin to take on my own. Needless to say without the knowledge of here and a few friends I could have made off a lot worse :P

I waited a while till the situation was good and I was prep'd to start the build and things fell into place awesomely. I went into aquariums west the day after my birthday in July and they were changing their stock display tanks and selling them off cheap!

For $125.00 I got a pre-drilled 33g tank with CPR aquatics Bakpak II protein skimmer and 20g Sump ( all with pumps )

Also purchased a Stealth heater, Koralina powerhead, Aquaclear 40 powerhead ( for salt mixing and water changes ) and all new power bars/ fluval hosing and hardware


Current FTS:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/3stamped.jpg

After cleaning/ scrubbing all the equipment and making sure there was no old salt build up or dirt from moving and set-up I made sure the tank was level and ran all the hosing and power cables.
I started initially with the sump pump running and let the water cycle the tank for a few days, then removed the water that had been running through the system to make sure there was no let over buildup in any of the equipment. Then re-filled everything, tested to make sure over-flo wasn't an issue and again let it cycle for a few days before getting rock/ starting my cycle.

I added 35 pounds of LR , did a few scrubs on it to get some of the dead matter off and let it sit. There was a small ammonium spike initially but within 5-6 days it was non-exsistent. Followed by a slight Nitrite spike but it as well only lasted 2 three days. Been using a Sera aqua-test box but had a firned bring another kit ovet to make sure everything was going good. within a week an a half the cycle seemed to be stable and I introduced a few little blue legs to see some movement in the tank :) ( even if its slow movement )

Welcome
 

Welcome to the most expensive hobby known to man. Good score on the equipment, just a small hint, as i am sure you will hear several times, take it slow. Other than that, welcome. I am sure you have several questions, ask away. There is a pile of people on this site that give very good advise.

My plan for the tank since it's my first is for the most part is stronger easier things to maintain and take care of. I decided to add after 3 weeks roughly? a small Pulsating Xenia and a few more blue legs ( 6 total )

I want stuff in the tank with a lot of movement, so for the most part I plan on leathers and other long branched species that have a good flow in the current of the tank. I picked up a 2 bulb GLO T5 Fluorescent lighting system and stuck an 18,00k 39w and a 39w Actinic bulb in to start and most likely will double this up if I do decide on some more heavy light required species.

Also had a meltdown of the motor on my protein skimmer :cry:
Went to J&L and they had the exact replacement ( RIO+ 600 )
One thing I did notice right away is it worked wayyyyy better, although it was spitting micro bubbles back into my tank. I rigged up a quick deflection sheild the forces the bubbles back towards the rear of the tank and they dont even get an inch into the water.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/raika/004.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/raika/001.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/raika/002.jpg

These posts are over the course of what is now 2 months, I wont be adding anymore life to the tank for another week or two, and again a few weeks after that. I know "technically" they say the tank is cycled after three or four days at 0/0 but the real cycle takes a few months

Also the hose return from the sump is temporary, I will be rigging up a more solid system in the future but for now it does the trick. Isn't pretty but it works

I also have 40 pounds of live sand added to the mix, that's the substrate and use a digital temp meter not the little "LCD" hagen temp readout stuck to the front of the tank

One thing I am looking for is suggestion as to what to keep in the aquarium. Originally I planned for only inverts and flowy hardy species like xenia and leathers but I'm starting to consider adding a few fish.

I know damsels are pretty much as bulletproof as saltwater fish come, but also was thinking about a few clowns. It is only a 33 so I can't really do to many fish but would love for the few fish I add to have some good character and mesh well with the environment.

Also what typs of LPS/ LSC would work well together and have the strongest visual appeal well still being easy to maintain?

great start man, yeah you quickly want to upgrade alot of things, lighting for example, if you dont want to spend alot of money but want great lighting go with t5's dont waste your money on PC's they are doubled up bulbs( thats what they look like) quick question why not run the skimmer in the sump since you have one, cleans up the main display you can always run a longer hose on the pump if you need it to go lower.

when i first started i really like frogspawn and torch corals and even candy canes, even now and pulsing xenias are great too to watch. as time goes on your going to find very cool looking corals that are interesting to watch when you feed them ex. plate coral.

for fish i love clown fish i know mostly everyone has one but its for a reason they have a personality and nice colour. in smaller tanks you want to try and find fish that dont swim to much into each others zones, just different sections of the tank. and dont get to many, if fact wait on the fish if you can and just put corals into it. give it time so the tank can balance.

keep asking question no question is wrong. and they are lots of opinions on different things so in the end your going to have to research and make up your own mind once in a while. a good site to for smaller tanks is nano-reef.com great place to learn lots.

Great start and welcome to the board. One suggestion that I might make is to add a pvc elbow to your overflow, or if your adventurous build a small overflow box. This way you can raise the water level of your tank so that you don't see a waterline. I think that it is most people's preference not to see a water line in the tank. This way you also get a little bit more water volume in the tank.

Keep asking questions, this hobby is always a learning experience.

I was looking into an over-flo, also looking into either a new skimmer or modifying this one so it can fit the sump. I'm also considering setting up a 20gal refigium. The main pump running from my sump has an adjustable T-valve attached, before it was running two tanks, figured it would be easy enough to have a second smaller tank just for that purpose.

The bulbs are two seperate t5's, just the fixture itself I was saying is for two bulbs, there's a 18,00k and a arctinic 39w

as for the suggestions I love frogspawns, was also looking into some zoo's. I have a nice healthy small pulsing xenia growing pretty quick in my tank at the moment, have it positioned so the tanks main flow direction is pushing it in the direction I hope it'll spread. Will be interesting to see how it grows

Frogs will be next I think, that or some zoo's

Time for an update I figured,

The tank is slowly starting to get bright green/purple all over the rocks which is great. Some small fighting with hair algae in my sand and on the rocks but aquired a few more clean up crew ( a few cowries ) and a peppermint shrimp.

Sadly for reasons I can't figure out the peppermint shrimp only lasted a few days. I may have introduced it to rapidly or it was just older and not really ready for the stress of a new tank. It was rather large and not active from the get-go.
I modified the Protein skimmer so it would work within the sump and adjusted the rocks/ moved the heater so now I have a much cleaner looking tank. I just need to clean the drain hole and modify it when I do a water change here soon so it'll accept more flow. Then hopefully I can increase the water level and keep everything running nicely without the visible water edge.

Added 2 clown fish, seem to be nippy together still they are young... but if it keeps up I'll make my buddy happy with a new fish :P


New Green star
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/IMG_0769.jpg

My Xenia pulse like crazy and even srpung a little baby growing behing them. It's near lights off time the little ones is usually pulsing as well
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/IMG_0771.jpg

FTS ( Much better wothout the heater visible and protein skimmer removed
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/IMG_0773.jpg

Sorry for lacking picture quality, my iPhone is all I have to get shots with

Woke up to a bunch of small aipstasia...

Not sure where they came from but there are a few on most of the rock, wish me luck on the fight lol

Ouch, that sucks... well, good luck! I haven't had a problem with anything like that :whistle:

So now I'm looking for suggestions

With my system, what kinda LPS/ polyps and such would give it some good colour but work with the set-up?

I know nothing really about trace elements and such so I'm learning that stuff slowly, but for the most part I want stuff that's hardy, bright, and wont die easily if I have a few swings. I've been eyeing up some zoo's, some ricordia, Trumpet and chalice. Obviously some within these categories will take some more work then others, but are these my best bet for colour and variety without the need for more equipment?

Oh and with a round of Joes Juice the aipstasia is gone, plenty left if it shows up again but the stuff worked like a charm

added a nice Royal Gramma today and some blue shrooms :)

come on we need pictures. good to see some progress. you can almost watch the pulsing xenia grow if you watch close enough. same with gsp for some people.

Ya my xenia have three little split off colonies now, it's amazing... especially since the tiny ones all pulse as well!

I'll post pics tomorrow, the royal gramma and shrooms need some time to adjust. I also notice there are some super green small zoo's on the mushroom frag! score!

Hi there!

I used to keep a tank very similar to yours. I had a 33g with a 2x39w Hagen GLO light fixture (no sump though). If you are careful to pick quality bulbs you can actually get quite a bit of intensity out of that fixture since the tank is so shallow. I found the light wasn't strong enough for most SPS, although Montis did ok, they didn't grow very fast though. I could keep any LPS in that tank. I started out with the exact same bulbs you chose (the Hagen ones), and found my tank greatly improved when I used better bulbs. Take note that you can buy blue bulbs instead of actinic and you will get much greater intensity. Actinics are kind of a waste of a bulb when it comes to intensity and are better used in situations where people have many bulbs, and one lacking PAR isn't a big deal. Blue bulbs will give you a similar effect (some argue better) than actinics, but you get much more intensity. Another thing to note is that the higher the Kelvin rating the lower the intensity, but if you get too low (like under 10,000K) algae growth is encouraged. A great happy medium is around 14-16,000K. I really enjoyed the color and the intensity I got from using an AquaScience 17,500K and a Korallen-Zucht Fiji Purple. It looked very nice on that tank.

Here is a pic of what my 33 looked like (I have a 90 now) with the above mentioned lights too. If you want more information on the corals in there, just ask. Also, you can find many more pics if you click on the link in my signature that says "Myka's tanks: Clicky", then click on the 33 gallon tank.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...pril152009.jpg

Some suggestions I would have is to take the GSP (green star polyps) off the rock, and place them on the sand away from the rock because they will spread a lot, and will cover all your rock.. The green you see on the rock on the left of my tank is GSP. You might think that's a good thing, but they will get on other corals and irritate them. It's best to confine them to a space you choose. If you arrange your rock so that it's not touching the glass then you can get the GSP to grow up the glass. Keep an eye on the Xenia too, it will spread like a plague!! It will split and drop babies everywhere, it get all over the place, and is tough to get rid of.

Oh ya, and buy the EuroReef 80 skimmer that's for sale in the classifieds on here! Those are great skimmers. They are no comparison to the BakPak.

Listen to myka she knows what shes talking about.

+1, she's been very helpful. EDIT: Where she mentioned Xenia and GSP as being invasive (or at least spreading quickly) I would also add most soft corals can be this way, if they are happy... some people put mushrooms in the 'invasive' group for this reason, since they don't get along overly well with stony corals (stinging and chemical warfare and whatnot). I understand that the stony corals often recede from contact with soft corals.*

If you're interested in trying some LPS, open brain corals EDIT: Mine is a Trachyphyllia* have a reputation for being very hardy and adaptable, and they are also interesting and colorful. I have mine around 12" from a 70W metal halide on the sandbed, so they can take a fair amount of light (but I understand they do well with low to moderate light... I consider my lighting to be moderate). They do need to be fed regularly though, I've been reading between 3 and 5 times a week (mine gets fed every second or third day with finely chopped mysis... sometimes I double up and feed two days in a row). Other than that, light to moderate flow, and some open space on the sandbed for them to expand fully without hindrance is all they need... apparently they aren't exacting on parameters but being a stony coral they'll need adequate calcium, alk, and magnesium. Mine has done very well in the past two months, I would recommend open brains to any noob.

You mentioned trace elements and such... I wouldn't worry about 'trace' elements, unless you are talking about calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity. These you may need to test for (and dose), but everything else will be replaced with regular water changes.

Thanks for the replies! was hoping I would get some good suggestions!

One thing I was considering doing is doubling up the lighting and adding another dual t5 fixture ( maybe one of the http://www.jlaquatics.com/product/fl...82-39W%29.html ) but if I do get some better bulbs maybe that's the better route to take.

I'm not sure what to do with the xenia, might have to move some stuff around in the tank. I love the stuff has always been one of my favourites but ya, I really dont want it to over-take everything along with the green star.

Well here's a few shots of the Gramma, I'll hopefully be getting a better cam then my iphone soon but it works for the time being. I can't get the gramma to eat when I'm around yet but it's already scouting around for food and hanging out with the clowns. The star ployps are nice and green and the new shrooms are so nice but the colour just doesn't show up with the low quality cam


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/IMG_0791.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/IMG_0792.jpg

Thanks for the props guys. :o

I wouldn't suggest you add more bulbs to that tank. Many of my LPS had to be out of direct light of the two T5s (with the good bulbs). Remember that tank is very shallow. Once the sand bed is counted in there is only 12-14" of water between the lights and the sand bed. All my open brains (Symphyllia, Trachyphyllia, and Lobophyllia) all had to be out of direct light in that tank. I have found Acans to be more light tolerant than open brains. Now, if you were interested in SPS I would definitely suggest you add more bulbs. LPS generally need a lot less light than people think. Less light, more food (target feeding, not water column feeding).

For a small tank like that, check out some little inverts like small shrimp (not cleaners, fires, or peppermints...too big for a 33), crabs (porcelain, Pom Pom, etc), even small gobies (Yasha, Warpaint, Clown, etc). Some have very interesting habits. Pom Pom crabs are really cool. Anemone shrimp or Porcelain crabs (in a commensal anemone) are cool, but they don't share very well with clownfish. Your lights (assuming the bulb upgrade) would support a Squamosa clam and/or a Bubble Tip Anemone. Small tanks are nice because they are easily interactive, so non-photosynthetic corals like Dendros, Sun polyps, and Rhyzos are really cool (some are rather pricey though). Even a photosynthetic gorgonian would do well provided you're careful with specie choice as some would be too light demanding for your tank.

Oh, I forgot to mention...don't worry about your clowns picking on eachother. They have to determine dominance, and the dominant one will change sex into a female. This will take a few weeks or a month. One day they will decide they love each other. :p

Honestly though, if you can handle it, I would suggest you don't add anything more to the tank until after Christmas, or as long as you can handle it. Starting with uncured rock puts you at a disadvantage, the reef needs to mature, and balance itself out. At no point should you ever experience any algae after the initial diatoms disappear. Algae is an obvious sign of imbalance, and new tanks are prone to that. To keep yourself happy though, you could add a Ricordea here or there, or some Zoas or something. I would wait on the LPS and inverts for a bit yet.

Ya my plan from this point is to wait with the exception of a few frags. I don't wanna push it to much

Just noticed some hitchhikers on my green star polyps, little starfish with black and white striped arms

Can anyone I.D these?

Nevermind found them, there are about 5 black brittle stars from what I can tell

Algae issues are down to almost nothing, some brown here of there but hair barely comes back.
The Gramma is a pig! eats anything I throw in now and fights with the clowns for the food! It has a whole large portion of rock with lots of little cave areas and tunnels defended and swims circles all around it and is quite active.

The mushrooms I got seem to be doing alright, one is a little hagard looking but still is lively. The Zoo's that came on the frag as hitchikers have a third head poping out now, and another type of starfish! Not sure what this one is but that's 6 stars I've seen so far, just little babies. Both pieces of corals came from J&L so I'm thinking they had a baby boom recently

New shots as of October 13, 2009:

FTS:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...Sinternetz.jpg

The fish all hanging out:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ninternetz.jpg

Royal Gramma:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...yinternetz.jpg

Clean up:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...1internetz.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...rinternetz.jpg

Few additions:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...yinternetz.jpg

Shrooms with Zoo's that hitched along with the frag:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...sinternetz.jpg

TDS:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ninternetz.jpg

nice bridge rockwork, keep up the good work

So as I'm sure most people have seen I posted an Emergency tank needed thread becuase my tank decided that it was done living and is slowly falling apart.

One of the corners has crazy salt creep and a constant dampness ( cant visible see the seperation because the tank is painted black on three sides ) and also shows visible bubbles along the front edge seems. Ive aquired a non-drilled tank and am gonna head to J&L tonight for a cpr overflow box.

One bonus to this is I can now raise my water level to the top for better visual/ capacity. I wish I could just go buy a 50gallon or bigger but I'm pretty broke and not ready to buy more haha. I'll keep a detailed picture log of the switch over process. If anyone in the lower mainland sees this before 6pm that has done this before or wants to lend a hand message me! I certainly didn't think this soon after starting a new tank I would need to swap so wish me luck

Failing on so many levels :(

off to rush to j&l hopefully transit gets me there quick enough

edit*

Nvm they close at 6, BAH

So as it stands, everything is in the new tank...

Fail # 1

Funny part is when it was dropped off as a 33, it's really a 42. Actually not all that funny cause I was un-prepared for the extra water needed and almost couldnt cover all the rocks. Luckily I had another ten gallons-ish of fresh saltwater to add when I moved the rock back in and it just covered everything.

Fail # 2

I recently split off the small zoo's from the mushroom rock and at somepoint they disapeared during the rock move

Fail # 3

Filled the tank just to the bring of the new CPR overflow box, went to connect the hosing and realised mine was to small, no sump tonight I guess.

Fail # 4

One of my more rare and expensive snails is now a smoosh on my floor, fell off the moving rock and met my boot :(


all in all a rough ride, but considering how much of a newb I am and how little prepared I was to find the tank with a crack in it this morning instead of just a few bubbles in the silicone. I figured it didn't go half bad, the only issues present now are things that can be solved in the morning

Here's a pic of the new tank, I'll post a better one when it settles down and I can hook up the overflow and sump

Well, better a boot than a bare foot. Then suckers can HURT

So I've been looking a lot into what to add/ do with my tank

I'm thinking more lighting is gonna be needed, I originally was gonna have mostly all softies but there's a lot of LPS I'm loving and really wanna give them some good growth.

What I'm torn between is adding another dual t5 fixture to make it 4x39watt t5's or a single 150w MH pendant?

Any suggestions?

Oh I should add, the tank is now 22inches deep, not as shallow as it was when it was a 33

Yeah. I'm just a year in and already I wish I'd just gone straight for the cocaine.

The tank now:


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/IMG_0805.jpg

After the chaos
 

So it's been a week or two now since the tank switch mess

Here's some new shots of new additions and the tank settled and happy again:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...eenzoadark.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...eekaboozoa.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...a/peekaboo.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...dbigdetail.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...corddetail.jpg