Budget doesn't exist in this hobby: Brian's 45g Build

[Etaloche]

Originally Posted by Myka

MB7 and Prodibio BioDigest are similar (How similar? We don't know because there are no ingredients listed haha). They are both bacteria products. Prodibio Start Up also has the Ammo Lock vials in it which neutralizes the ammonia and allows you to add livestock sooner. If there is an algae bloom before the cycle is over, this Ammo Lock comes in handy because you can add a CUC (clean up crew). That's really the only difference. You could essentially do the same with MB7 and some other ammonia detoxifier like Prime or Amquel.

Alright, I'll stick with the MB7 and see how things go. Next time I start up a tank I'll definitely try out the Prodibio products. Who knows, at the rate I was upgrading, another upgrade might not be too far off

[Etaloche]

Been so busy with midterms and have been too absorbed in my tank to post any updates recently. My tank has been up for a little over a month now so I think an update is due.

After cycling the tank for couple days I did some reading on prodibio due to Myka's recommendation and saw that they claimed you could add fish 12 hours after using their product so I gave it a go.
I waited about 2 days after adding prodibio and went ahead and got a firefish to help with the cycle.



The firefish was very timid for the first couple days but now he's very active.
After I saw that the fish was happy and there was no spike in ammonia levels I went ahead and got a cleaner shrimp and couple snails as well.



The shrimp molted the same night I brought him in, was very cool to see.



Picked up my first coral while I was at J&L buying some supplies.
Thought I'd start with something easier and got some sunny D's.
There was some aptasia starting to grow on the rocks so I've actually had to frag it since this pic in order to break off the parts of the rock with the aptasia.



Next I paid a visit to fellow member Wheelman76's place to pick up some more corals.
His tank was super awesome and I picked up a tri-color acan and 3 different zoas: rasta, hornet, and wolverine I think









Next I visited gregzz4's place and picked up some more corals, purple and green plating monti and some GSP.
Anthony lent me his spare ebay LEDs and gave me some chaeto and caulerpa to seed my fuge on the same day.
I didn't realize how much more powerful these LEDs were and accidentally started bleaching the montis.
I quickly moved the corals to the lowest parts of my tank and turned down the lights from 50 to 30% to acclimate them to the new lights and looks like the bleaching has stopped.
Still learning I guess









The purple monti is starting to show some signs of recovery but I fragged a small piece off and mounted it elsewhere in case the colony doesn't survive.
Couple days later I saw that the green monti finally had its polyps extended and even saw some new growth so it's doing much better now.



The GSP didn't open up even after 3 days and was starting to get worried. I was told that these things are near impossible to kill though so I kept waiting.
Day 4 I saw a single polyp extend which gave me hope.
A little more the next day, and even more the next day after!
Now it's fully extended





The GSP seems to be the goby's favorite place to hang out


I also got a tiger pistol shrimp and a lawnmower goby.
Some of you might recall that the pistol shrimp and goby pair was how I first found out about this hobby and have always wanted to house them.
Couldn't be more excited to finally have a pair in my own tank!
The pistol shrimp actually made quite a mess and my water was cloudy for couple of days because of him. I even had thoughts about having to remove him from the tank but it's settled in now.
Took a couple days but the goby finally found the shrimp and they are now happily paired. Luckily they decided to house themselves right at the front of the tank so I get to watch them dig away all day long.



Finally, I got a pair of Banggai Cardinals just couple days ago.
They seemed to get along for the first 2 days but I noticed last night that the big guy was chasing the small guy all over the tank and now the small guy just hides in the corner.
Looks like the luck of the draw left me with 2 males so one of them will have to go and I'll have to try my luck with another.



It's been an exciting month to say the least and lots to still learn
Water parameters are still holding up with 0 ammonia and starting to see traces of nitrates. Greg also recommended that I should start monitoring my alkalinity so I got a salifert test kit.
Alkalinity was starting to get a bit low around 7.2 so I did my first water change last night and now it's up around 8.5 and the corals seem to be a bit happier and opening up much more.

[albert_dao]

Heh, looking good man! Come out my way and I'll give you a couple cool frags

[Etaloche]

Originally Posted by albert_dao

Heh, looking good man! Come out my way and I'll give you a couple cool frags

Thanks! I will for sure pay a visit. I've been actually looking at couple frags you had, I'm especially interested in that rainbow acan you had for sale. If I placed it on the same rock the tri-color is on do you think they'd be ok? I've heard certain acans will grow beside each other while some will sting.

[maron6977]

Coming along nicely. Good job

[WarDog]

Awesome job Brian, nice to finally see some livestock in there. What's your water change schedule going to be?

[Etaloche]

Originally Posted by WarDog

Awesome job Brian, nice to finally see some livestock in there. What's your water change schedule going to be?

There's something I haven't quite figured out yet. I remember you guys having a long discussion on it and how a lot of people have been waiting a bit longer between wc. Since it was my first wc i did 25% this time. I think I will be doing 10% every 3 weeks from now and keeping an eye on the parameters and adjust from there.

[WarDog]

Good idea. What test kits did you get? I ask because you'll be expecting your Alk, Mg and Cal to be dropping, when in reality, limited numbers of corals in a new tank use up very little of these elements.

Take your time and remember, bad things happen fast and good things happen slowly.

[Etaloche]

Originally Posted by WarDog

Good idea. What test kits did you get? I ask because you'll be expecting your Alk, Mg and Cal to be dropping, when in reality, limited numbers of corals in a new tank use up very little of these elements.

Take your time and remember, bad things happen fast and good things happen slowly.

I have just API ammonia and nitrate kits and then Greg recommended I get a salifert alk kit so I have that. Low alk was the reason I actually did a bigger wc this time around. I will be most likely getting a dosing pump within the next 2 months and have been on the lookout for Hanna test kits to come up for sale for calc and mag. Having a big debate between calc reactor or dosing pump. I think for a smaller build like mine a dosing pump would suffice.

Going slow has been a bit challenging due to excitment but I'm managing in moderation so far!

[Etaloche]

So in an interesting turn of events my firefish, goby and pistol shrimp decided to all share the same burrow. The pistol shrimp was digging up more tunnels than I expected and I slowly watched as it kept digging and digging towards the hole the firefish had been living in. I have heard stories where the pistol shrimp was the culprit of killing firefish so I was very worried. To my surprise the next day I saw that firefish popping in and out of the holes that the pistol shrimp had made. I even saw all 3 of them pop out of the same hole at once. The firefish doesn't keep watch like the goby does but he does this funny thing of backing into the hole while wagging his tail as if it's trying to let the pistol shrimp know he's coming in. I know that the firefish is also referred to as a goby but has anyone else seen a relationship like this before?



The purple monti seems to be still recovering from the bleaching. I have heard of mixed stories of bleached corals making a recovery. I think I was lucky enough to have stopped the bleaching early enough for the monti to recover.
Here is the monti shortly after I started bleaching it by having the light too intense.


Here it is today, it seemed to have built up this thick purple goo over the bleached area kind of like a scab and as it falls off it revealed a recovered patch! Some polyps are starting show as well.
Also scored a small piece of what I think is a spongodes monti if my research is correct from a fellow reefer when a small piece broke off while he was grabbing me a frag.


Speaking of new frags, here are some of the new frags I have acquired.
I really need to work on taking some better photos but here are some crappy phone pics for now.
Green and blue zoa which I have no clue of its name but I found it nice and picked it up.
Also picked up a fighting conch to help with cleanup. I really love this guy, hilarious looking and cleans all day long.

Also got some fruit loop and pink/purple zoa but forgot to take pics.

Hammer and frogspawn frags. I really wanted to get a torch as well but read that they don't play as nice as the other euphyllias and decided to hold off until I had more experience.


Albert invited me with the offer to give me some free frags to get me going and I ended up buying some frags as well.

Got a plate coral


A favia, got its sweeper tentacle out in this photo


I ended up buying a single head of this beautiful rainbow acan.


I must've damaged it a bit as I was getting it off the plug or it was already slightly damaged but it seems to be opting to split itself rather than heal the damaged area. Been interesting to watch the process. Not sure if the camera is able to pick it up.


Finally, I purchased a frag of pink lemonade and bonsai. I was told these are some of the easier SPS and the polyps came out nicely so I'm pretty stoked on them.


Tyler and Albert were nice enough to hand off this old calcium reactor they had lying around. It needs some work so I'll be re-plumbing it to work for me.


The housing for the original maxijet has broken off so I'll need to find a way to attach a new pump to it.