My 90g + 20g sump mixed reef

[Hookup]

That is a sexy bulb from everything I've read...

[mikerobart]

I am really digging the Phoenix 14k. It is slightly brighter, and has a bit more blue than the hamilton 14k. Right now I am running my lights about 10-12" above the tank and no problems with heat or evap when they are on. That being said the longest I have run the halides at a time is about 4 hr. The corals all seem to be loving it. Will try to get pictures up later.

Only the 4 small fish in the tank now... might change later this afternoon.

[sniggir]

don't rush the fish ..or anything for that matter ...remember only bad things happen fast

[mikerobart]

Well. Some new developments... It seems there was basically no cycle, or what cycle there was lasted less than a week. Ammonia spiked and dropped very fast to zero, trates went up afterwards and then came down.. not zero yet but still working towards it.

I think adding CUC right away and running almost no lights at first, following Ray's advice, was a big help.

I am running the 2x24w pc's about 6 hr now, and the halides about 4. Not a spot of algae anywhere, and the water is gin clear. All corals transferred from my other tank, and some of the sand.

The coral seems to be adjusting the the new much more intense lighting well. Everything seems to be in order, and although some people may think it too soon, gven how incredibly happy and healthy the fish from my 29g seem to be in the 90g, I decided it was time to add the first completely new livestock!

Got a great deal on a smallish clam (~3") and some very nice small zoa frags.. very impressive colours. Also found a healthy yellow tang at marinescape. They have had him for some time, and he is eating well with no signs of Ich or HLLE. He seems to be very happy, and enjoys chomping on macro growing on the LR, brine shrimp, and the occasional bit of chaeto that travels up from the fuge, which he will promptly slurp up like spaghetti.

Finally, I added a very nice feather duster. The six-line wrasse nipped at it a bit at first but is leaving it alone now. I know more aggressive wrasses can be a problem with these but all is well so far.

[Vincenzo.]

ya i think the best idea is to run no lights right from the start. i have herd people who run light at the start then try and go light less after a few months, and everything seems fine while no lights are on, but when you flip them back on..it's an algae take over. if it was me id just keep doing what your doing, and it'll be long but eventually go away. good old scraper and razor blade + elbow grease. g'luck

[mikerobart]

So far not even the slightest bit of algae.. weirdest thing ever!

[Hookup]

Great!   Sounds like a solid plan, though I'll admit you did seem to add quite a bit all at once, but hey... only the strong survive in this world, so get a frigg'n helmet and join the game... 

[mikerobart]

Yeah I put the fish in there pretty quick but all levels are rock solid. Other than my salinity as of this morning  . I learnt the hard way the ATO reservoir should be BELOW the sump level and the tubing should NOT be able to become submerged. Dumped about 4g of make-up water into the system. I guess being paranoid and having a small top-off reservoir (only 6 gallons and it was only partially full) was not a bad thing.

Salinity dropped from 1.025 to about 1.024, which isn't a big deal as far as I can tell. Skimmer cup filled with water and overflowed a bit.. luckily I had just cleaned it so not really any skimmate dumped into the system. As a chemical engineer.. I should really understand fluid mechanics and should have thought of this before.. kicking myself for overlooking something so simple.

Will have to change it up a bit tonight. I think what happened is once the ATO kicked in and the reservoir level was higher than the sump, it just continued to drain until they levelled out. I have a 6g jug of top off hidden in a storage chair I bought, and the jug is fairly thin and lays flat inside the chair... but a few inches above the water level in the sump. A peristaltic type pump would probably allow me to get away with this but not my little aqualifter. I will have to lay the jug on the floor I think.

In more positive news, I am starting to see pods in the fuge, and also a weird tiny snail type thing that I think came over from my old tank.. only one of those spotted so far. Chaeto / Caulerpa is growing fairly well. The flow through the fuge is fastest across the top of course, and it sometimes draws the macro into a mat that lays against the baffle with water passing through it. Should I try to keep the macro lower down or does this matter?  My only fear is that if there was more of it, in a power outage it might make it's way into the return chamber ( the level in sump goes slightly above baffles when return pump is off.) When power came back on it might jam up the pump.

I'll try to update with pics soon. I will be seeding the fuge with pods as of thursday if marinescape gets them in, and potentially trying to set up a separate culture in a small tank or in jugs. I know it will happen on it's own eventually, but this tank needs to be LOADED with pods if I am to have success with a dragonet... especially with the six-line wrasse in the tank.

[salvini55]

just put a peice of egg-crate along the top of the baffle. No more worries. Its commin along real good, ur a lucky dog not getting any algae. My tank looks bad cuz of it....

[mikerobart]

I think the cured rock (and having some mature rock/sand from my old tank), low light, heavy skimming, and growing macro from the get go have helped. Also, the 84lb of new rock I got from Ray had a good amount of macro on it.. which is coming back to life. The tang is pretty damn pleased about that ... and I think it's sucking up nutrients as well. Hopefully I haven't counted my chickens too early and walk smack into a crazy algae outbreak ! Not going to stock any more fish for a few weeks I think to be safe. Maybe another coral or two. I'm away to Montreal next weekend so this week my priorities will be ensuring stability, trusting my ATO, and getting the pods seeded.

[Hookup]

Nice save on the ATO/system... a drop that small is nothing to worry about at all... Honestly, it's no difference than a rain-storm on the shallow reef... the revers process however can be dangerous... but not many ways of quickly increasing your salt-water accidentaly...

[mikerobart]

Yeah I think I will place the aqualifter on the botttom of the stand, the ato reservoir will stay in my storage chair, and the tube for fresh top off water will discharge above the level of the reservoir... As long as gravity can't drain the ATO I am ok I think.
                                                               ______________
__________________________                     |                     |
|Chair with ATO reservoir inside|--|               |
------------------------------    |               |
                                              |_____       |                   |SUMP  |
                                              |PUMP|____|                    |_____|

[Hookup]

a) your at-work diagram skills are awesome...

b) that looks safe, though there is no reason to raise the ATO bucket to make it work... no reason not to either...

[mikerobart]

a) 
b) right now it looks like the above, but the pump is sitting inside the chair, on top of the ato jug, and the discharge of the tube is much lower in sump (below the level of the jug.)

[salvini55]

So whats new? Get them pods seeded? Did the skimmer run the tank dry while u were away? ATO overflow the tank allover the floor? Hair algea take over the tank to the point that the fish became fossils? SOOOOO tell us!

[mikerobart]

Alright salvini, just for you I will spill the beans ! Threw in two things of DT's ... man the pods are everywhere now... even before the DT's I was seeing some on the glass, especially in the fuge.. but now I'm seeing many more. My chaeto is also really starting to grow. I am running the fuge bulbs usually 24/7, might switch up to a reverse photoperiod eventually... not sure really.

The skimmer is the weirdest thing... it actually only really foams up hard and dry after I feed. Like I mean.. hardly any skimmate production at all... I will feed and then overnight it will pop out a few oz. It's almost like the bioload is not enough for it at times... I need to swap out the air hose soon though it is too soft and kinks easily.

ATO is working perfectly now that I messed with the snail guard a bit ( I think it was trapping air and stopping the switch from being affected by water level! . )

Other than some human error.. it's only a 6g jug and when I fill it with RO/DI I have to judge by wiggling the jug and trying to gauge the water level inside ( it's not clear plastic.) I thought it could take another 3g or so on friday... went to do some stuff, have a shower.. come back and about a gallon overflowed in the storage chair... that was a pain.

Current evap is about 1.5 g a day I think, with halides on for about 4 hr still I think. No humidity problems in my small room so far.

Not to brag, but there is not a spec of algae in the tank... it's surprising even me. NONE. Not on the rocks, not on the glass. The chaeto is growing nicely, water is always clear as anything... must be the skimmer cheatro ro/di super-trifecta tag team combo. 

Ok, I will admit I saw a few (maybe 20-30) of these little hair like things on the glass..mostly in the fuge, when I got back from montreal yesterday. I am not sure if there is a bit of green to them or not (mostly white) but they look kind of like fine filaments with bulbous tips. About 4mm long each.

Now... don't flame me for the next bit. I added a teeny tiny regal tang to the mix! I sort of broke some rules here I know, and was ready to remove / will be ready to remove in future if size becomes a problem or if him and the yellow don't get along. For now, no-one seems to care at all.. the yellow and him completely ignore each other.. and he likes to swim with the other fish. Taking frozen brine and pellets with enthusiasm! Only about the size of a toonie and he can chase down food like my fat female clownfish. I am hoping that if the two tangs get along, there is at least a 1-2 yr time frame before this guy would outgrow the 90g. The yellow is about 3", the regal about 1.25" right now.

Time to start adding some more coral I think! Also have some eye on some bangai's .... I am sure you guys know where I get my fish for now? If only I can figure out how to tell the difference between male and female juvi's a pair would be pretty cool, I have never seen the mouthbrooding thing but I hear it is pretty awesome. 

Honestly, with the size of the fish in there now the tank still looks a little empty. Definitely more coral additions to come soon. I'm keeping a close eye on things and trying not to get too trigger happy with fish purchases. I know I'm getting lazy with pics but if enough people bug me I'll add some tonight!

[sdivell]

I think I speak for everybody when I say...PICTURES!

[salvini55]

I second that motion

[mikerobart]

.

[mikerobart]

Planning to start adding more LPS soon to make things a little more interesting! Going to stick with mostly some lps for awhile and maybe slowly some sps. Anyone want to recommend some cool corals to try? I was thinking some various mushrooms, some more from the euphyllea (sp?) family, and maybe some duncans.