My 110 high reef tank (heavy on pictures)

[mori30]

hello guys thi sits my 110 high tank,biography its has gone up and down,, i lost tons of stuff do to an ick epidemic , i kill it all by lowering salinity to reaaaallly low lvls.

since then i been taking it super easy not adding nothing fish or coral. specially since i want certain things to be set and rdy before i do, i will post a few dozen pic now to get it out of the way, and as i update or change things i will upgrade it here. feel free to ask any questions... im sure I will ask many


getting all the stuff ready


cutting the holes


painting the back ground


BULKHEADS IN




DOING THE PIPES



GETTING SUMP RDY



EVERYTHING MOUNTED


WATER IN AND LIGHTS ON



ADDING STUFF FISH/ROCKS/SOME BASIC CORALS











THERE ITS MORE PICTURES BUT I STILL GOT TO ADD IT TO THE PC TO LOAD , MOST OF THIS CORAL DIE AS OF TODAY AND MOST OF THE FISH ARE GONE BUT THE ONE SO FAR POSTED HERE ARE STILL WITH ME. MORE COMING SOON

my return pump its a mag 24 , skimmer- reasea c-skimm 1800, i got 2 coralia 1450, ligh- 2x250 and 2x96pc with 4 led

[mnat]

Welcome to the club and it is great you setup a tale of the tank. I read about your problems in your introduction and asking questions is the best way to learn. I have a couple questions for you:

1. What are the current fish in the tank?
2. Have you tested the water recently (nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, alk, calcium)?
3. What temp does your tank run at?
4. What does your clean up crew look like?
5. Do you quarantine or treat your fish with any medications before you add them?

Now some notes:
Having the mag24 as your return pump might be a bit of overkill. They run very hot and are energy hogs. I don't know return pumps all that well, but I am sure someone can recommend one.

Glad to hear you are going with LEDs, the power savings and heat savings you will really really like.

I know you said you are slowing down on corals which is really good. Your LFS might not be educating you on certain animals you are putting in your tank. The SPS and the carpet nem really had no business being in a tank that was just setup and they should have told you that.

Here is the biggest decision you have to make, what do you want the tank to be down the road? Do you want it to be a full reef? Fish only with live rock and maybe a few simple coral? You said in another thread you are not using RODI water which is fine if you do not want to keep more advanced corals. The TDS (total dissolved solids) in your water is going to accelerate algae growth and are going to inhibit or kill coral growth. Some corals like mushrooms and other softies might do really well with just tap water, but LPS SPS and nems are going to die in that environment.

I know I threw a lot at you, but that is what we are here for.

[mori30]

lol np men throw me more.. i figure the more the better, as to what i want in the long road, i always wanted to have a mix reef, i mean i envision my tank, (the reason why i got the high of 31") to be fulll of diferent types of coral AND fish i mean i want that puppy in the right time to be jam pack now to answer ur more direct questions.
i recently stared with a once a month 30% water change thats about 45gallons of water. with that been say i havent done the more immediate testings only did recently was my ammonia, and that was in the light yellow color so im guessing almost none, i used to dose 2 part AB but i havent lately. but i was at 450 cal 8-11 alk and my ph was brown color witch im assuming to be about 8-8.5

my cleanup crew its huge. i bought the 150 reef clean up crew from reefcleaners and they mest up so they sent me the other in full 3x so look that crew up x3

my current stock its rather simple i think i got :
2 marron clown
1 pink tail triger (she is my baby and docile)
3 black/white chomis
1 green chomis
1 black blenie
1 blue diamond yellow watchman

i had diferent ones but they die when i try to lower salinity to get rid of some ick, most of my coral die as well.
as of now all i got are the mushrooms i belive they are superman theyy actually found they own spot and grown a LOT
i also have i forgot some type of yellow pollip but they are not doing super great,, they just doing aiight

everything else on them pic are basically dead
and sadly no i dont quarentine my fish i SHOULD.. since i got like 5 tanks not been used in the house.

i personally think i need more LR
my goals as of now its to get the right equipent before i add ANYTHING like that if something does happends i can pinpoint with more acurracy what went wrong

lately i added mangroves to my sump and they doing aiight, i think i need to get the right ligh bulb for my sump, i added chelo as well but they are not growing, nor are they dieing
my light bulbs need to be replaced witch it could be a reason why im getting so much red algie but i wont it will cost me 200$ to replace all the bulbs and i rather take them 200$ and buy an AI super blue led at least jsut one module ( i know not enough light) but i dont have corals that require that much light yet) so with time i be adding more module.
i wanna get a controller a neptune if posible.
also im guessing a RODI will have to come into play my water its pretty clean here in mays landing but the cleaner the better right?

as for salt im using SALINITY for reef AQUAVITRO
the temps are more or less about 80 im not using any heaters cause my house its super hot pluss adding the MHL and the pumps basically heat up the water.

anything else i can answer let me know.

[yh1185]

Just a couple of suggestions/comments on what you've said.

1) i would invest in some sort of heater to make sure your temperature doesn't dip too much during winter. I'd be surprised if your water temperature stayed around 80 all year round. Also, i'd look at eh neptune controller as well just to verify your temperature and pH.

2)If you want to get rid of ick, you take all of your fish out of your DT, and put them in a "hospital tank(s)" and lower the salinity there. that way you don't have to worry about the corals, which will in the end be the most expensive stuff you have probably. The only true way to get rid of ick is to leave your tank empty (no fish just inverts and corals) for about a month, while you treat your fish in other tanks.

3)You might want to consider buying some of the more precise test kits. API are nice for round numbers, but are very hard to read precisely.

4) In terms of liverock, i think suggested would be about 2lb per gallon, so if your around that, your fine. Otherwise, you might want to add more.

5) If your not using RODI water, it's very likely that the cause of the algae isn't the lighting, but the phosphates from the Tap water. If i were you, that'd be the first thing i invest in.

HTH good luck!

[Fish Brain]

That Mag 24 is a killer, its an energy hog to the max at 265 watts. For a 110 if you do a 10x turnover, your looking at 1100GPH. A Sicce Syncra 5.0 rated at 1321 will do 1162GPH at 3 feet at only 105watts.

You will need a heater if you swap out pumps.

[mori30]

thanks guys, about the syncra 5.0 i will look into it asap, i guess i can use my mag24 to transer water during waterchanges.

about the ick most of the fishes survive it was the coral that dint,, and as far as i know i dont have no more ick.

about the LR i was thinking of that 2lbs per gal= 220lbs total of LR i dont know exactly how much i have, but i know im way under maybe i have (guessing) bout 100-130lbs as of now.

about the algie u might be right , but using my API testers the water on the tank and the one coming out of the faucet, are like blue witch i believe its 0 , but again maybe they are not all that acurate, what would you recommend for a total replacement of API.

and about the heater, i was thinking of that, once i get rid of the MHL and that mag24 i will lose all the heat on the tank. so i will need to get a heater, was wondering maybe one of them titaniums maybe 2x 200watts?

oh btw i dunno if i did mention but i have as well about 2inches of LS on the DT and about 3-4inches of LS in the sump

[mnat]

Getting two heaters is nice because you have redundancy so if one goes you at least have the other one in there.

As far as test kits go, I would be looking at salifert and elos, and if you can get them the hannah hand held checkers are really good too.

Hypo is great for treating ich but as you found out, not so great for corals. Many people keep a seperate hospital tank to treat the fish in if ich rears its ugly head. This way you can leave the tank with no fish to let the ich die off on its own and treat the fish in the second tank without bothering your corals.

As far as live rock goes, you could get more. I like your current rock work, I would just beef it up a little to give you some more biological filtration.

[mori30]

yeah about the LR i was thinking on bringing the rock all the way to the top close to the water edge, i got like 3 more tanks not been used right now. so i can use them for a quarantine tank i got a 20/40breeder/and a 75RR/oh and a 55 witch one would u recommend? i was thinking of selling them or give them away but i guess i still got need of them

i will look in to them testers asap. im making list right now of things i need to either replace or add to my tank in preparation to blow it up with fish and coral., i will post my list here, and ya let me know what should i change ok.

[mori30]

here is my list So far.
i might see if i can buy some of it used and some new.

syncra 5.0 return pump.
100lbs of LR.
neptune controller.
2x200W Jager Aquarium Heater.
4xAI sol blue Led (maybe the new vega).
Hanna Instruments Checker Colorimeter Kit (Phosphate, Calcium, Alkalinity & pH).
Seachem Laboratories Multitest: Nitrate & Nitrite Test Kit.
Seachem Laboratories Multitest: Ammonia Test Kit.
JBJ ATO Automatic Top Off System Water Level Controller
and im still looking for the right screw in lightbulb for my refg in the sump

let me know if thats so far ok or if i need to add or replace anything on that list.

[dan_k]

Can you tell who makes that sump that looks perfect for what I need