Markos Finnex

[@marko@]

hey guys. new here, and somewhat new to reefs.
i kept a reef with my dad for years, but he handled all the hardware while i did a lot of the husbandry. so i know coral, but am new to the workings of the equipment.
last year during hurricane sandy there was no power to the tank for a week, and only a single hermit crab survived. the tank was sitting empty til now.
now im setting it back up in my college apartment.
im currently cleaning the tank, and setting up the hardware.
im hoping to reuse the dead rock from the last setup. i am bleaching and scrubbing one rock which i will then put in some RODI water to see if it leaches out any PO4---. hopefully it wont. since i do not want to play around with concentrated HCl, nor do i want to wait months for the phosphates to naturally leach out.

 

[howze01]

Hey Marko. This is Jonathan. Glad to see you coming out of the shadows! Welcome to the club and get that tank going!!

 

[@marko@]

hey man.
i have 20 credits of classes, and research, and a shrimp tank. im moving slow. lol
that said, id like to see somebody else scrape glass faster. that tank had YEARS worth of coralline growth on the back pane, and then in the chambers in the back, that i washed in vinegar and then scraped and then cleaned the vinegar out.
plus im working on getting all the electronics set up.
then i can worry about cleaning the pumps and powerheads from carbonates.
friday or saturday my dad will help me hook up the RODI unit. then i can fill the tank... assuming my current rocks wont leech phosphates. ill test the current one once my RODI is set up.

 

[@marko@]

the rocks have been acid washed. and the RODI is set up.
im hoping to fill the tank up tomorrow, and ill post pics of the rockscape for suggestions once im happy with it.

 

[howze01]

Dance

 

[@marko@]

i filled the tank up last night. water is cloudy... not sure why. hoping it clears up.
id show you a pic of the scape, but the forum wont let me post the img code, cuz i cant post links yet i guess.

 

[@marko@]

tank is almost done cycling. im hoping that ill get to add some clean-up crew members on thursday.
nothing for them to clean yet, but ill feed em to keep em full, and they can help the tank stabilize. then if all goes well next week i may just add a xenia.

 

[howze01]

Nice! That is the exact tank I started with! Just the Chinese Shin Mao version. I didn't like leaving the space at the top tho, I used a surface skimmer so I could fill it up. Looking good!

I might stay away from Xenia though, unless you want your tank covered with it, that stuff is like a weed!

 

[@marko@]

theres a surface skimmer. but im running it a bit below the surface as a safety precaution. i havent set up the float switches and auto top off yet. speaking of which, i really ought to go measure my sg when im done with this post.
this tank had xenia before. its not a special coral. but it doesnt look bad, can grow wherever, and grows fast, so its good nutrient export in addition to algae. and i can sell it as it grows.
i will prob just have some on one of the side glass panes.
they are really easy to pull off the glass.
plus its a good starter coral for me to gauge the tank with (partially cuz its so cheap). if it does poorly i know somethings up and not to add any others.

that one live rock in the front isnt staying there btw. its just a seed i got.

 

[howze01]

I was going to ask about that rock but didn't want to rain on your parade!

Xenia is like a canary in a coal mine! A lot of people don't like it but I actually liked Xenia. I liked the movement of it. What kind of light do you have on there?

 

[@marko@]

yeah it was in the fuge but i moved it out to add the sand that made the DSB. i should probably try to put it back now. though when i get the cheato, the whole thing wont fit. so ill probably shatter it into several pieces.

i like the pulsing, but in a high flow area you cant really see it. so for aesthetics placement is important.
and another thing. this tanks is SO gonna have perculas. and ill likely get them a cool BTA. but til the tank is more mature, they can host the xenia if they like (its a relatively common host i hear, though my last pair went for the frogspawn and then later for a BTA).

 

[@marko@]

the tank is cycled, and in addition to cheato, hermits, and a few nesarius, added earlier, i added the first 2 corals yesterday.

forgot to white-blance the camera, so the pics look too blue and a bit grey. but here are the corals. nothing special... yet.

 

[kschweer]

Looking good!

 

[Hockeynut]

Really nice start

 

[@marko@]

thanks guys. im hoping to get a marbled favites frag tomorrow.
and im on the lookout for some nice perculas to add. not sure if i want onyx or picasso though.

 

[@marko@]

xenias are attached, so i removed the rubber band. i also added a really nice favites to the tank a few min ago

 

[mnat]

Nice corals, nice start.

 

[Spideybry]

Cool tank, loving the rock work. What you thinking about putting in here coral wise?

 

[@marko@]

I'm hoping to make an sps dominant tank. Too bad I can't add sps for another few months. In the meantime I will be on the lookout for a nice plate coral.
In a few months I will get some montis a stylophora and birdsnest, and a BTA. Then if all is going well ill finish it off with some cool acros.

 

[Spideybry]

I'm hoping to make an sps dominant tank. Too bad I can't add sps for another few months. In the meantime I will be on the lookout for a nice plate coral.
In a few months I will get some montis a stylophora and birdsnest, and a BTA. Then if all is going well ill finish it off with some cool acros.

Is there a reason why you are waiting on adding SPS?