Developing a 100g Reef Tank from Start

[Sitkabluemoon]

Scenario:

Setting up a clean, 100-gallon tank to develop as a reef tank.

Starting points:

Transferring 100 gallon acrylic tank to classroom/lab on Monday with 100 lb live Fiji rock (clean), live sand (oolite) working heater, but broken filter.

Have on hand: several older pumps, powerheads, lots of miscellaneous crap, some 40 lbs of good live rock (clean) and a donated 40 gallon tank infested with aiptasia, multiple algae forms, shrimp, crabs, coral (green), mushrooms, algae-overgrown live rock, maroon clown, six-line wrasse and banded goby, sump and skimmer that I'm having trouble priming properly.

So, do i 1) simply struggle with the 40g tank, fighting with the aiptasia and algae using peppermint shrimp and hope the outcome is okay while keeping the 100 g tank pristine until I can develop it or 2) transfer livestock and rock and try to fight infestation in new tank? (I know patience is a virtue - unfortunately, I'm not very virtuous). Or 3), nuke the aiptasia rock and finnegan begin again?

Next question, developing that 100 g reef, I want to build it methodically and correctly on a restricted budget. Can anyone recommend a book or website that will take me step by step through building that tank up? I need to design/build an adequate filtration system (I'm thinking of going with a two-component in-tank wet-dry filter with uv on one and multiple power heads for water flow with a canister filter (i.e. not using the sump/refugium options - am I nuts?). For lighting, I'm considering the pendulum 6500k SHO lights that create great, penetrating light without a lot of heat (or wattage cost!).

If there is a minister of reefdom out there, this newbie could use some guidance and assistance on setting up a good, functional reef tank for classroom enjoyment and study without causing my wife to take the kids out of state because our gas, food and housing bills are unpaid and that howl at the door is the wolf.

:alberteinstein:

 

[FOSELONE]

welcomepic

 

[Kbra]

I wouldnt even think about bringing that aptasia rock into the new system

 

[rob1991]

you could dextroy all the pest anemones before putting them into the new tank that way they are still full of life, but not full of aiptasia.

 

[EyeReef]

You may also want to try a copperband to keep the aiptasia under control once your 100 is set up..Ive had good experience with them..

 

[SammyB]

+1 on the Copperband. They mow aiptasia like crazy.

 

[Sitkabluemoon]

Good source for the copperband? I'm using a couple of peppermint shrimps but the **** stuff is growing way too fast for them. Also heard about using nudibranchs, but also heard they die once the stuff is killed. I've also heard you can take the rocks out and burn each aiptasia with a torch and hope you get them all or use the kalk injected directly into them, but that sounds like a pain and I don't want to mess up my ph. Worked a bit on the 40 gallon today. Took out the sump and cleaned it - holy smokes, what a stinking nitrate mess! Reset the skimmer with multiple power heads and a large sponge filter and I'm getting good circulation and good water quality for now. Will switch out the sponge filter for a cannister shortly and then develop a refugium using live rocks and either mangrove or macroalgae (direction?). Picking up the 100g tomorrow with 10+ year old fiji rock and live sand + one poor blue damsel. Will this damsel be okay with the maroon clown in the 40 while I set up the 100g? I'll keep working on the 40g with the natural predators while I start setting up that 100g. Anyone heard of GARF and their recommendation for the starter package with good critters to get that 100g up and running? As for lighting, do the SHO pendulum lights sound okay or should I think MH and LED? Appreciate your helpful advice as I learn/work through this process. :alberteinstein:

 

[Sitkabluemoon]

Holy Crap! Woke up this morning and checked tank to find Nuclear Option had initiated. I checked my little problematic 40g tank and noticed the powerhead was off. Tried to adjust and thought, holy ****, the water is frickin hot! The **** thermometer got stuck and cooked the tank! Corals were dead. Wrasse was dead. Most stuff was dead including the frickin Aiptasia. Somehow the clown and the goby were still alive - rock on Nemo! After several hours of triage, I a got the tank back under control - don't buy the "discontinued" bargain heaters - stick with good ones. Okay, picked up the 125g acrylic tank w/125 lbs of fiji live rock. Set up a nice coral reef setup - atoll descending from left to right. Using the previous "live" sand - basic stuff- and thinking about GARF and adding nice live stuff to bottom. Should I go thin 1" sand or go deep 4" sand? Convert sump to refugium - it's huge (20+ gallon)? Want to take this slow and do right for the long run. Help?

 

[djrice69]

bummer about the heater, you should get a controler and plug your heater to it, redundancy is a good thing

 

[Sitkabluemoon]

Restoring Aquarium

So we set up the 100-gallon aquarium, live rock. live sand, a maroon clown and one six-banded goby, a couple of hermit crabs, moving over plenty of water from initial tank and everything seems to be going well. Chemistry is good, although ph was at the high end 8.4+. All other chemicals looked good.

On the original tank, drained out the water and placed live rock covered with hair algae, bubble algae and aiptasia into water filled tub. Left small amount of water covering live sand.

Question 1: How to save the rock while eliminating all the pests? Best way to ensure aiptasia and algae is gone so that rock can be reused.

Question 2: Should sand be scrubbed somehow, thrown out or is it safe to use? I don't want to take any chance on using sand in another tank if there is a possibility it will introduce aiptasia.

Question 3: Built refugium for tank using live rock and will pick up chaeto this week to place in refugium. I have skimmer on refugium as well. Any other suggestions?

Question 4: Once sure everything is stable in new tank, what would be the best things to start bringing into tank? Damsels or other fish? Shrimp? Snails? Other invertebrates?

Question 5: This maroon clown is about 3.5" long. Is it okay to try and introduce a smaller maroon clown and hope they eventually mate, or should this one remain solo?

 

[crimsontopper]

i dont have all the answers to your questions but ill try to help. had your tank not been nuked i would have recommended fighting it then moving. the copperbanded butterfly would deal with the aiptasia but they are a little finicky. unless youre an expert i wouldnt recommend them. for the bubble algea and hair algea, i have a little experience. the emerald crab is great for the bub and ok for the hair. but if you do that take the crab back to the lfs when the algea is done or it will starve to death. i learned that from experience. if you add the two maroons at the same time they should be fine. if youve already added the one the big tank, take him out, rearrange the rock and then add them both at the same time. then if youre not happy with the new live rock set up just put it back. question #4 once youve worked out your patience virtue i would go with snails to take care of the glass and lr, a pistol shrimp and a goby pair to deal with the bottom. hermits are cannibalistic and will eat your snails, again i learned from experience. its a personal thing but im not a fan of damsels, they think theyre bigger than they are.

 

[Sitkabluemoon]

Thank you Crimson. We're now at the point where I tossed the sand from the Aiptasia tank, moved the rock to a holding tank while I try to figure out how to cleanse it and ensure that no Aiptasia is left - don't know whether to just junk the rock or rehabilitate it. Stinks right now. On to the tank (125g): everything is going pretty well with good flow, good chemistry, good groove, added chaeto to refugium (sweet) and ready to add live sand to existing live rock setup - but - had a major explosion of red algae on glass and rock under lights. Snails? Crabs? Shrimp? Something else? Would like to plan on what fish to join the clown and the goby. Would like to try and add that maroon clown and hope for the best with the moving rock strategy, but don't want two fighting clowns and one tank. There's a beautiful flame angel at the lfs or I could go with a six-lined wrasse or just put a nice bubble-tip in for the clown - recommendations?

thanks

 

[StanD]

for the segregated LR with aiptasia - use joe's juice

for the hair algae - use a soft bristle toothbrush (new) to remove (a trick I saw at a large LFS that always has algae free tanks)

Good thing you separated the rock - once you're done with treating, cleaning, and rinsing all you have to do is throw the dirty water away

 

[crimsontopper]

the red algea is more than likely cyano bacteria, annoying as all get out. usually has to do with water quality. i just found a patch in my tank today and ive delt with it a few times. mine always starts on the sand hence the shrimp. i knock it off the walls, skim it with a net and syphon out as much as i can and do a water swap. if you can also reduce the amnt of time that the lights are on. theres all sorts of chemicals out there for that stuff but ive never had to use them. flame angels are def reef safe and add that pop to the aquarium to really make it stand out, if he is a fair price and healthy. just make sure thats the angel that you want cause 2 angels + 1 tank usually = at least one dead fish.six lines are my favorite fish, i just love them. however, ive had two and i still dont know where they went. they sleep in the live rock at night and i think they get stuck and die. who knows. before you get an anenome do your research cause most of them are really fragile. clowns will take up in more than just bubs, i have had them in colt, leather and a mushroom. i would probably look to get a toadstool coral. easy to maintain and anenome like, but more hardy. saltwaterfish.com has descriptions of fish, coral and inverts and how much care they require. reefcentral.com is also an amazing site with lots of people who know lots more than me. thats where i go for everything. i can easily spend a weekend on that site reading posts. they might be able to tell you more about eradication of the cyano. that stuff is EVIL, gotta nip it in the bud as soon as you see it. ive never had an aiptasia issue sorry i cant give you more info on that, but from what i hear you have to take the LR out scrub the fire out of it, then do it again and again until its done. let me know if theres anything i forgot or if there are other qs

 

[TheBluefish]

No joke, I had the worse aiptasia problem. I picked up a Copperband and one peppermint shrimp for my 60 gallon and the problem was gone a week later. The Copperband did most of the work. They don't play around!

 

[shapermike]

It is a bad thing having Aiptasia but it can help with using up your nutrients in your tank to get the water chemistry level. I have 2 copper band butterfly's that will just annihilate the Aiptasia as I put the rock in to my frag tank (you would think that I would be insane to add Aiptasia to my 400 gal frag system) but I do. I just got 3 more and now trying to get them to eat. I start with live brine shrimp and black worms. I do this for about 2 week and they usually start going after the Aiptasia if there still alive. I have had good luck with this method. For every 3 I get now I lose 1. Not too bad....

Well good luck...

 

[crimsontopper]

i would recommend not going with an option that has a 33% rate of starving a fish to death. sucks for the fish and the wallet.

 

[Sitkabluemoon]

Good advice all - thanks. I'll scrub the rocks this weekend and see how they look next week. Flame Angel looks like a good ad - appears to be very healthy - been watching it for a couple of weeks now. I'll scrub the red algae off the glass and cut back on the lights, but what is best for the algae on the rocks and sand - peppermint shrimp or something else? Good advice on the coral - I'll look for that - is that a low to moderate light requirement? I'm trying to get by on cfl and sho lighting and avoid the MH for now.
Thanks again!

 

[crimsontopper]

here is a link to a page about the toadstool. the pistol shrimp should take care of the sand, just syphon it up and the shrimp should stop it from coming back. for the rocks, i would just pull it off like you pull it off the glass.

 

[Sitkabluemoon]

Thanks for the link Crimson and for taking interest in this topic. I'm enjoying the prospects of building out this reef tank and will probably keep coming back for additional advice as I am very much learning as I go. With chaeto in the refugium, should I also add mangrove or just stick with the chaeto and would adding the toadstool help slow down the red algae growth? The refugium right now is 20g and starts with a mesh-filtered intake that streams the water through another filter pad into a live rock filled compartment, through baffles into a second live-rock + chaeto compartment with a skimmer pulling water out and adding back into the tank output. The flow is pretty good and I added two additional powerheads to get good flow through the live rock with two heaters to keep the temp right. I picked up some reef substrate/sand that I was considering adding to the refugium for additional nitrification help and was wondering whether I should add mangrove as well. I'm not using any carbon in that tank right now. I'll add the shrimp, but how many for 100g tank? Should I go with a general "cleaner crew" package or pick something more specific for maintaining the water quality?