New and need advise

[Shri]

Hello Everyone,

 

I am new to the forum and like to share my tank with everyone to get some advise.

I have had this tank for 5 years now and over the years it have crushed few times.

As a fish only tank it did good but my corals didn’t last more then 2 months at a time.

Most of the shops i went to didn’t provide the knowledge needed to maintain the tank but were more then happy to sell me things i didn’t need.

So after a month of reading and watching as many youtube videos as possible i think i m ready to have a reef aquarium i always dreamed of. but it would look much better if you guys could chip in little bits advise.

 

I have made a list of things i have right now with me.

 

Tank - size 14 x 31 x 46 inches (19 mm glass wall) 327 litres tank (my tank is vertical and I know sigh*)

Height from the floor to the top is 63 inches / 5 feet

 

Sump - size 11 x 21 x 16 inches (6mm glass wall) 54 litres

Refugium - size 13 x 21 x 18 inches (6mm glass wall) 73 litres 

The reason i have 2 separate tanks is because there is a beam supporting the tank under it which is 2 by 4 inches.

Total volume should be 454 liters or around there.

 

was told in the beginning sump or refugium is not needed, instead buy a canister filter or hang on the back filter. i did as they said and it worked for 2-3 months before i have to buy new corals again. later i realised my fishes got too big and the filter couldn’t take the load.

 

Equipment 

Chiller - hailea model HC-250 A

Canister - Ehiem professionel 3 600 (2075) ( connected to chiller and running with filter media only)

Skimmer - HOB reef octopus BH 2000 (keeping it off due to water level not stable)

Skimmer - reef octopus hurricane 500 (bought from reef club reefer Underwater,doing wonders now.thanks)

Wave maker - jebao WP-40

Wave maker - RS-108A ( keeping it off )

Light - odyssea T5-120- 4 x tube light - 2 x blue, 1 x purple, 1 x white (keeping it off)

Light - LED model LFL - 4E (on from 11 am to 8pm)

Pump - Ehiem 1260 (bought from reef club reefer Underwater,doing wonders now.thanks)

Dosing pump - jebao DP-4 ( doing Redsea A, B, C and 1ml vodka daily)

RO - NSW tap water purifier 

 

 

Filter media ( running in ehiem canister) (i don't want to spend more money on reactors so made use of the canister)

Chemi pure ( made water super clear)

SORB-4 phosphate remover

NP - reducing boipellets 200ml (placed in the HOB skimmer out pipe)

NP - All in One biopellets 500ml

ATM agent green phosphate remover ( weekly 10ml)

 

Additives 

Red Sea - A, B, C

Red Sea coral color - A, B, C, D

Aquarium system reef crystals salt

 

Testing kit (weekly testing)

API - calcium - phosphate - nitrate - nitrite  - ammonia 

Salifert - alkalinity - magnesium

ATC PH digital 

ATC portable refractrometer

 

Food 

Reefmax - freeze dry mysis

Reefmax - super bacteria 

Reefmax - super marine fish pellet

Reefmax - zooplankton 

ATM outbreak! marine

AquaPharm 5 in 1 coral food

Since i don’t have many fishes..feeding is every other day and in a very limited amount. 

 

Live in tank 

30kg live rock

20 kg live sand

 

Fishes

Lawnmower blenny x 1 (is fat now)

Yellow watchman goby x 1

Yellowtail damsel x 1

i removed almost all my fishes 2 weeks back in order to get the NO3 and PO4 in control

 

Invertebrates 

Scarlet cleaner shrimp x 1

Black sea cucumber x 1

Drawf blue leg hermit crab x 1

Drawf red leg tip hermit crab x 1

Sally light foot carb x 2

Sand shifting sea star x 1

Brittle sea star x 1

Nassarius snails x 5

 

Corals 

See pictures ( not sure on names)

But they have survived the worst thrown at them..

 

Pest 

Bristle worms x unknown 

Mantis shrimp x 2 (1 and 2 inches in size)

this guys came in with the rock and have made a complete MRT network in my rocks and are extremely smart and aggressive

I have tried setting up half bottle traps and even try to harpoon them with needle but they are too quick so finally I have decided to remove all the rocks and dip them in cold purified fresh water for 2 mins to see if they come out. If they don't then soda water but will it kill my live rock?

If any of you have a better way of catching them please let me know and also if anyone would be interested in buying them if i manage to catch them..

Also had a pistol shrimp which came in the rocks but manage to catch him.

 

 

Water parameters 

Ammonia 0 ppm

Nitrite 0 ppm 

Nitrate 10 ppm 

Phosphate 0.25 ppm

Calcium 440 ppm

Alkalinity 11.5 dKH 

Magnesium 1240 ppm

Salinity 1.024

PH 8.48

Temperature 26.9 celsius 

 

Managing NO3 and Phosphate has been a real fight for me.

So now I have beefed up on my filter media, weekly 30 liters of water change and dosing vodka daily. (vodka does help if done right, i manage to drop my NO3 from 100ppm to 10 in a month) 

So now maybe setting a refugium will help me drop the rest in another month.

I do need Chaetomorpha to start if anyone willing to sell or donate. 

 

 

I am adding few pictures of everything I have for everyone to see. I am open to any and all advise as long as you have tried and tested it yourself. I don’t want to win any competitions but just want to have a reef aquarium worth looking at the end of the day. This is a time consuming and expensive hobby and I salute you guys for taking it so far. Some of you guys have awesome tanks.

 

Need help with

1. I can’t drill any hole to my display tank so I made 2 siphons for water to drop down to skimmer and refugium. Return pump will push the water up but if the water over flows on top tank just in case if the siphon breaks how do I have a emergency overflow system back to sump .??

 

2. Just want to know if I am on the right track??

(the blue bottle in my tank is a trap for mantis shrimp, just in case if u guys are wondering)

Does any one know what is the green stuff growing on the rock..???

[Guest]

Might be a bad advice I'm giving as I providing you a solution I've not try before. Why not get a overflow box ? in case pump stop working the water won't flood your floor.

Cool diy skill.... I think the skimmer water level is abit low maybe cause the angle I'm viewing. As water evaporate the water level will go lower

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[tuajia]

I heard soda water will definitely kill some creatures and some of your beneficial life on the rock but shouldn't be too bad unless you soak for too long. 2 mins sounds about right. Alternatively if you know which rock is the one with the culprits, you could try taking that rock out and just spray inside the holes with a syringe with freshwater or soda water and they should run out. At least the rest of your rock will be unaffected. Let me know if you succeed, I'm keen to keep them lol

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[tuajia]

I buy over the counter syringes from commercial pharmacies for less than a dollar each. I hook them up with airline tubing and stuff tubing for target feeding. Maybe you can just use the airline tubing to wriggle into the suspected holes for better targeting when you spray with the syringe

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[JMW]

Mantis are smart. I struggled to evict mine from its rock too. Took several frustrating nights for me... Until one day I managed to positively ID which rock it was hiding in, then took it out quickly. Practically snatched the rock outta of the water before it had a chance to run out.

Leaving it in air for 20min did nothing for the shrimp, they don't evac the rock like crabs do. I finally managed to drive it out with fresh water that was slightly colder than room temp.. Now it's got a home of its own in a small tank

if you still want to try bottle trap, most of the traps I have seen online are transparent bottles. More inconspicuous, maybe doesn't matter but worth a shot IMO if your current one is not working. Read that they are capable of learning too - meaning if your bait is gone from trap, but no shrimp, means it's figured out how to get in & out. Need to change trap design. All the best bro....

Btw pls be safe when handling them, yours look quite big(about 3-5cm?), probably capable of doing some harm if it gets close to your fingers!

Your PO4 is high at .25, target is 0 or .03. Considered dosing goodbyePO4? Henry there have.

[JMW]

I buy over the counter syringes from commercial pharmacies for less than a dollar each. I hook them up with airline tubing and stuff tubing for target feeding. Maybe you can just use the airline tubing to wriggle into the suspected holes for better targeting when you spray with the syringe

 

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agree! I managed to find my syringes at Guardian. Going for like 50cents for the 5ml one. Not all outlets have tho. Got mine at Bugis.

[Shri]

hey thanks for the advice guys.... a friend of Willy Guccivera Yap is donating some cheatos for my refugium... 

i will be trying  to do diy siphon over the tank today..will keep u guys posted on it...

also i ll be removing all my rocks and hunting the mantis with cold water and syringes with soda water..wish me luck..

the only problem is they have made so many holes in each rock that its gonna take me hours to pin point which rock they are hiding in..

and yes keeping the rock outside for hours in dry conditions has no effect on mantis and will not flush them out..although it helps with piston shrimp.

 

could someone help me ID the green/yellow hair like growth on my rock..want to know if its safe to keep in the tank or should i remove the rock itself.

[Slayer213]

Hi bro... if im not wrong... you are try to siphon water with a hose into your sump and a powerhead pump the water back up?? And try to tune the powerhead in a way so that everything will stay balanced and water level will maintain in this setup? Mmm... IT WILL NOT WORK bro.... i have tried it before when i first started reefing, trying to convert my shrimptank into a reef. It will be a nightmare to keep the water level at the right level... either the pump will pump lees/more water than the siphon or the hose will siphon more/less water than the pump... lets say u managed to finetune it to a stable level... remember your pump and hose will eventually have things like algae or scum growing on the insides, thus will diminish the effectiveness of the siphon or pump... then everything will go out of balance...

Its way better to get a overflow box... skimz has small one. Or u can diy a overflow pipe which the tutorials are available on youtube. By all means... try it out if you want... but its extremely unstable. Just my 2 cents... hope this helps

[acidjc]

Bro.. my advise... if you want to get things right. Go buy a second or new tank with sump. Your method will not work, it might as of what you see and think it work.. but it like ticking bomb...one day it will flood your floor and kill your coral and fish.

Don't waste time trying... go get a new tank .. if really not possible. Then use canister. Your existing filter is good enough. I think your mistake is like most newbie, loading the tank with too many live stocks too fast or overload whereas the filter cannot manage.

Actually keep a reef tank is not really that difficult. First thing I need to manage the water. Go goggle on how to keep water. Only with good water then your live stock will let survive.

Also ... another key thing in success reefing is patience. Don't see something wrong only start to react on it.. sometime this will be over react and instead do more harm then good.

Remember patience is the key to success. .. this was once told to me by a old reefer...

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[Guest]

Trust their advice my friend haha. get a proper sump or just go for canister filter . Hope people that use overflow box will enlighten you the pro and cons

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[alexcyf]

Overflow box is a cheap, easy and effective way of solving your problem, however, in the Long run, it's always safest to get a tank with an overflow box.

overflow box requires u to on and off maintain e pressure in the box. Like priming the water up.. Cuz over time air bubbles will be in ur box and reduce he overflow rate. When it's jammed it will turn ur house into a Swimming pool

[Shri]

Hi guys thanks for replying..

Slayer213 - yep u r right and that whats i m planning on..and i agree with u there is no way i can sync both the flows with just siphon..so i am getting an overflow box.

acidjc - i won't be able to change the tank any time soon. i need to see some success before i could investing in a tank again. and i did not over stock..i only bought what the guy i was paying for maintenance recommended. but i couldn't  afford them after 2 months as it was $125 per week. and even they couldn't keep the corals alive and just shut me up with replacing them in beginning.. 

and i know the flood is inevitable but with right piping and regular checks i think i ll lower the chances as much as possible. also i m investing in water sensors just incase the flood comes.

On other note...guess what!! last night i managed to catch both the mantis...ok this is how is caught them...get purified water and add as much ice as u can in it..but keep the ice in the plastic and don't let it melt and mix in the purified water...u will need very very cold water... then just take the rock and dip it and the mantis will come right out... I am adding them on pasar malam for sale.. need money for overflow box..

[tuajia]

LOL congrats on the mantis capture bro

[JMW]

Now we know how to make them evac LR.... 2 shots, 2 hits! 

[tropic]

Get those overflow/inflow from like this. Do a new sump n remove your cannister. Need to drill on your glass wall. Better than external overflow. deaquatics has them on display.

http://reefbuilders.com/2011/12/20/oceanlife-overflow/

[jasMarine]

Not a good idea to have the chiller inside cabinet, trap heat will make chiller work overtime.. 

[vidios]

What is the usage of the water bottle in the tank?

[JMW]

Diy mantis trap.

[shy88devil]

Any update Shri ?

[vidios]

Wow great job!!!!

[xeneryx]

I started this hobby using canister too. End up becomes like a nitrate factory and too much hassle to clean up. 

End up I went to custom made a sump cheaply at kelantan lane and bought a overflow box from taobao. Solve my problem!

the pic was my first tank!