Setting up the Reef Tank

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quarium Club Pages

SETTING UP A REEF TANK

By John Krell

I started my reef in June

LIVE ROCK

BRITTLE
STAR

HERMIT
CRAB

BANDED
SHRIMP

TURBO
SNAIL

Mandarin Dragonet

Well, my 75 gal. reef tank is up and running.

I have 125 lbs. of Fiji live rock and 3 inches of mixed sand and live sand.

The live rock I fully cured before adding anything. I am also running 5 power heads asst. sizes, 1 on constant with a spray bar and 4 on a Wave Master Pro Unit and a Mombassa protein skimmer.

I have added Hermit crabs, Snails, 8 Horseshoe Crabs, 3 Cucumbers, 3 Brittle Stars and 2 Coral Banded Shrimp today.

I have been adding the recommended dosage of Reef Vital DNA (Enhanced Reef Life Energizer) for 1 week now and started adding a B-IONIC Calcium Buffer System (Alkalinity and Calcium). My Nitrite and Ammonia levels were 0 but raised on today's test to Nitrite 2 , Ammonia 0.1, Nitrates are below 10.

Today I began testing for KH, Alkalinity, Calcium and Phosphates.

There levels are KH in dKH 15.0 , Alkalinity 5.37, Calcium 415 , Phosphates 1.

I am aware these levels are not were they belong, I will be doing a partial water change for the Ammonia and Nitrites. The others I believe will be corrected with the Calcium Buffer System I am using.

Again thank you for all of your help. When I have added some Coral and Fish (when the levels allow) I will send a picture of it.

I now have two Percula Clowns and one smiling feather duster.

I have also added one yellow green disc coral, a mushroom rock with six purple stripped mushrooms, one yellow polyp rock, asst. feather dusters (Giant Hawaiian, malaysian black and yellow, pink and white feather dusters) We now have a Purple Tang, Coral beauty, two Scooter Blennies,one purple fire fish, three cleaner shrimp, two brittle stars and asst. hermits and snails and three sea cucumbers.

The two scooter blennies we have are male and female we believe they have mated.

We know the chances are slim of any fry making it but we are curious about there actions.

The female is staying to the rear of the tank under the live rock and occasionally comes out but not far from the area. We feel this is where she may have deposited her eggs and possibly guarding the site. And the male is in front and on one side of the tank with very dark colorful fins and head and continues to put his top fin up. We have not been able to find any information on these actions and are guessing this may be what is happening could are guess be right?

I am planning on putting in a mated pair of mandarin dragonets and to help with my red slime algae a pair of banded bullet gobies.

Purple Tipped Elegance

November ......It now has 130 lbs of Fiji live rock and a live sand bed, approximately 4" deep. I have a Berlin hang on skimmer powered by a Rio 3100, a spray bar with a Rio 1400 and two Hagen 402 power heads, Two VHO Super Actinic and two VHO actinic lights powered with an 660 Ice Cap Ballast. The corals consist of Yellow & Green star polyps, purple mushroom rock, Purple Tipped Elegance, two unidentified Acropora, Strawberry Chili Leather, Blue Finger Leather, Branching Hammer, Trumpet Coral which has added three new heads in one month, Purple Sea Whip, Green Galaxy, Moon Stone, Green Metallic Brain, Alveopora, three Feather Dusters and an Orange Sponge. The numerous hermit crabs and not enough snails three Sea Cucumbers and two Brittle Stars, The fish are Purple Tang, CoralBeauty, Percula Clowns, Purple Fire fish, Fox Face, Banded Bullet Goby (great sand sifter), Mandarin and a pair of transplanted Black Sailfin Mollies.

I plan on making a sump in the near future and adding more live rock.

One word of advice from this beginner, Don't skimp on the hardware, buy the best and avoid problems later.

Jan...... My 75 gal. reef tank has done a major turn around for the good since switching from the tap water purifier to the Kent Max60 HS RO unit. I should have done this from the beginning. Live and learn.

July.....My reef is doing fantastic since I started using the RO unit and the UV sterilizer. Both my hard and soft coral also my Deresa clam are growing without any problems. When I tried the Elegance I placed them in different areas of the tank never any higher then half way up. Just as a reminder my tank is a 75 gal. with 135 Lbs of live rock a 4" crushed coral and live sand bed, with two 401 hagen power heads on a wave maker and an 600 Rio power head blowing constantly across the lower back, and a 20 gal. sump with a UV sterilizer just before my return spray bar which is 3/4" PVC piping running the width of the tank at the top, and 4 4' VHO's, Superactinic and Actinic, along with 1 Purple Tang, 1 Coral Beauty, 1 True Percula clown, 2 Purple Firefish, asst. Snails, Hermit crabs, 1 Brittle star and 1 4-5" Blue rimmed Deresa clam. All parameters are well within normal.

Again, I thank the club for all of it's help, John Krell