Supergiantrobot's 90 G tank setup

[ChrisRD]

1/ Depends on the type of corals IMO. If the tank is cycled and water parameters are in-line, hardier corals (mushrooms, zoanthids, etc.) should be fine any time now. If you're talking SPS corals, the general consensus is that it's better to wait a few months (3-6).

2/ If the tank is cycled, water parameters are stable and in a good range, and there are no major nuisance algae problems.

3/ Snails aren't the most exciting creatures, even though they're really useful.

4/ Not really. There's a such thing as too much velocity though. Basically, don't point the powerheads directly at nearby corals and you should be fine.

 

[Anonymous]

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2/ What are the signs that indicate a tank is ready?

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With test kits parameters look for parameters that have stablized. Ammonia, nitrItes must be 0.0. nitrAtes and phosphates should be at 0.0 or at least very very low. Calcium, alk, mag have ideal values but can vary from them. I have heard that with Calcium at 400-450, at alk 2.50-4 meg/l, mag 1350ppm should be ok. My alk is low at 2.0 and mag a little low at 1190 but things seems fine. Of course with a good bioload. Those paraemters are exteremely easy to realize with no bioload.

the time required will vary with how the tank was setup.

Visually (in my tank), there may have been a brown algae bloom after a few weeks that slowly turned to green. The green will stop expanding and a red cyano bloom. then the red goes away. At that point nitrates and phosphates were both under control.

 

[supergiantrobot]

A quick update:

1/ I have lost three of the Scarlet hermits. That sucks!

2/ I saw some sort of "bug" crawling at the bottom of my 'fuge. It was whitish. Not sure what it is -- amphipod?

3/ My mangroves are growing. About half are opening their first leaves. All seem to be growing.

And now the question of the day...

I am interested in some of the cured Marshall Island rock. What will happen if I add, say, 20 pounds of it to my tank at this point? Remember that I have astreas, margaritas, hermits and one lonely green chromis now.

Oh, and another question: should I remove the dead Scarlet hermit carcasses from the tank or leave them as detritus for the remaining crabs and for encouraging bacteria?

As always, thanks. Maybe I should give out like Robot Rewards. Collect 'em all!

Martin

 

[supergiantrobot]

Just a quick note to update status (I've been swamped with work, so less time to tinker...)

1/ I built a Stockman standppe for my overflow to reduce noise. Very nice. Took about ten minutes and less than $2 in parts.

2/ I checked out ReefScience.com's home-based shop. Very nice. I added seven turbos, five trochus, and one cerith snail to the main display. Most of the rocks are cleaning up nicely, and the back of the tank is like new. Man, those snails work! Now, I just need them to focus on my sand, which is turning brown.

3/ My green chromis seems very happy and is eating well.

4/ No more dead Scarlet crabs. I lost 3 of them, so I have three left.

5/ Also, from ReefScience, I added 15# of cured Marshall Island live rock.

6/ My EcoTech kalk reactor is connected and is doing top-off duty. No kalk yet -- probably tomorrow.

7/ My pH, unadjusted, remains at 8.2 most of the day, according to my pH probe. All other readings are looking good.

And to answer my own question, I left the dead stuff in.

 

[HClH2OFish]

Let me know how you like your Marshall Islands rock...I've got a nice table --about 15lb chunk in my tank and it looks really good.
Quickly covered in coralline and lotta nifty critters too. Got featherdusters, foraminifrens and some bristleworms. Some white flatworms too, but they aren't bad in the tank.

(Someday I'll be able to post pics of my tanks...)

 

[supergiantrobot]

Catching up:

1/ I like the Marshall Island rock. It can rich in coralline, so I hope that helps propogate it even more throughout the rest of the tank. Although, now that the tank has cycled and the snails are cleaning the rocks, I do have nice pink colors on the Tonga rock too.

2/ I started dosing kalkwasser via the EcoTech reactor today. pH seems to be stable and higher at 8.4.

3/ My office is usually warm, so the aquarium has remained at 78 or higher. I am afraid that summer will be unbearable, so I bought a chiller from Premium Aquatics' scratch-and-dent sale.


A question: what are the ways for me to plumb the chiller in? I have a 'fuge and a sump, but no additional overflows. I assume the chiller has a pump in it to take in and eject water... so the question is, what's the best plumbing to use in this situation to get water from the tank setup to the chiller?

 

[supergiantrobot]

I had one more question (hopefully the bold will make the questions stand out -- the bold does not imply urgency or importance).

Are hermits the best way to keep sand from getting overly brown with algae?

The snails seem to do a great(!) job on the glass and rocks. But my sand is decidely brown in patches.

Inverterbates to the rescue!

 

[HClH2OFish]

You may want to try some Nassarius to stir the sandbed up.
I got a couple and see them rarely since they are burrowing around in the substrate...

 

[ChrisRD]

Hi Martin,

Some algaes will come and go and not really require any critter control. The brown stuff on the sand could be diatoms or the beginnings of some cyano - either of which should disappear over time if all is well with your water quality.

As for the chiller, generally inline chillers must have a pump supplying them water. I've not heard of one with a built-in pump yet.

BTW, your questions will probably get more/quicker responses if you start a new thread for each topic.

HTH