Reef Tank DIY - For Dummies

[Dash]

I was dashing off to pick up a couple of frags from Jess when I couldn't find $5 to make the exact amount. I desperately hunted around until I had the genius idea that criminals always get and went into my daughter's scrupulously saved-up tooth fairy money. Bingo! I had a moment of clarity as I drove off: you know you've fallen down that slippery slope when you've landed with your hands in your kid's toonie jar. Oh well, it was worth it

If I get half the colour of the ones in his tank, I'll be happy.
Here they are adjusting to the conditions of my tank.




I think my daughter might be on to me though. Here's the drawing she did for my birthday card last month:

[Dash]

The tank has been humming along, doing its thing. Hard to believe it's been half a year already!

I've been following my dosing regimen (CAL 420 ALK 9 MAG 1350) and coral seem to be happy. The rainbow monti which had lost about 50% of its tissue has grown it all back, except for one little spot that is almost closed up. I'm pretty amazed that the dosing impacted things so quickly. My rainbow stylo still has some little bare spots where algae has sprouted up and this seems to be impeding the re-growth of new tissue. Should I prune the dead branches or just leave them and be patient?

So I've been adding things here and there. Pretty happy about my Oregon Tort. I never thought I'd have a coral this beautiful. This is the closest my camera skills can capture the colour. It's much nicer in real life.


I took some mushrooms that I didn't want anymore to the LFS. Not much there but this caught my eye. So cool! My daughter doesn't understand my enthusiasm ("it's just a blob") but I like it. Hope I can keep it alive.


Meet my little monster Stanley. JL said he's a decorator crab but I believe he's a sponge crab. He is not reef safe so he's in the sump. I just had to have him because who can resist a crab with a toupee?
Funny story...I found him a week later, sans toupee & upside down. I was sad that he was dead. I examined him (cuz he's interesting) and he was heavy and perfect. I put him in one of my flower beds. A week later, there's Stanley in the sump, toupee and all. It had been a molt! How can a molt be so perfect? Anyway, I'm picturing him taking his toupee (it's the same ball of chaeto) off the molt and putting it on his brand new head




My mandarin had lost some weight in the last couple of months in the old 75 gal, but has definitely fattened up in the new tank. He is also much more active and spry, zipping here and there like a ninja. I think I'm ready to get him a lady friend, but it seems there are no female mandarins around. I've asked JL to let me know if they come across one.

[DKoKoMan]

Awesome updates! That crab looks evil ... maybe the chaeto is a ghillie suit I’m which he uses to ambush unexpecting prey. I love the mandarin fish! Super jealous. I tried one way back when I had my 75g but he got so skinny and eventually died. I tried so hard to keep him alive spending a couple $100 in pods added directly in but it didn’t work.

It’s nice to see yours is doing well. I’m too scared to try another one, sometimes I look at night to try to count pods to convince my wife the tank is ready. I have also heard of some mandarins eating frozen mysis (probably hard to get).

Following along! Looks great.

[mrdss]

Originally Posted by Dash

Hi all,
I've been stalling on my tank upgrade because I'm feeling way out of my depth (see what I did there), and I've been hesitant to start a build thread here because you're all so intimidating to a newbie like me. Anyway, I thought perhaps others out there like me would be interested in something like this instead of the amazing tank builds you usually see here, so I'm taking the big leap forward.

My 75-gal tank will be 2 years old this November. I bought 2 green spotted puffers that the LFS told me were freshwater, and long story short, eventually ended up buying a used tank on CL and setting up a SW tank for them with the help of some nice folks on the Puffer Forum. I learned about live rock and mixing salt, and now I think I'm hooked. My current set-up is pretty medieval. All second-hand stuff except for the lights. No sump, hob Remora skimmer, SB Reef lights. I do a 16-gal water change once a month with buckets, and manually top off water twice a day. I do not use RODI water. (Please don't hate me).

My fish in order of when they were added: 2 green spotted puffers, YWG+shrimp pair, ocellaris clown pair, long nose hawkfish, mandarin, tail spot blenny, flame hawkfish.
Coral...a bit of everything including RBTAs (a lot of 'em), zoas, and some lps & sps.

I've been having a real blast thus far and luckily have all my original livestock, except for a lawnmower blenny who wouldn't eat and a long-nose hawkfish that jumped (RIP Lenny & Fergus).

However, I know my skimmer is barely able to keep up, I need to learn about dosing, and I'd like to set up a sump so I can have a refugium to increase pod population (for future girlfriend for my mandarin).

*note: apologies for crummy iphone pics



My immediate hurdle - I have no idea how to plumb this.

Those little puffers make all fresh water guys turn. I ALSO got into to salt because of those little puffers and never looked back. Not even close to being the same thing.



A sump is JUST another tank and nothing more no matter what others might say. A hang on filter is fine. Although I am a firm believer in a good skimmer.

[Dash]

mrdss...
Glad to hear there's another Green Spotted Puffer fan out there These guys are the most personable fish around and it's easy to get very attached to them. So much smarter than the other fish, and of course the expressive eyes are wonderful. Would love to see pics of your GSP? How long have you had them?

Puff Diddy:


Nancy:

[DKoKoMan]

Hahaha those puffers are hilarious! They look like lots of fun.

[Dash]

A long while back, I noticed there were hitchhikers on my turbo snail. At first I thought they might be babies, then harmless symbionts scraping the glass alongside their host.



Now, I noticed one on the shell of my Halloween hermit and decided to pry it off as it was getting big. I saw it had worn a little hole in the hermit's shell, and then I remembered my big turbo dying a couple months ago (I have my original 4 snails). Could they be parasitic? Anyway, I fished out my remaining turbos and pried all the little guys off. Sure enough, they had damaged the host shells. Then, because my puffers said please, I gave them a little treat. They were like oysters on the half shell for these guys.

[smokinreefer]

Those guys look awesome! My kids will want them for sure if they see them!

I'll entertain this...

They need to be found at a freshie store and acclimated to salt correct?
They'll decimate the bunch of trocus snails I just bought? And my cleaner shrimp?

Anyways I enjoy the pics of your tanks progression! Looking good!

[Dash]

My current tank:


The tank I bought: 72 x 18 x 18


It came with a stand. My husband stripped and reinforced it (he's reasonably handy and owns power tools haha).



My immediate hurdle - I have no idea how to plumb this.

[Dash]

Here is how it was originally plumbed:


Before I go ahead and try to duplicate this, any thoughts on whether I should change anything? Any improvements I can make?

Here is the sump that came with the tank: 36 x 14 x 18


It has no baffles (new term I just learned) so I would like to put some in and have 3 compartments. Kinda like this except the other way around (not my photo):


So, I'm thinking, from left to right: skimmer, then refugium, then return.

Questions:
- I would like pipes to be black instead of white as they will be somewhat visible if tank is viewed from the sides. Is it better to paint or buy black pipes? I can order from the US as I shop online frequently.
- glass baffles for glass sump, right? Where is a good place to buy the glass?

Any tips, info would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks!