My 55 gallon Reef Aquarium

The Tank Turns 3!! Time for a Synopsis

2009-08-05T09:57:00.021-04:00

The tank turns 3 this month so I thought I would do a quick Synopsis on the system, goals and achievements.

Reason Tank Was Set-Up: I decided to go into reefing after viewing my Uncles beautiful reef. I wanted to start with a reasonable tank setup so if I wanted to bail out I could with minimal loses. I set up this tank as a first jump into the world of reefing. I would use this tank to learn what I needed about reefs and then upgrade at a later date.

Goals:

To learn how to keep a reef (ie EVERYTHING)
Demonstrate that I can handle and succeed and keeping reefs
Prepare and learn as much as I can for a future larger tank

Initial Setup: Tank: 55 gallon all glass
Lighting: Nova T5 Extreme Pro (2 x 10k daylight, 2 x actinic)
Skimmer: CPR backpack skimmer
Fuge: CPR Aquafuge
Flow: 2 x Tunze Nano Stream 1 x Krollia 4

Major Upgrades: The only major upgrade I made was on lighting, I wanted to try to keep SPS (which I have been successful with)

Nova T5 Extreme Pro ------------> Current Sun pod 2 x 150w MH (I run 14K bulbs)

Corals Kept Successfully:

Long Tentacle Plate Coral*** Heliofungia actiniformis
Xenia Xenia sp.
Purple Mushrooms Discosoma sp.
Purple-white Mushrooms Discosoma sp.
Leaf Coral Montipora Capricornis
----- (no common name) Montipora Setosa
Torch Coral Euphyllia sp.
Trumpet Coral Caulastera sp.
----- (no common name) Montipora Spogodas
Blue Tort Acropora Tortuosa
Green Milli Acropora millepora
Pink Birdsnest Seriatopora hystrix
Yellow Polyps Parazoanthus sp.
Green Slimmer Acropora Yongei
Green Zoas Zoanthus sp.
Fire and Ice Zoas Zoanthus sp.
Actinic glow Zoas (I call then that :) Zoanthus sp.
Green Star Polyps*** Pachyclavularia sp.
Sun Coral^^^ Tubastraea faulkneri

Fish Kept Successfully:

Royal Gramma ``` Gramma loreto
Tomato Clown ``` Amphiprion frenatus
Tomini Tang Ctenochaetus tominiensis
Devil Damsel Chromis xanthurus

Inverts Kept Successfully:

Bubble Tip Anemones Entacmaea quadricolor
Peppermint Shrimp Lysmata wurdemanni
Bule Tuxedo Urchin Mespilia globulus
Serpent Star Heterodon sp.
Various Snails and crabs ------------

*** = lost in the big tank catastrophe
^^^ = killed by a stupid mistake, easily avoidable
``` = killed by ich

Things Kept Un-successfully:

Sebae Anemone, got it bleached, did not know better.
Pearly Headed Jawfish, was bullied and jumped
Bangai Cardinal, came in sick, eaten by brittlestar

Disasters:

When the Sebae anemone died, it spiked the ammonia killing several corals.

Growth Shots: I try to take a shot of the tank once a month so I can really see the growth overtime. I did not really start this until 2009 so I don't have monthly shots before them. These are all of my FTS in chronological order.

August 2007 (after initial setup)
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008August 2008 September 2008October 2008
November 2008December 2008January 2009March 2009April 2009May 2009June 2009July 2009

Final Thoughts on System: This tank was practice, and when I started I didn't know what equipment I really should get, or where I should spend my money. The CPR aquafuge is really crummy and doesn't provide enough filtration to sustain much bioload. The Fuge is to small and the skimmer doesn't work. So I am essentially running a tank with no skimmer. I have to keep the bio-load low and the feedings small. The Current Sunpod is a really great fixture and I have been very happy with it! The Tunze nano streem pumps are o.k. I think next time I will just spend the extra money and get a vortech. All-in-all this tank has been a great learning experience and I am ready to take it to the next level and get a bigger tank.

Monthly Update

2009-08-03T17:11:00.006-04:00

I haven't been able to get any posts out lately, mainly due to a busy schedule. There is not much to report in terms of tank news, the tank continues to do well and thrive even though it is essentially running skimmer less and with little filtration other than live rock and a small fuge. The corals continue to grow and do well. Something major is in the making, but I can't make any promises. What I will say is either a new tank is on the way or a major overhaul is going to happen on the current one. I will talk more about this on another post due to come out later this week.

The reef podcast show Reefcast that I talked about back in January (see this post: http://henryreef55.blogspot.com/2009/01/reefcast-update-test-results.html) is back from several months of no new releases. The new show (episode 31) is now available for download! Click the latest show button on the home page to download it or go to http://reefcast.com/downloads.php. I love this show and have learned so much from it! I think it is a great entertaining and educational podcast (for more of my thoughts on reefcast check out my prior post, liked above). The latest show is 2hrs and 48minutes of reef craziness and a great show! I strongly think you should check this podcast out.

Since this is my first post in august I will re-post the July 2009 FTS to end the month.
I will have a major post disscussing the possible major overhauls and summarizing the journey, successes, failures, and faults of this tank. I will discuss the initial goals this tank was set up for and what I would like to accomplish going forward.

Big Update

2009-07-20T17:37:00.007-04:00

The powdered sugar fish that decorated my birthday (July 18th) cake made by my sister.

Wow, this update has been long overdue! If you have been following my Twitter Updates (follow me if you have an account {my user name is henryreef} or read updates on this site or my twitter home page: http://www.twitter.com/henryreef) I have been trying to get a post out but have been delayed on numerous occasions. Here are 2 screenshots to help you out:

The Twitter Feed on my site (outlined in red)

My Twitter Homepage

The tank has been looking great the past several days! I am very happy with the way everything is growing and the general aura of the tank. The only major update is that the tang got into a fight with one of the Damsels and tore up its fin, I am giving it some extra TLC and making sure to feed it often. It should make a full and speedy recovery. Here are some various tank shots:

I performed a 27 gallon (about 50% water change) and the tank looked even better. That is all for now, but I will be releasing some big new posts coming out soon. Here are some of the topics:

A New Domain Name
The possible big upgrade
Camera Upgrade
Reef Central News
Water Changes

Update and much, much more!

2009-07-15T12:40:00.005-04:00

I apologize for not getting a post out sooner. I have been busy with vacations and other various stresses in my life. Any how, I tested water yesterday and here are the results:

Calcium: 400
kH: 6
Nitrates: 0

This looks fine, but I am still working on getting the kH up. I also am planning on doing a water change later today/tonight of at least 10%.

I already got a post out on the commercial brand Kalk mix versus pickling lime. I just wanted to get a direct ingredient list comparison.

Here are the ingredients in Mrs. Wages Pickling Lime

Here are the ingredients in Kent Kalkawasser Mix.
They both have the same ingredient: Calcium Hydroxide. This makes me feel very happy about substituting Mrs. Wages for Commercial Brands. It will save me money and has no catch.

This is a quick post, I will get another one out later today or tomorrow with general tank news and pictures.

The Return-Home Update

2009-07-06T15:55:00.005-04:00

My suitcase full of Pickling Lime one of the benefits of my journey

I just got back late last night. I had a great 4th and I hope everyone else did also. I also was able to get several updates out this weekend (thanks to wi-fi and several portable programs example: portable photo editor on my flash drive). The tank looks amazing and I am happy to see that everything did great while I was away. I will try to get another post out soon with test results. As for now here are some tank photos.

The Tank Upon Arrival:
Close-up On The Amazing BTAs:

An Easy Way to Save Money

2009-07-05T13:05:00.008-04:00

One common trick reefers will use to save money is to buy pickling lime rather than aqurium marketed kalkawasser. As explained in prior posts Kalk is a solution of Calcium Hydroxide and water. It has a pH of 12 and must be dripped slowly. Kalk is used to maintain calcium and alkalinity levels. The name brand kalk made by Kent Marine is quite expensive and if you buy at the LFS (local fish store) you can pay over $30 for less than 1 lbs. Pickling Lime on the other hand is about $2-3 a pound and it is the same chemical as the name brand product.

Mrs. Wages is the pickling lime of choice. It is pure and safe for your reef. The only downside is it hard to find. I have looked everywhere and have not been able to find it. You can order it online, but I try to avoid that because of shipping costs. Finally on one of my voyages up north I figured out where to get it: Walmart. There are other places to buy it but this is the only one where I have found that it is constantly carried. Now for some pictures:

When I went there were two types of containers, both hold one pound and are exactly the same products.

Container 1

Container 2

I bought 6lbs, which should last me for a while. The reason I bought so much is because Walmart is not in my area, and I don't know when I will be able to get some more. Here is how much I picked up.It will be interesting to see how long they last. One more use for kalk is to kill aptasia, which I will talk about in another coming post.

The June Water Quality Graphs

2009-07-04T11:27:00.012-04:00

Even though I am out of town this weekend I have made a special effort to get this out. This is my graphs of the values of Calcium, kH and Nitrates over the month of June. I used to make these every month, but got off track. Hopefully this will be the start.

Calcium

As you can see from this graph when I went on vacation (outlined in red on this chart) the Ca level went down, which makes sense because I cannot add calcium and the corals slowly use it up.

The kH, Interestingly enough did not get used up like Ca during my vacations, I don't really understand why, but the average kH has been really low this month and I would like to see at least a kH of 9. My current average in Red and my goal in Green.

Nitrates

There is not much to say about them other than this shows my fuge/skimmer/low-bioload combo has paid off. Another thing to considor is that I do frequent 10%+ water changes.

That is all for my water quality graphs! Hope you enjoyed reading and staytuned to the Henryreef blog for a coming post on a great way to save money.

Some Tank Shots....

2009-07-02T14:17:00.005-04:00

I am once again leaving for this forth of July weekend and I am racing to get this post out and beat the traffic up! I will try to get something out later this weekend but I don't know. The BTAs and everything looks great upon departure. Here are some pictures of the BTAs and the Tank befroe I leave. I am also behind on my water quality graphs so I will get those out asap. I can hopefuly update at least once via email from a mobile phone, but that means no pictures.

Back in Town

2009-06-30T20:48:00.007-04:00

I got back from my vacation late Sunday night and I haven't been able to get an update out untill now. The reef looked very nice when I got back and I was happy to see that everything was happy. I tested water earlier today and the results were good except kH was a little low. Here they are:

Calcium: 400

kH: 6

Salinity: 1.024

Nitrates: -0-estimate...I didn't test because I have been gone for several days and have added no nutrients.

I also got around to cleaning up my area somewhat here are some shots of what it looks like now.

This week I will try to get everyone filled in on the possible 90 upgrade, I will get some nice tank photos out and also since the end of June is upon us: the June water quality graphs!

Hope you all enjoyed reading the Henryreef blog, check in later for more info.

The Pre-Vacation Week Roundup

2009-06-25T15:30:00.002-04:00

I am going out of town for the weekend, so I wanted to leave the tank in the best condition possible. I did a 15g water change and cleaned all the pumps in vinegar. It really made them run better. I try to do this once a month but I have been quite busy. I also tested water here are my results:
Calcium: 365
kH: 10
Salinity: 1.025
Nitrate: 0 (I think it was high before my water change)

I will not be having anyone come to monitor the tank as I will only be gone for one full day. In general tank news the only major item of notice is that the BTAs were looking a little deflated, but that happens sometimes.

I hope you all have a great weekend and check the blog for updates. Hope you enjoyed the henryreef blog, that is all for now.

Major Update

2009-06-22T02:30:00.000-04:00

OK first off the weather in Ann Arbor has been super hot! This has raised the temperature in my reef to over 84 (this is my max temp). I know that these days are few and far between, so a chiller is really a waste of money (and alot for that matter). The first way I am attacking this problem is ice. I will freeze 2Ls and put them in a bag and float them in my tank (in most setups the sump is the best place). This works quite well, but is a pain in the rear. I will use this tactic on those few days.

The second thing I am doing to combat the heat is installing a clip on fan to move the hot air between the Metal Halides and the water out. This dramaticaly reduces heat exchange and therefore helps cool tank. This also helps by evaporative cooling. I think I will get another of these soon as one really doesn't cut it.

Secondly a new frag is now for sale. One of those mushrooms that i found in my system when it was first started is now for sale. Here is a picture of the very first one!

Now they are all over my tank and I have to many. They are very hardy and this is going for $20 (quite cheap). The picture is not very good but they are really beautiful.

Click to view all of my frags that I am selling (including this one). This button is always on the sidebar of my site, and you can setup and RSS feed with it to know whenever I add a new frag listing.

Finally in general tank news, the tank is doing very well . Nothing major to report other than this cooling issue. I tried to add the modded maxi-jet (described in earlier post) and it worked very well but fell from its magnetic mount (my fault) and created a sandstorm which was a pain to have to clean up. It took hours to baste the sand off everything.

MJ mod

2009-06-21T11:19:00.015-04:00

Modding Maxi-jets have long been a way of increasing flow without paying much. One popular mod is the euro-reef mod which you install a bigger prop for more flow. I have not tried this one yet but I have heard of its amazing results which aparently increase flow up to 3 times! I decided to do a simpler mod that seeks to create a wider flow output and increase flow slightly.

Equipment List:

Saw
Dril
Maxi-Jet (I reccomend 1200)

OK now lets move on to STEP 1 You first want to use the saw to cut off the output nozzel. You want to make the output whole as wide as possible, so the flow will be nice and wide.
Here is what the pump should look like after step 1:
STEP 2 You need to drill more hole to help increase the pumps ability to intake water. Any small drill bit will work. I drilled four holes. See outline
This is what the pump should look like after step 2
You have finaly compeleted this mod! Here is what the final product should look like. (Note my pump was used before the mod).

Final Thoughts: I really like this mod as a it is easy to do and you spend nothing. I am very happy with this mod and suggest you to try it out on one of your old maxi-jets.

I will have the major detailed update out later today or Monday!

Late Night Update

2009-06-19T23:59:00.000-04:00

Wow I am very happy to get my third post out this week! I hope you have enjoyed the waterchange and netcam posts, I have gotten alot of positive feedback and emails from these posts. I will try to get another expanded update out Saturday. To say the least my tank is going very well right now but is getting way to hot. I am using ice pacs to cool it down. It is a pain, but I would rather have the extra work on the rare day it gets that hot than having to shell out 400+ for a chiller. I will have more info on this, a new frag to buy and a cool DIY Saturday, so stay posted.

Here are my test results:
Nitrate: 0
Calcium: 355 :( I want it a little higher
kH: 10
Salinity: 1.026

How I do water changes

2009-06-18T04:00:00.000-04:00

This post has been long anticipated and I am happy to finally get it out. First off I highly recommend an RODI (reverse osmosis de-ionization) unit to remove the dissolved solids and minerals from your water. These are readily available and are reasonably priced based on output and filter capacity. I use a coral life 24 gallons per day unit.

My Unit (note: yellowing filters are a sign you need to replace them)

I run the RO every week to fill my 30 gallon trash can it takes about a day and a half to fill. I use this water to make kalk and topoff my reef. I then transfer the majority of the water to my saltwater mixing and aging bin. I use a pump to push water to this bin. (Note: this is not all the way full because of a recent water change)I then add the salt (I use Seachem reef or Tropic Marin) which is mixed with an old heater and power head. I test with a refractometer to measure salinity. I aim for between 1.024-1.026. I age the salt in this environment for 3 days and I add an airstone for increased oxygenation about 24 hours before I want to do a waterchange.

I then test the water with my pH meter just be sure I am in the right range and something is not amiss. Then I simply use a pump to push water in to the tank and a siphon to get water out. Just remember to use lots of towels :)

Netcam: A Possible New Tool For Henryreef

2009-06-17T02:00:00.000-04:00

If you look at peoples reef websites your are likely to find a live controller feed giving pH, orp, temperature and sometimes even more readings. These are amazingly useful for vacations and times when you want to check on your tank. Sadly these units come at a price and are usually hundreds of dollars. The Aqua Controller 3 which monitors pH, orp and calcium goes for over 300.

Aquacontroller 3 (by Neptune)

A second alternative to things like the Aquacontrollers are live tank Netcams. Well what is the difference between a Netcam and a Webcam, you are probably asking. A webcam plugs directly into the usb outlet of a computer well a netcam send info to the internet and you can post a live feed without a computer close by. I have been discussing them on reef central and a good quality webcam can go for about $100. This is definitely more in my price range. This will be great for looking at my tank when on vacations and I think I will set up a monitor in my room for viewing my reef too. Most quality netcams come with a software or site that you can view your tank on or a way to post your netcam view on to another site (like this one). This is very promising and I am still looking into it. The netcam I am considering currently is the LinkSys WVC54GCA which goes for about 100 and complete with microphone (so you can hear what my reef sounds like ;) ) The only downside is you need to plug it directly into your router to link it to the internet. This means I have to run a Cable :( It is one snazy piece of technology though.

Linksys WVC54GCA

Growth Shots and More

2009-06-13T13:02:00.010-04:00

I am very happy with the tank lately and here are the results of my Saturday water test:

Salinity: 1.026

Nitrate: NA (not tested)
Calcium: 390

kH: 7.5

My CPR backpack skimmer is really not keeping up with my needs and I am frustrated that I have not employed the 500g rated turbofolotor skimmer which is currently in dry dock (my basement reef area). The main reason for this is the delay in my sump upgrade. I really haven't had the time to get moving on it lately. The other big reason is I have a chance at a possible 90 gallon tank upgrade in which I could possibly move all my live stock to the 90 and then dry out and clean the 55g. After that I will hopefully move it into the basement to work on it and drill it and then reset it up. This is a major announcement, but I cannot make any promises yet. I will release more details about this will be released later this week.

Aside from this big news there is little general 55g tank news. I zapped my mushroom that was encroaching on my montipora late last night and then hit it again about 5 hours later just make sure it was dead. I also nailed some aptasia (very satisfying :) ) well I was at it. I decided to do a growth shot of my blue tort.

Mid March, 2009 (just after adding it):

Early June 2009:

Blue Torts are a generally considered a slow grower too, but its position in the upper reaches of the tank (about 5-7" from a 150w MH) and my great water parameters have rocketed its growth. The green slimer has grown even faster than this, but I don't have a good picture yet. That is all for today, and you can expect a post about the possible 90 soon.

Here is the latest FTS (full tank shot)

June 2009 FTS

New additions, coral warfare and a general update

2009-06-10T10:33:00.015-04:00

Wow I am really late on getting this out, this happened over a week ago! One of my friends set up a SW fish tank for a science project and then, when he was done gave me the contents. It was a very simple setup with little filtration, live rock, a damsel and a few hermits and snails. But none the less I decided to add the contents to my reef. Among the additions was a beautiful green muscel that I really wanted to survive, but within a day my brittle star killed and consumed it :(. Here are the new additions acclimating with an airstone. Zoom out Pic: After an hour of acclimation I addded the contents to my tank and everything went well. The yellow tail damsels (yes I have 2 of possibly the cheapest scrapiest fish on the planet) seem to get along fine. The live rock was also added to help fill out the other side. The new Damsel (which is now named joe six-pack ;) is a little shorter than my first one and I don't know if thy can breed in captivity but it would be nice to have some fry to feed the corals. Here is a picture of him. Next topic: I am having some trouble with coral wars in my tank. The first one is between my M. spongodes and a mushroom. The mushroom has a more powerful sting and is killing the edge of the spongodes (which is turning white). I have several of these mushrooms in my tank (maybe even too many......any one want a frag??) and don't like to see a fifty buck rare coral getting killed so I think I will kill the mushroom with some kalk paste tonight or when I have the chance.

The second battle I am having is between the birdsnest coral and my mongo

orange cap. The cap. is a much faster grower and is overgrowing and stinging my smaller birdsnest. I have seen large nemocysts at night and think they are also starting to engage in chemical warfare. Thankfuly these are not known for being 'tank nukers'. The solution is much harder to decide though as they are both nice, expensive and beautiful corals. I think I will let things play out, but I may frag one of them if it gets worse.

Some close ups from the secene of the crime!!! Note: white stems are bleached from conflict.

The damage is really evident in this picture

I think I will end this post with a picture of my large mother anemone which now has 2 clones in the tank (talked about earlier this year see anemone split). I will update later this week with some growth shots and an fts. It is exam week for me, so I am very,very busy!

Back from vacation

2009-05-25T20:06:00.003-04:00

I had a nice Memorial Day and spent it at the lake. I came back and found the big BTA had moved and I will see where it decides to settle down tomorrow. I did a 5 gallon ( a little under 10%) water change before I left. The params were excellent before I left also (2 days ago)
Calcium: 420
Alkalinity (kH) : 8.5
Salinity: 1.025
I will test and maybe take a picture or two manana, as for now Henryreef blog wishes you a happy Memorial Day.

Weekend update

2009-05-21T10:39:00.004-04:00

I was quite busy this week and didn't have time to take any pictures, but I did test water. The results were:
Calcium: 410
kH: 8.5
Nitrate: 0
Salinity: 1.025

I am very pleased with these results. I also went to Pressue (LFS) and got some kalk, a new refugium bulb, and a new test kit. Sadly I got the 18wt and not the 24wt that I wanted, so I need to make another trip and I might pick up some livestock when I go. Overall it has been a succesful week and my tanks is thriving. I think I will take some growth shots to show the growth on my latest frags.

BTA Split Update and More!

2009-05-10T10:56:00.010-04:00

First off I want to recap the BTA split. My large BTA split a month ago due to my ato [automatic top off] failing. It split into 3 different anemones. One took residence in the very back of my tank hidden by tons of rocks. I can't get a good look at it but you can see it (sort of) in this picture
This is the only one I don't really know how its doing. Another took up the spot where the orignal used to be.The final one (the largest) crawled all the way under the rocks and took up recidency near the frogspawn.Zoom-out:I think I may sell or trade the smaller splits off, but I will let them get bigger for now.

The Latest FTS:

I tested water yesterday and here are my results:
Nitrate: 0
Salinity: 1.025
Calcium: a little under 400
kH: 6 (???? I think I am going to get a new test kit as this one is old and that doesn't seem right)

I may go to the LFS today, in which case I will post what I get. I also have lots of big news that will be releasing soon. I am updating the Henryreef News Flash to inform you.

That's all for now! Happy reefing

Update

2009-05-03T11:35:00.005-04:00

It has been another busy week, so I could not get another post out. The tank has been doing well, the BTA splits have been looking very good, but I still haven't been able to get any pictures :( I ordered some salt last week and it came yesterday. I got Kent Marine salt which was the cheapest (makes 200g @ $55 shipped). Here are some pictures of its arrival.
I did a large 30 gallon water change yesterday and I think there was something wrong with that water. It was either deficient in calcium or alk, because when I tested the Tank water it was
Calcium: 375
kH: 7
Nitrate: 0
This morning some of the corals looked a little off, I think everything should recover though.

Some posts coming soon:

Update (with pics) :)
My camera upgrade
Big news
How to mix saltwater

Subscribe to the Henryreef blog

2009-04-29T09:00:00.002-04:00

I have recently been using live bookmarks as a way to be notified when a blog or site is updated. It gives you both a bookmark and lists the posts on the site (great for figuring out if there is anything new on a site). Here is a sample
I have created a convenient tutorial for the viewers who are not technology savvy. Remember you must have firefox to use the live bookmarks feature.
Go to the subscribe box:
Click what you want to subscribe to (I recommend posts [in green])Once you have clicked on it a little box appears that looks like this: Click "atom"
or you can chose how you want to subscribe.... I only use the "add to google" which puts it on your igoogle [you don't need firefox for that]. Or the atom, which is what you need to click to get the live feed book mark.

It takes you to a field that asks if you/how you want to subscribe, select Live Bookmarks and click subscribea new window will come up which asks you to name and place bookmark. You can name and place it wherever and hit 'ok' when you are done.

Finaly the New Equipment Upgrade :)

2009-04-25T11:54:00.015-04:00

I recently have been working on compiling the materials for a sump. It has been slow going because I have been busy and the stuff is expensive. I decided the first step was to find an acceptable in sump skimmer to replace the crummy cpr backpack. I decided to get a Turboflotor T1000 Skimmer (click here for more info) and upgraded it with an Ocean runner 2700. The initial skimmer with smaller pump is rated to 250 gallons, but I don't know what it is rated for with the better ocean runner pump. I got it very slightly used from someone who upgraded tanks. Here are some pictures of it
Arrival: Assembly
Look at that collection cup!!Finally it is assembled. Full shot (look how big it is 22" tall)Close up
Once I got it assembled I put it on a bucket in my salt mixing container. It produced so much foam!!! So far so good, I will update more on it later. I can't put it on the tank until l I get moving on this sump. One more reason I guess
Skimmer (filling up) on sumpNow for some general news:
agenda:
- general update tomorrow (includes breaking anemone news [yes more crazy stuff has happened])
- How I mix salt post coming in a couple days too.
- skimmer and sump news coming soon too.

2009-04-19T15:52:00.006-04:00

I have finally found the cause of the chaos in my reef: The skimmer overflowed and caused a large salinity increase which screwed up my ATO (automatic top-off). The salinity increase caused a calcium and alk precipitation. I tested today and my results were not good.

Salinity: 1.025 (I got it back to normal)
Nitrate: 0
Calcium: 325 (was 450 when I left)
Alkalinity: 4.5 (was 9 when I left)

When I got home here is what the tank looked like (I topped off though) (New anemones circled in red, but are hard to see as they moved into a cave.)
These results prove my theory correct. Surprisingly enough almost all the corals looked fine, maybe even good. I think the BTA split because of these changes, this is relatively common reason for a split. It has a better chance of surviving if it splits. It is currently recovering in a cave, which I hope it will emerge out of soon. I have significantly adjusted my dosing plan to raise the levels. I am both sad and happy over the split, but I am exited to see how it will turn out.
I have lots more news and some stuff that should be arriving this week that I will post about so stay tuned.
Here are some tank Pictures
Birdsnest:

M. spoggodas (need a spelling lesson in latin, not sure if I spelled it right).
A cool pic with my cool logo

Back from California

2009-04-18T18:02:00.002-04:00

I just got back from California! I had a great trip, but it is nice to be back. The lights were out when I got back, but I noticed my anemone had crawled into a cave. I was shocked, I knew water quality would go down, as I was not able to test when I was gone, but something else must have happened. Upon closer inspection I have come to the conclusion that my anemone split! I can't really tell though. I still need to top off, test and clean the algae on the side before the day is done. I will update (hopefully) tomorrow with more news and pictures. As for now I am to tired to write any more :)

Update

2009-04-10T12:48:00.003-04:00

I just wanted to get a quick update out before I jet off to California for a week. The tank is looking very nice and everything is doing well. I tested water today and here are my results:
Salinity: 1.025
Calcium: 400
kH: 7
Nitrates: 0

This is pretty good, but I will raise the kH and Calcium slightly. I also made a frag of my yellow polyps awhile back and just wanted to show how much the have grown. They went from the 1 polyp i took off of the main colony to this:
This colony is available for trade and purchase at my frags account (click button on right-hand side of the page to see my frags). I don't ship (yet) but pick-ups are accepted. I also have been looking into getting a better camera, so once I get back I will post some info on that too. Lots more coming to Henryreef soon :)

Midwest Fragfest 2009

2009-04-08T18:00:00.000-04:00

If you read the Henryreef News Flash it mentioned the Fragfest in Illinois. I just wanted to enlighten everyone about it. Now for some quick info

It is in the Clock Tower Resort and Conference Center in Rockford, IL.
It will be held on April 25th and 26th.
Hands-on Workshops and excellent speakers (they include Kevin Kohen (the mastermind behind Drs. Foster & Smith's, Mark Eisenhandler & Matt Pedersen.
Fragswap !!!! Wahoo
Raffel

It sounds excellent and I would love to go but I am not sure if I can commit. Here is why: (ps look closely)
I hope, despite the long haul, that I will be able to go and I encourage you to attend.
For more info:

The Thread on RC
The Frag Fests own Page

I will be in Orange County next week so yet again I will have someone take care of the tank. My "new equipment" has been delayed so you will not hear about it untill later. This is a relativly short post, so I will try to get something out to you before I depart. I may even post some pictures :)

Baltimore Aquarium

2009-04-06T21:00:00.001-04:00

I had a chance to stop by the Baltimore Aquarium when I was in DC and it was very nice. I took lots of pictures and will share them with you.

First off they had a large shark/ray/large fish tank that was really cool. I wish I had gotten pictures of it but the light level was too low for my camera.
Next they had a cold water anemone tank that had a tide-pool replica as it had a surge setup that crashed water in every minute or so. Here are some pictures of it.

They had several other setups and here are some pictures from them: (I don't ID them due to time constraints).

The Baltimore Aquarium was very cool and I highly recommend it if you are in the area. I also had someone with a much better camera and skills take pictures of the Baltimore aquarium, so those will hopefully be on the site soon.

Now for a quick teaser: find out what i got in the mail later this week!

The Sump Dilemma

2009-04-04T14:17:00.004-04:00

I have been in the process of building a sump for my reef. I really need a way to hide and find a place for all the equipment that I have been adding/wanting to add to my tank. Also the additional water volume will help to dilute nitrates and other pollutants.

"Dilution is the Solution to Pollution" - an Aquarium Saying

I wanted a sump to be at least 30 gallons, but hopefully bigger. When I examined the lengths of the tanks and whether I could fit them in or not I encountered a major problem. There was a large post in the middle of my sump that would not allow anything bigger than a 10 gallon in.
Here was the sump closed:
Opened up: (NOTE: Everything is full, but it will be empty once I put the sump in)See how the support beam makes it impossible to fit a large tank under there. I was at a loss until I looked around and talked to some people on RC (Reefcentral) and got a very cool idea. Here
is a link to it on Marc (Melev)s site. It shows how you can use (2) 2 x 4 to brace the tank so you can cut out the bar, add sump and then put it back. This really got me thinking and I thought it would be possible. The Sump specs are still sketchy as I am really busy (just got back from DC and going to California in about a week). I will have more news shortly.

Here is the list of posts coming soon.

Baltimore Aquarium (I went there and have some cool stuff to share)
Tank Update
More Sump News
New Equipment

Dosing Kalk

2009-04-02T12:00:00.000-04:00

I recently picked up an Aqualifter Dosing Pump to set up a better method to drip kalk (also called kalkawasser or Calcium Hydroxide) . Here is a very nice article about the benefits of using kalk, how to mix it and suggested drip rates. The main use of Kalk in a reef is to raise Calcium and Alkalinity, but primarily calcium. It had a pH of 12 so it also helps raise pH. It MUST be added slowly so as not to shock your tank. To drip kalk it is really benifical to have a sump, where you can put your setup over it so all you need to do is suck to start a suction. Originaly this is what I did on my display tank as I have no sump. This is fine, but in either case you need to drip it in a place where it will be quickly mixed up with the tank water (ie lots of flow).
Here is a picture of my old setup. Ugly but effective for dosing.
I know this is a bad picture but you can see how ugly it is to have a bucket sitting ontop of my tank. To not have it ontop of your tank you have to options:

Put it otop of your sump
Dose it with a pump

I have been planing on getting a sump, but since it is still relativly far off I decided to go with the latter.
First you need to know how an aqualifter works. One of the two red outlets sucks water or other liquid in well the other pushes it out. So all you need is a little airline tubing and you are good to go
Here is a nice diagram (photo credit: smarcus101 on photobucket)
NOTE: I don't use a powerhead to mix the kalk.

So I put the bucket of kalk under the tank, and connected airline tubing from the bucket to the pump and some to the output where the water would flow to. See PIC
Then I put the output all the way up to the display tank where I wanted the kalk to drip. I also added a flow control valve to limit flow (remember: Kalk needs to be dripped slowly!)
See Pictures
Finlay I positioned the end where I wanted the Kalk to dripClose up
Finlay I plugged it in and it worked beautifully: all the equipment and buckets were under my tank closed away in my stand, while the kalk was pumped up unobtrusively. Once in install my sump I will use an aqualifter pump topoff water into my sump when a float valve trips (this is called an ATO or Automatic Top Off). But that is another post ;)
Here is one final shot of the setup under my tank:

The New Additions

2009-03-30T12:00:00.000-04:00

Well at the MMC conference I picked up much more than just a few dry goods. I went coral shopping :). I purchased my corals from Paul's Corals, he had a nice display and all his corals looked outstanding and were moderately priced. Best of all he brought so many, he had crates and crates of corals waiting to be sold.
Here is what I brought home:

Green Slimer (Acropora yongei)
Blue Tort (Acropora Tortuosa)
An unknown montipora ( I think Montipora Sponodes)
Green/Brown Zoas (Zoanthus sp.)
Brown/Red Zoas (Zoanthus sp.)
Green Milli (Acropora millepora)

I floated the bags in my tank to temperature acclimate them and then got to work and placed them in my tank.

Now for the Pictures!!!
The Green Slimer - Already looks great in my tank (pic 1 day after adding)
Blue Tort - A slower growing coral that is more dificult. (pic 1 day after adding)Unknown Montipora, I am calling this one 'the blob' is green but covered in brown polyps, seems to plate but branch too. (pic 1 day after adding)
Greenish/brown Zoas -- Just another pleasing variety for my tank! I have remounted the plug as of this picture (pic 1 day after adding)

Brown/Orange/Red Zoas -- Like the other variety I picked up, interesting and this specimen really pops under my actinics
Green Milli -- A hairy cool looking yet beautiful coralI am very happy with all my new additions to my 55g mixed reef. I personaly love the Slimer and the Milli. I lately have been noticing good polyp extension, especially at night by my Blue tort. I think it is trying to feed but I am not sure. As for the 'blob' I am still trying to get a scientific name but I am thinking it is Montipora Sponodes, If anyone knows for sure just comment on this post, Email me @ henryhockey101@gmail.com or PM me (for RC) my member name is Henryreef.

Tank Update

2009-03-28T10:31:00.000-04:00

A general tank update has been long overdue. Overall the tank has been doing great, but there are several areas in which i need to either improve or eliminate.

The Skimmer is really making tons of micro bubbles so I only run it at night. This problem will be fixed once I install my sump and upgrade skimmers (hopefully very soon) more on this next weekend
I really need to add some more LR I talked about this earlier. I need more LR mostly for coral growing space.
The sand is littered with shells and general rock derbies. It does not look very white either. I think once I add the Live rock I will dump a nice big bag of crushed aragonite (sand) in and pick out all those rocks so I get a better look. Until then this is relatively minor.

On the plus side of things my water parameters have been looking nice, to the point that I don't test weekly anymore. I think I will test today, and post result later today or tomorrow. I am also doing a water change today, probably a large one. Also the BTA anemone and most of my corals have been looking great. I think I will create a page that details "A day with my BTA" where I will take a picture of it every hour or two for one day, so you can see how it looks at different times of the day.

Next week I won't been in town as I am going to Washington DC !!!!! I will have my Dad manage the tank. Hopefully he won't kill everything! Also many updates will come out this week. You can read about them in detail if you scroll down to the end of the last post. I also have been subscribed to Google Anaylitics which is a really cool program that analyzes the usage of your site. I would highly recommend it, and I will post more about this sites usage when the numbers come in.

This site also has been changed slightly and I added a hit counter at the bottom of the page. I changed the logo slightly and more changes are coming. I really need to get around to setting up my own domain and creating my own website.

Finally here are some shots from my tank:
The BTA tentacles :)
Now for a quick M. Setosa update: It has been doing awesome and has really colored up.

Now for a quick teaser: Find out whats in the bag (this is the livestock i brought home from the MMC) later this week!!
I will probably update this blog with my test results later today or tomorrow, but until then see the last post for schedule.

RC Announcement

2009-03-24T17:01:00.000-04:00

I finally have gotten around to posting this:
THE RC Announcement

I have been a member of Reef Central fora while now and highly recommend it! It is a great informative and interactive site. You can learn alot by talking to the members there. Recently Reef Central (RC) announced some big things that are coming. The announcement is located on the all the forums on RC
screen shot of SPS forum with the announcement circled:I highly suggest you go there and check it out Here is the link.
The announcement details some awesome new features:
Now for a little news from my tank:

The sump project is comming along nicely, but I am wavering over what I should do about a wooden structural bit that block me from putting in a large sump (>15g). I will have more on this later
The skimmer has been making micro bubbles so I only run it at night now.
The new additions look AWESOME, I will have more on them this weekend

The tentative post schedule:

Saturday - update about my tank and trip
Monday - my NEW additions
Thursday (next one) - My new dosing scheme
Saturday/Sunday - my sump add on and why it is a problem and difficult.

Long overdue: MMC and New Additions!

2009-03-21T00:00:00.000-04:00

Wow this has really been long overdue, but the MMC (mid-west marine conference) was a BLAST! It was really great and I learned a lot. To sum it up the day began at about 6:30 as we began the drive out to Cranbrook science center where it was held. I then proceeded to check out the vending hall. There were lots of vendors and lots of live stock! Steven Pro of Icecap marine was there and had a nice ice cap both set up. I went to all the talk which included MOFIB, Sumps/acrylic, breeding, aquascaping and more. It was really great. I entered the raffle and got some nice livestock (see later). It was a total success and a great event. Here are some general pictures from the event.

Now for the goodies I picked up! (not livestock):

Some of my favorite stickers:

And of course (crappy pic) a Melev's Ree f Sticker!I also picked up an aqua lifter powerhead to set up a better kalk dosing system (I will post it later)
I also got my own name tag!
Coming soon:

Livestock I picked up at the MMC and general tank pics
Setting up a kalk doser under your tank with an aqua lifter dosing pump
Reef Central special announcement (see the top of all forums, NOTE: this is not me posting or desinging it)
My Sump Project (still happening as I need more $$$ :0)

CPR MOD

2009-03-16T12:45:00.000-04:00

I recently modded a CPR Aqua Fuge skimmer. I connected two large air pumps with a gang valve to get max psi on a single outlet.
This air would be forced through a long tube of airline tubing that would power an airstone in the main skimmer chamber. This increased foam production would help maximize the power of the CPR fuge skimmer. Here is a quick model of what i needed to drill.
The black lines are where I will make a hole with my drill
The Red where I will run the airline tubing from pumps to the airstone through.
The Green is the foam.
I did this relatively easily and it took all of 10 minutes. Here is how it looked when it was done: (NOTE: my collection cup is dirty and the tubing is highlighted in red.)
It worked great, but needed some time to break in and get it right. Here is the foam production right after I turned it on:

----Henry Aspegren (henryreef)
----SET TO AUTO PUBLISH @ MONDAY 9:45 AM

Lots of news

2009-03-13T17:00:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I was very busy so I was not able to post all of what happened on Sunday. First off I did a CPR back pack/fuge mod which I will post sometime later this weekend. Secondly I did a large water change for trace elements. Tomorrow i am going to the Midwest Marine Conference at the Cranbrook institute of Science. There are several speakers and numerous vendors, of them Marc Levenson (aka Melev) is speaking. There is a raffle and it will be an overall fun time :) I will post more about it later tomorrow or Sunday.

Click Here for Thread on RC about the MMC
More Info (club's site) Here

This is a big weekend and this blog will be updated alot in the comming days.

New Ideas

2009-03-07T12:45:00.000-05:00

Over the past couple days I have decided I want to add about 50 or so pounds of live rock as this will both increase my ability to handle nitrates and provide more surface area for corals to grow on. I will keep the rock in a holding tank (aka a big brute trashcan with heater and powerhead) and add a piece a week so as not to overload my system. I have not purchased any rock or set this up so more updates are on the way.

The sump and culture projects are still moving along, but at a slow pace as I don't have the capital to complete them (feel free to donate ;) ). I am mostly in the planning stage still, but I have made good progress on the phyto setup.

I also have reached a very balanced Ca -- alk ratio. I don't really buffer at all, except the Kalk i top off with. I have not tested water in a while and don't intend to as everything looks great and i am confident my alk and ca are where they need to be.

The M. Setosa has grown noticably and colored up. It has taken on a orange color and you can see the polyps. It is amazing how much it has grown in only a few weeks. Here is a photo (very blurry as it is still too small for my crumy digital camera to get.The left side of the tank is still very barren and does not have many rocks (note: this is one of the reasons i want to add live rock) here is a Pic of the left side. NOTE: m. setosa
Here are some general shots of the tank:

Back from Vacation

2009-03-02T15:17:00.000-05:00

I got back yesterday and was very happy to see my tank was in prime condition :) ... I decided not to do my water tests as it was looking very nice. I have wanted to get a clam for awhile and think my tank would suit one nicely. Here are some various photos of Clams.

Photo credit: melevsreef -- maxima

Photo Credit: Saltwater fish.com -- Squamosa

Derasa

Update

2009-02-20T15:26:00.000-05:00

I neglected to post the results of last weekends water test, so here they are:

Salinity: NA (did not test)
Nitrate: 0 :)
kH: 9
Calcium: 450
pH: 8.3

I also cleaned the powerheads in a vinegar solution so they are running very well. Next time i do this i think i will make a page documenting the process. I will be going out of town for a week so i will have a friend stop by to feed and add buffers twice (in the one week i will be gone). I know from experience that when i leave my water quality goes with me. So i will prepare a large batch of water so i can do a water change when I get back.

Weekend update

2009-02-15T17:45:00.000-05:00

I did a big 50%+ water change as it has been really overdue. My BTA was retracted I tested nitrates and they were 10+. I looked back on my logs and it has been over a month since a water change so i decided to do a big one. A day later the tank looked great. I have not had time to test parameters yet, but I will probably test later today and post them later today or (most likely) tomorrow. I have not been able to take a fts (full-tank-shot) in awhile so i did one today :). It is labeled in my logs as January FTS, but It actually is taken in feb. It is kinda blurry so enjoy:
I also decided to label the corals in my middle section. Check it out

Sump 3d Model

2009-02-12T17:16:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to show a cool 3D model I made using Google sketch up. It is just a basic idea, but i think it is worth showing. Feel free to download it or click on the image to take you to a better pic and download link

New Addition

2009-02-12T16:44:00.000-05:00

I recived a very rare and unusual frag from Uncle last night. It is a frag of a Montipora Setosa, that is very rare and very expensive. I did not want to have to pay for shipping from Califonia, so my Dad carried it home in his carry on bag. Here is how we pulled it off: we used a gatorade bottle, some electrical tape and a couple heat packs to help it stay warm on the 6 hour flightOnce it arrived I quickly opened it and put it in the tank. It was a very small piece, which is verysmart, as one would not want to risk shipping a large several hunderd dollar colony. Here is the first pic of it, about 24hrs after putting it in the tank. It is very blurry, as It is so small and hard for me to get a good shot. It is pinkish orange and very pretty.
I googled it to find more info, as i did not know much about this type of montipora. I was shocked to see how rare it was and how expensive frags can go for (like 75$ for 0.5 "). Here is just one price for a small piece with out shipping
http://www.vividaquariums.com/10Expand.asp?ProductCode=02-8027-10
Here is a pic of a larger colony (not my pic photo credit fragfarmers.com)
I am very happy to be trying my luck at a rare and amazing coral :)

Growth Shot

2009-02-10T19:08:00.000-05:00

I Decided to show the growth of one of my favorite corals over 10 months. It is a torch coral (genus Euphyllia). I got it in early 'O8 and it has prospered for the most part ever since. The picture on the left (first one) is shortly after i got it. When i purchased it, my tank was still relatively unstable and not yet reached a equilibrium. It still did very well.

After 5 months later (sep. 08) it continued to prosper and had survived one of my clumsy errors: when killing aptasia with Kalk I dripped some on it and killed some of its tissue.

10 from then the torch coral has grown significantly and went from a single tiny head (when i first got it) to a 4 head colony that is slowly getting bigger. It is really nice to see something thrive in my tank. I hope it continues to do well and prospur

Weekly Update

2009-02-09T16:41:00.000-05:00

Not much has happened this week, but I am happy to report that my Calcium Levels are back to normal. Life in Henry Reef is back to normal :) Here are the latest test results:
Salinity - 1.025
kH - 14
Calcium - 350
Nitrates - 0
as you can see when I stopped buffering Ca the kH spiked and Ca dropped off. That is why you must reach a balanced Ca kH ratio. I was looking into this and found a great site that calculates how much of a product you need to reach a desired level and where calcium and alk are balanced here it is:
http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

GO STEELERS

2009-02-01T15:31:00.000-05:00

I almost forgot: it's super bowl Sunday GO STEELERS

Bad news

2009-02-01T15:22:00.000-05:00

I haven't been able to update my blog lately due to how busy my life has been. The tank has been going very well for the past few nights, but on Thursday i decided to add some kalk and left it dripping while i was not home. Big mistake :( the flow control valve stopped working for some reason and it poured 5 gallons of super saturated lime water into the tank, partially overflowing it. I tested params and was horrified to find my calcium was over 550 and my kit could not test for it because it was so high. My SPS did not seem affected, but my BTA, shrooms, yellow polyps and zoos all did not look very good. Most just looked less expanded than usual. I think i will completely stop adding calcium for a couple of weeks till it can come down to reasonable levels. Also i am very confident my reef will make a full recovery.

2009-01-22T16:11:00.000-05:00

I got all my items today :) Here is a quick list of what i got

- Reef Advantage Clacium (Seachem)

- Calcium test kit (Seachem)

- Kalkawasser (Kent)

---------------------------------

I also tested water here are the results:

Nitrite: 0

Nitrate: 0

Ammonia: 0

kH: 10

Calcium: a little over 500 (500+)

-----------------------------------------

These looked very good, but I think i have found the reason my yellow polyps are closed: the High Calcium. I think i will lay of the Ca additionto get it back to about 470ppm.

Update

2009-01-19T20:38:00.000-05:00

I did a big 22 g water change this weekend, with my new Reef Salt, by Seachem. Thus far i am very happy with it. I did not test water as my calcium test kit is out. I ordered a new one by Seachem and some more Advantage Calcium from www.marinedepot.com almost a week and a half ago. I don't get why they haven't arived yet, but they should be here any day now. My BTA is doing great, but for some unknown reason my yellow polyps are all closed up. It is weird, all of my corals are doing great and one of my two colonies of yellow polyps it retracted 24/7. I think it could be becuase my damsel has decided to just sit on them all day. I will post my water tests when my order arrives.

Reefcast, update & test results

2009-01-10T15:58:00.000-05:00

I would like to reccomend Reefcast - a podcast about reefing to all reefers. It is funny, entertaining and best of all educational :) got to http://www.reefcast.com/ for more info. You can download them form there site or from itunes. I tested water and here are the results kH 8, Salinity 1.025, Calcium 470. I did not test for nitrates as I have a very light bioload (2 fish, several were lost due to ich). The results looked good. I ordered some more Seachem reef advantage calcium and a new Seachem test kit both from www.marinedepot.com. I also recived an order of Seachem reef salt that I bought on ebay. I normally use Tropic Marin but the Seachem stuff was much cheaper and came with free shipping :) I don't think it will have a huge impact on my reef. When I was looking around at what salts people use i found a study done on them. Here are the results :

http://reefsaltanalysis.googlepages.com/AWT_Salt_Analysis_0208.pdf

I hope to make a trip to the LFS tommorow so I might post again on Sunday.

Also I am going to graph my CA and kH over several weeks tand will post that on Sunday too.

Test Results

2009-01-04T19:52:00.000-05:00

O.K. I did my water tests today and decided to post them today rather than tommorow. I have to say, I am very pleased with them. Here they are:
Salinity - 1.025
Calcium - 425 ppm
kH - 8.5 dKH
Nitrates - 0 ppm

Sunday -- Update

2009-01-04T13:07:00.000-05:00

The tank has been going very well! My BTA has really colored up and is a bright orange during the day. I continue to battle with Aptasia and am going to (hopefully) add 3-8 peppermint shrimp to take them out. I will do my water tests sometime today and post the results tommorow. I will probably be going to the Mid-Michigan Reefers Frag Swap on the 29th of Jan. Here is a link to there site and to a thread on there message boards about it.

http://www.michiganreefers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66710

http://www.michiganreefers.com/

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T11:22:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year to all viewers of the Henryreef 55 Blog. May your Holidays be safe and happy.

New Lighting

2008-12-31T09:49:00.000-05:00

I just got my order from Marine and Reef. I ordered a Current Sunpod with 2 x 150w HQI Metal Halide. It also contained 9 blue and 9 white moonlights. I can control which color (or both) I use. The main reason I wanted to upgrade is that ironically the corals that do the best in my tank are the harder to keep SPS, so I decided I wanted to keep more of it. I also really wanted to keep a clam. I knew that I would need better lighting to keep them so I looked around and decided that this was the best fixture that I could afford (I would have rather gotten the 250w version with PC & supplement, but 600-700$ light was not in the budget). It was 410$ and came with free shipping and a timer. I was very happy with it. It was a bit bulkier and heavier than my older fixture, but this was to be expected. The 14K MH have a great balance of white and blue. My Anemone has bubbled up somewhat in response to this change in lighting. I really love the blue moonlights as they cause my corals to look un real as some of them glow under this light. I just wish that they put all blue moonlights rather than 1/2 so the blue light would reach all my corals and not just a few. All in all I am very happy with this 5 star fixture :) I created a page on google doc. describing in detail the process. Click this link http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg83zfhp_52gh38zjdb

Sunday - the w/c

2008-12-29T11:14:00.001-05:00

I did a big 21g water change today, my tank has been long over due for it. I also treated the tank with product called Rid Ich + by Kordan just incase. I found no side effects so far (after 1 day).... My skimmer pulled out a lot of weird colored skimmate, so I think it removed some of the medacine. Here is a Pic of the product, located on the left.

The week in review

2008-12-28T10:07:00.001-05:00

A lot has happened this week, to sum it up the Tomato clown Confit came down with ich and was unable to be saved. I think Ich was also the cause of the Royal Grammas demise. I tested water and it looked great Salinity 1.026, kH 12-13, Calcium 450. I did not test for Nitrates, as the tank looked great and probably had 0. The Sun Coral and Anemone have both been doing awesome, and the Anemone has completely recovered from its fall. I also found the reason why my BTA deflates and looks like it is going to die for about 30 minutes each day. The reason is it is pooping, and getting new water for its tentacles. I watched it carefully today when it did that, and it released a bunch of nasty brown stuff, which I identified as poop. I QT the Tomato before it died, and non of my other fish are showing signs of ICH, so I think we are in the cure. I made a quick list of fish I am thinking of adding to replace the 2 that I lost:

--- Mandarin ( I have LOTS of Pods)
--- Flame Angel
---Coral Beauty
--- Foxface
----Firefish

Confit

2008-12-24T09:22:00.000-05:00

He didn't make it through the night. I am so sad that I Have lost 2 fish to Ich. But my other fish do not show signs of it so, i think they are clean, but if they do break out i will know what to do. I also did buy some Ich medicine just in case. Well on a better note my BTA looks great and is really doing well.

Bad news

2008-12-23T18:31:00.000-05:00

My tomato clown Confit is near death, and covered in ICH. I found him laying on the sandbed and I am crushed. He was my first fish and is the cutest little guy ever. Ich could have also been the cause of death for my Royal Gramma. I moved Confit to a make shift hospital tank. It is just an airstone, lights and heater. I lowered salinity in that tank to 1.018 ppm which will kill the Ich parasites that cover his body. I just don't know if he will survive until then..... This is a sad moment in my reefing life. It is ironic that i get the parameters right and my reef begins to mature and thrive and then my fish come down with Ich.

what a sad day sigh.......................

Water Parameters

2008-12-23T10:58:00.000-05:00

This is my Royal Gramma - Trident she died about a week ago and is dearly missed.

I test weekly and here are my goals and my result form last saturday

Temp: 81 F (last sat. 80)

Nirtates: >5 ppm (last sat. 0)

Ca: 450 ppm ( last sat. 380 - low for me)

kH: 9-11 dKH (last sat. 10)

The Evolution

2008-12-23T10:41:00.001-05:00

I added several fish and corals and here is a list of the inhabitants

Fish

Tomato Clown - Confit

Tomini Tang - Phoenix

Yellow Tailed Damsel - Halo (ironic isn't it)

Fish that did not make it :

-Royal Gramma - Old Age (i think)

-Yellow Headed Jawfish - Jumped out

-Bangi Cardinal - sick when I got it - eaten by brittlestar

Corals

Yellow Polyps (Parazoanthus sp.)

Sun Coral (PIC is Above) (Tubastrea sp.)

Torch Coral (Euphyllia sp.)

Montipora (Montipora Foliosa or Capricornis I can't tell)

Zonthiads (several varites all Zoanthus sp.)

Favites (favites sp.)

Ricordia & Mushrooms (Ricordia yuma & Discosoma sp.)

Birds nest (too lazy to remeber latin name)

Trumpets (ditto above)

Other Inverts

Brittle Star

Tuxedo Urchin

100's of snails and hermits

Bubble Tip Anemone

Introduction to my reef

2008-12-23T10:27:00.000-05:00

I have had this system running since august 2007. It was originally going to be a FOWLR (fish only with live rock) but it then morphed into a mixed reef with mostly Zoo's and LPS. Here is the startup equipment list:

Tank: 55 Gallon all glass (i have weird dimmensions: 36 x 19 x 18)

Lights: 36" Current Nova Extreme HO (4 x 39 wt T5's)

Filtration/Skimming: CPR Backpack Fuge (skimmer and fuge)

Macro: Cheato & Caluerpa

Flow: 2 x Tunze nano streams, 1 x Hydor Kroilia

R.O. - 24gpd unit by coralife

Sand/Rock: 60lbs Aragonite snad & 50lbs Fiji Live Rock

Up top is what the tank looked like when it was first started up almost 1.5 years ago: