Jack's 75 Gallon Reef

Hey guys, my name is Jack. I have had plenty of fresh water tanks in my day, but this is my first reef tank. 

Edited by 80cent - June 07 2013 at 2:33pm

Nice:)

Cycling fish make most tanks look gigantic Haha. Trust me though they fill up fast no matter how big they are.

Great start Jack! Like your fish choices too!

Patience is definitely key. But you've got a decent sized tank you can add Some more fish, crabs snails, stuff like that sooner than you think. The cleanup crew can happen pretty much anytime now as well as a few more small fish but your should be rock solid before adding coral. At least hard corals that is.

Always here to talk reef! 801-850-7577

Edited by AcroNem - June 09 2013 at 4:36pm

Nice work and congratz on what looks like the makings of a great reef!

Aloha,

It's too early for snails and hermits.
The tank is way too clean. They will starve.
In that pic of the Chromis I can see no algae on the glass or the rock. I am not even sure there is any LR in the tank. It looks like all Utah Rock or some other dry rock. If there is any LR it must have been in the dark for some time so it lost much of it's coralline algae and other life. Please feel free to correct my assumptions so we can discuss the options. Was there any LS added from a good healthy tank

Some soft coral would be perfect now. Coral are easier and hardier than fish. I wish I had some softies for you. Good picks are Sarcophyton, Sinularia, Zooanthids, Green Star Polyps, to name just a few.

As far as snails, I'd wait until next week when the brown diatom algae begins to show up. Then would be the time to get 20-30 snails. Arthuriv and Chad, both here on this forum have snails for great prices and in stock.  I have salt water Mollies that are great for eating the early algae and they are more fun than watching a snail.

Also wait on the Hermit Crabs. Later, like in a month or two, maybe add one hermit for every three snails.

Jack wrote: Talking with [the previous owner] after all the research I've done was like time travelling. He used fossilized coral as decoration, dipped it in bleach every week, used the largest t8 bulbs he could find, and thought it was impossible to keep corals.

It's a little crazy that even though the hobby has been propagating coral and using LR for more than 20 years, people like this are still around.

Mahalo,
Mark
808-345-1049 anytime


Edited by Mark Peterson - June 10 2013 at 10:51am

"20 pounds of live sand"   I'm taking a guess here that it was a bag of Arag-Alive from the LFS, right or wrong

If so, for me that's not good enough. That bag has only bacteria and very little at that. There is more bacteria, bugs and worms, the crucial organisms in LS, in a cup of LS from a mature tank than in that 20 lb bag. I highly recommend adding LS from another tank. This is what I do because I just can't stand the wait.

Since it's already on the table, where did the bare white LR come from

I hope you know I'm just trying to help.
Aloha,
Mark
808-345-1049 call/text anytime

Well sure, but why start with nothing and have to wait for such a long time for it to become something. I used to have a special beautiful piece of LR that I loaned out to help hobbyist's tanks acquire a good start of Coralline Algae. I prefer to start a tank with as much good quality LS and LR as possible. That means it has tons of life and algae, especially Coralline Algae. That's where the "affordable reef aquarium" can be a thing of beauty within months.

I've been away for two years, long enough for a ~75% turnover in active hobbyists. I'm seeing a tendency in tanks toward very little Coralline Algae. I'm kind of concerned about what this indicates about the hobbyist's knowledge. To me it may indicate a possible lack of understanding as to what constitutes a truly healthy reef.

I know, I'm getting overly dramatic here and perhaps overly critical, but if it continues in this same direction, it could take years for a tank to look like a reef. Sure, we can add colorful, expensive coral pieces, but the underlying aquascaping will most likely remain white and bleak. It reminds me of my uncle's tank in the 1970's. In those good 'ol days, fine aquascaping was considered to be dead white coral skeletons that had to be bleached monthly because living growth was viewed as being "dirty".

That antiquated method was still popular in 1993, when I set up my first reef tank with an undergravel filter. Thank goodness to Tim Weidauer for getting six of us together to form the club. Our goal was to learn how to keep a better reef aquarium, a purpose that is still part of the WMAS Mission Statement "...and developing natural marine environments for our specimens...".  We have come a long, long way.

Aloha and Mahalo for reading my nostalgia,
Mark
808-345-1049 call/text anytime to visit and "talk reef"

correct me if im wrong , but coraline will come with time and stable levels of mag. cal and alk . If you want to speed this up a nice chunk of live rock that is covered in coraline will speed this up .