Heliux's 55g Reef tank build

[Heliux]

Well I've decided that this actually could be fun to have a thread that is a diary of everything i do with my 'prize' tank. I say prize because this is the tank i spend all my hours on generally and wont take less than the best for it.

So here it goes with my equipment I'm using to run my mini-beast!

-55 gallon TopFin tank (if your familiar with TopFin its the petsmart brand but all their tanks have been as good as AGA aquariums to me)
-a custom stand, nothing special, just heave duty oakwood with 4'' golden screws(father made it for me)
-H.O.T. overflow box with 'U' shaped tube siphon, also has a sponge to act as a mechanical filter before the water reaches my Bio-balls.
-a 25g acrylic sump, 2 chambers, 100+ bio-balls, refuge area, mechanical filter, urchin in sump skimmer with a maxi-jet 1200.
-Rio 1700 for my return pump, comes back in through a 'U' shaped lock-line.

In the 55g i also have:
-Fluval 4(extra filtration, carbon pad, mechanical, and 2 water polishing pads)
-Hydor Theo 300w heater
-PowerSweep automatic self-rotating power head wave-maker( ill admit isn't the best power head with this capability, HOWEVER, I'm not looking for much and it does the job i wanted it to. 225 gallons per hour, and i find to be worth the money.)
-penguin 550 as a power head to kill the dead-spots behind my LR.

I have the Fluval 4-plus as one of the two major power heads that cause a lot of surface tension. The other one is my return pump, i have the lock-line aimed at the glass and a little towards the top to cause surface tension on the other side of the tank as well. As i stated above the penguin power head serves as a way of knocking out any dead-spots behind my live rock. The powersweep is not the most powerful power head i can use, but im having it right now till i can find a more convenient long term solution, with a little more "Umph" to the picture. The hydor Theo heater is an excellent heater, but it has been labeled in my book as another heater that you cant trust the dial on. It would turn on when i had it set at 74*F, but the temp of the tank was 81! So i turned it all the way down to the lowest setting which is 66*F i believe and I've seen it turn on now only when the tanks hit 73*F.

Live Rock.
-50+ Live rock and still counting because i got all my big chunk pieces, but now im looking at just cool pieces to fit here and there. I also look for possible potential of having polyps. Its hard to tell between the skeletons of where colonies use to be, but sometimes it just has that small difference that gets my hopes up.
-i have about 75 pounds of live sand, Ocean Direct brand that i get from Petsmart. There have been many thoughts around it, but all i have seen are positive results with it, not to mention the beauty from it. By beauty, i mean life-like.
-In my sump i have about 40+ Pounds of live sand.

Lighting system:
-I have two Glo T5 HO 48" 2x54w. I have two of the bulbs be Glo Power-Glo T5 HO 18,000Kbulbs, and the other two be Glo T5 HO Marine-Glo Actinic Spectrum lights.
-That is running me close to 4 watts per gallon on my tank because recently i removed my Marineland Glass canopy tops to not disrupt any of my light.

Current Livestock:
Ill start with the Fish, Then inverts, then coral, then Misc.
-White cheeked powder brown tang, has some signs of also having some gold rim tang in him as well he is about 4-5" now, and a real tough little guy.
-Longnose Hawkfish, about 2-3" now.
-50 plus hermit crabs, mixture between Zebra, blue legged, and scarlet.
-Emerald Crab(Think might have passed away because i found what looks like his body in a nook in my live rock, but hasn't moved in ages. Also it might be a molt but i have my doubts... anyways R.I.P. little man...)
-2 Pencil Urchins, one is named cornelius, and the other is bob.
-1 Longspine Black urchin, and whats awesome about this guy is he has blue on his body as well, never seen that before! Its like, neon blue.
-1 Fighting conch (haven't seen him in a while, but i do find him here and there)
-My limbless Mr. Bojangles whom is now in my bio-cube to Recuperate from his brutal pilates lesson with my tang....
-10+ Large Turbo/turban snails.
-2 Mushroom coral, about 6" in height for both.
-2 Xenia frags, purchased it all as one frag from my LFS, and turned out to be two.
-1 7" by 4-5" colonial rock hosting a big selection of Green button polyps, Orange button, What looks like clay colored buttons, and i believe i see some baby Red colored buttons(might just be orange buttons but still to small to identify confidently)

This is my setup, i know it isn't the best, but it will never be perfect to me because I'm VERY picky about my tank as i know many people are, i can even think of 10 off the top of my head.

Additives:
-Kent Phytoplex
-Kent Zooplex
-Seachem Prime(as conditioner to my RO/DI water.
-Seachem Marine buffer(works beautifully)
-Kent Strontium & Molybdenum(use bi-weekly)
-Kent essential elements(use bi-weekly)
-Kent Iodine
-Kent Kalkwasser(use it with top off)
-Tropic Marin Bio-Calcium
-Tropic Marin Bio-Magnesium
-Tropic Marin reefer Sea salt

Misc:
-64 Gallon mixing bucket(mix batches of salt water with RO/DI)
-Penguin 1140(pump that runs in my mixing bucket at all times)
-wont use it unless the water has been together with the salt for atleast 2 weeks.
-3 Gallon bucket as my top off(i took a three gallon bucket, drilled a hole in the bottom, stuck some 3/8 tubing in it, siliconed it together, added a off/on nozzle to control drip time) Use this when dosing Kalkwasser, Phytoplex, Zooplex, and sometimes iodine.

My lighting hours are from 10:30am MT to 10:30pm MT. I do get quite a bit of algae growth, but i love my inverts because they clean super fast! I keep it running for 12 hours because i want to make sure my corals get enough light. I'm not running Metal halides but one of the next best things T5 HO, and just to make sure i keep them on a little longer so i don't accidentally neglect them.

Summary of my tank from the day i set it up, to this thread.

(I don't remember the date)
Got it all put together had it running for about a week. Was using Instant ocean at the time and came to find out that Tropic Marin is some of the best stuff you can buy. So i spend the money on a 200g bucket of that and it made my tank so much better. Instant ocean had my dKh at 22 and PO4 was way to high! YIKES! But i got that all solved before i introduced live rock. I had live sand in there since day one because i figured it would be far easier to work with before i put in water. I got my refuge/sump about 1 month into the tank running with my Marineland Penguin 75g filter running in the meantime. I thought i had everything good and in shape and brought a water sample to my favorite LFS Netunes tropical fish. My tests that i used at home had such a range that i wasnt aware of... I used API test kits at the start, but they introduced me to Tropic Marin's test kits. These things gave a fairly tight, accurate test. I'm not trying to bash API, but the range is ok for Freshwater if you get their freshwater test kit, but for marine its a deadly range. I now use Lamotte PH test kit because thats the easier test to read in my opinion. The only downside to Tropic Marin calcium and magnesium test kits are that the blue color you are waiting to go away is so light to begin with that if you don't have the test right over pure white its to hard to tell. But other than that, its hella accurate!

Finally i got all my parameters correct and i had my live rock in place, and 2 months later i purchased all my hermit crabs i have now, snails and black urchin. I then bought my Longnose Hawkfish to add first since i knew the powder brown tang thought he was a big strong bully. The LFS had this tang since i started my tank pretty much and were glad to get rid of him due to his aggressiveness. They had to switch him over to different tanks because he was beating everything up. He even took on a blue trigger double his size. But i fell in love with him for some reason and i bought him a couple weeks after i got my Hawkfish. I then purchased 2 Pencil urchins, a coral banded shrimp, emerald crab, and a fighting conch. Everyone I'm sure is aware of my coral banded shrimp's status, if not check out Mobile inverts, and its under Limbless Mr. Bojangles. My emerald crab's status is currently pending due to difficulties in where i have located him in my live rock... and my fighting conch shows up now and again.

My tang is so fragile to ich and white velvet that its insane, so I'm currently getting rid of my freshwater fish to make room for a salt water hospital tank to get him through this ich cycle once and for all. My Hawkfish has had no signs of ich or white velvet *Knocks on wood* but I'm going to isolate him in that tank as well so i can wait out the life cycle of this ich curse and go back to a happy, healthy, risk free Reef tank.

I have a Bio-Cube running off to the side to be a mini-reef tank one day, just need to get Mr. Bojangles healthy enough to go back into my Display reef tank then i can start focusing on getting that tank perfect. Will have more information about that later when i start adding to it.
Its just a JPJ 12g nano cube DX. Very nice system i must say, just lacking in some areas such as return flow, and overflow.

I will post pictures shortly, just need to load my camera up, wait for the lights to turn on for the day, and get them hosted. Thanks everyone who checked out my Tank diary and i will have updates as i go

Thanks,
Lix

[Heliux]

And this is my buddy Hobbes who helps me with all my decision making, and placement plans

[BigJay]

lookin good.

If your wondering if thats an emerald molt. Pull it out and see if it opens in what would be the back of the crab. Don't forget after they molt they hide for a little while till the shell hardens.

[coleBB]

what do u got in ur gravity drip... kalk?

[Heliux]

Kalk, strongtium, zooplex and phytoplex. Not the best drip system but sometimes i can get it to work correctly And i tried to pull it out but the dang shell is lodged in a nook of my live rock and cant fit my fingers in there to grab ahold of it... Will try to get a picture for help on determining if it is a molt shell or not.

Lix

[Heliux]

Today i also drove my my LFS to pick up some Cupramine by seachem, and a copper test kit made my Instant ocean so that i can remove my tang, and hawkfish and treat them for ich and Velvet. All i need to do is get my other 55 cleared of all Freshwater fish so that my tank and hawkfish can chill in there for a couple weeks as they get better, and the lifecycle in my tank passes over. I have a good feeling about this treatment. If anyone has so positive advice, or negative please feel free to comment, im open to everything because i just want the best for my fish and tank.

Could i make it simple and just put my tang and hawkfish in my 12g nano, take out the live rock in there and my recovering coral banded shrimp, set them in my sump while i dose in there and dont have to worry about a 55? Im just worried that it will be to small for both of them over the course of atleast 30 days. Any thoughts on that as well?

Thanks,
Lix

[Heliux]

[Heliux]

Having Extreme Chemistry troubles right now so please help!

PH-8.0
dKh-24
Salinity 1.025
Calcium-(lower than my test goes)

If i add calcium it was add carbs as well. PH will add carbs as well too. Salinity is ok. Im mixing a bucket of salt water to do a major water change and hope to bring it back up... please help with ideas.

[coleBB]

are you adding all those things together in your top off????What you need to do is test for magnesium...cuz that is what is gonna keep you calcium and alk at bay.. also i personally would not mix all those chemicals together...you can certainly figure out a dosing regimen besides mixing them together. im not certain what you mean by carbs also...

[coleBB]

when im trying to raise my calcium considerably i get calcium blocks from my lfs they are made by sealab.

[mps9506]

Ok, here goes it:

First what test kit's are you using?
Second:

Kalk, strongtium, zooplex and phytoplex

Axe the zooplex and phytoplex. No reason to dose your tank with dead phytoplankton and zooplankton. Are you adding strotium to your Kalk? If so stop, espcially if you aren't testing for strontium. Let your water changes take care of your trace minerals. concentrate on the important stuff: Ca, Alk, Mg, pH.
Now, the kalk is only for maintaining your Ca and Alk. Not for raising it. In order to raise your Ca you need a supplement to get it up to where you want it, then use Kalkwasser to maintain it. My personal choice is Turbo Calcium, it is Calcium chloride, it is good for a short term boost to get you where you need to be, then use kalk to keep it there.
Now your alk, if you have an accurate test kit is way to high, if you increase your Ca, you will get Calcium precipitation. You want your levels around 2.5-4.0 meq/L or 7-11 dkh. Easy way to lower it? Water changes. Any decent salt mix should be much closer to the needed chemistry than what you have going on right now, if you have accurate test kits. I would stop dosing, and concentrate on getting your Ca and Alk in order before resuming.

[Frankie]

Just stopping in to see the thread Lix. Looking good buddy. I see you already got some great info from mps9506 so I won't comment. He gave you a great starting point. Just one thing I noticed he missed was the dosing of Iodine. I would hold off on that also.
I think I saw some toes in one of those shots

[Heliux]

Originally Posted by coleBB

are you adding all those things together in your top off????What you need to do is test for magnesium...cuz that is what is gonna keep you calcium and alk at bay.. also i personally would not mix all those chemicals together...you can certainly figure out a dosing regimen besides mixing them together. im not certain what you mean by carbs also...

I only dose one at a time, unless its zooplex and phytoplex. Strongtium i rarely do(by rarely i mean once).

Kalk i drip once a week if not even that

(cant figure out how to do multi-quotes in one response)
Mps9506

What would you suggest as a replacement to kent phyto and zoo?

Im using Tropic Marin test kits for calcium, and alk.

I use tropic Marin salt for my salt mix.

I use Tropic Marin bio-calcium as my calcium source.
To raise my ph i use Seachem Marine Buffer.

I did a huge waterchange(75%) and now im decent on water condition. My PH is 8.3, Salinity 1.023-24, dKh-12, but im still not registering any calcium. I accidently added a little to much calcium to fast so that it got on the glass but my test isnt registering it... I just got a new bottle of kalk so imma mix my bucket up so that i can have it ready to drip whenever... But im still trying to figure out how the calcium is jetting so low so fast!

I use tropic marin for calcium, dkh
Instant ocean for copper
API for nitrite, nitrate, ammonia
Lamotte for PH

Hope that helps guys. My tank is atleast stable when key things, but im worried about my Leather toadstools, colonial rock, and xenia frags being without a good source of calcium.

Ill post pics later of how my tank looks now because i re-aquascaped it while doing the water change.

Thanks in advance,
Lix

[lcstorc]

None of those are stoney corals so the calcium shouldn't be that big of a deal. The bigger deal is that if your readings are correct your tank is way out of balance.
Check out the stickies in the chemistry forum. There is a lot of good info there about balancing the system.
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/...emistry-forum/
Slow down and stop dosing everything until you have a plan to proceed.
I would also use a different test for the calc. It should register as something. Try taking water to the lfs and have them test it for you to compare.

[Heliux]

Ok will do and thank you.

Next update, my return pump in my sump is broken. Rio 1700... Ive gone through all trouble shooting i can find, and cleaned it out well but it seems that its gone belly up. any tips, advice or w/e on a replacement pump would be grand.

Thanks,
Lix