iTzJu's 90 Gallon Mixed Reef Adventure :)

[iTzJu]

I see you've upgraded too, congrats!
So did you QT the tang or did the spots go away?

Thanks! the skimmer looks like its going to be awesome, the microbubbles abeing produced in the vinegar bath alone is incredible!

I havent QT the tang yet or any of the other fishes just yet. I observed the tang this morning to see if he hand any spots or developed more spots but they were gone. I checked back in the evening and no signs of spots. I will keep observing for the next couple of days to see it it really was ICH I saw. Thinking back, I was cleaning my glass prior to the actincs coming on and I created a small sand storm in my tank. the dots I saw could of been sand and I just jumped to conclusions and freaked myself out. Regardless, I will still keep an eye out for ICH.

 

[jgraz]

Fingers crossed on the ich.

 

[iTzJu]

Fingers crossed on the ich.

yeah, definitely! I observed the fishes again this morning with the actinics on and no whites spots again. I am hopeful I dont have ich but ich is one tricky pita.

 

[dirtycontour]

yeah, definitely! I observed the fishes again this morning with the actinics on and no whites spots again. I am hopeful I dont have ich but ich is one tricky pita.

Good news on the ich. I'm under the school of thought that a healthy, stress-free tank will take care of itself. Keep the peace and you should be good to go.

 

[Sunny]

Get three things :-

Selcon, garlic and Vitamin C. Soak pellets in the mixture of three (no tank water). Let the pellets absorb it. Then feed.
Do same with frozen food but after thawing the food in tank water. Just mix the three things in the thawed food and water.

For tangs over feed them nori for 2 - 3 weeks.

Make them fat.

If they keep eating they will kick off ich on their own.

Good Luck!
Sunny

 

[iTzJu]

Good news on the ich. I'm under the school of thought that a healthy, stress-free tank will take care of itself. Keep the peace and you should be good to go.

stress-free environment has always been my goal, I've seen other tanks where chaos lives and the fishes never looked good or on the brim of death. I've always wanted to add another tang in my tank but have always been scared of the aggression it might cause. However, it seems like many members here have great success keeping multiple tangs. I will probably hold off any new additions for awhile. Just want to make sure my current stock is 100% healthy.

Get three things :-

Selcon, garlic and Vitamin C. Soak pellets in the mixture of three (no tank water). Let the pellets absorb it. Then feed.
Do same with frozen food but after thawing the food in tank water. Just mix the three things in the thawed food and water.

For tangs over feed them nori for 2 - 3 weeks.

Make them fat.

If they keep eating they will kick off ich on their own.

Good Luck!
Sunny

Thanks for the advice Sunny, I already have Selcon, I'll be grabbing some garlic and vitamin c additives. any suggestions on particular products??

 

[Sunny]

I use brightwell garlic and vitamic C. I think AO sellls both.

 

[falconut]

I have mine in about 8 1/2" to 9" in water, similar to yours. Also, how do you know where you have your outlet set to? I have no indicator markings on my adjustment tube to even know.

Are you getting the same froth as mine in the video below or better?? This was about an hour after a clean the collection cup.

[video=youtube;HuFo7xgyrFA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuFo7xgyrFA[/video]

Sorry, it took so long. I see you got a new skimmer, but since you asked, mine is similar to your foaming, exact I usually run mine a little dryer. As far as the setting, mine has a small circular indent on the blue tube. Good luck with the new skimmer and the ich.

 

[iTzJu]

No worries Craig, I might just save the SCA-302 for a future frag tank or something. I guess they didnt put the circular indent on my tube. haha

 

[iTzJu]

Seems like all the fish are happy, I haven't seen signs of ich since the night I saw white spots on the tang. this gives me hope, but I will still keep a look out.

Also, the XP1000SSS is amazing, it broke in this morning and the skimmate when I got back home from work was disgusting. I need to adjust it a bit more to find my sweet spot but damn that skimmer is good.

Anyway, I am really getting ready to upgrade my lighting this month and I have narrowed down my choices to 4 fixtures.

2x AI Sol Blues
2x FathomLED
2x Triple Puck RapidLED Kit
2x Reef Breeders Value LED

All these fixtures run the efficient Cree LED chips, except the Reef Breeders Vale LED which run Bridgelux/Epistar

Now, If I do go with the AI Sols, I plan on supplementing them with T5 Bulbs which will add a yearly bulb cost on top of the Sols. I know I can just use the Sols, but it will lack some color and the T5's can provide that and also eliminate some shadows that LEDs are knowing to create. This will probably cost me around $900 with the controller brand new.

FathomLEDs, can be customized to my liking but it will definitely break the bank. They look like solid fixtures with awesome controllability and on the same level, if not better than the AI Sols. 2 Fixtures will cost me $850 with controller but an additional $100 to add violet/uv spectrum into the fixtures, not sure how much it will cost me to add more colors if they are available. The fixtures do offer more on the spectrum side compared to the AI Sols because they use two different white Cree chips.

Triple Puck RapidLED Kit are basically DIY AI Sols. They use the same CREE LED chips, same layout at half the cost. The good thing about this kit is that it is all solder-less. It does involve getting your hands dirty but I dont mind. Two of these fixtures will cost me $440 and plus $100 for an ALC for my RKL to control the the lights. The ALC is optional but why not? lol I will also be supplementing these with T5's so that will add to me yearly cost for bulb replacements.

Reef Breeders Value LED, is your standard Chinese LED box that has been updated with 90 degree optics and a full spectrum set of Bridgelux and Epistar LEDs. These are manually dimmable and offer great value. Two of these fixtures will cost me $400 or less, depending if I get them from Reef Breeders or off an eBay vendor. These lights are proven to work great and I will not be supplementing these with T5s since they do offer "full spectrum". With the add savings on cost I am giving up programable control and automatic dimming. I will be stuck with your regular on/off schedule. Now, you may ask me why I wont go with there new programable LED fixtures and that is simply because If I am spending 300+ on a fixture I will rather spend a little bit more and get the Fathoms or AI's. I am considering the Value LEDs because exactly just that, the value!

Now, which one would you advise me to get? I know I will be getting a mixed response on this but I just want your input. My main goal here is to be able to grow my corals and keep them happy but If I can save a long the way, why not?

Believe me when I say, I am torn. I have been spending way too much time try to decide and thinking about which route is the best way to go.

 

[jgraz]

Judeo, not to throw one more into the mix by you should check out the AI Vega's too.

 

[mnat]

And to furthur confuse you I would recommend the Maxspect Mazzaras. Like the Vegas you can have more than white and blue which means you do not need any T5 supplementation. All the bulbs are plug and play with a screw driver (no soldering) which means as new colors come out you can swap them in which means the unit will never be obsolete. Also, they send you three different lens kits so you can really customize.

 

[Fish Brain]

Judeo, not to throw one more into the mix by you should check out the AI Vega's too.

+1 Love my Vega's! The Color compared to the SOL's, there is no comparison and no need for supplementation and bulbs to replace every year.

If you do go a route that requires the ALC for the ReefKeeper, I have one I'm not using since I have the AI controller for the Vega's.

 

[govertical19]

I did a diy led fixture from rapid led. Like you said you have to get your hands dirty but if you do not mind it is a pretty good way to go.

When I first made mine I did a 1 to 1 blue/white. Colors were not out like they are now. But the nice thing is you can change them. Since then I order more blues and have a 2/1 ratio. Think I will be ordering colors soon too! So I like that I can change things or add when I want.. Although when I made the fixtures I was thinking I would be doing it once and done, yea right haha what in this hobby is once and done...



Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

 

[iTzJu]

you guys aren't making this easier on me! haha. I think I ma ditching the SOLs for Vegas/Mazzaras, unless I can find a set for a good price. I don't mind supplementing with T5's but it's just not something I want to change out every year. I thought I was past that at one point in this hobby.

Brian, if I do go DIY, I will contact you on the ALC. DIY is a very good option I think and with the triple puck kit I think I can squeeze in a few color leds in between the pucks.

As far as price goes though, those Bridgelux/Epistar fixtures are quite tempting.


sooo much to think about!!!

I also want to setup a frag tank and that's been on my mind! ahhhhhhh!!!

 

[Fish Brain]

If you want to see Vega's in action, you can stop by and check them out.

And I have SOL's for comparison.

 

[iTzJu]

If you want to see Vega's in action, you can stop by and check them out.

And I have SOL's for comparison.

Thanks for the offer Brian, I might have to take you up on that offer. I need to go to one of the meetings soon so I can meet some of you guys. I've met a few of you already and by far, I am very happy I've joined this club.

 

[iTzJu]

FTS with my phone, stuck in the house cause of the snow. haha

it's a mess in my tank right now. cyano still looms and I need to figure out placement of some corals.

Also, I think I finally made my mind up on which fixture I will go with. I will update as soon as I order and receive them!

 

[iTzJu]

Good and Bad News...

Bad News first...

I will be tearing down the 90 gallon....

it seems like the stock stand that I currently have is slowly degrading. It seems like all the moisture and salt creep is finally doing it's business on the stand. I am seeing a slight bend on the supports and this worries me so I will be tearing down the tank to build a better stand. I will also take all the precautionary steps to reef proof the stand.

AEFW has reared it's ugly head in my tank. Blue Milli didn't look well today and upon inspection, I saw bite marks. I got the bayer advance and diped and low and behold, AEFW! a lot of the buggers too! sigh... I can never win!

Good News..

I will be starting on a clean slate!

I will be setting up a larger 45G QT for my livestock, I will treat them for any ich/parasites/disease during this time period. the setup will run with a HOB filter and UV.

I will be setting up a 40B with a 30 gallon sump to house the corals. I was already planning on setting up a frag tank and this just expedited the idea. I will be trying something new with this frag tank and that will be an ATS (Algae Turf Scrubber) system. I will initially run a skimmer till the ATS is established but the main goal it to eventually remove the skimmer and see how the corals react to a skimmerless system. During this time, I will be treating any Acro for AEFW. I will do weekly or bi-weekly dips till no signs of AEFW is present.

I will also be cooking my rocks during this time or even possibly start out with new rocks. still deciding.

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

As much as I hate the idea of tearing down the tank, I think this is the best course of action. It will give me a clean slate to start with and do everything that I have always wanted to do. I will also upgrade some equipment during this time, main one that pops in my head would be the return pump. This will also help with my husbandry skills when it comes to livestock and corals. Nothing will go in my display without being Medicated/Dipped and QT'd for observation first. I started in this hobby about 3 years ago, I've learned soo much since then and I guess this is just a turning point for me as a hobbiest. I want to do things right this time around and make sure my livestock and corals are in the best possible conditions I can provide them.

That is the game plan for now. I will update as this goes.

ps. I ordered my lights yesterday, I guess they'll be up on the 40B till the 90 is back up and running

pss. I will still be collecting corals during this process to overstock the frag tank and prepare for the new 90. I'm really excited about this part. lol

 

[govertical19]

Good luck! Some times it is nice to get a fresh start. I am in roughly the same boat I have about 3-4 years in the hobby and it is amazing how much you learn and do wrong in that amount of time. Have fun collecting the coral! That is the fun part!

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2