Our 1st Reef Tank build ever - 70 gal AGA tall

[DolphinLVR]

Looks Great! I love the aquascaping!

I think your fine with the sand bed, doesnt look too much from what I can see

 

[TJL]

Hey Eric, Looks great and yea it will color up pretty fast. I see lots of nice ledges for placing corals. My one concern is that because of the height of structure if it were to tumble forward... YIKES! IMO before you start adding coral & fish take a few more detailed pics remove then reasemble by either pinning the rockwork together with acrylic dowels or drill & zip-tie together for security. Then when up in Everett next time stop by for a couple tank warming gifts.

Todd

 

[eww]

Done. We took everything out and attached all the rocks together. We should never have an avalanche problem now.

 

[Chichas01]

Looks pretty good! I was worried about an avalanche as well when I first saw it. Sounds like you have taken care of it though. Are the rocks on the sandbed supported by anything or just placed on the sand?

 

[eww]

All the base rock along the back of the tank are setting in a bed of epoxy putty on bare glass before the substrate went in. The front center rock was an after thought after the substrate so instead of making a huge cloudy mess by clearing the sand and coral I used some 1" dia. x 2" long clear acrylic hollow tubes and pushed them down through the substrate until bare bottom was reached then put epoxy putty on top of those and set the rock into it. This way if an burrowing critter go under the rock it is supported by the acrylic and wont drop creating havoc with everything above it.

 

[eww]

Well, we know have livestock. Thank you Todd for all your help in getting the right critters for the start of our tank. For fish we picked up two small Ocellaris Clowns, a Flame Hawk and a Tail Spot Goby. We also got about 15 hermits, 12 snails and 1 conch. We also picked up 2 Fire Shrimp but unfortunately one tore the other to shreds in the transport bag on the way home. Poor guy had no legs or antenna left when I took the bag out of the box. Fortunately the FS is going to replace it when they get more in. We acclimated everyone and placed them in their new home tonight, feed them a little dinner and they are sleeping soundly. We will post some more pics tomorrow when we have time to take them.

 

[jrgilles]

Wont that flame hawk eat all the crabs you just put in?

Quote:
The Flame Hawkfish is a carnivore with a diet preference for small crustaceans, some sessile as well as motile invertebrates. It will eat feather dusters and ornamental shrimps, as well as may pick hermit crabs and snails right out of their shells! Even though fish are not a preferred food source, they may try and eat smaller fish if the opportunity arises.

 

[eww]

Wont that flame hawk eat all the crabs you just put in?

Quote:
The Flame Hawkfish is a carnivore with a diet preference for small crustaceans, some sessile as well as motile invertebrates. It will eat feather dusters and ornamental shrimps, as well as may pick hermit crabs and snails right out of their shells! Even though fish are not a preferred food source, they may try and eat smaller fish if the opportunity arises.

We hope not. We will just keep him well fed and see what happens. We have seen others that have not had that issue and the FS did not mention any potential problem like that. I believe they would have because they would not sell us a different fish because of circumstances with the fish and tank. That kind of honest service scores point in our book.

Besides, he is really cool to watch .

 

[Chichas01]

your tank cycled already? in 3 days?

 

[jrgilles]

I never even saw a cycle on my tank. I put a bunch of live rock in, tested chemistry 3 days later, and NH4, nitrates and nitrites were all at zero.

 

[eww]

Same kind of thing here Rob. We put LR in 2 Weeks ago and have been testing every other day. There was a small cycle but everything is zero'ed out and I had the LFS verify the water condition before we went ahead with the purchase. We also got what they considered to be some of the heartiest fish so we shouldn't have to worry.

 

[jrgilles]

Forgot, what kind of lighting are you using? Are you thinking about doing corals? Too lazy to look back through the thread.

If you're doing corals, I can break off some starter frags from my tank. Help you get started and also have some 'crash insurance' incase I lose any of mine. I've picked up a ton of different stuff from friends and PSAS

 

[eww]

We are running 4 36" T5's. 2 on an Icecap 660 and 2 on a standard ballast. We have lots of light even at the bottom of the tank at 30". We will be adding blue and white LEDs for dawn dusk and moon lights soon.

We would love to take you up on your offer Rob as long as the lighting will work. We plan on this tank being full of beautiful corals. The fish are just an added bonus. Maybe this weekend or next we can pay you a visit and meet you in person finally. Thank you so very much for the offer.

 

[jrgilles]

Yea, no problem. A buddy of mine gave me a bunch of frags incase his tank crashes. He recommended I do the say. For every coral I have, give a frag of it to 2 different people, with the understanding that I might want a frag back if I kill something.

Are T-5's able to penetrate the depth of your tank?

I could definately break you off some low light ones and mabe frag a few sps/lps so you can see what you are capable of keeping

 

[TJL]

Hey Eric & Becca, glad to see nearly everything made its way safely into your reef. Can't wait to see some pics. If I need to get my hands wet today I'll pull out a nice Xenia or two and frag a few different zoas for you as well. So which fish Tailspot Blenny or Flame Hawk is your favorite so far ???

JR I did make them aware that the Hawk would eat small ornamental shrimp and can be a bit teritorial with other perching fish and Wrasses if not added while he is still quite small. I have an adult currently (third one) and has never bothered any hermits, even 25 micro sized ones I recently added. IMO the Flame Hawk is one of the safest of the species and has a much different natural diet than most other Hawkfish. On the reef it primarily resides in Pocillopora & Seriatopora colonies feeding on plankton, pod size crustaceans and probably is a natural predator of Red Bugs as well. I've had several other Hawkfish including Arc-Eye, Freckled, Longnose and Banded all of which will try to eat anything that fits into thier mouth.

Todd

 

[jrgilles]

Really, good to know. I do like these fish, maybe I'll get a small one and see how it does. Thanks for the info!

I also have 3 different xenia's. A pompom, a purple one, and a huge beige one.

Can I frag these guys? My biggest one has like 6 stalks, split almost to the base? I was just waiting for it to totally separate, but could I help it out with a knife?

I gave some chaeto to cwazy clown the other day, and he said if you cut them up, they heal and grow even faster.... If thats the case, I could definately cut some hunks off.

 

[TJL]

Hey JR, Xenia is very hardy and easy to frag with scissors or a sharp knife and will reattach quickly to any clean surface (cover them with cheese cloth or fine plastic mesh over rubble). The remaining base will sprout several new stalks quickly as well. Small individual stalks can simply be pulled or pried from substrate.

Todd

 

[jrgilles]

awesome. sounds pretty simple. Maybe I'll frag some

 

[eww]

Todd, so far the Flame Hawk with all his/her personality is my personal favorite. The Tail Spot Blenny has only shown himself a few times and darts righ back behind all the rock work. He has found many homes already to move between. We will have to post some pics latter tonight. Becca has been busy with the camera most of the day.

 

[eww]

Yea, no problem. A buddy of mine gave me a bunch of frags incase his tank crashes. He recommended I do the say. For every coral I have, give a frag of it to 2 different people, with the understanding that I might want a frag back if I kill something.

Are T-5's able to penetrate the depth of your tank?

I could definately break you off some low light ones and mabe frag a few sps/lps so you can see what you are capable of keeping

The tank sure seems bright enough for anything. I don't have a meter to measure par but based on my eyes vs what we have seen in other tanks it seems just as bright if not more so.