Playapixie's Solana 34 Build: First saltwater tank!

[Playapixie]

Hi! Thanks for checking out my Solana 34 build thread. Your input and suggestions are welcome!

This is my first saltwater tank. I have had fresh water on and off for my whole life, and finally decided to give a reef tank a go.

So far I have:

~Solana 34 Starphire (used, from JGalvin: http://www.reeffrontiers.com/members/jgalvin/ )
~Solana stand w/custom marble top (used)
~Return pump: Maxi-Jet 900 (used; got a couple of these with a bunch of stuff from Cragslist, so I thought I'd try it on the return. Seems to be working great.
~stock skimmer
~Koralia nano & another small pump on a wave timer (all also from Craigslist; adding a new Koralia 750 when it arrives)
~100W heater (150 on order)
~32lbs live rock out of a well-established system (some of this is in the back 2nd chamber)
~20 lbs so-called "live sand" (packaged); added about 2 cups sand from an established tank
~No bioballs. Blue floss top of 2nd chamber.

On order:
~Sunbrite Slimline S LED fixture (I really hope I can make this mount work with the Solana wood trim on top, which I think looks sharp.) For the moment I have a tiny Coralife compact fluorescent on top.)
~Koralia 750
~SteveT media basket & JBJ nano fuge light

Future plans:
~Vortech MP10 (20?)

I really didn't know what kind of aquascape was going to be good for corals in a Solana, but I think I like what I came up with.

But help! I hate the white blobs of epoxy putty holding it all together. Any suggestions for covering this? I didn't know you could buy purple "reef putty" :-( Maybe I could just smear some purple over the obvious white spots? Or will real coralline eventually grow? Or do I just need to strategically place corals to hide them? I think I kinda went overboard with the putty, but I want a goby-shrimp pair and I've read that the pistol shrip can topple rocks that aren't well-secured. Ideas?

Cycle: this is day 4.
So far:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate <10
pH 8.0
Specific Gravity: 1.023
Temp 76-78

So far all of the parameters have been stable. I'm really hoping there won't be much of a cycle; all of my rock came from a well-established tank, and it was out of the water only about 45 minutes. Between that and the sand I added from another friend's tank, I'm hopeful it'll be fast.

Oh, there was one reddish/brownish mushroom with green spots on one of the rocks. He still seems perfectly happy, despite all of the changes and the new tank. Fingers crossed he survives (or not, I hear some people think they're a nuisance?) There are also LOTS of living little things in there: pods, night buggy-things, tiny feather duster worms, etc.)

Stocking plan:
Clean up crew (how many/what do I need?)
1 Watchman goby
1 Pistol shrimp (for goby-shrimp pair)
1 Pair clowns (undecided type)
1 Purple firefish or Royal Gramma or...?
Corals of all types, starting with the easier ones...

Sound reasonable so far?

Anyhow, I'm having fun with this and I swear I'm working on patience, but I'm really excited to start stocking, especially corals. Given that I used established rock with very little out-of-water or handling time, and added live/established sand, how long do I need to wait to see if I get ammonia and nitrite? And what order should I start stocking in?

Thanks!
Dawn

Solana 34, finally up and running!

Aquascape, from the front:

From the left:

From the right:

 

[Krish]

Very nice!! Is that coralline actually white on your backwall?? If so, this is one of the few (maybe only the second) tank I have ever seen with it! That's really cool!! Keep up the good work! Everything looks great so far.

 

[Playapixie]

The white on the back wall is actually residue of dead coralline from the last owner's set up. I left it hoping it could seed coralline in this tank. It looked more purple when it was dry, but after adding water, it looks mostly white. Thanks for stopping by!

 

[jgalvin]

Hey Dawn, the tank looks great (this is James), love the rock work, I'm a sucker for the tonga and fiji mix you have. I'm sure the coralline will spread to your rocks. You're really picking up the hobby quickly, I see you looking at the MP10s! I'll follow your thread!

I bought a fiji yellow leather off some guy on craigslist today, been looking for that for a year.

 

[10gnano]

i'm liking the scape

 

[Playapixie]

Thanks James! Yeah, picking it up rather obsessively. Not so good for someone with impulse-control problems, LOL! But I have managed not to put any fish in it yet ;-)

I did figure out how to cover up some of the white epoxy putty; I pulled some of the rubble out of the sump and strategically placed pieces to cover up the worst spots.

 

[Playapixie]

Well, today I added a Koralia 750, and it's awfully darned big. Hard to find a place for it where it won't potentially be blasting the heck out of whatever is in its path. Wondering if going with such a big pump was a mistake. It's on a wave timer with a Koralia Nano and another smaller pump, so at least it's only blasting half the time. Sure does make some interesting flow patterns and waves, though. Still thinking about shelling out yet more cash for that Vortech.

Water parameters today:
pH 8.1
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 2
SG: 1.024
Calcium: 400
Alkalinity 2
Temp 78.5ish

I didn't test for the first couple days (didn't have kits.) Never saw ammonia or nitrite, but I had nitrate on the first test (10), which has dropped down now to 2. My pH went from 8.4 to 7.8 in the first few days, but came back up to 8.1 when I added more flow and vented the skimmer & hood better. My LFS guy thinks it probably had a mini-cycle already, and I'm inclined to agree, since my 32 lbs of live rock all came out of a well-established tank and had almost no time out of the water. I also seeded with sand from another friend's long-established tank. Fingers crossed this is true because...

I added a small clean-up crew day before yesterday (day 6; I know some of you will scold me):
3 nerite snails
2 astraea snals
5 blue-leg hermits
They are all happily chowing down on the algae that came with the rock (although I haven't had a big algae bloom in my tank yet.)

There was also a little brown mushroom coral that hitched in with the rock. And a bunch of little pod-type crawly-critters (I watched the mushroom eat one I think; didn't know they could/would do that!) and itty-bitty feather dusters and tube-worm things (the little guys with the two tentacles.)

So far, all the things living in there seem like they're doing just fine, and my water quality parameters haven't changed since adding the mini-CUC. So, I'm hoping the tank is already adequately cycled to move forward slowly.

Picking up the just-released Sunbrite Slimline S LED fixture tomorrow from Barrier Reef & hopeful that it will be just right for the Solana. A little worried I'm going to have to modify the wood trim to make it work.

 

[Skimmy]

well, it looks great! but your tank is not fully cycled...
just because you used cured liverock doesnt mean its goint to take any less time for your tank to colonize the interior surfaces of the system with bacteria, and you dont even begin the cycle really until you have added your first waste producing creatures or food to allow to rot.
from there it takes 35 days to allow the bacteria and micro-fauna to efficently colonize the tank interior to then break down the wastes of any potential new tank additions. i would add one fish to your existing CUC to really start the cycle, then wait 35 days to add anything else. i cant emplore you enough to exercise patience, and to just allow things to mature before you go crazy on adding livestock. pushing the envelope will do nothing for you.

as for your flow, as you mentioned, i would suggest you ditch the 3 pumps you have and get one pump that will replace them all, and set it up in a gyre configuration.
vortecs are nice, but i like tunze powerheads even more. (they are slightly more expensive, but more reliable, and quieter than vortecs).
in my 20g tank, i have a tunze 9045 which is 1200 gph of flow, and i can easily hide the single powerhead behind the rock work so it is not visible from the front at all.
also, if you do the research, random flow patterns are not what is best for corals, laminar flow is better for coral respiration, and you will get better growth with a laminar flow gyre, this has all been proven by folks with degrees in flow dynamics.... so, that wave timer isnt really doing much for you...
yet another product designed for fisherman, not the fish.

 

[Playapixie]

Thank you for he feedback! I really appreciate it. Everything you say makes sense.

I'll look into the Tunze pumps. Seems like the Vortech is popular but I'll explore options. the wave timer came with a bunch of stuff from Craigslist so it seemed worth trying.

As for the 1 fish, does that have to be a damsel, or do I maybe have enough bio filtration to support one little clown, royal gramma, or watchman Goby? And which is the heartiest for the first fish? I don't want a damsel, ultimately.

Thank you!!
Dawn

 

[jgalvin]

I wouldn't buy the royal gamma for your first fish (too expensive in case you get a spike). Everyone starts with a little clown I think Barrier is having them on special.

Door buster for their sale this weekend:
http://www.reeffrontiers.com/f130/customer-appreciation-sale-2011-a-60693/index2.html
nano Ocellaris Clowns $8.99

 

[Playapixie]

Update:

Zoa garden is taking shape, the Xenia and Finger Leather have both at least doubled, and everything seems happy. Now I have small frags of a variety of zoas & palys, acanthastrea, rainbow star polyps, ricordea, pipe organ, frogspawn, xenia, finger leather, & Kenya Tree. I'm definitely interested in developing this into a mixed reef, as I love the flowy movements from the softies, and the colors of the zoas and LPS. i've got an area that may someday hold some SPS too, but thinking that'll be the last area to develop, after I have more experience and the tank is more mature.

The clowns are still hanging out in quarantine, week two of their 6-8 week stay before they get to move home, but they now appear to be Ich-free and tolerating Cupramine just fine (yay!)

Shelled out some more big bucks for a Vortech MP10 a back-up battery for the Vortech, and looking into a back-up for the heater, as I'm quickly realizing that a power outage could be very heart-breaking and expensive. I was warned that reef-keeping was expensive, but I had no idea just how expensive. Wow.

There are so many kinds of live things in there that came with the rock that even with no fish there is lots of action to watch (feather dusters, tube worms, pods of many kinds, asterina stars, bristle worms, and who knows what all those things are...). Plus there are 3 sexy shrimp, 4 hermit crabs, and 5 snails to follow.

Parameters today, which seem to be remaining pretty stable:
pH 8.2
SG 1.024, still aiming to gradually come up to 1.025 or 1.026
temp 78
nitrite 0
nitrate 1
phos <0.25
Calcium 440
Alk 3.5 meq/L
Mag 1300

Of note: this tank pretty much never cycled. I didn't test until day three, but it has always had 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, and Nitrate initially bumped up to 10, but has gradually wound down to less than 1 now (and I have been feeding the corals and inverts probably quite generously). It did, however, start with 100% well-established live rock from another aged tank, and the sand was seeded from another mature tank.

Some pretty things (iPhone pics; better pics to come soon):

Mini Maxi Carpet Anemone & Sexy Shrimp trio:

Mini Maxi Nem from Greg at Cultivated Reef
I am infatuated with the Mini Maxis and ordered two more (because, you know, the Sexies don't seem to want to share just one!)

Zoa Garden, Acanthastrea, Pipe Organ, Ricordia, Mushrooms, Rainbow Star Polyps, etc:

Totally in love with this amazing hobby, which feels like part art/design project, part biology lab, part chemistry experiment, part pets. Pretty much perfect for an artistic-scientific type like me

As a side note, I was freaked out about pulling the clowns from the display tank and moving them into an un-cycled quarantine. However, after a lot of reading & product reviews, I decided to start the QT (a biocube 8) with Seachem's Stability treatment (which adds spores of bacteria to jump start all the phases of the nitrogen cycle), and it actually worked! QT is running 2 and a half weeks now with just the bioballs and filter floss (bare bottom, no live rock), and started with 8 days of Stability per their directions. Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate have all always been 0! I didn't really think it was going to work, but it sure seems to have. I started out feeding the clowns cautiously for the first few days, but now I'm feeding them liberally, and everything still seems fine. I'm doing weekly 25% water changes just to be careful, but I'm definitely sold on Stability as a way to jump start a hospital tank.

 

[jgalvin]

Dawn, tank looks great! Wow, you keep the fish that long in QT? I'm more the risk taker and just acclimate and throw in the tank. I was so about to buy a Mini Maxi, but was worried it would move and start stinging corals, etc. Do yours move much?

I am shocked to see so many corals in so quickly, guess you got bit hard by the reefing bug

James

 

[Playapixie]

Heh, yeah. I have no delay of gratification skills. There are a bunch of little frags, but they are all pretty small, so on the whole it still looks fairly empty in there. Hopefully I won't get burned by going so quickly. But all the rock & a bunch of sand was all from a very seasoned set-up and was never really out of the water (transported 30 minutes in buckets of tank water) so I think there was very little die-off and the bacteria populations stayed healthy. Water parameters have been great all along.

As for quarantine, well, I initially didn't. I put two juvenile oscellaris clowns in, and after a few days, one of them had spots. After reading about a hundred opinions on Ich, I opted to pull them and quarantine them and treat with Cupramine. So apparently if you leave your tank without fish for 6 or 8 weeks (depending on whose opinion you believe), the Ich parasite in the tank will complete its life cycle and die without a host. Put the fish back sooner and the tank will still have Ich.

Catching those little devils was a PITA and I don't ever want to have to do that again; had to pull half the rock and 3/4 of the water to corner one of them. But now the spots are gone and they're doing fine in quarantine, so they'll just hang out there until the Solana is Ich-free. Learned my lesson and will quarantine new fish from now on! On the bright side, the DT didn't spike ammonia or nitrite when the fish were in there, so I do really think the tank is cycled.

Loving your old tank, James. So glad you sold me this instead of going with Biocube. The Solana is gorgeous and fits perfectly into our living room.

How's your bigger upgraded tank treating you?

 

[Playapixie]

Oh, and on the mini maxi, it moved about 4 inches from where I put it the first day and hasn't moved since (it's been in there 5 days I think). A mushroom got injured by it but that was my fault as I placed it kind of close to the shroom and let go of the nem before it had really grabbed ahold of the rock, and the nem drifted off and into the mushroom. The mushroom definitely was injured so I have no doubt they could sting corals. However, I read everything I could find on them and the general consensus is that they will almost always stay very near where you place them and not move once they choose their spot. I have heard of them killing careless fish that swim right into them, but from what I've read it doesn't happen often, and most people report good success with them even in nanos. They are also considered very hearty. They are gorgeous creatures! And the Sexy Shrimp love it and rarely venture far from it, so it is a neat symbiotic relationship to watch.

 

[jgalvin]

wow, and clowns are usually the easiest fish to catch. I've been trying to catch my sixline wrasse, i tried the plastic bottle trick for a week to no success but lots of frustration, i ordered a fish trap that arrives monday. You're welcome to borrow it if you ever need to catch a fish. Tank is doing well, want to add some new fish but not till i get the sixline out. Picked up a cool red/puple favia and some purple mushrooms yesterday, will have to post new pics soon. Glad you are enjoying the hobby.

Heh, yeah. I have no delay of gratification skills. There are a bunch of little frags, but they are all pretty small, so on the whole it still looks fairly empty in there. Hopefully I won't get burned by going so quickly. But all the rock & a bunch of sand was all from a very seasoned set-up and was never really out of the water (transported 30 minutes in buckets of tank water) so I think there was very little die-off and the bacteria populations stayed healthy. Water parameters have been great all along.

As for quarantine, well, I initially didn't. I put two juvenile oscellaris clowns in, and after a few days, one of them had spots. After reading about a hundred opinions on Ich, I opted to pull them and quarantine them and treat with Cupramine. So apparently if you leave your tank without fish for 6 or 8 weeks (depending on whose opinion you believe), the Ich parasite in the tank will complete its life cycle and die without a host. Put the fish back sooner and the tank will still have Ich.

Catching those little devils was a PITA and I don't ever want to have to do that again; had to pull half the rock and 3/4 of the water to corner one of them. But now the spots are gone and they're doing fine in quarantine, so they'll just hang out there until the Solana is Ich-free. Learned my lesson and will quarantine new fish from now on! On the bright side, the DT didn't spike ammonia or nitrite when the fish were in there, so I do really think the tank is cycled.

Loving your old tank, James. So glad you sold me this instead of going with Biocube. The Solana is gorgeous and fits perfectly into our living room.

How's your bigger upgraded tank treating you?

 

[jgalvin]

oh, the spots on your clowns, were they black or white? If white yes possibly Ich, if the spots were black that is perfectly normal and is just the stings from the corals as the fish get use to the anenome, etc. totally harmless. i got freaked out when i first saw them on my clowns.

Heh, yeah. I have no delay of gratification skills. There are a bunch of little frags, but they are all pretty small, so on the whole it still looks fairly empty in there. Hopefully I won't get burned by going so quickly. But all the rock & a bunch of sand was all from a very seasoned set-up and was never really out of the water (transported 30 minutes in buckets of tank water) so I think there was very little die-off and the bacteria populations stayed healthy. Water parameters have been great all along.

As for quarantine, well, I initially didn't. I put two juvenile oscellaris clowns in, and after a few days, one of them had spots. After reading about a hundred opinions on Ich, I opted to pull them and quarantine them and treat with Cupramine. So apparently if you leave your tank without fish for 6 or 8 weeks (depending on whose opinion you believe), the Ich parasite in the tank will complete its life cycle and die without a host. Put the fish back sooner and the tank will still have Ich.

Catching those little devils was a PITA and I don't ever want to have to do that again; had to pull half the rock and 3/4 of the water to corner one of them. But now the spots are gone and they're doing fine in quarantine, so they'll just hang out there until the Solana is Ich-free. Learned my lesson and will quarantine new fish from now on! On the bright side, the DT didn't spike ammonia or nitrite when the fish were in there, so I do really think the tank is cycled.

Loving your old tank, James. So glad you sold me this instead of going with Biocube. The Solana is gorgeous and fits perfectly into our living room.

How's your bigger upgraded tank treating you?

 

[Playapixie]

They were white salt-shaker spots. At first tiny but I watched a few days and it was getting worse. By the time they went in quarantine it looked just like all the Internet pics of Ich.

Why do you want the Sixline out of your tank?

 

[akunochi]

You look like you're off to a really great start!

 

[Playapixie]

Haven't updated in months, but my Solana 34 is shaping up nicely at 6 months.


Livestock currently:


Fish:
Ocellaris Clown Fish pair
Tail Spot Blenny
McCosker's Flasher Wrasse


Inverts:
Tuxedo Urchin (he devastates my corraline algae but he sure is cute)
Sexy Shrimp X3
Peppermint Shrimp X3
Pom Pom Crabs X2
Mini-Maxi Carpet Anemones X4
Astrea Snails X4
Nerite Snails X3
Nassarius Snails X6
Cerith Snails X3
Micro Brittle Stars X4 (plus now lots of tinier ones)
Blue Leg Hermits X4


Corals:
ORA Sprung's Stunner Chalice (fast grower!)
Lithophyllon (also a fast grower, my fav coral at the moment)
Duncan
Frogspawn
Torch
Lobophyllia
Acanthastrea X2
Ricordea Florida X3 (all about to divide)
Pipe Organ
Pulsing Xenia
Finger Leather of some kind
Kenya tree
Liam's Clove Polyp
Rainbow Star Polyp
Green Star Polyp
Zoanthids, various
Palythoas, various


Parameters running around:
SG 1.025-1.026
pH 8.2
Temp 77-78
Ca 420
KH 8
Mag 1300
Nitrate 0
Phosphate <0.25


I'm doing a 4.5 gallon water change every other week using SeaChem Salinity. Dosing 3-4 times/week with C-Blance and still working out the dosing routine (has become more challenging in the last month as I added several fast-growing LPS.)


I'm looking to upgrade my lighting to a better LED set-up. Leaning towards the Ecotech Marine Radion, or the Maxspect Mazarra. Since both are new, I'm waiting for some pictures and reviews of these, hopeful on other Solana 34's or similar. I am not a fan of my current Sunbrite Slimline at all. The timer on it quit working months ago, and even prior to quitting it was never reliable. The program on it was also too short of a light cycle, in my opinion. When I switched it to a straight on/off timer with a longer cycle, I started getting much better coral growth. Also, the Sunbrite Slimline doesn't cover nearly enough of the tank.


So far I haven't had any real disasters. Had to treat my first fish (clowns) for ich early on, but have been quaruntining new fish since, and haven't had this problem again. Have had flat worms at one point, but this was quickly resolved with Flatworm Exit. Also have a few tiny aiptasia popping up now, and just added the Peppermint Shrimp to hopefully take care of these. Never have had any significant algae blooms, diatoms, or other common problems. I think starting off with well-established rock, setting up a fuge early on, and running Chemipure Elite all help.


Here are some current pics as of 11/3/11 (6-month mark):


Front view:

IMG_0311 by Playapixie, on Flickr



IMG_0309 by Playapixie, on Flickr


Left side:

IMG_0315 by Playapixie, on Flickr


Right side:

IMG_0316 by Playapixie, on Flickr


Lithophyllon:

IMG_0313 by Playapixie, on Flickr


Lobo (I need to get a pic of this at night with it's tentacles extended!):

IMG_0314 by Playapixie, on Flickr


Sprung's Stunner Chalice, Duncan, Finger Leather, Mini-Maxi Nems, Ricordea Florida, mushrooms, Zoas, clowns:

IMG_0317 by Playapixie, on Flickr


Mini-Maxi Carpet Anemone Garden, Tuxedo Urchin, Duncan:

IMG_0318 by Playapixie, on Flickr


Xenia, Finger Leather, McCosker's Flasher Wrasse, Clown:

IMG_0328 by Playapixie, on Flickr


Xenia, often hosted (although not aggressively) by the Oscellaris clowns:

IMG_0336 by Playapixie, on Flickr

 

[10gnano]

Nice lobo, I think I have the same one. Was it a barrier reef score? If you hit it with just acentics the colors really pop, amazing green/pink coloring.