3 foot saltwater update

on the top you can see the coralimorph I copped into 3 pieces and is now successfully growing as a propagated invert.

Full tank pic above - I have copped the xenia corals so they might not look as full in the whole tank picture ..

Pulse coral below
so here are a few pictues of my 3 foot after the addition of a few corals etc. I have added a fungi, pulse coral, Kenya tree coral, a blue tang plus some extra live rock in the sump. I am really happy with the way this tank is turning out :> the corals are all opening up very nicely, the fish are all getting along very well and algae is down to a minimum and, this is mostly due to the fact that this tank is now cycled + purigen did help. The Acropora unfortunately isn't doing to well - I have cut off all the dead bits and, just kept the good parts and glued it to a piece of rock however, I don't have much hope for that coral. this tank is predominantly soft corals + LPS's so not sure if the acro is suited for this environment. I do hope to change the freshwater to a SPS tank in time .... but one thing at a time.

I haven't used my protein skimmer in ages however, I have added some additional live rock to the sump + some caulerpa to absorb the nitrate (not that there was much at all- last time i measured it was below 10 ppm). The live rock will also help with the regeneration of the macro algae which the tangs will definitely devour from the tank. Next thing would be add a chiller to keep the tank temperature stable as I do think that the temp. fluctuations have contributed to the acro's demise however, the other corals + fish seems to fine with this fluctuation.

Purigen

So went to my local fish store trying to find some Biochem Zorb or Polyfilter i.e. to absorb waste products and, make the water quality better for the reef tank. However, they were out of both and I had used Biochem zorb in another aquarium and, it cleared the water right up beautifully :> It also works great in a freshwater planted tank.

Anyways, the fish store was out of this product and, instead they suggested "Purigen" which is a exchange resin removing waste by-products keeping phosphate, nitrate, nitrite and ammonium down. It also aide's in clearing up the water of floating debris or tiny particles which can cloud aquarium water. The good thing about this resin is that it doesn't effect trace elements in your water (well minimally as it is a type of carbon filter media).

After buying the product I did some online research and looked up Purigen which is made by a company called SEACHEM. There website is very informative and, full of great articles about aquarium keeping.

*** the great thing about this product is that you only require 100mL of purigen to treat 400L of water - others products usually aren't as effective i.e. 100mL treats 150L per water etc. Also, this product claims to last up to 6 months (of course this would depend on how much waste your tank produces..) + is regenerable i.e. once it turns black you treat it and, you can use it again :> Information on the website link I have provided. I must also mentioned that I love the fact that there are heaps of juicy details about how the product works and, product support available on the SEACHEM website.

On another note :

I will post some photo's of my tank as recently I have added a Kenya tree, also a nice white fungi and, rearranged the corals etc + the mushroom polyp I propagated has turned is now three separate polyps and, growing great!

I aim to pack this tank as full of corals as possible and, will be focusing on a soft corals and Large polyp stony corals - this is because, the tank is predominantly these type's of corals and, hopefully this will keep the coral warfare to a minimum. Also, I have introduced a blue tang who at first was last on the pecking order in the tank being attacked by the yellow chromis and sailfin tang(very annoying) however, this settled after a few days and, they all seem to be getting along very well. I do believe that the unusual habit of the blue tang wedging himself in between rocks was what set off the chromis i.e. he kept wedging himself into the rock that I think the yellow chromis called home so it became very territorial.

Also, I hope to change the mini-reef into a refugium style filter i.e. simplistically by adding some more live rock with some Caulerpra or other type of algae + add a light to the inside of the cabinet.

Once this tank is complete I hope to put it up for sale! A complete tank with all the corals/fish etc.

Go check out the links for Biochem zorb, Purigen, polyfilter etc all great products which really do make aquarium keeping that much easier and, that much more rewarding.

4x2x2 update

I thought I would post some updated pics of the 4x2x2 that I have been working on slowly. Now you will notice that these pictures aren't fantastic and, this is because, I have uploaded them using my mobile phone which only has a 3 mega pixel lens....

Also, its worth noting that this tank is running on about 220 watts of lighting mixed between Blue and true daylight bulbs. In total there is roughly 550 litres of water with the sump included so this lighting is slightly insufficient for ideal growth of corals. Some of the low light requiring corals don't mind i.e. the fungi, cataphyllia, bubble coral, soft corals i.e. the Kenya tree, devils hand and, also corallimorph don't care (but, I think they would definitely do better on about 1 watt per litre).... but, the LPS in the top left hand corner is suffering and, this is evident by the fact that it doesn't fully open. You will be happy to know that we are on the hunt for some Metal halides with LED's and blue T5's to make this tank look spectacular.

After a few weeks I have removed all the bio balls from the sump left the coral sand and hope top add some live rock to the mix. There is also some filter wool and some filter foam. The protein skimmer is working like a charm and, skimming away but, I think the lighting will be the key. We have been adding coral trace elements and, the corals actually seem like they are coming back - the bubble coral is starting to grow again ! and, the corallimorph are getting massive - so all in all tank is slowly getting better.

Also, have added a Moorish Idol to the tank which I know aren't the easiest fish to look after however, this guy is seems to be feeding well looked really healthy when i bought him and, hasn't been picking at the corals - they are known to go without any reason however, we will see how this fishy goes. By the way the first picture is a panoramic shot so there is a GHOST Moorish idol ... there is actually only 1).

a bit of overkill with the filter media right????

Wow - great info

So if your after a bit of information about those hitchhikers you get in your tank or even how to diagnose some conditions that commonly occur when starting up or even in a well established aquarium check this out - some very interesting links to types of macro-algae.

http://www.reefs.org/hhfaq

Aquarium Lighting - FLOURO's "lighting for thought"

I have been running the planted tank for a while now and, I have been unhappy with the plant growth - I double checked my flouro's and, they were tri-phosphor t8's. On previous planted tanks I have used say a 3 foot flouro with predominantly a blue spectrum + a 3 foot bulb with a predominantly red spectrum. So Basically never used tri-phosphor t8's by Phillips or NEC before however, was told they were good for aquariums.
Now after doing a fair bit of research I have discovered that these particular tri-phosphors are very high in the green spectrum of light therefore, appearing brighter to the human eye. For fish only aquariums this wouldn't pose a problem however, for planted tanks such as mine this is not beneficial as the plants absorb predominantly the red spectrum for growth.

Basically the best type of bulb for planted aquariums which I might add aren't hugely popular from what I can tell in Australia (or sydney at least) are the flouro's which are high in the red spectum of light + blue also .... but, red being more important.

Both bulbs are 30 watt - therefore giving my tank a total of 60 watts of lighting to 120 litres of water = 2 watts per liter which should be very sufficient for a planted tank.

Go check out the following links for some more information on lighting:

http://watershed3.tripod.com/lighting.html
http://aquaticconcepts.thekrib.com/Articles/AFM_Lighting.htm

20000k 150 watt + some corals etc

As you may have read it is important to replace your Metal Halide(MH) bulbs every 12 - 18 months as the wavelengths of light (colour) tend to shift therefore, not giving your corals etc etc the best spectrum possible. When I first started this blog I added a 150 watt MH with I believe a 13000K bulb. I purchased the tank + accessories of eBay so wasn't 100% sure how long it had been since the bulb had been changed so decided to purchase a new bulb.

There are a number of different types of MH bulbs available i.e. in terms of Kelvins. The standards ones you are able to find in OZ include:

- 6000K (High-end planted tanks - gives your aquarium a very yellow looking light)
- 13000K (Marine aquarium - with some corals however, lacks blue wavelengths therefore, corals won't look as nice - probably not the best for Small Polyp Stony {SPS} corals - white looking light )
- 16000K (a mix between the white and blue spectrum provided between 13000K and 20000K - would work well for reef or coral free aquariums - crisp white light)
- 20000K (This brings out the best colouring in your corals + gives your water a colour similar to deep ocean .... blueish lighting)

Everyone is different and prefers different lighting for their aquariums but, I would suggest you go for the crisp white light as a minimum for your tank if using MH's.
Another reason that I did change my lighting to 20000K bulb was because, I noticed that my SPS corals weren't doing as well with the old 13000K bulb. I recently bought a Acropora and after putting it in my tank it appeared to go a tinge of brown (Itc ould just be due to a conditioning period....). I have read and, I don't know how plausible this but, when the wavelength of light drops off the Zooxanthellae in the corals move forward i.e. into the top layer of the coral and therefore the coral loses its colour and, goes a brown colour due to zooxanthalae being brown (Not sure this has been proven either way). I can say however, that after changing the bulb the Acropora and Montipora's colouring improved.

So have attached a couple of pictures so you can compare:

Nice Flouro Orange Fungi

Bi-Colour Hammer Coral (LPS)

2 x Monti Plates
Acropora (was a dark brown when I fist put it in the tank but, now is starting to colour back up)

Go check out this link

Was doing some research on Acropora's and found this great link:

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=180538

I am currently running 1 x 150 watt 13,000K Aqua Medic Metal Halide (MH). All the soft corals are loving the lighting but, my acro doesn't seem to be responding as it is a little brown (not bright blue as when I first bought it). The MH I purchased off eBay second hand so just to be safe I think it would be time to change the bulb.

Will update once new lighting is in.

White spot out-break (and I have corals!!!)

I am writing this blog because, most saltwater enthusiast will have problems with White spot/Ich at one stage or another and, if you have corals sometimes you don't have a spare quarantine tank etc available.... The only option can be to treat the fish in the reef tank.

So when I first set-up my saltwater tank I didn't have a cooling mechanism set-up at all and because, its summer here we can get 40 degree days; leading to 30 degree's inside the house (which is fully tiled). The saltwater tank did at one stage get up to 29 degrees and, I think it was what had caused the outbreak of the white spot i.e. maybe accelerating the growth of the parasites.
The temperature over this period did fluctuate from 25 - 29 degrees all in one day - not the best for any tank.
So anyway the only fish to get the white spot was the sailfin tang - from my research I believe that tangs do seem to be pretty sensitive to changes in aquarium water parameters so are good indicators to something being off. I did know that the temperature fluctuations were no good for the fish however, had no real way to fix this that was within budget at the time. However, I did a few days later come up with a solution i.e. attach a fan to the inside of the stand that would continually cool down water in the mini-reef and, now the temp stays at around the 25 degree mark (a cheap solution if you can't get your hands on a chiller or a fridge).

The sailfin started off with small little specks of white spot and, eventually did start to flick itself off the rocks and, I also did notice the blue wrasse flick itself once or twice and, maybe have one or two white specks appearing.

Now if you were researching the ways to cure white spot you may have heard about putting the fish into a freshwater bath (raising the pH to the correct level - then bathing the fish for a few minutes ... I have also heard of bathing it for a few seconds and, then doing this again in 4-5 hours). Now that was the original plan however, the sailfin was way to quick to catch and, the only way I would have caught him was if I demolished the whole tank first! so that plan fizzled out.

I rang around a few shops and, no one experienced enough new how to cure the white spot without hurting the corals..... So for a week or so I kept all parameters as prefect as possible - the sailfin or any other of the fish for that matter had any problems eating. And, my second plan was to make sure the water quality etc was great and, maybe the white spot would cure itself. But this didn't work :<

FINALLY i found a product that was coral safe called "Myxazin" and, treated the tank with this. It leaves a little green tinge (not bad like malachite green more like Bactonex) to the water and, doesn't seem to bother the corals at all and, I can attest to this. So its been two days now (48hrs of treatment) and, the white spot seems almost gone and, the cleaner wrasse seems to be having a field day picking off the parasite from the sailfin tang.

Lesson - make sure you maintain a stable water temperature.
Also please note none of the corals were adversly harmed by this misadventure :>

There is a link to Myxazin on the top right of the blog :>

planted tanks - some interesting links for diagnosing defiencies in your plants...

http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_nutrient.htm


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And, just when I thought I was done..... Freshwater Update

As you can see from my previous freshwater blog post my freshwater tank was looking a bit bare.... I was hoping I could just keep cutting the plants and, replanting however, this was taking a bit longer than I hoped. So I popped down to my local fish shop - fishbowl aquarium in carlton NSW where ken (the owner) has a bit of a fetish and, good knowledge of planted tanks and, quite a nice display tank also. I had previous purchased a whole bunch of plants + crystal red shrimp after seeing his amazing display - this is what inspired me to go this way rather than having a discus tank.... the shrimp really are a surpirse once you notice they are there :> just when you think you have seen and, kept it all something else inspires your interest.

SO I went and, purchased the following four plants:

- 1 x Amazon Sword

- 1 x Lace Fern

- 2 x Rotala Rotundifolia " Colorata"

- 2 x Ludwigia Brevides

I purchased these to fill out the background of the tank and, over the next few weeks I hope to fill out the foreground with some short-hair grass and, others types of small plants. Also, purchased 4 x Otocinclus Arnoldi fish (sounds like autostinkus) which are really good for planted tanks and, they seem to be getting stuck into the algae in my tank which at one stage was growing a bit wild. Apparently cherry red shrimp also love algae - so should make a good combo with the Otoclinclus.

2 x Otoclinclus + 2 x neons