60 Gallon Tank

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glory71

New Member
Greetings.

This might be long. Thanks in advance for reading.

I started this wonderful hobby a little over a year ago when I met an old friend of mine in one of the "Airsoft" games I attended. He goes by the callsign here as "MASTER ER". He also introduced me to your forum as well which has and still is one of my sources of information when it comes to reef keeping. I was skeptical at first, most especially when I saw how much money I have to spend. It was only when I saw Mike Guerrero's work that got me “hookedâ€
 
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drty811

New Member
first off....welcome to nanotank. second nice looking set-up, and i like the fake rock work. looks awsome now there coraline growth on it. keep up the good work and keep us updated with progress pics.
 
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glory71

New Member
Update

drty811 said:
first off....welcome to nanotank. second nice looking set-up, and i like the fake rock work. looks awsome now there coraline growth on it. keep up the good work and keep us updated with progress pics.
Click to expand...
drty811,

Thanks for your kind words.

Update:

Oh man, just when things are starting to look better. It is a good thing I finally found time to post my little adventure in reef keeping because it led me to look again and try to ID some of the creatures I have in my tank...good or pest alike. Lo and behold I found one. It's the dreaded flat worms. For months I have been passing this as I thought it was just some "normal" type of brown spots on my mushroom. Just a few hours ago, I positively ID the flat worms. I believe this was kept in check by my green mandarin. No wonder he frequents the mushrooms...always perched on top of it dining. The mushroom was placed on top of some coral rubbles where alot of pods can be seen 24/7 (chitons, amphipods, copepods, and isopods) so I let go of those brown spots on the mushroom.

I forgot to take photos of it before I treated the mushrooms.

I immediately removed the rock where the mushrooms (and flatworms) were and dip it in cold RO water (SG 1.00) for I don't know how long. Maybe 5 minutes. Almost as soon as I dip the mushroom, the flatworms let go of it. I rinse the mushroom (with RO) and dip it again in another container...repeating this almost 10x. Here are some photos of it.

This was done just this morning.


Flatworms removed from the 1st dip.


More photos. Sorry this is the best photo I can get of those pest.


"Disenfected" mushroom.

I placed the mushrooms back on its original location.


Mushroom recovering.

I cannot do a "hypo salinity" of the entire tank as I know these flatworms are toxic when they die. Will cause some serious crash of my tank. Besides, I am almost certain that they were only on the mushrooms. If they are on other places, I'll find them.

As I check for more of them I took some photo opportunity. Man...my eyes almost "crossed" as I look for those pest...LOL. Hope they are gone for good.

Some new photos taken just this morning.


Cerith snails laying their eggs again.


My MOST FAVORED fish...the green mandarin doing his thing.


This is a new creature I found 2 days ago. Its white and soft. I have noooo idea what it is.


Close up.


Any idea's what these are? Some type of sponge? Or coral maybe?






I am watching this snail closely. I've got two of them. They seem to be bothering no one. If they are some kind of a pest snail...out they go.


Coraline growth on the fake rockwork.


I am having some black coralline growth on low lit areas of my tank. I hope this is normal as I thought where there is little or no light, they suppose to be white.



end.
 
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glory71

New Member
Mike,

off topic (moderators - my apologies. I have to say this):

if you only knew how many people you have help. your unselfishness in documenting your work - good and bad alike is something that i admire. do you know that it was your reply to a thread (somewhere here) that save my tank 8 months ago? you answered a reefer (i still have good memory for an old guy...LOL...he goes by the callsign Chacha from Buffalo, NY) here with regards to his ICH infection. my fishes then - 2 clown fish and hippo tang were severely infected with it. i followed your instruction step by step (with the exception of the 32 watt UV sterilizer, I only got the 18 watt) and after a few months got the results i wanted. YES! it was the assistance you have given to Chacha that also saved mine. only the scars on the Hippo Tang was left as a reminder.

your mistakes became my strength and i am sure it served others too. your altruism to willingly share your miscalculations and hopely serve as warning signs inspire others to follow suit.

actually, i have made notes of your progess together with Sidewinder's (in another forum) as i lay out plan for my next reef tank. as i have mentioned earlier, this 60 gallon has been sort of a "testing the water" for me. now that i tasted it, i liked it. i am going all out on my next tank that will start in 2009. its going to be a custom made 7'x3'x3' tank.

thanks Mike and more power.

God bless.
 
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mikeguerrero

Active Member
Glory71,

I'm really touched that my thread helped save lives, even if they were in the fish world, they were creatures that do feel pain.

I'm going to post up in my thread the corals that have thrived and those that have died as my three years come up in Sept.

I wish to share with others what corals get the name of resiliance....


MG
 
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glory71

New Member
Update:

Redid the rockwork a bit. Removed debris in the sand. Moved some of the corals. And lastly added more circulation.











 
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glory71

New Member
thanks drty811 for identifying this for me.



this is probably the biggest sponge in my tank measuring 4 inches wide by 5" in height.
 
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glory71

New Member
Update:

I decided to add more light and went T-5's (HelloLights.Com...great bunch of guys). I wanted to maximize its intensity by placing it as close to the water line as possible (atmost 4" above the water line). However, I don't want it to blind me each time I open the hood so I decided to make it function like a drawer where you can just push and pull for tank maintainance.

Hood Cover Open


Drawer type movement



A simple push and pull. I used candle wax for lube and does a pretty good job. A plexiglass was used to protect the lights from splashes since I wanted to still use my PC lights (minus the housing). I now have a total of 420 watts (T-5's overdriven @ 80 watts per bulb with individual reflectors).

More Tank Pics:



Sunrise/Sunset Simulation




Cleaner Shrimp


Sinularia Flexibis. Bird's Nest Acropora's (back) growing like crazy under T-5 lighting.


Montipora Combo Rock




My very 1st coral that almost died due to Cyano Bacteria infestation I had almost a year ago. I didn't gave up on him. Come to think of it, I have had just about every plaque manifest itself in my tank. From Ich, Hair Algae, Diatom Blooms, and Cyano. I have learned allot during those times.

Some Zoanthus Sp.




My T-5's almost burned this ricordea yuma. From its purple, green, and yellow combination to almost all brown. It was doing ok under just PC lighting up until I added more lights. The thing is I cannot remove the rock as I cemented it pretty well. So I hurriedly placed a S. Flexibis coral above it. Thankfully the color is slowly comin' back.

Clown Fish at their home.





My Mandarin who's gotten fat. Above are three of my fish (2 tangs and purple firefish) that is always happy to pose for me.



Ahhh...the kind of algae I want in my tank. Turtle grass or maiden's hair. The yellow tang would nip it occasionally but is a favorite of my hermit crabs.



Old photo of my fromia millepora. I had him since July. It was under a rock when was taking these new photos.

Aquacultured Fighting Conch.


More Unknowns:


I caught this crab in a trap I made for my hippo tang. It eluded me for more than 1 year. I know I have a small crab before that came with the LR. I thought it died. He is now in my refugium. Probably trimming my spaghetti algae.


Some type of polyp maybe???

July 3, I lost my 1st coral. A blue acropora. PC lighting just isn't enough.

July 18...I lost my 2nd reef inhabitant. My peppermint shrimp eaten by the serpent star.

July 24...traded my xenia for 2 aquacultured fighting conch.

Water Parameters:

SG: 1.026
pH: 8.2 to 8.3
temp: 80F

Ammonia and nitrite: 0
Nitrate: less than 10ppm
PO4: less than 0.03ppm

Calcium: Increase to and is now maintained at 420ppm
Alk: Increase to and is maintained at 3.43 to 3.54 meq/L or 9.6 to 9.9 dKH
Mg: 1300 to 1350 ppm.
 
G

glory71

New Member
Thanks to Mike Guerrero's thread: http://www.nanotank.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1670
I finally remembered to post below link. I has been a valuable tool in designing the kind of environment for my reef.

http://home2.pacific.net.ph/~sweetyummy42/reeftour.html

Chances are, some if not all of our marine specimen that we happily keep comes from the Philippines (SOURCE: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/frtloss.htm), it would be wise to read above link. Here, Chuck found and observed that corals are a great deal more adaptable than we give them credit for.

Read on...

Cheers!
 
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