DC_Reef

I will say a prayer tonight for his friends and family. I ordered my first "clean up" crew from Leroy many moons ago for my nano tank in college, great guy.

Ryan - There is a bit more to the story. When I moved last year, I could not take my tank with me so I setup the tank at my Dad's house. He has more experience than me with FW and SW fish tanks, but he didn't really have the time to care for it so neglect took it's toll on my tank. I know my Dad didn't change the water for many months, and the metal halide bulb was over a year old so the light spectrum and intensity had probably shifted to be more conducive to "bad" algae growth (hair and bubble) than "good" (coraline). At the same time, much of the livestock suffered and passed away. I knew the tank was pretty much at the point of no return and that no amount of emerald crabs, or fish would be able to overtake the current conditions. ~3 months ago I moved to a new place that did allow me to have the fishtank so I decided to start all over again from scratch. I took out all my live rock and substrate and bleached it out in the sun for a week to kill off and bubble algae and unfortunately all the cool coraline growth on my rock. I then dunked and soaked the "dead rock" in RO/DI water to knock off any remaining dead stuff. Scrapped the tank really good with a razor blade and then rinsed everything off with RO/DI water. Filled it back up with RO/DI water and instant ocean and stabilized the specific gravity at 1.024 and let the tank begin cycling with a scoop of sand from another established tank. My neighbor was breaking down his nano tank and gave me the 2 clowns that were already hosted on the tree coral and some of his live rock and sand to jump start my cycle. I've been testing my levels every day, and the levels looked good so I slowly started adding more live stock. Regular weekly 15% water changes with IO, dosing B-Ionic every other day, and checking the water parameters daily is the only maintenance I'm doing right now. I really love my gnome glass skimmer, it's completely silent and no microbubbles! I had an Aquamaxx HOB-1 before which produced a ton of micro bubbles in my tank that I could never seem to get rid of. The pump broke on the Aquamaxx and the replacement pump costs more than the glass skimmer and air pump did. More pictures to follow as I build up the tank. I'm using my Canon 5Dmii and 100 mm f/2.8 macro at the moment. It's been pretty tricky to get things in focus and deal with the refraction of the glass in the tank at the same time.

Can anyone ID this coral on the right? It came along in the bag with Jan's Ricordea GB.

Jan - I got the skimmer from Gnome Glass - He makes skimmers for smaller tanks, in 22-44mm sizes. I got the largest one he makes, 44 mm, with the glass hook and slide, which he rates for up to 40 gallon tanks. Unfortunately, his website is still kinda under construction, but has given great customer support via e-mail. http://gnomeglass.com/aqua/index.html Reefbuilders has a great write up with more detailed pics. http://reefbuilders.com/2012/05/31/gnome-glass-air-skimmer/

34 Gallon Solana Cube - v2 Original tank was running for 3 years before bubble algae attack forced me to tear down the tank and re-build everything 150w MH HQI Pendant with Phoenix Bulb 44mm glass skimmer from gn0meglass 2"x4" activated carbon Media Bag ~20 lbs. live rock 2" argonite substrate Livestock: 2 Amphiprion ocellaris hosted in a tree coral 2 Chromis cyanea 1 Chelmon rostratus 16 Florida Ricordia Frogspawn Future plans: 20 lbs more live rock Apex Controller ATO (I've heard the JBJ systems work well with this tank) Upgrade main tank pump Smugmug Gallery

sent you a PM

Hey Everyone, Thanks for the advise and offers to help. Steve G - I tried to PM you but it seems your inbox is full. I was able to move it by myself with some buckets and plenty of pre-made RO/DI and SW mix. I am re-curing my live rock because before the last breakdown the tank was completely infested with bubble algae. It's drying in the sun for a few more days, and then will go into some buckets with an air stone, but I don't want to throw it in the new tank for about a month. Do you happen to have any live sand or a small piece (~3-5 lbs) of live rock that I could borrow from an established tank to help kick off my cycle? Best, DC_Reef BTW, I'm located near Galludet University in NE.

I just need help getting the tank up on the stand, transferring some livestock (2 fish and a few corals) and figuring a way out to mount the light from my ceiling. My powerheads and TDS meter just broke, so I need to borrow those as well.

Also, does anyone have an opinion on these single source LED systems? http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem.aspx?idProduct=YH1111&child=YH1113

I moved my tank from my old place to my new apt near Galludet University in NE. It's a simple Solana 34 Gallon Setup Is anyone available tonight after 7 PM to help me setup the tank. I've made a ton of RO/DI water and salt water mix. <edited> Thanks, DC_Reef

I'm going to delay the tank move until tomorrow evening. Vadim, I'll send you a PM.

I am moving my 34 Solana from my office at 11th and New York NW to my apartment at 5th and L St NW (short distance) starting around 11 AM today. If anyone is available around noon with an SUV/Station Wagon/Hatchback I would be much obliged. You can PM or e-mail me at: danatnaturalwaves.net

I'm an iPhone and Android developer. Send me a PM with some of your feature requests and maybe I can write a better app

I typically get my RO/DI water from my friend who lives out in Rockville. I am about to do my first water change and wanted to start mixing the saltwater tonight. Would anyone sell me 10-15 gallons of RO/DI water so I don't have to drive all the way out to the 'burbs? I will bring my own 5 gallon containers.

Cool video nate!

The snow looking stuff is cyclops I had just added a 1/2 cube of it for all the reef creatures. I'm experiencing the expected diatom bloom right now. I've cut back on feeding in order to combat the bloom. The coralline algae should help fight it off, so I'm still running the 150 watt HQI metal halide for now. I believe it's a 20K blub.

Here are some images I took while feeding my 34 gallon Solana today. More can be found on my website/blog: http://naturalwaves.net

Everyone who didn't try to immediately criticize my tank: Thanks for the welcome to WAMAS The Camaron: You should do some more research before making claims that my tank is infested with "aiptasia for sure". Try counting the tentacles for one. This is atlantic live rock, aptasia is not native, nor does any creature on my rock resemble "aiptasia for sure" Curlyque maybe: This is what aiptasia actually looks like:

Does anyone have a peppermint shrimp that they can loan me to eat up the aiptasia? I would consider buying one, but I think it's cruel to throw one in there then have them starve after they gobble up all the aiptasia then have nothing left to eat. Thanks, Dan

Parameters: SG 1.022 pH 8 Ammonia 0.5 Nitrites 0 Nitrates 5 Temp. (F) 79

Hello, I've been in and out of the reef hobby for the past 5 years. I recently got back into the hobby and chose a 34 gallon Current USA Solana Reef Tank with the 150 watt HQI Pendant. Specs: http://www.current-usa.com/solana.html Current inhabitants (all purchased from Sea Save in Glen Burine, MD): -12 lbs. live rock - Amazing stuff from Sea Save -20 lbs. Aragonite -A pair of mated percs from the Solomon's Island -Various button corals, anemones, and sponges Pics here: http://dmb.smugmug.com/Pets/ReefTank/ If you can identify anything in the pics, please post in the comments. I am trying to be patient and slowly stock my tank. I think the live rock + 2 fish is enough bio-load to get the cycle going. My buddies brought over a nice filter media full of critters and copepods from his 150 gallon reef last night to help jump start my tank. I plan to wait about 6 weeks before adding any more substantial livestock. If anyone has any frags they think would thrive in my tank, please PM me I am about to do a water test, and will post the parameters here. Best, Dan