VA Reefdog

Blue80- just saw your question-- sorry this is horribly out-of-date to respond but the grinder worked great on the dry rock. Update on my 120 gallon I had a hair algae problem in March into April that adjusting my feedings/skimmer and cleaning the filter cups more frequently has taken care of. I didn't take many pics during that time. First some progress pics—May 3rd Starting with left side of tank and progressing across to right. IMG_8348 May 3 2020 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr IMG_8353 May 3 2020 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr IMG_8356 May 3 2020 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr IMG_8357 May 3 2020 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr IMG_8363 May 3 2020 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr Thanks for looking- June update to follow. Greg

I agree with your thought-- a hairy mushroom-- rhodactis genus. Tend to be good growers- get big and sometimes overgrow where you put them to bother/overgrow nearby corals. Hope it helps

Really nice clean look to the tank and stand. Very Sharp!

As said-- a good medicine for parasite infections (protozoal) including malaria and amoebic dysentery in people (and protozoal infections in fish). Not sure how/why it would be helpful as an antiviral for covid-19. Hopefully nobody tries this until it is actually looked into more. There is enough fake cures and treatments on the web already. It may make the fish meds harder to find though.

Love your fish selection. Beautiful! Do they all get along with each other and the corals ok?

Thanks-- I am trying to be good and patient. It does not come easy to me.

Some updates on the tank. Coming together well. FTS IMG_8282 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr Have 2 clowns, 2 purple firefish, a midas blenny, a yellow-watchman goby and orange spot goby. I did add a candy cane pistol shrimp to pair with one of the gobies but I haven’t seen him since I added him. I hope he is still alive but it has been 3 weeks and no sign. I did get 4 small rock flower anemones. I have never had anemones before—so I am super excited! They are tiny now- I hope down the road to have them spawn. IMG_8272 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr And many frags to grow out- lots of different brains and acans, a few hammers and some sticks. IMG_8269 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr IMG_8257 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr IMG_8260 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr I had no idea how much I would have to top-off each week so I just switched from the 5 gallon to a 14 gallon trash can which should last about 8-10 days. IMG_8277 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr Thanks for looking. Greg

Thank you for the info. Good details to have in an emergency. Hopefully never need to use it but good to have just in case.

Mr. Skimmer! love that idea.

Beatiful corals and nems!!!

On prior 75 gallon tank-- with 20 sump-- ran a refugium chamber with chaeto and sometimes ulva added in. On my current tank - 120 gallon with 40 gal sump-- I am running about 14 gallon refugium as one chamber with chaeto, ulva and red gracilaria. The sump has skimmer then return with T to the last chamber for refugium (so I can keep the baffle and the fuge highest). Greg

What did you have for adult rock flowers- how many and are they different colors? I am hoping to try rock flowers in my new tank and the idea of them spawning is super-cool!! Thanks for sharing that. Any idea how long before the babies show their colors- -do they change as they grow or start out one color and stay that way?

Not having a problem with nuisance algae-- I am happy to be growing chaeto and other macros like weeds in my fuge. I added red gracilia and ulva as a food source for when I get a tang. I also read somewhere- and this may be complete nonsense- that different macroalgae utilize nutrients differently. Chaeto is used most because it is the most consistent and fastest grower/exporter of nitrogen/nitrate and phosphates. But having some that grow slower along with the chaeto allows for more consistent nutrient export. It is probably academic and not really significant in a reef tank. I do like the idea of having balanced approach if possible and I like having fresh algae to feed fish. I used to feed my tomini tang the ulva that I grew in my fuge in my 75 gallon tank so I thought I would do the same here (down the road when I get a tang). For the fuge light-- it is a beast-in a small package-- 300 watt of red/blue light LED. I got from Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Rolledro-Lights-Indoor-Spectrum-Hydroponics/dp/B00RWYCRB2/ref=sr_1_14?keywords=roleadro+led+grow+light&qid=1580243789&sr=8-14 Roledro LED Grow Lights, 300W UFO LED Grow Light for Indoor Plants, Red Blue Spectrum Grow Lamp for Hydroponics, Veg and Flower by Roleadro- for $46. Again-- going with something I had read a while back-- if you want your fuge to outcompete your display tank and grow algae better than your display-- you should have a light that competes with the display lights so I figured bigger/stronger is better and so far, my chaeto is growing like a weed. Of course-- it has only been a month so can't say anything for sure. Greg

I like the rockscape- lots room for coral and plenty of caves/pass-throughs for fish. Looking good.

Fish Tank Updates— IMG_8117 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr More organization including the 5 gallon topoff. IMG_8148 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr Have pair of clowns and a yellow watchman goby and orange spot goby in display. IMG_8133 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr Had to move the pair of purple firefish out of QT early because the midas blenny was not behaving well in QT. I know the last post was about proper QT. But midas was terrorizing the firefish to the point I couldn’t get them to eat. So after 2 weeks of QT (instead of 4) and copper treatment- they happily joined the display tank. They are doing well so far. IMG_8136 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr The midas blenny and McCoskers will stay in another 2 weeks of QT. IMG_8158 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr IMG_8169 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr Added a clean up crew including a 2 small conches and a skunk cleaner. IMG_8118 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr And added a few corals. IMG_8141 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr I forgot that I added the T5s to my LED’s and I burnt the margin of my monti cap even though they started on sandbed. I had my LED’s set at 50% intensity for both blues and white channel – which is what I had them set up on my old tank. But I forgot that I had slowly brought them up to 50% and no T5s. Luckily I caught it early enough and cut T5 to 4 hours and intensity to 20%. Got the skimmer dialed in and refugium is growing chaeto/ulva and red gracilia well with that crazy fuge light. IMG_8149 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr IMG_8151 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr IMG_8155 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr That’s all I have time for updates for now.

Tank is coming along nice!! I had same problem with Eheim Jaager Heaters-- they were too long for my sump and I had limited space. Can't wait to see rocks/water in there.

So I have 2 small perc clowns, a yellow watchman goby and orange spot goby in QT for 30 days. They just finished copper tx and 2 doses of prazipro. I plan on adding them later this week. The water in both display tank and QT tank are matched for parameters. The display tank has cycled rock (about 100 pound total) and box of MarinePur Ceramic Biomedia spheres in the sump-- all of which cycled in rubbermaid tubs with heaters/pump and added Dr. Tims about 2 months ago. I originally used pure ammonia for the cycling and testing (made sure the tubs could process 2-4 ppm in 24 hour) and then have been ghost feeding the tubs while I got the main tank ready. I am trying to do this tank right. My last tank had ich introduced and the fish that I had lived with rare outbreaks but I occasionally lost new additions. This time-- I am QT'ing everything and my plan is to medicate with copper/prazipro for all new fish.

Finished with sand/wavemakers/lights. IMG_8079 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr Fuge Light- may be a little too strong. Roledro 300 W grow light—red spectrum. Kids and wife call it the Fish disco room. IMG_8081 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr IMG_8083 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr IMG_8084 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr That is it for now. Tank is ready and done. Fish come out of quarantine and into display tank this week. Thanks for looking. Greg

Hung the LED’s and T5’s in canopy. IMG_8073 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr IMG_8074 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr IMG_8076 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr

Rock work for the reefscape. I cut a bunch of the base rock in half so it can sit flat. The rock has fully cycled already-- but has been in rubbermaid tubs. IMG_8065 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr IMG_8066 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr Put together the Rockscape. Tried to use the golden rule /ratio for composition. I am pleased with how it turned out. IMG_8067 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr IMG_8068 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr IMG_8069 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr IMG_8071 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr And even more to come...........

Thanks DFR and YHSublime. Some exciting progress made since the last update. Lots to post. Fish Tank Updates— Cord organization—Ranco controller, return pump controller and skimmer controller mounted on side of stand. IMG_8060 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr Overflows had the pop out for the return line out and they were draining too fast. Siliconed in acrylic piece to block. IMG_8062 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr IMG_8063 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr More to come.......

Latest Update and pics. Plumbing is completed/cemented and in place. Note the PVC support straps for longer lateral runs. I added a layer of silicon padding on the overhanging return line to try to minimize vibrations. IMG_8031 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr IMG_8048 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr IMG_8026 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr IMG_8025 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr I added a GFCI outlet to the outlet behind the fish tank. I never had one on my old tank and I guess I am lucky to never had a short/live wire in tank or overflow into a power supply. IMG_8036 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr Added DO water to do leak test/plumbing and pump check. IMG_8045 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr And built the LET retrofit T5 light kits. Still need to hang lights (LED and T5’s in the canopy). IMG_8054 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr IMG_8057 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr IMG_8058 by Greg Lorenz, on Flickr Will post more pics after time allows with the New Year. Thanks for looking.

Tom-- your color coded plumbing is awesome.

I cut out a small notch in the stand (on the crossbar). I started small and sanded/smoothed it down as I went and it turned out to only need just a little off. It allows for the skimmer to get in/out with a rotation/twist. So thank you all for the suggestions-- problem has been solved. I appreciate all the input. Greg

Thank you epleeds. I was going to just run with it but Kyle suggested notching stand - so with notch and some sanding small spot on cross bar- I can now rotate skimmer into and out of sump. It is as tight as can be but it will work. Hopefully-- my tank will run like yours without ever needing to try to get it out-- but atleast I know it is possible. thanks again.