Any mentors or experienced reef aquarists in the Rockville/Gaithersburg area?

[Cord]

Mentors or experienced reef aquarists in the Rockville/Gaithersburg area?

 

I tried to edit my subject/title, but no luck, sorry.

 

 

I am a new and very frustarted participant of this hobby. I have had fish only tanks back in 2000 and now I am interested in setting up a coral and fish set up. Not too many corals, but a nice balance.

 

I have a 155 bow front set up, that has been running for a year now and have experienced problems from excess detritus, Dinos!!!!, and now a parasite problem (black spots on my tangs), my fault for not having a quarantine tank. Anyway, I plan to devote 2013 to getting the baby running properly and start by moving the fish into a quarantine tank, that I plan to purchase this weekend.

 

I continue to read forums and information on the web, but was wondering if there is anyone in the gaithersburg area that would be willing to check out my set up and give me a few pointers from time to time to ensure there is less operator error

 

155 bow front reef, 40 gallon sump, Mag 18 return, Reef Octopous skimmer - 200, Ecoxotic panoramo LEDs (only 2 modules), 2 circulation pumps, 160 lbs of live rock (with too many feather dusters)

Edited February 22, 2013 by Origami

[Origami]

Title fixed.

[Coral Hind]

Just from looking at your tank info I think you will need more lighting for most corals. Hopefully a local reefer can swing by and help you out.

[MBVette]

frist off welcome to the boards.

 

You should become a paying member as it will open up a wealth of knowledge to you that you currently done see here on the forums.

Edited February 22, 2013 by MBVette

[Cord]

Thx, I plan to read as much as I can. I actually am a paying member, as Paypal recently did an automatic debit from my acct.

[MBVette]

Sorry I misread your status.

 

When I started about 4 years ago (and still do) I constantly read on here and over at reef central anything and everything I can find. Any problems we have no have more than likely happened before so just keep reading. And when you do have a specific issue post it up on here and one of us have most likely gone through the same thing, so we can point you in the right direction.

[surf&turf]

Welcome, how many fish and what size are they, in the 155?

[Rosco's Reefs]

PM sent

[Cord]

Red Sead sailfin tang (6 inches), powder blue (2 in), blue throat trigger ( 2 in), 4 sunburst anthias (vary in size 2 are 3 inches), pink spot boby (3 in) bi color blenny (2.5 inch) Triidancna clam (5 in)

 

because of the black ich or spot currenly affecting the tangs, I am removing the fish to quarantine them and will probably see if anyone wants the anthias (free) to quarantine for themselves. My quarantine tank will be either a 40 gall breeder or 55, but I don't want too many fish in the quarantine and have read that the display tank should be void of fish for a month to eliminate the black ich cycle in the main tank. I plan to do fresh water dips for the tangs and hyposalinity in the quarantine tank for one month.

[MBVette]

Can you take some pictures of the fish? And are they still eating?

 

I am suprised that your clam is still around with that trigger, they are known to eat clams.

[Cord]

I will try to take pics later. All of the fish are eating well and with the exception of ocassiona scratching against objects, appear ok.

 

The research I have done on blue throat triggers suggets they reef safe and more docile than other triggers, but I do realize there is a risk with any trigger. In any event, he has not even glanced at the clam, but I may get rid of him when I do this start over (the trigger that is)

Edited February 22, 2013 by Cord

[Cord]

I tried to attach some pics. They were the best I could do. Lets see if it works

[ridetheducati]

The Blue Throat will be fine with clams. I hope you have screens on top of the tank because Blue Throats are jumpers.