Allen's Unexpected Tank -- 55 Gallon

[AHarp]

The Unexpected Tank

Sorry for the wall of text to start this off. This is the story of how I set up a tank in 3 days. I feel like I need to explain some backstory because this really isn’t the best way to start a tank. I started a thread in the general discussion forum last week about possibly needing to take the fish from my school to my house depending on how bad this corona stuff got. My administration thought I would be able to make it in to feed and check up semi regularly, so I quit worrying. My wife had posted on Facebook asking if anyone had a tank I could use just in case. Another WAMAS member from my community saw the post and offered me a 55 gallon acrylic tank he didn’t want anymore, even though I didn’t think I’d need it for school. I picked it up and figured I’d get it running eventually to replace the 30 gallon high tank I have.

Well over the weekend everything changed. Regulations about getting in to school changed and my principal and I decided Tuesday I needed to pick up the fish and take care of them at home. So Tuesday evening I started building a stand.

 

I used 4x4 posts and 2x4 lumber.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3/4 inch plywood on the top and as a bottom shelf.

 

 

I (mostly) finished the stand Wednesday morning, and got all the fish and live rock from school. I brought home as much of the water as I could, and the felt filter and all of the blue balls from the sump, in the hopes that I could start the tank with as short of a cycle as possible since I was putting fish in straight away.

 

 

 

I added the final pieces today (the light and the return pump). It’s been a whirlwind adventure. I’m extremely thankful to the man who gave me the tank and to my wife for putting up with my crazy hobby and giving me the time to get this tank running.

 

On to the specifics.

• Tank: 55 (I think) gallon acrylic
• Stand: DIY following King Of DIY’s plans
• Sump: Aqueon ProFlex Sump
• Return pump: Sicce SYNCRA 2.0 568 GPH
• Light: VIPARSPECTRA 165W
• Circulation: Two Hydor pumps – I have a Jebao OW-10 that I might move in—it’s currently in my 30 gallon with most of my coral
• Skimmer: I have a skimmer, but haven’t hooked it in yet. I’m using the space for the blue balls currently until I know the tank is cycled.
• Stocking: Two clownfish, two yellowtail damselfish, two Talbot’s damselfish, one blue hippo tang (I know this tank is nowhere close to big enough but I don’t currently have much choice), 3 turbo snails, a couple of hermit crabs, and an emerald crab

 

 

Initially, I was going to use a DIY conduit to hold my light. Unfortunately, the light was too heavy. If the conduit was supported on both sides, I think it would have worked. Instead, I went with a wood frame and put a piece of the conduit through it. It doesn’t look nice, but it works for now.

 

 

I’m happy about the start of this tank, and excited to see where it leads. Once schools finally reopen, I’ll take the fish back and be able to really create something nice of my own.

 

I know I slammed this together quickly, and I’m wondering if I missed anything. I need to play with the light tomorrow to figure out all the settings. Any thoughts or suggestions on the stand, light support, tank itself, or anything else are welcome! Thanks for checking it out. :-)

 

Edited March 21, 2020 by AHarp

[ImGoingCoastal]

The stand came out awesome!

What're the dimensions of the tank? It looks cool!

From your picture it looks like the pillar of rocks is blocking light from the left side of the tank, maybe shift the light over a little to compensate?

Speaking of the light, I actually like your light stand!

Sent from my SM-G970U1 using Tapatalk

[Pedro]

That came together nicely.

[AHarp]

@Pedro Thanks! I'm happy with it overall.

 

@ImGoingCoastal Thanks! It's 36" x 15" x 20.5". I stacked the rocks to create a little dark space; I have a couple corals to put in and some are lower light. I was worried about burning them. I'll let my father-in-law know about the light stand, he suggested that after the conduit didn't work out.

 

I've picked up a few corals here and there and I used to know about each one's preferences, but I've forgotten. Can someone help me out?

 

I've got this piece that looks like maybe some brain coral. I think I remember that it should be with medium flow and decent light.

 

There's this piece that looks like an ear. I think it's a shelf coral and needs good flow and lower light. I had it in the school tank, but I think it was the wrong spot. It had a lot more color when I first put it in.

 

I think this cup coral needs high light and high flow.

 

This green finger I believe needs good light and medium flow.

 

This leather finger is needs low light, medium flow.

 

I have no idea what this is. I've had it in low light, medium flow and it's looked ok overall.

 

This green star needs high light and good flow to keep it clean. It's on the bottom of my 30 gallon tank because it fell and I've been busy with the new tank.

 

I'm planning to put all of these into the 55 gallon and just need to figure out the best placement for them.

 

Finally, this morning all the fish were out and about. They may be a bit cramped, but they're all moving around and feeding, so I'll take that as a positive!

 

[Jon Lazar]

2 hours ago, AHarp said:

 

Looks like a leather/toadstool coral (sarcophyton)

 

 

2 hours ago, AHarp said:

 

I'd guess this is some sort of sponge.  Put it somewhere in medium or low light and see what happens.  If it's photosynthetic, it should grow.  If it's not photosynthetic, algae may start growing on it and you'll have to move it into the shade.

 

2 hours ago, AHarp said:

 

These are yellow polyps.  They'll do well in most any light.  

 

2 hours ago, AHarp said:

 

This looks like a photosynthetic gorgonian.  It should have lots of little polyps along its branches when it's happy.

 

 

 

[AlanM]

Good job.  This will be much easier even if they would have let you keep coming in.

[AHarp]

@AlanM Agreed! It's a decent looking tank and a much nicer light than I've had before, also. That helps because my wife is spending more time watching the fish and corals than I am. :-) Nice to keep everyone happy.

 

Thanks very much for the help with the corals. I'll get them in place and get some new pictures up!

@Jon Lazar

Edited March 22, 2020 by AHarp
Hit submit by accident

[AHarp]

One month update! Everything seems to be doing very well. The corals for the most part are looking good. The fish and shrimp are all still alive. There's a bit of aggression between the fish, but that's to be expected since the tank is a good bit smaller than what they have been used to. There seem to be enough caves and such for everyone to find a good place to chill out and get away from the rest.

 

 

I do have a pretty substantial algae growth. I cut down the time my light is on, but I'm also wondering if I should invest in a CUC. Reef Cleaners seems like the place to get them, and I am considering this package with dwarf ceriths, nassarius, Florida ceriths, nerites, and hermits. The tank dimensions are right, at least. I considered the package with Mithrax crabs, but I'm not seeing bubble algae, and I have one emerald crab already, so I'm not sure if another Mithrax would be too much.

 

I also have a bare bottom tank, and I'm wondering if I should add any live sand. I didn't bring any during the move because I ran out of time and buckets. At this point, I feel like adding sand might be too much of an issue for the fish, with the dust getting suspended in the water and all.

 

So, any thoughts on a CUC with/without Mithrax? Should I go ahead and add sand a little bit at a time or not worry about it at this point?

[DFR]

Good job, especially under such time constraint!  I wouldn’t add sand at this point, and it can’t hurt to add a clean up crew.  
Any update on the system?

[AHarp]

On 8/8/2020 at 11:59 AM, DFR said:

Good job, especially under such time constraint!  I wouldn’t add sand at this point, and it can’t hurt to add a clean up crew.  
Any update on the system?

Wow I meant to update this sooner. Time's flying by. The aquarium is chugging along nicely. I got the skimmer put in, and I have a light coming this week to attempt a refugium compartment in the sump. I'll put in some chaeto and hopefully it will out compete the algae growing all over the rocks. I've switched to RODI water, so hopefully that will help, too. One thing I didn't think about is that the RODI water would change the pH. It wound up dropping a fair bit before I caught it. I did add a clean up crew of hermits and snails. I'm picking up some pipe coral and birdsnest from a member this weekend and hopefully things start spreading. The hard part is going to be telling my wife I have to take it back to school once we reopen. She's gotten pretty attached and really enjoys searching for new things coming up out of the live rock. So far she's found fan worms, brittle stars, macro algae, aptasia, and possibly a peanut worm.

 

 

 

[AHarp]

Had some free time today, so why not update! It's looking pretty nice at the moment. I put in some new corals from @YHSublime, who was beyond generous and awesome to talk to. The fish and CUC all seem great! The corals seem to be at least holding their own. I've started dosing with Coral-Vite and Essential Elements, so I'm hoping to see some growth soon.

 

I've had an issue with green hair algae. I switched over to RO/DI water, which doesn't seem to have changed anything yet. I've been pulling out each rock about once a month and scrubbing off the algae with a toothbrush, which is time consuming and means I'm disrupting everything in the tank relatively frequently. I got an algae blenny to try to help, but it died within a week. I'm hoping consistent water changes will help bring down what the algae is feeding on. I did get some chaeto and put it in one section of the sump with a light, but algae seems to be growing better there than the chaeto.

 

When the algae is freshly scrubbed, though, the tank looks nice!

 

FTS:

 

Birdsnest:

 

I think this is favia?

 

Purple leather and what my kids call a stick:

 

Red monti cap:

 

Trumpet and toadstool:

 

My wife found one thing I'm not sure is good or not. It looks like an isopod of some type. I know some are considered beneficial and some are parasites. No idea what I have here. Anyone have an idea?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for checking it out! I'd love to hear any constructive criticism. Still figuring it all out!

[tpallas]

Looks great! The RO/DI water should make a big difference. Unless you have piles of detritus under those rocks from dead zones, I would think you're on your way to much less of an algae problem. That acan is really nice!

[YHSublime]

Looking good man! 

[AHarp]

@tpallasThanks! Not too much detritus, thankfully. I'm really hopeful the algae drops. I'm tired of brushing it haha! I like the acan a lot also! It's got a new head on it I'm excited about.

 

@YHSublime The corals I got from you are awesome! I didn't get a good shot of the mummy eye but I'm really excited about it. Thanks again!

[ReefAddict]

Those little guys look like Chitons, good guys....free cleanup crew. 

[AHarp]

@ReefAddictOh awesome! I considered getting some Chitons with my cleanup guys but didn't want to pay the extra shipping. I'm happy to have some! 

[AHarp]

I'm thinking I have some eggs. The larger of my yellow tail damsels is spending all his (I'm guessing male) time around one of the rocks, chasing everything else away. My wife noticed some growth that look a lot like eggs to me. Can anyone confirm? And then if they are eggs, is there a chance to take care of them or are they pretty much likely to be eaten/caught in filters/etc?

 

Eggs pic 1

 

Eggs pic 2

 

Not happy with me taking pictures.

 

[AHarp]

Well I had a couple batches of eggs. They popped up, grew some, and disappeared overnight. I'm glad the fish are happy enough to lay eggs! That being said, the corals don't seem nearly as happy. I'm not seeing any growth really and some retraction in the GSP and toadstool. The birdsnest started looking pretty dull also. My wife noticed a few odd looking growths on the birdsnest and the rock it is on. I'm wondering what they might be. We were thinking maybe vermetid worms? I took the rock out and scraped off all that I could find. I have it in a bucket for now. Can anyone help identify what these might be?

 

[Origami]

They do look like small vermetids. 

[AHarp]

Oh fun. Thanks for the confirmation! I've removed the rock and scraped off as many as I could find. Any advice on whether it's worth it to try and keep scraping or another method of removal? Or maybe move the birdsnest to another rock? Or just nuke the whole rock and coral?

[tpallas]

11 hours ago, AHarp said:

Oh fun. Thanks for the confirmation! I've removed the rock and scraped off as many as I could find. Any advice on whether it's worth it to try and keep scraping or another method of removal? Or maybe move the birdsnest to another rock? Or just nuke the whole rock and coral?

 

Can you dip it? I usually pick them off with my fingernails and dip to kill whatever remains.

 

Nice on Olney BTW, I grew up off Emory Lane.

[AHarp]

@tpallasI'd be happy to dip it! Uh...what exactly does that mean? I'm envisioning slathering French onion all over the rock, but something tells me that's not quite right.

Edit: OK I should have just done the simple thing and googled coral dipping. It's probably the best way to go, but I'm a bit bummed because there are a few brittle stars and other little helpful things in the rock and corals. I'll do my best to get them out before dipping.

 

That's great! I'm up by Olney ES. I drive down Emory all the time getting my son to the Rockville Ice Arena.

Edited March 22, 2021 by AHarp

[AHarp]

Well two years isn't too long between updates...

So this tank lasted longer than anticipated. I do have the school tank up and running again, but got attached to having one here at home, so...It is time to upgrade though, and I'm in the process of setting up a 90 gallon to move everything into. First, new pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

Things are looking pretty good overall. There's definitely not enough space for my blue tang though. So, time to upgrade. I have a 90 gallon almost ready to go. And by almost I mean...well...

My current hold up is deciding if I should use the tank and stand as they are or if I should modify the stand to allow for more space underneath. It's a simple iron frame with plywood as a base for the tank and for the sump. With the sump in place there really is very limited clearance. I'm debating routing a channel into some 4x4 to lift the plywood base up a few inches. Anyone tried something similar or have another thought for increasing clearance?