David's 30 Gallon AIO Nano/Micro Reef Build

Things are looking pretty good in the tank! I picked up a dimmer for my white Reefbrite XHO, and I've got the white light set on 70% right now. I chose to do this because I feel like the white light is too intense, especially near the top of my tank where I'm keeping my montipora frags. The tank has a little bit more of a blue hue to it now, which I like, and hopefully it will get some color back in that encrusting montipora.

I also picked up some Reef Chili today. I've heard great things about this coral food, and all my corals seemed to love it! My hammer coral sucked it up, and the candycanes got completely engorged on the stuff. The zoas seemed to enjoy it, too! The only thing I'm concerned about is whether it might cause any parameter changes in my water... The directions call for 1 spoonful per every 20 gallons of aquarium capacity, dissolved in a 1/2 cup of tank water. So, I added 1.5 spoons to a 1/2 cup of tank water and fed it to the corals. It just seemed like a lot of food going into the tank, as I was able to target feed each coral about 3 times... I'm hoping it's not too much food for the tank and I don't get an ammonia spike. What do you guys think? I'll be testing tonight to make sure things stay on track. If all goes well, I'll probably feed the corals once or twice a week with it.
 
Well, my wife and I went a little crazy at Neptune's Cove today... After staring at all the display tanks for a good long time, we ended up walking away with 3 beautiful ricordea specimens (1 blue with greenish accents, 1 lime green, and 1 bright orange with blue accents), 1 gold octopus frogspawn, 1 greenish blue/purple/red acan frag, 1 green birdsnest coral, a colony of Fire and Ice zoas, a colony of nuclear green palys, and a frag of Meteor Shower cyphastrea. Here's a shot of the tank showing the new corals (which are still "in transition," of course):

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Now, here are the corals individually:

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The colors we got provide a great balance for the pinks, oranges, and greens that we already have, and I tried to place them in spots that provide them with the right amount of light, while creating a variety of color wherever you look.

As you can see, the acan frag has 2 empty sockets in it. I'm hoping that new growth will end up covering these spots, so we'll just have to wait and see. I also used WAY too much glue on the birdsnest, but there's nothing I can really do now... I still think it looks pretty good, though. I selected the Meteor Shower cyphastrea for its encrusting growth, and I placed it in the coral-like rock on the right side of my tank because this piece of rock takes up a lot of space and won't look as nifty once the tank fills up with all these colorful corals and it's still sitting there, barren. The cyphastrea should eventually encrust this rock and make it look very interesting indeed!

I ended up moving the sunset montipora down so that it sits to the left of the Kryptonite trumpets. It should get less light here, and the color seems to be improving a bit, too. Here's how it looks right now:

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I've also dialed the white light down to 50% intensity, so that the lighting in my tank more closely mimics that of the ocean. It's a lot more pleasing to the eye now, and it gives more color to the corals during the day. My alkalinity is around 9 dKH now, with calcium at around 400. Overall, things are looking good!
 
Here's a quick update:

I noticed a small amount of green hair algae growing on a few of my rocks near the bottom of the tank (that is to say that I've noticed a small tuft here and there). My snails have been doing good work, but I want to make sure that this doesn't get out of hand. I'm going to pick up a couple more snails (probably 5 or so) to keep any new algae down, but I also know that I have to address the root of the problem. My nitrate test kit currently reads 0. However, I know that I can't trust this result if I see any algae in the tank, as the algae might be locking up the nitrates so they can't be read by the kit. Unfortunately, I still don't have a phosphate test kit (I know, I know... It's #1 on my list right now, and I'll probably be picking one up either today or tomorrow). However, the phosphate kit might return a 0 result too, for the same reason.

Here's what I think is going on:

I've got my GFO in a media bag sitting in a rack in the overflow section of my sump. This is not optimal, as the GFO could be clumping together in the bag, and this, coupled with the passive water flow in the overflow section, might be causing the water to simply flow AROUND the media, rather than through it.

I ordered an Innovative Marine Minimax All-In-One Desktop Media Reactor that will be here tomorrow. It's a small reactor that basically consists of a media chamber mounted on top of a pump. I will be mixing my carbon and GFO together, making sure to create an even mixture (to reduce clumping of the GFO), and keeping it compacted in the chamber with the supplied sponges so that it does not tumble and grind the carbon to dust. The reactor will replace the media rack and bag system that I've been using thus far. This should provide me with a much better filtration system, as it will actually be forcing water through the media, rather than letting it flow passively around it.

My water changes are pretty substantial, at 8 gallons every 2 weeks. I'm also only feeding once per day. This should keep the nitrates under control. I'm actually wondering if the small amount of hair algae I'm seeing might also be due to the Reef Chili I used earlier, as the portion recommended in the directions seemed a little excessive for my tank size. I will be toning down the amount of coral food I'm using, and will only feed once per week.

The hair algae is hardly noticeable at all, but I know that these things can get out of hand if they're not taken care of quickly. I'm going to do my best!
 
Well, I got the reactor in today, and set it up in the tank. It sat a little low with regard to the water line in the overflow section of the sump, so I cut the bottom section of my old eggcrate media rack off and used it as a little stand for the reactor. It comes with a little acrylic bracket to secure it to a sump baffle, but the first baffle in my overflow section goes all the way up to the sump lid, so i couldn't attach it there, as the lid would not close properly in this configuration. Instead, I took out the screw that is used to tighten the bracket against the baffle and replaced it with an outward-facing suction cup. Then, I simply attached the bracket to the face of the baffle itself. Everything is secure and ready to go now!

I'm currently running a well-mixed combination of carbon and GFO in the reactor. However, I noticed that the recommended amount of media (carbon and GFO combined) was just slightly too much for this reactor's capacity. For now, I've left the old filled media bags in the sump with the reactor. Now that I've seen how tiny it is (the pump on the bottom is basically 2"x2") and how easy it is to install, I'm going to add another reactor to the tank, so that I can run my GFO and carbon separately. This will allow me to get the full benefit of each of these substances, by keeping the carbon compacted and allowing the GFO to tumble. I can use the recommended amounts this way with room to spare, too! I'm currently using the high-capacity GFO and the Premium Rox 0.8 carbon, both from BRS. When the second reactor arrives on Thursday, I'll take a picture to show how the reactors look in the sump. I'll also try to get a shot of my suction cup modification.

Anyway, I picked up 5 more trochus snails and got them in the tank to eat algae. I was going to get 5 more red-legged hermits, but when I got to the shop, it was apparent to me that they had misunderstood me on the phone when I asked if they had red-legged hermits. All they had were scarlets, and although scarlets are prettier, they seem rather lazy to me when compared with red-legged hermits. I'll probably pick up some red-legs from another shop tomorrow.

Things in the tank are looking pretty darn good! There are definitely tufts of hair algae growing on the various rocks, but I'm hoping that will die down in time. My tank is still young, afterall. These are growing pains! My encrusting monti is getting more and more of its pink coloration back each day! The only things that slightly concern me are my nuclear green paly colony, which seems to like to wrinkle its edges up and looks rather "limp" at times (the frag plug is nestled in my rockwork at an angle, about mid-level in the tank, as I was told that they become brighter and more yellowish when they get more light). The polyps look pretty healthy and have great color, but the "ruffled" edges are a curiosity to me, as I'm used to seeing zoas, with their uniform borders. I've seen some pictures of palys with these "wrinkled" edges and people seemed to think they were normal, so I guess it's no big deal. Mine go back and forth between ruffled and straight. The other thing I found a bit odd was that my hammer coral has not been extending its tentacles as far as it usually does. It seems to come out to about mid-length and then sit there. I also noticed a few thin white/clear strands of what looks like mucus coming off the tentacles. I've heard that hammers sometimes go through a process of de-sliming themselves from time to time, and when they do, they close up a bit and shed this mucus. Its color is amazing, so I'm thinking this is just a natural process. If it goes on for a couple more days, I'll re-consider. For now, though, things look pretty good!

I went ahead and ran a full battery of water tests tonight, just for the heck of it. Here are the results:

Salinity - 1.026
pH - 8.2
Temp - 79 F
Ammonia - 0 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 0 ppm
Phosphate - Unknown (because I still haven't picked up a kit yet :p )
Calcium - 450 ppm
Alkalinity - 9 dKH
Magnesium 1400 ppm

Everything seems to be in order here. Alright, time for bed!
 
Alright, as promised, here are some pics of my suction cup mod on the IM Minimax reactor bracket:

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Before.

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After. The suction cup is just the right size to basically "screw in" to the little hole, so it's a really snug, firm fit.

Here are the 2 reactors installed in the sump:

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They're pretty nice, but I've found that it's hard to get them dialed in to tumble the GFO tumbling properly, and a little bit of the media tends to come through the little sponges in the reactors in the beginning (and yes, I rinse the fines out of the media first). I'll probably have to clean out that section of the sump with each water change. Hopefully the reactors do me some good, though!

Anyway, the hair algae still seems to be growing with each passing day. I'm assuming that this is just part of "the uglies" that occurs with every new tank, but I know that the amount of Reef Chili that I fed earlier in the week (far too much, in retrospect) is also to blame. The rockwork in my tank makes it hard to get my hand into many of the spots where the algae is growing, so pinching it off is a really tough proposition. I'm not sure what to do, other than wait for my water changes and GFO to take out enough nutrients to finally let the algae die down. I've been scrubbing the algae off the back wall and glass, and it makes it look like a blizzard is going on in the tank! It settles in a few hours, but it's a real pain... Here are some shots of the algae:

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Right now I'm in need of some reassurance that this is a natural process and not due to some error or lack of attention on my part. If any of you experienced reefers out there want to chime in or give me some advice, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!
 
More hermit crabs. I know you like your snails, but those little claws rip off the stuff for them to devour. Red legs are better than blue legs, and scarlets are prettier to look at.
 
I'm perfectly willing to add more crabs to the mix. I've been trying to find some red-legs. My only concern is that all my hermits seem so lazy... I sit and watch the tank and most of the crabs are just sitting on the rocks, staring out into space, not eating anything. I watch them crawl over the hair algae most times without paying any attention to it at all. I got more snails because they're the ones I usually see working on the problem and making a noticeable difference.

I'm also considering some sort of blenny for long-term algae control. I know that the lawnmower is the go-to algae blenny, but they get a tad big and they're not very colorful. I was considering perhaps a tail spot blenny instead. Any thoughts?
 
I picked up a beautiful blasto yesterday. Here's a pic:

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I also grabbed 4 more red-legged hermits.

I performed a water change last night, and the tank is looking clear and beautiful. I think the algae is dying off! My phosphates are reading 0.

I think I'll start looking for another fish soon.
 
I was going to update the thread tonight with some great pics of my corals that I took using some red and orange lens filters that I borrowed from Guppy Breeder, but I'm feeling pretty depressed right now.

I picked up a Helfrich's firefish from Mid-Cities Aquarium today, as it was the only LFS that had any in stock, and I've been wanting one since I started the tank. My clownfish have been in the tank for 3 weeks, so I figured it was time to add another fish. I was concerned while I was in the store because I noticed multiple tanks filled with clownfish that appeared to have bad Brooklynella infestations. The Helfrich's firefish, however, were in their own separate tank, and the salesman told me that they were both eating normally (he even offered to feed them so I could watch). I spent about 20 minutes closely examining the fish before deciding on the larger of the two that were in the tank. He seemed to be active and healthy, and I couldn't find any issues with him. I asked if they had been in that tank the whole time, and I was assured that they had. Anyway, I took him home and acclimated him to my tank.

It was only after he was in my aquarium, under my lights, that I noticed some tiny white specks on his pectoral fins and right dorsal surface (5 or 6 specks in total). Based on what I know, I'm assuming this is ich. I'm furious with myself because I really have no one else to blame. I now have an infected fish in my tank with my healthy clownfish, and based on what I've read, there is no reef-safe method of curing ich without the use of a QT (which I don't have). If I had noticed these specks before, I never would have bought the fish. It's depressing and frustrating, because it seems as if I am now staring down the barrel of a perpetual problem that I will never be able to resolve. The cysts are going to eventually fall off the fish and inhabit my tank, reproducing until they are ready to spread to other fish and re-infect the firefish. Even if my fish develop some sort of immunity, the parasites will still be present, waiting for their next victim. So, I guess I am going to become just another cautionary tale. The problem for me is that a QT simply isn't feasible. I broke the bank setting up the tank that I have, and the prospect of buying a new tank and the equipment that goes along with it, coupled with the problem of trying to even find enough space in my apartment for this second tank, seems pretty hopeless.

I'm not sure why I'm posting this. I suppose I'm just venting. I feel like I worked so hard to get my tank going and looking great, and now I've made a single mistake and screwed it all up... Anyway, here's a shot of the firefish (you can see a few of the specks on his fins):

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Any help/advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
Hypo salinity dips can kill off ich and also marc has these packets of medicine you pour into a 5g bucket to dip fish in, not sure if the help ich or not tho

Also any time u wanna borrow the filters before u get your own let me know and I'll bring em over with me.
 
@Guppy Breeder wrote:
Hypo salinity dips can kill off ich and also marc has these packets of medicine you pour into a 5g bucket to dip fish in said:
The packets are called safety stop, but if I remember correctly, they are effective at removing most parasites, but do not work for ich.
Click to expand...
 
Well, when the lights came on this morning, all the specks were gone... Either this was ich and it fell off to reproduce within my first day of having him, or I was wrong. One other thing is that he had a small pinhole in his long dorsal fin near the edge (he was in a tank with a coral banded shrimp so I assumed it was a previous injury from a run-in with that guy), and the hole is gone now, too. Quite frankly, I'm amazed! He appears very healthy, and he's out swimming around with my clowns. I'll see how he eats later today. Here's a better picture of him now:

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I remember Marc telling me about Safety Stop, and I will be using it for all future additions to the tank. I just hope this all works out!
 
Well, this afternoon I noticed some new white specks on the firefish. These were in different areas of his body than the ones I noticed the other day. The specks are smaller than grains of salt, but you can see them in the right light. I didn't know that ich can disappear from a fish's body and reappear within 12 hours like that, but it seems to be the case here.

Anyway, I refuse to have a full-blown ich infestation in my tank and I don't want any of my beautiful fish to die, so I bit the bullet and picked up a 10 gallon tank from Petco that I will be using as my emergency QT. I have equipped it with a Bio Wheel filter, and I'm going to leave the bottom of the tank bare so that any parasites don't have a sand bed to hide in. I already had a heater and a powerhead, so I'll be using those in the QT. I don't have a light, but that's alright. I'm using coffee mugs for hiding places for the fish because I don't have any PVC elbows on hand. Here's a shot of the QT in all its glory:

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I'm going to give each of my fish a freshwater dip so that I can kill off/remove any cysts that are currently hanging onto them, then place them in the QT. I have read that ich can persist for up to 72 days, so it looks like my fish are going to be spending a long time in this little tank... My DT will remain empty so that any ich that has fallen off my fish will not have a host and will eventually die. I will be gradually reducing the salinity of the QT to help get rid of the ich using the hyposalinity method. My biggest concern will be keeping ammonia and nitrite in check. I am going to add some BioSpira to the tank to get some nitrifying bacteria growing on the Bio Wheel. I'll be dosing the QT with Prime in order to lock up the ammonia so it will not harm the fish. I will also be doing water changes often to help with the ammonia/nitrite levels, as well as to help remove any parasites that may be in the water column.

When all this is over with, I can simply break the QT down until I am ready to add another fish. When my tank is fully stocked, I may convert the little QT into a frag tank.

This is going to be a pain, and it's unfortunate that I won't be able to enjoy watching my fish playing around in the "pretty" DT, but at least I'll know my fish are healthy. That's the most important thing to me.
 
WOW, capturing that firefish was difficult! I had been wondering where he disappeared to at night, and I found out when I went to remove him from the DT to place him in the QT. In the ceiling of the cave in my DT, in the back, he had found a tiny hole in the rock that is apparently just wide enough for his body. He wedges himself deep in this hole, so that only his mouth protrudes. He sat in there for an hour or so, and then he came out and hovered in the mouth of the cave, where I couldn't reach him with my net. After hours of sitting at the tank with my net, I finally lured him out with some food and was able to catch him. Here's the best photo I could take of the ceiling of the cave. See if you can spot the firefish!

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All 3 fish were transferred to the QT last night. I'm keeping the QT at 78 degrees, which is a little bit cooler than my DT, but the fish don't seem to mind, and the lower temperature should allow me to keep more oxygen in the water, which should help keep my pH up during the hyposalinity treatment. My water is currently at 1.020, and I'm slowing bringing it down to 1.009 (12 ppt). My pH is hovering around 8.0-8.1. I'm hoping it will hold as I continue to dilute the saltwater. I dosed my water with Prime, but I'll probably need to add more once I'm at 1.009, since I will have changed out a lot of the water... I seeded the tank and filter with BioSpira, so hopefully I'll get some nitrifying bacteria growing in the Bio Wheel soon.

The fish seem to be doing well. Soon after the transfer to the QT, I noticed a single white spot on each of the clownfish. I think most of the cysts were brushed off the firefish during the transfer process. Anyway, the clowns are very active, and are constantly swimming around the tank. The firefish, on the other hand, is very timid, and spends most of his time out of sight behind the coffee mugs, hiding. I fed them some PE mysis (being careful to drain the water I use to thaw the shrimp, as usual). All 3 of the fish ate. I try to siphon up any leftover food and fish waste that I see whenever I can.

My plan is to be at 1.009 by the end of tomorrow night. I will be doing 1-gallon water changes in this QT every 1-2 days, just to keep things clean. I purchased an ammonia alert badge so that I can monitor the free ammonia in the water (normal ammonia test kits will produce a false positive result when you use Prime, as the kits cannot tell the difference between free ammonia and ammonia that has been locked up by the Prime). Currently, my badge is reading "Safe." Once at the desired salinity level, I will be monitoring the fish for any signs of ich. When all the spots are gone, I will be leaving the fish in the QT at 1.009 salinity for 3-4 weeks. After that, if everything seems fine, I will slowly bring the salinity up to 1.026 over the course of 7-8 days, so as not to harm the fish (raising salinity is a much more delicate process for the fish than lowering it -- it's good to take your time!). Once the salinity is up to normal levels, I will be keeping the fish in the QT until my DT has been fallow for at least 6 weeks in total (I may shoot for 8 weeks). When all that is done, I will place the fish back in the DT (which I will be stocking with more corals to keep from getting bored while the fish are in the QT). I simply hope that adding the fish back into the DT will not produce an ammonia spike due to a decrease in beneficial bacteria populations during the fallow period. At that point, if the fish start showing any signs of ich recurrence, I will promptly jump out my window and plunge to my death out of sheer exasperation. I'm looking at this as a great learning experience -- one that will make me a much better reefkeeper. That being said, I never want to have to do this again. All new fish that I purchase from this point on will be held in QT for a mandatory 4-week period so that I can observe them for any signs of disease or infection. I hope that others can learn from my experience!

In closing, here's a shot of my little guys in the QT:

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Do a daily 1g water change. If you mix up 5g at a time, you basically have 5 days worth. Just keep it circulating with a powerhead. And if you add some top off water to the bucket as you use it up (by creating more space in the bucket) you will dilute it to the right salinity at the same time. Think of it as some goofy algebra.

I'd add an airstone if you can. And make sure that tank is covered well as all three fish are known to jump, the firefish in particular. Netting is better, and layers may be necessary to keep the holes smaller. Or perhaps window sheer. No light is needed except for inspection, as ambient light is fine. Less light, less likely algae can grow.

Hoping for the best. If that fish carried in brook, you may have something else to contend with. http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/ichparasiticdiseases/a/aabrooklynella.htm
 
Marc, don't say things like that! You're killing me, man...

I have the top covered with some extra eggcrate I had lying around. The holes are a little bigger than the firefish, but he'd have to get just the right angle to get through... I might use some of the extra clear mesh I have to make a tighter covering. I have a small light, but I only turn it on to check the fish, and it's really dim.

I can't see any spots on the fish right now. One of my clowns has a little spot that can only be seen at an angle, but it's smooth and almost reflective. I believe it is a dislodged scale, which I have seen before from time to time on the clowns, and usually goes away in a day or two once it frees itself. It probably occurred during the transfer.

Anyway, things are going well. I'm at 1.016 right now, and the fish look good!
 
Upon closer inspection with my light, I did see 3 ich spots on the firefish. Both clowns seem ich-free, however. I continued to reduce the salinity of the water throughout the day, and I'm finally at my target salinity of 1.009 now. The 3 spots on the firefish have been reduced to a single spot, and it is pretty large. This may be due to the osmotic pressure causing the trophont to swell. Hopefully it will be gone shortly. I think the fish are still adapting to the lower salinity. They seem to like to hang around the bottom of the tank. The firefish spends a lot of time "resting" on the bottom, occasionally getting up to swim around.
 
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