My 55 & 125

[ezlight]

Well, here's a quick thread on what I have. For now, I just have a 55 gallon setup, but I'm piecing together a 125 setup.

First up is my 55 gallon.
The whole tank, can't see the fishes really well, but we'll get to that

One of my corals that we lost. and the tang playing hide and seek.

Domino Damsel

The other coral that I lost, again, tang trying to run.

My Picasso trigger, yellow tang, and yellow tail tang.

My yellow tail damsel. It hides 99% of the time. Should have thought to feed them. (See a lil bit in the back on teh right?LOL)

My 125 is a project. We actually just finished the stand this morning, and set the tank on it for now. My euroreef skimmer is sitting in the tank for now.

Picked this tank, stand, and hood up for a song on craigslist. Stand and hood needs some love.

This is after we started working, and thought to take a picture. The hood has already been taken apart at this point.

Picture of the hood. Looks like a regular shop 3 bulb florescent light. Can I buy the correct lighting bulbs for this, or do I have to get real lights right away? Also has two smaller florescent lights.

Picture of the stand. Structurally sound. 2x6 & 2x4 construction, and OSB sheeting. Then covered with plaster, spray on texture, then painted green.

After scraping off all the palster & crap to get back to OSB.

Second angle

Now at this point it was decision time. Where to go. I was in a rush, and wanted to get my other live rock into the tank, so I skimped a lil bit. (Then come to find out two days ago, I should have just let the rock die out, and start fresh. Having the rock in buckets with no heat/circulation was a bad move) Hindsight, after doing it all. I should have taken the OSB off, and started over. BUT, I didn't! :frustrat:

So we went and bought some oak plywood. 1/4 inch for the sides, and 1/2 for the top, & face of the hood. (Hood hasn't been started beyond the pictures yet. Need to figure out what to do with lighting first.) And another craigslist steal, bought the doors for $5 a piece! we also cut the door openings bigger for the doors that we got.

Here's the stand, finished this morning, brought into the house where it will eventually be setup, and tank placed on top. (She barely fit through the door)

The stain we used was a close match to the doors. The grain is the major difference!

All comments welcome. The 125 will be a fowlr for now, but in the future I will turn it into a reef, and the 180 will become a fowlr when we move into our own home.

 

[little_fish]

looks good!

I do hope the trigger and the sailfin get moved in soon, the 55 is really too small for them

But i am very impressed what you did with the stand! looks amazing!

 

[ezlight]

looks good!

I do hope the trigger and the sailfin get moved in soon, the 55 is really too small for them

But i am very impressed what you did with the stand! looks amazing!

Sailfin? Which ones a sailfin? Did I ID one wrong?

The plan is as soon as possible. Have to figure out the lighting situation, and gather sand/more rock. We're getting there. Schedule is a little slower at this point. Maybe another month or so, and we'll have the 125 running. Looking like I may have to QT the trigger for ich/parasites though, so I'll have to find another tank to setup as a QT, which would then slow the progress on the 125 more.

I just found a 40 on CL for a good price, so I may grab that, and have that as my QT tank. My 10 is too small for a QT tank, especially for the trigger.

 

[little_fish]

The guy with the brown stripes, and yellow tail is a sailfin tang.

Saltwater Aquarium Fish for Marine Aquariums: Sailfin Tang

 

[ezlight]

Thank you very much sir. I actually saw one that much have been full grown last week at a LFS. She was BIG. LOL I can see why the site says minimum 180gal

 

[Dana42078]

Thank you very much sir. I actually saw one that much have been full grown last week at a LFS. She was BIG. LOL I can see why the site says minimum 180gal

Little Fish is a woman. =)

Nice job on the stand. GL with the set up =)

 

[ezlight]

My bad little fish. :)

Thanks Dana, that is also my name. :)

 

[Dana42078]

Haha. Sweet. Not everyday I get to meet another Dana. Welcome to the site!

 

[little_fish]

Ya, those sailfins get big! But they grow much slower once they get out of the baby phase, so he should be fine in the 125 for awhile

 

[Sir Alex]

Have you found out why your corals died? The trigger probably got the ich because your tank is too small. Triggers shouldn't be kept in tanks smaller then 125 gallons. Are you planning on adding him to your new tank?

 

[ezlight]

I'm unsure of the plan right now. My other pump for the 125 should be here tomorrow. Then my only hold up is lighting, sand, and rock. I have plenty of rock for now. I may get it running without the light for now, just so it can cycle, and I can move fish around. But I might leave the trigger in the 55 when the 125 gets up, and this 55 will become my QT tank. Unfortunately, the ridich isn't doing it's job right now, so I don't know what the plan is. :( I definitely don't want to be treating the 125.

I was hoping to be able to order a RO unit before I filled the 125, but funds don't allow it this week.

I know I should have a QT tank for times like this, but I just don't have another tank ready to go at this point. :(

I'm open for suggestions. I sure as hell don't want to lose my trigger, or my sailfin. Those are kinda my favorites right now. The others can be replaced.

 

[little_fish]

For starters, anything that says its get rid of ich and is reef safe, it only gets rid of the ich you can see. It doesnt address the other stages of ich. Read this on how to treat

https://www.livingreefs.com/oh-no-have-ich-do-do-t30950.html

It will also address how to actually keep ich out of your tank.


Also a plastic tub can be used as a QT tank, no need for a glass tank.

 

[ezlight]

Have you found out why your corals died? The trigger probably got the ich because your tank is too small. Triggers shouldn't be kept in tanks smaller then 125 gallons. Are you planning on adding him to your new tank?

Oh, and water quality wasn't what it should have been when the corals and other fish got in this tank. Salinity was only about 1.011, nitrates were way high, nitrites were high, basically every reading wasn't where it should be, and the water conditions still isn't quite right. But I've taken someone's advice, and leaving it alone for now for it to stabilize. I did frequent water changes trying to get it where it should be, but they said I messed with the cycle. SO I'm testing every two days, to see the trend.

Once the 125 is up, and trigger is done with the ich, we're going to start over with the 55, clean the rocks, sand, and everything else, and start it off again the right way. I've learned more since I threw it all together, than I did before. Hopefully I've learned from my mistakes. :frustrat:

 

[Sir Alex]

Salinity was only about 1.011, nitrates were way high, nitrites were high, basically every reading wasn't where it should be, and the water conditions still isn't quite right.

Wow, your SG was 1.011? When you put the water in and when you do water changes do you measure the SG between 1.021 and 1.025? Nitrates have been a problem for me but luckily I've never had any trouble with ammonia or nitrites.

 

[ezlight]

Wow, your SG was 1.011? When you put the water in and when you do water changes do you measure the SG between 1.021 and 1.025? Nitrates have been a problem for me but luckily I've never had any trouble with ammonia or nitrites.

That is how I bought the tank. (Bought the whole setup about 2-3weeks ago with the sailfin, some crabs) I've gotten it corrected since. Started at 1.011, pwc later 1.018, pwc later 1.024, pwc later and been 1.025 every since.

Then I brought home a bunch of rock, and the rest of the fish, and those 2 corals. (Added them to the tank after doing the first PWC.) tried to get the water close to same.

Now I'm trying to quickly get the things corrected that I messed up. Didn't help the original guy didn't have things quite right. But ya learn as you go.

BTW lil fish, Maybe the trigger doesn't actually have full blown ich, but he is flashing. and I do see faint white spots in his fins. But nothing like that picture on your link.

 

[Sir Alex]

Did you get all of the fish at the same time? If you did then maybe that's why your having nitrite problems, the bacteria didn't have time to adjust.

 

[little_fish]

Ya, that is a very bad case of ich. It doesnt always get that bad

 

[ezlight]

Ya, that is a very bad case of ich. It doesn't always get that bad

What would you suggest my best course of action to be? Take everything out of the 55, and use that as a QT tank since I already used the ridich in it?

By reasearching, I think whatever was live in the live rock & sand, may be dead now due to the ridich. Should I try to salvage my crabs/hermit crabs before doing the copper, or just roll with a real ich cure? What would you suggest for me to use?

At the same time I can get the water circulating in my 125. (Think we might setup the 180 first now. I figure I can add a 2nd 850gph pump in the sump when it comes in, and be fine for circulation at that point, along with 2 1300gph powerheads)

 

[little_fish]

Personally, i think you best option is to just let him beat it on his own. Try and pump him full of food and get him into the bigger tank ASAP. He is most likely stressing because of the small tank.

also the ridich hasnt killed off your bacteria, everything else would be dead because the bacteria is what processes the fish waste so they die from ammonia poisoning.

 

[ezlight]

Personally, i think you best option is to just let him beat it on his own. Try and pump him full of food and get him into the bigger tank ASAP. He is most likely stressing because of the small tank.

also the ridich hasn't killed off your bacteria, everything else would be dead because the bacteria is what processes the fish waste so they die from ammonia poisoning.

I thought of the feeding thing, and fed them a bit more than usual tonight. He ate like a king. :)

I figured the ridich killed it all, because it changed the color of my rocks, covered a few things, and now I have some alege growing on my sand now.