Saint Tank - 34 Solana - Many Pics

[SaintMark]

Greetings All,

I would like to start by giving you the back ground then I will continue with my current build. I lived in an apartment (bottom floor) for a few years. I had a 120gal reef, 65 tall reef, 29 gal long eel tank. Needless to say I had a few tanks and the wife said that I could not bring anything else home, but I found at a LFS an awesome deal on a complete Solana Aquarium System 34 Gal setup with the disco ball MH light. Well when I got it home she said I had to get some of them out of our 3 bed room apartment (1650 sq ft). The humidity was out of control because our air conditioner could not keep up with the tanks I had.

Fast forward- I kept my 120 (with 75gal sump) in the living room and the Solana in my home office.

I got the tank placed next to my desk so I could be right next to it as I worked. I cut out some insulation for a pad (heard it was needed to keep the tank from cracking and load properly displaced.



I chose a mix of Caribsea Arag-Alive Indo-Pacific Black and Caribsea Arag-Alive Fiji Pink. I saw this mix in a LFS and thought it was cool, but after a looking at it everyday I started to not like it.







Well I got all filled up and let it clear up and I stocked it with coral (from the main tank) and fish. Before I could get some good pics of it (sad part it looked great-the ones that get away always do!) it sprung a leak. The leak was located in the middle of the seal of the back glass and the left glass. The LFS said he had never seen something like that before and he replaced it for FREE! A week later I had a new tank and I got it going again.
I would add more pics but at the time of writing this I can find them. I will add if I find them later.

-Fast Forward
I bought a new house and had to get rid of my 120 and just move my Solana. I decided I would just change the sand out to a fine live sand. I went with CaribSea’s fine live sand. This gave be a sand bed of about 4-5 inches. I like the look of a deep sand bed. I Lost my Mystery Wrasse in the move and I got a little depressed as he was my buddy. So I kinda left my tank go for a bit.

I just got a call from my LFS (Global Leader Aquatics www.glaqutics.com ) owner and he told me about some amazing rock ordered for himself but had some leftover. He said it was Mando (I don’t think I am spelling it right). The rock had been cured in his rock vat for over a month and had no odor. I thought this is what I needed to get myself motivated to redue my tank. I bought 16.5 lbs of the rock. I was very surprised how light the rock was and how interesting the look of it was. I asked him if he would let me design a layout in his store and he let me go wild. I knew it would not look just like this again but it was a start.

Got the rock home and started my master skills at aqua-scaping (LOL). I also got a Seba anemone, 3 red fire fish and a target mandarin goby. Pics of my rock work

[SaintMark]

Had to make 2 post due to the amount of pics (Limit of 10 per post)

















These Pics are from my iPhone 3g S and are not that great. I have my camera packed up somewhere so better pics to come.

What do you guys/gals think so far? What is your thoughts of the rock and identify it if you can.

[SaintMark]

Got to looking at the Pics I posted and the anemone looked real bad.

New pic



The anemone has been moving around like crazy. It has been a real treat to watch him move.

[ange062]

Wow, two firefish in a lidless tank? That's pretty courageous! I heard my firefish jump into my lid at least 10 times while I had him, hard enough to go check the tank and see if it was still alive or had knocked himself unconscious, lol!

Have you thought about a GFO reactor? It would help with that cyano / algae outbreak you are having on the rocks, I wish I would have started running one sooner.

Scape looks great though, the tank is going to turn out really well!

[SaintMark]

Originally Posted by ange062

Wow, two firefish in a lidless tank? That's pretty courageous! I heard my firefish jump into my lid at least 10 times while I had him, hard enough to go check the tank and see if it was still alive or had knocked himself unconscious, lol!

Have you thought about a GFO reactor? It would help with that cyano / algae outbreak you are having on the rocks, I wish I would have started running one sooner.

Scape looks great though, the tank is going to turn out really well!

I keep my glass top on mine still. This is due to too many jumpers and having to flush $100's down the toilet

Thanks! I thought my thread was going to be renamed to "social leper tank"

I am not up on the TLA's (Three Letter Acronym's I am working on the FLA's lol) that you used GFO, please inform me.

[ange062]

Granular ferric oxide, it's an extremely efficient way of removing phosphates and silicates from your tank. Google it or check out bulkreefsupply.com for more info. I wish I would have added a GFO reactor much earlier, so it's something to look into for you. It doesn't cost much and the benefit is tremendous in my experience (IME).

[SaintMark]

Thanks for telling me about GFO. I watched a lot of videos and learned a little bit more. Due to your suggestion, after work I went out and bought some goodies!!!! thanks to my LFS ( http://www.glaquatics.com/ ) staying a bit late for me



I think the algae is from changing out my light. I changed it to a XM 20k. Dont know if I like it yet

I will take pics and maybe a video of the new stuff

[ange062]

Let's see some pics! Personally, I don't like the 20k look, just way too blue for me and it bleaches out a lot of color (though it does make the fluorescence POP). I think 12-14k is a lot better balance, but that's obviously very subjective.

[SaintMark]

IMO I do not think it is 20k or if it is, it is more like a 14k to me. I wanted a more blueish light so it would not be so blinding white.

I took ange's advise and got a GFO/Carbon reactor. I will be going to Home Depot for the Fittings this weekend. I saw on BRSTV how a maxijet 1200 could be used. I found a little light light for the fish so they don't go bump in the night.



While I was at my LFS (corrected website address www.glaquatics.com from one of my other posts) I picked up my fish he ordered. I also got a few friends for them and a new rock.

The video is not great as I have not taken the time to find my camera.








I placed the clowns in the tank and they went right to my anemone.




Video as I was finishing up feeding them

Click Pic below to see the video ( Iuse PhotoBucket so if you know how to embed the video please let me know)


Current Livestock:
1- Target Mandarin Goby
3- Red Firefish
3- Purple Firefish
1- Pygmy Angel (Named Twitchy)
2- Pink Skunk Clowns
2- Cleaner/Skunk Shrimp (Named Cocktail and Scampi)
1- Fire Shrimp (Named Brochette)
Snails and Conch as a Clean Up Crew

[pompeyjohn]

I really don't want to sound like a downer but ....

• That nem doesnt look happy (what are your water parameters?)
• ...and those clowns look big enough to beat up the nem
• Is the mandarin eating prepared food? if not, I fear it will starve
• Ten fish?!

[SaintMark]

Originally Posted by pompeyjohn

I really don't want to sound like a downer but ....

• That nem doesnt look happy (what are your water parameters?)
• ...and those clowns look big enough to beat up the nem
• Is the mandarin eating prepared food? if not, I fear it will starve
• Ten fish?!

Thank you for your thoughts on my setup.

I just added the anemone so it is trying to make its home. It would help if I was not still messing with the rocks and the power head. In my LFS it was open and not quite the size of a plate. It freaked out when the clowns jumped in. I think in a few days to a weak it should clam down.

My water is ok except for phosphates and my PH is 8.1 salt is 1.024 temp 76.5(night)-78 (day)

I do a weekly 10gal water change (Heated and stored for week)
I would have a skimmer but my friend Kyle with Sapphire Aquatics has not made me a collection cup.

I would love any thoughts you guys have.

[SaintMark]

Originally Posted by pompeyjohn

[*]Is the mandarin eating prepared food? if not, I fear it will starve[*]Ten fish?![/LIST]

I feed mini mysis shrimp and buy a bottle of Tiger Pods every 2 weeks. At night you can see the pods going nuts. It is fun to watch now that I have a night light.

I would be concerned if I had ten big fish, as the firefish are what I would call 1/2 a fish (lol). The only messy guys are the clowns and the angel.
Correct me if I am wrong, please.

[teddyzaper]

that is A LOT of fish for a 34 gallon tank, most wouldnt put that in a 75g. I wish you the best of luck and would love to see this tank work out!

[ange062]

I personally like to have a lot of small fish in a tank, my tank is "overloaded" with small fish but I also overskim and I think it's doing OK...

10 is pushing it though, especially without a skimmer. Definitely don't think about getting any more adds and look at getting that skimmer running stat. Also agree the nem doesn't look so hot, hopefully it pulls through.

Last note, the MJ1200 is going to be a TON of flow for that reactor, and using an adjustment valve to get the flow right is probably going to make it really noisy. You can give it a shot, but I use an MJ400 at full blast to power both of my Phosban 150's and the flow is just enough to tumble the GFO juuuuuuust right. I'm currently using pellet type Kent carbon until I use it up, the flow isn't enough to tumble that, but the ROX0.8 is the same size as the BRS GFO so they both should tumble equally.

[romsoccer12]

everything will die in the next couple months. stop impulse buying or waste more money and kill more marine organisms. read before you buy something! wait till everything is flourishing before adding something. obviously from your pictures nothing is flourishing so maybe its time to rethink your strategy

[romsoccer12]

and if you named your pygmy angel twitchy because he twitches it is most likely because he has a parasite or disease. if one of my fish did that next they would be scratching rock and you could soon visibly see a problemlike white poop or any external white dots, blotches
hate to be a downer but this wont work out trust me

[ange062]

Rom, what's with being so rude and negative? Saint is just getting started and learning about the hobby, and has come here for advice and help, and you offered exactly zero of either..

[iFisch]

Ange - on a side note, I was watching a BRS video one day, and they mentioned you want very, very little flow through the ROX. I'll see if I can find it again.

[tyler91913]

Originally Posted by romsoccer12

everything will die in the next couple months. stop impulse buying or waste more money and kill more marine organisms. read before you buy something! wait till everything is flourishing before adding something. obviously from your pictures nothing is flourishing so maybe its time to rethink your strategy

Originally Posted by romsoccer12

and if you named your pygmy angel twitchy because he twitches it is most likely because he has a parasite or disease. if one of my fish did that next they would be scratching rock and you could soon visibly see a problemlike white poop or any external white dots, blotches
hate to be a downer but this wont work out trust me

Originally Posted by ange062

Rom, what's with being so rude and negative? Saint is just getting started and learning about the hobby, and has come here for advice and help, and you offered exactly zero of either..

There is some good advice in rom's posts--so I wouldn't say s/he offers zero of advice or help. The tone isn't helpful, but don't give Saint the idea that he should write off the suggestion to (1) make changes slowly with the tank, waiting for the "flourishing" (2) watch out for diseases in new fish, especially if they're not being QT'd, (3) resist the urge to impulse buy.

Also, re: the acronyms--check out this thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1672798

it's a sticky in the "New to the Hobby" forum--I found it very useful when someone pointed me to it a few months ago!

good luck with the tank Saint!

[romsoccer12]

your hating on my negativity has brought you no further in advice for him than me. i just hate seeing a nem looking like that than instead of slowing down purchasing 10 more fish. the tank doesnt even look cycled. if it makes you feel better i love the all the type of fish you have purchased. i do hope they make it im sure saint has some clue what hes doing after having 3 tanks

[ange062]

Originally Posted by iFisch

Ange - on a side note, I was watching a BRS video one day, and they mentioned you want very, very little flow through the ROX. I'll see if I can find it again.

Yep, I think I have seen the same. I have mine setup for the GFO to just barely tumble, and the ROX is the same size once I start using it so it should work out perfectly.

Originally Posted by romsoccer12

your hating on my negativity has brought you no further in advice for him than me. i just hate seeing a nem looking like that than instead of slowing down purchasing 10 more fish. the tank doesnt even look cycled. if it makes you feel better i love the all the type of fish you have purchased. i do hope they make it im sure saint has some clue what hes doing after having 3 tanks

One of my favorite things about RC is that you don't see flamers (except for the TP ) compared to most other forums. So sorry for the rant against your posts.

[SaintMark]

Wow, many post to respond to. I am happy to see the passion rom and others have for the hobby. All suggestions and thoughts are welcomed, no matter what the assumed tone is. RC is a great place for us to express our ideas and knowledge.

Originally Posted by romsoccer12

everything will die in the next couple months. stop impulse buying or waste more money and kill more marine organisms. read before you buy something! wait till everything is flourishing before adding something. obviously from your pictures nothing is flourishing so maybe its time to rethink your strategy

You are right, the 3 purple firefish was an impulse buy. My wife loves the color purple and I have found it easier to tell her I spent $100's if I buy something for her or what she likes.

Originally Posted by romsoccer12

and if you named your pygmy angel twitchy because he twitches it is most likely because he has a parasite or disease.

He was named this by the way that he swims. He does not move in a graceful fluid motion, but more of a twitch. I have had him for about a year now and he as always moved that away. (Wife Named him and the Shrimp)

Originally Posted by ange062

Rom, what's with being so rude and negative? Saint is just getting started and learning about the hobby, and has come here for advice and help, and you offered exactly zero of either..

Thank you for speaking up for me. I have been in the hobby for a number of years (on here from 2007) and have learned a great deal. I am by no means a subject matter expert. I have not kept up with the current trends and improvements in the hobby. I thank you and everyone else that has helpful suggestions, as from your experience I might be able to save time, money, and aquatic live.

Originally Posted by iFisch

Ange - on a side note, I was watching a BRS video one day, and they mentioned you want very, very little flow through the ROX. I'll see if I can find it again.

Welcome IFisch, here is what I watched http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/...bon-gfo-videos
It does say to have it tumble but if you watch the videos they have the flow so that it has very little movement on the top layer.

Originally Posted by tyler91913

(1) make changes slowly with the tank, waiting for the "flourishing" (2) watch out for diseases in new fish, especially if they're not being QT'd, (3) resist the urge to impulse buy.
Also, re: the acronyms--check out this thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1672798

Wise words and welcome to the thread. I will be setting up a QT soon. I trust my LFS, but know that anything can happen.

Originally Posted by romsoccer12

the tank doesnt even look cycled. if it makes you feel better i love the all the type of fish you have purchased. i do hope they make it im sure saint has some clue what hes doing after having 3 tanks

Thank you for you passion for marine live and the willingness to express your thoughts. I hope you will be tagging along on this thread and offering more guidance.

I can't be certain as to what caused the algae to bloom. I made a few changes at once, thus creating more variables and it will take some time to figure out what it was.
(1) I changed the bulb in my MH light (the old one was about 1 1/2 years old)
(2) I changed food type. I changed from New Life Spectrum Marine Fish Small Pellet Formula to H2O Life MiniMysis.
(3) My ATO not being installed yet and my wife seeing the tank filled with micro bubbles putting 1QT of "filtered" water from our refrigerator. I have educated her on why not all filtered water is the same.

[SaintMark]

I have been concidering getting a controller. I have never had one before and have relied on the old timers and many power strips to make things work. After spending some time watching videos on BRSTV, I think I want one. I am looking at the Reefkeeper or the Neptune. I like the Neptune do to it having a web server and an iPhone app. I would like your feedback.

Another thing I would like to get is a MP10. The only thing that scares me about having a wavemaker is the wave spilling on the floor and the weakening of the tanks seals. Some thoughts on this would be great.

[ange062]

Id get the MP10 first. Most people don't run it in "wave" mode, but rather reefcrest. You don't have to worry about breaking the tank like that.

[SaintMark]

Originally Posted by ange062

Id get the MP10 first. Most people don't run it in "wave" mode, but rather reefcrest. You don't have to worry about breaking the tank like that.

I would like to see one in action. I might see if my friend would let me use his for a week or a few days.