220 sps rebuild. Tonga branch & shelf

Reel North · 04/17/2016, 12:43 PM

i had decided to restart my reef, after making a huge mistake and allowing Gelidium to overrun the tank. It came in on a frag plug, and eventually spread to cover ever single lit surface.

The way my rocks were placed also made getting adequate flow to all the sps and didn't really leave as much free swimming space as I might have liked.

Yesterday, [USER=513]@bart84[/USER] came over, and we finished fragging the colonies that needed fragging to remove the frag plugs and put them on new plugs. My 3x5 frag system is pretty full right now!

We pulled the substrate, and drained the sump and cleaned the glass.

We then brought about 200 lbs of some amazing and HUGE Tonga branch and Tonga shelf down from the garage and placed it all in the now empty reef.

The middle branchy piece took both of us to get it in the tank. It probably weighs between 70 and 80 lbs.

I changed my substrate out to tropic Marin reef flakes, which are a bit bigger than the normal substrate, but is heavy enough to not blow around. I had 2 30 lb bags here, and have 1 more in Buffalo. I'm going with a shallow substrate, of maybe an inch or so depth. The third bag will fill in any gaps under the rocks.

[USER=513]@bart84[/USER] is a real champ when it came to designing the layout, and the rock work is very open, with a ton Of room to grow corals, yet lots of space to have the fish swim and be comfortable. I think with this new layout, I can get away with fewer power heads to achieve the same type of flow and encourage the colonies to grow fat and heathy branches.

Right now I'm filling the system with fresh RODI, 100 gallons at a time and will circulate it for 2 or 3 days just to make sure everything in there is totally dead and get me a pest free reboot.

Will update as we progress!

ksigaekdb · 04/20/2016, 08:44 AM

Let's see some pics of the layout!

Reel North · 04/26/2016, 05:27 PM

Not sure why I can't edit it, but here's some

Tank is getting well into the cycle now, so hopefully soon I can get some fish in there

mr9iron · 04/26/2016, 05:37 PM

Looks like a nice start. Can you tell me more about the system?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Reel North · 04/26/2016, 06:09 PM

Tank - 72 X 30 w X 24" tall, external overflow with bean animal
125 g sump incl 60 g Refugium
Lighting - ATI 8x80 & reefbrite 48" xho
2 gyre, 2 mp40 QD
Lifereef 36" external skimmer
Lifereef calcium reactor with Carbon doser regulator
Return pump is an Ecotech L1

37 g ATO reservoir with Kalkwasser

There's about 200 lbs of rock in the display, and about 100 lbs in the sump.

Reel North · 06/26/2016, 06:09 PM

All right. Been awhile since I updated this.

The rocks ended up blowing out with hair algae, and because I felt invincible, I didn't Qt any fish.......

So essentially, I killed a lot of fish, and ended up taking all the shelf rock out, and gave it a nice warm bath in muriatic acid.

After a pressure wash, it's now algae free.

I redid the aquascape as well. Although the layout above LOOKED good, it had some dead spots, and the overhang/cave idea ended up being too small.

I took about 40 lbs of rock out, and used some of the rock a bit differently. It's more open now, and the flow is much improved.

On a good note, my sps is going great!

Chicagoreef2016 · 06/28/2016, 12:58 PM

WHat killed all of the fish, the algae or a disease?

Reel North · 07/02/2016, 06:34 PM

I'm not sure to be honest. I think that they ended up hit with a bit of ich, but I think that when I added the prazi, it caused an ammonia spike and stressed them literally to death. The thing that makes me think it MAY have been a disease was the fact that the sps was totally unaffected.

This was what it looked like right after I dosed the prazi

I currently have some fish in my 75g qt tank, where they will stay for the foreseeable future.

I added a few more sps frags from my frag tank today. The sps it doing fantastic! Once the fish get in there eventually I think it will be great.

I've picked up a peristalic pump to run my calcium reactor, and I have the gyre and mp40 seemingly dialled in to work with the sea swirls.

Time to leave it alone and let em grow!!

04/17/2016, 12:43 PM	#1
Reel North New King of Quarantine Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Hammertown, Canada eh Posts: 1,175	220 sps rebuild. Tonga branch & shelf i had decided to restart my reef, after making a huge mistake and allowing Gelidium to overrun the tank. It came in on a frag plug, and eventually spread to cover ever single lit surface. The way my rocks were placed also made getting adequate flow to all the sps and didn't really leave as much free swimming space as I might have liked. Yesterday, [USER=513]@bart84[/USER] came over, and we finished fragging the colonies that needed fragging to remove the frag plugs and put them on new plugs. My 3x5 frag system is pretty full right now! We pulled the substrate, and drained the sump and cleaned the glass. We then brought about 200 lbs of some amazing and HUGE Tonga branch and Tonga shelf down from the garage and placed it all in the now empty reef. The middle branchy piece took both of us to get it in the tank. It probably weighs between 70 and 80 lbs. I changed my substrate out to tropic Marin reef flakes, which are a bit bigger than the normal substrate, but is heavy enough to not blow around. I had 2 30 lb bags here, and have 1 more in Buffalo. I'm going with a shallow substrate, of maybe an inch or so depth. The third bag will fill in any gaps under the rocks. [USER=513]@bart84[/USER] is a real champ when it came to designing the layout, and the rock work is very open, with a ton Of room to grow corals, yet lots of space to have the fish swim and be comfortable. I think with this new layout, I can get away with fewer power heads to achieve the same type of flow and encourage the colonies to grow fat and heathy branches. Right now I'm filling the system with fresh RODI, 100 gallons at a time and will circulate it for 2 or 3 days just to make sure everything in there is totally dead and get me a pest free reboot. Will update as we progress! __________________ It takes a very rich man to buy cheap things Current Tank Info: frag tank. Lame

04/26/2016, 05:27 PM	#3
Reel North New King of Quarantine Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Hammertown, Canada eh Posts: 1,175	Not sure why I can't edit it, but here's some Tank is getting well into the cycle now, so hopefully soon I can get some fish in there __________________ It takes a very rich man to buy cheap things Current Tank Info: frag tank. Lame

04/26/2016, 05:37 PM	#4
mr9iron 15& Over Club Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Missouri Posts: 2,552 Blog Entries: 1	Looks like a nice start. Can you tell me more about the system? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk __________________ Vince ______________________________ Current Tank Info: Frag tank at the moment, planning another

04/26/2016, 06:09 PM	#5
Reel North New King of Quarantine Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Hammertown, Canada eh Posts: 1,175	Tank - 72 X 30 w X 24" tall, external overflow with bean animal 125 g sump incl 60 g Refugium Lighting - ATI 8x80 & reefbrite 48" xho 2 gyre, 2 mp40 QD Lifereef 36" external skimmer Lifereef calcium reactor with Carbon doser regulator Return pump is an Ecotech L1 37 g ATO reservoir with Kalkwasser There's about 200 lbs of rock in the display, and about 100 lbs in the sump. __________________ It takes a very rich man to buy cheap things Current Tank Info: frag tank. Lame

06/26/2016, 06:09 PM	#6
Reel North New King of Quarantine Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Hammertown, Canada eh Posts: 1,175	All right. Been awhile since I updated this. The rocks ended up blowing out with hair algae, and because I felt invincible, I didn't Qt any fish....... So essentially, I killed a lot of fish, and ended up taking all the shelf rock out, and gave it a nice warm bath in muriatic acid. After a pressure wash, it's now algae free. I redid the aquascape as well. Although the layout above LOOKED good, it had some dead spots, and the overhang/cave idea ended up being too small. I took about 40 lbs of rock out, and used some of the rock a bit differently. It's more open now, and the flow is much improved. On a good note, my sps is going great! __________________ It takes a very rich man to buy cheap things Current Tank Info: frag tank. Lame Last edited by Reel North; 06/26/2016 at 06:15 PM.

04/20/2016, 08:44 AM	#2
ksigaekdb Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Chandler, Arizona Posts: 36	Let's see some pics of the layout!

06/28/2016, 12:58 PM	#7
Chicagoreef2016 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2016 Posts: 315	WHat killed all of the fish, the algae or a disease?

07/02/2016, 06:34 PM	#8
Reel North New King of Quarantine Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Hammertown, Canada eh Posts: 1,175	I'm not sure to be honest. I think that they ended up hit with a bit of ich, but I think that when I added the prazi, it caused an ammonia spike and stressed them literally to death. The thing that makes me think it MAY have been a disease was the fact that the sps was totally unaffected. This was what it looked like right after I dosed the prazi I currently have some fish in my 75g qt tank, where they will stay for the foreseeable future. I added a few more sps frags from my frag tank today. The sps it doing fantastic! Once the fish get in there eventually I think it will be great. I've picked up a peristalic pump to run my calcium reactor, and I have the gyre and mp40 seemingly dialled in to work with the sea swirls. Time to leave it alone and let em grow!! __________________ It takes a very rich man to buy cheap things Current Tank Info: frag tank. Lame Last edited by Reel North; 07/02/2016 at 06:48 PM.