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Rustl3rs 55G Reef

128K views 1K replies 55 participants last post by  reef_of_flames 
#1 ·
Hey guys,

I figured I should start a dedicated thread about my 55G Reef tank I am in the process of starting. Lets get started on my equipment list.

55G Rectangular (48Lx13Wx20H)
216W 48" Wavepoint T5HO Lighting (2 10K, 2 420), Modded to hang from a shelf above the tank.
Rapids Pro RP3 wet/dry filter. Built in skimmer works well, all media is removed.
2x 530GPH Seio Super Flow Series PHeads,
40Lbs of cured LR and 30lbs of uncured rock (was at the LFS when the shipment came in, I opened the boxes for first pics :D)

I let my LR cycle for a little over 2.5 weeks. After that I saw that my ammonia and nitrite levels had been zero for a few days. I went to my LFS and bought a CUC. A week later I went back and bought some frags: A zoa, frogspawn and a hammer coral. They are doing great so far. Opening fully. So yesterday I decided to make one more purchase, I got a solar wrasse (beautiful and energetic), a green mushroom, a cleaner shrimp, and a rare Australian coral that I have forgotten the name (see pics). This is going to be my last purchase for a while as I am going concentrate on this bioload for a few months.

So here is my list of live inhabitants:

1 Solar wrasse (Cirrhilabrus solorensis)
1 Cleaner Shrimp
Hammer Coral
Mushroom Coral (green)
A couple zoa frags.
Frogspawn
An an Australian coral i need help identifying.
And my CUC that consists of a bunch of snails (none turbo) and hermits and a fighting conch.

I guess its now time for the fun part, Pics! :D
Water Underwater Fluid Coastal and oceanic landforms Organism

I guess Ill post a pic of my tank with just the LR for a cool before and after. I've posted this pic on some other threads but oh well.
Water Pet supply Organism Fluid Coastal and oceanic landforms

This one is a pic I took this morning, Its darker because I had to adjust the exposure to get a good pic.
Water Plant Underwater Natural environment Fluid

From the side.
Water Fluid Organism Fish Underwater

This is a pic of the Australian coral I need help identifying.

Thats it for now! I'll be doing some tests later today.
 
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#87 ·
A Canon Powershot SD 1300 IS 12.1 MPixels. Just a simple point and shoot camera that has some nice capabilities like macro mode and High Output Flouescent lighting adjust. It doesnt have manual focus so getting a good quality shot is a little hit or miss. A tripod would help.

I also edit the pictures a bit in MS Picture manager to filter out the blue to make it look it actually does.
 
#89 ·
Picked up some new gear and zoanthids this weekend. Check it out!

Picked up a surgical grade fragging kit from marine depot. To more wire stippers to cut coral and LR!


Here are two new frags I picked up. The first is some pink zoas that I stole from petco. I say stole because they normally retail for twice what I paid.



Next up are some awesome panamanian zoas. Sorry for blurry pic. I'll get a good macro some other time.

 
#95 ·
Rustl3r you're tank is amazing!! phwoar its progression is awesome!! hows the tang going? did you give him a name yet? lol

go and pick up some aquavitro fuel and give it a shot for a month, or im going to send a bottle to you to use!! - i swear by it! its the only thing i use! its got everything jammed into it, i think you're meant to dose once a week - i dose once a month at like 5ml or something.. and i notice the difference already :)
 
#96 ·
bug thanks for the props. the tangs name is pootie. I dont usually name my fish though.

as for the aquavitro ill look into it but my current dosing regimen is wokring fine. and you know the saying "if it ain't broken, dont fix it."


EDIT: took a look at seachem aquavirto salinity I might check that out down the line if my LFS carries it. No thanks on the addatives though, that is until i run out of my current stockpile.
 
#109 ·
I installed the new plumbing system for my frag tank today. That went okay except I accidentally cut the flex tubing to short. It was from the overflow so I had to replace the bulkhead with a spare. The problem is my strainer could only slide into a smooth PVC overflow and the replacement was threaded. Anyway after a trip to home depot and a few hours of tinkering I got it silent again.

On the more sour note my six line that I picked up yesterday was some ich that I need to take care of. So I set up a 75W heater and an air stone in a 5.5G tank. I wanted to use water from my DT for my QT to minimize stress so I made a extra batch of ASW to replace what I took out. Somehow I got all turned around and starting putting in the new ASW before I started filling the QT. Long story short I overflowed the sump. Somehow the water rose in the DT (draining the sump) and then dropped suddenly and filled the sump after I dumped the extra ASW there.

So after cleaning that up I moved the 5.5G tank over to the table and placed it there. It wasnt quite centered so I pushed on it to slide it a bit. As soon as I did that the paper thin glass broke. Three huge cracks lined the front glass top to bottom that immediately started leaking. I had a moment of panic as the tank was full but I stopped holding the glass together and ran to get a tote. Thankfully as I removed pressure it didn't catastrophically fail. I returned with a large bucket and drained the tank and now I'm just using a 4G plastic bucket as a QT.

So that whole ordeal took 6 hours and by the time the QT was up to temp the six line had gone to bed and I couldnt find him. Hope hes still alive and not infected my tankmates by tomorrow afternoon.
 
#113 ·
I installed the new plumbing system for my frag tank today. That went okay except I accidentally cut the flex tubing to short. It was from the overflow so I had to replace the bulkhead with a spare. The problem is my strainer could only slide into a smooth PVC overflow and the replacement was threaded. Anyway after a trip to home depot and a few hours of tinkering I got it silent again.

On the more sour note my six line that I picked up yesterday was some ich that I need to take care of. So I set up a 75W heater and an air stone in a 5.5G tank. I wanted to use water from my DT for my QT to minimize stress so I made a extra batch of ASW to replace what I took out. Somehow I got all turned around and starting putting in the new ASW before I started filling the QT. Long story short I overflowed the sump. Somehow the water rose in the DT (draining the sump) and then dropped suddenly and filled the sump after I dumped the extra ASW there.

So after cleaning that up I moved the 5.5G tank over to the table and placed it there. It wasnt quite centered so I pushed on it to slide it a bit. As soon as I did that the paper thin glass broke. Three huge cracks lined the front glass top to bottom that immediately started leaking. I had a moment of panic as the tank was full but I stopped holding the glass together and ran to get a tote. Thankfully as I removed pressure it didn't catastrophically fail. I returned with a large bucket and drained the tank and now I'm just using a 4G plastic bucket as a QT.

So that whole ordeal took 6 hours and by the time the QT was up to temp the six line had gone to bed and I couldnt find him. Hope hes still alive and not infected my tankmates by tomorrow afternoon.
well it rains it pours huh? man thats really too bad!
 
#115 ·
Wow! First off I have to say you have a great looking tank! I'm jealous ;). Secondly sorry to hear about all of your trouble with your sixline wrasse. I have one and he's one of 4 fish that survived my tank crash out of 12. That's ironic about you overflowing your sump. I did a water change yesterday and shut down my drain lines on my sump to vacuum out the detritus and when I went to fill my tank again I turned on 1 of the return pumps and forgot that I had shut down all of the drains! You can guess what happened. All of the sudden I heard water running on the floor which I might add is carpeted and on the first floor, not in the basement. I freaked out and went to open the valve on one of the drains and I guess I put too much force on it and the pipe came apart at the bulkhead. So now I have water running out of the top of my tank and water splashing all over me, the sump and my stand! After I got it all together and cleaned up I went down to my mud room where my mixing buckets and RO system is and turned on the water to start filling my water change barrel back up. I don't have a float valve or anything on it so I have to manually turn it off and I of course forgot about it after my shower and all the mishaps to come back hours later and find it overflowing and 1/2 an inch of water on the floor that had to be cleaned up. The baseboard was soaked so I pulled it to find that the sheetrock ran all the way down to the floor and was soaked about 2 inches up. Now I have to cut the sheetrock back and dry it out to keep mold from starting in the wall. Good times ;). Hopefully my idiotic tendencies help with you deal with the problems you had with your wrasse and yes, it's ok if you laugh :lol:
 
#116 ·
Ouch man thats a tough afternoon. I dont think I spilled more than a gallon of water yesterday between the sump overflow and the QT breaking. Then again I do rent an upstairs apartment so if things went bad I'd be screwed. Thankfully I have insurance on my aquarium system.
 
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