Kasasah Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Hey everyone, my name is Kori and I'm 21 years old. I live with my wife in Clackamas and am new to the hobby.(3 months in) I purchased my first reef tank from a person I work with. It's a 50 gallon (48x12x18) It has about 100 Lbs of live rock after about 30 Lbs was removed. I have 3 fish, a six lined wrasse, a Royal Gramma, and a tank bred ocellaris clownfish. The Inverts are 1 Coral Banded shrimp, 1 Sea cucumber, numerous blue and red hermit crabs, 4 Emerald Crabs, lots of small feather dusters and a small coco worm i recently found, and a very large peanut worm that i occasionally see poking around when the lights go out. I'm running 4 T5 bulbs 9 hours a day, Red Sea Berlin protein skimmer, a ten gallon makeshift sump until I can get something more efficient, a CPR hang on refugium and 2 Maxi-Jet 900's on circulation mode. When I first got the tank I did NOT have a RO/DI unit and battled very bad Cyanobacteria. After purchasing a RO/DI unit from a PNWMAS member and making more flow in my tank it is 100% gone.(Thanks Helen!) The corals are 1 Frogspawn(two heads) 1 Pulsing Xenia that is spreading well(but not taking over anything) 1 frag of green star polyp that I am planning on fragging and glueing to a rock soon, a devils hand coral, little parts of Kenya tree that i am trying to get rid of because i hear it's a weed more than anything, Red mushrooms, Green/Purple/Blue Mushrooms, and i recently ordered some zoanthids and an Alien Eye Goniastrea from Totally Exotic Corals of Oregon. Thanks Jody! The zoas include Armor of God, True Red, Fire and Ice, and Magicians. All turned out great and look very good. I do have a aiptasia problem in my tank that came with it that I am battling. I purchased Aiptasia X from red sea and when I first applied it the aiptasia were shrinking up and turning black within ten seconds... Then they come back... After three applications they still come back big or small. If anyone has suggestions on that please fill me in. I had 2 peppermint shrimp that showed absolutely no interest in eating them and they were eventually eaten by my brittle star that I gave to Kimberly. When tax returns come around I plan to Upgrade to a 135 Gallon system with 2 LED panels. I wanted to get advice on whether I should Fill the 135 with brand new water and let it cycle for a couple months or put the 50 gallons in the tank and run my stuff in there... Or if I should do something completely different than that :P I do a lot of research and would love any advice. I love learning new things and I am a perfectionist. I will try to put up pictures of the tank tomorrow before work. Glad to be a part of the forums and would like to thank everyone who has been helpful so far. Here are some older pics of the tank. (I know the cyano was BAD. All gone now and frogspawn is much happier) Will post updated ones ASAP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimberlee Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 You have some mad pic taking skills. Nice starfish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wanareef Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 For your aiptasia problem, I make up a slurry of Kalkwasser w/RO/DI water and a hypo with a long needle and inject them with it. It's fun to watch them shrivel up and melt away to nothingness (whistle). You can also get close to them and gently inject the kalk into there mouths but sometimes they close up and nothing happens - this is for up close and very personal work (nutty) (nutty) For the upgrade I would add new sand and use some of the established sand in the 55gal to seed it, let it cycle (short cycle) and move the established rock over and good to go. Problem is when you add more LR that will have to be cured but that can be done outside of the upgrade and then added later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackhand Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Great tank looks good im no expert by any notion but I would try and buy some more peppermint shrimps maybe try three this time for the aptasia but ive heard they are kinda hit and miss some times with eating them sometimes they are amazing at it and sometimes not but ive heard better results in heards. Also I would some of the 50 gal water when you make the change of course not all of it first drain some maybe half into the new tank without stiring but anything or taking any rock out you dont want to stir up any detrius or anything once you have a decent amout out and into the new tank like half or 3/4 but that might be pushing it also with draining it first will help in catching the fish then get the sand and rocks out and clean them good esp the sand but dont use the water once the sand and rocks have been stired up thats the important thing ive found out. hope that helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kasasah Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 You have some mad pic taking skills. Nice starfish. Lol, thanks. Cause thats all with my phone haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Welcome. For the Aiptasia, I would recommend trying the peppermint shrimp. Two shrimp may just not be enough. I had the same issue with peppermint shrimp not eating aiptasia and just needed to get more. Make sure they are peppermint shrimp and not the camel shrimp. (They look almost identical except the camel shrimp have a hump) I have heard the camel shrimp are more of risk of eating your coral too. As far as putting up a new tank. I had a very small cycle in my current anemone tank because I had bought the dry Pukani rock from BRS and then seeded it with live rock from my tank and had it in a bin for 2 months. I also used the water from my other 150 gallon tank after a water change to start the other tank. It worked out well. Good luck with the upgrade. I started with a 55 gallon then a 150 gallon, then 2 150 gallons, etc etc... (laugh) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Welcome. For the Aiptasia, I would recommend trying the peppermint shrimp. Two shrimp may just not be enough. I had the same issue with peppermint shrimp not eating aiptasia and just needed to get more. Make sure they are peppermint shrimp and not the camel shrimp. (They look almost identical except the camel shrimp have a hump) I have heard the camel shrimp are more of risk of eating your coral too. As far as putting up a new tank. I had a very small cycle in my current anemone tank because I had bought the dry Pukani rock from BRS and then seeded it with live rock from my tank and had it in a bin for 2 months. I also used the water from my other 150 gallon tank after a water change to start the other tank. It worked out well. Good luck with the upgrade. I started with a 55 gallon then a 150 gallon, then 2 150 gallons, etc etc... (laugh) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omarortiz Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Nice tank. What type of camera are you using to take your images? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kasasah Posted January 17, 2012 Author Share Posted January 17, 2012 Nice tank. What type of camera are you using to take your images? Just a T mobile samsung galaxy s 4G phone. Has a nice camera and camcorder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kasasah Posted January 21, 2012 Author Share Posted January 21, 2012 Sorry I haven't got new pics up... I think i'm gonna just hold out for the upgrade to 135. Kind of doing a mental preparation lol. Saw the tank today and its a beauty... Can't wait, if it wasnt for my wife I would be putting the house payment into this tank :P hahaha (not really funny cause its true) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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