The Hillbilly Reef Experiment....2nd Attempt

[Hawgpharm]

Like many of you, I've been down this road before. I experienced frustration to awe and everything in between.

Perhaps a quick history is in order. I started around eight years ago into the saltwater world. I had kept freshwater since the 80s and had always been too skittish to try salt. And while I had an amazing, albeit up and down journey which culminated in a crash and a solemn oath never to do it again, I kept thinking about it as my return to fresh water simply could never scratch the itch that keeping a saltwater tank provided.

And so, here I go again. I'm facing some unique problems this time. For starters, I'm having to reseal not only my display tank, but my sump as well. I haven't made much progress there, having only removed the silicon from about a quarter of the display tank. I'm about to hit that again after acquiring some tools that will hopefully make the job easier.

The display tank is only 180 gallons which flows into a 110 gallon sump. Here is where it gets a little more interesting. The sump feeds not only back into the dt but also into a 45 gallon fuge that sits above and off to the side of my dt. This allows whatever is growing there (pods) to gravity feed into the dt. In hindsight I now realize how well this worked because during the heyday of this system, my anthias basically lived beneath the outflow pipe from the fuge.

I want to keep anthias again. I want a mandarin. Heck, I want a lot of fish. I tend to like smaller fish anyway so I anticipate a lot of gobies and other small(ish) fish. I still like tangs but will probably stick to the smaller ones like the scopas and if we can get them again, yellow tangs. In thinking about keeping some of those fish, this time I'll also concentrate on raising pods. Oh, I'll definitely have the fuge set up for pod success, but I plan on doing what a lot of folks here have done and will try to get into the phyto and pod growing "business".

The dt is in the wall of the den and I'm lucky enough to have the room behind it for access. Just to give an idea of the setup, I'll add some photos of the time before. It looks the same now, just a little more used. Well, except for the tank which is getting worked on currently.

 

[Hawgpharm]

So, the question lately was how to proceed. I know I need to keep working on resealing those tanks, but I also want to get started. But, I also have a trip planned in a few weeks. So, I guess time to experiment a little and set up a 40 gallon "starter" tank which in my mind is basically going to be a glorified QT tank, or perhaps a home for the smallest of my critters.

Also, I experimented growing some phyto. I started with what appeared to be the easiest to culture, which was nannochloropsis. It seemed to work out pretty well and I kept some in the fridge afterwards. I have cultures of it and tetraselmis that I'll work on again after the trip. Please ignore all the wires in the photos. I'll work on that issue later.

So today, I set up the 40 gallon tank with the standard rock arch in the center. Yeah, I know...not very original, but I like it and can always change it going forward. I also ordered some pods to seed it with. I already had some live bacteria added to the tank so I'll start out with phyto and pods and work my way up from there.

 

[Hawgpharm]

Not sure what else I'll have going on in that room. Much of it depends if I can relocate some things we've kept there in storage. I've already got a 65 gallon water mixing container. Water changes are really easy since there is an attached bathroom. I just turn a valve, drain it out and then replace it by hitting the pump in the 65 gallon container. I'll be getting rid of the 30 gallon fresh water tank and using that as an auto top off. During the winter, I tend to lose anywhere from 3 to 6 gallons a day from evaporation so a large top off is necessary.

If I'm lucky I'll also have room for another 30 gallon QT. But, that area might also be more conducive to my phyto and pod farming. The jury is still out on how I'll approach that little part of the room.

 

[Hawgpharm]

If anything, the project is moving at a snail's pace, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

The 40 gallon QT is now housing a scopas tang, a single ocellaris clown, a single blue/green chromis that was so pretty I couldn't pass it up, a scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp and a feather duster. I'm 5 days post purchase and everyone seems to be doing fine. The feather duster isn't out much but I'm hoping because I'm adding tetraslemis and copepods on a daily basis.

I guess an update there is in order as well. I have found the tetraselmis to be just as easy as nannochloropsis to culture. I had purchased 6 containers to keep running in case of crashes or extra need, but greatly overestimated my current usage. Right now I'm just using the two containers which are 3 gallons each and I've got more green water in the outside fridge than my wife would like. The current cultures are going on 46 days. Yeah, I simply had to try to see if I could do it, and thus far, it hasn't been a problem. I started out with cultures from Florida Aqua Farms and dosed my containers with some Microbacter 7 and turned them loose. When I harvest, all I have to do is open the bottom spigot and collect about 100 mL of phyto and particulate matter that has collected on bottom and then I start to fill my bottles. A few days ago, I thought my left culture had crashed so I drained most of it out, replaced with fresh salt water and f/2 and left it alone. It is already that beautiful dark green that we covet so much from the cultures.

Most of that is being used in a 30 gallon tank that I set up on the floor with a fair amount of sand and a lot of rock. With the chromis and clown, I've pulled pods out of that tank every day because when I look down the water is swarming with them. Plus, they go nuts going after them, especially the larger tig pods. I've also been dosing it into the fuge that sits above the main tank (still working on getting it ready) so that when the water starts flowing there will already be a huge amount of pods and beneficial bacteria to start it up. And, to give the current and upcoming fish a daily treat, I've started a batch of brine shrimp. Feedings for the fish thus far have typically been 3 to 4 times a day, with nori for the tang as well.

To make me focus even more on getting everything ready, I have some basic stock coming later this week. I've always been a "big" tank, little fish kind of guy (current main system is about 350 gallons) and I'm already working towards that goal. I've got 4 yellow prawn gobies coming along with 4 pistol shrimp, 2 banggai cardinals (all they had left), 2 firefish, an angular flasher wrasse and a green mandarin goby. As for the mandarin, I now have 3 different copepod cultures with a volume of 50 gallons (I'd love to know the actual population numbers but it has to be huge). I have another 30 gallon QT tank for this batch of fish as well.

I'll get the main tank going, get the fish out of QT and then I'll start thinking about corals. I've already discovered a person fairly close that seems to have a nice operation going. I'm hoping to encourage their propagation habits.

I'll post more photos as the project continues.

 

[Hawgpharm]

One of the things that attracted me to the hobby was the fact that there is always something to learn. When looking back over the last 35 years of keeping fish, I'm amazed at the learning curve. And now, with this second saltwater attempt, I realize that I missed out on some golden opportunities the first time. I have now discovered the wonders of food production. Yes, it is a little bit of a hassle, but once things got rolling it doesn't take much time or effort at all and I enjoy watching the results.

I've discovered that I love watching copepods. I'm constantly looking at them on the rocks or shining my light into the tank to see how they're doing and check concentrations. I now have multiple cultures, the largest being a 30 gallon tank on the floor. When the lights go on in the morning, there is a sufficient swarm up top that can be seen from a distance. Of course, the fish love it when I dump some into the QT. Looks like they work on them all day long.

Then, for the first time after watching so many posts about it, I cultured some baby brine shrimp. I'm just using a hatchery disc, and it makes it extremely easy to feed as all I have to do is pull up the cup. I get it now. Those little rascals move around so much in the water column that the fish go nuts. I had made a mistake last time of not feeding frequently enough throughout the day. My minimum this time around will be at least 3 times a day. I'll be dosing the fuge that gravity feeds into the tank with pods probably once a day since my production is robust. I fully expect any future anthias, wrasses, etc. to once again live under that gravity flow. As for the brine shrimp, I think today I might set up a grow out tank for them and see if I can't eventually get some adults gut loaded with spirulina. I once splurged on some live mysis and remember the feeding response. It was incredible and in hindsight I should have created something like I have now to stimulate that natural reaction.

This 30 gal culture has been up and running for about 3 months. It was initially seeded with a blend, so I expect a lot of that green is nanno. That being said, I typically feed it every other day with tetraselmis. The end result is a fair amount of pods that I can culture on an almost daily basis.

All I know is I'm having fun. Freshwater tanks were never this entertaining.

 

[Hawgpharm]

A short update...

Acetone. That is really helping me strip the silicone out of the display tank. Hopefully I'll have it all out, buff the glass and then add the new silicone in the next few days. My daughter and I have a short trip planned after she returns from overseas next week, and then I should be ready for a water test.

Most of my fish in quarantine have come from Eric Cohen out in California, with a few locals mixed in. As I've probably mentioned before, I'm a "big tank, small fish" kind of guy. I guess that will be true to some degree, as I have a scopas tang and foxface in the QT. The plan is for them to be the biggest in the DT. I'm sure I'll be adding more small fish once the DT is finished, but my current critters in QT are...

1 Scopas tang --king of the 40 gallon QT He even tries to intimidate me. He is distracted by a mirror most of the time
1 Foxface
4 Yellow watchman gobies
4 Tiger Pistol shrimp
1 Scarlet cleaner shrimp
1 Green mandarin goby (support includes approximately 60 gallons of copepod and baby brine tanks)
1 Hectors goby
1 Court Jester goby
2 Firefish
2 Zebra barred dartfish
2 Banggai cardinalfish
1 Bluegreen chromis
1 Ocellaris clownfish
1 Featherduster

I'll add corals down the road. I'm a huge lps fan and a large zoa collection isn't out of the question.

Food thus far consist of 4 feedings a day with a mixture of baby brine shrimp, copepods, grated shrimp (whoever came up with that idea, you're a genius), nori, marine pellets and/or marine flakes.

Their favorite is definitely the grated shrimp. I'll usually do 3 frozen shrimp and then put them in the fridge in a little salt water. They last a few days depending on how much of it I decide to feed. Super easy.

The kicker, however, has turned out to be the live food. Nothing brings out gobies like baby brine and copepods. My baby brine containers are 2.5 gallons each and I rotate them every 48 hours so I always have a ton of bbs to add. The fish work on those and the copepods all day long. Of course, the main reason for the copepod cultures is the mandarin (Peanut), who pecks all day long at the rock and sand. I've always been paranoid about providing enough food, so I try to err on the side of overkill.

The phyto for the copepods has been amazingly easy to culture. I'm currently running 9 gallons of tetraselmis, with one culture now over 75 days old. I treat it like any other aquarium, with bio media in the bottom to handle sufficient cell death and decay, and a healthy air flow. I verify the culture once in a blue moon with the microscope, just to make sure something else hasn't taken over. When the main tank is done, I'll be dosing it as well to provide food for the copepods in the fuge and just in case any future corals, feather dusters, etc. like it.

I'm a little more motivated now as I'll have guests at the end of August. I need to have the main tank ready by then, for many reason.

I'll have more photos as things progress. If anything, this will serve as a diary of the tank for me. My notes tend to stink but the internet is forever.

The QT is starting to get a little green from the heavy feedings and my love of light. Might have to add a few snails to the mix.

 

[whybenormal]

Wow! I just read through what you are doing. The journey sounds fascinating. I look forward to seeing more. I love the sentence "The display tank is only 180 gallons..."
I had to laugh. Only 180? I started with a 36, moved up to 75 (couldn't sell my husband on a 90 with the same footprint) added a 120, and then added a 125, and set the 36 back up as well. Unfortunately, I have to admit we are out of space.

 

[Hawgpharm]

I wish I had room for more. Started with a 10 gallon in college and it slowly went up from there.

I just got back from Vegas and saw some nice aquariums. Made me want more.

 

[Hawgpharm]

I knew this was going to be a super slow build, and it certainly has been. I'm in no rush, and that is probably a good thing. That being said, a number of things have happened recently.

I finally sealed the tank and water tested it. Phew, that was more work than anticipated.

Last night, I finally did the deed and added the fish that have been in QT for around 4 months. They seem to love it. Fish that would hide as soon as I walked up to the QT are now out front and not fazed at all. Of course, they look rather sparse in this tank. More additions will certainly be forthcoming. I'll be continuing my "big tank, small fish" approach. The scopas tang and foxface will be as big as I go.

As for the scape, I know there are a lot of different approaches out there. Mine is lots of arches and swim through spaces. I know I'm working with a hodgepodge of different rocks, and I'm OK with that. So far, the aggression that the tang showed towards the foxface in the QT has been nonexistent. I figured it would continue, and had resigned myself to purchasing a few more tangs to spread out the love, but now I'm not so sure. Time will tell.

I don't have a cleanup crew yet other than the heavy copepod addition and growth. The fuge is covered with copepods, but I will continue with either 30 or 60 gallons worth of pod production in separate tanks. I may do a 30 gallon copepod tank and a 30 gallon brine shrimp grow out tank. The one time I did that, the fish went absolutely nuts going after those spirulina loaded adult brine shrimp. I did that by feeding the majority of the baby brine to the main tank and taking the last little bit each day to add to the grow out tank. That way I always had a supply of brine shrimp in the various stages of development. From this point forward, I will have three baby brine shrimp containers going. Two are 3 gallons each and the last is a 5 gallon. After seeing how much fish love live food, I'm going to make sure and have plenty for multiple daily feedings to augment my other methods. I'll try to post a photo of my simple, and cheap, fish food method the next time I make some up. I'm sure it mirrors what a lot of you already do.

The initial plan going forward is to concentrate on the fish and inverts first. Yes, my poor little feather duster sure looks lonely down there. "Worm" was a snap purchase, but I love looking at it. I'm sure there will be some snails in my future. The copepods will probably only be able to keep the ugly phase at bay for a short time. After that, I'll try corals again. The great crash about 5 years ago made me a little skittish, but I sure love the colors of zoas and other corals. Not sure which way I'll go at that point.

Anyway, if you have any questions at all to what I'm doing, feel free and ask at any time. Maybe things will start going a little faster now.