Kizmar's 120 gal

[Kizmar]

I'm copy and pasting my "introduction" post here since most of what I put there will belong in my post in this forum too. :)

As of this weekend (12/9/2011) I'll have about 70 pounds of live rock cycling in the tank for about a week.

Here's the laundry list of what I've gotten for this tank so far:

• 120 gallon glass aquarium (48x24x24) with two overflow panels:
  • 2x Aqueon overflow kits
  • Random 3/4 Loc-Line pieces to replace the return spouts that came with the overflow kits. The kit pieces were too short and the original Loc-Line stuff didn't fit what comes in the kits.
  • Lighting: 2x AquaUFO™ 90 watt LED Aquarium light
  • Powerheads: 2x Echotech Marine VorTech MP40w ES
• Stand and canopy custom made
• Sump containing:
  • Fluval E 300w
  • Fluval M 300w
  • Reef Dynamics INS150 protein skimmer /w pump
  • 2x Syncra 4.0 Pump (return)

 

[Smitty]

Cool...

 

[chuck78]

Nice!!

 

[BL1]

Welcome! Your setup looks great so far, are you planning on running it bare bottom?

 

[buddy08]

i like those lights, wonder how they will do compared to the ai's and radions

 

[Kizmar]

Welcome! Your setup looks great so far, are you planning on running it bare bottom?

Nope, in fact I was just about to post a picture with more liverock and some sand in it. Still piecing everything together while it cycles.

I should start taking pictures with the blue LED's off, it really messes with my iPhone camera. The picture in the upper-left here is with blues off.

 

[Kizmar]

i like those lights, wonder how they will do compared to the ai's and radions

I've heard and read all good things about these lights. Lets hope it's all true. :)

 

[Kizmar]

Another full picture of my tank with the current LR landscaping... (this was right before the algae and cloudiness started)

 

[Marines_Wife]

I think that little starfish you have is an asterina. From what I read there seem to be mixed reviews on whether they eat your zoas/polyps or not however it seems like most people lean towards they do. If you are going to have anything like that in your tank in the future, I would eradicate the asterinas first. They are tiny hitch hikers on your rocks so I dont think you could really have seen them coming however the only two methods I know of for removal is manually pick them out every time you see one or get a harlequin shrimp to eat them....unless you see a lot though I would just manually remove them for now.

 

[ErinCahir]

I never had an issue with my asterinas. In fact, they did a fantastic job of keeping my glass clean.

 

[Kizmar]

Asterinas seem to be another one of those things (like bristleworms) that are a grey area when it comes to how safe they are.

My goal is to have some thing (or things) in the tank that will eat both of those to keep their numbers to a minimum.

On another note... I just got my Nutrafin Master Test Kit in the mail and tested a few things:

• Nitrites = 0 (clear sample)
• Nitrates = 0 (clear sample)
• Ammonia= 0-0.1 (light yellow sample)
• pH = between 8.2 and 8.3 (hard to tell which color it was)

It appears that my tank has finished cycling (as far as those tests are concerned). Pretty geeked. :mrgreen:

 

[beeguiles]

I have asterinas in my tank too without a problem. :)

 

[Kizmar]

Here are some videos I've taken so far. These are all about a week old. The tank is much more clear now, and has a lot less algae. :)

• Emerald Crab coming out of hiding - YouTube
  
• Emerald Crab Eating - YouTube
  
• 2 Firefish (Nemateleotris magnifica) & Electric Blue Hermic Crab - YouTube
  
• Electric Blue Hermic Crab - YouTube
  
• Burrowing Snail - YouTube

BTW - I couldn't figure out how to embed the video's like I've seen in other posts... maybe I don't have sufficient permission to do so?

 

[Kizmar]

Posting some pics of my sump before water for reference from another thread...

 

[Kizmar]

More pics...

Finally got the hood/canopy on the tank. Here's the finished stand.

 

[Smitty]

Dude, that looks awesome...great job!

 

[Kizmar]

Dude, that looks awesome...great job!

Thanks. This setup has been a looooong time coming. Now I just have to figure out how to get rid of the damn micro-bubbles. ;)

 

[Kizmar]

I love my Blue Dot Jawfish. Best. Fish. Evar!

Blue Dot Jawfish - YouTube

 

[beeguiles]

Yea I loved mine too before it got in a fight with my purple and Orange lobster and then got sick and died. I'm not willing to drop another hundred dollars to have that happen again but he really was my most fav. Fish....

 

[Kizmar]

Current enhabitants:

• Corals (1" frags):
  • Green Apple Cap (Pavona maldivensis)
  • Green Fluorescent Mushroom (Actinodiscus sp.)
  • Red Mushroom (Actinodiscus sp.)
  • Green Lavender Mushroom (Rhodactis sp.)
  • White Lavender Mushroom (Rhodactis sp.)
  • Colony Polyp, Orange/Green (Zoanthus sp.)
  • Colony Polyp, Maroon/Red (Zoanthus sp.)
• Inverts:
  • Blood Shrimp
  • 4 x Emerald Crab
  • Longspine Urchin, Black
  • Blue Tuxedo Urchin
  • 3 x Fighting Conchs (awesome snails!)
  • 3 x ...don't know what they're called but I call them scuba snails, cause they bury themselves in the sand and all you see is a dark snorkel sticking out
  • 2 x Turbo snails
  • 4 x other random snails
• Fish:
  • 2 x Firefish
  • Blue Dot Jawfish