My 30gal Hex Tank

Hi all,

I'm re-establishing a 30gal acrylic hex tank and thought I'd join up here ...

Tank history:
I had this tank running for about 3 years as a FOWLR. I had about 30lbs of live rock, a deep sand bed (aka jaubert) plenum, and a CPR backpack (w/ no media).
The live rock introduced *many* tube worms, and a pepermint shimp. I added a "cleanup crew" of about half a dozen astrea, and a dozen blue+red hermits.
The fish included a pair of ocellaris clowns and yellow tang.
After break-in, the tank ran good and clear with almost zero maintenance. Other than a daily empty of the skimmer cup and weekly glass cleanings + top-off.
The only problem I would have was diatom growth (from the fact I have silicate in my tap water and wasn't wise enough to use RO water ) ... and that tang was another mistake in this small tank.

Then disaster ... we had a power outage that lasted 6 days (in the middle of winter1). Complete death ... (water temp dropped to 40*F!).

So after sitting for 18 months, I decided to resurrect it.

Plan is:
An Elegance coral up high on the reef.
A Bubble coral mid reef.
Perhaps some low light soft corals near the foot of the reef.
2 clowns (who can hopefully play in the Elegance coral).
1 royal gamma (for some algae control?).
Cleanup crew of 20 blue/red hermits and 12 astrea snails.
Some serpent stars (if/when I can find them).

Due to size I'm going to forgo:
Tangs ... just too small a tank.
Carpet anemone ... again, probably too small a tank?

So ...

On 07/28/08:
Washed the tank good and clean.
Washed the now dead rock good and clean, soaked in fresh water overnight, then washed again.
Put a new pump on the backpack, and arranged 20lbs of the (now) base rock.
Mixed up some water (sadly used my well water which is very clean except for the silicate).
Ran the backpack for 3 days to settle in the water+rock.

On 08/01/08:
Added 10 lbs of cured live rock (nice pieces with good corraline) from the LFS.
Added 5lbs of crushed coral sand.
Added a 150w MH "SunPod".

On 08/05/08:
After daily testing, decided it need some seeding so added a "cleanup crew" or 6 astrea and 14 blue+red hermits.

On 08/09/08:
The diatom bloom happened .
Siphoned sand and rock.
Did a 20% water change (this time with RO water!)
Ran skimmer "wet" to remove as much of the disturbed bloom as possible.

On 08/11/08:
Diatom's still blooming, so rinsed rock, stirred sand.
Ran skimmer "wet" for the night.
Did full test after water had cleared somewhat (Ammonia=0.0, Nitrite=0.2, Nitrate=0.0, Low-range Phosphate=0.00)

So, that's where I sit today ... I'm certain I haven't got a good cycling yet, but diatoms appear to be slowing (wish I had a silicate test).

I'll try to get some pics up this afternoon of where it is today.

 

Welcome to 3reef. Glad you kept all the equipment and are getting back in the hobby. One other thing I would purchase is a generator so it doesn't happen again.

 

Welcome to 3reef. The diatoms is normal for a new set up. I'm wondering how are you able to set up this tank in the future? CC is not recommended b/c it collects and hides sluge. Luna

 

Heh, I *have* a generator and used it for 3 days ... but it required gasoline, and no gas stations within 40 miles had power to run pumps to get more gas (except for *1* and that station had a 4 hour wait for gas).

We lasted 3 days on the 15 gallons of gas I had in cans, but then we had to go into true emergency mode.

 

BTW, I updated the above post to include my eventual stocking "plan"

 

Good luck. I know what it is like to be without power just hoping that the ice will melt so you can get down the driveway. Sometimes you just don't have the gasoline you need or the storm is bigger than anticipated. Sorry for your loss. The last outage here almost cost me all of my stock. The fish were sideways on the bottom and then they came back when we FINALLY got the generator running.
P.S. We now start the generator every month to make sure it runs right just for such an occasion.

 

Glad to see your coming back to a hobby with a true payoff! Good luck with your tank. And yeah switch out the crushed coral for sand if you still can. Welcome to 3 reef !

 

Welcome to 3reef.

The Royal Gramma is a carnivore, so it won't do anything for algae control. But, it's a wonderful fish (one of my favorites).

Diatoms are normal for a new tank, so I wouldn't be too concerned with them.

If you're using crushed coral gravel, get rid of it. Unless you mean argonite sand (you said crushed coral sand- not sure what you meant from that). I can tell you from first-hand experience that you don't want crushed coral gravel in your tank (it's a nitrate factory and will contribute to Green Hair Algae problems).

Whatever you do, good luck. And use these forums to your advantage.

 

08/12/08
pulled the 5lbs of corse aragonite, and replaced with 20lbs of sugar aragonite.
pulled 2 gallons of water out during the sand change.
let sand storm settle some.
added one more piece of live rock.
added 2 gallons of distilled + salt + a little kalc.

The LFS didn't have good sugar "live" sand, so added bagged stuff. I kinda knew the course stuff was a mistake, and the comments here reinforced that. Better to change now than later. Plus, having a bit deeper bed up front should allow me to keep a blennie (where as, the 1/2" of corse "cover" wouldn't).

The Kalc was just a *little* bit of added buffer. My PH has always been hanging at 8.4, but I've also seen the start of some corraline groth on the "dead" rock, so decided a bit of boost might help.

The sand (+Kalc+salt) storm is almost cleared, so will get som pics and water tests tonight. (salinity is 1.023 and temp is 80*F which is the height I see during the day recently).

 

Welcome to 3reef!
Sorry to hear about your disaster as a result of the snow storm.
Glad that you have a plan and goal for your newly set up tank again.
The one thing that I would suggest is the avoidance of the Elegance Coral or atleast the maintaining of it in the substrate at the bottom of your tank. They hail from sandy, Seagrass beds and shallow tidal areas where they live unattached in the sand. They are known as a meaty coral hence the reason to position them at the bottom of the tank in the sand to reduce the chances of the delicate tissue of the coral becomming damaged through falling or coming in contact to rock in close proximity to it!
It is a potent stinging coral as is the Bubble coral, though the Bubble coral is much easier to keep.
Good luck!