After a nightmare of treatment with CP and having to move the tank to a new location, this tank has been reborn as a rapidly developing reef community. However, with just over a year in the marine aquarium hobby, I have learned the importance of patience … and learned it the hard way. To date, the tank is home to the following:

Fish

• 7 Blue/Green Chromis
• 1 Lawnmower Blenny
• 1 Bicolor Blenny
• 1 Black Percula Clown
• 1 Pearly Jawfish

Inverts

• 2 Cleaner Shrimp
• Pearly Bubble Coral
• Gonipora (FlowerPot) Coral
• Pulsing Xenia (several colonies)
• Star Polyps
• Zoanthids
• Toadstool
• Candy Cane Coral
• Several Hermits and Snails
• About 50 lbs of Live Rock
• 50 lbs of Live Sand

This tank still has a refugium with DSB and 24 hour lighting in the sump. The sump is home to Cheato algae but no other intentional marine life. I hope to add some refugium pets in the near future.

Porcupine Puffer

The Volitans Lionfish and our new friend have expired, less than a week after Smiley, a Porcupine Puffer, was added to the tank. Hard lesson reinforcing the need for quarantine.

This tank is currently fallow and being treated with Chloroquine Phosphate concurrent with the treatment of the 300 Gallon Reef.

This tank has seen quite a bit of evolution. At the moment, it is home to the Volitans Lion, Yellow Foxface Lo, a Powder Blue Tang, and – as of last night – a 12″ brittle star. We will see how these specimins fare as I slowly remove the coral to the larger tank.

Over the course of the last week, I have added numerous coral additions to the 75 Gallon reef tank. These include candy cane, a flowerpot, frogspawn, pink plate coral, and sun polyps. See the pictures below!

Last weekend, we introduced a beautiful Naso Tang into the tank. Although, he was shy for a couple of days, he quickly befriended the foxface. On Thursday, the Tang died. Necropsy showed that he had consumed sand and was unable to eliminate it. We will certainly be looking to replace this little fellow in the near future!

Refugium Conversion

Modified Plumbing

I have completed the project to modify the wet/dry filter into a refugium. I cut 2 pieces of acryllin in order to create 2 additional bafflles. Then, I added 40 kbs of live sand and some live rock rubble to the refugium side, removed the drip tray and ran a piece of pvc with a filter sock. Finally, I topped it off with cheatomorpha algae and some basic lighting.

Future concerns will be to add some pods and reduce the flow as much as possible without affecting the skimmers functions. The same pump feeds both the inlet and the skimmer. So, I will keep this problem in mind for future designs.

In an attempt to control algae in the display tank, and promote better natural biological filtration, I added 15 lbs of live rock to the tank and moved around some of the coral. This change was made during an adaptation from using a wet/dry to building out a refugium.

Volitans Lion

March 7, 2009 we added a Volitans Lionfish to this 75G tank. We had to wait almost a week to bring him home as he was being weaned from live food and I wanted to see him eat frozen krill or silversides, with my own eyes, before adding him to this tank. The lion has taken to eating frozen food quite well and is in the process of acclimating to the new environment and making friends with foxy, the foxface rabbit fish

In addition to the lion, we added a polyp rock with blue Sponge, some hairy mushrooms, daisy polyps, and a blue rose coral.

Here is a day/night picture of our new Yellow Foxface (lo) Rabbit Fish. You cannot tell he is the same fish when he is asleep or stressed.

Yellow Foxface Rabbit Fish

In less than 72 hours, the tank has cycled and made way for some new friends. I attribute the rapid cycling to the live rock, live sand, and Seachem Stability. We introduced a Yellow Foxface Rabbitfish. He is very shy still. He sleeps in his pajamas. See, he can change his yellow color to camouflage in order to hide himself. He is the first of a couple venomous fish we will welcome to this larger tank. In addition, we have added some Red Zoanthids and a purple mushroom.

I have sold some of the koi in my office pond allowing me to transition the four that inhabited this tank to the 150 Gallon tank. This was one of my long-term goals so that I can convert the 75 Gallon tank to saltwater. The physical conversion started on Monday 2/23 and was completed on Tuesday 2/24/2009. The goal was for a 3-day cycle using 15 lbs of cured live rock and 40 lbs of Ocean Direct™ Caribbean Live Sand. I also used Saltwater Biozyme and Stability to ensure the fastest cycle time. Keeping in mind that only bad things happen fast, I will only add livestock once I have evidence that a cycle occurred and even then I will add very cautiously.

The main physical conversion consisted of plumbing the Top Fathom Skimmer back into the pump (as pictures below). In an effort to make this easily removable without getting drenched, I added 2 ball valves on the output – one before and one after the union. Since plumbing is not my best skill, this took quite a while longer than I had anticipated.

This 8 inch algae eater was added to the tank exactly a week ago. It has done a terrific job in cleaning the tank. This tank is now inhabited by the 4 koi mentioned in previous posts and this very large housekeeper.

This tank was purchased from Acrylic Tank Manufacturers in October of 2008 for use as a quarantine tank to observe and treat some of the Koi from the office pond that made it through the cycling nightmare of nitrite poisoning. Initially, the setup was plumbed by LeMar. The design was a catastrophe waiting to happen and I would not wish this type of plumbing on my worst enemy. The cabinet houses a 15 gallon wet / dry filter and is plumbed with a built in overflow, drainage with a ball valve and union, and a check valve from the pump back into the tank. This plumbing was the result of a great deal of trial and error … and one power outage that resulted in back flow; hence, the one-way check valve from the pump back to the tank. Seasoned tank owners know this is a mistake that is only made once. The check valve prohibits the backflow of water from the line into the tank once a siphon is created and the pump loses power. The $1.89 investment saves a mess.

Initially, the tank was home to 2 koi. Pippi was a very small (1 inch) becko who coexisted with a 3 inch platimum Ogon. Both of the koi had suffered a tremendous amount of internal damage and gill damage from the effects of new tank syndrome from the office pond. In mid-November, Pippi expired. In an effort to provide companionship for the platinum Ogon, I added four additional 3 inch koi to the mix.

The ensuing 2 months was an absolute nightmare in the world of fish husbandry. Despite numerous attempts to isolate the sick Ogon, treatments with salt to .03, Pimafix, Melafix, and nursery boxes to sustain a calm environment, this ill fish finally expired. The last of the initial office gang.

Despite the use of bacteria additives, the tank required water changes to almost 60% several times each week in order to combat nitrite readings sometimes in excess of 1.0. However, during this period, the 4 fish enjoyed meals of pellets, peas, shrimp, and oatmeal. They thrived and continued to grow.

On January 14, 2009, the water tested no detectable ammonia, nitrites, and low nitrates. Finally, victory in tank 2! The nitrite cycle has completed and the feeding frenzy is on! Now, the next plan is to add a pleco for some basic housekeeping.