my new project-Aquarium keeping part 3

[ocnbrze]

hey guys looks like i'm in for another project.

you can see my other projects here:
https://androidforums.com/threads/my-new-project-aquarium-keeping.832644/
https://androidforums.com/threads/my-new-project-aquarium-keeping-part-2.1324432/

ok so looks like my mom has got the bug....LOL. she likes my 180 so much that she wants one in the family room. my 180 and reef tank are in my room.

.....so now i'm looking to do maybe a simple minimalistic planted tank with only one or two plants. i have not decided on what size or what types of fish i want to put in it yet.

here are some ideas i'm looking into:

Spoiler: click here for some examples

my lfs might have some good deals on used tanks with a stand...so i'm gonna look over the weekend. i do know that it will need a decent light, a canister filter, heater, and most likely a co2 unit as well.

......more to come later.

 

[no one]

Sounds fishy.

 

[ocnbrze]

Sounds fishy.

ummmmmm....thanx......i think????

LOL

 

[no one]

I do what I can.

 

[ocnbrze]

ok so i think i am gonna use my 65 gal tank that is currently a saltwater tank and turn that into the planted tank.....at least for now. i have one remaining saltwater fish in that tank.

its called a pj cardinal

he is a trooper and i want to keep him......soooooooo i am gonna be setting up a 8 gal zoanthid tank just for him.

what are zoanthids, you ask?

are they not beautiful. what i want is to create what is called a zoa garden........

i'll probably start this tonight. i'll post some pics probably tomorrow.

edit looks better without the spoilers....lol

 

[dontpanicbobby]

Share one with your closest aquarium. They'll know how to take care of it and gives more people a chance to see it.
How enormous is your house?

 

[ocnbrze]

Share one with your closest aquarium. They'll know how to take care of it and gives more people a chance to see it.
How enormous is your house?

its a 4 bed 2 bathroom house. so my 65 gallon reef and 180 are in my room. ,my room is kind of small, so i have no drawers, chests or desks in my room. it is literally all aquariums. if you'll forgive the mess. i'll post tomorrow a picture of my room and the progress of tearing down the 65gal tank. i also have to figure out where the smaller tank will go.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

I only have 3 bedrooms. I put my 10 gallon aquarium in the hallway and thought it looked big. But, DAMN! You have much space. What's on the other side of the house? Do you have a hallway dividing?

 

[ocnbrze]

I only have 3 bedrooms. I put my 10 gallon aquarium in the hallway and thought it looked big. But, DAMN! You have much space. What's on the other side of the house? Do you have a hallway dividing?

so one side of the house is the living room and family room. i have a hallway that leads to the bathroom and the 4 bedrooms......though one of the rooms is more like an office. it is where i have my desktop located. i might put the smaller tank there.

right now i'm chilling with my cigar, gonna poor me a glass of bourbon while i contemplate where to put the tanks.

 

[ocnbrze]

i want this guys tank:

....maybe not as big, but his garden is SICK!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ocnbrze]

ok I'm DONE!!!!!!!!

.....well at least for the night. i was able to get the small soon to be zoa tank setup. the 65 gallon is now drained. tomorrow i will disconnect everything clean and rinse the tank out. i will then move it out to the family room and get that set-up thru out the day. i'll post picks during the whole process.

for now here are the picks from for the zoa tank:

Spoiler: click here if you want to see how it progressed

as you can see i kept it really simple. it is just a light (albeit a light that is very much overkill), a water pump for circulation and aeration, and a heater.

gonna let it run for a few days then i will order some zoas and see how they do. i'm gonna start slow with the zoas as they can get pretty expensive

 

[dontpanicbobby]

You are so next level. Did you start with goldfish?

 

[ocnbrze]

You are so next level. Did you start with goldfish?

thanx!!!!!!

when i was like 10, from a carnival i went to. i feel like i was born for this. my birthday is Feb. 25th which makes me a pisces. i started to swim when i was 10 and swam all the way thru college on various swim teams. i have an aquatic biology degree from UCSB.....so you see i have always been attracted to water.

now i need to look for some zoas to add....i'll keep you guys posted.

 

[ocnbrze]

ok here is what i ordered:

Spoiler: click to see my order receipt

after looking for pictures to post here of my purchase, i saw some of their new arrivals and could not resist.

Spoiler: click to see what i could not resist....LOL

 

[ocnbrze]

so looks like i will be getting my zoa's next week.....which is perfect so that i can dial in the water quality. i'm going to do a water change tonight. it also gives me a chance to prep them. i just received a bone cutter specifically made for cutting coral. i'm gonna be using it mainly to the coral frag plugs and then gluing them to a rock.

this guy shows the process really well:

i bought the zoas from a coral farm in northern Ca. called Legendary Corals they generally have great stuff.

it takes them an extra week to ship as some of their zoas are coming off of a mother colony. so they fragged the zoas early this week and they are waiting for it to heal and open up, before they ship them out.

i'm also considering getting an actual filter for the tank.....so far the only filter really is the sand and rock. they contain bacteria that breakdown any waste in the tank.....so i have biological filtration, but lack and mechanical or chemical filtration. the sand i used came from my now dried out 65 gallon tank......along with the live rock that was in there. so the sand was a tad dirty, but did not want to completely clean it out because of the bacteria. so anytime i move the sand it gets a bit cloudy, but after a few minutes or so it settle back down.....i think for now it should be fine....maybe later on down the road.

so if all goes well with these zoas in this tank, i might have a 4th project i might want to try to do.....and that is to start a coral frag tank system. actually my boss is thinking of doing a frag system at work as well. i could sell my frags to him so that we can put them into our client's tanks.....but that is a project for next year maybe.

anyways i will be setting up the planted tank next week as all of my energy was for my tiny zoa garden tank. i need to find a cool dramatic piece of stone or wood to be the focal point of the tank......Universal Rocks, who made my 3D background for my 180, also makes some cool fake tree trunks that might work for the tank.....but i have not decided yet.

 

[ocnbrze]

i almost forgot to mention that i ordered some mangroves for the zoa garden tank. that will also help with filtration....biologically.

https://www.aquaculturenurseryfarms.com/mangroves/

 

[dontpanicbobby]

Mangroves are trees; Or tall bushes as we'd call them in Boston. DUDE! You could open aquarium tours in your house. 1 guide for each room and sell merchandise.

Are all your aquariums fresh water @ocnbrze?

 

[ocnbrze]

Mangroves are trees; Or tall bushes as we'd call them in Boston. DUDE! You could open aquarium tours in your house. 1 guide for each room and sell merchandise.

Are all your aquariums fresh water @ocnbrze?

not even close. i only have 2 aquariums at the moment....soon to be three and then four.

this guy:

he has a whole show room with a 2,000gal aquarium that he built himself!!!!!!!

once i get my frag tanks going......then maybe yes you might say that. but i will never come close to the King of DYI, joey is a crazy cool dude!

 

[dontpanicbobby]

Built?

 

[ocnbrze]

Built?

yep most of it is wood. he then attached glass to the wood, sealed it and the wood and bam he has a 2,000 gal tank!!!!

 

[ocnbrze]

my little tank is coming along nicely!!!!!

as you can see, i just recieved my mangroves.......so cool looking. a tad big for the tank. may need to find a different light solution. maybe hang the lights from the ceiling......we shall see how the mangroves adjust and go from there. it is in a pretty well lit room so it might not be a problem.

 

[ocnbrze]

ok so i just received my zoas!!!!!!!!!

ok i got a little lazy and did not dip them in a coral dip which ensures that the zoas not have any pest hitchhiker being introduced to the tank.....mainly because i forgot to get some. i also did not brush the frag plugs as suggested in one of the videos i shared in my earlier post. i did drip them with water from my tank for about 15 mins. i just put them in and they are all closed up at the moment. i have them in the tank on a frag rack. a frag rack is just that it is something that is held in place in the tank via magnets and allows you to put coral frags in them.

i'll post some pics this weekend.....just super tired. it has been a long day and i need to now smoke a cigar and chill.

 

[MrJavi]

my little tank is coming along nicely!!!!!

as you can see, i just recieved my mangroves.......so cool looking. a tad big for the tank. may need to find a different light solution. maybe hang the lights from the ceiling......we shall see how the mangroves adjust and go from there. it is in a pretty well lit room so it might not be a problem.

That looks really cool my friend.

 

[ocnbrze]

That looks really cool my friend.

thanx, it will be even better when my zoas open up. it will start to look cool as soon as i glue them to the rocks and grow.

 

[ocnbrze]

i'm now thinking about buying a slightly bigger tank. my 8 gal nano is undergoing the new tank syndrome. now this is much different then cycling a tank. basically all tanks go thru a cycling period. it does not matter if it is a freshwater tank or a saltwater tank. all tanks must go thru the nitrogen cycle.

what is this you ask? well basically when you have organisms living in a water environment, they create waste (poop), the waste usually comes in the form of ammonia. as ammonia builds up, there is a certain bacteria that will feed off of it. but this bacteria will then poop out another chemical called nitrite. as the nitrites build up, another type of bacteria breaks it down into nitrates. and one of the main ways to get rid of nitrates is to do water changes. now corals, and algae will also eat up nitrates. ammonia and nitrites are very toxic to most organisms......so you want to put something that is cheap and hardy.

this cycling of the tank usually takes up 3-4 weeks. in my case i speed up the process by using my former reef tank's sand and some of the rock. these nitrifying bacteria grows on all surfaces including the sand and rock. so by using them i have speed up the cycle. my tank actually never went thru the cycle because of the existing bacteria.

right now what is happening in my tank is that there is a tiny organisms that is really thriving in my tank. they are called dinoflagellates. these things need light and nitrates to grow. they can look like brown algae which they are not.......so all of my sand and rocks are now turning a disgusting brown. so the game plan is to reduce the amount of light, do more frequent water changes, add more cleanup crew and something that will out compete the dino's for nutrients.

......so i just purchased some cool macro alga's and a lot of snails.

and i'm also considering buying a tank off of one of my clients who has a 12 gal setup. it is bigger and has a better filtration then mine and is fairly established. i will not be using the rocks or sand from it however......so it might go thru the same thing. but she does have some cool fish and snails that i like......but i'm still thinking about it. i have not committed to it yet.