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RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:18:31 GMT

i looked in the tank about dusk last evening and saw one of my Diadema urchins spawning. i assume it is a male or are the hermaphroditic?

the event lasted about 40 minutes. it seemed like a lot of stuff came out and all the other corals in the tank extended polyps.

on a sadder note one of my Acans that i had had for over a year and had been in the new tank for 5-6 weeks deveoped a brown jelly infection and was mostly gone in two days. it is amazing how fast it can progress. this is a coral that was about 8x12".

i moved it into another tank i have outside with mostly just LR and a few corals and no fish. i haven't had the heart to see if it is all gone. the tank is only viewable from above and i would have to turn off the pump pointed at the water surface to see into the tank.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:04:35 GMT

blocking out the UV is just a characteristic of the acrylic or is it polycarbonate, i forget. opening is very important to vent. there is a nice air flow up the shaft. it remains open unless there is rain forecast.

a skylight with all the city approved codes is required here. i could not use a piece of acrylic if i wanted to which i didn't.

i am a roofing contractor. installing a skylight and waterproofing it is easy. installing a piece of acrylic and waterproofing it is not. i have seen and replaced many of these home made skylights over the years.

what size were you thinking of? what type of roof do you have? a real skylight is not that expensive. less than a halide light fixture. mine for example cost about $1,000, plus installation. smaller ones cost <$200 for the skylight.

i would recommend only using an opening one. they come with a screen which i removed.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

775coral — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:38:45 GMT

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:19:02 GMT

"If you were to do your set up again would you use the solar skylight again and if so would you do any of it differently?"

I love the skylight and would not change it. the tank has not been running over the winter yet. i will likely be adding some supplemental lighting for extending the days in the winter and night viewing. i have some 10 watt LEDS that give a very interesting night light to the tank though. the neighbors have asked what the blue glow coming out of the skylight and the front door is.

i love the way the light moves around the tank over the day.

one thing i might have done differently is the placement of the CL returns. there are eight of them and i would have put them only 6" from the outside of the tank i think. i like the fact that they are hidden in the rockwork though which would have been harder with the rock so close to the edge so i am not sure about moving them closer to the edge. having them closer to the edge may have given more aquascaping choices. the way it is now gives less flow to the bottom of the tank where the LPS corals will be so that is a good thing.

the entryway side of the tank is difficult to get to to clean as it is right under a bearing wall with no access from the top and requires laying on top of the tank on a foam covered piece of 3/4" plywood with a snorkel to get into the tank.

i foresee this side being neglected and then abandoned some day and drywall put over this side of the tank which would be a shame but so much less work. the other two viewing sides are much easier to work on with the wide bench around the tank that comes to the bottom of the tank.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

sugan — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:45:51 GMT

edit

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

sugan — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:38:59 GMT

edit

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

775coral — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:54:02 GMT

Lucky dog!

Excellent build and tread to learn from – Thank-you for sharing.

If you were to do your set up again would you use the solar skylight again and if so would you do any of it differently?

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:05:42 GMT

i don't know what happened to the Gorgonian picture in the post above.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:13:37 GMT

i've had this one about 18 months.
it is early morning and it is about half way open.

a photosynthetic Gorgonian. not sure where the best spot in the tank is for it. high or lower light?

the quadruped couch.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:04:44 GMT

i moved this one at night. i followed Eric's recommendations and just moved it from tank to tank instantly. it had been in my old tank for three years. i checked and made sure temp and salinity were the same and then just did it.

and by the next day it had expanded and the Maroon clowns had adopted it.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

melev — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:03:34 GMT

I would put a little more space between the two. The acan usually wins that battle.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:57:52 GMT

still haven't caught the crab.

this happened in my tank over the weekend. i had noticed the frogspawn polyps getting a bit longer for a couple of days. then one got sucked into the Acan polyp. after a few hours it wasn't there anymore. i don't know if it was digested or released. they Acan polyp is still contracted three days later. after it was not attached anymore there was mucus/slime coming from the Acan polyp that was gone by the next morning.

they are in the right side of the tank shot.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 23:01:04 GMT

are you saying a cross hatch trigger or pink tail will eat the crab? i thought they were only plankton feeders from the water column. those are the triggers i will have in the tank, no other triggers.

i will try the jar with bait trap.

aren't stone crabs good eating? they must be slow growers as it is at least three years old.

here is a link to some stone crab info. the article says the claws are different sizes. the one in my tank seemed to be the same size although my picture and memory are not that good.

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/fishwatch/species/stone_crab.htm

here is some of the text-

Life History and Habitat

Life history, including information on the habitat, growth, feeding, and reproduction of a species, is important because it affects how a fishery is managed.

* Geographic range: Gulf stone crab are found from northwest Florida around the Gulf of Mexico to the state of Tamaulipus, Mexico. Florida stone crab are found from west central Florida around the peninsula to east central Florida and North Carolina. An extensive hybrid zone occurs from the big bend area of Florida to west central Florida, and a smaller hybrid zone occurs from east central Florida through South Carolina. A hybrid zone is where the range of the two interbreeding species meet.
* Habitat: Larvae are planktonic and are found in nearshore coastal waters and within estuaries. Juveniles inhabit hiding places such as crevices in and beneath rock or shell. Adult Gulf stone crabs are found on mud flats and oyster reefs in nearshore and estuarine areas. Adult Florida stone crabs live in seagrass beds or rocky substrate in higher salinity waters.
* Life span: Males live to about 7 years, and females live to about 8 years.
* Food: Larvae feed on smaller zooplankton (tiny floating animals). Juvenile and adult stone crab are generally opportunistic carnivores but sometimes eat plants also. Juveniles and adults both feed on oysters, acorn barnacles, conchs, sea anemones, flatworms, boring clams, blue crabs, hermit crabs, common mussels, and vegetative matter.
* Growth rate: Growth in males is greater and more variable than in females.
* Maximum size: Stone crabs can reach 5 ½ to 6 inches carapace width (the widest part of the body).
* Reaches reproductive maturity: Females mature at around 2.4 inches carapace width; males mature at around 2.8 inches carapace width. The carapace is the part of the exoskeleton that covers the first section of the crab's body.
* Reproduction: Stone crabs mate after molting when the female is soft. Males deposit spermatozoa in the receptacle of the female. Eggs are fertilized within the ovary lumen. After fertilization and ovarian development, eggs are deposited in an external mass or sponge (160,000 to 1 million per egg mass) beneath the female abdomen. At this time, females are termed ovigerous, or egg-bearing. Eggs usually hatch within two weeks after they are extruded. Larval development takes approximately four weeks before metamorphosis to the juvenile form.
* Spawning season: Spring to fall
* Spawning grounds: Mating sites have not been identified, but research has suggested that oyster reefs and seagrass beds may be important habitat for mating.
* Migrations: Little is known about the movement and migration of stone crabs. They may move in response to environmental factors or seasons. Large males appear to move inshore in the fall to mate with molting females.
* Predator/prey interactions: Adult filter-feeding fish, larval fish, and other zooplankton feed on larval stone crab. Predators of juveniles include other xanthids (crustaceans), grouper, black sea bass, and other large fish. Octopi, horse conchs, sea turtles, cobia, and grouper feed on adult stone crab. Juvenile stone crabs are more susceptible to predators than adults because they do not burrow or have the large claw of adults.
* Commercial or recreational interest: Both
* Distinguishing characteristics: Stone crabs have a large crusher claw and a smaller pincer claw with numerous small teeth used for cutting. The Gulf stone crab is maroon brown, as compared to the Florida stone crab which is spotted and banded.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 18:51:14 GMT

here is a crummy picture of the hidden crab.

i haven't seen it again since the first day. it is about 3-3.5 ".

it is all white except the claw tips.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Gatorzone19 — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 18:42:41 GMT

That crab in your picture is a stone crab. There claws can grow to be a foot long. I would get it out as soon as possible or it might have some of your fish for a meal. If you get those triggerfish in the tank they will eat it. Also my tank stays at 86 degress during the day and 84 at night and if your temp is around that you should just acclimate your fish longer than usual and acclimate corals and inverts for a couple of hours.

Also Very nice Job with the tank. Its one of the nicest setups Ive seen.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 15:20:24 GMT

i forget my chemistry. maybe someone out there knows the calculations for the latent heat of vaporization.

i want to set up an evapoative cooler for my tank. my tank is 700 gallons including rock, etc. really just a fan blowing across a wet towel suspended over the sump and wicking water from the sump.

how much water do i need to evaporate to lower the temp 1 degree F?

right now i am evaporating about ten gallons per day. i just set up a fan on my sump and it does seem to be helping a bit. we are having some of the hottest days of the year right now. it is 84 outside and inside my house at 3pm.

the tank is 85-87 depending on which thermometer i want to believe.

i have cut off the sun to the tank.

i need to get the sump etc set up in the garage which is below grade on two sides.

Carl

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:10:49 GMT

here are a couple of tank shots with some of the new livestock.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:58:02 GMT

update-

i got a couple more nudi's off the qt Monti's ten days ago, none spotted in the main tank so far. i hope i dodged that bullet. thank you Steve Gerrett.

i got some new additions to the tank. a reefer that had to break down his tank. no additions in three years. i examined all closely and added them to the display tank.

soon there after i noticed a new pile of sand next to the new Platygyra. then i saw the three inch white crab with black claws. damn. the picture is very bad. hopefully i can get a better one later if i can catch it. the previous owner told me there has not been any coral eating. he only had a few fish and occasionally one would disappear and he just put it down to "a fish just disappearing".

i looked right at it while examining the Platygyra and did not see it. it is big enough that it must have been in plain sight too!!! it is under the rock just to the right.
sorry again about the photo but this is freaking me a out a bit.

another little problem.

there is still quite a lot of short algae on much of the rockwork. i think i need some more herbivores. these are not keeping up

the acro had been in the tank for a couple of weeks and within one day RTN's and was gone. i think maybe it was in a lower flow area. all other corals are fine

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

melev — Wed, 28 May 2008 16:47:42 GMT

I like that idea.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Wed, 28 May 2008 13:53:44 GMT

i understand what you are saying about the 6500k sun and the color thing. and yes, they are brownish looking right now. some have said it will change as the tank breaks in. the perceived color will never be the bright blues etc that people see under 14-20 K lamps. but all those wavelengths are in my sunlight too. so the corals will be healthy if not quite so bright. i will likely cave to pressure to put some lamops over the tank for evening viewing. one suggestion from Steve Garrett was to put them on a light rail and slide it into the closet when not needed or wanted.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

melev — Wed, 28 May 2008 12:36:24 GMT

Those nudibranchs are a real pest. When you study your corals, the top is easy to view and you'll see them quickly enough. They tend to live underneath in the shadows, laying eggs underneath near the healthy tissue so as they 'hatch' they have something to eat immediately.

I had them in my prop system and I siphoned out thousands. Wherever I saw two touching each other, they left babies behind. Could have been a coincidence, but I saw a lot of coincidences then.

What most reefkeepers do is cut away the infected area to get rid of every last one of them. Eric Borneman wrote an article about using Garlic or Potassium permanganate to fight them off. He might have more information by now.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-09/eb/index.php

By yellow, I mean the natural look of your tank as opposed to most reef tanks that use artificial lighting with a mixture of actinic supplementation or higher Kelvin bulbs. It doesn't look bad to me, but it doesn't pop either. Perhaps that is the pictures rather than reality though.

Buy a few more hungry snails from your LFS to help mow down that algae. Big Mexican Turbos are excellent, but can bulldoze some of your frags. Put the snails where you want them to eat, and if you find them elsewhere, move them back.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Wed, 28 May 2008 12:19:02 GMT

i am running carbon and ozone along with the skimmer. i don't think the water is really yellow. which picture are you judging that from?

i am thinking of taking the skimmer off the tank while the infauna matures.

i am only feeding the tank about 2 grams per day of food. not enough to need even the skimmer i have.

i do have a big skimmer for later when i can have a real sump. although i still believe that if the infauna and other exporting mechanisms are in place and mature it will process the waste in the tank.

my 260 has not had a skimmer for about 2 years. and i have sps corals in there along with lots of sponge life, etc. see earlier pix.

i do have a few corals in the tank now.

still only the one lawnmower blenny.

corals are growing.

i just found out some bad news though.

MONTI EATING NUDI'S

look what i found after i thought i had QT'd. Actually it was Steve Garrett of Garrett's Acropolis who saw them in the new tank within 30 seconds. i am so grateful he came by. i know he saved me a lot of grief. thank you Steve.

i found a couple of my other frags with a couple Nudi's that i got rid of and i put the once infected frags in a diffent tank.

how long can they live without a host?

what is the lifecycle?

are they Hermaphroditic?

do they have any known predators?

how far can they travel? i had one frag that i found yesterday in my main tank with the mother colonies that was infected with quite a few mature nudi's and eggs also. i destroyed that frag. it was on eggcrate on the side of the tank. could the babies make their way down the tank and up the rockwork to the mother colony?

i have looked at the remaining frags under a magnifying glass until i was blurry eyed and found no more Nudi's. i have sequestered them iin the tank on the side on eggcrate far from the rockwork.

i will also remove them at least once a week and look at them with the magnifying glass again.

the algae is being eaten by the urchins and blenny. still quite a bit though.

i hope to get some more LR in the tank soon. i have to still drill it out for my mounting system.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Fri, 09 May 2008 03:03:32 GMT

Nice picture Marc. i think they only have a bitail and look redder in my photo than they look in person. not nearly like your photo.

any thoughts about the other thing? i have been researching the snail possibility and i think the snails i have in the tank are Strombus maculatus after reading an article by Dr. Shimek. they lay an egg mass that looks like what i have. i am waiting to see if Dr. Shimek has an opinion.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

melev — Fri, 09 May 2008 00:15:25 GMT

Brown or reddish flatworms of that size tend to be Planaria, but the tail is the part you look at mostly. Planaria has three points in the tail section:

For algae clean up, there are a few animals that help, such as the Sea Hare or the huge Mexican Turbo snails. Manual removal is important as well when it seems to get out of hand.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Thu, 08 May 2008 19:34:17 GMT

no FTS. working on the infrastructure.

i haven't cleaned the viewing pane in a week. it has got a good coating of algae, with other things growing in it. you can see very small tube worms, there are very small pods, and then the other things in the photo.

some kind of flat worm, looks like Planaria in the photo but in person they don't look red or green at all, just a kind of dark brown/grey.

they don't seem to be on any of the corals, they are on the sand bed .
the corals all seem fine.

what is it and what do i do about it?
flat worms. probably hundreds of them. what if anything should i do? what will eat them, biological control.

the other translucent thing is about 1/4" in diameter and has things growing inside i think. it was suggested by a friend that it is snails. there are some 1/2" snails in the tank. i don't know what else it could be. the only other things in the tank are two Diadema urchins and a lawnmower Blenny that hang at at that end of the tank.

the other question is what if anything to add for more algae control?
most of the algae appears dead but still in place, you can see both forms below.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

melev — Wed, 07 May 2008 09:08:04 GMT

My tank has a fishroom behind it. And a door from that room goes to the garage. In the summer, I turn on a window a/c unit that is built into the wall of my fishroom that keeps the room nice and comfortable and keeps the tank right at ~80F day in and day out. In the winter months, I turn off the window unit and crack open the door to the garage to let in cool air during the day time and close it at night. During spring and fall, the door to the garage is open all the way to let in fresh air.

I don't park in my garage, so there are no fumes to worry about.

The temperature of my tank is more stable in the summer months when the window a/c is on 24/7. Winter tends to bounce those numbers around depending on when I open and close doors that let in fresh air and allow hot air to escape.

Over the past couple of days my tank has gotten closer to 82F because our weather is rather stormy and I'm still trying to resist the urge to run the a/c unit quiet yet.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Wed, 07 May 2008 08:50:00 GMT

Marc-how do you maintain your tank tamps?

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

melev — Mon, 05 May 2008 15:33:08 GMT

Keep in mind that with higher tank temperatures, oxygen levels can be depleted more quickly. Probably due to the increased metabolism of the livestock.

I keep my tank between 79 and 81F year round. I don't use a chiller.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Mon, 05 May 2008 15:24:59 GMT

crank up those heaters boys and girls. we have been chilling our tanks too much with too little daily variation. 82-86 is better with a daily variation.

i should be able to get by with no chiller.

an interesting discussion about tank temps.

http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic85520-11-1.aspx#bm85604

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Mon, 05 May 2008 12:52:39 GMT

i'm not smart enough for that.

the reflectors i have are about 1.5 sq feet each so it wouldn't be like hanging a Luminarc III over that tank, still...

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

melev — Mon, 05 May 2008 11:28:03 GMT

VHOs don't require reflectors. I know what you mean though, anything is an obstacle.

Maybe you could create some type of neato mechanized gizmo that moves them in when wanted, and then back out of sight when not.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Mon, 05 May 2008 11:11:48 GMT

i knew that's what you meant. my answer didn't really indicate that though. i have had several visitors ask about the evening viewing. i just hate to block the sunlight with reflectors.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

melev — Mon, 05 May 2008 10:51:36 GMT

I wasn't suggesting adding lighting because the corals need it as much as I thought the coloration would help from a viewer's perspective. Similar to how people put a 20,000K bulb over their tank because it looks nicer to them - not because they hope that bulb will make stuff grow.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Mon, 05 May 2008 09:57:27 GMT

i thought Hydroids too. i will try to remove as many as i can but doubt if i can get them all. glad to know they don't usuall get out of hand, i understand they can sting other corals and so are not desireable because of that.

i have not done anything yet about enclosing the canopy. as far as the lighting goes. no plans yet. as long as my inhabitants are healthy i will forgo additional lighting for now. and i think there is going to be plenty of light. a couple days ago it was very sunny and the Apogee light meter was off the scale in the brightest part of the tank. that is PAR >2000.

maybe the colors won't be as bright. i have a Montipora Denae that under higher Kelvin bulbs was blue with green polyps. now it is still blue but the polyps look more brown/green. not the same pop as before. it is the one in the video.

but then in the winter i may just add a couple of 20,000K lamps.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

melev — Sun, 04 May 2008 19:17:23 GMT

Yes, those are Neomeris annulata. Crazy looking algae that loves calcium. A club member had a tank full of them, which drove him insane and made us all jealous. It was a neat look. He had a snail climbing the glass that looked like an octopus with all those green arms.

The brown things you asked about look like hydroids. I've never had a problem with them getting out of hand, but they can be pests in some aquariums.

Many SPS have polyps underneath. Not nearly as much as we see on top, but still there are some as you noted on the underside of those montipora.

Did you do the canopy cover yet? Are you going to supplement with VHO or T5s to add a little blue to what appears to be quite a bit of brown?

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Sun, 04 May 2008 15:35:54 GMT

i found out what the Macroalgae is.
http://www.melevsreef.com/id/annulata.html

thanks Marc.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Sun, 04 May 2008 15:16:00 GMT

i noticed that the Monticaps have polyps on the underneath side. i have not noticed that on the mother colonies under halides.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Sun, 04 May 2008 15:06:55 GMT

animal or vegtable?
the green things are rather slow growing and have kind of a halo of tentacles or ??? at the tip.

i am going to try and get the Valonia out soon. what is the organism with polyps adjacent to it?

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Sat, 03 May 2008 22:24:05 GMT

Chuck-some questions.

there is a layer of algae over everything. there are worms starting in the sandbed. the kind that build their tunnels out of the sand. i think i am ready to add some snails and wait some more.

there are also hundreds of Mysis shrimp.

i have been reading Charles' website http://home2.pacific.net.ph/%7Esweetyummy42/cleanupcrew.html

which three snails do you recommend? i think i can get whatever i need from my lfs. they can order them as they would not have them in stock. we are close to the los angeles wholesalers.

i read that you recommend a Sopas Tang as a first fish. i don't want another tang. i already have four.

which of these do you think would be the best to add first? if i can catch them in my present tank.

Sailfin tang
foxface
hippo tang
Kohl tang
all are 5-7" with the foxface the biggest followed by the sailfin.

there is no algae growingin my 260 gallon tank. cyano but no algae. i feed the tangs two 8x8 sheets of Nori daily

as per your recommendations i have started dosing a bit of phytoplankton as of today. i will investigate growing my own. and have a couple of ideas on culturing it in the garage/sump room when i can finally build that out.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:24:28 GMT

couple more pix
bubbles bubbles everywhere. i think my tank care person may have overfed the tank the Brine Shrimp Direct food.

they have all turned a little browner than they were when i got them two weeks ago. interesting.

PAR values today, a very sunny day peaked at about 1200.

the birds's nests are looking a bit bleached on the tops so i put some eggcrate over them.