New Next-reef sump and Coralife Protein Skimmer

It’s been a long time since I have updated my blog and there have been some changes that I need to tell you guys about. This is a little video I put together for you along with an audio commentary. Hope you all enjoy.

Moving My Aquarium

Moving My Aquarium

So I recently moved about 10 hours from where i was previously living with my family and my difficult to move aquarium. I figured I would take the time to explain how I moved everything and ill go into what to do and what not to do when moving a tank. Since i already moved and set the tank back up i don't have any pictures of the progress, but I will try to explain in detail the best I can. 

My tank in a nutshell;

 125 gal tank

55 gal tank as a refugium

150 lbs of live rock 

Coral 

I decided to move the tank and set it back up as fast as possible so the tank was the last thing that went into the moving truck and the first thing out. when taking down the tank I filled up a 55 gallon drum with the salt water then filled up a few 5 gallon buckets about half way so that i could put the rocks with the corals into those buckets. then put the rest of the rocks into empty 5 gallon buckets with just a little bit of water then capped them off. All of the fish i put into individual bags just like they come from the fish store.

- I got the bags from a website that sells just fish transport supplies.

I then put the sand into buckets then moved the tank and stand into the moving truck then put all the buckets into my car so that the water, rocks, corals, and fish would stay at a good temp. As soon as it was all loaded up i started my 10 hour drive. Once i arrived at my new house i immediately started to set the tank back up. 

I started by putting the tank into place with some help of course. I then put all the sand and rock in first then  poured the water from the 55 gallon tub into the tank. i had to make a lot of salt water to replace the water i didn't bring with me. so once it was almost full I was able to start the pumps and heaters to get the filter working and heat up the water to a good temp. At this point i started putting all the fish into one big bin with a slow drip to acclimate the fish to the new water. while i was waiting on that i put al the rocks with corals into the tank.I then put all the fish into the tank. 

Problems: 

the only problems i had were with one fish. once i put them all together to acclimate them i started to notice that blue tang was getting picked on a little. it wasn't until the fish was put into the tank that i realized the extent of it. He was beaten up pretty bad and only lasted a few more days before he died, but on the upside i didn't loose anything else. 

Things to do: 

Make sure to add the rock first then the sand then the water in that order. this will ensure a few different things. it will ensure the rocks are stably stacked with a solid surface. then putting the sand in before the water will make the water less cloudy when doing the last step of pouring water in the tank. 

when moving i would recommend that you put the livestock in a car or suv with you so that you may keep it all at a good temp. 

Things not to do: 

I wouldn't recommend putting all the fish into a single bin when moving them. they will become very stressed and may become hostile towards each other. Best bet is to keep them separate while acclimating them back into the tank. 

Ignore the following....

Tags: Corals, Fragging, Xenia coral, mushroom corals, aquarium, 125 gallon, gal, Reef tank, huge aquarium, large, live rock, salt water, ocean, Fiji mud, Refugium, metal halides, 175w, 250w, 300w, calcium, iodine, blue tang, shrimp, yellow tang, clown fish, angel fish, foxface rabbitfish,Trigger, fish, Niger Trigger, Clown, Clown fish, Percula Clownfish, Tang, Yellow Tang, Custom Aquarium, Custom aquatics, living reef, reef, reef aquarium, 125 gallon aquarium, refugium, mud, live rock, live sand, deep sandbed, sand bed, corals, sps, over flow, blue regal tang, hippo tang, green chromis, foxface, foxface rabbitfish, one spot, anthias, mushroom corals, duncan corals, algae, LFS, Extreme aquarium, ultimate aquarium, coral beauty angel fish, lunar wrasse, DIY aquarium, Custom stand, LED Lights, 120 watt LED's, reef lighting, lights, salt water, deep sea, amazing aquatics, ocean, 

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope all had an amazing Thanksgiving,

I have recently had to move my 125 gallon reef aquarium. Not a task I wish upon anyone. I used many many 5 gallon buckets that I bought from Lows for just a couple bucks each, but these buckets just weren't enough. There were more buckets than I had room. All the rock had to go into them, the fish, and corals, and even the sand. Mind you, a 5 gallon bucket full of wet sand is very heavy. But once it was moved I decided to go with a shallow sand bed instead of the deep sand bed that I had. This is partially due to not wanting to carry all of the sand from one place to another and partially due to wanting to reduce the nutrients that my aquarium continues to hold. The shallow sand bed helps so that more of the nutrients will be picked up by my filtration so that I can then remove it when I change out my filter foam, protein skimmer, and water changes.

Stay tuned, in the end of March I will be moving my entire 125 gallon reef tank 8 hours away. That time I will take plenty of pictures along the way for all to see how that progress went. 

New Fishies

I bought a couple new fish, one large Niger Trigger fish and one large blue regal tang. I baught the trigger because he was so big and beautiful and yet only 45.00 at the local fish store. I believe a customer had bought it in a a trade is why it was so cheap. then I bought the blue regal tang because the huge trigger looked so good in my tank i needed another big fish. So I went online and baught the blue regal tang from liveaquaria.com. great website to buy live fish from. They have unmatched descriptions of all there fish and live stock.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4mZsR5ES5Q&feature=g-upl







Trigger, fish, Niger Trigger, Clown, Clown fish, Percula Clownfish, Tang, Yellow Tang, Custom Aquarium, Custom aquatics, living reef, reef, reef aquarium, 125 gallon aquarium, refugium, mud, live rock, live sand, deep sandbed, sand bed, corals, sps, over flow, blue regal tang, hippo tang, green chromis, foxface, foxface rabbitfish, one spot, anthias, mushroom corals, duncan corals, algae, LFS, Extreme aquarium, ultimate aquarium, coral beauty angel fish, lunar wrasse, DIY aquarium, Custom stand, LED Lights, 120 watt LED's, reef lighting, lights, salt water, deep sea, amazing aquatics, ocean,

LED's and Fiji Reef Mud update

Random Updates:

  I have now completely replaced the lighting in the tank from the 175 watt metal halides to the new LED’s. All my corals have adapted well and now are fuller than ever before. In the Refugium I replaced the T5 to a 175 metal halide I had in the tank before.

Fiji Reef Mud:

 I recently tried out a product called Fiji Reef Mud to see if it would make a significant difference in the health of my corals. They have a starter kit that has about 12 lbs of the reef mud and they have a booster that has about 12 oz. since I didn’t feel that I needed 12 lbs of this product in my Refugium I decided to get 2 orders of the booster, and since there was a significant price difference between the two sizes I saved some money.

 I will be showing another new video of progress of my 125 gallon reef aquarium soon so be sure to check back soon…

 

 

Ignore the following....

Tags: Corals, Fragging, Xenia coral, mushroom corals, aquarium, 125 gallon, gal, Reef tank, huge aquarium, large, live rock, salt water, ocean, Fiji mud, Refugium, metal halides, 175w, 250w, 300w, calcium, iodine, blue tang, shrimp, yellow tang, clown fish, angel fish, foxface rabbitfish,Trigger, fish, Niger Trigger, Clown, Clown fish, Percula Clownfish, Tang, Yellow Tang, Custom Aquarium, Custom aquatics, living reef, reef, reef aquarium, 125 gallon aquarium, refugium, mud, live rock, live sand, deep sandbed, sand bed, corals, sps, over flow, blue regal tang, hippo tang, green chromis, foxface, foxface rabbitfish, one spot, anthias, mushroom corals, duncan corals, algae, LFS, Extreme aquarium, ultimate aquarium, coral beauty angel fish, lunar wrasse, DIY aquarium, Custom stand, LED Lights, 120 watt LED's, reef lighting, lights, salt water, deep sea, amazing aquatics, ocean,

Aquarium Logging

Aquarium Logs:

  I have found that logging everything related to your aquarium in a book only dedicated to that purpose has helped me out in many ways. Sometimes I forget when I last dosed certain chemicals for the corals or when the last time I added water and how much I added. By logging all of your information in a log you can now track spending habits, prevent over dosing chemicals like calcium and iodine. Now I track everything from what I bought, and how much I have spent, to when I last cleaned out the protein skimmer.  

Ignore the following....

Tags: Corals, Fragging, Xenia coral, mushroom corals, aquarium, 125 gallon, gal, Reef tank, huge aquarium, large, live rock, salt water, ocean, Fiji mud, Refugium, metal halides, 175w, 250w, 300w, calcium, iodine, blue tang, shrimp, yellow tang, clown fish, angel fish, foxface rabbitfish,Trigger, fish, Niger Trigger, Clown, Clown fish, Percula Clownfish, Tang, Yellow Tang, Custom Aquarium, Custom aquatics, living reef, reef, reef aquarium, 125 gallon aquarium, refugium, mud, live rock, live sand, deep sandbed, sand bed, corals, sps, over flow, blue regal tang, hippo tang, green chromis, foxface, foxface rabbitfish, one spot, anthias, mushroom corals, duncan corals, algae, LFS, Extreme aquarium, ultimate aquarium, coral beauty angel fish, lunar wrasse, DIY aquarium, Custom stand, LED Lights, 120 watt LED's, reef lighting, lights, salt water, deep sea, amazing aquatics, ocean,

LED's For Coral Reef Aquariums

  I have decided to switch my lighting on my reef tank to LED’s that I was able to find on the internet that were very reasonable in price compared to all the crazy expensive lighting that I have seen everywhere. These LEDs are replacing my 175 watt Metal Halides that I originally had.  

   These LEDs that I have now are brighter and stronger than my Metal Halides so I find that some of my slightly sensitive corals I had to put to the bottom of the tank so that they could adjust to the new brighter lighting. That wasn’t until I lost a few of my small polyps.

  This video is a little example of the difference between the new LEDs and the old 175 watt Metal Halides. then i will add pictures of some of the corals under the new LEDs so you can see some of the groth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFqzMULZboA&feature=plcp

 These last two corals have been fragged and have really grown and healed up great since I put them under the new lighting.

 

 

 

 

Ignore the following....

Tags: Corals, Fragging, Xenia coral, mushroom corals, aquarium, 125 gallon, gal, Reef tank, huge aquarium, large, live rock, salt water, ocean, Fiji mud, Refugium, metal halides, 175w, 250w, 300w, calcium, iodine, blue tang, shrimp, yellow tang, clown fish, angel fish, foxface rabbitfish,Trigger, fish, Niger Trigger, Clown, Clown fish, Percula Clownfish, Tang, Yellow Tang, Custom Aquarium, Custom aquatics, living reef, reef, reef aquarium, 125 gallon aquarium, refugium, mud, live rock, live sand, deep sandbed, sand bed, corals, sps, over flow, blue regal tang, hippo tang, green chromis, foxface, foxface rabbitfish, one spot, anthias, mushroom corals, duncan corals, algae, LFS, Extreme aquarium, ultimate aquarium, coral beauty angel fish, lunar wrasse, DIY aquarium, Custom stand, LED Lights, 120 watt LED's, reef lighting, lights, salt water, deep sea, amazing aquatics, ocean,