Finally - Pics of my FREE 100 gal. Tank

[Buddy08]

the algae i refered to was food, not plants. its an algae strip that you clip to a veggie clip to feed your tangs and other herb eating fish. If you do not have a sump with a fuge, you definitely want to make one especially with a tank that size. i have an HOB overflow box for sell if you need.

[JRA95SHO]

I'll get Andy to help me set up a refuge. Still gonna wait a bit on fish. I did succumb to temptation and picked up a sexy shrimp and a tiny purple lobster, which I'm going to try in there. I hope he doesn't eat my stuff, lol.

[Buddy08]

be carefule as the lobster can knock over some of your rockwork which can be a disaster if it cracks the glass. what are the dimensions of your stand? you can build a sump if you dont have one and implement a fuge in the sump. if you look at my build in the alabama reefkeepers thread it shows pictures of my sump, and again i have that 30 gallon you can take off my hands which is plenty big for a 100g tank. all you would have to do is buy silicone and acrylic sheets from lowes for the baffles and of course pvc for plumbing. i also have an overflow box that i will sell to you if you need but ill have to get back to you on a price as i havent a clue what its worth. its brand new and never used so thats good

[Buddy08]

nevermind, i see in your photos you have 2x drains on the left and a return on the right so you dont need the overflow.. and possibly not the tank. what size is your sump currently?

[JRA95SHO]

It's either a 20 or 30 gal. sump. Andy could tell you. I can't remember off-hand, and I'm not at home at the moment to measure. He did tell me he could help me set up a refuge in the sump (so it is big enough). Right now, the purple lobster is tiny--maybe 2" long. He's already crawled under a rock somewhere, so I probably won't see him unless the tank lights are off or if I start feeding them.

[Buddy08]

yeah you have room to build one and andy is well qualified to help. i recommend buying acrylic from lowes for the baffles, cost about 25$ for a rather large 1/4" thick sheet and they'll rough cut it for you. all you would have to do is silicone them to your sump

[JRA95SHO]

Let me ask you guys this. In the long conversations, it may have been somewhat addressed; but at some point, I'm going to want to add a few fish again. Since my tank has ich in it and it's not easy or feasible to tear it apart and try to QT all the existing fish; what should I do with the next purchase? They always say QT it, but if there's ich already in the tank, it will defeat the purpose. Should I QT it anyway just to see how it does over a couple of weeks? Maybe feed it well, get its immune system built up, etc. Should I medicate it before I put it in the tank or is it one of those "might as well just drop it directly in and see how it does" things?

I'd like to rid the tank of it, but like I said, I don't have a big enough QT for everyone, and now I'm scared to buy anything else sensitive (like tangs).

[Buddy08]

i would let all the ich in your tank clear up and let your fish get back on their feet... or fins. once all signs are cleared up, you can then add more fish. be very selective when youre at the pet store. do not buy a sick fish or one that clearly looks stressed out based on signs of: ich, fin rot, or rapid breathing/weird swimming patterns. one thing to notice at the pet store especially with herbivorous fish, if its attempting to eat algae and such off the rocks and glass in the pet store; then thats a sign of a healthy fish that will do better in your tank at home. when i go to any fish store, i spend at least 45 mins observing before i buy. as for a quarantine tank, the only reason you would add new fish to a qt before adding it to your display tank is cure them of ich before adding it to your main tank as to not infect your other fish but sense youre not curing all of your fish in your main tank, there is no need in adding new fish to the qt tank. just acclimate them and dump em in... just dont add the petstores water

[JRA95SHO]

Posting an update. Tank has been doing pretty well from the looks of things in it over the past week. I did lose a cleaner shrimp that I bought the other day. (I think this was due to my poor/quick aclamation). I also had a yellow watchman goby die a week or so ago. He's been replaced and the new yellow watchman seems to be doing ok. Salinity is right in spec, alkalinity is right at 8, I bumped the calcium up recently and need to recheck. Nitrates are still hovering at 20-40ppm. I'm working on those. I performed a 20 gal. water change on 8/31, and on 9/4 I did another 15 gal. water change. Andy gave me a light and some algae to put in my sump, so I am giving that a try until I can make a divider in the sump to create a refugium. I also took the plunge (risk) and picked up a fat, healthy yellow tang yesterday. So far, he's doing awesome. He's been grazing on the algae, swimming around and not doing much hiding. I'm proving Nori attached to my mag float. The foxface has discovered this and has been tearing through it. The tang has not discovered the Nori just yet. I may soak it in garlic to entice him to eat it. He keeps to grazing off the rocks.

I'm sure I'll get flamed for having an already over-crowded tank since I "went crazy" buying stuff. Here's my current list of livestock and corals that I know of:

1 yellow tang - so far so good--too soon to tell though
1 foxface - doing great!
1 sailfin blenny - healthy!
2 pajama cardinals - healthy!
1 coral beauty - initially had some of the ich but got over it and is doing awesome!
1 yellow watchman - ok so far
1 blue spotted goby - great, eating heartily
1 orange spoted goby - ok as well, no problems
2 clown fish (1 black and white) - active and healthy as can be
2 green chromis - also active and healthy
1 pistol shrimp - can't ever find him
1 bullseye pistol shrimp - can't find him either - found his molted skeleton so he's alive
1 emerald crab - trying to rid my tank of bubble algae for me
1 sally lightfoot crab - haven't seen it in a couple of days, last I saw it was fine
1 cleaner shrimp - active fellow, fun to watch!
1 banded coral shrimp - also doing great, several molts, healthy
1 purple lobster - stays hidden, found his molt the other day, so he's alive & well somewhere
1 pin cushion urchin - picks up every thing, makes a mess, knocks crap over, but cool
1 spiny urchin - couldn't find him yesterday; sure he's in there somewhere
1 serpent star - gives me the creeps; it's alive
2+ sea cucumbers - all fine
multiple hermit crabs, snails, etc.
1 rose bubble anemone
green sinulara
various zoanthids
1 plate coral
duncan corals
clove polyp
pulsating xenia
varoious green, red, and blue mushrooms

Oh yeah, and I've estimated what I've spent on this thing the month and a half I've had it....over $300; if not a bit more. That's including livestock, salt, refractometer, new RODI filters, TDS meter, food, and other small things here and there. Ouch! These things are like crack. I haven't spent $300 on my project cars in awhile. I love this thing, but it's putting me in the poor house already!

[AuroraDrvr]

Fish-wise, it's actually a fair stocking list for a 100 gallon tank. If you must, you can probably squeeze in one more tang, although I personally wouldn't. Definitely can't do two more tangs, with the Foxface now in there. Also, make sure to keep an eye on your gobies. Gobies often will fight one another.

1 yellow tang - so far so good--too soon to tell though
1 foxface - doing great!
1 sailfin blenny - healthy!
2 pajama cardinals - healthy!
1 coral beauty - initially had some of the ich but got over it and is doing awesome!
1 yellow watchman - ok so far
1 blue spotted goby - great, eating heartily
1 orange spoted goby - ok as well, no problems
2 clown fish (1 black and white) - active and healthy as can be
2 green chromis - also active and healthy

[AuroraDrvr]

Also, reading your inverts list now, you may consider dumping the Serpent Star. They are known to eat fish and all of your gobies and blennies are prime candidates since they occupy the same space as the Serpent Star.

[JRA95SHO]

Thanks for the tip. My wife was glad to hear this. She hates the serpent star, and I'm not fond of it either. He came with the tank. Wonder if that's what killed my 1st tiny yellow watchman? I'd rather have the gobies anyway.

[Buddy08]

the green serpent stars are notorious for eating fish especially as they grow larger. I have a brittle starfish that i see every once in a while, havent had any problems with it but then again.. i dont have any gobies either. youre stock list looks fine, like auroradrvr stated... i would also keep your tangs limited to 2. I know i told you before you could keep 3, but i wasnt aware you had a foxface so with that now brought to my attention, its in your wallets, and the fish's best interest not to add another. If youre still having that high of nitrates after this long, i would recommend upgrading your protein skimmer. it may be a hunk of change to do so, but well worth it in the long run. give it a good month before you add any other fish as well, got to remain patient otherwise youre setting your tank up for failure...i wouldn't worry about the cleaner shrimp, i had one that was perfectly healthy (would eat out of my hands and even cleaned under my fingernails when i stuck my hand infront of him) he molted 4 or 5 times within the first 5 months of having him, then randomly came home one day to find him stuck to a powerhead. I dont know if it was his time to go, or maybe he got to close to the powerhead so here in the near future, i will be replacing him. If the ich has cleared up then thats a sign for the better, just keep an eye on everything and use your best judgement.

[JRA95SHO]

Just curious, what impact does the foxface have on adding another tang? I know they are both herbivores; but other than that, do they fight or something? The tang is much larger than the foxface. I got one of those small ones on sale at B&B for $25. He's about 2" long. They seem to get along ok. I attached some Nori onto my mag float (put some garlic on it to entice them too). The foxface, coral beauty angel, and black sailfin blenny all tore it up....they loved it. The yellow tang was curious but didn't eat any of it. I tried putting some of that green algae from the sump into the main tank, and the yellow tang came to life. He ate a ton of that stuff. So far he's active, eating, and looks healthy.

[Fishfood]

The impact is they get big and eat the same thing that a tang does. In the long run multiple tangs could see it as compatition for food but this shouldn't be a problem if kept nice and fat. I think the main issue is it is a fish that can get large and needs its space, just like a tang.