2 Year Old 90 Gallons of Addictive Stress

[Pau Hana Reefer]

Spent a couple hours yesterday doing some tank maintenance and a 20% water change in prep of adding the new corals. Discovered pineapple sponges in my refugium!

The corals from WWC were great and colors were pretty spot on with the livesale pictures. Spent a few hours acclimating and dipping the corals. As of this morning, all but one coral have opened up, an ORA German Blue Digi Montipora that I purchased after the event.

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

I have an Apogee SQ-520 on the way and I got it 15% off!!! WOOOOO!!!

I was looking for a Seneye Reef Monitor or Apogee SQ-420, but there weren't any sales or availability for either. Premium Aquatics was having a 15% off Memorial Day Sale which brought the SQ-520 down to $372. I couldn't say no.

Can't wait to finally get an idea of my tank's PAR levels and start optimizing the settings.

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

Lookie what came today... someone knows what they're going to do this weekend! ;Woot

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

Back after a few months off. I was getting far too addicted to social media and had to take a little break. Not too much has happened with my tank until recently. Some quick highlights from the last few months:

• Ended up having to rehome my original one spot foxface back in June after he became aggressive with other tankmates
• Stopped by TSM Aquatics over the past weekend to pick up a Yellow Eye Kole Tang and another One Spot Foxface
  • Also grabbed an emerald crab and half a dozen bumblebee snails
• Dealing with a bubble algae and vermetid snail outbreak (hence the emerald crab and bumblebee snails)
  • Also dealing with a minor hair algae problem that started spreading from the my grape coral
• Had to split up my clown fish pair due to the larger one being overly aggressive with the smaller
• Mapped out the PAR in my tank using the Apogee SQ-520 with some surprising and not-so-surprising results
  • Going to try making a change to my tank hood in order to raise the lights another 1-2 inches
  • More to come in future post
• Coralline algae has completely covered my overflow box, but barely crowing on my rocks (I think due to using marco rocks)
• Coral mostly healthy and growing well

Took a quick pic (poor quality) of the two new members of our tank...

 

[Sordfish]

Back after a few months off. I was getting far too addicted to social media and had to take a little break. Not too much has happened with my tank until recently. Some quick highlights from the last few months:

• Ended up having to rehome my original one spot foxface back in June after he became aggressive with other tankmates
• Stopped by TSM Aquatics over the past weekend to pick up a Yellow Eye Kole Tang and another One Spot Foxface
  • Also grabbed an emerald crab and half a dozen bumblebee snails
• Dealing with a bubble algae and vermetid snail outbreak (hence the emerald crab and bumblebee snails)
  • Also dealing with a minor hair algae problem that started spreading from the my grape coral
• Had to split up my clown fish pair due to the larger one being overly aggressive with the smaller
• Mapped out the PAR in my tank using the Apogee SQ-520 with some surprising and not-so-surprising results
  • Going to try making a change to my tank hood in order to raise the lights another 1-2 inches
  • More to come in future post
• Coralline algae has completely covered my overflow box, but barely crowing on my rocks (I think due to using marco rocks)
• Coral mostly healthy and growing well

Took a quick pic (poor quality) of the two new members of our tank...

Nice journal. I came upon it because I am considering purchasing an Aqueon 90G tank as well. I ended up reading your entire write up in one sitting.

What are your thoughts on the Aqueon and the plumbing kit they provided you, after almost 2 years? Would you purchase it again knowing what you know now? Any weak points/frustrations you identified? Any strengths? Thanks and please continue posting.

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

Nice journal. I came upon it because I am considering purchasing an Aqueon 90G tank as well. I ended up reading your entire write up in one sitting.

What are your thoughts on the Aqueon and the plumbing kit they provided you, after almost 2 years? Would you purchase it again knowing what you know now? Any weak points/frustrations you identified? Any strengths? Thanks and please continue posting.

I'm really sorry for the lack of response... I wasn't on R2R much the last few months of 2020. I imagine you probably already made a decision. So my thoughts on my Aqueon 90g two years in...

- Overall, yes I would purchase it again... especially if I'm new to the hobby and/or on a budget
- No weak points, it has been solid for me. However, there are two "annoyances" that I'm working around:
1) I knew going into it that I would have to play around the overflow box. It's can get in the way of how you'd like to stack your rocks... but with some planning and creativity, you can work around all of this. For example, I've recently decided to start growing monti caps on my overflow box and can't wait to see how it turns out
2) Due to it being a rimmed tank, the center brace is causing some issues with lighting where the PAR drops off pretty significantly under the brace. I'm planning to play around with this by raising my lights and/or adding a diffuser
- Strengths... the simplicity and value of the tank. It was one of the cheapest pre-drilled tank I came across during my research. While I have accidentally scratched the glass due to my own mistakes (using a mag float scraper), the glass has surprised me a couple of times where I figured I definitely scratched it, but it was fine.
- My last comment to not use the durso plumbing kit that comes with it. I'm glad I plumbed mine using Herbie method... the redundancy recently saved me when the flow in my main pipe started getting restricted without my knowledge until I heard the sound of water draining down my emergency standpipe. I wish there was a way to do beananimal plumbing, but with only 2 pre-drilled holes, Herbie is good enough.

Hope this helps. If you already made a decision, what did you decide? And thanks for the compliments on my thread. Stay tuned, I'm getting back into updating this thread again.

 

[Sordfish]

I'm really sorry for the lack of response... I wasn't on R2R much the last few months of 2020. I imagine you probably already made a decision. So my thoughts on my Aqueon 90g two years in...

- Overall, yes I would purchase it again... especially if I'm new to the hobby and/or on a budget
- No weak points, it has been solid for me. However, there are two "annoyances" that I'm working around:
1) I knew going into it that I would have to play around the overflow box. It's can get in the way of how you'd like to stack your rocks... but with some planning and creativity, you can work around all of this. For example, I've recently decided to start growing monti caps on my overflow box and can't wait to see how it turns out
2) Due to it being a rimmed tank, the center brace is causing some issues with lighting where the PAR drops off pretty significantly under the brace. I'm planning to play around with this by raising my lights and/or adding a diffuser
- Strengths... the simplicity and value of the tank. It was one of the cheapest pre-drilled tank I came across during my research. While I have accidentally scratched the glass due to my own mistakes (using a mag float scraper), the glass has surprised me a couple of times where I figured I definitely scratched it, but it was fine.
- My last comment to not use the durso plumbing kit that comes with it. I'm glad I plumbed mine using Herbie method... the redundancy recently saved me when the flow in my main pipe started getting restricted without my knowledge until I heard the sound of water draining down my emergency standpipe. I wish there was a way to do beananimal plumbing, but with only 2 pre-drilled holes, Herbie is good enough.

Hope this helps. If you already made a decision, what did you decide? And thanks for the compliments on my thread. Stay tuned, I'm getting back into updating this thread again.

Thanks for responding. I did indeed purchase a tank already. In December I found a used Red Sea Reefer 500 for 60% off and in excellent shape. It was still more expensive than the Aqueon, so I had to stretch my budget a bit, but I figured this was my one chance to get a higher end rimless tank at this size. The down side is that it is still sitting dry while I save up for lights since I dipped into that money to buy the tank. I still think it was worth it .

I look forward to reading your updates.

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

Thanks for responding. I did indeed purchase a tank already. In December I found a used Red Sea Reefer 500 for 60% off and in excellent shape. It was still more expensive than the Aqueon, so I had to stretch my budget a bit, but I figured this was my one chance to get a higher end rimless tank at this size. The down side is that it is still sitting dry while I save up for lights since I dipped into that money to buy the tank. I still think it was worth it .

I look forward to reading your updates.

Niiiiiiiiice! And hey, I’m all for taking your time and piecing together your desired setup over time. I started buying stuff over a year before my tank had water in it. lol

What lights are you considering?

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

Alright... so I’m back at it after going on R2R hiatus during the last quarter of 2020. I got caught up building a shed and started rebuilding our 340 sq ft deck. Pandemic projects much? lol

It’s been a very quiet few months. The shed and deck projects were using up all my free time and exhausting me. At one point, my tank water wasn’t changed for over 8 weeks and I slacked on testing and dosing. As a result, a few SPS that I bought last year started bleaching. I’m working on saving them and have hope I intervened in time.

Just placed my first order from Cultivated Reef the other day and have a number of corals coming tomorrow. Getting ready for an afternoon of Coral RX sniffing.

Also purchased my first order from Reef Cleaners that’s arriving next week.

And I’ve been eyeballing a few corals from Jason Fox that I’ll probably be splurging on soon.

Stay tuned...

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

Five new corals arrived today from Cultivated Reef... including my first acropora!!! It was my first time buying from them and I would definitely buy from them again. Packaging was impressive and the frag sizes are slightly larger than other online vendors that I’ve bought from.

The new corals are Ultimate Rainbow Monti, Tyree Rainbow Stylophora, Jason Fox Crazy Fox Chalice, Cultivated Reef’s Commoners Envy Procillipora, and the ORA Pearlberry Acro.

More to come on this purchase, but here are a couple of quick pics. They’re still opening up, but some colors are already coming through.

 

[Sordfish]

Niiiiiiiiice! And hey, I’m all for taking your time and piecing together your desired setup over time. I started buying stuff over a year before my tank had water in it. lol

What lights are you considering?

Thanks. I am looking to get kessil 360s. Unfortunately there aren’t nearly as many used deals in the winter months (and lockdowns) when everyone is inside.

 

[Sordfish]

Five new corals arrived today from Cultivated Reef... including my first acropora!!! It was my first time buying from them and I would definitely buy from them again. Packaging was impressive and the frag sizes are slightly larger than other online vendors that I’ve bought from.

The new corals are Ultimate Rainbow Monti, Tyree Rainbow Stylophora, Jason Fox Crazy Fox Chalice, Cultivated Reef’s Commoners Envy Procillipora, and the ORA Pearlberry Acro.

More to come on this purchase, but here are a couple of quick pics. They’re still opening up, but some colors are already coming through.

Looking good. Water changes are a pain for me as well. I tried to automate the process as much as possible. I ran two hoses from the previous tank in the living room to the basement. One hose is for draining, which is attached to a small pump in the sump and terminates in a drain in the basement. The second hose is for the new water. That one is attached to an old eheim pump in a bin where I keep the salt water. It is connected to a WiFi controlled plug from Amazon. I first turn on the drain pump. When sufficient amount is drained, I turn that off and remotely turn on the eheim. When the tank is filled, I remotely turn off the eheim. It takes 5 mins to do water changes and no buckets. And you can mix your saltwater whenever you want. I have been almost completely regular for water changes since I went to this setup.

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

Thanks. I am looking to get kessil 360s. Unfortunately there aren’t nearly as many used deals in the winter months (and lockdowns) when everyone is inside.

This industry has definitely seem to have an influx of new people. I've been keeping an eye out for used gear for a frag tank that I'm interested in setting up and you're right, the good deals on used gear are tough to come by.

Looking good. Water changes are a pain for me as well. I tried to automate the process as much as possible. I ran two hoses from the previous tank in the living room to the basement. One hose is for draining, which is attached to a small pump in the sump and terminates in a drain in the basement. The second hose is for the new water. That one is attached to an old eheim pump in a bin where I keep the salt water. It is connected to a WiFi controlled plug from Amazon. I first turn on the drain pump. When sufficient amount is drained, I turn that off and remotely turn on the eheim. When the tank is filled, I remotely turn off the eheim. It takes 5 mins to do water changes and no buckets. And you can mix your saltwater whenever you want. I have been almost completely regular for water changes since I went to this setup.

Sounds like a great setup. I've considered using pumps for my water changes as well, using a similar setup to what your described. I have a bathroom 5 feet away from my tank so it would be easy to run the drain line. I like that idea of using a WiFi controlled plug too!

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

Things at USPS in our area are not good. My order from Reef Cleaners was supposed to arrive on Saturday. It has been stuck at the Philly distribution center since arriving on Saturday and they currently have no timetable for delivery. At this point, I'm anticipating an awful smelling package with no survivors.

I've already informed John and he said to let him know what happens when my order arrives. I have to commend him on his customer service.

 

[Sordfish]

Things at USPS in our area are not good. My order from Reef Cleaners was supposed to arrive on Saturday. It has been stuck at the Philly distribution center since arriving on Saturday and they currently have no timetable for delivery. At this point, I'm anticipating an awful smelling package with no survivors.

I've already informed John and he said to let him know what happens when my order arrives. I have to commend him on his customer service.

That’s terrible. I had a similar thing happen 2 weeks ago where the delivery guy had my package in his van all day Friday but didn’t make it to my house. He finally delivered it on Tuesday. By then everything had frozen then turned to mush. Good for Reef Cleaners to make it right.

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

It just occurred to me today that Monday was the two year mark of the first fish in my tank. Two years in and I find myself still wanting more and constantly ideating on what I want to do next. I loved freshwater tanks, but I always found myself eventually bored. But there's so much with reef tanks that I feel like after two years, I've only touched the surface.

My order from Reef Cleaners is still sitting somewhere in some USPS facility in my area. I'm really not looking forward to having to open the package.

My first order from Jason Fox is coming tomorrow! I picked up 4 corals during this past weekend's live sale and grabbed another 2 that I wasn't able to get my hands on. After just purchasing some from Cultivated Reef, I promised my wife that this would be my last coral order for the time being.

Pictures to come tomorrow or Friday with my new corals.

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

The status remain unchanged this morning so I sent Reef Cleaners an update about the USPS delivery status. John considered the package lost and issued me a full refund. Now that's incredible customer service! I'll definitely try them again when USPS works out their issues.

I ended up adding my CUC wishlist items to an order I placed with from LiveAquaria earlier this week, which arrived yesterday. Order included 5 scarlet reef hermit crabs, 5 dwarf yellow tip hermit crabs, 5 nassarius snails, 3 emerald crabs, 6 bumblebee snails, a Tonga fighting conch, red tuxedo urchin, and trapezia crab. Drip acclimated all of them and looks like only 1 DOA (scarlet reef hermit). One of the emerald crabs is missing 3 legs, but it doesn't appear to be bothering it at all (bottom one in the picture below)

My first order from Jason Fox also arrived yesterday, including my three winnings from the live sale. I have to say... I get the Jason Fox hype now. The frags were healthy, good sizes, and the colors are pretty amazing... I can't wait to see what they look like after getting acclimated. The four from the live sale were the JF Enchanted Forest Birds Nest, JF Suntan Digi Monti, WWF Kung Pao Monti, and JF Moonstruck Psammocora. I also bought the JF Bug Out Stylo and Original Leng Sy Purple RIm Monti Cap.

 

[Sordfish]

Nice. Do you dip them?

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

Nice. Do you dip them?

I do. I've been using BRS's recipe of first dipping in Bayer and then Coral RX. I've been using this method over the past year for my SPS and most of my LPS and happy with the results.

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

VIPARSPECTRA PAR MEASUREMENTS & TEST RESULTS

I'm finally getting around to sharing the results of my PAR testing from back in August and September. Below are the results of four different tests/measurements. Please note that I used the same picture of my tank for all of the results below and they do not indicate the actual lighting intensity/coloration mentioned in each test.

The bottom of my lights are 6.5" and having the PAR meter highlighted some of the negative impacts of hanging LEDs too low. Here are the results using the Apogee SQ-520 and ApogeeConnect app on my PC.

Test 1 - Impact of Screen Netting
I have DIY screen nets on top of my tank to keep my wrasses in the tank. The netting is 1/4" clear netting, similar to this one. I wanted to understand if and how this netting impacted PAR.

The top number in each circle represents PAR with the netting on and the bottom numbers are without netting. The netting appears to lower the lighting by about 10 PAR for any areas directly under the light. The difference in the bottom left circle (146/152) is different, I believe due to shadowing caused by the rocks above it. The top middle circle (130/135) did not see a similar decrease in PAR with the netting in, I believe due to the fact that it is not directly under the lights.

Test 2 - PAR with Blues at 38 and Whites at 4 (with netting)
This shows PAR measurements in various parts of my tank with my blues at 38 and whites at 4. The shade of the circle indicates whether the measurement is for the back of the tank (dark blue), middle of the tank (blue), or front of the tank (light blue).

Notice how my setup causes the PAR to significantly drop off in the area between my lights? I will be raising my lights in the coming months to see if I can minimize some of this drop off. Because this is not a rimless tank, I have a plastic brace in the middle that also causes additional shadowing.

Test 3 - Raising Just Blues (with netting)
How does turning up just the blues or just the whites impact PAR? I first measured how PAR is impacted when just turning up the blues. I started at the baseline used in Test 2 (Blues 38, Whites 4) and turned up the blues in increments of 4.

In my setup, the area directly under the lights at mid tank (both height and depth) goes up by approximately 10 PAR when you turn the blues setting up 4. I also tested this without netting and saw similar results.

Test 4 - Raising Just Whites (with netting)
And I did the same for the whites, starting with the baseline of Blues 38 and Whites 4.

And in my setup, it appears PAR directly under the lights at mid tank (both height and depth) goes up by approximately 12 PAR when you turn the whites setting up by 4. I'm unsure why it increased by 16 PAR when it whites were turned up from 12 to 16. I measured this multiple times to ensure it wasn't an error on my side. I also tested this without netting and saw similar results.