From: ron@minnow.sp.unisys.com (Ron Burns)
Subject: [M][R] 100 gallon Reef project update 
Followup-To: rec.aquaria
Reply-To: ron@minnow.UUCP (Ron Burns)
Organization: Unisys Corporation
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 21:32:11 GMT

Okay, time for an update.  As those of you who have been following this
saga know, I have been working on setting up a 100 gallon reef tank.
Here's the run down:
	100 gallon tank, 4 72" VHO florescents, four foot tall by 4" protein
	skimmer, Quiet One pump, two 200 watt submersible heaters in sump.
	DIY 20 gallon acrylic sump, DIY overflow surface skimmer. 

On Sept. 29, 280 pounds of live rock went into the tank after what I
thought was a thorough rinsing in saltwater.  The next morning I posted
that the water was so brown-green that I could not see the back glass.
Heck, I couldn't see the rear half of the tank!  I pulled all of the rocks
out that day, (Wed 9/30) and placed them on a plastic sheet on the floor.
As I took them out, I sorted them by examining for interesting growth.
I did find a small patch of coral on one rock in this way.  I started a 
siphon to completely drain the tank. The majority of the rock was stripped 
of all macroalgae I could tear off by hand.  The rocks were rinsed off 
in saltwater, and restacked in the tank.  The sump was drained.  A 
hundred gallons of new water was filtered, temp adjusted, mixed and added.
This all took the better part of the day.  The next morning the protein
skimmer had removed about a gallon of crud, the water was still a bit green
but not nearly as bad as the day before.  The PS continued to remove the 
concentrated scuzz, and the water started to clear more over the next few 
days.  I added some bags of carbon to the sump for further clarity on
Oct 4th, and ran the Magnum 350 with diatom powder for 24 hours.  Debris
was vacuumed daily, as some of the remaining macro algae died off.  I
ended up tearing most of the brown macroalgae off the rocks I had left
it on.  The water was tested almost every day.
	Current conditions:
	Ammonia - 0
	nitrite <0.1
	nitrate 6ppm
	SG      1.022
	temp    79 F
	PH      8.3
	water clarity is now quite good.  This thing has cycled!
I will continue to monitor the nitrates.  excessive debris will be removed
but the norm will be to vacuum/siphon 5 gallons a week for water changes.

AND.... now the good news.  There is NEW growth in some of the macro algae!
The Halimeda(sp) is putting out new bright green growths.  some of the 
others as well.

The first residents (other than the occasional plume worm) are two
Ocellarus(?) clown anemoniefish.  This is the fish that the pet shops
around here call Percula Clowns, but they aren't.  The coloring is different,
particularly the black below the dorsal fin.
A scarlet cleaner shrimp was added as well, and fairly promptly disappeared
into the nooks and crannies.  I suppose it'll show up every few weeks.

I added them due to pressure from the rest of the family for a little more
life/motion/color.  You all know the story.  They are animals on my list
as what I wanted in the final product anyway, so that's alright.

I have had requests for more details on the DIY portions of my system,
and, time permitting, I'll get to those.

-Ron 

-- 
Ron Burns                                               ...!rosevax!minnow!ron
Unisys Corporation, CIM Dept.                 minnow%ron@rosevax.rosemount.com
Phone:(612)635-6927           or possibly     minnow!ron@rosevax.rosemount.com