Setting up & cycling a new aquarium (Caitlin's Reef) 

Until you realize you can't add much fish in there maybe 3 tops depending on the fish

What is the reason to put air stone on the bottom ?

Completely forgot to mention Kudos for the air stone! only way ill run a tank!

Yeah i mean when your talking about a fish that much they better be.

that stuff is NOT cheap!

yeah we need more influencer to promote destroying the ocean

I guess you don’t understand what aquacultured live rock is…

@@jesse4r5 no i understand what it is, and im all for it! if I could afford it I would buy it in a heart beat haha. I just had to google because it looked so damn good and was blown away!

It has a screen on the back, they include them now. I was thinking the same thing.

Me too It worked very well.

Wow, the Keyhole limpets? I had those on many occasions and never saw any damage, and was glad when I saw they’d reproduced babies in my reef. That’s really surprising.

@@melevsreef So, i thought the same, at first. My initial stage of allowing the tank to cycle and mature with rock, prior to adding coral, I included them as clean up crew. I suppose down the line or after coral were added, they had reproduced enough, their food source was running dry? I started to notice my frags turning white from the base up. After weeks of confusion, i set a 3am alarm to check for more pests and noticed the limpets suctioned on to the frags. I wish i would have documented it but at 3am, and seeing my frags being eaten, i just went into attack mode to rip them off and in the trash they went. Didn't help though. The babies are by the hundreds just sitting in the cracks 🫤

Unfortunately most of the time new reefers like me, are being told that we should buy a dry rock cause you never know what kind of problems you have in the live rock. I hear it in the fish store's, youtube, websites but i regret buying a dry rock. I had to deal with all kinds of cyanobacterias, dinoflagellates, green algea , my tank is more than a year old and i still don't even have coraline algea which i really like. Parameters are fine.

That’s unfortunate, Kamil.

@@kamilkazmierczak2842 we never had or have all these algae issues with live rock.

@@kamilkazmierczak2842 It's not just new reefers. I bought Live Rock and it became one the biggest headaches/mistakes ever - Aiptasia was 'hidden' inside and there were bristle worms. My tank became overwhelmed with bristle worms (even with little to no detritus they just multiplied) and Aiptasia grew to epic numbers even with treatment/removal. In the end, after a long hard fought battle, I had to restart my 250 gallon and this time I bought dry rock (Carribsea "Life Rock" which allegedly has live bacteria on it but they are still considered dry rock).

@@kamilkazmierczak2842 if you do dry rock you will have to introduce coraline by yourself.

Everywhere. Online, at trade shows, Comic Con, you name it.

The cycle time is the same. I’m saying that the dry rock takes longer to be beneficial filtration wise. Structurally, it’s solid. 😉 The tank matures differently than a tank with live rock.

@@melevsreef do you mean for things like sponges and feather dusters? Otherwise I also have to disagree

There is a heater, maybe I said something weird? I only need this tank to stay around 75°F.

Love your vids Spicy!

@@min2oly Thank you! 🙂

That was feather caulerpa.

A few softies, mainly.

@@melevsreef cool. your missus would make me laugh, she had grumpy days too lol But overall, she was actually like me, youd be there getting all scientific and as you mentioned on here I think, all she wanted to do was do water changes and "feed her babies" ;)

Ich and liverock - not a typical combination. I've been using live rock since the beginning, so I've purchased quite a bit in 25 years' time but never had to deal with ich.

@@melevsreef I qt anything that is wet because I'm paranoid. I know the chance is slim but still there

@@joe0813 That's okay, I know how people want to avoid pests / diseases.

@@melevsreef the fish looks great though. Can't wait to see it in the 400 in the future

@@joe0813 Yeah, me too! It's such a pretty fish.

This tank has none of that, intentionally.

@@melevsreef sorry, I meant the big one. My mistake.

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-QOYGnm-xd_k.html

Yes, and by now you probably saw how I addressed it. :)

Also it looks like there's paired siphons although it's hard to make out on video. Bulbous too, so I lean towards tunicate. If you get some clearer close up pics I could probably confirm.

Definitely cycle the new tank. You saw me do that in this video. After 21 days, it was ready for the fish.

What a massive coincidence. I set up this tank for that same fish. She's still doing well. The tank now has 20 frags in it, planted all over the rocks.

@@melevsreef I know! My story is a little bit different. A local reefer was in a rush to move internationally. He posted everything for sale but got no bites for the interruptus. I sent him a DM complementing him on the fish and said something like "one day I will be able to own one, but impossible today." When all the other tanks were drained and the fish and corals were gone, and he had only one fish left, he messaged me and told me that he would give me an unheard of discount if I showed up with a bucket and cash, and helped him with the rest of his tank breakdown. And so on Sunday I got an interruptus. Unfortunately he is very skinny. I'm concerned that he wasn't getting enough food in the original owner's tank. The guy has recently had health issues. So maybe mine is starving. It refuses tdo but eats flake food (which is what he was feeding) and eats extremely finely chopped LRS. The guy had the fish for a few months (probably a sibling of yours) and he has supposedly doubled in size but man, he is SO skinny. For now he is in the same qt isolation tank the original owner had him in. I'm trying to feed 4-6 times a day. In the meantime I'm making a tank that's similar size to yours for medium term grow out. I plan to add rock, some big chunks of sps, some cleanup crew, and then go fallow for 6 weeks, just to avoid ich and other nasties. I'm working with aquabiomics to do their tank DNA tests to screen for pathogens and to measure microbial diversity as I establish the tank. I plan to document the whole thing via a RU-vid channel I recently created. I haven't posted anything yet, but I'd be honored if you were to subscribe. It's called Interruptus Reef.

@@tookmyhandle2 I love the channel name! Try using Reef Nutrition Arcti-Pods. Mine loves them, and they are liquid (fridge) so very easy to add to the tank once or twice a day. If you want to limit food (and pollution), use a pipette to measure the amount you're adding.

@@melevsreef thanks! I'm interested to see where the channel goes once there is actually some content. I've partnered with aquabiomics and a local coral farmer to make some of it possible. I've been keeping mine at 73f and after two and a half decades of keeping reefs at nearly 80f, it's so bizarre to stick my hand in a freezing cold tank. I've tried the reef nutrition ROE, but so far no luck. For some reason she only likes LRS that I have minced with a micro grater and formula one flakes. As long as she's eating I'm not too worried. Here is an unedited clip of her chowing down: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tXIsV8Krh88.html

Gulfliverock.com

@@melevsreef thank you!. i wonder how it would do shipping to canada. 20 years ago live rock was the way and i still believe that. i just get to excited with the hitchhikers lol

😆

That’s going to be the next video. 👍🏻

The refugium stays fishless, and usually is packed with macro algae. Great question.

Really? I’ve been wrong way too long!

Yup, you are right. It is in the Dendrophylliidae family, not mentioned in this article. reefbuilders.com/2009/10/05/heteropsammia-cochlea-walking-dendro-coral-imported-time-sea-dwelling-creatures/

I can do it if you give me precise dimensions. This one was cut to fit on the inner lip of the black trim.

I will get the measurements for you soon as I get back off vacation Tuesday. Thanks

No, acrylic will.

@@melevsreef what thickness did u use il looking to do something similar on my sump but thought i had to use glass. This will be much easier

1/4” clear polycarbonate

It's called Feather Caulerpa.

No, it’s a very small starfish too.

I have a feeling at least a year. I'd like the fish to be 3" long before it's moved over the 400g reef.

@@melevsreef cool, that's what I figured for mine too. My tank is 24"x16"x 14". Should be good for a year or so.

Feather caulerpa.

Looks like one a little bit but I don’t think so.

To me it looks like like a sea squirt on steroids

Lol the bioload will remain light.

@@melevsreef can't wait for it to mature. I remember when I first got my Gem tang (now 4 yes old). Sort of the same feeling but this is not mine. 🤣