Reefer 170 Setup for Anemones / Clowns!
Finally got my tank set up. The display tank came cracked, so Red Sea sent me a new one that just arrived this week. Everything plumbed and ready to go.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4387/...a2f75dd5_b.jpg https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4439/...e928e42d_b.jpg Equipment list: A few things are actually in a closet to the right of the tank. All plumbing goes under the floor so it's hidden. You can see, however, the cable raceway. Unfortunately the cables (chiller power, neptune pmup power, and optical sensor for ato reservoir) were too short to go under the floor through the crawlspace.
Inside
Current Status Cycling with Dr. Tim's One and Only with dosed Ammonium Chloride (1.2ppm). Week 3 of the rocks cycling, but only day 3 of the rocks being in brand new water inside the actual tank. I'm guessing a few more weeks before any significant bacteria will populate. Livestock My plan is to keep one H. Magnifica, let it establish itself well, and then introduce a small clutch of ocellaris (I'm thinking 8). Think the tank will handle it? I have the option of plumbing a pretty big sump to increase water volume and allow for a much larger skimmer if needed. |
Not sure which I like more: your setup or picture quality
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I think once the tank cycles, it's going to be hard to keep it this clean for the photos. |
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My concern is a H. Magnifica could outgrow my tank. It could cover the whole tank. If I'm lucky, and can keep it healthy without feeding too much, the size would stay manageable. I don't mind it dominating the whole thing and killing any corals that just got in its way, but it might not be smart in the long run. I love the way they look, and I want to make sure the ocellaris I get will accept it as a host naturally, but it might not be practical. What do you guys think? My other option is to keep some BTA's and most likely have a bunch of clownfish that host the maxspect gyre pump instead ;) |
Very nice setup! Impressed that you drilled a hole in your floor!! I thought of doing that but the better half nixed that idea.
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It’s not so bad drilling holes. Structurally fine, and easy to use wood filler to patch up later. Super clean way to do it :) |
I e had my Mag for about 7 years maybe longer. Was about 6" when I got him went up to 12" with feeding. Then I had an episode when I neglected the tank and Nem suffered. Shrunk back down to about the original size before I got everything back in check. Since then I don't target feed the Mag regularly. I broadcast feed the tank and he gets what gets. Has stayed roughly the same size for about 3 years now.
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So my ammonia levels never go down, and my nitrites never go above 0 or barely detectable.
So last night I added a 4oz. bottle of IO Bio Spira. Before adding it, my ammonia was probably just around 2.0 ppm (or a bit higher) using Red Sea and Salifert tests, and nitrites were undetectable using salifert. Today, less than 24 hours later, ammonia is down to 0.3 ppm and nitrites up to 0.5ppm (maybe more, hard to tell with this Salifert test)! Wow. For sure the bio-spira worked. I just got another bottle of Dr. Tim's one and only as well (my third 4 oz bottle), and dumped that in today after testing as well. Why? I don't know, just because I wanted to make sure I had some bacteria that was alive. Either my past 2 bottles of Dr. Tim's One and Only were very dead, or Bio spira is just a lot faster with processing ammonia. Either way, it's still cycling and we'll see how it all goes. My latest bottle of Dr. Tim's One and Only had a bunch of junk at the bottom of it. I shook the bottle a bit before adding the whole thing, but this time there was quite a bit of brown debris at the bottom that I haven't seen with past bottles. BIO SPIRA went in brown, but didn't have big bits of gunk. |
Bump!
Question: 8 ocellaris + 1 H Magnifica too much for this tank? If it's just an anemone tank, do you foresee me needing to dose Alk/CA/Mg like on a SPS tank? I've never had an anemone only tank. |
Cycling Complete for 5 days
Good news, my tank cycled well! For 5 days now, I've been able to dose 2ppm of ammonia and have levels come down within 12 hours to 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites. My Nitrates were 50ppm, but after three 50%+ water changes, I'm down to 10ppm. I didn't have any containers big enough to do anything bigger than that. I used two 18 gallon tubs, which I premixed about 16 gallons into one, and drained the same amount into the other. There's no green algae anywhere, which I guess is good. Nothing really was put in the tank that could've had algae hitch hike over. But there is a film of transparent stuff, that looks a bit brown when I scrape it off with my flipper magnet. My skimmer started picking it right up. That's a good sign. No clean-up-crew until I build up a good amount of algae... Algae Reactor done Finished building my algae reactor. My chaeto should be arriving tomorrow from reefcleaners.org. Once I have that in the reactor, I'll take some photos of the final product and post the specs. It's not the prettiest, but it should work well. NoPo4-X I decided to try some NoPo4-x, since it came with my Red Sea Mature kit, and I ended up not using it. I think it's just vinegar to be honest. Anyway, I'm on day 3 of using it. Hasn't really helped nitrates, though hard to tell since I'm doing huge water changes. But today I'm done doing big water changes, and I'll see if the NoPo4-x does anything with the remaining nitrates. I'm getting the chaeto tomorrow, so I'm thinking of just not using it anymore and saving it for later if my nitrates aren't able to come back down. At this rate, I probably will have a ULNS tank and not even need a CUC =P Lights on Turned the lights on! Here's a properly white balanced photo of it: https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4443/...51ab8c78_b.jpg |
One day I looked to do a clownfish BTA tank with the reefer 170. I look forward to future updates for this build. Looking really good so far!
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Full system setup. Main display tank with sump, and in the adjacent closet is the carbon reactor (brs mini), Algae Reactor (AquaMaxx XL with custom aluminum heat control), and chiller. Also in the closet is a 5 gallon HPDE ATO reservoir with the ATK PMUP, OS-1 level sensor for low water. The ATO reservoir is fed by my RO/DI.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4447/...783d9b87_b.jpg Algae Reactor All the parts used for this algae reactor: AquaMaxx Reactor XL: https://www.marinedepot.com/AquaMaxx...FRISCR-vi.html LED Grow Lights: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Clip on Fan: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Aluminum tube: http://www.speedymetals.com/pc-4689-...-aluminum.aspx Heatsinks: http://www.heatsinkusa.com/4-850-wid...inum-heatsink/ Just added some chaeto from ReefCleaners.org. I decided to go with them because the chaeto is grown in a fishless system. I'm crossing my fingers it's also GHA, Bubble Algae, etc. free. When I put the chaeto in, there was a bit of sand in the chaeto, as well as a few big amphipods. Didn't see any nuisance animals. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4490/...ae0532f1_b.jpg Here's a look at the sleeve I put together for the LED lights. I'm probably overly scared of heat problems with these Amazon grow lights, so I bought a 5.75"x19" square aluminum tube and stuck the lights on the inside of it. I probably should've gotten a 6" tube because it's a tight squeeze getting the reactor in and out with the LED lights. Attached to two sides are 4.8" x 8" heatsinks. Lots of thermal paste + some JB weld to hold them on. Cured for 24 hours. Lastly, very quiet low powered clip on fan above. So this is probably the coolest algae reactor in the world LOL. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4505/...e711f26a_b.jpg https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4513/...1a41d56f_b.jpg Here it is all assembled: https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4482/...d4e4867f_b.jpg https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4501/...55f9352e_b.jpg And a fun glorious photo down the tube with the lights on: https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4492/...37cf8939_b.jpg |
The system is coming along nicely! I wish I made more progress on my system so I can have you over. :beer:
I think you should stick to your original plan of housing a magnifica. You'll be much happier. Trust me! I'll keep an eye out. One thing you'll need to change though -- you'll need to find a flat rock to place on top of your rock structure. Mags don't like porous rocks like pukani because they can't spread their foot out. I often describe it as looking like a fried egg because they try to expand their foot on the surface of the rock as much as possible. If you don't have a flat rock, they'll continuously move, and will eventually make it to the wall of the tank, which isn't visually appealing. |
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And yeah, I was thinking the rocks wouldn't work. I'll look for a smoother flat one if I get the mag! I'll keep looking around for one. |
Just got notification that LA has some:
http://m.liveaquaria.com/product/631/?pcatid=631 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
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Do you think this pedestal rock would work? Or too porous. http://www.marcorocks.com/reef-ledge...rock-frag-top/ |
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Something like this is good: http://www.aquariumspecialty.com/med...ium_rock_2.jpg Think old school Fiji slab rock. |
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I went down to Aquatic Collection today to pickup some PE Mysis and cipro. Got 7 tabs in anticipation. Talked about you too with Joe haha. He said you're the anemone guru of the bay area! And wow, that red carpet is gorgeous. Still not sold. Looks really great. Not too big, which I think is good. There were a bunch of mocha looking clownfish in the basket with it, but none of them seemed at all interested in it for some reason. Anyway, it looks pretty healthy and nice. Quote:
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I've been looking for a flat rock that'll fit my tank, but haven't found anything at a LFS that will work.
I ordered some shelf rock from BRS (5lbs) so we'll see what I get. Hopefully something works, otherwise I'll take an existing rock, rock rubble, and a bunch of epoxy and create something myself. I decided to get a rainbow BTA for now until I find a H. Mag. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4471/...172fce1b_b.jpg |
Looking great! Did you ever get your 120 skimmer dialed in?
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