Chris' Reef

[chort55]

After the major losses in my 180, I got tired of looking at that tank and decided I needed something different.....

My new system is a 48x18x18 (which before sand and rock held 52g of actual water), with custom white trim, and a metalic blue background.The tank is lit by DIY LED's, and has a modded maxijet on a random timer (19-37 sec.), Koralia 1400 (constant on), w/ a QuiteOne3000 return pump. I am running a 20g long for a sump, with an AquaEuro400 skimmer and will be SPS dominated! Temp, and pH monitoring as well as tank control is done through a ReefAngel controller


There are currently 9 fish in this system, 4 wrasses, 2 clowns, 2 anthias and my not-so yellow tang.....

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Looks great and love the rock work!

 

[chort55]

There are 3 of the "spotted" wrasses. They are commonly called leopard wrasses and are part of the Macropharyngodon family. I have a large female leopard wrasse (Macropharyngodon meleagris) :

And a pair of Potters leopard wrasses (Macropharyngodon geoffroyi):

This build will be fairly slow, most of my "extra" money goes to my son who will be 2 in Feb. who enjoys the tank and watching the "Fees" swim lol He is pretty good about leaving things alone, but I have seen to many posts of kids wanting to feed the fish and adding way to much not to put the lock on there..... it also helps to keep my dog from opening the doors and drinking from the sump lol


As far as the LEDs go, there are 2 panels with 24 leds each. The LEDs are all 3w Cree at a 1:1 ratio of Cool White to Royal Blue with a mix of 60 and 80 (or 90, cant remember right now) degree lenses. I grew SPS and had great color from them on my 180 (which had 3 panels) before my tank got pretty much wiped out by a faulty skimmer pump.... so I am not worried about them not being able to cut it.

 

[chort55]

Well I finally set up my ATO the other night.... like a dumby didn't cut the tube to hang above the sump water so after it filled it sucked water out of the sump (luckily I had it above where it could suck out enough to overflow the ATO lol). Cut a few inches off and it runs properly now and is programmed through my Reef Angel Controller to turn on/off as needed through the float switch.


I am also dosing 5mL vinegar, and .5mL vodka on this system. I have been doing the vinegar since day 1, and started vodka 2 days ago. I do not plan to change these amounts and feel I should be able to maintain a low nutrient system with these amounts, and my oversized skimmer. I am running the same skimmer I ran when my system had 22 fish and ~250g total water volume, eventho I currently have 9 fish and ~62g so I should be alright lol.


I don't think I have ever posted a pic of my sump, so here goes.... 20g Long:

It is 30"l, and the skimmer compartment is 16" lol

 

[Rob.D]

Great looking collection of Leopard Wrasses.

 

[chort55]

Some new pics I just took w/ phone.... PE isn't great as I literally placed everything and then started taking pics but I know everyone wants to see pics so heres some new random shots:

New FTS:

 

[chort55]

Batteries were up to par today for the actual camera, not that they are much better......

FTS:

 

[chort55]

Added in 10 new pieces, so there is around 35 sticks now..... getting there. I will try to get some new pics up later today or tomorrow after the lights come on.


Also started dipping in Bayer today with the new pieces, went pretty good IMO. Everything looked good through inspection before dip, and after so its hard for me to say it works as there wasn't anything really noticeable to work on..... but after dip the polyps were all out and nothing really appears to be faded from it like revive dips in the past have seemingly instantly done.

I was very skeptical of it, despite all the good reviews simply because I take alot of care with my corals and always want the best and with having had my lawncare business before I know how harsh and toxic these kind of chemicals are..... but the coral didn't seem to mind even the smooth skinned pieces. PE was out quick, and I haven't noticed any color loss unlike with previous dips. That said, I did pre and post dip inspections and found nothing concerning with either so I cannot attest to its effectiveness on pest, but the corals look good after so I will continue to use it in the future.

Please anyone considering using Bayer, make sure you do so in a ventilated area, and do not stick your fingers into the dip(or bayer itself for that matter), use tongs/ tweezers dedicated for the tank!

 

[chort55]

Figured I would try to get some new pics with the new pieces and do a new FTS:

Hard to see, but there is actually a beautiful true Tyree PL in this pic lol:

This is the reason I have been looking for something different to dip, and went with the Bayer for now atleast:

That is my CC 40k Lokani that looks like complete and total shetacki after a short revive dip to ensure nothing bad gets into the new system! Completely washed the color out, and its a tan/brown now, totally negating all the coloring up that it was doing


24hrs. of skimmate in the new skimmer:

 

[chort55]

And that's ^ pretty much the story of my ~ 1 month old system

 

[chort55]

Great looking collection of Leopard Wrasses.

Thank you very much, the leopards are probably my favorite group of wrasses, with wrasses being my favorite type of fish. In my 180 I had 8 different wrasses, but when a skimmer pump failed on me I lost many of my fish and all of my Acros Instead of getting out like I contemplated doing for months I decided to put a 48x18x18 tank I had laying around to good use and do something different.... so far I like where this tank is heading and recently bought a new skimmer

 

[chort55]

Looks great and love the rock work!

Thanks Rev, sorry didn't notice your post earlier. I got lucky with the rock work, it took about 5-10 minutes to do and has needed very few changes..... my landscaping background may have helped tho lol

 

[johntran216]

How long did ur skimmer go out for before things started going downhill? That's interesting how much a skimmer affected ur livestock, because there are even filterless systems out there. But anyway, nice new setup and keep it up! Mind telling us how u prepared ur tank to be livestock ready in just one month? That's quite impressive

 

[revsgirl]

Looks great!! Beautiful fish! Thanks for sharing.

 

[ReefPops]

Great looking tank. Love the pics and your fish are gorgeous. The scape is really cool too. Can't wait to see how it fills in with coral.

 

[Mike&Terry]

Sorry to hear about the losses in your 180 and glad to see you decided to stay in the hobby. The tank is looking great and LOVE those wrasses!

 

[wakeboardgeek]

Love all the leopards! Makes me want to add sand so I can have sand dwelling wrasses.

 

[creefer]

Wow, Chris! Heck of an update to what's going on in your world! That system looks great. I like the 48" x 18" footprint, too. Your scape really gives it more dimension. Well done. Also....LOVE the leopards!!!! Beautiful specimens you have. I'm in the process of trying to move a fish that does not play well with others in my system so I too can get my hands on a leopard.

I've also just started to dip with Bayer. I was skeptical as well, but the results have been positive. I lost some nice aros in a recent alk swing, but have since solved that problem, fragged what I could to save what I had, added a 36" 6 lamp ATI Sunpower, and I'm off to the races. You going to the Ann Arbor swap?

 

[chort55]

How long did ur skimmer go out for before things started going downhill? That's interesting how much a skimmer affected ur livestock, because there are even filterless systems out there. But anyway, nice new setup and keep it up! Mind telling us how u prepared ur tank to be livestock ready in just one month? That's quite impressive

It wasn't so much the length it was out, but the way it went out..... One of the 3 pumps basically melted down, leached crap and bombed my system. I smelled smoke for 2 days before finding out the culprit when I went to clean the skimmer cup and smelled the smoke/burning plastic smell coming very strongly from the venturi line. The skimmer was functioning good despite this because there were 2 other pumps running and working properly so it wasn't overly obvious that a pump was down even. During those 2 days, I lost every single acro I had in the system which included very large colonies and a ton of small frags, as well as half my fish. I thought about it and weighed my options for several long months while cleaning the system back up and getting things back on track. I knew it would never be the same and I needed a change, since I had the current tank laying around I figured why not and decided to get it going. I used all existing live rock, and sand from the 180, let it run for a couple weeks all was good and made the transfer. The tank has been up since just a couple days before Christmas, but Livestock has been in for about a month. Not really any different then a tank move except I gave it a little time to balance out and settle down before putting anything back in.

Looks great!! Beautiful fish! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Tonya

Great looking tank. Love the pics and your fish are gorgeous. The scape is really cool too. Can't wait to see how it fills in with coral.

Thank you Trust me I can't wait for it to start growing in either. The scape was definitely aided by my landscaping background, I had a vision in my mind and was able to bring it to life in about 5-10 minutes. As it grows in, you will also notice that I have tried to place the corals for color and growth patterns as well.

Sorry to hear about the losses in your 180 and glad to see you decided to stay in the hobby. The tank is looking great and LOVE those wrasses!

Thank you I am definitely glad I decided to stick with it as well. I miss the size of the 180 but am certainly enjoying the fresh canvas, hopefully the picture turns out as good as I envision I love the wrasses as well they are my favorite group of fish for sure. I'd like to add a few more, and in time probably will. I think with my skimmer, and vodka/vinegar dosing I should be ok.

Love all the leopards! Makes me want to add sand so I can have sand dwelling wrasses.

Thank you I have heard of people adding in tupperware containers with sand and it working out well for them, although I have never tried it personally.

 

[chort55]

Wow, Chris! Heck of an update to what's going on in your world! That system looks great. I like the 48" x 18" footprint, too. Your scape really gives it more dimension. Well done. Also....LOVE the leopards!!!! Beautiful specimens you have. I'm in the process of trying to move a fish that does not play well with others in my system so I too can get my hands on a leopard.

I've also just started to dip with Bayer. I was skeptical as well, but the results have been positive. I lost some nice aros in a recent alk swing, but have since solved that problem, fragged what I could to save what I had, added a 36" 6 lamp ATI Sunpower, and I'm off to the races. You going to the Ann Arbor swap?

Yes it has been a crazy journey to say the least. I really enjoy everything about this system and am enjoying it quite a bit. Fits perfectly between 2 windows directly across from "my spot" on the couch as well lol. Taking down the 180 also freed up out 4th bedroom and we decided to convert it into a master bath/ walk-in closet since we didn't really need it anyways and I figure a 3bed 2 bath is more appealing for resale then a 4 bed 1 bath lol.

I think I may try to get my hands on another 2-3 leopards, either the bipartitus or kuiteri (if I am lucky and can get a decent enough price on some small females lol)

That sucks about the swings and losses hope you didn't lose a bunch! Sounds like you have it back on the right track tho which is a huge +, are you using a reactor? I think I will try to get the one I have working right and running on this system before to long to try to keep things more stable. Not to sure if I will make it to the AA swap or not, but hoping to as I have never been to that one.