Dan's Half Cylinder

[Bearded Dan]

Hello, friends! This is my second major reef tank and first upgrade from the 20 gallon system I kept for over 10 years.

This was my 20 gallon tank, I was super nervous about taking it down to set up the new (to me) tank.

The upgrade would be to a 68 gallon ocean view half cylandir by Aqua Vim I found on craigslist for a paltry $300 (included tank, stand, canopy, rock, and a lot of bogus discarded equipment).

The setup before I put any work into it.

Almost right after I set it up.

From inside the canopy, looking down at the overflow.

Some shots of the sump and plumbing

Some pictures taken earlier today

I know the acro isn't likely to make it, but still has some fleshy bits that are holding strong.

Here are some pictures of the fish

There's also a fairly shy yellow eye kole tang in there.

Equipment is as follows:
2 Aqua Illumination Prime HD's
Skimz UP22 pro sump
Jebao dct 1000 return pump
Simplicity Aquatics DC240 skimmer
Eheim heater
Jebao wave pump (rw6 maybe?)
Currently running a bag of carbon/gfo as well.

Hoping to do a lot of the coral stocking at MACNA later this month. Pretty stoked about that. There's lots of fun empty space to play with and I can't wait to fill it up with corals.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Looking really good!!

 

[Bearded Dan]

There's going to be a lot to update and add since returning from MACNA, but here's a pic of one of my favorite pieces.

Elegance coral has been on my personal wishlist for a long time and I thought this one looked spectacular.

Highly recommended you check out Nice Rack High End Aquaculture. They were awrsome to buy from at the convention and I had a blast talking to them.

 

[Bearded Dan]

Alright, more pictures incoming....

Angle showing my tank and a peak at my wife's as well. Been bugging her to get on here and get posting.

One of many fresh acans.

Had a monti like this in my 20 years ago, excited to have this coral in my collection again.

Had to get this glorious lobo.

dat brain tho

Building a euphyllia tree.

Here are the individuals in it

Purple styophora

Had it a while, just like it a lot.

Branching red cyphastrea and rainbow monti. Birdnest hadn't been doing so hot.

You know how I feel about this.

FTS

Nitrares were testing at 32 yesterday after 5 days of not dosing NOPOX because we were out of town. Did a 20 gallon water change and have the dosing going again. All other parameters were looking good.

Thoughts on coral placement? Tips on care?

Thanks for looking.

Don't plan to add much else in the way of coral. Would like things to fill out and mature. Might add another fish or two depending on my ability to control nutrients. Could likely stand to feed a bit less. [emoji15]

I'll try to do the best write up I can of MACNA or maybe just a video of me talking about my experience. Didn't take much in the way of pictures was too involved with stuff.

 

[Bearded Dan]

Wife sent me this while I was at work. Had to share.

 

[Bearded Dan]

Update!

The elegance and lobo didn't make it. I suspect it was me not staying on top of alkalinity.

Potter's angel went missing one day, but not before playing a role in bullying the copperband to death. Current fish are two red firefish, two green chromis, kole tang, and one spot fox face. Some corals are starting to take off after getting everything stabilized.

Here's some pics

Picked up this giant single head of torch not that long ago.

Thinking about adding a third AI prime for more even light coverage.

 

[Bearded Dan]

More update. Got a third AI Prime HD. Sweet new coral. Carpenter's Flasher Wrasse, which is hiding. Some random fairy wrasse. Happy birthday to me!

Pics were taken with pump on around feeding time. Sorry about that. Yeah. Glass is real scratched. Might need a 120 at some point.

 

[Maximizer]

Tank looks great! Half cylinder tanks are under appreciated.

 

[Bearded Dan]

Tank looks great! Half cylinder tanks are under appreciated.

Thanks! Ultimately, I don't think I'd do another one. While the depth it creates is neat, it's difficult to clean and light. Finding a decent sump to fit the stand wasn't easy, and I'm ultimately not pleased with my sump (skimz up22).

All that whining aside, I am pretty pleased with how the tank is doing.

 

[Bearded Dan]

Some new addtions and an fts!

Did some reearanging on the left side. Think it turned out okay. Some rock ended up in my sump. Just running filter socks and my refugium full of rock and chaeto for filtration. Fuge lighting is some cheapo thing off amazon. Thinking of getting a kessil h80 at some point.

Was using some phosguard and purigen as well for a while. Took it out to run a two month course of kick ich.

I think it's also past time I got an ato of some kind. Been leaning towards the neptune atk beause of how complete of a kit it is and the layers of redundancy built into it. Would also like to eventually have an apex.

I've got to say how pleased I am with the performance of the AI Prime HD's on this tank. I have three of them linked together. Set up was easy and even corals on the bottom of this 24 inch deep tank look amazing. I run uv, violet, royal blue and blue all at max levels with green, red, and white all at 24%. This is as close as I can get to that ab+ spectrum.

Also been keeping a very close eye on chemistry lately. Kinda been fun to test most days. Essentially just trying to keep things stable. I have spiked a bit in nitrate lately, but I've been feeding pretty heavy. Will probably just cut back and not worry about it. Could also be related to moving things around amd stirring some crap up. More/better flow would probably be a good idea at some point.

Definitely looking forward to eventually bring able to afford an unscratched upgrade I can build how I want with less struggle.

Current fish are:
Kole Yelloe Eye Tang
One Spot Fox Face
Carpenter's Flasher Wrasse
Blue Sided Fairy Wrasse
Two Green Chromis
Two Red Fire Fish
Two Yellow Headed Sleeper Gobies

Nitrates are just fine when I'm not over feeding. Just been a little over zealous lately...