ReefMan's 280g-ish AGE Acropora Reef

inktomi · Jul 31, 2018

Hi folks!!

I am starting a new series of videos, and so I thought it'd be a great time to start a thread about my tank as well!

My tank has been up for about three years, but I've really only been adding coral for the past year. It's a huge (for me) AGE tank - 7 feet by 3 feet by 2 feet tall and around 280 total system gallons. I'm not sure I'd get such a huge tank in the future, frags get totally lost and as a result my tank looks empty. The fish like it though, and it's neat to have such depth front to back to work with.

I'll post updates as I can, just got a nice pack of frags from WWC today that should brighten things up slightly.. just need about a thousand more haha

Diesel · Jul 31, 2018

Thanks for starting a great build thread my friend.

inktomi · Jul 31, 2018

Thanks! I set up a Pax Bellum ARID c30 tonight, so that was today's excitement.

Reefer Deez · Jul 31, 2018

Awesome video! I'd be excited for the Pax Vellum too!

keep up the good work your tank looks beautiful!

inktomi · Aug 3, 2018

I wanted to share the contents of my WWC Platinum Coral Club box.. Super nice corals, for a great price!

inktomi · Aug 4, 2018

Does anyone else wish that companies like WWC (and the rest) gave species names instead of "Gonzo Blueberry"? A species name is so much more useful towards knowing what a coral is and therefore how to best care for it.

inktomi · Aug 7, 2018

There's this thing one of my corals does sometimes. No idea why. The first time I saw this I was really worried, but now I just let it be and it's all fluffy by the end of the day. Super weird. Any idea what it's up to?

inktomi · Aug 21, 2018

My project for the weekend? Rust abatement!

My steel frame is rusting where the skimmer blows salty air at it all day. I know I can just paint it with Por-15 or similar paint, but does anyone have some good ideas on how to get the rust OFF without it going everywhere into the tank? Lots of plastic sheeting or something like that? Anything more clever?

inktomi · Aug 26, 2018

I have some paint on the way, hopefully I'll get it next week to solve the rust issue. Gotta paint some under near the sump like in the photo above as well as the braces around the top of the tank. Fingers crossed that it all works out!

Here's the tank as it stands today.

inktomi · Aug 26, 2018

Also, got a decent photo of my Achilles tang - despite there being a lot of junk in the water. I promise, he/she doesn't have ich!

-edit- does anyone know if you can sex achilles tangs? Maybe sort of how you can sex Naso tangs with the streamers that only appear on males?

inktomi · Oct 22, 2018

Got a couple new Zoanthus sp. frags at Reefapalooza. My first zoanthus in this tank!

inktomi · Nov 6, 2018

I made a video on the ordering process for my tank, a custom build from AGE.

inktomi · Nov 11, 2018

I noticed on my latest Triton test that I've got even more tin and now some copper as well in the tank. Very low levels, but concerning nonetheless.

I replaced my ebo jager heater with two finnex titanium heaters since I noticed some condensation inside the eheim heater. I cleaned my vortechs, and ordered a new RO membrane since it has been a while since I last replaced mine. My water does come out at 0 TDS so I'm not sure that could be a source of copper, but I figured better safe than sorry.

If this doesn't do the trick (I'm also using some cuprisorb in my filter socks) I'll have to pull out my skimmer and return pump - both Vertex pumps. I couldn't find any threads about corrosion in Vertex pumps - so I skipped that for now since I did it a few months ago and the pumps seemed to be fine.

Diamond1 · Nov 11, 2018

Nice tank and thanks for sharing the videos.

inktomi · Nov 11, 2018

Diamond1 said:
Nice tank and thanks for sharing the videos.

Thanks! You'd be amazed at how long it takes to fill a big tank with corals!

Diamond1 · Nov 11, 2018

inktomi said:
Thanks! You'd be amazed at how long it takes to fill a big tank with corals!

Yeah it's gonna take a bit to grow that tank out, but I would love to give it a try!
I'm thinking my next tank is gonna be a 120 gallon. That's about as big as I want.

inktomi · Nov 11, 2018

I actually totally agree with you. I wanted a big tank - we all do - but this one is really too big. Our house isn't big enough for the tank. Our "next house" will have a proper fish room, and then we'll have to make the choice between this tank or one a bit smaller. I *really* like the depth front to back, and the shallow vertical is also nice for lighting - but I have over 50 corals in the tank already and you'd never know. They're not even "small" most of them are at least as big as a child's fist now.

Also, small world - I grew up outside of Cleveland.

inktomi · Dec 2, 2018

I shot a video all about what's happening in the reef right now. Enjoy!

inktomi · Jan 6, 2019

Working on a new video, and had to share this photo. I thought it came out so nice. Who doesn't like polyps!?

inktomi · Feb 24, 2019

This Acropora tenuis from Unique Corals was among the first batch of corals that I put in my tank. It's been growing well through all my tank's trials and tribulations - including getting knocked off and having big chunks broken off a few times. Maybe not the absolutely most stunning coral in the world - but it's a great blue color and is quite resilient despite what I can throw at it.

I'm not sure what kind of Acropora this one is, maybe another A. tenuis, but it's got the record for growth in my tank. A year ago it was a little 1" frag, now it's a big colony bigger than my fist.

A nice shelving acro..

And finally, my favorite coral in there at the moment - some random acro from WWC which they call a "Blueberry Gonzo" (or something like that..). Really hard to get a photo of this one, but the polyps are actually blue on a light green background. Really cool - and doing much better now that it's high up in the tank with BRIGHT light and strong flow.