Taco's 65G LPS Fiesta

tacosricos · Jul 28, 2017

Hello!
I've been lurking around here for a while, but it's finally time for me to document my own build. I scored a complete 65G setup yesterday for $300. I've done a couple nano reefs in the past, and currently have a 2'x4' LPS/softy frag tank and a 5G FW bonsai mangrove tank (it's about 5 years old now). I also maintain a few aquariums professionally, including a 300G LPS tank at a local thai restaurant. But this will be *my* first real display tank.
It should be nearly ready in about a month, so here are some crappy pics in the meantime:

tacosricos · Jul 28, 2017

Livestock:
I have a lot of LPS that sits on the bottom (3 fungia plates, a cynarina, scoly and trachy) so I will try to keep an open sand bed to accommodate them. The rockwok is going to be vertical and mostly on the left side of the tank to conceal the overflow. I would like a little gorg forest over on the right hand side. The only fish I have planned right now are a maroon clown that came with the tank and a hawkfish. The purple tang is going to live in my client's 300G tank. I'm going to be focusing on movement with gorgs, frogspawn, duncans etc. I would really like to get a nice standing wave going, so I might look into some cheap controllable powerheads.

Hardware:
The tank came with a coralife t5 fixture that I will use in conjunction with a pair of coral compulsion Par30's from my frag tank. It also included a skimmer, but if isn't up to task I will be getting a Skimz. As for filtration I will also be using BRS biopellets, and carbon/gfo in a reactor. Sump space is very limited so my APex jr., ATO and dosing heads will be mounted on an external panel.

tacosricos · Jul 29, 2017

Yesterday these powerheads were the worst I had ever seen, just completely calcified and putrid. It's amazing what can be accomplished with some white vinegar and a toothbrush.

Here are the standpipes I'm about to clean to give you some idea:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/142712917@N03/
I should be finished re-plumbing the overflow/return pump in the next day or so and then I get to start the fun stuff: aquascaping.

tacosricos · Jul 29, 2017

I'm trying to build this system without spending a ton of money, so I'm considering using the two PAR fixtures off of my frag tank.

They are coral compulsion bulbs, I would replace the par30 on the left with a par38 to match the one on the right. I'm wondering if they will give me enough juice... What do you guys think? Any recommendations for inexpensive 36" t5 fixtures?

tacosricos · Jul 30, 2017

https://www.flickr.com/photos/142712917@N03/
I got the skimmer that came with the tank scrubbed down, replaced all of the tubing and put it in my frag system. It certainly isn't the fanciest piece of kit, but I think it will work just fine until I scrape together the coin for an upgrade down the road.

tacosricos · Aug 9, 2017

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It's been a hectic week between work and doing my certification dives for scuba, but I finally got the plumbing dry-fitted. I'm still waiting on a piece before I glue everything together, but this is what it will look like. The media reactor is mounted outside of the sump to maximize space in the skimmer chamber.

tacosricos · Aug 17, 2017

https://www.flickr.com/photos/142712917@N03/
I painted the back earlier this week, glued the plumbing and now it's wet! I dumped in a large bottle of Bio-Spira today to get things going. As far as aquascaping, I went for the rock tower to help conceal the unsightly overflow and to leave an open sand bed. I like the idea of a gorgonian forest occupying the empty space on the righthand side of the tank.

tacosricos · Aug 22, 2017

Has it been a month yet?! No? That's okay I still don't have light for the tank. I thought in the meantime I might discuss some of the coral that will be moving over from the frag tank.

LPS:
Acans & Micromussa (3-4 types)
Favites
Blastos (3 types)
Duncans
Frogspawn (2 types)
Fungia plates (3 of them)
Trachy
Cynarina
Scolymia

LPS/SPS:
Styloconiella
Meteor shower cyphastrea
Chalice (Echinopora and Mycedium)

Softies:
Heliopora coerulea
Lobophytum

SPS:
Orange monti
M. Setosa

I'm going to keep a pretty small fish population with the focus in the tank really being the coral. It's going to be designed (as previously mentioned) with an eye towards movement. I would also like to focus on adding some of the more obscure corals to my collection.

tacosricos · Aug 30, 2017

I've been giving some consideration to how I want to do tank maintenance, and have come to the conclusion that I will the triton method for dosing. I'm going to be relying on skimming and GFO/activated carbon for nutrient export, and possibly carbon dosing later on. Being that I won't have a refugium I will be using the base elementz- other methods products.

I have Ca, Alk, Mag, No3 and Po4 test kits to keep an eye on things, but will send in samples to the lab ~4 months.

Since the additives are dosed in equal parts I'm hoping to be able to use no more than 2 of the outlets on my apex jr. by daisy chaining pairs of dosing heads together. That will leave one outlet for my heater, and a spare that will probably be used for the light fixture.

revhtree · Aug 30, 2017

Looking good!

Daniel@R2R · Aug 31, 2017

You're off to a great start!

tacosricos · Aug 31, 2017

revhtree said:
Looking good!

mdbannister said:
You're off to a great start!

Thank you!

tacosricos · Sep 26, 2017

Not much has changed in the last month. The tank still doesn't have a light on it. I've been slowly selling off corals from my frag tank to prepare for moving the livestock to the new system. I traded some frags last night for a purple tang, I'll try and snap a photo later today. I'm not planning on keeping many fish besides the tang, probably my yellowtail damsel and a small goby.

tacosricos · Jan 4, 2018

Alright, I got around to transferring stuff from my frag tank the day before I left for vacation. I'm back and finally mounted some corals.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/142712917@N03/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/142712917@N03/
Everything's going well so far. The tank is lit with a 250w MH, I plan on upgrading sometime this year. The tank is plugged into my Apex Jr. Nothing fancy here. I need to start 2-part dosing soon, and look into a skimmer upgrade because the one I'm using is creating micro-bubbles like crazy, and it bothers me.

tacosricos · Jan 7, 2018

Just mixed up some two part and mounted the dosing heads. I would love to have a super-organized setup, but for now this is what I'm working with:

tacosricos · Jan 11, 2018

Ran some tests this morning:

Sal. 1.025
Temp. ~78F
Alk. 7.8 dKH (goal is 8)
Cal. 411
PO4 0.17

Changed out my GFO to try and get the PO4 under control. The skimmer took a crap so WCs and GFO are my only means of nutrient control.

tacosricos · Feb 18, 2018

The tank is still plugging along. As of now the only filtration on the tank is a media reactor running a mixture of activated carbon and GFO. I also do a weekly water change of 10-20%. I have decided to use one of the chambers in the sump to grow chaeto and I need to find some sponge material to place inside the baffle to keep bits of chaeto from making their way into the return pump chamber. I'm tired of chasing phosphates down and GFO is expensive!

Todays tests:
Sal. 1.025
Temp. ~78F
Alk. 7.3 dKH
Cal. 461
PO4 0.070

I generally test for mag monthly, and only test for nitrate very occasionally. For me, keeping PO4 in check is a higher priority.

tacosricos · Feb 19, 2018

The tank is having some algae growth, so I'm finally getting a refugium put together.

The tank is doing alright aside from the algae. It receives 5 hours from the 25ow MH per day. I'm going to cut the length down to 3.5 hrs until I get the chaeto growing. I ordered another doser from BRS, and once I am satisfied that I have my algae problem in check I'm going to start dosing the triton Core7 system.

The big chalice coral was getting buried in sand by the clownfish, and lost some tissue that way so I put the platform in there to keep him off of the sand. I'm planning on selling that chalice once it recovers. Cheers!

Janci · Feb 20, 2018

Great set up. Simple but well done.

tacosricos · Feb 20, 2018

Janci said:
Great set up. Simple but well done.

Thanks! I'm taking this build slow. All the coral is stuff I have owned for years from previous tanks. Once I get the triton system going and I'm satisfied that everything is stable, I'm going to upgrade the lighting and start adding some new corals.