Upgrading to 225g

[PhilMStudy]

Stocking question:

can I house an Atlantic Blue tang with a bristletooth tang if I start small? I also want a gold spotted rabbitfish later on as well.

won’t be adding any of the three until I can add all 3. That plus an earmuff wrasse are going to be the fish added when I’m ready to do so (will be another 5-7 weeks)

 

[PhilMStudy]

Picture this morning before lights on, small diatom bloom (was expecting that tbh), tank transfer casualties so far are just the royal gramma and court jester goby, remarkable considering they had to be acclimated to 3 different water sets over 3 days

windex photo is before lights out, changed up the scape. Using the dead coral/“antlers” as wife calls them, as a frag rack

still need to work on rock closest to door, bases are all anchored in and it’s a matter of arranging what I like and gluing it. I keep changing my mind so that’s annoying.

Additional CUC arrives at Wednesday, hope they enjoy the overfeeding issues I’ve let settle in for them last few days

 

[PhilMStudy]

I have a ss60 sump plumbed into tank, Right now I have a lot of rock and sand/Rubble in one compartment, and the other large compartment has chaeto with more rock.

I have dragons breath, blue hypnea and red ogo coming as well. I want one compartment to be more of a display/decorative fuge/macro setup and the other to hold chaeto and rock…

i do a lot of gardening outdoors so I suppose this is a natural extension, however, I’m worried all of these macro types might deplete the nutrients in the water.

am I over thinking this? Over designing/wishing?

 

[PhilMStudy]

Going to be a few weeks before they’re out of QT, but I’ve decided on fish. Won’t be ready until middle of March at earliest, not concerned on time table tbh.

Currently dealing with a little Dino growth right now but it seems to be well under control and have more CUC coming in today… don’t know how I spaced that much on needing to add… 75g to 225g with all new sand and lot of dry rock… should have known I needed to increase my defense forces lol

 

[Cool tangs]

Yes you can have a bristletooth and a blue tang together. Just remember if you want more then 2 tangs, make sure you add them around the same time.

Looks like you have purchased QT'd fish just don't forget to QT everything else you add, coral, cuc, etc it's less likely to introduce fish parasites but it can. Nice build and hope it goes well

Happy reefing

 

[PhilMStudy]

Dropped idea of multiple tangs, one bristletooth for now is all, went for a rabbitfish instead of a 2nd tang.

Need to clean the glass and I have some cyano cropping up from my too much blocked flow (it’s the corner nobody sees and that’s where my frag racks are so it’s expected

The bigger order will be ready end of March/beginning of April

 

[PhilMStudy]

Well that didn’t work at all lol was supposed to be a video of the new goldlined rabbitfish

 

[PhilMStudy]

 

[PhilMStudy]

I’m going to update this thread in a week or two with photos and what not. A world of change has occurred and I’m way behind on sharing

 

[PhilMStudy]

Wife takes much better pictures than I do and I can’t figure out how to edit blue on my iPhone so I’ll wait for expertise there…

so the tank is doing extremely well!

I have two Sherman rose bta, one rainbow that turned into 3, sold one split, kept two for now (wife wants one for her biocube we are setting up)

fish: 2 clowns (one blood orange), two spot bristletooth, goldlined rabbit, Midas Blenny (runs the tank), orchid dotty, carpenter flasher, dusky flasher, hoevener wrasse, 4 blue green chromis, Royal gramma, coral beauty, 3 springeri damsels, and an aiptasia eating filefish that doesn’t really care for aiptasia but we’re ok with that lol

also have skunk and blood red cleaner plus various emeralds, snails, two conch

have quite a few other starter type corals, lots of Zoas, hammers and a forest of xenia
4 rfa too

everyone seems to be doing well, change out between 15-20 gallons a week, sometimes twice a week
everyone seems to be doing well, change out between 15-20 gallons a week, sometimes twice a week

have some aggression issues from time to time, but it’s mostly a 5 second chase and then we’re good… and it’s usually the Midas Blenny doing the chasing lol amazing how determined they are to protect their “homes” (he has 4 areas he claims for now)

 

[PhilMStudy]

It has been an amazing journey and I’m so happy to be back in the hobby the last year plus

 

[PhilMStudy]

Been a while since I’ve updated this…

Updates:
Tank has been up and running for 18 months and we’ve even added two more tanks.

One is my wife’s office, she loves her tank now and even gets on to me about touching “her tank”

My 225g is currently plumbed into a 75g sump/fuge, I’ve added a 40g breeder for a coral frag tank and have that plumbed into a 44g brute

I’m working on using that brute as a shared water source for the skimmer and top off tank.

225g plumbed into 75g sump

40g plumbed into a 44g brute

The 75g sump and 44g brute are plumbed into each other as well (with an overflow and a secondary hole im making as backup…

Ideally all of the dosing, top off, and new water goes into the brute

Water changes are pulled from the 75g sump and frag tank, new water added to the brute to kick off to all sources

The 75g sump sits at a pretty low point and can handle 30g of additional water for overflow if something happens to the brute/40g breeder

Based on measurements and testing I think this will work very well and make traveling much easier

 

[PhilMStudy]

Oh, and obligatory livestock update

Blood Orange female clown with male, they love all 5 anemones and rotate between them, they prefer the red/rose bta to the orange/green ones (but honestly who doesn’t)

Super healthy and fat goldline rabbit, probably 5-6” already, little guy was less 2-3” when purchased - the king/queen of the tank, they choose what their title for the day
Bristletooth tang - Schulzie (was given to me as a gift so they got to name em) - 4” solid fellow, respectful and respected amongst the community
Atlantic Blue Tang - fairly recent purchase, becoming more assertive by the day
5 blue/green chromis
3 purple firedish
2 zebra barred dart fish
3 springers damsel
2 flasher wrasse
1 helfreich wrasse (I know I butchered that)
1 aiptasia filefish
1 gold or black and yellow jester goby
1 royal gamma
1 coral beauty
1 Koran Angelfish

RIP due to a 38 hour power outage while we were out of town
flame angel
Earmuff Wrasse
3 anthias