Mike's 1200x500x300 FOWLR becoming mixed reef

[Vilante]

Introduction:

I've been using this stand (tank is new) as a tropical for about 15 years. So, I am a complete newbie to the salt water world.

I built the stand with my Grandfather and while it might not be the most stylish these days (it was built 15 years ago after all) I can't see myself losing it, even if it messes with the wife's styling

System Objectives: What is the end result going to be?
To run a successful mixed reef in a small tank with no sump. Hope to move to a 3x2x2 with sump after a few years.

System Type: Fish only, FOWLR, Predator, SPS, Mixed Reef, Softies only, Non photosythetic Corals?
FOWLR turning to mixed reef.

Strike up Date: Date system started
27/06/15

Display Tank: Display tank specifications.
1200x500x300 standard glass

Display Lighting: Lighting specifications.
2 x 2ft cheap chinese strips of blue and white LED's with a few pink thrown in for good measure.
Upgrading to 2 x Hydra 26 around March 2015

Stand: Stand specifications.
Pine stand built by my Grandfather with a little help from me.

Hood: Hood specifications.
NA

Sump: Sump specs if applicable.
NA

Refugium: Refugium Specifications if applicable.
NA

Support systems:

System Water:
Ultimate Aquacare Salt/live sand/live rock

Display Water circulation: In tank water circulation.
Tunze 6045 and a Jebao WP-10

Return Pump:
Eheim compact 1000 for chiller

Chiller:
Hailea HC-150a

Skimmer:
Tunze 9012

Evaporation Top Up:
Manual

Images:

This is her empty:

http://i.imgur.com/nzurjXq.jpg

[Vilante]

Set up weekend. Everything is in and running, live sand bed and buffer and 180L of natural water. A few weeks and some live rock goes in.



Murkey!



Cleared up a bit by the next morning

[Vilante]

Now my thoughts turn to what I'll put in it. I've been reading about the inches rule, which says my tank can really only have 12 inches of mature fish in it. So that's really two standard clowns, and maybe 4-6 other small fish?

I believe invertebrates aren't included though, so I could get some cleaner shrimp and some other things I'm not aware of at this point

I also might look at some nems but that needs much more research.

None of this starts until the live rock has been in at least a month so plenty of time for research and will only add a couple at a time but would like to have a solid idea of the finished stocks before I start.

[green troll]

Nice setup Mike.
Great to see it coming along. Well done

[Vilante]

Thank you!

[Vilante]

So I have one powerhead as you can see in the pictures, and it moves a lot of water, but there are definitely some real dead spots. Would it be smart to get a small wavemaker to put at the other end of the tank?

Something like this:

http://www.aquaristiconline.com.au/p/84 ... -6015.html

[Vilante]

Reef went in today, my first crack at a scape

Sorry for the dodgy pic, hoping to have the SLR unpacked soon.

[Vilante]

A better pic.



Looking at removing the hood and putting in some better lights later in the year but need to tidy up air lines and chords next.

[Vilante]

So the tank is 3.5 months old now, so I'm pretty sure the cycle is complete

It had the deep sand bed in it for 1 month and has had the live rock in it since. It is so alive, worms in the sand bed, tube worms up top, little shrimp, snails and what sounds like a mantis clicking away in there.

I did a 50% water change on the weekend and last night added the first inhabitants, 5 little blue/green chromis. They look happy as larry running around in a little school. They ate straight away.

Now for more patience and some research into what to add next.

I'm thinking I will want to have a go at some sofites or something at some stage. I definitely don't have the scope for a sump on this tank, so considering the possibility of changing out the sponges for a Tunz 9006 or similar internal skimmer in the back corner, removing the timber hood and adding some better lighting.

Christmas is around the corner

Terrible pic but (no colour) something for the archive.....

[Vilante]

I have been monitoring the temps of the tank and the room it's in, which unfortunately has a lot of glass and no scope for external coverings.

It's averaging 1-2 degrees warmer in the tank than the max outside temp, so on a day like yesterday where it was 28 outside, I got home at 9pm and it was 29 in the tank and quite warm in the room.

Also, the fish were all looking like they'd been in a sauna all day, not happy at all. Some ice in a bag and they perked back up but it was obvious that I need to run a chiller. It's not even close to Summer yet!

Purchased a Hailea HC-150a today and an Eheim pump to run it. Will install tonight.

[Vilante]

One Chromis down today. Excluded by the others and wouldn't eat.

As soon as I took him out they excluded another. Great friends!

Am target feeding him with shrimp which worked tonight. Will continue that and see how he goes.

[wayne2.0]

Strange aggression from a schooling fish.

[Vilante]

Strange aggression from a schooling fish.

I thought the same. They aren't visibly nipping at each other or anything but I'm told they can express it in ways you might not notice. I couldn't find #4 this morning at all, so he's scared silly even though he was part of the group just yesterday morning.

[CT_Reefer]

Strange aggression from a schooling fish.

I thought the same. They aren't visibly nipping at each other or anything but I'm told they can express it in ways you might not notice. I couldn't find #4 this morning at all, so he's scared silly even though he was part of the group just yesterday morning.

Chromis generally suffer from the Highlander syndrome ('there can be only one'). I tried a few times over the years and always found they would pick each other off one by one, with the last one proving hardy and peaceful once the other chromis were gone.

[Vilante]

Strange aggression from a schooling fish.

I thought the same. They aren't visibly nipping at each other or anything but I'm told they can express it in ways you might not notice. I couldn't find #4 this morning at all, so he's scared silly even though he was part of the group just yesterday morning.

Chromis generally suffer from the Highlander syndrome ('there can be only one'). I tried a few times over the years and always found they would pick each other off one by one, with the last one proving hardy and peaceful once the other chromis were gone.

Bugger. I guess that gives me more room for other fish if I'm looking for a positive.

[Vilante]

I can't find #2 anywhere now. The biggest one is visibly picking on the other 2 as well. Wondering if I should somehow offload those 2 to save them being knocked off?

[Vilante]

So, if anyone has any advice, I'd like this tank to eventually keep some soft corals and nems (and let's be serious, probably some other things) and I'd like to know what I need to upgrade to be able to do that. It's currently seeming pretty happy as a FOWLR, obviously early days though.

Amonia and nitrite are always zero and nitrate is a constant 5-10. My salt is 1.023. Doing 10% changes per fortnight seems to keep everything stable.

Do I need to ditch the foam filters and go to a skimmer? I don't have a sump and can't have with this tank (I'm lucky to have what I have, I will plan for a 3x2x2 or 4x2x2 in a few years time) so I'd need a hang on or in the corner jobbie. Any recommendations?

I'm currently just running some cheap LED strips which have no power or coverage so I will also need light and was looking at the Marintech Gold series light.

http://www.ledaquariumlights.net.au/pages/gold-series

Is there anything else I'd need? Looking to upgrade slowly over the next few months as I build up fish stocks.

[Vilante]

A quick FTS to keep it up to date.

Currently sporting:

3 x Blue chromis
1 x Cyan (fairy) wrasse
1 x Turbo snail
1 x tiny Peppermint shrimp
2 x tiny Hermit crabs

Have had a big outbreak of all kinds of Algae which you can see, I think mostly from over feeding. Trying to get the Wrasse to eat anything other than frozen and it's so shy at feeding time I end up over feeding trying to get food to it.

Looking forward to Christmas and getting a skimmer into it and getting rid of all the clutter.

[Vilante]

Christmas has been good to me I finally have a skimmer, a Tunze 9012. It went in 5 days ago and the difference is already huge. The water has never been so clear, the tiny frag of Zoa's has opened up more than ever and the fish seem more social. Could just be me that last one



The clowns have also moved into the main tank so there's some good movement in there now.



Now for some decent lighting and then a better camera

[Vilante]

A quick update. I've been talking through the helpful people here about water chemistry in another thread, trying to get some experience with it all while I save for my lights.

viewtopic.php?f=45&t=265342

I've added a trochus snail (it might be too big, it mows through the algae), an Indica star and a lawnmower blenny recently.

My camera is still rubbish though.

[Vilante]

Post for posterity - Little fishes reactor with Rawphos in it installed today.

[Vilante]

I finally got one of the two Hydra 26's (the other is on order and will be a week or so) and added some coral under it. A few days ago I added an elegance, a hammer and a leather.

Yesterday I added an anenome which the clowns have hosted already which is bloody amazing to have in your own loungeroom

Battling high nitrates and phosphates at the moment (I realised as I added the new livestock) so that will be the focus for the coming weeks.

[Vilante]

A small update.

The tank seems to be going well. I've added a small Coral Goby and am in the process of changing to to artificial salt.

Was sick of going to the shop to collect NSW so decided to change.

[Vilante]

The anemone is growing like wildfire!

[Aphilla]

Looks like the tank is coming along well!

[Vilante]

Thanks mate, slowly but surely

I hope to upgrade to a Reefer 250 sometime this year as it's a bit hard without a sump. Enjoying trying to get some results with water with what I have though.

Since the change to ASW and about 3 months running Rawphos my Phosphate has finally come down. Mag is coming up too.

Current numbers:

Salinity - 1.026
Ammonia/Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 10
pH - 8.4
Alkalinity - 7
Magnesium - 1200
Phosphate - 0.03
Calcium - 494

Calcium has always seemed a little high, but I'm using a Hanna checker.

I'm having trouble reading Nitrate and pH which are both Redsea kits but the numbers are my best guess.

[Vilante]

A crappy blown out iPhone vid for posterity

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Srcv6TcW-Wo

[Vilante]

Just ordered a Reefer 350......

5 weeks and counting