My 180 Gallon adventure.. 5 years in the making.

[sminker]

Thought i would share this. Here's my 5 year long adventure. I've lost a few coals and fish along the way, but it's a very good success story overall.

http://i726.photobucket.com/albums/ww265/sminker/180fullshot.jpg

http://i726.photobucket.com/albums/ww265/sminker/_MG_4970.jpg

http://i726.photobucket.com/albums/ww265/sminker/9178ff32fd471232770fb689e7fda8df.jpg

http://i726.photobucket.com/albums/ww265/sminker/3f942db26e833df4f10d3c6a87d4cae3.jpg

[SABOB]

Beautiful tank,tell us about the equipment and livestock


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dvanacker]

nice......but what the heck is that thing on the sand in the 3rd picture?

[michael.lemke]

nice progression!

[REEF SMAC]

Really like the large colonies. Well done.

[wyoung609]

Good work. What are you running for filtration?

[sminker]

Tank Specs...

Coralvue Ballasts, Ushio 20K Bulbs, Lumenmax Elites x 2, Lumenbright Pendant x 1
Workhorse Ballasts Powering 4x80 Watt T5HO's (ATI Bulbs)
NW150 Skimmer w/ Sicce Pump
Hydor Powerheads
Rio Submersible Return
Apex Controller, EB8 x2, PH and Temp Probes
BRS Dosers x 2 (Apex Controlled)
Topoff container with Aqualifter Pump (Apex Controlled)
Multiple Float switches for Apex
Apex controls the lights for a Sunrise and sunset effect. Staggered On/Off time.

At my doorstep right now is a GFO and Carbon Reactor from BRS. About 4-5 months ago I started having tissue loss from the bottom up, come to find out my Refuge was poisoning my tank. Once I took it offline the corals perked back up. The reactor is to replace the refuge (which I will never have again, atleast not with chaeto, may turn it into a mangroove fuge.)

[Alex T.]

Tank Specs...

Coralvue Ballasts, Ushio 20K Bulbs, Lumenmax Elites x 2, Lumenbright Pendant x 1
Workhorse Ballasts Powering 4x80 Watt T5HO's (ATI Bulbs)
NW150 Skimmer w/ Sicce Pump
Hydor Powerheads
Rio Submersible Return
Apex Controller, EB8 x2, PH and Temp Probes
BRS Dosers x 2 (Apex Controlled)
Topoff container with Aqualifter Pump (Apex Controlled)
Multiple Float switches for Apex
Apex controls the lights for a Sunrise and sunset effect. Staggered On/Off time.

At my doorstep right now is a GFO and Carbon Reactor from BRS. About 4-5 months ago I started having tissue loss from the bottom up, come to find out my Refuge was poisoning my tank. Once I took it offline the corals perked back up. The reactor is to replace the refuge (which I will never have again, atleast not with chaeto, may turn it into a mangroove fuge.)

I'm glad you started your own thread. It's rare nowadays to see large, mature colonies rather than smaller specimens all over the rock work. You're extremely patient in waiting for those beauties to grow out and giving them room.

The look is extremely natural, and since you're predominately SPS, I wouldn't imagine the refugium was doing you much good anyway. One question though: how did you know your chaetomorpha was poisoning your system?

[sminker]

During a cleaning session the fuge was stirred up. Immediately afterwards the corals started closing up and a foul odor emerged. I emptied it, threw away the chaeto and within a few hours all corals opened back up and there was no more tissue loss.

I had a gut feeling there was something in there. Everything tested at zero, no cyano or excessive algae. It was weird.

[Alex T.]

During a cleaning session the fuge was stirred up. Immediately afterwards the corals started closing up and a foul odor emerged. I emptied it, threw away the chaeto and within a few hours all corals opened back up and there was no more tissue loss.

I had a gut feeling there was something in there. Everything tested at zero, no cyano or excessive algae. It was weird.

This is why I've been hesitant to put a refugium on my system. Just one more thing to worry about. Nowadays whenever my adventurous side tries to complicate things my rational, conservative side wins. Maybe it comes with age. Ten years ago I would have had 1,000 different things all going on at once in my system.

[rlpardue]

I had a similar event with my refugium: set it up, added a powerhead 6 months later after reading some posts that mentioned it's best to avoid dead zones in fuges. For the following week after I added the powerhead I started seeing SPS tissue loss, had to do big water changes. Also, my nitrates went from ~0 to like 30ppm (in a couple days). Yuck. Now I just installed a little molly-breeder cage with mesh netting walls, put a 120gph pump in it, ran a hose to the section of the fuge where the water enters, and now (hopefully) I won't have the same problem

[rlpardue]

Also, a BIG +1 to Dvanacker's post: WTH is that in the bottom of the 3rd picture? Please tell me it's a bristleworm you named "Tiny". I read a post about something like that lol.

[mtaswt]

Also, a BIG +1 to Dvanacker's post: WTH is that in the bottom of the 3rd picture? Please tell me it's a bristleworm you named "Tiny". I read a post about something like that lol.

It's a cucumber...he had a post about it a few days ago! Given what all it does.....I WANT ONE!

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2242695

[jroovers]

Very nice looking tank! Love the layout.

As for the DSB, I started a separate thread here recently and took mine in my fuge offline. I figure with skimming, BPs, GFO, and regular water changes, there should be enough nutrient export to worry about one. Now I just have to figure out if I can use the extra space for a frag rack!

[sminker]

Also, a BIG +1 to Dvanacker's post: WTH is that in the bottom of the 3rd picture? Please tell me it's a bristleworm you named "Tiny". I read a post about something like that lol.


Its a Tiger Tail Cucumber. Its roughly 3' long. About half the size of being full grown. I got lucky when I came across him at a LFS. Only one Ive seen so far of this variety. He was about 8-10" when I bought him.

He keeps my sandbed PERFECTLY clean. I do no maintenance with the sandbed, except move the sand back to its original location after he builds his piles up too much and starts covering/moving my Acans.