July nTOTM- UWWMatt's 25G Mixed Reef

uwwmatt · 07/02/2009, 05:11 PM

Equipment

Quote:

Display: 25G AGA
Sump:10G AGA
Light: 150w Sunpod
Water Movement: Vortech MP20
Filtration: Carbon Reactor/ AquaC Urchin Skimmer/ Mangroves/ Cheato
Controller: ReefKeeper Lite
Temperature: 78-80
ATO: Tsunami ato
Established: December 2008

Livestock

Quote:

Fish
1 Orange Spotted Goby (2 years old), 1 Bicolor Blenny (1 year old), 1 Blue-green Chromis (7 months old), 3 Spotted Gill Cardinals (2 months)

Crabs
1 Porcelain Crab, 1 Pom Pom Crab, 1 Emerald Crab, 1 Acropora Crab, 1 Electric Blue Hermit Crab, 6 Assorted Blue and Red Legged Hermits

Shrimp
1 Cleaner Shrimp, 1 Bumblebee Shrimp, 1 sexy Shrimp

Snails
Dwarf Ceriths, Florida Ceriths, Dwarf Planaxis, Nerites, Nassarius Vibexes, Zig Zag Periwinkles, Collonista snails, Astraea

Clams
1 Golden Maxima Clam

Corals
leathers, mushrooms, polyps, LPS, SPS

Hitchhikers
Asterina Starfish, Microbrittle Starfish, Mystery Crab (I have never seen it move, ever), Limpits, Feather Dusters

Macro Algae (in sump)
Cheato, Grape Caulerpa, Unidentified Red Macro Algae, Mangroves

Maintenance

Quote:

Water Changes I try to do a 20% water change every other week. I recently purchased an Air Water & Ice RO/DI unit for all my water change and top-off water. Before that I used the grocery store "Water Island" for 2 years without a problem.

Salt Reef Crystals mixed to 1.025

AdditivesNone. I have a two part solution but I haven't been using it.

TestingNone. I don't use test kits, and I never have with any of my tanks. I am not suggesting that people do this, its laziness not pride. I do constantly monitor temperature and regularly check specific gravity with a refractometer.

FeedingEvery 2-3 days. I feed my tank a variety of food including cyclopeeze, table shrimp, krill, flake food, Microvert, seaweed pellets, mysis. I usually soak the food in a garlic solution before feeding it to the tank. For the most part I do not spot feed anything in my tank.

Disasters

Quote:

May 2009
I came home one night from work at 2:00am to find my tank a complete disaster. The silicone on my sump and failed causing all the water in the sump to pour out onto my carpet. This caused my ato to kick on pumping 5 gallons of fresh water into my tank, and then eventually back onto my floor.

By the time I got home my tank was 72 degrees with a specific gravity of 1.019. The sump and all my pumps in it where running dry, and all the liverock was also without water.

I spent the next 12 hours cleaning up water and taking down my tank so I could clean under it. My tank spent the next month on my floor while I tried to clean everything up. I also was forced to develop a completely new sump design because the store bought 10G tanks have changed dimensions and none of them would fit my stand.

This is what my corals looked like the morning after the disaster:

This is basically what my tank/apartment looked like for the month of May.

However, there was a silver lining in all this. Taking my tank apart allowed me to fix some problems and improve on some of my original designs. I redoubled my efforts and finally got around to painting my return plumbing (which I also had to redesign for the new sump). I bought sound proofing material and totally sound proofed my stand. I fixed some of the issues with my sump design extending one of the chambers. I also made several big ticket purchases including a vortech MP20, RO/DI, and Reefkeeper. Finally I was able to completely change the aquascape in my tank to what you see today.

This nTOTM means a great deal to me because I have really been putting in a lot of hard work after what happened in May. I honestly almost gave up. Thank you all for voting for me, and please feel free to ask me any questions you have. I will be posting more pictures soon.

Thanks,
Matt

uwwmatt · 07/02/2009, 05:21 PM

Coral layout:

FTS

A very shy orange spotted goby

These are most recent tank additions. I trio of spot gilled cardinal fish.

This is me hand feeding my bumblebee shrimp

My porcelain crab on a ricordia mushroom

This is a mini brittle starfish orgy. I came home from work one night to find hundreds of brittle starfish in little piles like this all over my tank.

My pom pom crab in the shipping bag before I put him in the tank

uwwmatt · 07/02/2009, 05:27 PM

More mess from the tank disaster. My fiancÃ© was not happy.

Another shot of the cardinals

Some pictures from the build

This is my bicolor blenny

uwwmatt · 07/02/2009, 05:32 PM

This is the 14G biocube that I upgraded from.

Here is a shot of my 25G right after the transfer.

I also transfered the livestock from my 2.5G tank

Sexy Shrimp (I only have 1 now)

uwwmatt · 07/02/2009, 05:39 PM

Some coral shots

More livestock pictures

ReeferChick85 · 07/02/2009, 05:48 PM

congratulations!!! I love the progression shots and all the random fish and invert pics!! Great picture taking skills you got! Very cool. You definitely deserved this one! Glad you got through your dilema back in May and now your nTOTM!! woo hoo!! congratulations once again

DSR · 07/02/2009, 05:53 PM

Congrats. Wonderful tanks and great story. I had a similar incident happen and I am rebuilding as well. You deserve the honor this month.

Jadams · 07/02/2009, 07:54 PM

Nice tank! Good job!

got2envy · 07/02/2009, 08:05 PM

Congrats! very sweet tank

uwwmatt · 07/03/2009, 03:52 AM

Thanks guys.

E.intheC · 07/03/2009, 12:28 PM

Congrats! Very nice tank. How do you like your vortech? I'm thinking of the MP10 for my next project.

uhuru · 07/03/2009, 01:10 PM

well deserved nTOTM. congrats!

louie07 · 07/03/2009, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by uwwmatt
This is the 14G biocube that I upgraded from.

Here is a shot of my 25G right after the transfer.

I also transfered the livestock from my 2.5G tank

Sexy Shrimp (I only have 1 now)

Looks great! you also have the same desk as me lol

DFason · 07/03/2009, 03:13 PM

Love this tank! One of the few NTOTM I like.

-Dave

uwwmatt · 07/03/2009, 06:31 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by E.intheC
Congrats! Very nice tank. How do you like your vortech? I'm thinking of the MP10 for my next project.

I love the vortech. I would definitely recommend getting one.

Quote:

Originally posted by louie07
Looks great! you also have the same desk as me lol

It is a pretty sweet desk,although it took me like 12 hours to put together.

Thanks everyone.....if anyone wants to know more about a certain aspect of the tank or see more pictures just let me know.

Matt

Agu · 07/03/2009, 07:35 PM

Congrats

Ansphire · 07/03/2009, 10:12 PM

Congrats!.. just one question?.. do you still have a fiance?..lol

dalston · 07/04/2009, 01:48 AM

Well deserved winner, stunning tank and shots.

Excellent write up of your tank, very well put together.

uwwmatt · 07/04/2009, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ansphire
Congrats!.. just one question?.. do you still have a fiance?..lol

LOL, yeah shes still around. However she has much less tolerance for fish tank messes so things have been much cleaner lately.

oregonanenome · 07/05/2009, 03:55 AM

Very nice tank. It is not too common to see a 25 tall aga as a reef tank. I think you did a great job aquascaping. Great composition and mix of corals.

CurvBall · 07/05/2009, 08:25 AM

Well done uwwmatt - great looking tank, with a great write up.

I hear you about the fiance and tank situation... I've managed to have 1 tank burst, and flooded our old apartments on more than one occasion, ha ha. couldn't have been that bad though, we're now married ...hoping to raise the 'upgrade' question with her soon...

username in use · 07/05/2009, 09:03 AM

really like the tank matt. I like to see other people out there with the same kind of "hands off" aproach to testing and maintaining their tanks. Yours is proof that it can work.

nate82 · 07/05/2009, 02:34 PM

ncie tank well deserved ntotm

uwwmatt · 07/05/2009, 04:01 PM

Thanks for the comments everyone!

RumLad · 07/07/2009, 02:23 PM

Great looking tank sir, well done.

Couple of Q's..

What type of overflow are you using, what return pump and do you have a top down shot of the sump in the stand and associated plumbing?

I have the exact same tank stand combo and am thinking of making some radical changes soon.

07/02/2009, 05:48 PM	#6
ReeferChick85 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: SoCal Posts: 762	congratulations!!! I love the progression shots and all the random fish and invert pics!! Great picture taking skills you got! Very cool. You definitely deserved this one! Glad you got through your dilema back in May and now your nTOTM!! woo hoo!! congratulations once again __________________ When in Doubt, Tell the Truth....

07/02/2009, 05:53 PM	#7
DSR Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Tulsa Posts: 476	Congrats. Wonderful tanks and great story. I had a similar incident happen and I am rebuilding as well. You deserve the honor this month. __________________ So, what woulda happened if I had answered "yes" to whether I was a bot? Current Tank Info: AP24, Sunpod 150, AquaEuro 1/13 chiller

07/02/2009, 07:54 PM	#8
Jadams Premium Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Huntington Beach Posts: 2,848	Nice tank! Good job! __________________ Jeremy Southern California Marine Aquarium Society-Member www.scmas.org Southern California Reef Keepers-Member www.scrk.org Current Tank Info: 60 Gallon Cube

07/02/2009, 08:05 PM	#9
got2envy hello fishy fishy Join Date: May 2007 Location: West Palm Beach, FL Posts: 451	Congrats! very sweet tank __________________ PBMAS Event Coordinator Some people are like Slinkies... Not really good for anything, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs. Current Tank Info: 125g reef,29g reef, 10g rimless Caribbean tank

07/03/2009, 12:28 PM	#11
E.intheC Veritas Aequitas Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 3,067	Congrats! Very nice tank. How do you like your vortech? I'm thinking of the MP10 for my next project. __________________ With open arms, embrace this heart. With open eyes, behold the truth. Embrace this life. -KSE Current Tank Info: 45 RR Cube :: 20 gallon sump :: PFO 250 MH 14,000K Ushio :: Vertex IN-100 :: Powerbrite LEDs :: MP 20 :: RKL

07/02/2009, 05:21 PM	#2
uwwmatt Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Madison, WI Posts: 43	Coral layout: FTS A very shy orange spotted goby These are most recent tank additions. I trio of spot gilled cardinal fish. This is me hand feeding my bumblebee shrimp My porcelain crab on a ricordia mushroom This is a mini brittle starfish orgy. I came home from work one night to find hundreds of brittle starfish in little piles like this all over my tank. My pom pom crab in the shipping bag before I put him in the tank

07/02/2009, 05:27 PM	#3
uwwmatt Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Madison, WI Posts: 43	More mess from the tank disaster. My fiancÃ© was not happy. Another shot of the cardinals Some pictures from the build This is my bicolor blenny

07/02/2009, 05:32 PM	#4
uwwmatt Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Madison, WI Posts: 43	This is the 14G biocube that I upgraded from. Here is a shot of my 25G right after the transfer. I also transfered the livestock from my 2.5G tank Sexy Shrimp (I only have 1 now)

07/02/2009, 05:39 PM	#5
uwwmatt Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Madison, WI Posts: 43	Some coral shots More livestock pictures

07/03/2009, 03:52 AM	#10
uwwmatt Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Madison, WI Posts: 43	Thanks guys.

07/03/2009, 01:10 PM	#12
uhuru Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Columbus Posts: 1,983	well deserved nTOTM. congrats!

07/03/2009, 03:13 PM	#14
DFason Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Greensboro, NC Posts: 462	Love this tank! One of the few NTOTM I like. -Dave __________________ Dave Current Tank Info: 35g Shallow Reef Build/iTech 100/Tunze Osmolator/MP20/Sunpower

07/03/2009, 07:35 PM	#16
Agu RC Mod Join Date: Oct 1999 Location: Venice, Florida Posts: 27,172	Congrats __________________ Less technology , more biology . Current Tank Info: Two ten gallon nano tanks. 5.5 shrimp/goby species tank, 5 gallon mantis tank

07/03/2009, 10:12 PM	#17
Ansphire Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Easton, PA Posts: 323	Congrats!.. just one question?.. do you still have a fiance?..lol __________________ Ricky Current Tank Info: Slick Nano.

07/04/2009, 01:48 AM	#18
dalston Nano reefer Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Mesa, AZ Posts: 956	Well deserved winner, stunning tank and shots. Excellent write up of your tank, very well put together. __________________ There are fewer more distressing sights than that of an English man in a baseball cap - Peter Doherty Current Tank Info: 30 gal custom...RIP, 12 gal nano DX

07/05/2009, 03:55 AM	#20
oregonanenome Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Eugene, OR Posts: 92	Very nice tank. It is not too common to see a 25 tall aga as a reef tank. I think you did a great job aquascaping. Great composition and mix of corals.

07/05/2009, 08:25 AM	#21
CurvBall Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: London, UK Posts: 243	Well done uwwmatt - great looking tank, with a great write up. I hear you about the fiance and tank situation... I've managed to have 1 tank burst, and flooded our old apartments on more than one occasion, ha ha. couldn't have been that bad though, we're now married ...hoping to raise the 'upgrade' question with her soon... __________________ _Cerven NanoReefBlog - the small side of reef aquariums. Current Tank Info: 12g SPS dominated. 150w Radium, Tunze 9002, MP20, GHL Profilux II, ZEOvit

07/05/2009, 09:03 AM	#22
username in use Custom User Title in Use Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: East Hampton, Long Island Posts: 1,969	really like the tank matt. I like to see other people out there with the same kind of "hands off" aproach to testing and maintaining their tanks. Yours is proof that it can work. __________________ "The problem with doing something right the first time is that nobody appreciates how hard it was." Current Tank Info: 40g breeder, 30g sump/fuge, lots of colorful things.

07/05/2009, 02:34 PM	#23
nate82 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Webster, NY Posts: 960	ncie tank well deserved ntotm __________________ "Don't gain the world and lose your soul, wisdom is better than silver or gold." - Bob Marley Current Tank Info: 5.5 Gal pico DIY AIO

07/05/2009, 04:01 PM	#24
uwwmatt Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Madison, WI Posts: 43	Thanks for the comments everyone!

07/07/2009, 02:23 PM	#25
RumLad Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Suburban Chicagoland Posts: 794	Great looking tank sir, well done. Couple of Q's.. What type of overflow are you using, what return pump and do you have a top down shot of the sump in the stand and associated plumbing? I have the exact same tank stand combo and am thinking of making some radical changes soon. __________________ "If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. " H. D. Thoreau