A Reef Tank in the Desert - +/- 1,400 gallon system

[Below Radar]

Great setup...been following but I've been quiet. I see those Radions penetrated a super deep tank with ease. The fish room setup is just as impressive as the DT. Great job and keep it up!

[danfeig]

Originally Posted by Below Radar

Great setup...been following but I've been quiet. I see those Radions penetrated a super deep tank with ease. The fish room setup is just as impressive as the DT. Great job and keep it up!

Thank you for following along, Below Radar.

And thank you for the compliments!!!

[dca22anderson]

Sweet new fish action! I love the new two Lieutenant Tangs!

[danfeig]

So I know that I promised pics of the fish room today, but, it is going to have to wait one more day.

I am beat!!!

I spent the day starting to transfer all of my corals into the new display tank. It is a pain in the you know what! And a pain in my back too! I feel like I have been bent over all day.

I am having issues with coral placement and it is bumming me out a bit. In my 150 gallon system, I had layers of rock everywhere and so I had lots of nooks and crannies for SPS, LPS, you name it! I am more limited with the three towers and I want my new system to remain a mixed reef.

I find myself having to put a lot of corals on the sand. I was always planning on having my fungia and zoanthids on the sand, but now, I am needing a place for my various chalices, leather and soft corals.

I am moving some of my rock from old display into the new system. I have some issues with that too. A lot of my rock, although covered with Coraline, also has a lot of Xenia and other polyps. I don't want to introduce Xenia into my new display. It grows like weeds in my system and I don't want it to take over my rock towers.

Even though I have not had any issues with my old display, I have been "re-dipping" all of my corals before introducing them to my new system. This has also given me the opportunity scrape of any unwanted Xenia or algae. It has just been time consuming.

Tomorrow I hope to have the balance of my corals and fish moved into the main display. This may sound sad, but I am anxious to bring my bi-color angel back to my LFS. I have had the fish for a couple of years and he is absolutely beautiful! He just loves my brain corals and pretty much anything with a skeleton. My LFS will find a good home for him.

[danfeig]

Originally Posted by dca22anderson

Sweet new fish action! I love the new two Lieutenant Tangs!

Thanks! I am enjoying it. One of the Lieutenant's isn't doing as well right now. He is spending more time in the rocks and hasn't been eating as much. He's not getting picked on. Ever since the guys were here doing some maintenance work he's been hiding.

We will see what today brings.

[Mtuned]

Following, Was excited to see pics today! You inspired me to do my tank !

[Chimone]

Wow, so impressed with your build. If you ever give tours I'd make the trip up just to check it out

[BigOldReef]

Dan,

I can see how with your initial rock design that mounting things might be difficult with so much more vertical rock than horizontal. Perhaps you could get some shelf rock and mount that into the sides of the pillars to get more flat surfaces to mount corals and livestock too.

Dave

[lostmyz]

BigOldReef..... I was just about to write that as well. I love the towers but its hard to find proper locations for coral sometimes. i ran into that issue with my tank when I first did my initial rock design. Like BigOldReef said Dan, try adding some shelfs to your towers if its possible to help give you some surface area/extra landscaping

[danfeig]

Originally Posted by Mtuned

Following, Was excited to see pics today! You inspired me to do my tank !

Mtuned. Thank you for your comments.

If I have inspired anyone to build a tank, then this blog was more than worth it. I am happy to help you if you have any questions or need any advice on your own build.

Glad that you are following along. It is getting fun!

[danfeig]

Originally Posted by Chimone

Wow, so impressed with your build. If you ever give tours I'd make the trip up just to check it out

Thank you Chimone. I have been having a lot of fun with it.

I probably will let Michael at Simply Elegant Aquatics organize an open house for local reefers sometime in the fall. I don't expect to have the tank fully stocked for sometime now and I am sure that I will be making lots of changes and adjustments over the next few months.

I'll be sure to let you know when we organize one!

[danfeig]

Originally Posted by BigOldReef

Dan,

I can see how with your initial rock design that mounting things might be difficult with so much more vertical rock than horizontal. Perhaps you could get some shelf rock and mount that into the sides of the pillars to get more flat surfaces to mount corals and livestock too.

Dave

Originally Posted by lostmyz

BigOldReef..... I was just about to write that as well. I love the towers but its hard to find proper locations for coral sometimes. i ran into that issue with my tank when I first did my initial rock design. Like BigOldReef said Dan, try adding some shelfs to your towers if its possible to help give you some surface area/extra landscaping

Thanks guys!

It has kind of happened by default. As I was transferring rock and corals from my old tank yesterday, I needed a place to put them and ended up putting them between the towers and in the back of the tank.

With a depth of 48" I am somewhat limited as to what I can put down there for now. In the back of the tank, I think I will be able to stack of lot of rock for my soft corals. I will probably have to make another trip into the tank when I make my next coral order. I am either going to have to purchase an underwater drill or become very good with glue/coral cement!

I am going to wait and see how my corals react to the Radions!

[BigOldReef]

Dan,

I'm wondering if you could pick up an air drill from Harbor Freight, open it up and degrease it, then relube it with petroleum jelly and safely drill in the tank.

Dave

[S14Swap240sx]

Originally Posted by BigOldReef

Dan,

I'm wondering if you could pick up an air drill from Harbor Freight, open it up and degrease it, then relube it with petroleum jelly and safely drill in the tank.

Dave

in a salt water application, i would most def question the reliability, also the potential risk. I think your best would be to get good with cement once things grow out it doesnt really leave any traces.

[lostmyz]

pictures dan! pictures of the fish room and corals we are all waiting patiently lol

[danfeig]

Originally Posted by BigOldReef

Dan,

I'm wondering if you could pick up an air drill from Harbor Freight, open it up and degrease it, then relube it with petroleum jelly and safely drill in the tank.

Dave

Hi Dave. I don't think there is any safe way to use a cordless drill underwater. I thought about buying a cheap one, wrapping it in plastic wrap and silicon and going to town one time before disposing it. It is not worth the risk though...

I have an old hand crank drill that I could probably get away with if I needed, but I don't think it will be necessary. I think that I can always work a few holes into the rocks with some small chisels that I have. I am going to try something else though.

I bought a few different sizes of acrylic dowels, rods and half-moon shapes. I also bought some nylon bolts. Depending on whether or not I can pry or manipulate the acrylic into some of the pours of the rock towers, I am going to make a few acrylic stands (small) that I can anchor (cement) some coral pieces onto. Like I said, they will be small, just a few inches and will abut the rock towers.

[BigOldReef]

Dan,

It's an air drill... Works off compressed air. No electricity. Air pressure spins the bit. Tool is only 35 dollars - http://www.harborfreight.com/3-8-eig...ill-67474.html

I don't know if the mechanics would work under water. But with Harbor freight you could buy it and try it in a bucket of water. If it works then you would need to tear the drill down and get all the Chinese Diesel based lubricant out of it. If it doesn't work, Harbor Freight has a great return policy.

Just a creative thought

Dave

[danfeig]

Originally Posted by lostmyz

pictures dan! pictures of the fish room and corals we are all waiting patiently lol

TONITE! I can't say how many pictures of corals I will have, but I definitely will shoot some pictures of the Fish Room.

I pretty much just through my corals from my existing tank into the new display. I haven't had the time to properly position and mount them. I feel like I now need a designer for the tank. LOL!

I am also getting my first "bloom" now that the Radion's are up and running.

[danfeig]

As promised, now that I have drained my old 150 gallon, I have been able to concentrate once again on my main display and on the fish room.

Per the numerous requests, I have taken a few pics so you guys could "see under the hood" - so to speak.

The two quarantine tanks...

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I have a bunch of anthias, a few chromis and a few clowns in the bottom tank that will be placed into my main display this Sunday. I wanted to fatten them up a little and make sure they were eating.

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In the top tank I have two Clown Tangs and two Powder Brown Tangs. They seem to be getting along pretty well. One of the Clown Tangs is a little more aggressive than the other. Mostly to a smaller Powder Brown. All seem to be eating pretty well.

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The skimmer, my Deltec 3070 External is doing awesome. I am also using one of the Avast Marine Swabbie's (self cleaning heads) which is certainly helping keep things clean.

I just hooked up the ozone this week. I am waiting on a new ORP probe before running on anything but the minimum setting. Both the ozone and my drain water from my RO system are going through my skimmer.

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And a shot of the Red Sea Ozonizer...

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My refugium is doing well. I am running the lights at night when the display goes into sleep mode. The chaeto is starting to take off...

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Finally, a few other shots of the Fish Room with storage, the water tank and my sump.

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My fish room will be changing slightly this weekend. I will be adding my 150 gallon tank to the Southern wall where my storage shelves are. I am having a new stand made that should be ready on Friday. I haven't quite decided how I am going to utilize the tank. A mixing tank? More rock? More rock and a frag tank? I don't want to turn it into a softy or other display tank. My wife is already wanting me to spend less time in the fish room and more time in the living room enjoying the tank.

I just realized I didn't shoot any pictures of my Fluval Canister that I am running the Carbon in, nor did I shoot any pics of my GFO reactor. I will try to do that this week still.

Friday, my Fluidized Sand Filter and my UV Sterilizers are finally being installed. I also need to move my ReefKeeper into the fish room now that my 150 is taken down.

I still have a few other projects for the fish room too. I need to buy some 5 gallon tanks for dosing calcium, Alk and Mag. I am going to purchasing solution already made up in bulk for a while. I am also going to purchase a small refrigerator and will run a line into it from the tank (and back out) so I can auto feed throughout the day.

[sh8g8delik]

Small refrigerator to auto feed? I gotta see this. This system basically runs itself!

[BigOldReef]

Great update photos... Thanks for remembering your fans

All those fish in QT look so small...

Still looking forward to pics of the display tank since you added all the corals..... Please

Dave

[lostmyz]

Looks awesome! Love the autofeed ides

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

[SPotter]

Hey Dan,
great thread and amazing attention to detail. Can you share with me how you plan on plumbing in your UV's? I just ordered the emperor 80w unit and trying to decide how I want to incorporate it into my system.

[techreef]

Thanks for the fishroom pics Dan.

Would you please explain to me why your RODI waste water is running through your skimmer? What does that accomplish? Does it just help flush out your skimmer cup? Thanks.

[Chimone]

Living in the desert, did you ever consider using the sun for your lighting? Sun Domes or something along those lines instead of artificial.