evolved's 190g DSA Reef: Wrasse Retreat

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Last FTS (8/8/2016) - Tank Decommissioned on 8/17/16
DSC_6818.jpg


Tank Specs
DSA (Deep Sea Aquatics)
190 gallons
60"x27"x27"
Drilled w/ 3/4" returns (x2), 1" drains (x3)
Custom ordered options:
Starphire on all three sides
Overflow left of center (standard is dead center)
Black on the back panel
Black silicone.​
Matching DSA stand

Sump
Eshopps R-300
36"x16"x16"
Fuge w/o sand, a few pieces of LR, and chaeto

Skimmer
Skimz SK201

Other Filtration
TLF 150 PhosBan Reactors (x2)
One with BRS HC GFO
The other with BRS ROX carbon
Fed via return manifold

Return Pump

Vertex V6

Tank Circulation
MP40wES (x2) (Ecotech battery backup)
MP10wES (x2)

Dosing
Avast Kalk Stirrer
Geo 612 Calcium Reactor

Controller
Neptune Apex (w/ integrated web cam)
AFS, 2x/day w/ NLS marine pellets
1500VA 900W UPS backup

Heater/Fan
250W Eheim JAGER
Basic 10" clamp-style fan over sump

ATO
Controlled via Apex, 1+1 floats and a 12g reservoir

Lighting
Custom DIY MH pendants (x2)

Hamilton Caymen Sun DE Reflectors
Phoenix 14k 250W bulbs
Lumatek Ballasts

12 CREE XR-E Royal Blue on each pendant

LED Dimming controlled via Apex.

Substrate
3/4"-1" Caribsea Indo-Black
 
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9/17/2012:

2012-09-17_20-42-28_116.jpg


After waiting 48 long days, my order arrived and intact from DSA.

Custom ordered from Deep Sea Aquatics (DSA), this is their 190g tank with a few alterations. Notably, Starphire on all three sides, which caused a slightly longer lead time as DSA was in the process of switching sources for Starphire (much for the better, I might add). Also custom: overflow placed left of center (standard is dead center), black on the back panel, and black silicone. Dimensions are 60"x27"x27", 1/2" glass. Took 4 of us to move it in.

2012-09-17_20-43-04_549.jpg


Looking through at the impending transfer.
2012-09-17_20-47-17_632.jpg


Using a new Eshopps R-300 sump under this guy.
2012-09-17_20-27-29_713.jpg


A little size reference. 20oz Gatorade bottle.
2012-09-17_21-06-41_726.jpg

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Top-notch seams here
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Stout overflow. Glass with a plastic cover as you see here. 1" drains (x3) and 3/4" returns (x2).
2012-09-17_20-44-31_329.jpg


I transferred the inhabitants, including my rock, from my old 120g tank into this one. Upgrading, more of less (with new sand, of course. Minimal sand this time around too). I looked very forward to having a good reason to re-aquascape. I learned a lot with my old tank, and I can't wait to do things differently and for the better this go-around. Most of my equipment will be reused, with the obvious exception of a new sump. Same reactors (TLF 150 x2, GFO & carbon), same skimmer (Aquamaxx AM250), same return pump (Eheim 1262), same dosing pump (Bubble Magus), same DIY LED setup, same Apex, same Vortechs (2 MP40s, 2 MP10s - provided I can make them work on the 1/2" glass). Basically, this was the largest tank I could muster and still re-use all that sufficiently.

Obligatory shot. I'm a 6' 2", for the record. And yes, my arms barely reach the bottom. :)
2012-09-17_21-11-25_444.jpg


Excuse the small mess you see in the pictures. Part of this upgrade involved relocating the tank (mainly for ease of transfer), which means swapping the spots the tanks and TV occupy. So my living room is in a holding pattern of disarray at this point.
 
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Plumbing is finished as of 9/23/2012.

This took me longer than I anticipated, but I took my time with it all, making sure I was doing what I really wanted to be doing and carefully gluing every joint. Do it once, do it right.

Brainstorming some ideas on the table before I began:
2012-09-21_16-56-17_833_zps854a2d63.jpg


Here's everything completed in the overflow box:
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From the time I ordered the tank, I was only planning to use 2 of the drains and cap the third. Which is good since a stand brace blocked one of the drains anyway. So the drain furthest on the right has been capped off.
2012-09-23_18-15-46_6_zps71057c00.jpg


The DSA overflow is designed to utilize loc-line on the returns. Note the U shaped cut in the ABS which fits loc-line perfectly:
2012-09-23_18-16-21_159_zpse0a08850.jpg


And here's the majority of my weekend's time underneath the tank. 1" vinyl tubing (later replaced w/ spa flex) from the return pump feed to 1" PVC which then supplies the 2 3/4" returns which poke up into the overflow. On the drain side, I plumbed in 2 hard line 1" PVC into the sump. Lots of fit checking here to make all the angles and lengths work.

I latter changed out the vinyl tubing for spa flex; I didn't like the lack of rigidity the vinyl has in keeping its shape, especially where it wants to pinch a bit over that sump baffle.
2012-09-23_18-13-35_205_zps20c6ec47.jpg


Here's looking down from the top of the tank through the bottom. You can appreciate the angles on the drains a bit more here:
2012-09-23_18-14-20_480_zps703a4efc.jpg


Lastly, you may have noted in some photos there will be a receptacle located behind this tank on the wall. Something else I'm doing in this build is trying to make everything as safe as possible, and this includes making all my electrical connections as isolated and splash proof as possible. I had a little electrical incident over a year ago with my old tank, and while I'm not sure if it was a result of splash or a cheap adapter I am very glad I was home at the time and smelled that characteristic hot electronics odor before I had a fire on my hands. So the receptacle behind the tank received this yesterday evening:

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A simple outdoor weatherproof cover I picked up at Home Depot; a steal at $10 for insurance. It has a foam gasket on the backside which seals tightly with the wall. And yes, that door will be closed once everything is set up.
 
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So in celebration of my birthday on October 3rd, I gave birth to this tank officially. :p

10/3/2012:

Sand in place (Caribsea Indo-Pacific Black), about 1":
2012-10-03_19-09-08_612.jpg


A little in the fuge as well:
2012-10-03_19-09-29_367.jpg


80g of saltwater in:
2012-10-03_21-58-32_461.jpg

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Already decently clear this morning:
2012-10-04_08-43-54_118.jpg
 
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Transfer weekend; October 6th-8th 2012.

So. Much. Work. Why didn't someone warn me?!?!

Removing the old rocks corals: easy. Scrubbing off the old algae, tweezing bubble algae, rinsing old rocks in clean water: a pain, but not difficult. Catching 10 wrasses and 3 other fish: a challenge, especially when 2 Halichoeres sand dove on me when I was fussing with others; had to nab them the next morning. But I didn't lose any fish during the whole process. :D Re-aquascapping the new tank: OH MY GOD ARE WE DONE YET. Huge time consumer, especially when some rocks need to go back roughly in the orientation they once were. Removing all the equipment and re-configuring it all on the new tank: ugh. Enough ranting, you get the idea.

So we started around noon on Saturday (later than I would have liked) and didn't get to bed until 2AM. Many corals still in tubs. Resumed Sunday morning around 10, worked into the evening; finished with re-hanging the lights around 10PM. Monday morning started off getting the Apex back online and re-connecting/configuring all my equipment. Finished gluing rocks Monday night, and got the remaining corals into the tank. The last two nights I've still been placing corals, and I'm still not done yet. Several more hours to go. My god I have a LOT of corals. Crazy how you don't realize this until it takes you an hour to take them all from tubs to the tank.

Anyways, things are looking relatively good. Some SPS browned a bit (expected) but loses were very minimal. And those were due to my own accord, as I left some LPS in tubs too long without enough flow. I intentionally left the flow low, as I knew some would eat each with too much flow, as they were in close proximity. I only lost one chalice frag (that hadn't looked very hot for months anyway) and my giantantic chalice lost quite a bit of tissue between polyps. Polyps themselves look aright, but there's a lot of skeleton visible. We'll see if that one makes it or not, but it's far from my most pretty or expensive piece. A couple other LPS had small areas (nickel, dime size) areas of recession, but I know those will bounce back fine. Besides this, all is well.

Picture time. Mainly showing the under the hood shots for now, as it's actually finished.

Here's an idea I came up with through some inspiration, and I didn't share yet (although I did mention making things splash proof). I bought myself a simple toolbox at Home Depot and made it an electrical enclosure. Also works nice for wire managament by stuffing them inside. Sure, the inside of this guy isn't so pretty now, but meh. Dremeled a hole to make this possible:

2012-10-08_16-06-25_101.jpg



You'll see more of the enclosure in a moment.

Sump shot. Doser above:
2012-10-09_08-32-58_487.jpg


Skimmer and reactors from the left stand door:
2012-10-09_08-33-28_852.jpg


Looking right; ATO is in place (a larger container now replaces it). Note the top of the tool box enclosure too:
2012-10-09_08-34-09_644.jpg


And now you can appreciate the enclosure from the right stand door, Apex and WXM is on the side:
2012-10-09_08-34-34_384.jpg



__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A few days later, with things settled in. And some new fishes in the box.

Still a few things to do in the room, but the tank itself is complete.

FTS
2012-10-14_19-57-51_348.jpg


Right half
2012-10-14_19-58-10_860.jpg


Left half
2012-10-14_19-58-50_839.jpg


Looking from the right side of tank
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Looking from the left
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2012-10-14_20-02-15_884.jpg
 
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2/4/2013 Photo Update

Alright, played with the new camera for quite a while yesterday (Nikon D7000, 18-200mm). I'm not totally pleased but satisfied enough for now to share. I definitely need more practice, and better mastery of settings, but my worst issue is some overexposure. At least the white balance is right and the colors are true.

Alright, if I keep typing any more y'all are gonna quit reading it anyways. ;D So here:

FTS
DSC_0198_zps977d01c2.jpg


Right half:
DSC_0201_zps6608eda0.jpg


Left half:
DSC_0203_zps47742b13.jpg


Looking from the right side:
DSC_0206_zps4f01b6fc.jpg


Looking from the left side:
DSC_0209_zpse371756a.jpg


And now all the random-abouts throughout the tank. Feel free to ask about anything in particular.

Acan garden; more in detail in a bit.
DSC_0218_zpsc08c908d.jpg


Female Johnsoni; more fish pictures to come.
DSC_0222_zps9a8cc6f7.jpg


Going to shade this fungia today; starting to get too pastel on me:
DSC_0235_zps2fe966c4.jpg


My Ducans of 3+ years. Bought 3 polyps originally. Stopped counting at 40 some when I moved this colony. Never once have I spot feed it.
DSC_0236_zpsb716d906.jpg


Won these watermelons in the Christmas FRAG exchange:
DSC_0237_zpsa0cf6037.jpg


The restart of my once golorous Tyree Undata. Don't ask... ::)
DSC_0238_zpse10af898.jpg


Because everyone likes colorful inverts:
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Old guys to me; silly slow growers that are a bit angry with the clean water right now:
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A granulosa from my favorite LFS's massive reef (5'x6'x30" tank, but that's another story):
DSC_0244_zps3266222d.jpg


Bird of Paradise colony
DSC_0247_zpse29615db.jpg


DSC_0248_zps664b9093.jpg


DFS blue tip speciosa; beginning to love this one:
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Abalone keeping the frag rack tidy:
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Some Red Planets and a rainbow stylo:
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DSC_0262_zpsc8d964b8.jpg
 
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"Rainbow Licioius Fungia" (ASD); should have blown the sand off of it first (meh):
DSC_0263_zps65887fd6.jpg


Tear Drop Maxima of 2+ years. 6"+
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Thing 1 (or is it 2?):
DSC_0267_zpsf8e46efb.jpg


Chalices, Tyree Cyphastrea (trimmed due to amphipods, yay! Ugh):
DSC_0268_zpsf460ffa8.jpg


Orange Pavona, Red Planet, Female C. nahackyi:
DSC_0271_zps387397fe.jpg


Purple Psammocora, DFS Purple Paradise Horrida:
DSC_0273_zpsaa4bc17b.jpg


ORA Belina:
DSC_0274_zps0879ea75.jpg


Gold Torch, ORA Hawkins:
DSC_0275_zps720d4749.jpg


"Red Bull" Acro, Rainbow monti:
DSC_0276_zps20bdecd5.jpg


Midnight Ryder Acro (Reef Empire):
DSC_0278_zps823b4d05.jpg


Miami Hurricane, not the best photo:
DSC_0281_zps4b70d8a9.jpg


Golden Eye Chalice (Reef Empire). Started life ~3". Yes, it's a chalice, not sure on species (not aspera). War coral on right, orange Yumas in back right, another red chalice behind, more chalices on left:
DSC_0284_zps6b196d88.jpg


Looking through the gap:
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Yuma focus:
DSC_0286_zps38de9d80.jpg


Moseleya colony in back, blue & green lobo in front of it:
DSC_0290_zps6f32d7c2.jpg


DFS Purplelicious cyphastrea:
DSC_0292_zpse620a8aa.jpg


Jason Fox Valentine cyphastrea (yes, I like cyphastrea, especially the weird ones):
DSC_0293_zpsf1a4fb7a.jpg


Mother or pearl acro:
DSC_0294_zpsfb371154.jpg


A. granulosa:
DSC_0295_zps9beefaae.jpg


Sunset Milli and DFS suharsonoi (Pocillopora in the background):
DSC_0299_zps1e9f7c2b.jpg


Blue Lagoon milli, branching hammer, pocillopora:
DSC_0301_zps00e23bc4.jpg
 
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DSC_0303_zps3a9970ca.jpg


Yumas again:
DSC_0305_zps4b2809f9.jpg


Palmer's milli. A rainbowish granulosa on right:
DSC_0306_zps9f066bdb.jpg


Vivid's Rainbow Delight. Ever so slowly getting it's color back (Again, don't ask). Still encrusting though:
DSC_0309_zpsb27c9ef3.jpg


Oregan tort. Can it grow any slower?:
DSC_0310_zps677417f6.jpg


Blue formosa. Not my most colorful coral, but I've grow it from a tiny frag too. A little angry with 11 Alk right now:
DSC_0312_zpse0468861.jpg


My (small) purple stag colony. Originally sold to me as "Blue Moon Acro", but I see no blue. Purple stag it is. Yes, the polyps are truly white. Grown from a frag 3+ years ago.
DSC_0313_zps969d5f74.jpg


A Jason Fox Chalice, not named, not publicly released:
DSC_0315_zpseacbbd54.jpg


Worm Favia, what's left of my blasto wellsi; blasto merletti.
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Sunset Fungia:
DSC_0317_zpsf0039393.jpg


Back to the Acan garden. Green tongue in right tank corner:
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Acan bowerbanki:
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Purple Acan rotundraflora front & center:
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One of my helping (hand) hermits:
DSC_0341_zpsa62d859e.jpg


Pagoda Cup. Bought on the cheap 3+ years ago and saved from the brink:
DSC_0324_zps1df7367f.jpg


Echinopora mammiformis. Rare in captivity:
DSC_0325_zps44213da3.jpg


Scripps Milli on right (retired ORA), recovering pink milli on left:
DSC_0326_zpsce7551e3.jpg
 
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DFS Setosa:
DSC_0327_zps41a24894.jpg


Purple deaths, Jedi Mind Trick monti:
DSC_0330_zps5c411fdf.jpg


Miami vice, more pocillopora which started itself from polyp bailout. I have spots all over the tank I actually need to take care of soon.
DSC_0332_zps9b30b6df.jpg


More Scripps milli:
DSC_0333_zpsa0b297f6.jpg


Pink Milli:
DSC_0335_zps73baa06a.jpg


Branching cyphastrea. Started to receed a bit on top for me; has more flow now:
DSC_0336_zps25ee34ab.jpg


Vivid Valida:
DSC_0337_zpsb76d160a.jpg


My sole Halloween hermit. Candy Apple Reds behind him:
DSC_0338_zps61095923.jpg


Teal w/ blue tips tenuis. Overexposed badly:
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Tyree chili pepper:
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Mushrooms:
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Acan echinatas. These don't play well with others:
DSC_0351_zps2703dc38.jpg

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Clowns protecting their current clutch:
DSC_0353_zpsf749157f.jpg


More little acro:
DSC_0356_zps164e6b4a.jpg


The same boring hermit where it was before:
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A different angle from the right side of the tank:
DSC_0359_zpsd85719dc.jpg


'Shrooms maaaan:
DSC_0361_zps4009ff51.jpg


Halloween hermit again:
DSC_0364_zps62e6e884.jpg


Hermits hermits hermits:
DSC_0366_zpsea248fc2.jpg
 
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Feeding time:
DSC_0376_zps3ac8a292.jpg


Male C. nahackyi
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Male C. rhomboidalis
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Thing 2 (or is this 1?):
DSC_0393_zps85850f88.jpg


C. lunatus
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rhomboidalis:
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C. lineatus
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DSC_0421_zps45311313.jpg


DSC_0422_zpscfd7edca.jpg


P. bellae
DSC_0427_zps19cbc4d0.jpg

DSC_0431_zps23c7e360.jpg


C. johnsoni, male
DSC_0400_zpsb77e95c7.jpg

DSC_0425_zps72144073.jpg

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In full flash mode. Happens every night. This guy has become my favorite right now.
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Still in flash mode, alongside C. earlei now:
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DSC_0444_zps9ba73891.jpg
 
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DSC_0443_zpsc7915800.jpg


earlei and lineatus:
DSC_0451_zps07140467.jpg


C. lunatus again:
DSC_0466_zpsdedc9a1d.jpg


P. octotaenia, couldn't get a great one of him:
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C. rhomboidalis again, best ones yet:
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H. melanurus:
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H. timorensis, male:
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And the corresponding H. timorensis, female. These pair are a lot of fun, they take turns chasing each other in courting circles throughout the day:
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And they're a great example of sexual dichromatism most genera of labroids have.
 
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ReeferBean

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Does the H. timorensis come around often? They are nice. Similar to melanurus as far as behavior?
 

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Wow, this tank looks really familiar!:wink:

Awesome build, great tank, great coral selection, and a most awesome fish selection. Looking good Hunter!
 
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:wave:
very awesome fish list! 1smile1
:xd: Thanks sir.

Does the H. timorensis come around often? They are nice. Similar to melanurus as far as behavior?
They're not terribly common, but not terribly expensive when they do come around. The summer before last DD got a handful of them in; haven't seen much since. Behavior is similar to melanurus, and like all Halichoeres of this size.

Wow, this tank looks really familiar!:wink:

Awesome build, great tank, great coral selection, and a most awesome fish selection. Looking good Hunter!
Thanks again Chris!
 

Fatmike92

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beautiful fish! I myself am trying to figure out what type of wrasse I want to do and I have a smaller tank than yours so I only want to do 1 or two.

what are your favorite 2 or three that you have and why??

thanks!
 
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