kmaintl's Oceanic 120g Tech - New Clownfish World

[kmaintl]

Well, this is my very first tank thread, although I've probably had more tanks than I could count on both hands and feet in my lifetime. Our 120g Oceanic Tech tank started cycling almost 6 weeks ago, and we couldn't decide what to turn this project into. We've tried a clownfish tank before, but when our tank crashed after an anemone spawning, we were gunshy to try again. After seeing https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/member-tanks/23993-marvinsreef-clownfish-anemone-tank.html videos, we were totally inspired to try again.

This is my future clownfish/anemone tank. Cycling now.

- Tank Specs -
120g Oceanic Tech Tank (48"L x 24"W x 24"H)
Krittertank Custom Sump (30"L x 16"W x 16"H)
Lighting TBA
Skimmer JNS Shark SK-2
Deltec KM500 Kalkwasser Stirrer
Bio-Pellet Reactor JNS Alpha 2 w/ Warner Marine EcoBak
Controller Neptune Aqua Controller Jr
Auto Top-Off Tunze Osmolator
Circulation Eco-tech Vortech MP40wES & MP10wES
Return Pump Eheim 1262 w/ Ocean Motions OM 4-Way Squirt

 

[revsgirl]

Your tank is gorgeous!! Can't wait to see what it looks like with all the clowns and nems!!

 

[kmaintl]

Your tank is gorgeous!! Can't wait to see what it looks like with all the clowns and nems!!

Thanks Tonya. Will probably described the equipment while we are still preparing the tank.

 

[akma]

Nice, tagging along.
Do you have pictures of your other coral tanks?

 

[wysiwyg]

wow tank looks amazing so far. following along for sure

 

[chort55]

Looks pretty cool so far... who's LEDs are you using?? Guessing from the look of the pic they are LED anyways.

 

[revhtree]

Can't wait to see it grow!

 

[kmaintl]

Nice, tagging along.
Do you have pictures of your other coral tanks?

I don't have another coral tank. My other tank is a 175g FOWLR that will be taken down this weekend to change a crack & leaking sump.

wow tank looks amazing so far. following along for sure

Thanks!

Looks pretty cool so far... who's LEDs are you using?? Guessing from the look of the pic they are LED anyways.

Thanks! Right now, I'm using Kessils A350w. Will be testing out T5s supplements as well as all T5s and Eco-Tech Radion. Haven't decided on the light yet.

Can't wait to see it grow!

Me too! But I have lots of patience, been around way too many years to rush anything.

 

[richfavinger]

I want a 120g Oceanic Tech tank - soooo bad... So very depressing you can't get them any more... :tsk:

 

[kmaintl]

I want a 120g Oceanic Tech tank - soooo bad... So very depressing you can't get them any more... :tsk:

I bought the last one our regional distributor could find when it was discontinued, so I was lucky. It's been sitting in the garage for the last few years. 2 months ago, when I was getting ready to set this up, someone locally had a brand new, never use one for sale on CL. Was sold in 2 days for $500.

 

[akma]

Ah ok. Just saw your shroom and wanted to see if you had any other delicious candy. Lol

 

[allabout]

Following along too, can't wait to see the whole process of startup to choosing the fish and getting them in the tank! Would love to do a clown tank someday. Do you have a plan for the fish already? For instance do you plan to get them all from one breeder or multiple? Types of clowns, etc?

 

[kmaintl]

Ah ok. Just saw your shroom and wanted to see if you had any other delicious candy. Lol

Unfortunately, not. Just some rics, duncans, metero shower (massive), TieDye mushrooms and going to be a lot of nems.

Following along too, can't wait to see the whole process of startup to choosing the fish and getting them in the tank! Would love to do a clown tank someday. Do you have a plan for the fish already? For instance do you plan to get them all from one breeder or multiple? Types of clowns, etc?

I've been ordering clownfishes for awhile now and keeping various groups to see how they behave together. If I change my mind on them, I just resell them. I'm seriously thinking of a tankful of different varieties of perculas as they behave a lot less agressive than ocellaris. Some thoughts are SA SnowOnyx, C-Quest Onyx, Platinum or Blizzards or both, Picassos... if I do ocellaris, maybe Black Ice. I just got in a pair of Black Snowflakes or maybe it's called Blacker Ice that looks really cool.

 

[kmaintl]

Selection of Clownfishes

These are the clownfishes we're considering for our new clownfish/anemone tank...
Click on photos for short videos...
ProAquatix Blacker Ices

SA Black Ices #1

SA Black Ices #2

SA C-Quest Onyxs #1

SA C-Quest Onyxs #2

SA and Sea & Reef Picassos #1

Sea & Reef Picassos #2

SA Platinums #1

SA and Sea & Reef Platinums #2

SA SnowOnyxs #1

SA SnowOnyxs #2


Potential Keepers in holding tank

 

[Steelerfan747]

Very nice. Anxious to see out filled

 

[Steelerfan747]

By the way absolutely gorgeous clowns

 

[Aqua fire/medic]

Those are some sweet clowns!

 

[chort55]

Man thats alot of sweet clowns! How many pairs are you going to keep??

 

[kmaintl]

Very nice. Anxious to see out filled

By the way absolutely gorgeous clowns

Me too, thanks!

Those are some sweet clowns!

Thanks!

Man thats alot of sweet clowns! How many pairs are you going to keep??

Thanks! Not sure yet. Rule of thumb is ONE PAIR per tank and you don't have problems. I just lost a pair of picassos yesterday to a pair of Fancy snowflakes that was in the same holding tank. I was watching them for almost 2 hours the night before and I could see the agressiveness of the Fancy Snows, but it seemed the Picassos were holding out fine. I guess I was wrong. So, the Fancy Snows have got to go... one of them actually almost looks like it has a "Hello Kitty" pattern on the side. Was going to put that in the tank for my granddaughter... that won't happen now. :squigglemouth:

Marvin was warning me about putting in too many Platinums as they could be agressive too. I haven't seen that yet... but will keep watching for it.

 

[kmaintl]

Equipment List

Sorry, no new pics yet... but thought I describe how I made my decision on some of the equipment so far. First thing on the equipment lineup...

Skimmer JNS Shark SK-2
I tested 3 skimmers, JNS, Warner Marine (same as Skimtz) and Seaside Aquatics and the JNS Shark was the easiest to do fine adjustments. It is impressive built quality and even just cycling my tank old school method with sterilized rock and ammonia (we use to do this 20 years ago), it was pulling out crap from somewhere... I know where it's from, I started the bio-pellet reactor one week after the tank was filled with water.

Controller Neptune Aqua Controller Jr
Had this lying around, never know how we did without controllers in the good old days. I figured I didn't need anything fancy since the Vortechs run on their own, so basically just need to turn lights, heater and kalkstirrer off and on when needed.

Auto Top-Off Tunze Osmolator
Same here on an auto-topoff, don't know how we did without it in the good old days. Most reliable top-off I've worked with as it has both a optical sensor and mechanical backup sensor.

Deltec KM500 Kalkwasser Stirrer
Not going to be SPS dominated tank, so this is just perfect to keep pH constant.

JNS Alpha 2 Bio-Pellet Reactor w/ Warner Marine EcoBak (see my first experience with bio-pellets)
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/warner-marine/81447-official-ecobak-thread-7.html#post1001811

I haven't gotten the nitrates below 20ppm yet, but then I started a secondary boost with ammonia to get the bacteria level even higher, so when I put in all 15 to 20 clownfishes, the tank won't go through another cycle. Amazing that the bio-pellets was able to kick in at the tail end of the cycle and bring down the nitrates from 200+ to 30ppm in a few days.

Circulation Eco-tech Vortech MP40wES & MP10wES
This is a new piece of equipment testing out on this clownfish tank. Since both clownfishes and anemones don't need a whole lot of flow, I thought I startoff with MP40 on one side and MP10 on the other. Seen so many threads of reefers setting one side higher than the other, I figure let's try a smaller pump on the opposite side.

Return Pump Eheim 1262 w/ Ocean Motions OM 4-Way Squirt
I love Eheim pumps, they are so reliable and relatively energy efficient. I had an OM Squirt lying around, so thought I hook it up for random return.

One thing I noticed with my new 120g setup is that the water temperature stays a constant 77 without any heater. Here in San Francisco, we don't really need chillers or coolers if we're not using MH lighting. I'm pretty sure I won't be needing a heater on this tank, except as a backup in temps drop too low. But concern, what will happen when the weather gets warmer. It's a cool low 60s in San Francisco, but tank runs a consistent 77 degrees from the heat of the 3 pumps (Eheim return pump, Sicce skimmer pump and Sicce bio-reactor pump.

Still trying to decide on going back to old school H&S A150 skimmer that I have, where pump is external so doesn't pass much heat into the water or stay with the new JNS skimmer. The H&S should be more than enough for clownfishes and anemones.