R2R Reef of the Month: Joe's 270-gallon SPS Reef - March 2018

[jwshiver]

Beautiful Reef! I love seeing the possibilities in this hobby.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[Denisk]

What a great read with some coffee in the morning ;Bookworm Beautiful tank!

 

[ReefHog]

I noticed you have a camlock on your drain line next to your dosing station. I have thought about replacing some of my (more used) unions with these. How do you like them.

 

[jerl77]

Amazing tank
Glad to see some one in New York get this

 

[scott11106]

this is a great tank, great job!!! my tank is about the same size but still no water as of yet but soon and i hope to have the success you have had

 

[ReefBum]

This tank is even more stunning in person Congrats Joe!!

 

[BkReefBaby]

Amazing reef

 

[Dan I]

This is such a stunning tank. Really appreciate your comments on the questions. Just let the tank play out and tinker with it when needed. Well deserved spotlight.

 

[skr791346]

Amazing system, Joe and congratulations on ROTM!

"The elements I focus on in addition to the big three are Zinc, Manganese, Iodine, Potassium, Vanadium and Strontium. All are added daily via a doser (zinc, manganese  iodine), or every few weeks by hand, Vanadium and Strontium."
Are you testing these on a regular basis? What brand are you using and what target # would you recommend? For reefers that do regular water changes, is it still necessary or will it be replenished by fresh salt mix?

How did you train the tukas to eat pellets?

I'm amazed that your Po4 is at 1.2ppm, I have corals browning out when it gets past 0.08 and always chasing #s to keep it below 0.05.

 

[JBNY]

Amazing reef! Thanks for sharing.

I surprised by the flow from only (2) gyres running at 60%. Everyone here seems to suggest WAY more than that. Clearly it works though.

People think you need crazy flow around SPS, you don't. You do need flow that gets in and around all the branches, and gets the polyps moving. That's why people tend to have really good success with frags and not so much when they get colonies. One of the keys is to make sure that the flow to other corals is not being choked off by the growth of corals in front of them. I chose to put as few staghorns in the tank as possible in order to minimize the problems with flow as the corals grow. But it's always a battle to get good flow as the tank matures.

@JBNY awesome tank! I'd be interested to know more about your grow-out tank & how pieces work their way into your display

My grow out tank is a 34"x34" tank that has 8" of water in it. It is part of the main system and all the water from my main tank flow through the grow out system before it makes it's way into the sump. Generally I just leave the frags in the grow out system for a few weeks and then move them to the main tank. I am not using the grow tank for frag cuttings from the main tank right now. In all honesty it's a bit of a wreck of a tank, it's got aiptasia all in it as I have no fish or critters in the tank at all. It's on my to do list to clean up and get it back in use.

So what's the secret to keeping the Tuka? None of mine ever gave pellets a second glance; and only occasionally ate mysis. They look quite well fed.

I had some lyre tail anthias that were in the tank for maybe 5 years and the tukas hung out with them right away. I then feed the tank cyclopeeze and mysis mixed together 3x a day for about 3-4 weeks. The Tukas starting eating the cyclopeeze pretty quickly and then occasionally would eat the mysis, eventually they started eating the mysis too and I stopped feeding the cylopeeze and the introduced some pellets. I used Sustainable Aquatics .8 mm pellets dry hatchery diet. They took to them pretty quickly after I had them on mysis, as the other fish ate them readily, Eventually I had them all eating pellets and mysis, now they are just like all the other fish an not picky eaters at all.

I noticed you have a camlock on your drain line next to your dosing station. I have thought about replacing some of my (more used) unions with these. How do you like them.

I like them a lot. I have them on the bottom of the main tank as well. When I took down my 180 gallon tank years ago, I had the hardest time opening up the (not used for 6 years) union valves I had right at the bulkheads under the tank, so this time I put in camlocks. They are great, I would totally recommend them if you have the room.

Amazing system, Joe and congratulations on ROTM!

"The elements I focus on in?addition?to the big three are Zinc, Manganese, Iodine, Potassium, Vanadium and Strontium. All are added?daily?via a doser (zinc,?manganese? iodine), or every few weeks by hand,?Vanadium?and Strontium."
Are you testing these on a regular basis? What brand are you using and what target # would you recommend? For reefers that do regular water changes, is it still necessary or will it be replenished by fresh salt mix?

How did you train the tukas to eat pellets?

I'm amazed that your Po4 is at 1.2ppm, I have corals browning out when it gets past 0.08 and always chasing #s to keep it below 0.05.

See above for how I got the tukas to eat pellets.

I do test on a regular basis, I use Triton ICP tests about every 3-5 months. I have been doing this for a little over 3 years. I mix all my own chems, it's much cheaper in the long run, I buy the chemicals on ebay or amazon and just mix them up myself. I think it is needed even if you do water changes, those elements are not being added to salt mixes in any big amounts. I think that supplementation of those elements is good regardless. I would recommend to start with Zinc and Manganese and add the others if you want to later.

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

Spectacular Joe! Hurricane Irma ended my tank in the Florida Keys, but I've moved to Arizona which has fewer hurricanes so I'm setting up a Reefer XXL 750 right now. Hope it looks as good as your tank in a few years!

 

[JBNY]

Spectacular Joe! Hurricane Irma ended my tank in the Florida Keys, but I've moved to Arizona which has fewer hurricanes so I'm setting up a Reefer XXL 750 right now. Hope it looks as good as your tank in a few years!

Good to hear from you again old friend! Hurricane Sandy killed mine, but I came back.

Again, good luck with the new tank!

 

[MIAMIRealtor_Reefer]

Wow what an amazing setup!!! Congrats

 

[MIAMIRealtor_Reefer]

Spectacular Joe! Hurricane Irma ended my tank in the Florida Keys, but I've moved to Arizona which has fewer hurricanes so I'm setting up a Reefer XXL 750 right now. Hope it looks as good as your tank in a few years!

I just finished setting up the 750 Reefer last week!! Upgraded from an old 650. Very happy with the tank. Good luck!!!

 

[AnakinReefWalker]

Wow! This tank is frickin' incredible, I love it. I'm pretty amazed though, your ARID reactor takes on the bioload for your entire tank? That's awesome, i've been looking to install a Macro Algae Reactor in my Tank as well

 

[rigo07]

Wow nice tank man

 

[Joao junior]

Wow nice tank man

Wonderful joe!! Great job, what your secret with purple queens anthias to take food?

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

Beautiful tank!

 

[Bob E]

What an amazing Tank

 

[rstrann]

Can I live in your tank? I'm reef-safe but my bioload is pretty high.