Shred5's Invert, fish and coral propagation and aquaculture system

[shred5]

Well not much happened this week with the build just to much going on so I took a pictures with my new polyp labs lenses.
The lens is nice but the clip not so good, I have better clips. The holes are not big enough and put a ring around the pictures..
This picture is of my ReefKoi artist canvas. This coral was stuck in a storage tank with not allot of lighting and lost some color but it is really coming back... The green is really making a comeback.
This first pic is of when I got it any years ago. These pictures are under t-5 also so you will loose some of the florescence so the green does not show up as much. The green is way brighter with blue leds. Plus I can not get a close up of it with this phone. I think the Ulva algae I just added was getting in the way and the bubbles on the surface. No surface skimmer in there. This was just practice.

 

[shred5]

Haven't done a update in a while but progress is happening slowly.
Been out of town and will be allot for the next month.

Goal is have water in the 120 by the end of January and the rest by the end of
February. End of March phase 1 should be running 100 percent complete.

April I start building phase 2. I have most of the aquariums for it already.
Phase 2 has expanded from above because it is being moved to the middle of the room.
This allows the rack to be longer for more tanks and accessed from both sides. It also is being split in two and the second part to be built latter and what goes there will be decided by what I enjoy the most or need the most. Also moving the rack to the middle frees up the wall for some 100 gallon tubs for growout.

I want both systems done by Summer.

I will try and review most of the products used on this system so watch for that.

I have started the plumbing and will get some pictures.

I haven't talked much about the lighting in Phase 1.
The 120 I have a Aquatic Life hybrid that I am going to reuse. I will be mounting Kessils A360w to it.

The frag tank will also be t-5 led combo.
I picked up a LET lighting t-5 retrofit.
I also picked up three Reefbreeders royal ice lumenbars for it.

The Anemone and sponge tanks will have 3 Chinese cheap strip lights for now. I will get better lighting and uses these lights for the fish and/or invertebrates breeder tanks when that system is built.

The 3 algae tanks I am undecided and have nothing yet.

 

[shred5]

Just want to show progress is happening.

Here is the plumbing for the 120:

 

[shred5]

I also put together my Aquatic life hybrid fixture.

I have had this in a box for a very long time.

I am going to use my Kessil a360s which are several years old now.

 

[shred5]

I picked up a piece of starboard for the bottom of the 120.
It is textured like sand. I was going to do a very natural aquarium and use sand for this system. I like sand for the various critters that use it and fish like jaw fish and wrasses.
I even tossed the idea of doing sand only where you see it. Building walls to hold the sand where it needs to be and adding starboard to the rest.
At this point I think it will just be 100 percent starboard.
Come January though this system is going to be fast tracked and completed.

 

[shred5]

This is the sponge in the previous picture, I just moved the red one away because this one was growing so well.
This is one of the sponges I am working on propagating.
Actually it has produced pretty many frags already.
Growth pattern is like a Capricornis.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Beautiful @shred5 ! Remind me, is it photosynthetic?

 

[shred5]

Beautiful @shred5 ! Remind me, is it photosynthetic?

Yes it is photosynthetic.
Very hardy, very easy to grow. It also doesn't die when removed from the water either.
I have not shipped any yet but I bet it ships easy. Spring I will probably trade a few off.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Yes it is photosynthetic.
Very hardy, very easy to grow. It also doesn't die when removed from the water either.
I have not shipped any yet but I bet it ships easy. Spring I will probably trade a few off.

Nice!

 

[shred5]

Just a little update.

Things have been going a little slowly the last month. I was out of town a week over Thanksgiving, then a week and a half later I went on a cruise to Cozumel for a week.
Well then there was Christmas a little after the cruise and after Christmas I headed For Toledo for a while for New Years. Well over New Years I got a cold so little has got done since then and I am still sick. Hopefully this weekend I will feel better and will be able to tackle this project hard since for a change not much is going on.

I have got some stuff done in between and I picked up some equipment.
I have picked up some led strip light and some T-5 strip lights. I like hybrid lighting.
I will have a post detailing what I am thinking on the lighting.
I also picked up some Hydor Koralia Nano pumps for the smaller tanks.
I still need some main pumps for these systems.

I do have a Maxspect Turbine Duo Coralvue sent me to try out a while back and I really like. I am thinking of using it on the second part of phase one.
The one outlet will feed the frag tank and the other outlet will feed the 15 gallons and the two 20x20 aquariums.

I have got the starboard cut and glued into the 120 and I also have got most of the plumbing done. I will get pictures.
Basically all that is left is connect the hoses and equipment. I need to figure out the electrical for the 120 and hang the light.
This weekend I should have the 120 filled for a test run. I will need to aquascape the 120 and may take a bit and the goal is to be moving livestock over by the end of January.


Once that is done I will move on the the second part of phase one. Goal is now to have this 100 percent end of February.
I need to decide on which sump I want to use for this section. I picked up a Pro Clear Aquatic Systems Freedom Reef Sump 200 and was going to use it on this section but I might use it on phase 2 instead and use the 40 breeder on this phase. I also picked up a Fiji cube Triton sump baffle kit for the 40 breeder sump.

Oh and I picked up a black Widow BTA which I need to get a picture of.

 

[shred5]

Well I have got allot done. Just no pictures yet, I know it didn't happen without pictures. They are coming I just have been so busy trying to get this done and everything is a mess with stuff all over.. It is one big project.

Anyway the 120 aquarium and plumbing is being leak tested now, so saltwater is being made. I also hung the light fixture over it.

I also drilled the frag tank and added the overflow. I have decided to add the 40 breeder as the sump and add the baffles to it instead of the pro clear sump for this second and third section..
I decided since this will have 3 return lines to use the 40 breeder with the Fiji cube baffles.
I will save the Pro Clear for the fish/invert system or if I decide to add a dedicated algae grow out system.

I started working on the plumbing and lighting for the other sections too..

Plan this weekend is to add the baffles to the 40 breeder this weekend and drill a few more tanks...
I also want to get some more plumbing.

 

[shred5]

Well I got allot done this weekend despite all the snow and having to clean the driveway.

I got 6 tanks drilled and installed overflows on 3 of them.

I got the lighting installed over the frag tank.

I also got the 40 gallon breeder sump with the Fiji Cube baffles in.
They do not look to bad. I need to clean up some of the glue...

 

[shred5]

 

[Florida Sunshine]

Looking good!

 

[shred5]

Looking good!

Thanks..

Looking at the pictures I am going to have allot of cable management going on. I do not have any circulation pumps in any of the tanks yet either, or lighting for the 3rd part...
I need to run the plumbing first.

I have installed two power circuits. I am thinking I am going to need some more when I do phase 2.

 

[shred5]

Couple of plumbing updates.
The last two weekends I got a loot done.
First part may be water testing in two weeks.
I drilled the 5 tanks and added overflows to them.
I added vinyl backgrounds to the tanks.
I added over flows to all the tanks.

No leaks in the 120 or plumbing...

 

[shred5]

I made my own overflows for the 15 gallons using some black acrylic and weld on.
I then add eggcrate to the top for protection and silicone them in..

 

[shred5]

Just a quick update..
We had allot of snow this week so it was hard to get stuff done.
Then I had to change plans on the plumbing so that cut into the time running to get some more plumbing.
I was hoping to leak test this weekend and have all the plumbing done last weekend and have lots of pictures.
Well I came close.. I got all the lights installed and return plumbing.
Most of the drain plumbing is done. I have one set that needs to be finished.

So really I just need to finish the one set of drains and leak test the system.

I will be starting to make saltwater this weekend. I also need to aquascape the 120 because that will be partly a display tank.


This stuff can be done at a later date:
I still have to do some wire management, some touch up on the shelving unit and trim out the shelving unit..


One thing on the next two phases is it wont be done like this. This took to much time and money. Yea it looks much nicer but when this was going to be the only unit that was different.
The next phases will be 2x4 open framing. Tanks on each set of shelves will be the same size.
I will be be using some flexible piping for the drains too and plumbing will be accessible and on the outside of the shelves.
Trying to plumb all these different size tanks through the solid sides was a pain.

I would like to discuss some design concerns and considerations for setting up aquaculture or breeding systems in the future.

As for phase two I am not sure when it will start. I have the aquariums for it.
It will be a while before I have even enough livestock for this phase and phase two also has completely changed. Sandy gave me an idea to have more room and make it easier to access. So phase 2 will be larger but be broken up into two phases so we now will have a phase 3. Also where phase two was going to go there will be large tubs for growout so technically a phase 4.

So basically for now phase one will house some pairs of fish, corals, algae, sponges etc. Once the other phases get done they will be moved out to dedicated systems. I would like a separate area for breeding fish and inverts, another separate area for algae, and a growout area for fish and inverts. There is the possibility of adding more frag tanks too..

I also want to build a better saltwater mixing station and water change system. So that is next.

 

[shred5]

Real quick I am massively busy today...
Leak test went good...

 

[shred5]

Well it has been very busy for me on the build.
Had to drain all the tap water out after leak test and start making saltwater.
I did allot of wire management and got all the pumps, lights and skimmers hooked up.
Installed some refugium lights.
I should be adding water this weekend and moving stuff from the holding vats..
I am going to move all liverock, organisms into the second two sections temporarily till the 120 has water made and I aquascape the 120....

I still need to touch the system up and do some trim..