150+ litre soft reef

[d.fast]

This thread is about my newly started reef tank, I have kept several over the last eight years with varying success. Mostly because I tend to get funny ideas... This tank I will try to go more "by the book" to make it a nice looking and healthy aquarium. One can always dream

It will be started with the Lasse method.

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/15-steps-to-starting-a-saltwater-aquarium-the-lasse-method.597/

I've made some small adjustments with input from the author and am now in the beginning of the process. I love mostly soft corals so that will be my main focus, and for fish I'll try to keep only damselfish. But I am easy to tempt and have love for most fish families so don't trust me on that...

The tank is custom made with a fairly large internal sump. It has metric measurements of 80x60x50 cm. Where 50 cm is the height. The display area is 60x60x50 cm and when I filled it up the display held about 150 litres and the sump about 40, with rocks in the tank the amount of water will most likely be 170 litres. But that's why I'll call it 150+.



Here is the tank on first arrival. The stand is one I made myself. I don't really trust anything I make myself so I prefer to buy things others create... But I have been very careful leveling the tank and am fairly pleased with it otherwise.



I use a Tunze Turbelle 3005 E-jet pump for return. I was going to use a different pump but will make a separate post about that adventure. The Tunze is fine, it has decent flow but I would probably like to use a DC pump instead so I can control the flow. But I will use this for now.



Here is a side view, the pump draws water from the bottom of the sump, with a plastic grid keeping things of the bottom. I will use another pump as well, I have a Tunze 6040 wave maker I will try. Not sure if it will produce a wave in this tank, it's not a perfect tank for creating a wave but at least it will have random flow.



Sand/gravel in the tank. Most of my late tanks have been bare bottom. But I do enjoy sand so I will give it a go. The sand was dry and carefully washed in freshwater.



The sump will be filled mainly with biological filter media, to create a small haven for pods and similar creatures. I do enjoy these creatures a lot and hope they will thrive.



Added the first bunch of rocks. I will need more rocks for the fish to hide in, however I have another tank running with my corals in and many of them are attached to rocks. So better add to few now and increase the amount later. The tank is running with a temporary light, just 36w LED. I will use a 150w metal halide but that is still used on my other tank. But that will give this tank a more gentle start.



As visible on the picture above you see straight through the tank, so I added a black plastic wrap on the backside, which made a big difference. The tanks sump divider was actually supposed to be in smoky/black glass but in the end it became clear glass. It will probably be filled with coralline and xenia in time so that is no problem.



Today I added a bag of live copepods to increase the population. Also added two chrysiptera Rex so now the tank is going. Next step is to add a cleanup crew, but that will have to wait a few days. I have no LFS that carry saltwater so will probably order some animals. Or take the car on Wednesday.

 

[d.fast]

Here's a small post about my flow adventure.

The original idea was to use my Newjet 6000 for flow, it's pretty power hungry pump so I would add some well needed head to the tank. My apartment is fairly cool and my tanks need heaters unless I run enough tech.



I was lacking some parts for plumbing. Luckily I had some old pipe I could reuse.



To recycle PVC parts you need these tools. Heat, a saw and a flat head screwdriver plus pliers. This applies to Tangit pvc glue, in the US it seems your glue looks quite different so not sure if it works there aswell.



You cut the pvc close to the part you want to salvage. This part was where two elbows was almost directly connected so you can not see the pipe inserted in the elbow but it is there.

You use the heat gun to heat up the part. Not too fast, slow and steady or else the pvc will burn. About 30 seconds later the pipe will be soft. The elbow is much thicker so will require more heat to be soft and pliable. When the pipe is soft you push the screwdriver between the pipe and elbow and pry them apart. Then you can use the pliers to grip and twist the pipe out of the elbow. The glue is soft aswell and will come loose. You see the twisted pipe remains on the right. That part can not be reused It the elbow becomes distorted then you heat it a bit again and squeeze it back.



I wanted to try and make a mini "gyre-like" flow, so I grabbed two pieces of pipe and marked it for where I would drill the holes.



Holes drilled, seven holes per pipe for a total of 14 holes.



Here is the finished product, perhaps not pretty but not to bad, now to test it...




Well this would not work. Flow was violent and pump was almost thrashing around. My sand would be glued to the sump wall. I had to rework this...



A friend suggested that if I make fewer holes the pump would not be able to push as much flow, it would be inefficient, but work. That's great I thought! And present to you: The mini gyre! Just two holes, that'll show him.



Well... No, that did not work great. The flow was even more violent, perhaps less flow but the pressure was violent.



But hey! I won't be stopped, I now present the nano gyre! Two 3 mm holes, that will show definitely show him.



No, I know when to give up. If this pump arches back I will have water on the opposite side of the room. It did also sound really angry...

So I went with plan B, and used my Tunze 3005. One negative thing with it was that it is not really designed to be attached to PVC. Inlet and outlet is about 25 mm so 25 mm pvc couplings fit ok on it. But the outlet is very short. There is an official part which extends it but I didn't have that.



Here it is, as can be seen the outlet is short.



The solution is to take a bit of the elbow you want to attach. This will make it slip on further. I have also installed the pump in such a way that if the pipe were to break loose the pump will only pump the water around in the internal sump, not out of the tank.



Here is the elbow attached. It really does sit quite well, but you could sacrifice the housing and glue the part. Tunze has a great spare parts catalog so one you order one easily.

This ends the initial flow question.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Looking like a good start. Welcome to R2R!

 

[d.fast]

Thank you!

 

[d.fast]

I ordered my cleanup crew last Sunday and they arrived today. It's a lot of fun going down to the store and picking the animals but it's a four hour drive to get there and back so unless I have a friend coming along or I'm looking at something a bit more specific like a fish the convenience of getting it delivered and the lower cost(the gas is more than the shipping, almost twice) makes especially something like this more tempting to order...

Regardless here they are! I started with 15 snails, 5 hermits and one emerald crab. One snail and hermit had a rough trip but otherwise the crew is intact. I do have more hermits and a few snails in my temporary tank so there will be a few more workers. I also want an urchin, probably a diadema... But I'll take that later. I also have a sea cucumber, have not seen him in a while but he is welcome to.



Here are some snails. I also added some limpet and collonista snails, I also have a lot of asterina starfish which seems to be feeding of micro algae. I love starfish so I added those as well. I want as many tiny creatures as I can manage. They are a lot of fun to watch and observe.



I visited a friend and got some advice and he fragged of a big part from one of his Sarcophytons, I've tried keeping these before but have failed. But this one I am going to make thrive, I really like these.



Another shot and you also see the fish a little. They are very active but don't trust the camera.

I add a little more biomedia every day and dose a bacteria strain from Aqua forest daily. So keeping the nitrifying bacteria thriving. I don't really fear that part, I think I'm more or less safe. But the method suggests an easy start so I will follow it. I have introduced a few corals already, was supposed to introduce them on thursday. But I will follow up with the intended corals then instead. And some more live rock with a bit of algae on them. With the CUC in place I can slowly add those rocks. Not so much that the algae may not enter the system, but the balance must be tilted away from them now in the tanks early stages. Keeping the corals as the main consumers of the nutrition and light instead.

I do miss my light though. These temporary lights are way to weak and has narrow coverage. Maybe if I had four it might have worked, but it would still only be 72W LED so a bit on the low side. The light is also a bit to blue for me, I prefer warmer light. Like the very top of the reef. Will be interesting to see how my new MH bulb will turn out.

 

[d.fast]

I had a great start on this tank. But now the first hurdle has appeared. I suspect I have an infestation of dinos in the tank. Slimy bronze coloured stuff that spreads during the day like crazy and bubbles up the whole tank. Corals seem a bit bothered, but still looking ok. I try to blast the stuff of the corals with a powerhead every now and then. I have had dino before in another tank, in that tank i used dinoXal and got rid of it. But I would prefer to avoid that solution. Using chemicals to solve problems is the last option for me.



Julian Sprungs Book Algae APSG recommends no water changes, raised alk and carbon. So I will go with that. Try to improve the situation for the corals and other algae instead of hunting the dinos and wait them out.



I recently got an seneye reef, what a great piece of tech! So I could test my lighting. I have switched from my LED spots to my 150w Metal Halide now. With the LED spots I had 350 PAR in the center of the tank but only 160 about 3 inches away and close to zero beyond that. With the Metal Halide I have about 160 PAR almost everywhere and about 220 in the center. Can upgrade to a 250w in the future, then I should have tons of light. But with my soft coral focus I might be ok with 160 on average. I did think that I would have more, but now that I can actually measure the numbers I can make good decisions and don't have to guess as much.

 

[count krunk]

You could supplement with t5. I really don't think you need to go to 250w MH

 

[d.fast]

Yeah, supplementation is an option of course. But since the fixture hangs so freely in the room I want it to be as minimal as possible. I have 250w sockets, ballasts and bulbs so I could probably convert this fixture to 250w But I might not need more light. Would prefer to stay with 150w. There are more bulbs to buy and they are a lot cheaper!

 

[d.fast]

Long since I updated here. The dino infestation took a huge toll on the tank. All the snails died and many corals took a beating. I tried waiting the dinos out and did few water changes during that time. It worked I guess, can't tell when they disappeared completely. It was a slow process. After that I have had a brown algae that is prevalent but at least does not poison the inhabitants. I was wondering what to do about them, but for now I have settled on focusing on the rest of the tanks inhabitants that I like instead of the algae that I don't

It seems to be working fairly well, almost all corals have returned in force and growth is quite good, amazing considering my weak saltwater career... I have added some new corals and fish.

This is a semi recent FTS from the left side of the tank. This is after a water change so not all that brown. Notice the green glass. I get this green coating of algae very fast. If I wipe the glass it is back in a few hours, it's very loose and gets of easily. But a little annoying for when I want to take photos or show the tank to someone. Feels like when I wipe it off it just floats around in the tank for a while and then reattaches to the glass again later.

On the previous picture you notice the large Gorgonia, it's very nice but shades a lot of corals so I have fragged this down a lot since. Grows fast, very nice. Maybe a little bland color but shape is more interesting for me.

One of the first two fishes, Chrysiptera Rex. Very nice and energetic fish. These two rules the tank at this moment.

One of my shrimp, a Palaemon elegans. A little color on the legs and strong striped pattern on the back. A bit suicidal but otherwise nice.

These bad boys have come back in full force since the tank turned back to the right path again, Aiptasia. I would really like to have a butterfly fish, have always wanted... But peppermint shrimp would probably be the more reasonable and responsible animal to add to eat these... Sadly I am not a very reasonable man.

I have several sarcophyton soft corals and these are my favorites. These have definitely grown, some of them are getting huge.

Also some nice green star polyps, these should be Briareum. I was sure these had died but if so then they have risen again from their grave, stronger than ever. Very strong green color, I like green.

A picture of my small tang, Zebrasoma Scopas. Will grow out of the tank in the long run, but for now it cruises along just fine and explores the tank. Very enjoyable fish.

These are my pacific oysters, Magallana gigas. Have about five of them in my sump. They have not been that long in the tank but are already showing growth rings on their openings. They seem to especially like when I wipe the glass, so the green stuff makes someone happy at least!

 

[d.fast]

So... half a year later! The tank has its fair share of problems so it's not a smooth ride... But it could be worse, the fish are thriving and most corals grow. There is a fairly decent micro fauna to study as well, so I enjoy the tank a lot.

Here is a tank shot from the most viewed side, a fair share of algae. But still a serene view... Though I did forget to clean the opposing viewing panel, sorry for the streaks. I am not fond of cleaning the glass, they get solid green within three days. At least the snails are happy.

Here is a nice Lobophytum! ... I think at least. A great looking softie with interesting long polyps, growing in a fairly vertical way.

Here is my gorgonia, it is one of the fastest growing corals in the tank. Have made quite a few cuttings of this because it tends for shade the other corals.

I received a generous donation of sps corals a little while ago! No idea what to do with them though. I am mostly a softie guys and the sps have a hard time battling for space withe the anemones and soft corals. But I'll give it a shot anyway. This one has a few dead spots but seems to be good otherwise. Can cut of the dead branches in the future if needed. No idea what species this is.

Another stony coral! This is a turbinaria, it is a gift from a friend. Was a tiny piece with one polyp at first but it is growing strong. Though the hermits turn it upside down every other day, so lots of flipping back...

The aiptasia situation is getting... Bothersome. Not super though, but could be a problem in the future. Will probably try getting a bunch of peppermint shrimp in the future, that'll be fun! But my current shrimp species might not get along with them. So I'll wait for now. The aiptasia are actually a bit fun, anemones are pretty. And I rather have an invasion of aiptasia than bubbletips. Those are terrible in numbers.

This is a sinularia dura that I've had since the tanks start. Not growing fast but the polyps are getting very nice, really like this species of coral.

Here is a branching montipora, it has lost quite a bit of color. Same problem as the other SPS in that free space is a rare thing in this tank. But it seems to grow otherwise. Perhaps I can start a new tank to move these to in the future.

One of my sarcophytons, really like these. This one was shaded for long by the gorgonia but the polyps have made a nice recovery.

The xenia is growing as well. These, the aiptasia and my green star polyps are the major players in the war of tank domination in here. The best solution to being worried about a species taking over... Is to introduce an equally disastrous enemy!

Here is a test of mounting a montipora to my returnpipe. Lots of flow and light here! Maybe to much. But it is growing slowly and soon I can remove the rubberband. Another battle with gsp for domination! But the gsp doesn't do that well here so the monti might win.

As for husbandry I currently dose two different things, one normal and one slightly less orthodox. I use Tropic Marins carbocalcium for alkalinity and calcium. I also mix in a bit of bio-magnesium to the solution. Dosing about 10 ml per day of this, keeping the alk nice and high(about 8).

I had a lot of problems with the tank 1,5 months ago though. All corals stopped growing and they sort of shriveled up, looked super unhappy. I tested making big water changes and removing more algae, no difference. I started measuring nitrates and phosphates and continued to get no color at all on the tests so the tank was starved of nutrients. I started to dose a non reef tank solution.

Introducing Blomstra, a nutrient solution for plants with a rather long ingredient list but it consists of mainly nitrates, phosphates and ammonium. This turned the situation around. I currently dose 1 ml per day of this(since the end of december) and the corals have started to grow again and extend their polyps. The algae situation is more or less the same as before I started dosing. I have a hard time eradication the algae but they do not conquer any new spaces. macro algae and bubble algae are at a total standstill.

That's it for now!

 

[d.fast]

Time for another update. I have made quite a few changes to the husbandry of the tank. The algae have persisted a bit too long so I have stated with carbon dosing. I am currently using a mixture of Vodka, vinegar and sugar. In order to use the carbon dosing efficiently I also got a skimmer, a Tunze 9004. I have also upgraded my reactor to a larger one so I can use more activated carbon and gfo. I have ordered an ATO as well and am using kalkwasser for topping up rather than RO/DI water. I have been doing most of these for about a month now and my sps are making a drastic recovery. Quite fun! Also my zoas are getting better. They have been miserable for a long, long time...

I have had a problem with aiptasia, they don't bother me that much. But I get worried that they might on day and then it might be too late.

So I bought a filefish to manage them. He took quite a while to settle in but the aiptasia are really starting to disappear so I think he is doing a good job. Or it is someone else doing something. A cool fish regardless.

Bought a feather duster worm. Has been allowed to exist in peace so far.

A new urching, with thick spines. I have had bad luck with most urchins but this one is doing good so far! Quite strong, has rearranged my rockwork a bit.

Most of my oysters have died, but when I cleaned a little in the sump I noticed a few small ones that still live. And they have grown a bit! I will try a few more this year, but will focus on very small individuals.

I changed out my reactor pump, the old one was full of small filter worms. Really like these creatures. A shame to take out the pump I you consider the animals that live on it. But more should grow back on the new pump.

Here is a lousy image of the new reactor. Doing a good job so far.

Here is the Tunze 9004. I am suprised by this skimmer. I have always thought it seemed a bit of a toy. But after a month I say it perform great for its size. Most skimmers in this category are a pain to set up and require constant fiddling. This works and produces great skimmate for the short reaction chamber. It must be the way it pulls in the surface water. Not the ultimate skimmer, it will probably always skim on the wet side and the cup is tiny. But I am happy with it.

I got mine from a friend though and it had no silencer. So I made one myself.

Here is one of my sps, I thought this was dead but a few polyps survived and not it looks really promising. Very nice to follow day to day.

And a tank shot to round it all of. Does not look super different to the last one. But there is much less algae. If things start to grow now as well the next shot will be exciting.

 

[d.fast]

A few more months have passed. The tank is going pretty strong! I do fairly little maintenance. Mostly emptying the skimmer, changing carbon and filling up the ATO. Almost all corals are looking good, and most stony corals have made a comeback and are showing significant growth! Very nice to see. Don't really need anything for this tank for the moment so I just enjoy it and attempt to take better photos. Still have not changed the bulb yet. Might order a spare so I have one at home. I am checking LED options for the future, but at the moment the Metal Halide is doing a nice job and it is still the most pleasant light to have open over the tank. I don't mind if my eyes sometimes gets some stray light in them. It is also a very nice light to take photos under.

A shot from the tanks front. The view I see the least. I will have to prune those xenia polyps soon.

My "large" tube worm. Hiding out in the corner of the tank. Has lived a hard life but seems to be doing good.

These palys have lived a strange and problematic life, but they are looking better and better!

One of my urchins, I don't know what species it is but it is very strong and have moved a lot of the rock scape. It does have very interesting spines. I think the red ones are new spines "sprouting".

 

[count krunk]

Looking good! Once I've moved in adding Xenia to my fuge to let them go wild

 

[d.fast]

Thanks! The xenia is a fun soft coral. In a small tank like this they are easy to manage to if they would be found to be a problem.

 

[d.fast]

A while since this thread was updated. A shame to not revive it!

Very little has changed in three years. Circulation is the same, no new fish. Few new coral species. Been very lazy, I rarely do water changes. I think the high biomass and small amount of fish(less fish means less food) makes the nutrient levels a non issue, I can rarely detect nitrate or phosphate. I have kept using Tropic Marin All-For-Reef and have not really bothered changing the dosed amount either. Perhaps not ideal but the tank is simply enjoyed, a nice break from my other tanks that require a more hands-on approach.

Until recently I have kept using 250W Metal Halide for light but there are almost no new bulbs here in Europe, especially for FC2 mount. And a month ago the light started turning off several times a day. I swapped between three ballasts and also three bulbs(two of them broke when removed, I'll miss MH but not the horrible sockets!) but the problem persisted.

Perhaps it was the fixture itself that had a short or corroded cable but my patience ended. I put it in the closet and ordered a new light.

My main demand was that the new light was passive and second wish was for it to be as "dumb" as possible. I have a lot of experience with pre-owned Radions and Pacific Sun fixtures and do not want a light that can not function without a piece of software that may be considered obsolete and unsupported by the manufacturer any day.

I looked up Philips Coralcare, Ati Stratton and GHL Mitras Light bar. I picked the Coralcare mainly because of size. I also liked the defused light design. It arrived a few days ago and so far it is great!

It is a heavy beast! Was a royal pain to carry home from the post office. Build quality seems great, very industrial but still a bit more easy on the eyes than the first gen.

I made two supports out of some scrap wood I had lying around. Main weight is carried by the two big screws. The "bends" are mostly bolting it together. They are the old supports for my MH unit.

The fixture is larger than I first imagined. I had never seen one in real life before mine arrived. But the black color keeps it from being really noticeable. It does however shine a bit into my eyes when viewing the tank. Am currently planning a solution to that.

I opted out of buying the controller for the unit. I thought I could use my Profilux to control it instead... Which I can, but the Profilux connects to Philips Controller, not directly to the light. The controller cable is a two wire history which uses some kind of protocol which has to be decoded.

Can probably be reverse engineered by someone but not by me. I simply plugged the light into my old switched MH socket and let the light run like its predecessor. Works great but I wish I could decrease the blue channel a bit and get a warmer light. Maybe one day...

Here is a FTS from the same view as my last post. The tank is pretty full these days! The SPS are a bit annoying since they pierce my hands when I want to clean the glass and my gorgonia shadows the other corals.

I must praise the light coverage from the Coralcare though. I really brings light to the entire tank. Maybe a bit boring but it is a calm light and it's great for taking pictures and filming so a win for me.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

A while since this thread was updated. A shame to not revive it!

Very little has changed in three years. Circulation is the same, no new fish. Few new coral species. Been very lazy, I rarely do water changes. I think the high biomass and small amount of fish(less fish means less food) makes the nutrient levels a non issue, I can rarely detect nitrate or phosphate. I have kept using Tropic Marin All-For-Reef and have not really bothered changing the dosed amount either. Perhaps not ideal but the tank is simply enjoyed, a nice break from my other tanks that require a more hands-on approach.

Until recently I have kept using 250W Metal Halide for light but there are almost no new bulbs here in Europe, especially for FC2 mount. And a month ago the light started turning off several times a day. I swapped between three ballasts and also three bulbs(two of them broke when removed, I'll miss MH but not the horrible sockets!) but the problem persisted.

Perhaps it was the fixture itself that had a short or corroded cable but my patience ended. I put it in the closet and ordered a new light.

My main demand was that the new light was passive and second wish was for it to be as "dumb" as possible. I have a lot of experience with pre-owned Radions and Pacific Sun fixtures and do not want a light that can not function without a piece of software that may be considered obsolete and unsupported by the manufacturer any day.

I looked up Philips Coralcare, Ati Stratton and GHL Mitras Light bar. I picked the Coralcare mainly because of size. I also liked the defused light design. It arrived a few days ago and so far it is great!

It is a heavy beast! Was a royal pain to carry home from the post office. Build quality seems great, very industrial but still a bit more easy on the eyes than the first gen.

I made two supports out of some scrap wood I had lying around. Main weight is carried by the two big screws. The "bends" are mostly bolting it together. They are the old supports for my MH unit.

The fixture is larger than I first imagined. I had never seen one in real life before mine arrived. But the black color keeps it from being really noticeable. It does however shine a bit into my eyes when viewing the tank. Am currently planning a solution to that.

I opted out of buying the controller for the unit. I thought I could use my Profilux to control it instead... Which I can, but the Profilux connects to Philips Controller, not directly to the light. The controller cable is a two wire history which uses some kind of protocol which has to be decoded.

Can probably be reverse engineered by someone but not by me. I simply plugged the light into my old switched MH socket and let the light run like its predecessor. Works great but I wish I could decrease the blue channel a bit and get a warmer light. Maybe one day...

Here is a FTS from the same view as my last post. The tank is pretty full these days! The SPS are a bit annoying since they pierce my hands when I want to clean the glass and my gorgonia shadows the other corals.

I must praise the light coverage from the Coralcare though. I really brings light to the entire tank. Maybe a bit boring but it is a calm light and it's great for taking pictures and filming so a win for me.

Light looks great for the tank!

 

[Lebowski_]

Tank looks amazing. Really well done. I had never heard of those lights, very interesting.