210 Clownfish Harem Build

The Macro Guy

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Ended up breaking up my old Macro tank and was able to get my hands on a 210 Aqueon for a great price.

After having both a reef and fowlr, decided on building a simple harem tank, nothing too crazy equipment wise. It will eventually consist of 40-50 clownfish and roughly 30 anemones and macro algae to cope with the heavy feedings.

Current setup:

-210g Aqueon Tank
-55g Sump/Refugium
-Curve 9 skimmer & biopellets.
-Carbon bags in filter sock to remove the use of another reactor.
-Smart ATO
-Lighting is x3 24" Reefbreeder LEDS in custom front open canopy.
-Gyre150 for water movement.


210 in place, plumbing goes through the wall into the sump located in the closet. Wanted to keep noise down, and simplify my sump maintenance. Auto top off system is just 5g jugs I switch out located in the tank stand.


Sump system be for plumbing.


Canopy built for Reefbreeders and front open lid for easier access. Waterproofed and sealed.


Using all Pukani dry rock for this build. Lots of places for the anemones to put their feet into. Roughly 180lbs of Pukani.


After messing with the rock for about a week, decided On a bonsai style rock layout for a couple reasons.
-Each rock has its own light.
-Can give clownfish their own "zones" rather than 1 large rock wall.
-Hoping this will keep the rose bubbles from wandering around the tank. They should stick to their rock structure at the least. Never really seen them try and make a walk across sand when I had them.
-Easy maintenance, went with a 2" sandbed that I will vacuum every month. Had a DSBs twice and both times ended up with nuisance algae issues even with extreme husbandry and a take full of macroalgae. Going to skip the dsb this time around. Also the heavy feeding will most likely make the DSB obsolete after the first couple of years.




Reefbreeders with 2x T5HO supplementals. Purple plus bulbs from ATI.



Looking forward to seeing all the clownfish and anemones living it up. Will update as I go :)
 

ReefSafe123

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oh man, this is the most amazing thing for harem - 210 gallon. Nice scape too. very well thought. Just a question any specific reason you go with 3 of 24" reef breeder?
 
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The Macro Guy

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oh man, this is the most amazing thing for harem - 210 gallon. Nice scape too. very well thought. Just a question any specific reason you go with 3 of 24" reef breeder?

Thanks! I've had good growth with black box style LED systems. Had anemones that actually bubbled up. I use to have 4x 16" Mars Aquas on my last build, but it was too many power cords, 8 total. I went with the 24" Breeders for cost mostly, and that 3 was a perfect fit, I also like the LED spectrums on these way more. Looks much more crisp. I was also looking at the ATI 60" 8 Bulb, but the price of bulb replacements and heat control kind of drew me away from them.
 
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Sump after it was plumbed and running. Had bad luck with a Jebao15000 pump, had DOA power supply. For now have to use the Jebao DT6000 till I get the other replaced.

Also my skimmer was going nuts (bubbling like crazy), after some research, I let the contents that where overflowing into the skimmer, run into a bucket, literally 10-15 minutes later the skimmer was tuned in and fine. Took about 5g of darkish water out.

 
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Little update on the build. Picked up a few more nems for the tank, will hopefully be ready for the clownfish soon. Got my macro algae collection going again as well. Anemones fat and happy.
IMAG0562.jpg
 
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IMAG0546.jpg
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IMAG0573.jpg
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Picked up a couple Infernos, Pheonix, and Rainbow RBTAs, and one Giant green goblin, 4rth picture. It was in bad snapped when I got it, completely browned out, but it has been getting lots of color over the past few weeks.
 
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this is like my dream tank. what type of clowns are you planning on housing?

Looking at about 40 Snowflake or Picasso. I want them all to be the same type of pattern, that will help a clown from being singled out. I was thinking about midnight clowns, but some end up with Orange faces, they may get picked on.
 
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Finishing a battle with a massive GHA outbreak. You can see it creeping in some of the previous pictures. Had to remove all the designer macro algae from the tank.

So far the API marine Algaefix has done a fantastic job at getting rid of the gha. It's 90% gone at this point, with heavy dosing and little to no effect on any of the anemones, fish or corals.

Will need to do a couple more water changes to remove the chemical. Anemones seem happy. Also adjusted my Gyre to an AB configuration so that both heads would push water. Getting much better response from the anemones.

Some tank shot progress.

My biggest nem, nick name El Gigante. Almost a foot across now.
IMAG0648.jpg


Lemon Drop? Hoping it colors up a bit more. Spotted this guy at a LFS.
IMAG0646.jpg


Jolly Rancher coloration? I've just started referring to the random ones I get as rainbows.
IMAG0645.jpg


One of my Inferno Nems ended up splitting, hoping it's not a variant that splits often, would like to see this thing reach gigante proportions.
IMAG0644.jpg



Full tank shot as of 12/22/15

100%Blue Reefbreeders with T5 Purple Plus Supplimentals.
IMAG0632.jpg
 

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