220 gallon predator reef tank

[Justsomedude]

Hey guys here are a few pictures of my oceanic 220 I got it used had it running for a month started leaking so I had to tear it all down and re seal the entire tank. It has been a labor of pure love though awesome hobby!

 

[Justsomedude]

Some more pics

 

[WV Reefer]

Hey guys here are a few pictures of my oceanic 220 I got it used had it running for a month started leaking so I had to tear it all down and re seal the entire tank. It has been a labor of pure love though awesome hobby!

Very nice!!

 

[Justsomedude]

Pics

 

[Thomashtom]

Where do you keep octopus? What kind is it? Thanks

 

[Justsomedude]

Where do you keep octopus? What kind is it? Thanks

It’s a starry night juvenile he comes out under moonlight to eat my snails every night. 4 moray eels in the tank plus groupers and I haven’t had a single problem with him. I have found the key to keeping predators together is an extremely strict diet and feeding schedule. Eels are very good at letting you know when they are hungry and I feed each one twice per week until they are full. I keep a few damsels in the tank as well and haven’t lost one. The only aggression problems I had were with the panther grouper however when I added a larger eel he took reign and the panther grouper backed down. No problems so far I have kept predator fish in the past sharks rays etc I would say the hardest part with bottom dwelling predators would be protozoans. I use a very heavy filtration system of both filter fleece and sock as well as a massive refugium and protein

 

[Justsomedude]

Skimmer. Another thing I do is add fish very slowly and one at a time. Keeping the fishes stress Down keeps their immune system up and they will build up a resistance to the pathogens. Quarantine is useless with eels because they always carry something. Whenever I add a fish they go through a week of ic and during acclimation I will keep my moonlights up at night to keep the eels at bay and ramp the gyre 280s to 100% I also cut the sock down to 30% and ramp the filter fleece to 100% I have two additional feeds coming off my return line that recycle the water back to my sump so while my turnover rate is slow my filtration is very heavy. Reason for the change in mechanical filtration is the fact the fleece removes a fiber micron and pulls from the water instead of letting it sit like the sock. I use a clarisea sk5000 and with a bio load this large you have to have additional mechanical filtration. As well as an enormous coco pod population and routine dr Tim’s waste away to boost bio filtration. My cleanup crew are mostly meat eating types of snails as well as a variety of sally light foot, decorator spider crabs, emerald etc. I have two massive Bali sea hates taking care of any algae and my cleaner shrimp are all massive adults and play a crucial role in digging their mitts down into the eels mouths at night it’s awesome to watch. I also do weekly water changes of 20-30% due to the heavy feeding all the corals are thriving while I still maintain an almost non existent levels of ammonia and nitrates. As you can see in the pictures I would estimate somewhere close to 300 pounds of live rock it was enough to fill three 45 gallon garbage cans. Sand sifter star fish maintain my sand bed along with the snails and I always syphon the gravel during water changes. It’s not easy to make the aqua scape as attractive as I would like for the coral because i decided to build caverns that have very little light penetration so the inhabitants can have a place to hide it seems to always do the trick especially when adding a new fish if you change a den you displace the owner which makes them in turn become aggressive and stressed out so each time I add something it’s well planned out based of characteristics etc where will it spend most of its time swimming or in the rock work etc.

 

[Thomashtom]

Wow never heard of that type of Octopus? No one bothers it? Usually damsels especially would pick at it. It must be tough to get food to him? I have kept many octos but not with fish.

 

[Justsomedude]

Wow never heard of that type of Octopus? No one bothers it? Usually damsels especially would pick at it. It must be tough to get food to him? I have kept many octos but not with fish.

Yea I didn’t sleep for a few nights with him in the enclosure however as far as food he goes after my snails so I add them weekly as food. He was described as a starry night octopus at a reputable Local fish store. They stay among the rock work and come out strictly at night. He is stunning to watch and the damsels stay to the top of the enclosure. Most of the time he burrys himself in the rockworj but once that moonlight comes on he’s out and cruising around the sand bed

 

[Justsomedude]

I decided to give it a try knowing the risks involved when none of the eels would accept raw squid as food I feed mostly a fish based diet of bottom dwelling fish like flounder tautog and wild caught shrimp, scallop, clam

 

[Justsomedude]

 

[Thomashtom]

Very nice!!!

 

[Captain Quint]

Loved it and thanks for sharing the pics and video.

Lying with your head in the stand. lol good one.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Very nice video!

 

[Justsomedude]

Thanks guys I’ll keep them coming gonna try 4K see how it goes

 

[Justsomedude]

 

[Justsomedude]

Don’t know why it doesn’t upload in 4K!?