38 Gallon Skylight Build!

[Alexraptor]

Staring up a 4th reef with my old Piranha's 38 gallon tank, and trying something a little different.

Back when he was alive, this used to be a planted tank, with rather lush growth, and far too much algae. But last year I ended up keeping it as a holding tank for some old rock and macroalgae, and honestly I really liked the way the sunlight fell on the tank during late spring and the summer months, so I decided to make it into an actual reef, and take advantage of that.



I left a small Pavona frag in the corner of the tank for a few weeks to see what would happen, while I was waiting for the shipments of light, rock and sand, and interestingly enough it not only grew a bit, but actually kept its green color. And when time came to move it to another tank, for safekeeping while this system starts up, it actually "popped" off the glass, meaning it had already begun encrusting, under pure sunlight.

But I live too far north for this to be a sutainable growing strategy, so I ordered two Kessil a160we Tuna Blues, after researching them throroughly to ensure they can grow SPS in a tank this size. The Kessils were chosen two two primary reasons: Low profile, and the shimmer. I didn't want the lights to cast big shadows on the tank, to maximize the amount of daylight hitting the tank, and I wanted to match the caustics of natural sunlight.

Everything arrived this week, firs the rock went in, but I had to order extra suspension for the second kessil.


Yesterday the sand came, as well as the extra suspension, so that went in and the second kessil went up.


And today the cloudyness is starting to clear up a bit, and the aquascape is finally starting to show.


I decided to go for a minimalistic setup on this tank, having always favored mounds and walls of rock in the past. The plan here is to just have a few colonies, and allow them space to grow out. I have a Tenuis that's been sitting in one of my other tanks for about a year, that will be going in here and I'm looking to add a Millepora and Bali slimer as well.

Flow wise I'm not quite sure what to go for. Right now I only have a single Tunze 6015, but I think that's probably not quite enough for strong and healthy growth. I'm open to suggestions on that point.

That's pretty much what I got for now.

 

[musel101]

Staring up a 4th reef with my old Piranha's 38 gallon tank, and trying something a little different.

Back when he was alive, this used to be a planted tank, with rather lush growth, and far too much algae. But last year I ended up keeping it as a holding tank for some old rock and macroalgae, and honestly I really liked the way the sunlight fell on the tank during late spring and the summer months, so I decided to make it into an actual reef, and take advantage of that.



I left a small Pavona frag in the corner of the tank for a few weeks to see what would happen, while I was waiting for the shipments of light, rock and sand, and interestingly enough it not only grew a bit, but actually kept its green color. And when time came to move it to another tank, for safekeeping while this system starts up, it actually "popped" off the glass, meaning it had already begun encrusting, under pure sunlight.

But I live too far north for this to be a sutainable growing strategy, so I ordered two Kessil a160we Tuna Blues, after researching them throroughly to ensure they can grow SPS in a tank this size. The Kessils were chosen two two primary reasons: Low profile, and the shimmer. I didn't want the lights to cast big shadows on the tank, to maximize the amount of daylight hitting the tank, and I wanted to match the caustics of natural sunlight.

Everything arrived this week, firs the rock went in, but I had to order extra suspension for the second kessil.


Yesterday the sand came, as well as the extra suspension, so that went in and the second kessil went up.


And today the cloudyness is starting to clear up a bit, and the aquascape is finally starting to show.


I decided to go for a minimalistic setup on this tank, having always favored mounds and walls of rock in the past. The plan here is to just have a few colonies, and allow them space to grow out. I have a Tenuis that's been sitting in one of my other tanks for about a year, that will be going in here and I'm looking to add a Millepora and Bali slimer as well.

Flow wise I'm not quite sure what to go for. Right now I only have a single Tunze 6015, but I think that's probably not quite enough for strong and healthy growth. I'm open to suggestions on that point.

That's pretty much what I got for now.

That looks like it’s gonna turn out Awesome

 

[Gumbies R Us]

That is going to be an awesome tank!

 

[Alexraptor]

Thanks, I hope so! It's been a long time since I undertook a major project. I mean I did get a mantis shrimp a year ago, but thats a little different from starting a new and proper "Reef".

The waters are finally starting to clear up! I took the liberty of stealing my Mantis shrimps Tunze 6040, and giving him the 6015 instead.


I mean it's all good since the 6040 was rather overkill in his 25g, in the first place. This way I can really open up the pump to full blast! I plan on getting a second 6040, and placing it at the opposite end.

I'm planning on running them else in pulse mode, both pulsing between 50% and 100%, but with asynchronous pulse durations, which should hopefyll serve to create some good strong and randomized currents and eddies.

Also, the Kessils are bright, but the sun? Much more so!


The challenge is going to be balancing nutrients and dosing regimen accross the seasons. Who knows, maybe I could trigger a spawning event some day?

I did actually have the fortune to experience a spawning event a few years back in my 25g reef that stands a bit further away from the window. It was my clove polyps, maybe not the number one coral one wants to see go sexual, but it was cool to see nontheless.

 

[kevgib67]

Looking awesome! Are you going to put some Swedish fish in there?

 

[Alexraptor]

Nooo lol, we're too far north to have fish that would survive in a tropical reef.

 

[kevgib67]

Nooo lol, we're too far north to have fish that would survive in a tropical reef.

I was joking, I meant the swedish fish candy, google it. Maybe it’s only sold in the United States?

 

[kevgib67]

I just googled it, they were developed in the 1950’s by a Swedish candy maker for the U.S. market.

 

[Alexraptor]

I just googled it, they were developed in the 1950’s by a Swedish candy maker for the U.S. market.

Well that explains why that one went over my head!

Although we do have a liquorice around here that is called 'Salt Sill' (Salted Herring).

 

[kevgib67]

Well that explains why that one went over my head!

Although we do have a liquorice around here that is called 'Salt Sill' (Salted Herring).

 

[Alexraptor]

Test-frag gives its "tentacles of approval"!

Cleaning crew should hopefully arrive in a couple of weeks. Hopefully the munnid isopods can stay on top of things until then.

 

[Alexraptor]

Cleaning crew is going to take a little too long to arrive. Whil there isn't any runaway algae growth, nuisance algaes like turf are starting to emerge from the rock.

So I abudcted four hermits from my 25g Reef, and put them to work! And they've been plenty busy over the night.


I also got my old Bubble Magus skimmer fired up to help with waste reduction, until reinforcements arrive. I also managed to silence it significantly by sticking on a silencer I had from a broken Tunze 9004, works like a charm!

 

[Alexraptor]

This tank startup is turning out to be a real wild ride.

In the past 24 hours I've seen the tank turn hazier and greener, as a phytoplankton bloom has taken hold of the system.


Now tonight, out of nowhere, a massive explosion of mysid shrimp has taken place!!! There must be absolutely thousands of them in the tank, if not tens of thousands! I've never seen anything like it!


I honestly don't know where this goes from here. This was supposed to be an experiment in setting up an SPS tank, augmented with sunlight, now it's taken on a life of its own.

 

[viper5dn]

This is one of the coolest experiment tanks I've seen, pls keep us updated!

 

[Alexraptor]

Well the phytoplankton bloom still has a pretty good grip on the tank. Good news is its keeping all nuisance algaes in check by soaking up ALL available nutrients. The bad news? It's soaking up ALL available nutrients.

I had some hardier SPS moved into the tanke a week ago, but now they starting to bleach on account of the zooxanthallae being completely starved of nutrients and dying.

With artificial lights off:

Also bought myself a proper microscope this week, and can verify that this is indeed actual phytoplankton. And an incredibly diverse bunch at that.


Cleaning crew arrives next week, a bit concerned though since the plankton bloom has been keeping all algal gowth in check, there may not be as much food for them as I was expecting.

Scary and exciting all at the same time. Uncharted territory, but I've never heard of a sustained bloom of this scale in a reef tank.

Not one drop of phyto has been dosed, this all came from the live sand. (I bought Nature's Ocean live sand 15 years ago and had a minor bloom then, but nothing on this scale).

 

[Alexraptor]

Well poop.... quite literally.

Cleaning crew arrived Tuesday, quite sizable bunch. Tuxedo urchin, 20 trochus snails, 10 nassarius, 4 Ceriths, 9 hermits, Tiger Conch. Four trochus snails did not survive unfortunately, and they were promptly devoured by ravenous snails, upon their deaths.

Unfortunately this infusion of life, metabolic wastes and... death, has added fueld to the proverbial fire!



Looks like corals are going to have to wait a while. Had to remove the Pavona, as the phyto has been completely stripping the tank of nutrients. The only coral that seems to be doing well is my Siderastrea. Still has its usual brown color, and has fantastic polyp extension. In fact I swear it's actually growing.

Microscope samples are also turning up a lot of weird chunks, some even looking like partial bodyparts. Which has me wondering if there is an equally large zooplankton explosion as well, that are getting chopped to pieces by the stream pumps.


This bloom has been going for a solid two weeks now, and still counting.

 

[Alexraptor]

It's been over a month, and a few weeks ago I made the decision to shut down all lighting entirely, and now it seems the bloom is finally heading towards the end.

Last weekend:


Today:


Still some phyto left in the water column, so going to hold off a few days before i fire up lighting again.


It's been a wild ride, and definitely didn't help that i had a bad batch of trochus snails at the start of it with nearly a dozen casualties over little more than a week, which just added fuel to the fire. Will have to restock once normal algal growth resumes.