420G Airlift powered AIO Reef Aquarium (Worlds first?)

[14crazychris]

So yesterday was new livestock day!

I managed to get hold of some iodine and magnesium buffer which is good, found this iron suppliment, not sure if it’s worth trying? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12441559...e3BOpf_QlO&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

So now onto the livestock! I got 13 trochus snails, 2 porcelain crabs, 2 emerald crabs and 1 boxer shrimp. Unfortunately the boxer shrimp died, I released it into the the acclimation bowl and there was no movement, I think it died in the bag or wasnt healthy in the first place. I also got a female rhomboid and a red velvet fairy wrasse! Both are active today and swimming about which is good to see!

 

[i cant think]

So yesterday was new livestock day!

I managed to get hold of some iodine and magnesium buffer which is good, found this iron suppliment, not sure if it’s worth trying? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12441559...e3BOpf_QlO&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

So now onto the livestock! I got 13 trochus snails, 2 porcelain crabs, 2 emerald crabs and 1 boxer shrimp. Unfortunately the boxer shrimp died, I released it into the the acclimation bowl and there was no movement, I think it died in the bag or wasnt healthy in the first place. I also got a female rhomboid and a red velvet fairy wrasse! Both are active today and swimming about which is good to see!

I will say, that rhomboidalis looks to be a male to me.
And the Rubrisquamis is a stunner, would love to see a side shot of him.

 

[14crazychris]

I will say, that rhomboidalis looks to be a male to me.
And the Rubrisquamis is a stunner, would love to see a side shot of him.

I'd love the rhomboid to be a male! Fingers crossed! It's been active and out all day looking for food and mixing with the others. The rubrisquamis is lovely! Stunning colours, my red hooded wrasse isn't that happy with him but so far everything is looking good. Will try and get some pics tomorrow if I can. Thanks

 

[14crazychris]

Got some good shots of the red velvet wrasse this morning. When I say good, they are good for me haha, sorry about the blurry quality

 

[i cant think]

Got some good shots of the red velvet wrasse this morning. When I say good, they are good for me haha, sorry about the blurry quality

I believe that’s actually a finifenmaa- I believe Rubriquamis has a clearer dorsalfin whilst Finifenmaa has the yellow dorsal.

 

[14crazychris]

I believe that’s actually a finifenmaa- I believe Rubriquamis has a clearer dorsalfin whilst Finifenmaa has the yellow dorsal.

Looking at The label I bought it as was a rubrisquamis, I will have a look at the finifenmaa and see if I can distinguish which it is. Both this and the rhomboid are looking greatly and actively going for pellets already which is great. I’ll try and get a shot of the rhomboid, any clue as to working out male and female dimorphism? Thanks

 

[i cant think]

Looking at The label I bought it as was a rubrisquamis, I will have a look at the finifenmaa and see if I can distinguish which it is. Both this and the rhomboid are looking greatly and actively going for pellets already which is great. I’ll try and get a shot of the rhomboid, any clue as to working out male and female dimorphism? Thanks

Males usually have a black ‘lining’ on the top of their dorsal for Rhomboidalis.
Females are also more purple on the face whilst males have purple above their face and also just above their anal fin IME.

 

[14crazychris]

So really good news! a freind gave me a pair of very old hydra 52HD’s! No power supply’s, no fan guards and no idea if they work Properly! Anyway I did a little research on psu‘s and it was looking like £100 per unit per light! Ouch! someone mentioned that my 26hd ones should work but won’t be able to run them on full power as they will kill the psu’s and that they have a safety overload to prevent them for overloading. Well I tried the hydra 26hd ones and bingo they worked! After cleaning off the lights they seem to be working just fine, quite a few leds on the right side don’t work but the colour blending is very close to each other so I’m happy! I definitly have a bit more power and spread in the tank now. Nothing major but there’s definitely a difference. After working out the additional energy cost I decided it was definitly worth it, for the additional space I can add corals and also the well being and growth if the current corals in the system. Lights peak at 79w each so are still nicely under the wattage limit for the power packs so I’m very happy!​

thanks

 

[14crazychris]

Another small update. Did some tests on the tank today and finally looks like we are getting somewhere! Nitrate is stable still although it looks to have gone down a bit compared to previous testing. Magnesium is finally in a range where I’m happy and looks like it might be starting to stabilise! Phosphate has dropped quite a bit and doesn’t nearly show up how blue it was previously. All live stock doing fabulously! The new hydra 52 HD‘s have definitly helped illuminate the tank a bit more and it’s allowed for a few more spots for coral placement which is nice. The new fish are getting on well and everyone seems happy. I added a few more corals this week to test out, a couple chalices, gonipora, forest fire mushrooms and an Aussie Duncan’s. Think my yellow tail wrasse had died unfortunately but that’s the first fish I’ve lost. I noticed it half sticking out the sand under a rock so tried to nudge it and it repeatedly dug itself back into the sand so not much I could do there (I knew it would be a risky one to try). A few fish on my radar in the next month or two are: Laboutes wrasse, lineatus wrasse, potters wrasse and a China wrasse.

parameters-
KH- 9.3
Ca- 450ppm
Mg- 1380ppm
No3- 20ppm
Po4- 0.25ppm

A few pics from today

 

[14crazychris]

Another little update!

This week I’ve added a few new additions to the tank which is exciting!

Firstly I’ve added a crimson dwarf parrot that Ive been eyeing up for months now in my LFS. Really nice fat healthy specimen so thought it would have a great chance. A little bickering from my female bathyspilus and my mccoskers but nothing too major (stock pic added below)

Ive also added a few corals. One huge rock with neon green mushrooms on it, one large two tone green bubble coral, 4 different toadstools and a bunch of soft coral cuttings. The tank is really starting to fill out now so I will likely leave everything as it is and let the corals grow in and start to colonise the rocks. I think it’s going to look awesome in 3 months or so.

still on the look out for a boxer shrimp and will likely add a couple more fish over the next few months. The magnesium is stable finally and not dropping quickly which is great. Ca And KH are also staying relatively stable too and the refugium is growing in very well now. Time for another trimming next weekend.

thanks

 

[14crazychris]

Time for another little update!

after some regular testing I can now confirm mag levels have stabilised! And I’m not needing to dose crazy amounts into the reef anymore, finally solely on the AFR via manual dosing but the tanks not sucking much up which is good I guess. Everything seems really happy, zoas are showing visible signs of growth and improved since adding the 52HD’s.

Ive also added a few new residents! Another boxer shrimp which is live and well! And three new wrasse, one goldflash, one exquisite and one Solon wrasse. Really loving the colours of the new inhabitants and they really stand out to the rest of the crowd. A little initial bickering but all died down after a few hours. Tanks really coming together now and I think I’ll slow down on any new additions. Next month I’ll be looking to do another invert haul but I’ll only be looking at adding a couple more fish over the next few months until I am confident I can keep nitrates and phosphates in check. I have a freind coming over on the weekend to get some nice pics so am looking forward to that. Here’s the current fish list

Peacock wrasse (male)
peacock wrasse (female)
yellow banana wrasse
crimson dwarf parrot
iridis wrasse
bathyspilus wrasse (male)
bathyspilus wrasse (female)
rhomboid wrasse
timor wrasse
red velvet wrasse
twistii wrasse
juwelled leopard wrasse
mcccosker wrasse
yellow candy hog
solon wrasse
exquisite wrasse
goldflash wrasse

 

[14crazychris]

Managed to get some nice shots of the tank yesterday, really happy with how its progressing now. Will get some of the fish later

 

[14crazychris]

So thought I'd update with some fish pics! Had the whites on and managed to get a few nice shots. Overall fish are doing well and eating pellets readily! The new solor wrasse is very timid and I think maybe be getting some stick when I'm not looking. Hoping it will pull through. Boxer shrimp is doing well though and the other new inhabitants are happy!

 

[14crazychris]

Thought it would be nice to share an update from start to present day on the reef tank. Enjoy

 

[Boj4k]

Hey Everyone,

So purely from the title of this thread you may be questioning not just one thing about this tank! But a few things? Airlift? AIO? How? Never been done? (If an airlift marine tank has been done before then feel free to point it out as I’d love to see how they got theirs setup)

Well let me start of this thread by introducing myself, I’m Chris from the U.K. and I run the Fancy goldfish fanatics brand (Facebook, YouTube and Instagram etc) All of this tanks progress will be documented on my YT channel so feel free to check that out for full in depth updates https ://youtube.com/c/FancyGoldfishFanatics

Although on this thread you will also get the sneak peaks before the videos are released

So this isn’t my first time keeping reef aquariums but it’s actually my third tank, although I said I would never get one again! and ha! How wrong I was.

Here was my first evolution aqua 24” cube

After that I decided a big tank was too much work so I opted for a nano!

And then I decided I’d never keep marine again becuase they were too much work and stress. Ohh how I was wrong Lol


So now that brings me onto the new tank! The new tank was custom built for me being 8ft long, 3ft wide and 2.5ft tall giving me approximately 420 gallons. Now I don’t like sticking to the rule book generally and before I go any further, if anyone tells me this idea won’t work or it is stupid then please don’t comment in this thread. If my design and ideas don’t work, I’d like to find out for myself and try again. I’ve never seen an AIO tank on this scale and I’ve also never seen one built with an airlift system, especially not a marine tank! (I’m sure there’s a reason why lol)

so back onto the tank! Here’s a picture of said tank, as you can see it’s on the floor, no stand or sump so already very different from the majority of most tanks. It’s got a black background, black silicone and three glass lid sections. I will be building my own internal sump/filter into the back right hand corner to create a self contained unit. The video of bringing the tank in will be out on YT soon but it took 12 people and a lot of help to get it inside my living room!

So that’s it for my first post and introduction! More updates to come and I will explain more about the system, and stocking as I go. All questions welcome

Cheers,
chris

Have you heard of the Eco-Wheel? Essentially what you described here, there's a 20 plus year old eco wheel tank that reef builders did an article on(after your post)