45 Gallon Shallow Reef Build

[Troylee]

I'm betting most of them will be melanurus food. I have them broken up into my refugium, the rock compartment before it and in my display.

Crazy! That’s one wrasse I haven’t picked up.. I got a few others that are large and they don’t care about my clean up crew..

 

[CBonito]

Crazy! That’s one wrasse I haven’t picked up.. I got a few others that are large and they don’t care about my clean up crew..

When I first got some trochus snails in the beginning, I dumped them in, and a couple of them were trying to right themselves...My Melanurus immediately attacked and ate both of them.

And he's always seeing if he can get under the shells of snails to get to them. He's a criminal for sure, but he's a really cool fish. I like him a lot. Other than that he's a model citizen. Sometimes him and my diamond goby go at it, but never to the point where anyone gets hurt.

 

[JoJosReef]

When I first got some trochus snails in the beginning, I dumped them in, and a couple of them were trying to right themselves...My Melanurus immediately attacked and ate both of them.

And he's always seeing if he can get under the shells of snails to get to them. He's a criminal for sure, but he's a really cool fish. I like him a lot. Other than that he's a model citizen. Sometimes him and my diamond goby go at it, but never to the point where anyone gets hurt.

Nerites don't stand a chance in my tank after the leopard and the yellow wrasse were added. Trochus and Astraeas hold up OK. Ceriths are done as soon as they hit the glass--I've watched the leopard knock them off the glass to the sand. If they land on their backs...

 

[Abyzter]

Hello All...

My name is Carmine. I'm new here.

I've been playing with this stuff on and off for over 25 years. My last tank was about 5 years ago though. I had a bad crash on the wrong day and ended up taking it all down. I think they call it rage quitting. hehe

But I have been thinking a lot about it lately and I know a lot of my past failures were my own fault...so there's that.
There were lots of areas that needed improvement and I know that by just doing it all right from scratch with all good equipment, I won't have the problems I've had in the past.

So today, I bought one of these tanks from Advanced Acrylics and most of the equipment I will be using along with it.
It's 36"x24"x12"h. Like 45 gallons I guess which is nice and manageable.

I love the rimless open top design and the fact the overflow doesn't take up any tank real estate.. It makes it so easy to deal with and it's so clean. It's 3/4" acrylic so I know there will never be any turrible episodes. Yeah, I'm aware I may be hit in the head with the occasional jumper. I can live with that. It happens regardless... Anyway, it's got 2 half inch returns and a 1 inch drain. I'm putting some ductors on the return outputs to increase the flow a bit.

I don't know anything about Advanced Acrylics, I've been out of the game for 5 years and I don't know anything in general about what's going on in the hobby. But when I saw this tank I knew it was the one, so I am just trusting and hoping I am happy with it. We'll see what happens. I think it's going to be awesome.

Anyway, I also bought the following stuff today...
Lighting is two Kessel A360x Tuna Blues with the solid brackets, extensions (so I can go as high or low as I want) and the controller.
Remember, this is going to be about 11 inches of real water depth so this is a pretty good amount of light to start with and can be increased in potency with different lenses. Lots of room to play here. These cover 24x24 each, so 2 of them on this tank ought to be pretty good. If the tank was deeper I would have gone with the a500, but I think that light would be too much of a bomber for this. We'll see. I love them because they are small and minimalistic and they are the closest thing to a legit point light source that I've seen...similar
to metal halide.
Sump is a Reef Octopus Octo Reef 36A Sump. It's got a 6 gallon top-off compartment (one of my previous screwups I am not revisiting) so I can just add RO to the reservoir with ATO and let it eat. This is a pretty decent sized sump that is well thought out and I love the way they look too. I ain't playing around this time man...

Skimmer is a Reef Octopus Elite 150 Internal. Yeah, it's a bit big but I like to feed often and again and the tank will end up heavily stocked...everyone says they won't, but they do and I'm tellin ya, it will end up stocked. lol But again, I'm not playing around this time. ;)

Return Pump is a Reef Octopus Varios 4. I think this will do nicely and it's cool that I can turn it up or down as needed. Notice all this stuff is controller compatible...mmmm....yep! This is just for the return so it's probably overkill, but that's cool. Overkill is fine. I bought a check valve to stop the tank from siphoning back through the returns when the pump is paused. ;)

All of the plumbing is red and gray PVC, so it will look cool. I purchased all the proper unions so everything will come apart/ go back together easily for maintenance.

I also bought a brand new 4 stage 75gpd RO which should be more than adequate for this system. It was the right thing to do.

I plan to Keep SPS, Clams, some LPS and zooanthids. I'll have a few fish in there too. Not sure what. But this kind of tank is a great way to create little territories for everyone with lots of hiding spaces. I will definitely have a pair of clowns too.

I am still debating what I am going to do for a controller or what my means of calcium/alk management will be. It's not a huge tank really so I could probably dose 2 part. I am unsure if a kalk reactor or calcium reactor would be practical or smart. But I'm open if anyone has a take on that. I have an older reef keeper that I can use to control stuff, but not sure if there's anything newer and better. Probably. I want to get the tank up and running, get it cycled and then one by one I will get everything dialed in and ultimately automated.

*OH!!! I don't yet have a stand. I really don't want to have all this new stuff and then hack together a 2x4 stand. But I want something that's quality. Anyone know where I could get one for the above measurements? If you had the cash burning a hole what would you do? What's cool out there for a tank like this? I like something modern.*

What kind of water flow/wave maker getup will successfully attach through 3/4" acrylic? I know this will be an issue as time goes on. It always is. I dont want to do closed loops.

I will keep updating as things come in and go together...

Feel free to critique and/or share ideas.

I'm pretty excited to be back in the game.

Welcome to Reef2Reef and best of luck to the tank!

 

[CBonito]

Nerites don't stand a chance in my tank after the leopard and the yellow wrasse were added. Trochus and Astraeas hold up OK. Ceriths are done as soon as they hit the glass--I've watched the leopard knock them off the glass to the sand. If they land on their backs...

That's why I bought more than I needed. ;)
I mean, they're snails...when I need more, I'll get more.

I agree once the trochus get their bearings they are survivors. I still have probably 10 of the original 25. Maybe more.

 

[JoJosReef]

That's why I bought more than I needed. ;)
I mean, they're snails...when I need more, I'll get more.

I agree once the trochus get their bearings they are survivors. I still have probably 10 of the original 25. Maybe more.

I would put them all in at night while the Mel is buried. They need a bit to get themselves righted and moving around well.

 

[CBonito]

Here's my photoperiod in case anyone cares. The shallow reef preset runs for 2 hours at peak and on the ramp up and down their flourescent preset with 2 of my own.

 

[CBonito]

I would put them all in at night while the Mel is buried. They need a bit to get themselves righted and moving around well.

One of the types of snail tries to get out of the tank. So that's pretty fun. last night I had 2 snails on the front of my tank before I put the lid on.

 

[CBonito]

I would put them all in at night while the Mel is buried. They need a bit to get themselves righted and moving around well.

I was so smoked after helping my son out in the morning and then picking up all this stuff, I just wanted everyone in tank, so I could take a shower, eat and take a nap.

I'm starting to look like one of those acropora people man. This crap's gotta stop!

 

[CBonito]

This is how ugly the "noonish" phase of the lighting gets. Not a fan, but the spectrum is crucial per my own research, so we're gonna keep it and blue it up to taste! And these corals are gaining some color from it so that's gotta say something. I mean, they're nothing special now, but they will be in time.

you can see on the bottom right I have some zooanthid frags. The algae is gone from them and they are open and happy. So that's good. Everything is good. Alk is 9.6 right now. I only dosed calcium part today. My pre-existing corals are growing. I am noticing an average fall in ph after all of the recent additions, so I have my skimmer going and my windows open to get some fresh air. I'll freeze. It's fine. I need to run a hose from my skimmer to the window. The fall may also be from not dosing AFR the last time while I killed my dinos off. It hasn't fallen below 8.0 so I like my problems. And the skimmer is working now because I have a decent bioload in here now. That is also good.

Bad News, My very expensive mud seems to be headed to Portland Oregon and not to Michigan...hey that's a little off course there...not even close. Maybe it's taking the scenic route, or maybe USPS is all messed up more than usual I dunno.
I dunno man...stay tuned on that one. Someone's gonna open that up and be like "what the heck is this man??? This stinks!!! I'm calling the police!":grinning-squinting-face:

 

[CBonito]

Snails laid eggs last night. I'll be DARNED. lol
I guess if things like this are happening and I'm getting changes in coral colors and stuff...we might be headed in the right direction.

The picture sucks I know. I'll try to get a better one after the lights get whiter before I try to relocate them.
I don't want no snail eggs on my glass for how ever long it'll be.

That and I watched my Diamond Goby take a crap. Man that boy don't play!!!

 

[CBonito]

Alright, I got my corals situated where I think they are going to stay for a while.

They're looking good! I'm adding my kessils back to put some blue back into all the white and because now not shading anything is important. I'm putting them in each end and pointing them each sort of toward the center.

Here's what I'm dealing with now. There is a really nice mix of colors here. Hopefully I can get them to keep intensifying to where I think they should be, but I'm in no hurry. At first I didn't think the polyp extension was so hot on a few of them, but then I took closeup pics and I can see they are all great. The corallites are just larger on some of them shielding the polyps, but the extension is good. I guess those want more current, so that's how I handled this. The cool thing is I can put a colony on the bottom or the top and they get enough light, so it's a matter of finding what height they like now. I'm just gonna let things sit and we'll go from there. The important thing is that there is growth and corals are developing colors. Things are looking nice.

 

[CBonito]

Look at that red millepora man. It's amazing. I love it and I hope it turns into a freakish mutant.
I have a rainbow millepora too, but the colors are weak right now. When it starts to show up for me, I'll share.

I havent lost a single coral yet, so I'm going to count my blessings and it's onesie twosies from here.

 

[CBonito]

 

[CBonito]

My expensive mud arrived.
I think I got too much. :grinning-squinting-face: Maybe more than I ordered? I forget now. The box is pretty heavy LOL
I have like 2 bags of mud and 2 bags of sand. Just added them to my tank a little while ago in the back corner.

I had a "cup" of florida keys sand which seems like a lot more than that, and I'm cool with it. And I had a bag of 3 cups of florida golden sand which seems to be composed of maybe more finely ground up shells and stuff than the keys sand which is more white aragonite based.

Tank is all cloudy, but it will clear up. I'm extremely happy to have added a lot of biodiversity to my sand and rock. I'm going to add all this keys mud to my refugium tonight when I can see in there. Nothing apparent in the sand or mud, but all sand/mud carries larvae/eggs, tons of bacteria etc which is what I need and life always springs up out of nowhere with this kind of stuff. The mud is going to be awesome in my ecosystem refugium combined with the "miracle mud" already in there which comes basically dead save for whatever is in there now.
This stuff is more like the real thing anyway. Plus this will be good for mangroves and I want a couple just because they're cool.

I think this stuff is going to really improve the overall quality and stability of the system and I am excited to see how the corals respond. They'll tell you all you really need to know...

It's kind of funny too. After adding the golden sand to the back corner of my tank, I realized how I like the darker look of it. Very cool maybe I'll get more and mix it up. I just like the look. It's more authentic I guess.

Floridapets does like a really good job of packing this stuff and I'm happy. 80whatever bucks to save a ton of headaches in the future is more than fine with me. I see people spending thousands and still standing there with dinos and a bald spot, so there's that.

Look at all that bacteria and "stuff"...hopefully good stuff! My corals seem to like it.

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

Just noticed Premium Aquatics is running a sale on the ATI Straton's...the 102 is 20% off, making it$1,180.95. I didn't know they offered them in a white finish either...

 

[CBonito]

Just noticed Premium Aquatics is running a sale on the ATI Straton's...the 102 is 20% off, making it$1,180.95. I didn't know they offered them in a white finish either...

Still not a good deal, but better than I got. LOL
Yeah, if I'm not mistaken I think white is still delayed. Black should be in stock.

 

[CBonito]

Since adding the Mud and Sand from Floridapets to my system, I am noticing better polyp extension.
The tank is not coated in dirt like when you put new sand in. So all that cloudiness must have been just bacteria and whatnot. water has cleared up really nice and everything is looking good. Corals are all happy.

All I can really do now is just figure out what I am going to use to test and dose. I am about to just plunk down on the reefbot lab because it seems like a better engineered product and not just a piece of plastic crap. And I think kamoer dosers for kalk, AFR and probably calcium part.

 

[CBonito]

OK, so I mentioned that I don't care for the visual color of the Straton (even though it's the ticket) compared to my kessils and how I want light hitting everything from both directions if at all possible. And this is true.

So I got to thinking and came up with what I have below which I think is amazing!

I have 500 PAR over my pink millepora and green millepora which are the highest up and everyone else is getting 400+ at mid depth and 250 on the bottom. And it's like an even blanket of light. And only the kessils are at 100 percent power and 100 percent blue. Because I like it. According to my Apex I am using 175 watts of light total for all its worth. Not bad.
There is a LOT of headroom left in the ATI. I just don't need it at this point. But it's there. Like another 50 percent. I just think the measured PAR is great though it could be more than I'm aware of. I guess the kessils are hard to measure at least with my parwise, but whatever. I'm an advocate of strong lighting.

The tank is a very crisp blue white now like a radium and the shimmer is back. I am very happy with it and I am overlapping the kessil spectrum and the ATI spectrum which are both winners. So we can stop thinking about lighting anymore. The only thing I want to do is figure out how to make these kessils ramp up and down with the spectral controller. I'm too stupid right now and I got annoyed with it, so I'll get back to that.

Looks pretty slick huh? It's actually very solid and all the wiring is nice and neat so it doesnt look like cobbled junk...even though it is. ahaha...

 

[CBonito]

The Florida Keys Live Mud has a LOT of life forms in it. I'm happy and kind of scared at the same time about that.
In my refugium right now, I have all kinds of tube worms that just like appeared out of nowhere. I think this mud is what is really going to make my refugium. And I take some solace knowing that anything potentially bad that comes out of the refugium to the tank...has to make it through the varios 6 impeller first. ;)

So far, all my corals are looking excellent and the tank overall looks great. I have some decisions to make about how to rid myself of some turf algae. Growing pains of a new tank...whether I want to scrub off the rocks and move forward, or pull my macroalgae from my refugium and treat the tank. We'll see. One way or another it will be gone.

I have added 2 DI stages with TDS meter to my ro system and I am replacing all the filters/backwashing my membrane tomorrow because I have to do my weekly water change, and up until now I have been assuming that my current ro/di is adequate and not really knowing for sure...so now we'll know. I plan to add the water saver too, but that's another day. I dont care right now about that.