74 Gallon Build

[palvyre]

Got an awesome deal on some Duncan polyps. $40 for a 12 head frag at AC. Also picked up an incredible looking leopard wrasse.

 

[palvyre]

 

[palvyre]

Actual pic. She came out this morning.

 

[schooleyosis]

Awesome fish!

 

[NeveSSL]

Nice! Have you tried feeding her yet?

Brandon

 

[palvyre]

They said she was eating mysis at AC. She buried herself again around noon, so she wasn't out for supper. When she was out earlier she picked at the rock and glass.

 

[bknapp]

Best of luck. My absolute favorite fish. I tried one and it never came out.

 

[palvyre]

Mine is coming out for about half a day and was eating frozen mysis today.

 

[palvyre]

This skimmer is rocking too. Broke in and removing lots of gunk.

 

[schooleyosis]

Glad to hear that it's eating.

 

[palvyre]

Fed this morning since I am working from home. She was actively feeding on mysis.

 

[Dowtish]

Looks sweet!

Congratz on the leopard wrasse!

 

[palvyre]

Being very careful with feeding on this build. Feeding by syringe like I did on my JBJ 30. I am convinced pretty much all my problems in my 180 came down to major over feeding. Maybe lots of low flow areas as well. On this build I bought lower gph pumps, more of them and placed at different elevations to eliminate all the dead spots.

 

[schooleyosis]

Good plan!!!!

 

[NeveSSL]

Being very careful with feeding on this build. Feeding by syringe like I did on my JBJ 30. I am convinced pretty much all my problems in my 180 came down to major over feeding. Maybe lots of low flow areas as well. On this build I bought lower gph pumps, more of them and placed at different elevations to eliminate all the dead spots.

Can you elaborate on feeding with a syringe and why its beneficial?

Thanks!

Brandon

 

[palvyre]

I mix different types of frozen together and then keep it in the fridge. I use a syringe to extract just what I want to feed and then it gives me very granular control on how much I put in at a time. I can then watch the fish and ensure it is all eaten before I add more. Previously on this size tank I would likely have thrown in 2 frozen cubes per day + pellets and had a snow globe effect. Now 2 cubes is lasting me a week at a time using this method. No wonder I had such horrible problems with algae and coral growth in general before. I have had the past 18 months to practice this feeding method on my JBJ 30 to good effect.

 

[NeveSSL]

Gotcha. That's an awesome idea. I'm thinking about feeding quality pellets in a Neptune Auto Feeder daily or maybe twice daily (if I get anthias) and doing Reef Frenzy and maybe some others every other day or so. I don't think I'd want to feed every day with a syringe, personally, but maybe every other day or every 3 days would work well.

How many fish did you have in your 180?

Brandon

 

[schooleyosis]

I was doing this one week at a time and the food eventually started to smell like death. I would try and not let the thawed food sit for more than a few days, even if it is in the fridge.

I now mix up one cube of frozen with garlic guard, Selcon, and a little Reef Plus or Reef Snow so that the corals get a little feeding every time as well. 10mL syringe fed each day which usually equals one cube of frozen every two days.

 

[palvyre]

I had 13 fish in the 180 including 6 show size fish. Naso Tang/Blue Tang/Sailfin Tang/Emperor Angel/Yellow Tang/Fox Face. All of them except the yellow tang were 5"+. I was also using Bio-pellets and GFO off and on. Goes to show, no amount of filtration will take care of poor feeding habits.

 

[NeveSSL]

Makes sense and is a great point. I assume you also never rinsed the food? Do you rinse now?

Brandon