Abnormal Reefer’s 180 Gallon Grand Slice of the Ocean (Cyano Battle)

[AbnormalReefer]

Start Date - 10/28/18 (Celebrating 3 months in operation!!!)

It’s time to go bigger, time to go badder, time to turn this former planted tank into a mega reef!

Recent changes -

Did some work on a frag tank that I will be connecting soon.

Replaced Niger trigger with blue throat trigger female

Added several new acropora species/designers

Rearranged rockwork

Stocking -

x2 Maroon Clown
x1 Sail-fin Tang
x1 Purple Tang
x1 Fox-face
x1 Blue Throat Trigger
x4 Green Chromis
x2 Leopard Wrasse
x1 Aiptasia Eating Filefish
x1 Algae Blenny
x1 Snowflake Eel

Rest In Peace -

Chocolate Tang - Died from unknown infection - 11/26/18
Maroon Clownfish - Stung By Lionfish - 12/30/18
Male Leopard Wrasse - Jumped - 2/15/19

Inverts -

(Will buffer CUC soon; very weak currently)

x10 Cerith Snails
x12 Turbo Snails
x10 Hermit Crabs
x2 Emerald Crabs
x1 Cleaner Shrimp

Lighting -

x2 AquaIllumination Hydra 26 HD

Flow -

x2 SunSun 3200gph Powerheads (Powerhouse Flow)
x2 Rossmont Mover 1200 (For Display Refugium

Filtration -

Live Rock in Sump
Activated Carbon
Ceramic Rings
Filter Socks
Chaetomorpha
Reef Octopus BH 1000 Skimmer

Future Plans -

*Add Display Refugium OR Frag Tank

*Add more spread out lighting and PAR

*Add one more AI Hydra 26 (The way my aquascape is, a third isn’t that necessary given that my rocks are on the sides; however, for aesthetics and when I do put corals in the middle, I will be saving up).

*Buffer CUC with more snails, hermit crabs, crabs, urchins, starfish (later down the road), and possibly try out a cleaner shrimp.

*Monitor parameters for continued stay

 

[ndrwater]

I like it!! Keep the updates coming!!

 

[SPR1968]

Looks great so far and thanks for sharing the pictures with us

I really like the minimalistic rock work

And welcome to R2R!

 

[AbnormalReefer]

Thanks! I’ve always liked the idea of doing one big reef and one small reef

 

[AbnormalReefer]

Update 11/3/18

Speaking of that, here is the scape after adding some live rocks from my 55 gallon tank (and by some, I mean all the rocks that weren’t covered with corals, ha!)

Some hermit crabs and snails managed to hitch a ride, a mix from the rock I added from my LFS and from my old 55. Hope they’ll be ok during the cycle.

Readings for ammonia and nitrite were .75 ppm and .25 ppm respectively.

I am also very proud of this sump underneath. It’s not anything fancy like BRS has, but it’s very simple and I feel will be effective

The empty compartment will either house an in sump protein skimmer or a DSB for fauna and flora to populate such as nassarius snails and pods. The middle compartment will eventually have chaetomorpha in it along with a grow light, most likely a Kessil H80. Finally, the last compartment houses the return pump along with carbon, GFO, biomedia, and Cuprisorb.

 

[AbnormalReefer]

Update 11/9

Tank cycled about 6 days ago due to addition of more LR and biospira. Doses ammonia to ensure cycle was complete. Tank goes through 2 ppm in 24 hours.

I transferred my Green Chromis over around 4 days ago and have used them to indicate my water quality. They settled in fine and have been eating and breathing normally since.

Just today I added my fuzzy dwarf and antennata lionfish to the tank. If all goes well I may add my maroon clowns in a few days, as I want my skimmer transferred over ASAP so waste doesn’t overwhelm the new system.

I will only show pictures of the lionfish and chromis, as not much else has changed since my update a week ago.

Green Chromis (Hard to catch on camera)

Fuzzy Dwarf Lionfish

Antennata Lionfish


Soon with the clownfish I may add in some of my cheap gold dust palys to test if my lighting will work for corals at the moment. That way I don’t have to keep them in my 55 gallon with no skimmer or filtration besides live rock

 

[AbnormalReefer]

Future Plans -

*Add Display Refugium

Will contain Macroalgae of various types for decoration; will have chaeto for nutrient export; may have Aiptasia Eating filefish for Aiptasia control; full details in attached image.

*Add more spread out lighting and PAR

- Add one more AI Hydra 26
- Supplement with custom spectrum Orphek OR 90s; 2 36” on each side.

*Buffer CUC with more snails, hermit crabs, crabs, urchins, starfish (later down the road), and possibly try out a cleaner shrimp if I’m feeling daring with the Niger trigger and lionfish.

*Monitor parameters for continued stability

 

[AbnormalReefer]

Update 11/22/18 -

WOOOO HOOOO!!!!! Your 14 year old reefer finally (not without the begging of one out of two as an early Christmas gift) obtained 2 AI Hydra 26s, and moved all of his corals over.

Green Goniopora

Green Hydnophora

Red Deepwater Gorgonian

Rainbow Acan (I think)

Gold Dust Palys and Radioactive Dragon Eye Zoas

Euphyllia

Orange-Red Montipora Digi

I also moved my 3 maroon clownfish over around a week ago(not a typo...) and they are loving life with their new space and territory along with their RBTAs.

The ammonia level remained consistent throughout the week. (I literally tested everyday out of worry). Finally, at a very convenient timing, my LFS, Captain Nemo’s, was having their anniversary sale! I stumbled upon this very nice juvenile transitioning chocolate tang, and a dull Niger trigger who colored up very nicely in my tank! Of course, my mom fell in love with the chocolate tang; I ended up getting that as a freebie without having to spend any allowance! (Haha).

Chocolate Tang and Niger Trigger; Photobomb from Ripper the maroon clownfish.

Niger Trigger (Haven’t named him yet)

I also picked up a really nice pair of leopard wrasse for free from my friend as a gift too! (Santa must’ve visited me early, lol). I’ve never really cared for wrasse up to this point, however, I’ve since changed my mind since meeting this pair! Do not fear, I’ve added a container filled with sand for the two to burry at night!

I think this is the male wrasse

I also made some modifications to the sump. I removed the compartments so it’s 1 compartment now. The skimmer is officially moved over as well!

Left will be a mini “display” refugium for my enjoyment and for some added flare. Right contains the skimmer and pump.

Here is a full shot of the tank on daylight with the AIs:

 

[AbnormalReefer]

Glitch Post

 

[AbnormalReefer]

Update 12/15/18

Phew! It’s been a few busy weeks between school, sports, and music! Figured it’s about time to update again -

Full Tank Shot -

Tank looks way brighter with 2 AI Hydras only, simply wanted to modify the photo so corals fluorescence more. But really need a third for pictures sake so that the middle isn’t so dark!

Changes -

Added Giant Sailfin Tang
Added Purple Tang

And that’s about it honestly.... been way too busy with school to worry about too many new additions.

Here are some tank shots to close out this update:

Red People Eater Zoas

Radioactive Dragon Eye Zoas

Green Goniopora

Euphyllia

Red Deepwater Gorgonian

Various Acropora

Also.... I found 2 baby aiptasia in the tank!!! I did something questionable to get rid of them, but it seemed to work. Instead of using something like Aiptasia-X, I just squirted them with Red Sea NOPOX and they disintegrated!!!

Here are my clowns! -

 

[AbnormalReefer]

Update 1/11/19 -

Coral wise, not much has been added besides 2 acropora frags I wanted to try out. Fish wise...... it’s been busy to say the least....

I’ve added a purple and sail-fin tang, an algae blenny, a fox-face, an aptasia eating filefish, and a very picky snowflake eel. Unfortunately though, I’ve lost one of my maroon clowns. My best guess was due to a lion-fish sting. Since then, the antennata and fuzzy have been re-homed to the LFS. Although I love lion-fish, I am not sure I will keep one in my display anymore due to reasons as evidenced above. However, I may keep a small fuzzy in my display refugium. Speaking of which:

The idea of integrating a display refugium in the sump has been cancelled. An even better solution has risen. I will be using my old 55 gallon as a display refugium separate from the sump! The idea will still be the same though. A place for pods to grow with tons of varieties of macro algae.

Here are some tank shots to close out:

FTS :

 

[AbnormalReefer]

Update 1/27/19 -

Fish wise, nothing has changed minus the swap out of my niger trigger to a blue throat female trigger! I think I was conned about 2 months ago when I bought it from my LFS (Too many politics involved for this post, so message me if you’re really interested.) I was assured nigers were reef safe, however, it’s been increasingly shown that based on my research, as adults, nigers are a very aggressive fish more suited to a FOWLR tank.

Not on the main tank, however, I’ve set up my old 55 gallon as a frag system! Currently there is only GSP in it, however, I’ve already fragged and made over 100$ in acros!

Coral wise, several new acropora have been added to the tank. I’ve added green Acropora h., Walt Disney, purple haze, and ORA red planet acropora to the mix. The Walt is starting to show specs of of orange on the polyps and is encrusting very well:

I also sold a bunch of my LPS because I wasn’t really too into them. I feel as if my destiny is calling for an SPS dominant tank.