Dutch Reefer 350

[Daan Hijmans]

Hey Guys,

Like I posted in my introduction this is my third tank build after a 16 gallon and a 30 gallon nano tank. Both which have run for over 2 years. As off today this tank is one year old. It had it's ups and downs but I'm proud of where it's at right now.

This tank build was a slow one due to buying a house and still working on it a bit here and there so the hobby took a back seat at times which sadly showed. I battled dino and other weird algae's. Made stupid fish purchases with a flame angel (favorite fish ever) and a yellow tang who where both very aggressive. I need the inhabitants to be peacefull otherwise I can't sit and enjoy the tank for it's aggression drives me crazy so the tang and the flame angel had to move out back to the LFS.

As if now I have the following fish:
2 occelaris clowns
2 barlett's anthias
2 chromis
Yellow cortis wrasse
Green manderin who has been my latest edition to celebrate my one year anniversary. (I know him and the cortis wrasse battle for the same foods so I monitor him closely that he doesn't go annorexic on me.)

One anthias and a chromis died mysteriously so the both "couples" are very aggresive towards one another so I think they have to move out too. I think chromis are cool schooling fish but maybe better suited for a bigger tank, as are the anthias. I think I should reserve the bioload for more characteristic fish.

As corals go I have a couple of euphyllia's, duncan, candy cane, acan's, montipora's, fungia, zoa's and I just put in some test acro frags which seem to do very good if you look at their PE.

I know it still looks kind of empty. I had to move my zoa's to a shaded area because they where melting with the radion's even turned down to 35%

As the equipement goes I worked my way up to some pretty decent stuff over the years:
2 Ecotech Radion XR30 pro G3's
3 Ecotech Vortech MP10esW's
Vertex omega 150
Sicce Syncra Silent 4.5
2 150W Sicce heaters on a Aquamedic Twin Temp Controller
Grotech tech 3 for dosing.

For additional filtrition I rock a marine pure brick and 2 D&D media reactors with carbon and Rowaphos which is GFO I think? but used a lot more in Europe.

I changed my lightschedule yesterday to a Corallab AB+ inspired schedule with a shorter peak intensity (45%) and a acclimation timer for 6 weeks.

I had a lot of brown algae but as my nitrates and phosphates where 0 and 0.08 I decided to upgrade my RODI system.

I went from: (with a di stage after ofcourse)

To: 6 stage system

Yesterday my parameters where:
0 ppm Nitrate (Red Sea Pro)
0.08 ppm phosphate (Red Sea Pro)
470 ppm Calcium (Red Sea Pro)
10 dKH Alkalinity (Red Sea Pro)
1350 ppm Magnesium (Red Sea Pro)

I normally use the regular red sea salt but they where sold out so I bought the coral pro because I wanted to do a big waterchange with my new RODI-water to remove as much of the contaminants as I could. It probably raised my alkalinity a bit so I cut back on my dosing and monitor the tank a bit closer to my next waterchange.

So that was a big intro. If you're still with me you're a ******. Sorry for the bad photo's. I still need to figure out a way to make better photo's with my iphone 6s without cutting the blue's out of my light's.

So my next step is trying to get a couple of cool acro's to see how they grow. I'm thinking of moving the anthias' and the chromissis sis is s? (sorry for the bad english) and figuring out my stocking-plan. I'd like a "prize" fish or too.

I'll try to be active but we're expecting our first child in 4 weeks so that might throw a big pink wrench into that plan.

Thanks guys

 

[KJ]

Nice job

 

[Fudsey]

Very nice setup. Will be a pleasure to watch it grow out too

 

[DLHDesign]

Looking good above and below!

I'll try to be active but we're expecting our first child in 4 weeks so that might throw a big pink wrench into that plan.

Congrats! New little ones can certainly throw a wrench into your tank maintenance, that's for sure. ;-)

 

[Daan Hijmans]

Looking good above and below!


Congrats! New little ones can certainly throw a wrench into your tank maintenance, that's for sure. ;-)

Thanks bud! It will probably be for the better, let the tank rest for a bit. I tend to get obsessed and be very detailed with my aquascape even though there’s not a lot to scape yet.

 

[Daan Hijmans]

So I wanted to run something by you guys today. I’m going to turn in my two anthias’ and two chromis this weekend which leaves me with my two clowns, a manderin and my choris wrasse. While I don’t have the ambition to put 15 fish in there, I’d like some more different colors/characters. I would eventually love a small purple tang and my absolute dreamfish is a flame angel. These guys get big so I feel like they cap my bioload and my experience with their agression wasn’t that great in the past. That leaves the question if the tank is even big enough in the first place.

I’d also love a blue star leopard wrasse but I feel like there are too many fish battling for manderin food

Maybe the way to go is just some smaller species like a dottyback or something.

You get my point. Trying to figure out a balance between a couple of prize-fish while respecting the whole minimal tank size thing.

Any thoughts/ideas?

 

[Daan Hijmans]

Any input anyone?

 

[Matze]

Good evening

First thing you did a great job with your Reefer. I really like your aquascape!
Simplicity can't be beaten.

As for your question:

In my opinion the dimensions of a Reefer are not suited for any kind of larger fish such as the purple tang.
The agression part aside, those animals do swim and swim and swim. I had a 110g tank years ago and made the mistake to introduce two Zebrasoma flavescens. Very soon they developed a very strange behavior of swimming up and down the front glass all day.
That doesn't mean it has to be like this all the time, but you might consider this when deciding on whether you should get a purple tang or not.

As for the flame angel, I think it will work out fine. A reefing buddy of mine has got a pair in his 60x60x60cm cube and they seem to be doing fine. Only problem with them is their sporadic appetite for SPS.

Is there an established pod population in your tank? Does your mandarin accept frozen foods? If so, a leopard wrasse should be fine.
But there might be a display of agression between the leopard and the mandarin because of them liking the same foods.

Hope I could offer you some thoughts, that might help you.

Greetings from Germany
Matze

 

[elisa h]

I think instead of the purple tang you should consider a tomini tang or a yellow eye kole tang. Both have that beautiful purple color but would be way better suited for your tank size. As far as fish with 'character' I know a lot of people like the personality of the flame hawk fish. Also the Midas blenny is pretty cute. To replace your schooling fish such as the chromis and anthias, you could try out fire fish. They're peaceful so they shouldn't cause any problems.

 

[Daan Hijmans]

Sorry for the late reaction and thank you for taking the time to write such an extensive reply. I've heared a great deal of people having succes with a small purple tang in a 4 ft tank but I will take your experience to heart and do some more research.

I need some kind of algae-grazer and the gf hates the lawnmower blenny haha. Since the purple tang is one of my favorite fish it's hard to leave it at the fish-store.
Bottom-line, I should have bought a bigger tank haha.

My Mandarin is fat and happy. I buy live copepods who'm I introduce to the tank every week and I have a big marine pure blok in my sump which acts as a refugium for them to populate. Since the tank is over a year old now, I'm not scared to run out of them anytime soon. I was actually more afraid of my coris wrasse. Never seen him show any type of agression but he's probably pretty low in the hierarchy lead by my dictator anthias haha.

Good evening

First thing you did a great job with your Reefer. I really like your aquascape!
Simplicity can't be beaten.

As for your question:

In my opinion the dimensions of a Reefer are not suited for any kind of larger fish such as the purple tang.
The agression part aside, those animals do swim and swim and swim. I had a 110g tank years ago and made the mistake to introduce two Zebrasoma flavescens. Very soon they developed a very strange behavior of swimming up and down the front glass all day.
That doesn't mean it has to be like this all the time, but you might consider this when deciding on whether you should get a purple tang or not.

As for the flame angel, I think it will work out fine. A reefing buddy of mine has got a pair in his 60x60x60cm cube and they seem to be doing fine. Only problem with them is their sporadic appetite for SPS.

Is there an established pod population in your tank? Does your mandarin accept frozen foods? If so, a leopard wrasse should be fine.
But there might be a display of agression between the leopard and the mandarin because of them liking the same foods.

Hope I could offer you some thoughts, that might help you.

Greetings from Germany
Matze

 

[Daan Hijmans]

Thanks for your reply Elisa I've looked into the midas blenny, but since I already have 2 clowns I'm afraid my tank will become a mascott for the dutch soccer team haha.

I wil look into your alternative tang species! The purple firefish might be really cool in group of 3, great idea

I think instead of the purple tang you should consider a tomini tang or a yellow eye kole tang. Both have that beautiful purple color but would be way better suited for your tank size. As far as fish with 'character' I know a lot of people like the personality of the flame hawk fish. Also the Midas blenny is pretty cute. To replace your schooling fish such as the chromis and anthias, you could try out fire fish. They're peaceful so they shouldn't cause any problems.

 

[Daan Hijmans]

So guys, I took your advice to heart and decided not to get any tang for my tank. I don't feel comfertable pushing the limits with fish and tanksize when I really think about. So the head outsmarts the heart this time. Instead I'm getting a lawnmower blenny this weekend to control the algae a bit.

My final stocking list will probably be this:
2 Clownfish
Mandarin
Yellow Wrasse
Lawnmower blenny
Leopard Wrasse
Flame angel

I will probably add the flame angel once my leopard wrasse is settled in.

I would like some purple in the tank to fill out the colorpalet so an orchid dottyback would be nice. Don't know how that will play out with agression though. I would probably have to add him after the wrasse and before the flame-angel.

Would love your advice one last time on this one is this stocking plan pushing the limit or relativelly safe?

Thanks in advance guys.

 

[Matze]

I think you did well with your decision
It will be a stunning tank with a harmonic fish society inside (dang no idea whether that is a correct english sentence or not ^^)

Dottybacks can sometimes be bullies and even charge larger fish. But that beeing said in my experience their agression is quit easy controllable with food and placing them towards the end of your stocking plan.

Have you considered Royal grammas?
They would also fit your desire for something purple They are extremly peaceful, are a joy to watch when they are looking out their caves and you could get a small group of 3

I like your stocking plan and am really excited to see it executed

 

[Daan Hijmans]

Thanks for being on the ball with the replies man. Appreciate that a lot.

I get what you mean man! The whole harmony of fish living together peacefully beats a super colorfull but agressive prizefish any day of the week!

I did look at a gramma and I love that fish. It might actually be a better fit because he’s more in open water than a dottyback in my experience. Never researched if they do well in groups though. I will do that! I went with the dottyback because my wrasse already crossed the yellow in my tank. Will think about it for sure though!

 

[Matze]

You're welcome

Exactly what I ment

Royal Grammas do exceptionally well in small groups. I kept a group of 3 in my 110g tank and later 5 in my 220g system.

They seek out their own spots in the aquascape and stay there pretty much all the time. And with a group I feel, you will actually have them out in the open water more. Maybe they feel more secure or something, don't know why

May I ask where in the Netherlands you are located? I live close to Dortmund in Germany and hit your guys saltwater stores across the border a few times a year

 

[Daan Hijmans]

Oh dude then your only an hour and a half away. I live in a small village near the city of Nijmegen. That’s about as close to germany as you can get. But this will probably flood this thread[emoji23] I’ll dm you!

 

[Daan Hijmans]

So today I wanted to do something different then an aquarium update.

I wanted you to meet the newest reefer on the forum: Nova.
She’s 2 days old and can’t wait to go home, stare at her fish and **** her pants!

 

[Lasse]

Congratulations

I started that way – end up with four. Nowadays I’m only receive grandchildren

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Fudsey]

CONGRATS ! ! ! !