Ento-Reefer's 180g Build Thread

Ento-Reefer · Feb 22, 2018

I ended up re-scaping the right side of the tank. I wasn't satisfied with the flow and it seemed like the huge rock formation/cave was going to trap waste. I figured I may as well change it now before it becomes a problem. I will post a video this weekend. I have a couple of really nice coral colonies coming on Saturday so I'll wait until Sunday to shoot the footage so I can include them.
I am going to get my doser set up soon. I decided to go with ATI Essentials and it should be here early next week. I am starting to get enough corals in the tank that I don't want to keep dosing by hand.

cycled123 · Feb 22, 2018

I will have to follow how the ATI Essentials goes for you. I am intrigued by that program.

Ento-Reefer · Feb 22, 2018

cycled123 said:
I will have to follow how the ATI Essentials goes for you. I am intrigued by that program.

I have been researching a few different dosing options and it was between the Red Sea Foundation and ATI. I will definitely keep this thread updated with how the tank and corals respond. I plan on sending in a water sample to be tested after a couple of months of dosing to see where all the levels are. I also purchased the Hanna dkh checker and I love it!! Quick and easy to use.

cycled123 · Feb 23, 2018

Ento-Reefer said:
I have been researching a few different dosing options and it was between the Red Sea Foundation and ATI. I will definitely keep this thread updated with how the tank and corals respond. I plan on sending in a water sample to be tested after a couple of months of dosing to see where all the levels are. I also purchased the Hanna dkh checker and I love it!! Quick and easy to use.

I'm regretting not getting the hanna dkh checker on black Friday. Maybe next year

Ento-Reefer · Feb 24, 2018

I posted a new video today. It ended up being longer than I intended, I kinda rambled on, but anyway.

Ento-Reefer · Mar 5, 2018

I finally got around to taking some photos of my tank. I got an app called aquarium cam and it worked pretty well. The tank is just about 2 months old now.

Ento-Reefer · Mar 5, 2018

I got my Coral Box doser set up and it is working well. I do have one dosing head that I can’t get working, but I will be getting a new head sent to me to exchange it out. So far the ATI Essentials is going ok. My alk has been fairly stable within .3 dkh each day when I check it.

cycled123 · Mar 5, 2018

I keep noticing your fire fish whenever I look at your pics or videos. They weren't on my original stocking list but I may have to look into getting some, lol.

Ento-Reefer · Mar 5, 2018

cycled123 said:
I keep noticing your fire fish whenever I look at your pics or videos. They weren't on my original stocking list but I may have to look into getting some, lol.

Those guys are always out front and center ready to photo bomb. They aren’t shy at all. Great little fish.

Ento-Reefer · Mar 10, 2018

So far the dosing is going good. My alk has been holding steady at 7.8-8.0 and calcium right at 400-420. I need to test my mag tonight. Everything is doing fine nothing new to report. I am planning a trip to the LFS store tomorrow and might pick up some clowns if they have what I want.

Ento-Reefer · Mar 17, 2018

I got my Nikon out today and decided to try and get some photos of my corals and fish. I really need to get a tripod. I have a few new corals and believe it or not, two anemones. This was not planned to happen so soon. I was at my LFS on Monday and they had what was labeled as a magnifica or ritteri and I have always wanted to keep one. It looked really good so I decided to give it try. Once I got it home and in the tank I began to suspect it was a green LTA and I was right. It is beautiful and I decided I would keep it anyway.

It has settled in nicely and continues to color up and spread out. I stopped back by the LFS to talk to let them know about the mistaken id and since the price for the LTA was less I had some credit to spend. I spotted a very healthy sebae anemone that unfortunately was dyed yellow. This was actually my first time seeing a dyed one face to face. I didn't think this type of stuff was still being done. It has been many years since I have seen a sebae this large that looked so healthy in a LFS. I owned a large purple (the one in my avatar) for several years and the tentacle length on this dyed one was very similar. Impulsively and against my better judgement I decided to bring this one home. I have read a few accounts where people were successful in keeping them and they regained their natural tannish color after several months.

This beauty attached within 5 minutes and has not deflated even once since being placed in my tank. It has accepted a small piece of salmon which I intend to feed every couple of days until it has regained its correct color. I probably should have left this anemone in the store because I definitely don't support this practice, but I felt so bad for this animal and just had to try and save it. I will keep this thread updated with how it does.

A few more photos of my corals and fish.

A pink tipped green torch

Purple and orange palys

Purple w/green polyps acro

Ora Scripps

Ora Pink & Green Damicornus

Superman Monti

Ora green sinularia

Melanurus wrasse ( I think he is my favorite)

Just a random shot of the right side of the tank

cycled123 · Mar 17, 2018

Looking Good! I too can't believe animals are still getting dyed

I am always looking for something "yellow" for my tank but there is not a lot out there that is truly yellow. So we are going with quite a few fish that have yellow on them

Ento-Reefer · Mar 19, 2018

My latest FTS taken today. It is super difficult for me to get the whole tank in one shot. This was the best I could do. Taken with my iPhone.

Ento-Reefer · Mar 19, 2018

The pink tipped torch was looking so nice tonight I just had to take a photo.

Cliff Shepherd · Mar 20, 2018

Looks great, and build went especially well good job

Ento-Reefer · Mar 21, 2018

Had the day off today due to the snow so I made a short update video of the tank.

Cliff Shepherd · Mar 23, 2018

The snow looks just like what we recieved today in Alberta. But we don't get the day off!!!
Love the video update

Ento-Reefer · Mar 28, 2018

A good friend of mine had to take her relatively new reef tank down due to taking a job out of the country, She called me this past Sunday and asked me if I would take her powder blue tang, convict tang, and 3 lyretail anthis. I honestly had not considered anthias or a convict tang for my tank. I decided to take them because I know she has a strict qt. protocol and getting these type of fish already conditioned doesn't happen for me , ever...lol.. I guess I will find out just how good my qt. procedures have been considering I just added two Acanthurus tangs to my tank. I posted a video in the tang aggression thread yesterday as my scopas was giving the PBT a little grief. Today things are very much improved and all of the new fish are eating and playing nicely. Here is a little update clip I just took.

mrtian97 · Mar 29, 2018

Nice tank, just a heads up, the red and green favia will encrust on the rock and grow large in 2 yrs (see mine, started similar size as yours). It has long tentacles that will zap is s surrounding

Ento-Reefer · Mar 30, 2018

mrtian97 said:
Nice tank, just a heads up, the red and green favia will encrust on the rock and grow large in 2 yrs (see mine, started similar size as yours). It has long tentacles that will zap is s surrounding

Thank you for the tip. Your favia is beautiful. Mine is actually purple and green, but it probably looks red in my photos. I have a hard time capturing the true colors of my corals sometimes.