FOWLR tank

[Euphyllia97]

Hi guys!

Have been keeping multiple tanks the past years ranging from 10 gallon to 180 gallon sps reef tank. But this time focusing on fish. After a false start on this tank with some fish lost due to marine velvet. I am now approaching the point of being able to reintroduce the surviving fish. (They have been through treatment and observation for 8 weeks now) . Planned livestock below! Keep you updated on this built (125 gallon DT, 5ft)

- 2 clownfish
- Yellow coris wrasse
- leopard wrasse
- Ctenochaetus Flavicauda
- Multibarred angelfish (tank bred)
- Royal gramma

System does have a skunk cleaner shrimp and a tuxedo urchin in it. Lots of pods and chaeto in the sump have been growing during my fallow period. The tank was first setup 6 months ago.

Also attached a small pic of one of my 2 QT’s. (The blue tang will go into an 8ft. But the clownfish will be part of the “FOWLR-crew”

 

[Peace River]

Nice! Congratulations on the adventure!!!

 

[JumboShrimp]

Good looking tank

 

[Euphyllia97]

Update: the tank has been running for 15 months now and all livestock has been placed inside of the aquarium. Each individual fish has been quarantined and medicated with copper (30 days) and praziquantel. Apart from one banggai cardinal that has vanished +-2 weeks after introduction to the display tank, no health issues have been noticed so far.

I had a small blue tang (2cm long) that was severely infected and was also treated with kanamycin as fin rot was suspected during its post-copper treatment. Once upon introduction into the display tank, she wasn’t able to swim of the sand and wasn’t able to swim for +- 4 months. Very slowly by placing sheets of nori and almost zero flow, the tang started to gain some strength back. Negative buoyancy due to permanent swim bladder damage is probably the cause. It was a slow progress, but today she is able to hover in medium to strong flow, indicating she has gained her muscles back and has a partially recovered swim bladder. (Her swimming is still not normal for a blue tang, but this might even be due to learned behaviour). She is about 7cm at the time of writing and very active in her own way. She will be ready for her upgrade to an 8ft tank in 1 year.

Current livestock:

- Occelaris Clownfish
- Blackstorm clownfish
- Lawnmower blenny
- yellow clown goby
- Leopard wrasse
- Orangeback fairy wrasse
- regal angelfish (4-5cm will be rehomed to the 8ft)
- blue tang (7cm will be rehomed to the 8ft)
- valentini pufferfish
- trimma cana

This tank was started as a fowlr with some artificial corals which proved to be a pain in the butt to clean during the stabilisation periods of a new system. They were removed and the scape was slightly changed to more open to accomodate the growing tang and angelfish.

Biggest issues in this tank I have had (especially with limited natural cleaners die to the puffer) were:
- Diatoms (Gone)
- Film algae (mostly gone)
- GHA (mostly gone)
- spirorbid snails (still there but a lot less agressive)
- Dinoflagellates in the sand only (gone)
- a huge bloom of pineapple sponges (mostly gone, my regal was happy with this)

I believe most of these were caused by higher and imbalanced nutrient levels combined with an immature biodiversity. They have mostly been fixed by aging of the tank and lower balanced import and export of nutrients)

1 month ago I took the decision to try a couple of “compatibel” corals to keep with the puffer and the regal. I don’t mind if some of them end up as expensive food for my fish.

The upgrade to corals consisted of:

- 2 ai prime hd 16’s LED’s
- Red sea reefwave 45 wavemaker
- red sea Reefer skimmer 300 DC
- Nyos torq reactor running rowaphos and Sometimes active carbon
- Switching to rodi and enriched salt from tap water and basic salt

All of them open up nicely and have nice coloration. They received a good dip and pest inspection before introduction.

- Assortment of soft corals, zoanthids (fingers crossed) and mushrooms(yuma,green,red,….), isolated gsp
- Euphyllia Paraancora, bicolor and a golden torch.
- Montipora capricornis green, red and purple

 

[JumboShrimp]

Thanks for the update, and the photos.