making waves & changing the paradigm

[muntwo]

With this tank build, I hope to challenge some popular sentiments, conventional aquarium design, and stimulate discussion on reef aquarium husbandry because while we have come a long way in the art and science of reef keeping, there is always room for improvement and alternative approaches to healthy aquarium systems.


Let's start off with some specs then some photos:
Main Display: 40 gallon breeder
Refugium: 15 gallon standard
Lighting: 160W 16000K Maxspect Razor over display, 2 no-name 24" T5 fixtures (6 bulbs total; roughly 8000K color)
Temp Control: 125W Eheim heater in display, 50W Eheim heater in sump
Water Circulation: 2 Tunze 6015 and 1 MaxiJet 400 in display, Tunze Silence in sump
Fish: 2 A. ocellaris, 1 H. leucoxanthus

Main Display: 40 gallon breeder, dominated by soft corals

Refugium: 15 gallon tank behind and elevated above the main display

Refugium filled with live rock and chaeto

Water is pumped from the right side of the main display into the refugium

Water drains from the refugium back into the left side of the main display

Here's to a successful reef tank and a thread with regular updates! Feedback is appreciated and I hope you enjoy the build!

 

[muntwo]

These photos might better illustrate how the water circulates between the display and the refugium:

Water is pumped through Mur-lok tubing on the right side into the refugium and overflows through a 1" bulkhead on the left side back into the display.

The weight of the 1" PVC (filled with water) is supported by a small wooden block with a semi-circle drilled into the top end for a snug fitting.

 

[revhtree]

Very cool! Looking forward to this!

 

[muntwo]

Thanks! The idea behind this design is to promote strong copepod (particularly calanoids) populations in the refugium and prevent them from getting damaged in transit to the display.

Quick update- I fragged a 2 types of Sinularia, 1 Nepthea, and 1 Sarcophyton and added them to the display, then moved the rockwork around a bit. Pics to come when the suspended particles settle.

 

[TJ's Reef]

Very COOL, I love the unconventional approach to Reefkeeping....... and to most everything else as well.

Cheers, Todd

 

[RichieT]

Nice set-up Jon. You guys are getting crushed in IL. I don't miss it one bit man. I'll have to send you some updated pics of my set-up as well.

 

[muntwo]

Thanks Rich! Good thing our fish lab is a balmy 76F!

 

[muntwo]

The folks at Doctor Eco Systems hooked me up with some of their Doc's Eco Matter, which I just added to the refugium. The pouch of pods had a fairly dense population, was teeming with activity, and contained some species that I didn't already have in the tank. Thanks again, guys!

 

[muntwo]

I had been considering the addition of a Tunze wavebox, but went with a Jebao WP10 (ordered from Amazon) instead due to the size it occupies in the tank and cost. The WP10 is being run on W1 (wave mode) and S1 (100% intensity). This tiny powerhead pushes a huge amount of water for its size and adds a lot of movement in the soft corals. It also produces a very nice standing wave, which is fairly easy to tune with the dial. Overall, I am satisfied with aesthetics of the WP10, but will give it some time to observe how the health of the organisms change.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Very cool concept!

 

[SantaMonica]

First blacked-out fuge I've seen. I'm a fan of big populations of pods flowing in the tank. I think more people would do this if they had a place to put the fuge above the tank.

 

[Jimbo662]

Following to see where this goes!

 

[muntwo]

Very cool concept!

Thanks!

First blacked-out fuge I've seen. I'm a fan of big populations of pods flowing in the tank. I think more people would do this if they had a place to put the fuge above the tank.

I would have left it completely clear and run it as a display refugium on a reverse light cycle, but we do a lot of behavioral observation on hundreds of ocellaris clownfish in the same room and leaving the light on at night would likely interfere with their circadian clock.

 

[kpiotrowski]

do you plan on blowin out the fuge peridically, is that why no sand? am I tracking?

Are you surprized your not gettin beat up about no skimmer,lol?

What foods are you feeding or plan to? any suplements use or planned?

do you have a goal for max nitrates and phospahtes or range you want to be in?

any pending plans or backup plans to tweek or manage?

 

[Fishyj]

I like the way it looks, subscribed

 

[muntwo]

do you plan on blowin out the fuge peridically, is that why no sand? am I tracking?

No sand in the refugium because I keep a powerhead pointed at the bottom to keep good circulation. I definitely considered a thin layer of fine sand, but space limitation had me weighing the benefits of rock, sand, and macroalgae. In this case, I felt that chaeto could provide greater pH buffering, surface area for microfauna grazing, and nutrient export than sand, despite a smaller surface area for bacterial growth.

you surprized your not gettin beat up about no skimmer,lol?

I have a reefoctopus skimmer on hand if I feel like I need that extra buffer for more fish (which I am planning on in the future) and heavy feeding, but I was planning on letting the refugium do its thing until the bioload exceeds its ability to maintain balance. I'm not surprised that nobody has given me grief over the skimmer issue because this thread is young and I haven't really posted many cool photos to garner attention

What foods are you feeding or plan to? any suplements use or planned?

I feed my fish multiple times a day, a diet consisting of Ocean Nutrition Formula One pellets, New Life Spectrum Marine pellets, frozen mysis shrimp, frozen brine shrimp, live baby brine shrimp, and frozen fish eggs. Feedings are generous and the fish usually have round, distended bellies. They're happy fish. I received a white worm culture (Enchytraeus albidus) in the mail today and plan on feeding live worms in the future as well. Occasionally, I'll thrown in live cultured rotifers (fed nannochloropsis)... I haven't seen much of a benefit in terms of a coral feeding response, but I also haven't seen any problems with it.

I supplement with calcium chloride, sodium carbonate, magnesium chloride, and magnesium sulfate, though not on a daily basis. I may supplement potassium iodide in the future given the soft coral bioload, but will need to watch for signs of deficiency (which I have observed previously in smaller systems). I may also supplement iron chelate, depending on chaeto growth.

do you have a goal for max nitrates and phospahtes or range you want to be in?

When I first set the refugium up, chaeto exploded with new growth. Recently, chaeto growth has slowed down and is likely limited by phosphate availability, despite the amount and frequency that I feed. Given this, I haven't thought much about max nitrates and phosphates.

any pending plans or backup plans to tweek or manage?

The skimmer is the only thing that comes to mind. Since starting the thread, I added a BRS media reactor containing carbon and GFO, then removed the GFO given that phosphate appeared to be limiting chaeto growth. I also have a Tunze Osmolator connected, which I hadn't mentioned in my initial post.

 

[kpiotrowski]

Sorry I got so excited there and asked all those questions!

 

[muntwo]

No worries. Just glad someone is as interested in where this is going as I am

 

[johnanddawn]

I tried a design very similar to this a few years back but couldn't stop micro bubbles from the refuge from getting into the display.
Between the O2 produced by the algae and the small air draw of the overflow pipe there was always air bubbles entering the display and getting sucked into the display pumps
How did you design the overflow in the refuge to deal with this?

 

[muntwo]

I tried a design very similar to this a few years back but couldn't stop micro bubbles from the refuge from getting into the display.
Between the O2 produced by the algae and the small air draw of the overflow pipe there was always air bubbles entering the display and getting sucked into the display pumps
How did you design the overflow in the refuge to deal with this?

Good question! With the the current design, I'm using a very slow flow rate from the main display into the refugium and if I crank up the flow rate, I'll get bubbles sucked into the display. The flow rate is adequate for this system, but if I had to do it again, I would use a T where the wooden block is instead of a 90 degree elbow and set up a stand pipe for air to escape.