Viking_reefing’s 1000L upgrade. Risky fish and sps in Sweden.

Viking_Reefing · Mar 30, 2022

Miami Reef said:
@MichaelE

Here is my scape:

I am using an iPhone 13 pro max but I’m not sure why the photo doesn’t look as good as yours? Can you tell me what you do with your phone to be able to get nice pictures?

Nice! Low scapes are the best in my opinion.
If I might make a suggestion I would perhaps offset the left island slightly so that they are slightly different placed to one another. I find that it looks a lot more natural that way

I use a 13 pro as well but with the addition of a 20k lens from Arka which makes the pictures more try to reality.

Miami Reef · Mar 30, 2022

MichaelE said:
I would perhaps offset the left island slightly so that they are slightly different placed to one another.

Thank you!

Big E · Apr 10, 2022

MichaelE said:
Oh and I’m giving serious thoughts to getting a pair of these guys for the tank. I’ve been enthralled with them since diving in the Red Sea ages ago.
I know it’s one heck of a risk but I’ve seen it done and I have a lot of stuff in the tank that wouldn’t exactly be considered reef safe without any major issues.

I just need to make room for a conditioning tank in my fish room before pulling the trigger.

From experience keeping these you are best off getting 4 at the same time and let them sort it out as far as pairing off. It's going to be very difficult to just put two together..........it's likely not going to work and you'll end up with one.

They will destroy your Sps, so not sure on what your plan is with that.

I kept groups of 6 in an 180g with little to no aggression.
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On a different subject....concerning the lights. Are you happy with the ends having less light? I'm considering a 48" inch instead of a 60" configuration over my new setup which is 48x24x60

Viking_Reefing · Apr 10, 2022

Big E said:
From experience keeping these you are best off getting 4 at the same time and let them sort it out as far as pairing off. It's going to be very difficult to just put two together..........it's likely not going to work and you'll end up with one.

They will destroy your Sps, so not sure on what your plan is with that.

I kept groups of 6 in an 180g with little to no aggression.
--------------------------------------------------------

On a different subject....concerning the lights. Are you happy with the ends having less light? I'm considering a 48" inch instead of a 60" configuration over my new setup which is 48x24x60

Yeah, after reading what little information there is and being in contact with some acquaintances that has a lot of experience in butterflies I think I’ll just go with one since I won’t have the capacity to keep a group in observation before transferring to the DT…they are also about 350€ here in Sweden haha

Since they aren’t obligate corallivores I’m not overly worried about the sps, my colonies are large and from talking to several people who kept them in reefs my impression is that they aren’t much worse than angels, moorish idols etc which I’ve successfully kept in reefs. I’m sure there will be a fair bit of nipping though hehe.

Yeah, I’m fine with that. I don’t want to have rocks all the way to the sides anyways and it’s a good spot for the few lps that I have.

Big E · Apr 10, 2022

Lol, yes they are expensive. I paid $350 for 4 of them back when I bought them. It was so long ago it's when the Red Sea was open and collecting fish............around '95. This was when you would have to pick up your fish at the airport.

Local stores would get large 8" ones for around 120.

I hope it's not rough on your corals. They are eating machines and were the easiest BF's I ever kept. What's odd is that they grow very slowly.........some I had never got much bigger and I had them for 6-7 years.

Viking_Reefing · May 5, 2022

Right, I’ve been dealing with dinos for some time. I crash my nutrients due to the fact that our freaking cat managed to close the feeding port on my auto feeder haha

I’ve been bringing up the numbers slowly and I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
I’m running 150w of UV on this tank and that didn’t make a dent. After getting myself a microscope I confirmed LCA so that makes sense. Still running both UV units though as I store up the sand in the evenings and my thinking is that some stuff will become dislodged.
I’m now dosing special blend in combination with a bunch of KZ products to outcompete the jerks.

Anyway, here’s the tank as if this moment:

Viking_Reefing · May 30, 2022

Instead of just writing here I made a video covering the goings on over last few months

Viking_Reefing · Jun 26, 2022

Look what I have in the acclimation box!

It’s been doing great in my observational QT for about 4 weeks. Eating most frozen stuff with gusto and started sampling pellets and flakes.
Fingers crossed that my achilles and goldflake won’t go after it to hard and that it won’t be to rough with corals!

Viking_Reefing · Jul 13, 2022

Right, the semi was doing awesome for a couple of days in the tank until one morning I found it floating around in the current. Based on the damage and behavior my conclusion is that it got sucked in to one of the octo 4’s during lights out.
Second fish they’ve killed, the first was a peppermint hog. I haven’t found any suppliers in Europe who makes guards for them yet.

Other than that the tank is doing well. I’ve had issues with both dino and cyano but luckily it’s gone…for now.

I visited Italy for a holiday and got the chance to pick out some nice acro colonies in the flesh that are arriving next week

I also added this on to the order when it came in after my visit

I’ve also added a controller cabinet from adaptive reef which will house my GHL gear

Here’s the tank as of now

Miami Reef · Jul 13, 2022

Beautiful! One of my favorite tanks!

Do you get filter feeder and sponge growth in your tank?

Viking_Reefing · Jul 13, 2022

Miami Reef said:
Beautiful! One of my favorite tanks!

Do you get filter feeder and sponge growth in your tank?

Glad you like it bud!

Sure, got several varieties of clams growing in the DT but not much visible sponges or feather dusters due to the angels/cooperband. The live rock section in the sump is full of it though.

Miami Reef · Jul 13, 2022

Viking_Reefing said:
Glad you like it bud!

Sure, got several varieties of clams growing in the DT but not much visible sponges or feather dusters due to the angels/cooperband. The live rock section in the sump is full of it though.

Do you feed phytoplankton? What contributes to the filter feeders in the sump? What foods do you feed?

Viking_Reefing · Jul 14, 2022

Miami Reef said:
Do you feed phytoplankton? What contributes to the filter feeders in the sump? What foods do you feed?

Not currently. No idea, I just use real live rock from the ocean and it just…happens haha.
The only particle food I feed is some stuff from aqua forest.

Miami Reef · Jul 14, 2022

Viking_Reefing said:
Not currently. No idea, I just use real live rock from the ocean and it just…happens haha.
The only particle food I feed is some stuff from aqua forest.

Do you carbon dose?

Viking_Reefing · Jul 14, 2022

Miami Reef said:
Do you carbon dose?

Nahh, not a fan of that stuff.

Viking_Reefing · Jul 16, 2022

Managed to get a few hours of being alone in the house so I took the opportunity to shot a tank update

Miami Reef · Jul 16, 2022

Viking_Reefing said:
Managed to get a few hours of being alone in the house so I took the opportunity to shot a tank update

I watched the whole video.

I think getting a lid is a great idea because most of the small torpedo shaped fish (wrasses) like to jump. I personally made a lid with a window screen maker kit, but the sides of the tank have a small gap because of the powerhead cord. Not sure how I can fix that, but I’ll make a thread for advice.

I really enjoyed this video.

Viking_Reefing · Jul 16, 2022

Miami Reef said:
I watched the whole video.

I think getting a lid is a great idea because most of the small torpedo shaped fish (wrasses) like to jump. I personally made a lid with a window screen maker kit, but the sides of the tank have a small gap because of the powerhead cord. Not sure how I can fix that, but I’ll make a thread for advice.

I really enjoyed this video.

That’s impressive haha…I did waffle on quite a bit.

Yeah, that’s definitely an option