Brody’s Reef
Community Member
So this thread is about a year late but I figured I should finally give it a shot. I’m almost a year into this hobby and my obsession hasn’t slowed a bit (just ask my fiancé). It all started with an Used Innovative Marine 20 gallon aio system. Actually, that’s a lie. It started with a month of research. I started with BRS videos and basically moved to consuming as many R2R threads and YouTube videos about reefing I could find. I still spend a crazy amount of time browsing threads and videos.
After my initial round of research I thought I was ready for a reef tank. After a few trips to my LFS getting to know the owner and staff I saw that they had a nice IM Nuvo 20 for sale. It came as a full set up with the Kessil a80 light, rock, and sand. I didn’t realize how good of a decision I had made because I was SUPER impatient and I never would’ve waited for a proper cycle. This is what the tank looked like the day I brought it home.
Over the course of about 9 months I spent time doing more and more research while also caring for my new reef tank. It started with a leather coral, some zoas, and of course a pair of clownfish. I had many learning experiences but there is one that will stick with me forever. You see I had no problem keeping coral fish were a different story. At first I thought I was just getting fish that weren’t healthy or something (Remember I‘m a total noob at this point). Long story short I had brooklynella in my tank but I didn’t know what it was or how to fix it. I went through way too many fish before realizing what was actually happening and I decided to go fallow for 60 days. That fallow period solved the issue and every fish I got after then was happy and healthy.
Fast forward a few months and I’ve found my stride. At this point I’ve added an ato, a second kessil a80, and a spectral controller x for the lights. I’ve been typing way too much so it’s time for some pictures!
Starting with a FTS and a nice top down
I got into trying to get macro shots of some of my favorite corals for a while. I was and still am obsessed with the amount of colors and vibrance that some of these corals have!
Something I always wanted for the tank was an anemone. I found this awesome rainbow bubble tip at a LFS that I couldn’t pass up. A few weeks later that awesome anemone became TWO awesome anemones!
I know this post is getting long but I’m just getting to the fun part. The new tank/project. I felt like I had learned a lot from this tank and like most reefers I wanted to upgrade. I know I hadn’t been in the hobby long and some would argue I should have let the 20 gallon grow out but I wanted to take everything I had learned and start fresh with a brand new tank. Also, I had just bought a house so I had plenty of room for a bigger tank.
So step one was deciding on the tank and size. Well I was looking at different brands like Red Sea and Waterbox but they were a little out of budget since I was looking for something 60-100 gallons. Then one day I found what to me seemed like the perfect tank. You see my plan was to put this tank in the living room of my new house. Like literally it was going to be the centerpiece of the house so that meant both the tank and stand had to 1) look good and 2) not clash with the other furniture in the house. Well we were trying to go for a farmhouse look and when I saw the listing for this tank I had to have it. I mean wouldn’t everyone?
The tank is an 80 gallon Deep Blue professional shallow reef tank. The previous owner had custom made this stand (I wish I could take credit for it) and replaced the overflow with a better square one. So operation 80 gallon reef had officially begun.
Step 1: Sump
I went with a standard 20 long and got some baffled made by MelevsReef. I didn’t feel the need to buy a fancy sump because the long term goal was to have a large basement sump but for now this 20 long would fit good in the stand. I wish I would have went with a 29 gallon tank because they are the same footprint just taller. I had to put in some extra measures to make sure when my return pump shuts off it doesn’t overflow the sump.
Step 2: The stand
We decided to refinish the stand and paint it with a white chalk paint then give it a distressed look
I’d like to think it turned out pretty awesome. As cool as this stand looks I will say the shelving on the right takes a ton of room out from under the stand so it is pretty tight in there with the sump and cords.
Step 3: Equipment
Skimmer: For the skimmer I’m running a Reef Octopus 150 INT sss and I cannot say enough good things about this skimmer. It is an absolute work horse.
Return Pump: The return pump is a Jaebo dcp but I don’t remember the exact model right now.
PowerHeads: For flow I started with a couple Tunze nanostreams but later upgraded to a Red Sea Reefwave 45. I absolutely love this pump. It was a little pricey but absolutely worth it in my opinion.
Heater: 500w titanium heater
ATO: Tunze Osmolator 3155
Lights: For lights I went with the Aquatic Life t5 hybrid with 2 Red Sea Reefled 50s.
As you can probably tell I was on a bit of a budget but I wanted to start with a tank that had the ability to grow basically any coral but not be super expensive. Eventually I‘d like to upgrade the led lights on this build and also add a refugium soon.
Step 4: Cycling
So I had the tank setup with all of the needed equipment and now it’s time to begin the cycle. I wanted to do a fish less cycle in this tank so I started ghost feeding some Rods food for about a week. I then used a bottle of Fritz turbo start to add some beneficial bacteria. After that I started testing ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate every day. After a couple weeks I had seen a slight ammonia spike and then a tiny bit of nitrates. I knew the tank was probably ok but just to be safe I added some Fritz Zyme 9 bacteria.
Step 5: Fish
At this point the tank was ready for fish. In my 20 gallon I had two black storm clownfish and a yellow coris wrasse. I was nervous about moving my two fairly expensive clownfish into a fresh cycled tank and the yellow wrasse was going to be very difficult to catch so I decided to get a new fish. I started with a McCosker’s flasher wrasse. I had wanted one for a while and to be honest they are a fairly cheap fish anyway. After moving the wrasse in and letting him go for a couple weeks I figured it was time to start stocking the tank for real.
The next fish that was added was this wonderful baby blue hippo tang. I had seen this fish in the new LFS that had just opened and it had been at the story for over 2 weeks when I decided to bring him home. I knew it was a very healthy fish that had a nice full belly and was always out swimming and eating.
Next up was a Tomini Tang. I was actually looking for a Yellow Eye Kole tang but I ended up seeing this one at the LFS and I fell in love. This guy spends ALL day picking algae from the rocks. If you’re looking for a small tang to help control some algae I definitely recommend a bristletooth of some sort.
Now these next two fish are pretty special. The first is a longnose Hawk fish that I had been searching for since the tank was cycled. Honestly it has been near impossible for me to get one they have been out of stock everywhere and none of my LFS‘s could order one. Until I walked into PETCO one day.....
I know I know the dreaded PETCO. Honestly for saltwater stuff my local PETCO is pretty good (Compared to other PETCO’s but not even close to any LFS). Now the thing is I saw both of these fish the long nose hawk fish and the leopard wrasse had just came in. They were both swimming around out front and for $60 for the pair I wasn’t going to pass that up. Normally I would but I couldn’t find these guys anywhere. Also, I didn’t have any coral in my tank and I was fully prepared to treat any sick fish if needed whether that was pulling the fish out and going fallow or treating within the system.
In the end everything worked out and all of the fish have been super healthy! Since then I’ve also added my pair of black storm clownfish and the yellow coris wrasse to the new tank.
Step 6: Coral
Now that the tank is stocked with fish (at least for now) it was time to start transferring corals from the old tank to the new one. In the old tank I had started buying a few different zoa frags because I knew I wanted to have a zoa rock in the new tank. I picked up some frags of utter chaos, sunny D, sonic flare, rainbow incinerator, Alice in Wonderland, and I also had some frags of my Rasta and eagle eye rock. This is where the zoo garden is at today as well as a shot of the Rasta/Eagle eye rock I transferred from the 20 gallon.
I’ve also added a euphillya section on the left side of the tank that consists of the green frogspawn I had in the 20 gallon, a dragon soul torch I got from a local reefer, and another frogspawn and green torch I got from a different local reefer.
Here is a full shot of the tank as it sits right now
If you have any questions about this build so far I’ll be happy to answer them. Thanks for taking the time to check out my tank and happy reefing!!!!
After my initial round of research I thought I was ready for a reef tank. After a few trips to my LFS getting to know the owner and staff I saw that they had a nice IM Nuvo 20 for sale. It came as a full set up with the Kessil a80 light, rock, and sand. I didn’t realize how good of a decision I had made because I was SUPER impatient and I never would’ve waited for a proper cycle. This is what the tank looked like the day I brought it home.
Over the course of about 9 months I spent time doing more and more research while also caring for my new reef tank. It started with a leather coral, some zoas, and of course a pair of clownfish. I had many learning experiences but there is one that will stick with me forever. You see I had no problem keeping coral fish were a different story. At first I thought I was just getting fish that weren’t healthy or something (Remember I‘m a total noob at this point). Long story short I had brooklynella in my tank but I didn’t know what it was or how to fix it. I went through way too many fish before realizing what was actually happening and I decided to go fallow for 60 days. That fallow period solved the issue and every fish I got after then was happy and healthy.
Fast forward a few months and I’ve found my stride. At this point I’ve added an ato, a second kessil a80, and a spectral controller x for the lights. I’ve been typing way too much so it’s time for some pictures!
Starting with a FTS and a nice top down
I got into trying to get macro shots of some of my favorite corals for a while. I was and still am obsessed with the amount of colors and vibrance that some of these corals have!
Something I always wanted for the tank was an anemone. I found this awesome rainbow bubble tip at a LFS that I couldn’t pass up. A few weeks later that awesome anemone became TWO awesome anemones!
I know this post is getting long but I’m just getting to the fun part. The new tank/project. I felt like I had learned a lot from this tank and like most reefers I wanted to upgrade. I know I hadn’t been in the hobby long and some would argue I should have let the 20 gallon grow out but I wanted to take everything I had learned and start fresh with a brand new tank. Also, I had just bought a house so I had plenty of room for a bigger tank.
So step one was deciding on the tank and size. Well I was looking at different brands like Red Sea and Waterbox but they were a little out of budget since I was looking for something 60-100 gallons. Then one day I found what to me seemed like the perfect tank. You see my plan was to put this tank in the living room of my new house. Like literally it was going to be the centerpiece of the house so that meant both the tank and stand had to 1) look good and 2) not clash with the other furniture in the house. Well we were trying to go for a farmhouse look and when I saw the listing for this tank I had to have it. I mean wouldn’t everyone?
The tank is an 80 gallon Deep Blue professional shallow reef tank. The previous owner had custom made this stand (I wish I could take credit for it) and replaced the overflow with a better square one. So operation 80 gallon reef had officially begun.
Step 1: Sump
I went with a standard 20 long and got some baffled made by MelevsReef. I didn’t feel the need to buy a fancy sump because the long term goal was to have a large basement sump but for now this 20 long would fit good in the stand. I wish I would have went with a 29 gallon tank because they are the same footprint just taller. I had to put in some extra measures to make sure when my return pump shuts off it doesn’t overflow the sump.
Step 2: The stand
We decided to refinish the stand and paint it with a white chalk paint then give it a distressed look
I’d like to think it turned out pretty awesome. As cool as this stand looks I will say the shelving on the right takes a ton of room out from under the stand so it is pretty tight in there with the sump and cords.
Step 3: Equipment
Skimmer: For the skimmer I’m running a Reef Octopus 150 INT sss and I cannot say enough good things about this skimmer. It is an absolute work horse.
Return Pump: The return pump is a Jaebo dcp but I don’t remember the exact model right now.
PowerHeads: For flow I started with a couple Tunze nanostreams but later upgraded to a Red Sea Reefwave 45. I absolutely love this pump. It was a little pricey but absolutely worth it in my opinion.
Heater: 500w titanium heater
ATO: Tunze Osmolator 3155
Lights: For lights I went with the Aquatic Life t5 hybrid with 2 Red Sea Reefled 50s.
As you can probably tell I was on a bit of a budget but I wanted to start with a tank that had the ability to grow basically any coral but not be super expensive. Eventually I‘d like to upgrade the led lights on this build and also add a refugium soon.
Step 4: Cycling
So I had the tank setup with all of the needed equipment and now it’s time to begin the cycle. I wanted to do a fish less cycle in this tank so I started ghost feeding some Rods food for about a week. I then used a bottle of Fritz turbo start to add some beneficial bacteria. After that I started testing ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate every day. After a couple weeks I had seen a slight ammonia spike and then a tiny bit of nitrates. I knew the tank was probably ok but just to be safe I added some Fritz Zyme 9 bacteria.
Step 5: Fish
At this point the tank was ready for fish. In my 20 gallon I had two black storm clownfish and a yellow coris wrasse. I was nervous about moving my two fairly expensive clownfish into a fresh cycled tank and the yellow wrasse was going to be very difficult to catch so I decided to get a new fish. I started with a McCosker’s flasher wrasse. I had wanted one for a while and to be honest they are a fairly cheap fish anyway. After moving the wrasse in and letting him go for a couple weeks I figured it was time to start stocking the tank for real.
The next fish that was added was this wonderful baby blue hippo tang. I had seen this fish in the new LFS that had just opened and it had been at the story for over 2 weeks when I decided to bring him home. I knew it was a very healthy fish that had a nice full belly and was always out swimming and eating.
Next up was a Tomini Tang. I was actually looking for a Yellow Eye Kole tang but I ended up seeing this one at the LFS and I fell in love. This guy spends ALL day picking algae from the rocks. If you’re looking for a small tang to help control some algae I definitely recommend a bristletooth of some sort.
Now these next two fish are pretty special. The first is a longnose Hawk fish that I had been searching for since the tank was cycled. Honestly it has been near impossible for me to get one they have been out of stock everywhere and none of my LFS‘s could order one. Until I walked into PETCO one day.....
I know I know the dreaded PETCO. Honestly for saltwater stuff my local PETCO is pretty good (Compared to other PETCO’s but not even close to any LFS). Now the thing is I saw both of these fish the long nose hawk fish and the leopard wrasse had just came in. They were both swimming around out front and for $60 for the pair I wasn’t going to pass that up. Normally I would but I couldn’t find these guys anywhere. Also, I didn’t have any coral in my tank and I was fully prepared to treat any sick fish if needed whether that was pulling the fish out and going fallow or treating within the system.
In the end everything worked out and all of the fish have been super healthy! Since then I’ve also added my pair of black storm clownfish and the yellow coris wrasse to the new tank.
Step 6: Coral
Now that the tank is stocked with fish (at least for now) it was time to start transferring corals from the old tank to the new one. In the old tank I had started buying a few different zoa frags because I knew I wanted to have a zoa rock in the new tank. I picked up some frags of utter chaos, sunny D, sonic flare, rainbow incinerator, Alice in Wonderland, and I also had some frags of my Rasta and eagle eye rock. This is where the zoo garden is at today as well as a shot of the Rasta/Eagle eye rock I transferred from the 20 gallon.
I’ve also added a euphillya section on the left side of the tank that consists of the green frogspawn I had in the 20 gallon, a dragon soul torch I got from a local reefer, and another frogspawn and green torch I got from a different local reefer.
Here is a full shot of the tank as it sits right now
If you have any questions about this build so far I’ll be happy to answer them. Thanks for taking the time to check out my tank and happy reefing!!!!
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