Oregonic’s 112 gallon build

[Trey]

I debated on adding chaeto now or waiting. Talking with one of my buddies who has an amazing SPS tank he said to go for it since I had a decent amount of seeded media I was adding, some of which has been in my tank that is coming down for 4 years. I can always pull some of it out and throw in other tank if it starts to die off, plenty of nutrients in that tank lol. I also have fed the new tank a little powdered food to give both the chaeto and bacteria something to eat. Going to add some more live rock from existing tank later this week and see how things are doing a few days after. Hopefully the chaeto takes hold and keeps the display pretty free of the uglies. Its all man made rock and pretty minimal in the display so most the bio filtration will be from the sump and the sand. Also want to get that pod farm going, plan on it being a wrasse heavy tank.

The window garden is just some easy to keep house plants. I love having plants around but dont do much to them other then water them. I do have a lemon tree that sits in the window about 8 months of the year that I put a little extra love in but this time of year its outside. Probably going to pick up a few more dwarf citrus trees. I have considered picking up a bonsai or two to play around with.

Ah, I didn’t realize you had another tank going! Lucky you!

I plan on having a Fuge in my sump down the line, but won’t start it right away with the dry rock/bare bottom start.

I would love to have some nice houseplants, unfortunately my only large windows face north, and in northern Ohio that limits you a ton. I do keep some Tropicals in vivariums, bromeliads and orchids and such.

 

[OREGONIC]

Ah, I didn’t realize you had another tank going! Lucky you!

I plan on having a Fuge in my sump down the line, but won’t start it right away with the dry rock/bare bottom start.

I would love to have some nice houseplants, unfortunately my only large windows face north, and in northern Ohio that limits you a ton. I do keep some Tropicals in vivariums, bromeliads and orchids and such.

Why wouldn’t you start the fuge as soon as your tank can process ammonia? I would think you would want it to establish and mature the way it will run in the long term to not upset the balance. I don’t know much about bare bottom tanks tho other then they seem to be much tougher the first year or so then actually become easier.

Our last place only had North facing window, we couldn’t keep plants either being in Portland Or. Our new place that corner window one faces south and the other faces West so it is perfect. Enjoying have plants now that we can keep them.

 

[revhtree]

Nice and congrats on the new system!

 

[OREGONIC]

Nice and congrats on the new system!

Thank you its a long overdue upgrade.

 

[Trey]

Why wouldn’t you start the fuge as soon as your tank can process ammonia? I would think you would want it to establish and mature the way it will run in the long term to not upset the balance. I don’t know much about bare bottom tanks tho other then they seem to be much tougher the first year or so then actually become easier.

Our last place only had North facing window, we couldn’t keep plants either being in Portland Or. Our new place that corner window one faces south and the other faces West so it is perfect. Enjoying have plants now that we can keep them.

It’s something I may add if I find the need for further nutrient reduction once I have some fish!

 

[Hincapiej4]

dang, wish there was a reefer group in Oregon. I'd love to hang out and look at people's tanks. My partner used to have a crazy setup

 

[OREGONIC]

dang, wish there was a reefer group in Oregon. I'd love to hang out and look at people's tanks. My partner used to have a crazy setup

Start

www.pnwmas.org

 

[OREGONIC]

Well Saturday morning I dosed some ammonia to see if the tank was cycled. Did a ammonia test about 5 hours later and was undetectable, so I knew it was time to add first few fish. Sunday I picked up a yellow tang and a 6 line wrasse as the first inhabitants. I will monitor them and the tank parameters this week and given all continues to go well I will be transferring everything this coming weekend. I am shocked how quickly this tank cycled, using well seeded media is amazing.

 

[Trey]

Well Saturday morning I dosed some ammonia to see if the tank was cycled. Did a ammonia test about 5 hours later and was undetectable, so I knew it was time to add first few fish. Sunday I picked up a yellow tang and a 6 line wrasse as the first inhabitants. I will monitor them and the tank parameters this week and given all continues to go well I will be transferring everything this coming weekend. I am shocked how quickly this tank cycled, using well seeded media is amazing.

Sweet. Are you worried at all about adding two rather aggressive fish as your first additions?

 

[OREGONIC]

Sweet. Are you worried at all about adding two rather aggressive fish as your first additions?

No all my existing fish are well acclimated to tank life and bigger then these 2. Both my red coris and leopard are probably twice the size of the 6 line, if anything they may be the aggressors. I dont have any other tangs and probably will stick with just the one. Im not a big tang fan, its just a worker fish. The tank will be wrasse heavy in the long term have a handful of other wrasses on my list. The minimalist scape will help with catching any bad apples and banishing them to the sump temporarily if needed to let another fish get comfortable.

 

[OREGONIC]

Transfered everything this weekend. Old tank is officially dry and sitting in the backyard. Everything is going ok, no casualties coral wise. A few corals are a little upset but slowly settling in. My red coris wrasse went straight into the sand and I have not seen him in a few days now. Im assuming he came out when lights were off at least once because he darted into the sand near a rock my watchman goby and pistol shrimp have claimed as their home right where they decided to make their front door. Parameters are all a little low, alk 6.6, cal 375, nitrates .5, phos .01, and no sign of ammonia what so ever. Im really happy with ph stability, my old tank had a swing between 7.75 - 8.12 every day. New tank has stayed a solid 7.95 -8.08, assuming that is due to the much larger water volume and a refugium vs an ats in the old tank. I pulled my dosing pump offline yesterday temporarily and an testing alk 2 times a day and dosing by hand so I dont get lazy and get a feel for the tank. My goal is to bring alk up .3 - .4 per day till back up to the 7.8 - 8.2 range. Want to hold it there for several days before relying on the dosing pump again. I am a firm believer in manually doing a task such as this keeps you more in touch and involved in the tank, and keeps me more aware of what is going on. Diatoms on the sand are disappearing and the slightly cloudy water gets clearer by the day.

 

[OREGONIC]

Tank is setteling nicely, also had a logo made for my instagram The_Jack_Wrasse

 

[Trey]

Tank is setteling nicely, also had a logo made for my instagram The_Jack_Wrasse

Tank is looking great bro! And logo is fire! Haha

 

[OREGONIC]

Tank is looking great bro! And logo is fire! Haha

super happy with how quick the tank is stabilizing, couldn’t be happier with the logo

 

[OREGONIC]

Tank is settling in really well. ALK consumption has sky rocketed and coralline algae is covering the rock really fast. I dose DIY Aquaforest 123, 2.5 weeks ago I was dosing 65ml of each component daily to keep alk 7.8-8.1, Im now dosing 130ml per day of each and alk is at 7.6.

 

[Hincapiej4]

Such a beautiful tank. When you inviting over the oregon peeps? Lol jokes

 

[OREGONIC]

Such a beautiful tank. When you inviting over the oregon peeps? Lol jokes

Hahaha, anytime. There are definitely some much nicer tanks locally, hopefully with some time mine will get there. Did you ever check out the local group?

 

[Hincapiej4]

dangit, I forgot. But I will.

 

[OREGONIC]

Tank consumption is continuing to increase, ordered a calcium reactor. Picked up a Maxspect Jump skimmer also. Had a a reefing buddy stop by with a apogee par meter and made some adjustments to the AP9X getting 275-350 par on the center rockwork and 80-150 around the edges of the tank. I had previously measured the par with a seneye and it was way off. I was running the AP9X at 70% and getting similar readings, had to bump up to 95% to get same readings with apogee.

 

[OREGONIC]

Its been a while since I updated this thread. In this time I have removed the Orphek OR3’s and add a second AP9X instead. I had a really bad outbreak of dinos that I am just finishing beating. Have been running UV directly in the display, dosing microbacter 7, microbacter clean, raised temp to 80, and dosed no3/po4. No coral death and sps continued to grow even with all the dinos. My clowns I have had for almost 5 years finally decided to lay eggs as well.