Hey guys my name is Paul and I just wanted to share a little info on my tank I am running right now. I few people have been interested in seeing my setup but I normally don’t get many reads because I don’t particularly collect named corals nor do I post many pics. But I have been in the hobby for close to 20 years now and I do like trying to help contribute in this forum. So I figured I should take a min to post about my tank.
I’m for now I am using a 100 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank with no sump. I did this once before with a 50 gallon Rubbermaid and a 100 gallon Rubbermaid sump. Everything about this tank I set up to make it easy for me to take care of. I don’t plan on setting up a glass tank until I have the opportunity to move. We breed bengal cats so that takes up a lot of our time. My wife got me into the hobby when we were younger and she takes care of the cats mostly, but it’s still a lot of work. I used to have a number of tanks and it was a lot of work which is why I went this simple direction. Not being able to see inside the tank without pulling out a viewer really helps me stay out of it. My main goal is to grow out the corals as big as I can and best I can without trimming them all the time. For now they are just thrown in there and the rocks just laying stacked flat on the bottom. Once things kick in growing well I may remove some duds and move pieces around while adding some rock around the edges.
For now I am hand dosing bionic once a day and using vinegar as my carbon source. I have been using vodka and or vinegar for a long time now and really like the life it brings to a tank. I have a doser to setup when I get time but for now it’s not consuming enough to need to set it up. I struggled to get the tank stable after breaking everything down and moving what I wanted to keep into this tank. I killed off a number of pieces trying to get it setup and stable. It’s been stable for the past few months and most stuff looks ok but I am still trying to get phosphates down to a low number. I think this imbalance is the main reason some stuff is not taking off yet.
Here is a little tank info...
- I am running two 250w radiums in mini reflectors on electronic ballasts on the Hqi setting and four or2 bars, 3 blue plus and one uv.
- Using 5 powerheads. Two wavepucks (my favorite pump by far), one Nero which is close but not as good imo, one old jeabo that needs replacing and a reefbreeders one with the wide flow pattern that’s similar to the same body style as the Nero and wavepucks. I am using one rotating device for one of the wavepucks and would like to have two but it’s hard to mount them on the Rubbermaid without taking up a lot of room.
- Live rock is mixed from when I started with good real live rock, Tonga branch and mixed dry pieces. Most of it is covered in sponge underneath from dosing carbon for so long and feeding well. The last system had a 40 breeder filled with rock and low flow that I dosed a lot of vodka and vinegar in which really got that population going strong.
- Filtration starts with a little carbon in a bag changed weekly and I run a old large euro reef skimmer from a mazzei injector and a mag 18 sitting in the tank. Skimmer is 3’ tall and 8” round.
Also using a recently setup tunze cheato reactor but it hasn’t really started growing to well yet, it grows but doesn’t spin like they say it should. Probably because it likes to grow bacteria in there a bit and once I get my po4 down I should be able to get it running well and lower my vinegar dose a bit.
I am dosing stump remover every couple of days to lower the po4 slowly. Might start using a little gfo mixed in with the carbon temporarily.
- I top off the tank with a gravity fed top off tank and a float which is kinda annoying to look at but whatever, it works and won’t cause issues.
For now I will just post a quick crowd friendly phone pic of the corals under the or2 bars with a filter, even though I can’t stand the look it’s the only way I can get a decent pic of what’s inside all at once. Once I find time I will start taking macro shots with the cannon again. I am not happy with any of the phone pics I have taken of the corals but I will keep trying.
I’m for now I am using a 100 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank with no sump. I did this once before with a 50 gallon Rubbermaid and a 100 gallon Rubbermaid sump. Everything about this tank I set up to make it easy for me to take care of. I don’t plan on setting up a glass tank until I have the opportunity to move. We breed bengal cats so that takes up a lot of our time. My wife got me into the hobby when we were younger and she takes care of the cats mostly, but it’s still a lot of work. I used to have a number of tanks and it was a lot of work which is why I went this simple direction. Not being able to see inside the tank without pulling out a viewer really helps me stay out of it. My main goal is to grow out the corals as big as I can and best I can without trimming them all the time. For now they are just thrown in there and the rocks just laying stacked flat on the bottom. Once things kick in growing well I may remove some duds and move pieces around while adding some rock around the edges.
For now I am hand dosing bionic once a day and using vinegar as my carbon source. I have been using vodka and or vinegar for a long time now and really like the life it brings to a tank. I have a doser to setup when I get time but for now it’s not consuming enough to need to set it up. I struggled to get the tank stable after breaking everything down and moving what I wanted to keep into this tank. I killed off a number of pieces trying to get it setup and stable. It’s been stable for the past few months and most stuff looks ok but I am still trying to get phosphates down to a low number. I think this imbalance is the main reason some stuff is not taking off yet.
Here is a little tank info...
- I am running two 250w radiums in mini reflectors on electronic ballasts on the Hqi setting and four or2 bars, 3 blue plus and one uv.
- Using 5 powerheads. Two wavepucks (my favorite pump by far), one Nero which is close but not as good imo, one old jeabo that needs replacing and a reefbreeders one with the wide flow pattern that’s similar to the same body style as the Nero and wavepucks. I am using one rotating device for one of the wavepucks and would like to have two but it’s hard to mount them on the Rubbermaid without taking up a lot of room.
- Live rock is mixed from when I started with good real live rock, Tonga branch and mixed dry pieces. Most of it is covered in sponge underneath from dosing carbon for so long and feeding well. The last system had a 40 breeder filled with rock and low flow that I dosed a lot of vodka and vinegar in which really got that population going strong.
- Filtration starts with a little carbon in a bag changed weekly and I run a old large euro reef skimmer from a mazzei injector and a mag 18 sitting in the tank. Skimmer is 3’ tall and 8” round.
Also using a recently setup tunze cheato reactor but it hasn’t really started growing to well yet, it grows but doesn’t spin like they say it should. Probably because it likes to grow bacteria in there a bit and once I get my po4 down I should be able to get it running well and lower my vinegar dose a bit.
I am dosing stump remover every couple of days to lower the po4 slowly. Might start using a little gfo mixed in with the carbon temporarily.
- I top off the tank with a gravity fed top off tank and a float which is kinda annoying to look at but whatever, it works and won’t cause issues.
For now I will just post a quick crowd friendly phone pic of the corals under the or2 bars with a filter, even though I can’t stand the look it’s the only way I can get a decent pic of what’s inside all at once. Once I find time I will start taking macro shots with the cannon again. I am not happy with any of the phone pics I have taken of the corals but I will keep trying.
. Thankfully I don’t care about aesthetics!
