Rain's Drop-Off Reef

[Maddlesrain]

I've been waiting since November to spill the beans on this new build, and now that the tank has finally arrived, I can finally get this new project underway!!

Fair warning, this build is going to be extremely slow going. I'm going to be ridiculously meticulous about everything as this is my very first time starting a saltwater aquarium from the ground up. I've always started with second-hand set-ups, so I'm excited to finally build something that's completely my own. I'm not going to lie, it's also freaking me out a bit as well.

I'll give a small run-down of the tank itself. It's custom built by Miracles with 3/8 inch glass and total dimensions of 26" x 12" x 24," so fairly small.

I've been a fan of drop-off aquariums ever since seeing a photo of one back a few years ago, so when I decided to order a custom aquarium to replace my current build, it was the first design which came to mind. I'm hoping the smaller tank will be easier managed while I'm off at college; I'm also hoping to make this aquarium as automated as possible, also due to me being away and unable to personally attend to the tank daily.

That's all for now, keeping my fingers crossed for a smooth build!

 

[Best Fish-Jake]

Congrats! I'm a fan of these tanks too. How often are you going to be able to tend to the tank? Know any other experienced hobbyists who could stop in every once in a while?

 

[Ridem32]

Nice tank

 

[Best Fish-Jake]

You'll want to make sure that any fish you get are eating flake if you're going with an auto feeder.... due to the tank being so small, I'd do at least a 20% wc biweekly (or preferably 10-15% weekly) when you get your tank stocked and cycled. If you're not always going to be able to keep up with a w/c schedule, you may want to consider going light on the livestock or perhaps even stock it with macro algaes to keep your nutrients down.. that being said, have fun with it!

 

[Maddlesrain]

@BestFish-Jake Thank you, I'm very excited to get this underway! I am home weekly, and that's when I clean my current aquarium, however, I will be hooking up an automatic water changer to switch small increments of water multiple times per week.
I've also been researching making myself a frozen-food feeder as well, but my family does feed the fish multiple times per day as of now, so until that comes into play, they've agreed to keep up with the little things like that.
Funny you mentioned the macros... I've been entertaining the thought of mixing a couple choice plants into the reef depending on the critters I decide to stock with. I guess it's going to come down to whether I want urchins or algaes haha.

 

[buckroe07]

Nice! My fingers are crossed! When you automate things, you might not want to set up a camera to view your tank remotely...you won't get much studying done!

 

[Maddlesrain]

Nice! My fingers are crossed! When you automate things, you might not want to set up a camera to view your tank remotely...you won't get much studying done!

Thank you!!
Very true, I really wouldn't get a single thing done! Very tantalizing idea though.

 

[Alfrareef]

Following!

 

[fragit]

Following along also! Congrats on the new project. I am a huge fan of the drop off tanks also.

 

[BMMMW]

Wow, that seems o be a deep drop. Looks cool!

 

[Maddlesrain]

Wow, that seems o be a deep drop. Looks cool!

Thanks! I had it built to look a little dramatic! Haha it's a 16" drop, and the tank is only 24" high.

 

[fabutahoun]

Sweet !! watching this thread !

 

[Maddlesrain]

I've been busy with my studies and have had concerts lined up for every weekend this past month, so there hasn't been much progress in regards to this build, however, we have done a bit of talk about the location of the tank in the current house. This has caused a little family feud on the subject. My father and I want the tank to be viewable through the arch on the right-hand side (stared blue) as this will get the highest amount of traffic throughout the day. My mother on the other-hand likes the left side (stared orange) because the tank will then be viewable from the couch in that room. We'll see how things pan out as this project progresses.

In way of stocking, I'd like to follow the loose theme of paired animals - both mated pairs and symbiotic relationships.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Cool! Following!

 

[Maddlesrain]

Finally getting the ball rolling on this build! School's out for summer in two weeks, so hopefully things will really start to pick-up here soon.

We - well, mostly my dad if we're being honest here - knocked out a chunk of the stand building today.

 

[Mike N]

So which is it? Blue star? Orange? Still undecided?

 

[Maddlesrain]

So which is it? Blue star? Orange? Still undecided?

Lol still undecided! Zero progress on that front. And lets address the fact that I misspelled "starred" not once but twice - *face palm*

 

[Maddlesrain]

Finally figured out where the tank is going to be placed! After much bickering about the other two options we ditched them entirely and went with this little spot near the entryway. I believe we'll be getting a bit of the stand done today as well. This project is slowly creeping along.

 

[Maddlesrain]

I set-up and have been monitoring a couple fish in a holding / observation tank since this Friday ( 5/12/17 ).

Here are a few sub par pictures of the two beauties. Both were ordered from LA/DD.

Joker, the orange spotted filefish:

And the currently unnamed Helfrichi firefish:

I was going to wait a bit before posting them as I wanted to see how things panned out, but I decided that this will be a good way to document the filefish (and his hopefully long life) and will open the doors to anyone who has kept one of these fish to tell me what I am doing wrong (or right).

I'll start by saying that I have stalked threads and done research on the filefish for a couple years as I was captivated by them the first time I saw a picture of one. I always chickened out when I had a chance to buy one, worried about killing one of my favorite fish; this time when they started popping up on DD, however, I decided to take the plunge and give the pretty boy I have now a shot.

I was immediately filled with horror when I received him as I have never seen a fish respond so terribly to being shipped and the acclimation process (and I have received wrasses that looked to be on death's door in the past). He started sucking at the surface of the bag he was in while I floated him, then did the same in the tank as if he was suffocating. This quickly progressed to him laying on his side and barely breathing. At one point I went to scoop him out of the tank because I thought he had died only to see a gill flutter. I let him go, and he swam to the live rock I have in the tank and latched himself into place. I decided to leave him alone for a few hours as I couldn't stand to watch him suffer. I felt horrible. I came back that evening to find him swimming like he hadn't just been flirting with death mere hours before. I offered a bit of food, which he understandably ignored. This was definitely a testament to their delicate nature. The stress truly overwhelmed him.

The following morning he wolfed down on the brine shrimp I offered him. He's been eating brine and spirulina brine these past couple days. I'm going to try getting a couple other options this coming week - he wasn't interested in bloodworms or pellets last I tried.

He definitely registers my presence whenever I come near the tank and is a very cryptic fish, hence the name Joker (that, and he sure played games with me that first day. I was absolutely distraught).

I feed him about 7 times a day right now, and siphon the bottom of the tank at least four to keep the water as clean as possible. The holding tank is 14 gallons and his roommates are the little helfrichi, who I figured was a good buddy as it is a small fish with a shy disposition and a masked goby whom accidentally was slipped into the tank with a piece of live rock from my main display (and I am unable to catch because he won't stray far enough from the rock haha).

I'll try to get better pictures as time goes on and will continue to make updates I feel are relevant to the filefish. It's too early to tell how he'll do as it has only been a matter of days, but I'm hoping for the best and that my diligence and his resilience will keep him alive and thriving.

 

[Maddlesrain]

The stand is nearly done. Just need to finish it up with doors, trim, some sanding, and a paint job. Also need to drill holes for the plumbing and wave makers.

I cleaned up an old sump from a previous build I had laying around in the garage - it was a perfect fit!

Filefish is still looking good as well. I tried giving him some mysis today along with his usual spirulina brine. He seemed decently interested, but not overly excited about the newer food. The pieces almost seemed to be too big for him, so maybe I'll run the next batch through the blender and see if that helps at all.

There's a tiny white spot on his dorsal fin; he's had this since he arrived (you may be able to spot it in previous pictures). It hasn't spread to any further parts of his body, nor grown, so I'm just keeping an eye on it. I'm hoping it's just a blemish rather than illness.