Smiddy's Reef 360 Peninsula

[offtropic]

I was able to get a Gyre this weekend.

I did end up making the bracket taller so the acrylic piece just touches the surface of the water.
I am pretty happy with how this turned out. No cord or magnets on the front pane.

Now I just need to play around with the modes to find out max flow I can use before vortex with air bubbles begin.

Nice - it looks pretty unobtrusive and part of the system (not tacked on like most magnet backs would look).

Couple questions about your cabinet/hood (which looks great) and dimensions if you don't mind:
1. Maybe you answered this but did CDA also make your stand/hood?
2. Is that barlip (which I always love when I see tanks with them) removable, can/do you stand on it and how far out does it extend (looks about 10"?)? I'd definitely thinking this is a direction I will go.
3. How tall is the ceiling in that room? And I noticed in your install picture you had a recessed light right above the tank - what that intentional? I'm looking at my space now and I'm wondering about my currently recessed lights and if they should be sealed or moved.

 

[rds85]

Nice - it looks pretty unobtrusive and part of the system (not tacked on like most magnet backs would look).

Couple questions about your cabinet/hood (which looks great) and dimensions if you don't mind:
1. Maybe you answered this but did CDA also make your stand/hood?
Yes they did.
2. Is that barlip (which I always love when I see tanks with them) removable, can/do you stand on it and how far out does it extend (looks about 10"?)? I'd definitely thinking this is a direction I will go.
It is removable yes. That was the only way to get it into my house. I do not have side panels that would cover where the bar lip would go if I where to remove it.
3. How tall is the ceiling in that room? And I noticed in your install picture you had a recessed light right above the tank - what that intentional? I'm looking at my space now and I'm wondering about my currently recessed lights and if they should be sealed or moved.
That ceiling is just under 8 feet, due to it being a basement. I installed a can light there intentionally yes. It was installed for resale of the house one day. Otherwise it would look weird that there was not a light there. I did remove power to that light once the tank was ready, but the light is still up there.

 

[rds85]

After 37 days of full QT I have some fish in the tank. Tank is now 6 plus weeks old. Lights will be on for a few hours a day. Next batch of fish will begin the QT process in the next week or two. Hopefully to add about 5-8 depending on type of fish.

 

[Gablami]

Nice! That must be very satisfying. If you weren’t already staring at your tank for hours, you will now! Lol

 

[rds85]

Nice! That must be very satisfying. If you weren’t already staring at your tank for hours, you will now! Lol

It is stratifying but also motivating. The fish look so small in the large tank.. Just getting the erg to stock it up, especially since my coral QT is still being manufactured and won't be up and running for another 3-4 weeks.

 

[rds85]

Update:

Ornate arrived alive! Step one. Very stressed out. As to be expected. Noticed slightly injured mouth and some fin tears ( noted as blemish from DD). Not expected but not surprised as leopards do not ship well and are known to damage their mouths trying to burrow into things that are not sand.
I got a good look at it and it seems to be a male Ornate coming in at 4 inches with good weight/mass.

Lights remained off for approximately 6 hours to help with acclimation. Lights where only turned on for 2 hours super low to feed its QT partners.
Ornate showed zero interest in the sand box I provided. Wedged himself in the between the sand box and the glass for those 6 hours.

Lights came on and normal ISH day time behavior began. ( I was surprised and figured it wouldn't move much for at least 24 hours)
He than went ahead actually ate! He ate three pieces of frozen mysis and demolished approximately 10-15 PELLETS!!!! I was blown away that he ate pellets. He showed zero interest in masstick. Step two of getting him eating before raising to therapeutic levels of copper shows high promise.

Still showed zero interest in the sand box, until the significant other was like " why don't you put a rock on the sand so it doesn't look so "fake" ". I will have to give her the credit on this one. Two seconds after I put a rock on the sand. He went straight into the sand. ( I know the rock with soak up my currently 1ppm CP levels. I will remove in the next day or two once the wrasse is comfortable and will begin bringing it back up)

 

[Gablami]

No photo? But awesome he is eating, and pellets at that! I personally haven’t had much trouble with leopard wrasses. I guess it’s all relative. I kept live blackworms in the fridge for months fattening up my cbb before it started eating frozen.

 

[rds85]

No photo? But awesome he is eating, and pellets at that! I personally haven’t had much trouble with leopard wrasses. I guess it’s all relative. I kept live blackworms in the fridge for months fattening up my cbb before it started eating frozen.

I will do my best to get you a photo tonight. Here is the DD picture of him.

 

[Gablami]

Nice. They called the torn ventral fins a blemish? I would have expected that to heal up. Anyways, hardly much of blemish. Beautiful fish!

 

[rds85]

Next batch of QT fish have been sourced. Currently 7 fish in total. I only picked out two ( leopard and Lubbock's) . The fiance picked out five... One being the smallest convict tang I have ever seen, also skinny as can be. " We can save it" Luckily it has been pre conditioned with metro and a short copper treatment. It needs to go through a thorough QT and we will see. He might be a fuge (75 gallon) dweller for a few months with fresh Ulva and Red OGO to get him ready for the big tank.

Photos to come.

 

[rds85]

Update:

All QT fish are doing great. General cure first dose has been completed, since all the fish are eating nicely, specifically the Ornate. Copper is being raised to therapeutic levels slowly but surely.

Refugium and filtration are fully functioning now. I have spent more time in the QT setup and process then anything else really. All four fish in the DT are doing great.

I need to decide in the near future if I am going to do a Calcium reactor or 2 part. I want to do a calcium reactor... but $1500 bucks to do it right is such a deterrent at the current moment. I wont have any SPS for another few months, so still some time to kill.

 

[Gablami]

I think 1500$ is on the high side. If you go used it can be had for much cheaper. I just got a geo 618 used for $300 shipped and my friend just got another 618 (older version) for $175 off th site. Get a carbon doser used for maybe $250. Not hard to find a used co2 canister, or even buy it new for under $100. And then to source a versa, or Kamoer for your peristaltic pump. Even if you went masterflex prices have gone down a bit.

im actually planning on running both. Have 2 part on a dos for fine tuning and as a backup to the carx (in case of clogging while I’m away), so you could always start 2 part and add a carx later once your demand goes up.

 

[rds85]

Yeah the $1500 came from everything being new. I have been looking for an appropriately sized CA reactor with not much luck yet. I will continue looking.

The peristaltic pump might be the only thing I want to truly purchase new.

I think my current plan is to set up 2 part, since i have the DOS already until I get the CA reactor.

 

[Poseidon's snail]

Lovely looking tank - will be following along for this journey of a lifetime!
also am curious to see about the calcium reactor

 

[rds85]

Fish room is also starting to come together! Specifically in QT department. I find it very interesting the different rabbit holes you can go down in this hobby to keep it intriguing.

Building/designing a tank. Let it cycle.. so time to plan and play with automation and controllers, set up QT for fish since it is the first thing you can add. QT in itself is a huge rabbit hole, then you can go down the different types of fish/how to stock the tank and in what order the fish need to be introduced. 3-4 months later you can start introducing some tester corals.... Oh wait lets QT corals first.. build an entire coral QT system.. Now picking corals.. now I need to handle the uptake of elements and overall nutrition of the DT... calcium reactors, fuges, misc reactors, supplements, maintenance routine... how can I automate my maintenance.. fancy new equipment...
I can defiantly see where all the money goes and how those who spouses get a stern talking to every now and again HA.

Photos of the developing fish room:

 

[rds85]

Fish Status:

A few are not pictured yet.

 

[rds85]

First time I have had a tank that I intentionally grew food for tangs/herbivores. Seems to be successful so far. Also means if ulva did ever take hold in the DT, I won't have to worry about removing it.

 

[Gablami]

That’s really cool. I’ve never done that. I guess I’ve never had a fuge large enough where I felt ok giving up real estate to grow algae that I would put back into the tank, as opposed to chaeto for export. My tangs have only known the dry sheets since arriving in captivity.

 

[rds85]

That’s really cool. I’ve never done that. I guess I’ve never had a fuge large enough where I felt ok giving up real estate to grow algae that I would put back into the tank, as opposed to chaeto for export. My tangs have only known the dry sheets since arriving in captivity.

Neither have I and thought it was worth a shot. Ulva takes up similar amounts of nutrients as cheato, but I do have four types of macros including cheato.
I was going for the "ecosystem" approach with this idea. Also fresh live algae isn't really a nutrient import like dried dead algea is. So its a wash? Grow it to remove nutrients, fish eat it and produce similar nutrients. Where as dried is adding more dead matter? Either way I think it is kinda cool! Also fresh live seaweed might have a little more nutritional value to the herbivores?

 

[Gablami]

Neither have I and thought it was worth a shot. Ulva takes up similar amounts of nutrients as cheato, but I do have four types of macros including cheato.
I was going for the "ecosystem" approach with this idea. Also fresh live algae isn't really a nutrient import like dried dead algea is. So its a wash? Grow it to remove nutrients, fish eat it and produce similar nutrients. Where as dried is adding more dead matter? Either way I think it is kinda cool! Also fresh live seaweed might have a little more nutritional value to the herbivores?

Hmm, great point on the nutrient IMPORT side of things. Seems obvious but I never considered that side of things. And I have everything to grow it, and wouldn’t need to buy sheets.

But then every morning I’ll have to get my hands wet pulling out breakfast for the fish. I’m considering it. Will have more room in the fuge on this build.