Vanu Bahari: 125 gallon reef

[Michael Hughes]

It is finally time to start our build thread. Welcome!

I must first apologize to the linguistic purists out there, as the name of our reef tank borrows words from two different languages: Vanu is Fijian for 'reef' and bahari is the Indonesian/Malay word for 'sea' or 'ocean'. Vanu bahari sounds so much cooler than 'ocean reef', so we'll roll with it.

My wife found a used 125-gallon tank on marketplace and called me at work to go look at it. A few hours later I was sitting in the driveway with a six foot long tank in the back of my old Santa Fe. Turns out if you slide the passenger seat all the way forward you can fit a 125 in the hatch with a few inches to spare...

The tank is 15 years old and came with a stand (had to pick it up later that night), lights, sump, and 100+ lbs of recently dead rock, along with a bunch of accessories, all for $100.

The stand needed some work though. The bottom was mostly rotted and the stand itself was in need of support. I'm actually amazed this thing held a full tank for 15 years, as the 2x4 frame is sitting only on about a quarter inch of thickness of some 1x6s (second photo below).

Thus rebuilding the stand became our priority. I removed and replaced the bottom plywood panel, added a few 2x4s as vertical supports, and added additional 1x4s and 1x6s directly in front of the originals to shore it up.

After getting everything cleaned, sanded, rebuilt, it was time to paint. We went with a white paint plus primer and applied at least three coats in most areas.

As part of the process I made new doors as the old ones had been deeply scratched by the previous owner's dog. The old hinges were badly rusted, and the hinges were visible from outside the stand with the doors closed, so I opted for internal soft close hinges for a cleaner look.

More to come...

 

[Michael Hughes]

Instead of buying some fancy neoprene leveling mat, I used rolls of window seal rubber foam.

The plan is to try painting the tank trim white this time. If we don't like it, we'll paint over it with black.

I also cleaned the equipment by soaking in citric acid. Man, that stuff really works! Protein skimmer before and after:

I finally had a chance to wipe the algae off the tank, being careful to avoid any sand scratches. Sadly, after removing the algae and salt from the front, I found the tank had already been badly scratched across much of the front.

These are deep scratches, deep enough to catch a fingernail. I'm really disappointed to find this, but it is my fault for not seeing them at the time of purchase. At the end of the day, the stand - and even more, the rock, which is phenomenal quality, real coral skeleton rock - made this purchase worth it even if the tank itself won't work.

What do you all think? Is it worth going through the hassle of setting up a long term reef tank and starting with a scratched up tank? I'm thinking not. We'll probably look for another used 125 and continue to play the patient game. Perhaps my LFS will give me something for this tank, even if they just stick it in the back for their breeding projects.

I suppose now we have a nice stand and some great dry rock, now just need a tank to go with it...

 

[Michael Hughes]

Edit: Double post.

 

[Gjedde]

I would go for another tank.
I am in a similar situation. Bought a used 180 in September. Discovered bubbles in the silicone and decided to tear it all apart and re-silicone it. Partway through tearing the whole tank apart i discovered a pretty good sized chip taken out of the bottom of the tank as well as some deep scratches. I cut my losses and decided to get a new tank.
Thankfully 125s are a really commonly sized tank. I live in montana and see them for sale often enough. Ive gotta imagine that you will be able to find one in no time at all.

 

[Michael Hughes]

Well... it's been over a year since the last post. We ended up playing the long game and waiting for another used tank. We used a waterproof white vinyl tape to cover the black rims so the tank fits better in the living room and blends with the stand. I finished the plumbing Monday and tested the design over the past couple of days. So far so good!

Still need to add another light (Nicrew HyperReef Gen 2). I built a low profile mounting strip from some old headboard mounting rails, leaving enough room to add a smaller Nicrew NavaReef 65 on each end later if I need more PAR. The strip supports are screwed directly into studs so it should handle the weight without a problem.

This tank was drilled for four 1" lines. I'm running a modified bean style with a full siphon and wet trickle on the left side and a dry emergency drain and return on the other. More on the return later. The first chamber here is a 7.5 gallon ATO reservoir I made from 1/4" thick 12x12" acrylic panels.

I left room in the sump for a protein skimmer if I ever decide to add one, but I don't plan on starting with it.

On the opposite end is a 14 gallon cube remote refugium. It will operate on its own loop from the sump. It will be used to breed copepods and grow macroalgae.

The return line to the DT is in the right side overflow chamber along with the dry emergency drain. Rather than waste this nearly 4 gallon overflow compartment, I'm treating it like an attached pico tank/cryptic zone for growing sponges and other low light fauna. To serve this purpose, I drilled three 1/8" holes in the return line about 6-7" from the surface and pointed downwards in 3 different directions. These bleed less than 50 gph from the return into the cryptic zone, which keeps water turning over and supplies nutrients to the chamber. Water will then flows backward through the weir teeth into the DT.

The overflow compartment is centered on a short end of the tank, so doing this will also allow me to treat the cryptic zone as its own display. If anyone has any ideas for pico-friendly (and non-sponge-eating) critters to include in the cryptic display, please let me know! I have considered adding a sun coral here in the future, but I haven't yet mentally committed to the regular target feedings. The sides of the overflow box are 4" wide strips of dusky glass, which partially conceal the overflow chamber from inside the tank, but also allows some see through. This will make the cryptic zone partially visible from the front pane as well, where it may give the impression of a secluded cave.

More pictures to come as the hardscape comes together. Stay tuned!

 

[Michael Hughes]

Here's a shot of that overflow cryptic zone. Nothing is in it yet but I have a few rock surfaces ready for colonization.

The old scratched 125 was useful for test scaping in the garage. About 80% or more of the rockwork was finished in the garage before we set up the new tank. Just had to superglue some finishing touches once I moved everything to the DT. Still haven't bought the second light yet but I plan to let the good microbes establish without intense light for the first few months before turning things on slowly. This tank has been in the planning for 2 years and I'm not in a rush. Even with just ambient room light, I'm really happy with how the scape turned out.

It may be hard to tell in the photos, but the hardscape on the right opens up into a central arena of sorts with open sand in the middle. The scape was designed with the placement of particular corals in mind. Plenty of mounting options, but I also wanted the hardscape to look nice on it's own without corals, since being in the dining room connected to our living room meant the tank had to look good from day 1.

 

[Michael Hughes]

Here it is in context. Will look even better once we get both lights going!

I moved an established sponge filter from the invert QT to the sump. I've also been seasoning that tallest hardscape spire in the invert QT for several months and moved that over to the DT.

Very satisfying to finally get things officially going after 2 years of planning and behind the scenes prep work!

 

[Michael Hughes]

Got the second light and the Nicrew controller. Quite pleased with the overall aesthetic. You can tell the center-left pillar was carried over from the frag tank (which has been running for 9 months now).

The display tank has been running for nearly 2 months now, so I'm starting the lights up for one hour in the evening (at around 30% of final intensity) to start slowly acclimating things to light.

I'm still working on the remote refugium to add to the sump (waiting on more weld-on 16 to arrive).

Meanwhile, I've been really pleased with the frag tank so far. We're at 9 months in and are developing some good biology in the tank. Stomatella snails have nearly eliminated all the cyano (which wasn't much of a bother anyway) and I got my first significant coral shipment in a couple weeks ago.

 

[Michael Hughes]

For stocking the 125g, this is our tentative plan, listed in planned order of introduction:

2 ocellaris clownfish (currently about halfway through QT)
Tomini tang
Red firefish
Orange stripe prawn goby / pistol shrimp pair
2 engineer gobies
Copperband butterfly
Royal gramma
Melanurus wrasse
6 lyretail anthias
Multibar angel (optional)
Longnose hawkfish
Bluethroat trigger (if I'm confident the tank could handle the bioload at this point)

Any feedback would be appreciated, particularly as it relates to the order of introduction. Originally had the tang later in the list, but moved it closer to the front to get the utilitarian value early as the tank adjusts to more light. Always open to new fish ideas as well!

 

[Michael Hughes]

Quick update: Finished the DIY refugium (glued together 1/4" acrylic panels with weld-on 16), which adds another 10 gallons of space and water volume. Plumbed into the system on it's own loop using a really small pump from the return chamber of the sump. From there it just gravity drains back into the return pump chamber.

After running for a week or two, it has already been colonized heavily by pods from the DT, giving me hope that it may actually serve it's dual purpose of pod production and nutrient export. Eventually I'll add macroalgae (red pom pom and caulerpa); perhaps other gracilaria as well.

In other news, our pair of clownfish, half-jokingly named Bildad and Zophar, are finished with QT and moved into the DT. After 2 years of planning, it's finally starting to feel like an aquarium!

 

[Michael Hughes]

Another quick update and photo dump. Clownfish have settled in well, and the Caulerpa and Ulva have started spreading in the refugium.

Collected some macroalgae here in Florida, which came in with several little pink shrimp. As best as I can tell, these are in the genus  Hippolyte, and I suspect they are H. obliquimanus. I'm hoping they make it for the next couple months so I can transfer them to the DT after quarantine.

Also picked up Calcinus tibicen from the same spot. Really liking this guy so far.

 

[Michael Hughes]

The first coral batch is done with QT a week from Wednesday, so they're almost ready for the DT! Here are some of what will be transferred over next week:

 

[Desidoop]

The first coral batch is done with QT a week from Wednesday, so they're almost ready for the DT! Here are some of what will be transferred over next week:

I csnnnot wait to see what your tank will look like once the corals and all fish are in it. I love the clownfish. They are so pretty and cute.

 

[Michael Hughes]

Looks like it's been about 5 weeks or so since the last update.

Transferred the first set of corals over to the DT on July 1st, then received the next batch for the frag tank. The frag tank got TBS live rock (8 lbs), TBS live sand (4 lbs), and sludge solution. Not surprisingly, I really like the TBS rock and sand. With such a small quantity, I still ended up with 6 coral colonies as hitchhikers.

Oculina robusta (one of my favorite corals so far):

Hidden cup coral (Phyllangia americana):

I also got some frags and a Tonga conch. Frags include ponape bird's nest, goldenrod Anacropora, yellow scroll coral, orange plate Lithophyllon, rainbow Stylophora, orange Cyphastrea, blue ice Leptoseris, and orange Pavona.

 

[Michael Hughes]

I suppose something could've slipped by, but I was able to remove nearly all of the frag plugs and glued them to new rocks after dipping, so I suspect the pests that have shown up in the last month probably came from the TBS rock. I'll take the good with the bad.

That said, I've noticed bryopsis, bubble algae, AND aptasia in the frag tank in the last week. The first bryopsis patch I removed by taking out the rock and dropping peroxide on the spot. That seemed to work as it hasn't come back from that spot yet, but I do see what may be bryopsis on a different rock.

Most (but not all) of the aptasia and bubble algae were attached to a mesh bag of rubble rock that's been sitting in the corner of the tank. I removed that bag and plan to dry it out in a bucket outside, then soak it in RO water to really kill off everything.

 

[Michael Hughes]

And lastly, I'll update the DT.

The next two fish made it through QT just fine: a red firefish and an engineer goby. They are settling in nicely!

The cyano has taken a turn for the worse lately, completely smothering the rock and sand, and getting back to full strength about 3-5 days later.

I'm currently working through manual removal, but it's a struggle keeping up with it. Here's one day after removal:

My plan was to wait it out, but it's now affecting the corals (smothering over them, cause polyp retraction, etc.) so it's time to take more intentional action. Yesterday I cut out the last hour of the photoperiod, removed red/green from the spectrum, and increased flow from the right side powerhead. I noticed a lot of growth across the back of the tank, so I ordered a crossflow wavemaker that will be here tomorrow to help remove dead spots across the back. I ordered some Microbacter Clean as I've read many positive results on R2R and elsewhere about it's ability to outcompete cyano. I may or may not use it. We'll see.

Cyano aside, this engineer goby is awesome!

 

[JumboShrimp]

That Engineer Goby will become a monster... and start to 'engineer' your rock work. Be prepared for parenthood. Lol.

 

[Michael Hughes]

That Engineer Goby will become a monster... and start to 'engineer' your rock work. Be prepared for parenthood. Lol.

Most of the rockwork is superglued together and sitting directly on the glass, so fingers crossed!

 

[JumboShrimp]

I just noticed him in your video. Very nice! The ones I see in most LFSs are tiny... but fast growers. I know someone who put two in a 32-gallon BioCube and I helped him re-home them after just 3 months. (He could tell which way the wind was blowing. Lol. They went into a 180 gallon.)

 

[Michael Hughes]

Just wanted to give a quick update. Parameters have been pretty consistently where I like them:

Temp: 78
Nitrate: 5 ppm
Phosphate: 0.2 ppm
Alkalinity: 7.9 dKH

I ended up trying a multi-pronged approach to tackling the cyano:

1) Increase flow. Bumped one powerhead up from 30 to 100%, and added a crossflow behind the rockwork.

2) Decrease light. I decreased photoperiod by 1 hour, cut out the R/G channels (which were both previously at 25%), and reduced white by just a tad.

3) Added microbial competition. After reading success stories, I decided to (cautiously) try MicroBacter Clean. I did less than half the suggested dose on day 1, and used 1/3 the recommended dose on daily follow up inoculations.

I've also been changing out 1 of 2 filter pads in the sump almost daily.

Only 8 days in and I've been very pleased with the results of this approach so far. Every day the sandbed is whiter, the rockwork is cleaner, and the cyano seems to lose more of it's foothold.