Wrangy's Reef - 80g of Wrasse & SPS

Wrangy

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Well I suppose it's time for me to start a proper tank thread here after @mdbannister asked in the FTS show off thread, so here we go :)
A little about myself, I'm a True Blue Aussie haha and I've been keeping scaled friends for the last 15 years and I've been salty for the last 6 years and tanked for the last 4! I started out with a 2ft cube and I loved that! I cranked out some crazy colours running a full zeovit system. It started out with leds and transitioned into a Hamilton Cebu Sun halide-t5 combo light that I'm still running now! I adore all facets of this hobby but my true passions lay in wrasse, zoa's and sps! So enough rambling from and lets get into my tank :)

Display System:
Strike up Date:
7/06/16 (or for you that are backwards 06/7/16 lol)
Display Tank: 1000x600x450mm or 40x24x18" and the volume is 300L or 80g :)
Display Lighting: 2ft Hamilton Cebu Sun. 250w Radium + 4x24w T5's (thinking about a 3ft unit though)
Stand: 1000x600x100mm (40x24x40")
Hood: Hoodless, lights will be hung from the light hanging kit as I want ease of access and don't mind being able to see it all.
Sump: 1000x500x350mm; ATO, frag section, matrix chamber (10L of matrix) and skimmer section.
Refugium: No weeds here!

Support systems:
System Water: The tank was run on Red Sea Blue bucket for a year and of the last 2-3 months I've been using the AquaForest Probiotic Reef Salt and loving it.
Display Water circulation: A duo of RW-8's and a 6025.
Return Pump: Ecotech Vectra M1
Skimmer: RLSS R8-i
Evaporation Top Up: ATO run by the Pac Sun Kore 5th


Chemical Support:
Good old 3-part by Aquaforest for the last while and recently I've moved up in my game and now run a Geo's Reef calcium reactor!

Water Chemistry:
Nitrates:
0-5ppm
Phosphates: 0-0.05ppm
Alkalinity: 7.3dKH
Calcium: 420ppm
Salinity / Specific Gravity: 35ppt
Magnesuim: 1200ppm

Scaled Friends:
Now this is where the real fun begins as I've leaped forth in tank size and it opens up a world of new possibilities for whom I will be able to keep! My current friends are, in order of oldest to newest:
  • halichoeres melasmapomus (Black Earmuff Wrasse)
  • liopropoma susumi (Pinstripe Basslet)
  • hologymnosus doliatus (Red Stripe Wrasse)
  • cirrhilabrus sp. (Magma Wrasse)
  • cirrhilabrus isosceles (Pintail Fairy Wrasse)
  • cirrhilabrus katherinae (Katherine's Fairy Wrasse)
  • chaetodon burgessi ("Burger" the Burgessi Butterflyfish)
As you can see I'm heavily in love with my wrasse and I would like to happily blame @evolved for this as Hunter is a huge inspiration for me and I avidly follow everything he and Lemon do on wrasse!! Cirrhilabrus claire is probably the only wrasse left on my dream list but being $2,500+ here in Australia that probably won't happen! There's a few other fish on my list that I might soon have access too due to a change in legislation on captive bred fish imports here in Australia so some exciting things may happen in the future! There's a pair of gorgeous juvenile gold nugget maroons at my lfs that I'm seriously contemplating for my sump frag tank too!

Well I suppose that sums up the tank nicely and where I'm at so lets get some pictures going :) This what the tank was looking like shortly after setup a couple of months in and it's also a great pic to give a sense of size to my t. maxima that I've had for 4 years now, who was a quarter that size!
cleanfts.jpg


And about a year later, from the start of September, this is what the tank is looking like at the moment :) it's changed a little bit but I'll have a few updates of general pics before we get there:


The left side of the tank:


Annnd the right side of the tank:


I hope you can enjoy my journey with me and I truly do live and breathe this hobby and everything about it!
Cheers,
Dom :)
 

Daniel@R2R

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LOVE this!! Awesome stuff! Thanks for sharing!
 
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Wrangy

Wrangy

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LOVE this!! Awesome stuff! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Daniel :) I'm really happy with how the tank is going now!!

Beautiful pics Dom, I see you still have an affliction for the colour red ;)
Thanks matey :D if you think it's bad wait till you see this beauties!!
My beautiful juvenile magma wrasse! :D
 
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Wrangy

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Following along, I love wrasses too and that's an impressive zoa garden.
Here's a few shots of my gorgeous pintail!






Eww, those zoas are eating your SPS spots !!!
Not you :( haha they're not taking up any SPS spots lol the garden was designed for no intrusions haha
 
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Wrangy

Wrangy

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Beautiful fish against a magnificent backdrop.

That is among the finest zoa gardens I've seen, and your choice of finned friends has me wide-eyed.

~Bruce
Thanks Bruce :) I'm definitely happy with the tank considering where it was 6 months ago! It was bubble algae city with a sprinkling of bryopsis and AEFW :( But after a fluconazole treatment, vibrant dosing and Bayer dips we're free of all of those things and I couldn't be happier!! The fish didn't care about any of them lol the bubble algae got real bad too!


Zoa's a real passion of mine so thank yoou! I've been working on it for a long time! It started with humble beginnings too! And a bit of a fragging effort :)




As for the fish, I'm really good friends with the guys at my lfs so he knows exactly what I love and want and I get messages at 11pm with a picture of an order list or of a fish from the supplier! lol there's a pair of juvenile Gold Nugget Maroon Clownfish that he has at the moment and I've fallen in love so he keeps reminding me that they're there and sent me this last night too! He's pure evil lol


Alright, so long as there's still room for another 20-30 colonies of SPS, I guess you're alright. :D
Oh there's lots of room and I'll definitely be making sure I can fit at least 10000 pieces :p and with my lfs looking like this you know I'll have some cracking pieces :D haha
 

Rakie

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While I respect your decision to keep squishy things, I shall never defend it!! You still have room for like 7-8 more wrasse tho, so that'll make up for it LOL
 
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Wrangy

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While I respect your decision to keep squishy things, I shall never defend it!! You still have room for like 7-8 more wrasse tho, so that'll make up for it LOL
Part of me is thinking a small harem of anthias, there were some stunning p. tuka at the lfs on the weekend but they're such a pain to keep that I passed them up, I'll just have to wait for my chance or buy more wrasse haha

Beautiful tank! :)
Thanks mate :)
 
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Wrangy

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So a little more on the basic day-to-day running's of the tank. The tank is running two systems, AquaForest bacteria supplements and Coral Essential's Trace, Vitamins and Amino's. The dosing goes something like this:
AF:
On alternating days I dose the bacteria supplements so
  • Day 1 is three scoops of Pro Bio F
  • Day 2 is three drops Pro Bio S and two drops -NP Pro
  • And every week the tank gets a 10% water change with the AF Probiotic Reef Salt.
  • Once or twice a week I feed AF Power Food as well.
  • 250ml of AF Carbon changed monthly.

Coral Essentials (previously called Reef Essentials):
  • Every day I dose 2ml of Trace A, B and C and in another two weeks I will bump that up to the recommended 3mls.
  • Amino's are two drops every night unless the tank has diatoms then I skip that night :) One drop into the sump frag tank and one into the return section
  • The vitamin dosing is actually AF Vitality at the moment until I use it up then I'll change over but that's being dosed at 5 drops every night and the R.E Vitamins are super strong so I'm building up to swap easily!


That's my wacky dosing schedule at the moment and it seems to be working really well :) as for nutrient control the basis of my tank is run with two filter methods. A huge RLSS R8-i that I adore! I gagged the other morning emptying it haha and I also run 10L of Matrix media in a dedicated sump section in two clothes-peg baskets lol water goes through and under the first and up and out the second :)



The tank lights run like so as well:
  • 4x 24w T5's over the main tank 8am to 9:30pm
  • 250w Radium MH 11am to 2pm
  • 2x 24w T5's over the sump tank 8am to 8pm
I am currently looking to upgrade the lighting over the tank. My thoughts are to stick with the Hamilton Cebu Sun but get a 3ft unit with a single 250w halide in it and add a strip of XHO or SB blue led strip :)
 

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Thanks Bruce :) I'm definitely happy with the tank considering where it was 6 months ago! It was bubble algae city with a sprinkling of bryopsis and AEFW :( But after a fluconazole treatment, vibrant dosing and Bayer dips we're free of all of those things and I couldn't be happier!! The fish didn't care about any of them lol the bubble algae got real bad too!


Zoa's a real passion of mine so thank yoou! I've been working on it for a long time! It started with humble beginnings too! And a bit of a fragging effort :)




As for the fish, I'm really good friends with the guys at my lfs so he knows exactly what I love and want and I get messages at 11pm with a picture of an order list or of a fish from the supplier! lol there's a pair of juvenile Gold Nugget Maroon Clownfish that he has at the moment and I've fallen in love so he keeps reminding me that they're there and sent me this last night too! He's pure evil lol



Oh there's lots of room and I'll definitely be making sure I can fit at least 10000 pieces :p and with my lfs looking like this you know I'll have some cracking pieces :D haha

Nice work, that first pic looks nasty. The clowns look sweet, getting the nem too?
 

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Tank looks awesome! That is one heck of a dosing schedule[emoji33] Any reason your not doing the maintenance dosing of vibrant?
 
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Wrangy

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Nice work, that first pic looks nasty. The clowns look sweet, getting the nem too?
It was really really bad!! Well I don't think my lfs is going to let me not get the nem haha

That anemone is awesome!
Probably one of the best I've seen in my 5 years in this hobby!

Tank looks awesome! That is one heck of a dosing schedule[emoji33] Any reason your not doing the maintenance dosing of vibrant?
The acro's weren't huge fans of it and it was causing cyano growth. It completely destroyed the bubble algae so it's an amazing product but now that it's all gone I don't really need to use it anymore :)
 

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