Yet Another Clown Harem Tank Thread

Bill Amaro · Mar 15, 2020

I have been building this Clown Harem tank since Dec 2018. Thought I would start this thead to document equipment and processes I used during the build.

Over the next couple of weeks I will add additional posts providing details on the above.

The tank is a 90 gallon Marineland tank with a Marineland stand and a custom hood which I built to hold the majority of electronics.

Hopefully, someone might find this information useful if they decide to build a Clown Harem tank.

Birdbrains? · Mar 15, 2020

Woaw !! Thanks for sharing ;Happy

Bill Amaro · Mar 19, 2020

Basic Tank Information

This Clown Harem is a 90 gal Marineland tank started in Dec 2018.

Contains 120lbs of rock I purchased from Reef Cleaners of which about 100lbs in the DT, and the remainder is in the sump area.

As far as the sump, I have have an Eshopps Wet Dry filter (24X12X16) that I converted to a standard 2 chamber sump. Glued in a set of baffles in the second chamber.

I also have a custom build Refugium that will hold about 9 gals of water and this is where the other 20lbs of rock is kept. Run Cheato and has a plant grow light I picked up from Amazon. Painted the outside black to prevent light leakage into the sum.

Water from my tank overflow flows into either the refugium or the first chamber of the sump. The outflow from the refugium flows into the second chamber of the sump (where the return pump is).

Have 2 heaters, 1 in the refugium and the other in the first chamber of the sump.

The protein skimmer is a "Reef Octopus Classic 150SSS 6"Internal Space Saving Protein Skimmer" which is located in the first sump chamber. I have it hooked up to a CO2 scrubber with a value which allows me to either use recirculated air or room air.

ATO is a Tunze Osmolator Universal 3155 Auto Top Off which is connected to a 5 gallon container.

There are 2 (1 gal) containers that hold my BRS 2 part dosing which is controlled by a Apex DOS

I also run a Pentair Smart 25W UV which is located outside and next to the tank cabinet.

As you can see, I have maxed out the space underneath the tank. All of the electronics are in the canopy which I will describe in a later post.

The tank controller is an Neptune Apex with Trident.

Bill Amaro · Mar 19, 2020

Pumps and Powerheads

The main return pump is a VECTRA S2 DC RETURN PUMP (1400 GPH). However, with the way the plumbing is set up, the max turnover per hour is around 480 gallons. Therefore, the water in the tank flows thru the sump 4-5 times an hour.

Currently I am running 340 GPH thru the main return, 117 GPH thru the UV, and 20 GPH thru my carbon reactor. I have several Neptune Flow Sensors and they really help me tune the tanks flow. I recommend adding them to your plumbing.

As far as powerheads in the display, I have 2 Neptune WAV pumps mounted on the back walls of the tank.

Because I have so many Nems in the tank, I have added 3rd party nem guards on them. While they do a good job protecting the Nems from wandering into the powerheads, they really need to be cleaned at least weekly to ensure good flow.

Based on what is reported in the ApexFusion frontend, it appears that the turnover from the powerheads within the tank is about 65 times an hour. I have a custom program that I am still developing to control speed and flow type.

I find that you need to tune these powerheads. At this point I am running them at a max power of 55% which gives me that 65 times turnover rate.

In addition to the above, I have a very small powerhead in the refugium, that runs 10 mins every hour when the refugium light is off and constantly when the refugium light is on.

This was just added as I was seeing GHA growing in my refugium and I liked the idea of more water movement than I was getting with just the water flowing in from the overflow.

I also just ordered another small powerhead to add to return chamber. One issue I have is detritus tends to settle in that chamber and because of the plumbing it is next to impossible to vacuum it out. My thought is running a powerhead in that chamber a few mins every couple of hours, might prevent the buildup. This is in the investigative stage at this point.

Birdbrains? · Mar 23, 2020

Your tank sounds marvelous

Good luck with getting the detritus out of the unreachable corner !

New&no clue · May 16, 2020

Following along. A clown harem is a tank goal for me. No time soon, but might as well start researching and learning now. I hope you’re successful

Bill Amaro · Jul 3, 2020

Livestock

Sorry for the delay in adding new posts... Since I have retired, I seem to have more projects around the house.

My original livestock order came from Sustainable Aquatics out of Jefferson City, TN. Chose them for several reasons; they were the supplier for the BRS 160 tank, they have a solid "Two Week Live Guarantee" and they appear to QT their fish. This was important to me as my QT system is only a 10 gallon in size and having never QT'd anything before, didn't want to end up with all my fish dying in QT. In my opinion they were an excellent source for livestock and they are very easy to work with. I give them a strong recommnedation.

My first order was 14 Amphiprion Ocellaris (SA Small Black) and 14 Amphiprion Ocellaris (SA Small Orange).
The following week I ordered 4 Amphiprion Ocellaris (SA Mocha (Caramel)) and a Pacific Bule Hippo Tang.
The week after that I ordered 4 Amphiprion Ocellaris(SA Fancy Snowflake)

All of these were of size small.

I know I broke the rule of "all from the same clutch", and I have had some loses.

Counting clownfish is like herding cats, the only way I have been able to get a count is to wait for feeding time and take about 10 pictures with my phone camera, load them onto my computer and blow them up and count. Even then, you need to look at multiple pictures to get somewhat of an accurate count.

My last count was the beginning of June and at that point I believe I had lost 5 clown fish. I will do another count this weekend and post the results.

I went into this with the thought that I would lose 15 to 20% of my clown fish. Will see how close I was with the next count.

I will say over the last 3 months some of the clown fish have doubled in size. I can't say that I have figured out which one is the dominant female at this point.

Also, what I find interesting is that I have never seen a dead clown fish in the tank, so if they are dying, my cleanup crew is doing a pretty good job of disposing the bodies.

I don't see what I would call aggression among the clown fish. Lots of chasing each other around the tank, but I don't see any ripped or torn fins, no bite marks, no damaged fish.

MCooper · Jul 3, 2020

Very cool!

fcmatt · Jul 3, 2020

I tried this with only 10. I have 2 left from the original batch. 4 total clowns in the tank now with a dozen plus diff anemones and they tolerate each other so so.

It just did not work out for me and I would not try again.

Bill Amaro · Jul 3, 2020

fcmatt said:
I tried this with only 10. I have 2 left from the original batch. 4 total clowns in the tank now with a dozen plus diff anemones and they tolerate each other so so.

It just did not work out for me and I would not try again.

How big is your tank, mine is a 90 gal?

Bill Amaro · Jul 3, 2020

Feeding

I am currently feeding my clown fish 3 times a day (9, noon and 5).

Base food is Sustainable Aquatics "Dry Hatchery Diet (.8MM).

My automatic feeder is an Eheim "Everyday Fish Feeder - Model 3581". Originally, I had it set to 2 drum rotations at 9AM, 1 at noon and 2 at 5PM. As you see in later posts, I have/had high phosphates and Nitrates, so I reduced the morning feeding to 1 drum rotation. Was thinking about getting the Neptune AutoFeeder, but the reviews weren't very good. Be advised, the Eheim is not waterproof, dropped the first one in the tank and it was toast.

I am starting to toy with the idea of removing the noon feeding and replacing it with 2 cubes of Mysis shrimp. The problem is I need to be physical present to do the feeding. I will say it looks like a shark feeding frenzy when I drop the shrimp in, so I know they are enjoying it.

I have my Neptune Controller turn off the sump pump 2 mins before the feeding and turns it back on 10 mins after the feeding. The fish have become conditioned that when the pump goes off, almost all of them move to the top of the tank.
I have my WAV PowerHeads set to drop to 5% during the feeding period so the food doesn't get pushed all over the tank.

I never see any food leftover at the end of the feeding period.