gws3

Thanks! I used pieces of shelf rock and mortar. Stacks of plastic cups to support the rock while the mortar cured. It cures fast so once I had the pieces picked out and the design visualized it went together in a couple hours.

Transferred male lineatus and male flame wrasse from 300. It already seems like a good amount of fish for this size tank. May have to knock a few off my list. Also threw in about two dozen large frags. It's nice having mature sps tanks to select frags from for the new build. A bit risky this early but the 300 needed a number of things trimmed anyway.

Thanks Evan. Currently I have three different systems running, they're all a bit different. The system that the 425XL is plumbed into is the newest and has very few corals in it so far. I think it is ready to try some more, just haven't had a chance to trim and mount more test pieces. I haven't been doing water changes on that system, as it's now about 800 gallons with a very light bioload and no corals, so I don't think there is much point. For my other two systems my targets are: 5% weekly water changes (manual) 35 ppt salinity Alk 7.5-8 Ca 420-430 Mg 1300-1350 K 400 (i test and dose occasionally, maybe every 2 months to bring it from about 360-370 up to 400, not sure it matters) Sr 8 (i add it to the two part, triton tests indicate it does down to about 2 ppm if I don't supplement, not sure it matters) I .06 (i add it to the two part, triton tests indicate it goes down to close to 0 if I don't supplement, I think it impacts z/p's when it gets low, not sure it matters otherwise) As far as nutrient levels I could probably talk for hours. For a couple years I struggled with low nutrients in my oldest system and lost many SPS gradually over time. This was when po4=0 and no3=0 was all the rage. I find deeper colors and more robust SPS with higher nutrient levels. With next to zero or zero levels once alk hits 9+ dkh I would lose tissue. Also as part of the diurnal cycle corals absorb and release phosphates so testing and understanding very low levels is tricky. I read this somewhere and was able to confirm it with testing. Currently my levels are potentially higher than I would like, but I'd much prefer this than too low of nutrients. I guess I'd shoot for .06-.1 ppm PO4 and 5-10 ppm NO3. But finding husbandry that results in stable long term detectable levels is probably more important than achieving perfect values. Surprisingly the biggest impact to get my no3 and po4 up on the oldest system was ditching filter socks. I also does Seachem aqua vitro fuel on that system to keep nutrients up. On the 300 it's more of a struggle to keep the nutrients from climbing higher. I try to avoid running GFO, if I do I use very small amounts. I think it caused a lot of issues when I had low nutrients. I also run old school lignite carbon if I feel I need to run some carbon. I know ROX works for some people, for my system it seems way too aggressive and I suspect it strips things I don't want it to. Old system: 0.3 ppm PO4 ~25 ppm NO3 300DD: 0.4 ppm PO4 ~25 ppm NO3 Algae is always a struggle when keeping higher nutrients. I use a lot of tangs, snails and hermits. I also use turf scrubbers, but you have to keep them clean, once there's too much growth on them they yellow the water and I believe it irritates corals as well. Once you get ahead of algae, coralline is well established, and your clean up reaches "equilibrium" you won't even think about it. However, there are a few nasty things the cleanup crew won't touch: Bryopsis. Fortunately someone discovered fluconazole. No more screwing with secret ingredients in Mg supplements. Just dose fluco. It is reef safe. Dinos. A real pain. I have only had them become a real problem once. But were awful when they did. I tried a few things until Dino X. Dino X worked great for me, but close to the end of treatment (day 15 I believe) corals were suffering. I completed treatment, and the dinos never came back, but I killed a few SPS colonies and a bunch of frags as a result. Cyano. Patches come and go. Usually a bit of GFO knocks it back well enough or sometimes it just goes away on it's own. I actually had a lot of cyano as a result of red turf algae. Red Turf Algae. At one point it covered most of my rockwork in the 300. I didn't care that much because it didn't bother anything. Then it started to accumulate detritus. Which resulted in a problematic coating of red cyano. So in this case the underlying cause of the cyano was in essence the red turf algae. Very few animals eat it. Fortunately in my experience mexican turbo snails do. I typically avoid them since they are bull dozers, but a couple dozen really helped knock the red turf back to the point where it's no longer an issue. If you're talking about normal old green algae types, just buy lots of astrea snails and tangs. Pressure wash live rock if really bad.

I think you have the right amount of rock. Especially if you plan to cover them with stony corals. Tom made some good points. The rock on the right side is very close to the glass. I would put a break between the left and right side to make it two individual bommies. The channel down the middle will provide lots of depth and make the tank look deeper. Then maybe you an slide the right side away from the glass for more room to clean the glass and mount corals. Also, I would mortar or epoxy the rocks together once you get your final aquascape sorted out. On my first SPS tank I just stacked the rock. I can't tell you how many times I had a rock slide and snapped a mini colony in half. It's infuriating. Much better to have one solid base.

Thanks for the positive feedback on the 300. A few more pics of the new tank and canopy below with the T5s on this time. The male watanabei, royal gramma and a female lyretail anthia made it through QT. the male watanabei only had to spend one night in the acclimation box, he exhibited zero aggression towards the smaller female. I didn't anticipate any aggression, as this is a peaceful species, but played it safe just in case.

That's fair. The 300 just turned 3 years old. It took about a year longer than I expected to get to where it is now. I attribute this to starting with 100% dry rock. It took about 1.5 years until it was truly stable enough for more demanding SPS. This was a bit frustrating for me. I dug up a pic from last October for this reply. I am glad I did because I wasn't aware how much progress it's made in the last year. It took a long time to keep SPS happy but I am very pleased with the overall progress in the last year. First pic is October 2016 Second pic is September 2017 So 11 months of growth:

Typically I do a poor job documenting and sharing my builds, so I thought I would try a bit harder with this one. My wife suggested it would be nice to have a tank in the living room as all my reef tanks are in the unfinished basement. She didn’t have to twist my arm very hard. The only good spot for a tank in our living room is to the side of the fireplace, which really dictates a four foot by two foot tank. I planned to plumb this tank into an existing 700 gallon system, so I was not worried about heat from the fireplace in the winter. We both wanted a modern look. I did some research and we settled on a Red Sea Reefer 425XL with a white stand. I ordered the tank on September 1st but knew it would be a bit of a wait as their facility is in Houston and they just got hit by Harvey. Fortunately, they were open for business not too long after and I received the tank on September 22nd. I’m not a very patient person so I assembled the tank that afternoon. I ran the plumbing through the floor, along the basement ceiling and to the sump in the basement that weekend. The following weekend I did the aquascape. Pursuant of the modern look this tank will be SPS dominated (they always are for me) with minimal rock work. I tend to add too much rock during aquascaping in an effort to provide maximum real estate for acropora. So this time I was very careful to keep the rockwork to a minimum. The intention of this tank is purely aesthetic, not for aquaculturing SPS. In other words I want this tank to look perfectly natural and will resist the urge to cut frags from it. I wanted two coral bommies, one with a shelf extending over the other which I think will create a nice dynamic once corals fill in. It will also let me keep a few select LPS in the shaded areas. My inspiration for the form of the aquascape was “The Great Wave off Kanagawa”. The rock is from the sump of my 700 gallon system. So it is already cured, and filled with pods and sponges. Last weekend I finished building the floating canopy. The lighting decision was the one I struggled with the most. My older tanks are lit by 250w radium metal halides with blue reefbrite xho strips. The tanks on the newer system are lit by T5 and blue reefbrite xho strips. My 300DD is lit by radium 250/400w radium metal halides, T5s and blue reefbrite xho strips. So I really wanted to try a build lit predominately by LEDs. Partly to evaluate them as I am considering swapping some of the halides out for LEDs in the future. Too much heat, humidity and electricity usage currently. I am a bit leery of going full LED due to shadowing, and have heard T5s supplement LEDs nicely for SPS tanks. I originally looked at some LED/T5 hybrid fixtures, but they all have their shortcomings in my opinion. I decided I wanted Gen 4 Radion Pros with the new optics for the LED portion, so I concluded I would need to build my own canopy to add the T5s. I wanted to pack four T5s and two XR30w Pros into a very low profile modern looking floating canopy. To accomplish this I spent quite a bit of time designing the canopy in CAD at night after work. It is mounted to three studs in the wall with a 4.5” square aluminum tube that I painted white. The inner acrylic frame is supported by an 80/20 frame that is bolted to the aluminum tube. The inner acrylic frame mounts the two Radions and the rear set of T5s. It has two vertical partitions. These prevent the heat coming off the T5s from effecting the Radions as well as prevents line of sight to the LEDs so those sitting in the living room aren’t blinded. The outer acrylic frame or cover is on hinges for accessibility and mounts the front set of T5s and a variable speed fan. When the cover is lowered there is ducting that forces the air from this fan over the length of the front and rear set of T5s. For stocking the tank I decided to go with mostly smaller fish with a focus on male / female pairs. There were a few considerations when putting together the stock list. First, it’s plumbed into a system that is 800 gallons with a light bio-load. So the bio-load of the fish in this tank is not a concern, just territorial behavior and feeding needs. Also, I really enjoy male fairy wrasses. So I am planning on adding females to encourage the males to maintain coloration. The risk I run is the females turning into males and fighting occurring. If this happens I will remove one of the males and put him my 300DD. So the risk of ending up with two terminal males is really a win-win situation in my opinion. The other concern is providing enough food for the Dragonets and Pipefish. Attempting this in a tank this size would normally be foolish. The first thought here is the ~500 lbs of live rock I have in the sump of the system will provide a constant supply of pods. I also plan to use the sump that came with the tank as a culture tank for pods that I will add directly to feed these fish. I’ll add the Dragonets and Pipefish iteratively to make sure the demand doesn’t outweigh the supply. These will be the last fish I add. Even though the live rock is already cured and has microfauna growing, it is not yet established in this new aquascape. So I will make sure I have an established pod population as well as a supplementary population before I start on those fish. - - - - - - - - - - Watanabei Angelfish Male/Female (Genicanthus watanabei) (Vanuatu) Purple Tang (Zebrasoma xanthurum) (Red Sea) Lineatus Fairy Wrasse Male (Cirrhilabrus lineatus) (Australia) Flame Fairy Wrasse Male/Female (Cirrhilabrus jordani) (Hawaii) Golden Rhomboid Fairy Wrasse Male/Female (Cirrhilabrus rhomboidalis) (Marshall Island) Pintail Fairy Wrasse Male/Female (Cirrhilabrus isosceles) (Philippines?) Davinci Ocellaris Clownfish Male/Female (Amphiprion ocellaris) (Sustainable Aquatics Captive Bred) Lyretail Anthia Male/4X Female (Pseudanthias squamipinnis) (Fiji) Royal Gramma Basslet (Gramma loreto) (Caribbean) Ruby Red Scooter Dragonet Male/Female (Synchiropus sycorax) (Indonesia?) Mandarin Dragonet Male/Female (Synchiropus splendidus) (Indonesia?) 3X Dragonface Pipefish (Corythoichthys haematopterus) (Indonesia?) - - - - - - - - - - So here is the tank currently. There are a few extra pieces of live rock in there to help reestablish the pods as I believe some were killed off when the rock was out of water for the day aquascaping. The current residents include the Watanabei female and the female flame, rhomboid and pintail fairy wrasses. I plan to introduce the Watanabei male this week in an acclimation box as well as the Royal Gramma. They are currently wrapping up their stint in QT. The female flame wrasses in my 300DD all appear to have turned male, so one of those males will be transferred eventually. I also have a male Lineatus in the 300DD I may transfer. Unfortunately I lost a few male wrasses in QT recently as they did not ship well. The females or juveniles seem to bounce back after shipping much more readily than the males.

Got the tank plumbed in and my acrylic canopy mostly done. Very happy with how it turned out. Not a single cord visible. I added a fan and ducting through some acrylic partitions to keep the T5s from getting too hot.

I can mount a fan between the radions if too much heat accumulates. I am used to MHs. I don't think the ~160 watts of T5 is going to be too bad. I have tanks with full sized canopies that don't bother me. This one has a profile smaller than the tank. I'd prefer the floating look than RMS mounts and cords everywhere.

+1 for imgur. super fast and easy.

Well I decided Radion Gen 4 Pros are the LEDs I want. And I want T5s. So I have taken some of the advice above and plan to build a custom floating canopy. It will mostly be opaque white acrylic. Some 8020 for mounting the radions and rear T5s, and a square aluminum tube to mount it to the wall, painted white with some acrylic end caps. Let me know what you guys think.

I agree I think #5 looks the best. The more people I ask though the radion g4 is superior to the vervve. So I'll likely end up with #1. From what I understand the Aurora is older led technology compared to the vervve. That's what got me looking at the giesemann Genesis, except they went for a cheaper fixture without active cooling and as a result the LED output is greatly reduced. It's be hard to justify over $2k for older LED performance.

Threw together some quick CAD last night to help visualize how the fixtures would look over the tank. Since the ceiling is so high I'll be using l-brackets. I think the Vervve is the best looking aesthetically. Thoughts?

Thanks for all the input, it is appreciated. I will take a look at the difference. I may opt for the pros to get the extra blues and to be able to use them for a wider variety of tanks down the line. So my hesitation with a canopy is my living room is two stories. So I won't be hanging cables from the ceiling. The lighting either needs to mount to the wall with some l-brackets or to the tank edge with something like the RMS mounts. I have some nice looking shelf l-brackets picked out for the Giesemann fixture if I went with that choice. Yeah it's not too easy. The white Genesis would be a perfect look IMO. I would prefer to keep it as open as possible due to the high ceiling. I agree with you SPS do not need par much over 300. I think the only caveat is higher nutrient tanks can get some crazy coloration by blasting them with higher PAR. Kind of like how they get crazy colors out of Maricultures. Before ther are shipped they are grown in the ocean much higher par than where they occur naturally. Do you think the Giesemann with only 150W LED over a 2' x 4' area would be enough par? Yes, the wife is supportive of my addiction! She is a keeper. It helps that I sell frags to help offset the amount of money I pump into this hobby. I don't mind spending the money on this system to make it top end because it's not a huge tank and it's the only one going in a finished area of my house. If I am down you way I may hit you up to check out the different LED options. Someone else mentioned the Aquatic Life fixture as well to me. It has all the functionality but personally I think it is too utilitarian looking. I am shooting for a very clean, polished modern looking set up.

I used it after other failed attempts getting rid of dinos. It was effective by around day 15 of the treatment. However, between that and the end of the treatment at day 21 it definitely had a negative effect and caused tissue loss on a number of SPS. That system is now very clean and the SPS have recovered. I'd recommend it, just be careful.

My wife wanted me to put a tank in our living room so we have decided on a Red Sea Reefer 425XL. The tank measures 47” long by 22.6” wide and 22” deep. We selected the gloss white stand. I have been trying to select lighting for it and this is where I have been having a tough time. It will be a SPS dominant tank with minimalistic rock work. For this tank I wanted to select a light that is primarily LED. Most of my tanks are lit by 250w Radium MH with reefbrite XHO blue strips for supplementation. On my 300DD I use 250/400w Radiums, a reefbrite XHO blue strip and a few ATI blue plus T5s. On my newer frag tanks I am using T5s for the primary lighting and reefbrite XHO blue strips for supplementation. I think LEDs will eventually replace MHs and T5s, so for this tank I wanted the primary light to be from LEDs so that I could familiarize myself with them and learn how to best grow SPS under them, so that I can evaluate if I want to eventually replace my other lights with LEDs and have some experience with them already. So my original plan was to use two Radion XR30 Pro Gen 4s. As I was researching options I read that a lot of people growing SPS are having more success when combining T5 with LED than LED alone. I then found a LED/T5 hybrid fixture by Giesemann coming out which would match the tank and stand beautifully called Genesis. It uses the same LED array as the Vervve, which appealed to me as they utilize 4 different Cree blue leds and the output is on par with Gen 4 Radion. But they have a wider blue spectrum than the Radions. I was set on this fixture until I started getting more details on it. It uses passive cooling so the LED arrays aren’t fully powered like on the Vervve. Only 50W per array for a total of 150W from the LEDs. It has 4 39W T5s. However, these are not actively cooled as well. So they will likely have reduced output faster from the Heat. So that’s a total of 306 watts which doesn’t seem like a lot of output for a 4’ x 2’ SPS tank. I have also got feedback from someone who saw this fixture at a show and thought the output was weak. So I am back to considering Radion WR30 Gen 4 Pros. Looking for feedback from anyone that has them running over a SPS dominated tank. Or do you have any other fixtures to recommend? Here is the Red Sea 425XL in white and the Genesis fixture I was considering for reference:

If I find another one I may do an experiment to see if they eat vermetid snails. I have a large variety of vermetid snails in my old system that is a huge nuisance. I could remove all the good snails and let the polyclad wipe them out and then let it starve. But first I need to put one in a container with some vermetids.

Thanks. Looks like they are a well known pest. Never encountered one in 10+ years of reefkeeping. I put him in freshwater and he started going nuts, expanded and disintegrated within a minute. I am going to dip the liverock in freshwater to kill any of his brothers. I feel bad killing them but my snails are much more valued.

I think it's a polyclad from what I see online. Eats snails / molluscs. I guess he's going down the drain.

I saw this guy in some liverock I'm cooking a few months ago. Today I finally spotted him in a spot I could pull him out and take some pics. He's about 3" long, stretches to about 4" when he's on the move. Very responsive to light, he shrinks up quickly when I shine the flashlight on him. I'd like to ID him to verify he is reef safe and understand what he eats. Let me know if you have any idea what genus/species he is.

Use imgur. Screw Photobucket and their greed. Even before the $400 annual fee the site was absurdly slow and full of ads.

Was waiting months for this to air, although I knew it would be a bit depressing. Honestly I have more faith in corals adapting to the changing climate than man kind favoring an ecosystem they can't see over their creature comforts. I think we will kill just about all the coral reefs before a global change is made. The reefs will take years to recover and the surviving species will slowly sculpt the reefs of the future. Perhaps they are trying to paint a more drastic image to inspire change. But it's a shame what an impact we have on nature's beauty that such a small portion of our culture is aware of.

Sorry for the slow response. I have two systems, both about 350 gallons of water. Since I could only buy 20 capsules at once I dosed 10 capsules in each system. So that is about 6mg/gallon. For me this was effective, killed all the bryopsis in 2 weeks, and I have not seen any come back. I did not have a bad infestation, so perhaps a stronger dose is needed if all your liverock is covered, but for me this lower dose was very effective.

I had minor issues with bryopsis in both my systems. Mostly growing in between zoanthids and such. I dosed fluco at about 5 mg / gal. It worked great will no ill effects on any livestock. Agreed it is a miracle cure for bryopsis.

Corals like food. The problem is so does algae.