Marc Weaver April 30, 2012 Share April 30, 2012 Thought I'd finally post a tank thread. I'm relatively new to the hobby, about 2 years. This tank is the product of a 150 gallon oceanic that popped a seam and had a very slow leak. I drove up to Lancaster that night on pins and needles to buy a replacement. I lost almost all of my SPS colonies as a result of that. Seven years of growth (by a friend of mine who sold them all to me) lost in a week. Made me sick, but inspired me to start over. I found out about WAMAS from a member that was selling his system to retire in Hawaii (his name is Bob LaMarca) and I bought all of his live rock. Tank is a 220 gallon Marineland dual-overflow. Sump is 75 gallons Frag tank is a 20 long. For flow I have 3 (soon to be 4) Tunze 6105's set on a 1 second pulse. This makes a 1" wave in the tank and gives the coral that "sway action" they love. Return pump is a Pan World 100PX-X (1270 GPH) Frag tank pump is a Quiet One 3000 dialed-back. Skimmer is an ETSS 600 Pro fed with a Pan World 100PX. ATO is a Tunze Osmolator. I use an Apex lite controller. I dose BRS 2-part and magnesium with a 3 channel dosing pump. I currently dose 80mL of sodium carbonate and calcium daily, and 15mL of magnesium daily. I use 100 micron filter socks that I change every day. For lighting I have 3 400W halides on CoralVue dimmable ballasts that are set to 110% on Lumen Bright reflectors. I use Reeflux 20k bulbs. I have 36 3W Cree Royal Blue LED's for actinic I wired up myself. Frag tank is lit with 12 cool white, 12 royal blue, and 3 UV purple LED's dimmed to around 60%. I used the WAMAS PAR Meter tonight and realized my LED's were way too bright, with 800 PAR 6" below the water's surface which is where the upper-frag rack is at. The fixture is mounted around 16" above the water line. I'm getting good growth from the LED's. I keep my parameters as follows: Alk 10.5, Calcium 420-450, pH from 8.1-8.4, Temp 79-81, Magnesium 1400, Phosphates from .01-.03, and nitrates at 1ppm. I tried going lower, but the tank took a huge crap and I got pale colors and cyano everywhere, which I am fighting right now, as you can see in the pictures. It's going away on its own slowly. I dose 20mL of NOPOX daily and don't run GFO. I use 1 cup of ROX carbon changed every 2 weeks. I feed a 1" square of rod's food, 2 sheets of nori, a pinch of pellets and some flake, and 3 cubes of mysis a day. I also alternate between 1 cube of rotifers and 2 cubes of oyster eggs every night. I dose 10mL each of Red Sea Reef Energy A and B daily. I do 30 gallon water changes a week with Tropic Marin Pro Reef salt. Fish: 8" Male Blonde Naso 7" Desjardini Sailfin Tang 7" Foxface 6" One-Spot Foxface 5" Hippo Tang 5" Melanarus Wrasse 5" Lawnmower Blenny 2 1/2" Sixline Wrasse 1 Black and 1 Orange False Percula Clownfish paired hosting a duncan colony. 1 3" Bartlett's Anthias 3 green chromis 4 Zebra Dartfish 4 Firefish Gobies 1 ORA Red Mandarin and 1 Blue Mandarin, both female. They don't care about each other, they hang out together sometimes. 1 Fire Shrimp and 2 Cleaner Shrimp Frag Tank Fish: 2 Neon Gobies 1 Orchid Dottyback 1 Small Yellow Tang (I rescue small ones from my local Deathco and put them in the frag tank for algae control until they outgrow it, then sell them.) For coral I would say my tank is 75% SPS. Some pics in the next post... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Weaver April 30, 2012 Author Share April 30, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surf&turf April 30, 2012 Share April 30, 2012 Tank is looking awesome Marc, congrats!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alieu07 April 30, 2012 Share April 30, 2012 Awesome set up you got some big fish there. Do you use any optic for the led? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roni April 30, 2012 Share April 30, 2012 Colors and growth look pretty good to me. I think you're just being modest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToddR April 30, 2012 Share April 30, 2012 Very Nice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygote2k April 30, 2012 Share April 30, 2012 It'll look good in a couple of years when it grows in and completely covers the rocks. good start though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Weaver May 1, 2012 Author Share May 1, 2012 Tank is looking awesome Marc, congrats!!! Thanks Frank Awesome set up you got some big fish there. Do you use any optic for the led? Yes, on the royal blue in the display tank I have 60 degree, and on the frag tank I have 80 degree. Colors and growth look pretty good to me. I think you're just being modest Thanks, though I feel like it has taken over my life to achieve that. Very Nice Thanks!! It'll look good in a couple of years when it grows in and completely covers the rocks. good start though. I'm gonna be in trouble then because I have everything too close together as it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Weaver May 1, 2012 Author Share May 1, 2012 A few pics I forgot to post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Weaver May 1, 2012 Author Share May 1, 2012 4 months of growth. This frag looked bad when I got it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gioNVA May 1, 2012 Share May 1, 2012 Wow your tank looks great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Weaver January 2, 2013 Author Share January 2, 2013 It's been a long time for me. I ran into lots of problems and learned much over the last year. Lots of coral changes / fish additions and removals. Generally, things are looking a little better. Here are some updated pics. Some coral just will not stop dying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Weaver January 2, 2013 Author Share January 2, 2013 A few random coral shots: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flooddc January 2, 2013 Share January 2, 2013 Looking good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surf&turf January 2, 2013 Share January 2, 2013 Looks great Marc!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan S January 2, 2013 Share January 2, 2013 Looks great. Very colorful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve175 January 3, 2013 Share January 3, 2013 It looks really, really, really good. Keep up the great work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Weaver January 3, 2013 Author Share January 3, 2013 Thanks All!! I was starving my coral, so I pulled GFO and cut carbon dosing and the colors are coming back better than ever and growth is taking off again. Also, a friend and I are starting up a 375 gallon acrylic in-wall tank in my basement with a 300 gal rubbermaid sump, in which I will move all my SPS corals to. This tank will be fish and LPS/soft corals to keep maintenance time lower. I want to tear it down but my wife wants me to keep it going. I will probably buy 3 evergrow LEDS in the group buy for this. This tank is on my main level and the heat from 1600 watts of lighting makes this room stay 80 degrees in the summer with the central air running almost constantly, so less heat be a good thing. I'll post up a build thread soon as we are now just getting the equipment from storage and cleaning it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveoutlaw January 3, 2013 Share January 3, 2013 Looks great! I like the pair of foxface. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallreef January 3, 2013 Share January 3, 2013 LOVING your tank! you have a few of my favorite fish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viktoriia January 4, 2013 Share January 4, 2013 Have you had any issues with having a file fish? I would like to get one one day but heard they may eat inverts and some coral? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Weaver January 4, 2013 Author Share January 4, 2013 Not yet. It ate all the majano I had (200-300) and I have seen none since. It eats anything, even nori. I keep the fish well fed, so I'm sure that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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