Chad's 195 total gallon VB garage build

[monkiboy]

what light fixture/reflector are you using over your DT? what wattage, bulb, and ballast (looks like MH)? thanks!

Edited February 18, 2013 by monkiboy

[Chad]

It's a coralife 250 W MH professional fixture that has been completely gutted... I replaced the ballast with an electronic one (lumatek I think), and replaced all the previous power compact lighting components with LEDs. The current bulb is a 14k phoenix. I do have a DIY LED fixture that will likely replace this one (when I can get around to finally spending the last few hours I need finishing it up!)

[Chad]

And once it cleared up...

 

 

The pumps have definitely blown the fairly course sand (3-5mm size) around... I'm thinking about adding a little crushed coral to the higher flow spots... what do y'all think?

[Origami]

Is the sand pretty new, Chad? If it is, maybe the biofilm that develops will help stabilize it some. Though, I've got to say, the way those pumps are aimed, there's probably a lot of flow running down the front pane and returning via the openings in the rock work. Is that an eductor on your return?

[dave w]

you are making very fast progress on a nice system.

[Chad]

Thanks, Dave!

 

Tom, yes, it was a week or so old in that picture... But now it's going on a month and still won't stay... I'm thinking of going with ARM extra-coarse calcium reactor media! (and yes, that's an eductor)

 

Starting to get some corals in there...

 

[Chad]

A little blurry, but it shows there are a few new residents... (19 to be exact)

 

 

Including a trio of one of my dream fish:

 

[zygote2k]

nice fish. when's the "Chadlight" going to be used on it?

[smallreef]

I LOVE the blotched anthias! Awesome fish!

Looking good...with living things in and such.... Nice improvement

[monkiboy]

wow. did you add them all at once? those borbonius are killer looking and not easy to find typically. i know the trios and pairs that were on WWC and DD went in just a couple days. are any of yours from those locations? thanks for the update. any video soon? would like to see all the fish swimming around!

[Chad]

Thanks, y'all!!

 

Rob, I'm still tweaking on the light... Happy with how it's going, but I don't feel it has the test time in yet to put it into service... Soon enough!

 

Marco, yes, I added them all at once (this is the third time I have done this - the previous two were successful - this one has good potential, but they've only been there for a week now, so it's still early)... I have found that anthias do best when added in groups of at least 6-8 all females, especially with the more pugnacious ones (which both squamipinis and bartlett's are, I added 8 of each). That way they can set an hierarchy without any one individual fish being "set" as the alpha male and none of them being established in the territory. It's a bit harder to acclimate small numbers of a more passive species to an established group.

 

In anticipation of the group, I upped the feeding on the tank until I reached the amount per day that I expected to feed on an ongoing basis and I kept it at that for ~3 weeks (it's 4x out of an autofeeder and 1-2x of whatever frozen I happen to reach for - I have a lot of different types). You should have seen the copepods and isopods I had on the glass of a heavily fed, but fishless tank!

 

My 50 gallon chaeto mass is growing pretty well and keeping nitrates and phosphates at zero.

 

I sourced all of them from a LFS (Im generally a big "local guy" and always give them an opportunity first, it was Aquacare in Virginia Beach), he gave me a pretty awesome package deal that came with 2 weeks QT time in a specifically set up tank that was treated to my specifications and a guarantee. I love the Borbonius, I've been searching for a few of them for probably 2 years now (they have a pretty short season, some of you may remember me asking about them last year), the deal and opportunity just wasn't something that I could pass on and I'm really really excited to have them!

[monkiboy]

thanks for all the info chad! just got notification that a few more popped on LA today actually if you're interested.

[Coral Hind]

Nice selection of fish! Do you plan on keeping the sand?

[Chad]

^I'm not sure... I'm not really a fan of the bare bottom look (or of the large ARM media that I put in for a bit and then removed), but the pumps seem at odds with my desire!

 

I'm considering a few pieces of starboard with some sand glued down to achieve the look, but I'm not going to dissassemble any rockwork to get there. Any ideas on how to accomplish that?

 

Otherwise, I'll likely get tired of looking at it as it is and remove the substrate.

[Chad]

thanks for all the info chad! just got notification that a few more popped on LA today actually if you're interested.

 

Thank you, I'm pretty happy with the three I have, hopefully they'll all acclimate and do well (they look OK so far - knock on wood)! Fingers are crossed on that one! You should go for it!

[monkiboy]

i would but i've got all livestock out of QT for now and a lot of time focused on my build. i'm definitely following the progress with yours and interested in feeding and behaviors you can comment on.

[Chad]

Well, you inspired me to figure out how to take and upload a video... Frozen cyclopeeze mixed with a local version of Jan's food. Bornonius tend to prefer larger food than the cyclopeeze it seems...

 

http://youtu.be/yoybGce0z20

 

I though I put music over the sucking sound of my return siphon stopping... I guess I didn't.

[BowieReefer84]

Looking great! Any future additions or just all Anthias? Also, that's a big serpent starfish.

[CaptainRon]

That's awesome Chad. Love seeing all those fish!

[Chad]

Mike, yes, I plan on a few others, but really only a few. Probably just a tang and a few wrasses, mostly "working" fish left. This is largely it. I am going for a pretty specific look with this tank.

 

I've had that grey / black bristle star for ~6 years now... it was part of my CUC when I set up the 58 for seahorses shortly after I first moved to DC! They are great.

[sachabballi reef]

Updates?

 

How are your dream fish doing?

[roni]

Wow Chad, just saw this.  I need to visit when we get down that way!  Fish look great!

[Chad]

Well....

 

Not so good...

 

Unfortunately, I think brooklynella had severe sonsequences.  It was either that or MV, but I think it was brook based on the delay - three weeks - and the speed with which it hit - no observable symptoms to total loss in 36 hours.  For those who will ask, I QTed for ~2 weeks and put them under observation, but nothing was treated during that time, before adding them to my tank.  I was honestly very saddened, so I decided immediately to go fallow for 15 weeks (which ends mid-July).  Since this, I've pretty much ignored my tank.  You should see the coraline growth on the glass, I don't even know what's going on in there right now and it's going to take a few razor blades and some elbow grease to get through it...

 

The lfs owner has been awesome through this.  He did the two week QT in a standalone system he set up specifically for my fish, claimed responsibility and completely unexpectedly offered to replace the fish.  Although I told him I didn't think he was at fault, he insisted.  Pretty awesome, really.

[sachabballi reef]

First off I am very sorry for your losses it was obvious how excited you were for them and its so sad to lose them

Secondly I'm amazed at your LFS. What a rare and awesome gem of an owner. Its virtually unheard of anymore....so hopefully the second Chance will be the lucky one

 

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[Chad]

Thank you, it was a pretty hard and unexpected blow that I don't wish on anyone (most especially the fish!)...

 

I agree, the lfs (Aquacare) is awesome.  He's a small, by appointment place in an out building behind his house, but he's doing things right.