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Dpolt's Mixed Reef Tank. (New Shark Diving Pictures).


dpoltsdsu

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Hello everyone,

 

My name is Dylan and this thread is a blog of my 34 gallon mixed reef tank. This reef contains soft, LPS, and SPS corals, as well as a multitude of fish and invertebrates. This aquarium is designed to be simple and efficient. In fact, the reef runs with no protein skimmer or any mechanical filtration. This tank has come a long way from when it was first set up and I think it exemplifies the learning curve associated with this hobby pretty well. I hope you enjoy the thread and the information it has to offer. It has been a long and rewarding experience.

 

(I start to figure out how to take pictures of the reef at about page 6).

 

Equipment List

 

Reef Breeders Photon 24 Led lighting system.

Vortech MP10.

InTank media rack.

InTank upgraded return pumps.

InTank surface skimmer

Reefkeeper lite.

Eheim Jager heater.

 

Feel free to share any thoughts or feedback! I will update the thread once the equipment arrives.

 

FTS 5-28-16

 

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FTS 2-23-16

 

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FTS 12-26-15

 

aNHAhhO.jpg

 

FTS 4-6-15

ZtS18cf.jpg

 

FTS 1-11-15

xQ6ZJZZ.jpg

 

FTS 12-23-14

Bg7nAaS.jpg

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Sweet looking tank! How long has it been up?

 

What do you think of the RKL?

Thanks! That tank was up for about 6 months before I decided to upgrade to the Red Sea Max.

I have nothing but positive things to say about the reef keeper lite. It controlled my old Koralias in the Biocube through the wavemaker function and I got great random flow. I mainly use it for the heater now and it controls my temperature to .1 degree of what I set it at, which I really like

 

 

Sweet another RSM build to follow. When do you plan to buy it and set it up?

 

I actually just set it up a couple of days ago! I'll post a picture right now

 

 

Here it is! All the corals are already out and looking good and the fish made the transfer without any issues! I also got a chance to clean the sandbed during the transfer which is nice. I still have a lot to do with this tank as I am going to start replacing a lot of the soft corals with some nicer LPS. However for now, I think it looks pretty good. Most of the softies are on the left, the start of the Zoanthid garden is in the mid bottom, and the LPS are on the right. If you look at the Biocube in the beginning of the thread you can see that Iv'e gotten some pretty good growth on some of the corals. I look forward to see what you guys think!

 

Red Sea Max 130d. January 29th, 2014. A couple of days after the move. Blues 24% Whites 20%

 

 

CNI7ftV.jpg

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  • 1 month later...

UPDATE #1

About a month and a half has passed and I am starting to get some very good coral growth.

 

LPS corals:

Multiple heads on the Torch coral are splitting and the Duncan is starting to grow a second batch of heads at the base of the branches. The open brain had started to bleach when I did the transfer but I am happy to report that it has completely colored up and is now thriving again. I am also thrilled that the Zoanthid garden is also thriving. The frags are starting to turn into colonies and it looks absolutely beautiful from a top down perspective.

 

Soft corals:

The soft corals (mainly gsp and xenia) are starting to grow out of control. I will start fragging these colonies to local reefers to allow more space for some more exotic pieces of coral in the future, perhaps some SPS.

 

Fish:

The stocking as of now is a bit chaotic. The fish currently in the tank are a blue/green Chromis, a single Clownfish, a Royal Gramma, and a Yellow Tang. The Tang will be going to a friends 180 once he grows out a bit more. He was not doing very well when I got him and I wanted to see if I could nurse him back to health. He has been in the tank for about a month and is showing vivid color and a voracious appetite. I sold off the Yellow Clown Goby because of future plans to get involved with some SPS. (They tend to nip and nest in SPS colonies).

 

Equipment:

All is running well here. The one change I did make was to take the skimmer out of the system. I do many water changes with natural ocean water and as a result I was barely getting any skimmate. The filtration now consists of the media rack with filter floss, purigen, and a carbon/gfo combo. The biweekly to weekly 30% water changes with the natural saltwater has kept the water pristine so far.

 

I will post some pictures soon

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Thank you very much!

Yeah the Xenia really needs to get pruned. Its a cool coral but it grows way to fast... I'm going to see if I can manage some sps up there once its cleared out!

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SPS up there would look sick. Only problems removing the xenia. Even when you pull it off it will come back haha. Stuff almost took over one of my old tanks.

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Yeah I just got to figure out what colors I want up there

 

The xenia in the tank is insane.. it started growing on a hermit crab's shell at one point. It's going to be a battle but I just have to keep telling myself the sps is worth it.

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Unfortunately my tank sitter let the water get to low and a return pump blew out. I'm thinking of running just one maxijet 900 or 1200 down there now. Anyone had any firsthand experience with these pumps?

 

My next purchase is going to be an auto top off system, I'm currently looking at different options, I just want something extremely reliable.

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So a ton of changes have happened to the reef in the last couple of days.

 

First off, the Tang was picked up by a friend and is currently in a 180 gallon tank where he will remain.

 

Next, I spent hours cleaning the tank of Xenia and Green Star Polyps. It was a pain but worth it. The lfs store gave me 70 dollars for the xenia colony which I spent on a Solar Wrasse and Klausewitz blenny. They are both doing very well thus far.

 

Lastly, I have now moved on to some sps for the first time. I purchased 2 frags of red plating Montipora, a red Montipora Digitata, and I am trying my hand at a purple tipped Acropora. Im hoping they do well. They are in high flow from my mp10 and at the top of the tank. All the sps including the acro have their polyps extended already which is a good sign. I'll post some pictures soon.

 

Happy Reefing everyone!

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  • 4 weeks later...
dpoltsdsu

Well I ended up deciding on a Tunze Osmolator. It has worked fantastic so far and I am very much impressed with this product. The price is steep, but the electronic sensor and the backup float switch adds a priceless peace of mind. The pump automatically shuts off after 10 minutes for added stability. The days of manually topping off 3 times are long over!

 

http://imgur.com/Ws6RwIx'>Ws6RwIx.jpg



Here are a couple of updated shots!

 

Torch coral

 

http://imgur.com/iYAtgWo'>iYAtgWo.jpg



The new SPS! Montipora Capricornis, Montipora Digitata, and a frag of Acropora. You can also see the new God of War Zoanthids on the left, these look stunning under blue LED's

 

http://imgur.com/ERTjX48'>ERTjX48.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well I have some good news and some bad news.. Ill start with the good.

 

The good

All of the new sps including the Acropora are encrusting and showing some great coloration. All of the lps are also showing consistent and rapid growth. So on the coral end of things, everything is going great..

 

The bad

Last week, my tank broke out in a terrible ich outbreak. I'm not sure where it came from but It hit fast and hard. All of my fish were healthy/eating and had vivid colors prior to the outbreak as well which makes it more frustrating. Well after about 3 days, the Solar Wrasse, Blenny, Royal Gramma, and Clownfish had all passed away. I have had a couple of these fish since the very beginning and it was really tough to watch. The lone survivor is the Chromis who never showed any signs of ich at all and is still doing well. I think I am going to leave the tank with just the Chromis for a couple of months just to be safe. Ich is terrible and I wouldn't wish this on any reefer. At least my corals will enjoy an ultra low nutrient system from now on... I plan on stocking very lightly when the time comes. Hope all is well with everyone

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  • 6 months later...

I have not updated this tank in quite a while. Due to a move, I had to break down the tank and move it about 150 miles away. The move proved to be tough and I lost my brain and torch coral. Due to time concerns with school, I decided that this will be a softie and LPS tank and I have sold the higher end zoas and the SPS. I plan on adding some colorful LPS and hope to grow some large soft coral colonies as well. I love the look of large and mature colonies so I plan on growing my coral out for quite a while. I pruned back most of my Xenia to make way for other coral as well.

 

I have not added any more fish to the tank yet after the ich incident, but I plan on adding some around Christmas time. I am still debating on what to add.

 

After the move I also decided to go with more of a 2 island aquascape and I think it turned out quite well. I will update with some pictures.

 

I hope to get the reef back to where it once was soon. The move was tough and I was pretty beat up about the losses but it unfortunately happens in this hobby and I have to keep my chin up and continue enjoying the tank. Fortunately, I was able to save my prized Duncan coral and it is now thriving again. Happy Reefing!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have not updated this tank in quite a while. Due to a move, I had to break down the tank and move it about 150 miles away. The move proved to be tough and I lost my brain and torch coral. Due to time concerns with school, I decided that this will be a softie and LPS tank and I have sold the higher end zoas and the SPS. I plan on adding some colorful LPS and hope to grow some large soft coral colonies as well. I love the look of large and mature colonies so I plan on growing my coral out for quite a while. I pruned back most of my Xenia to make way for other coral as well.

 

I have not added any more fish to the tank yet after the ich incident, but I plan on adding some around Christmas time. I am still debating on what to add.

 

After the move I also decided to go with more of a minimalist aquascape and I think it turned out quite well. I will update with some pictures.

 

I hope to get the reef back to where it once was soon. The move was tough and I was pretty beat up about the losses but it unfortunately happens in this hobby and I have to keep my chin up and continue enjoying the tank. Fortunately, I was able to save my prized Duncan coral and it is now thriving again. Happy Reefing!

:( you lost that gorgeous torch?

 

I'm about to move my tank in the next month or two, any tips?

 

pics of the new scape?

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I'm going to post some pictures right now. The torch was lost, I'm still bummed about it. My tips would be to not rush things, to use a battery powered airpump in a cooler when moving the fish and coral so that they have plenty of oxygen and the temperature stays somewhat stable. I would replace the sandbed when you set the tank up at the new place as well. There's so much gunk that comes out of older sand when you move it.

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Here are the pictures of the tank up and running again. I went with a two island approach and I hope to have both of the islands covered in coral in the next couple of months.

 

Bg7nAaS.jpg

 

 

Side shot1o8J7y1.jpg

 

 

Captive bred Bangaii Cardinalfish

 

 

6eNiTA3.jpg

 

 

Better angle of the green toadstool leather

 

 

TtfXNEQ.jpg

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Hope you are all having a good New Year's Eve! My tank sits next to a large window and gets natural sunlight every morning! I would assume that the light is a good thing for the tank and corals. When the light hits them they really seem to expand.

 

Sunlit part of the reef

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All 3 Fish

aKPWc6m.png

 

Here is my Frogspawn, I love the look of it and I hope it starts to branch out and take over the bottom right portion of the tank!

16Dt5Vg.jpg

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Thanks, the only Zoas i dont have now are the God of Wars. The Zoas currently in my tank now are doing really well so im thinking about adding some nicer ones. I'm keeping my eyes open for some Rastas at the moment

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I had to change the scape a bit due to corals touching and being shaded out. The Duncan was touching the Toadstool and the Frogspawn was being shaded by the surface skimmer. Here is a new FTS.

 

xQ6ZJZZ.jpg

 

 

Side Shot

 

 

DHP6VRD.jpg

 

 

Kenya Tree Coral

 

 

MU0Iebi.jpg

 

Zoas

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