Frizz's 50Breeder

[matt frizz]

Tank Specs:

 

-50 Gallon Breeder tank 36x18x18"

-Hand Made stand (Not my best work but it's not too bad)

-20 Long Sump with baffles

-Chaeto Fuge in sump

-Drilled with 3 returns

-Gravity Driven Overflow

-Auto-Top Off

 

Equipment Specs:

 

-75 GPD Bulk Reef Supply 5 Stage RO/DI unit

-SWC Extreme 160 Protein Skimmer

-Mag 9.5 Return Pump

-Vortech MP40W

-Vortech MP10

-Odyssea 4x39W T5HO

-Odyssea 250W Metal Halide Pendant (I highly recommend throwing out the ballast and buying a quality one, I've been through 3 of their ballasts and odyssea's customer service is subpar but the lighting is mad cheap and it works)

-250W Heater

 

My first FTS: 6/14/10

 

 

Current FTS: 4/19/12

 

 

 

Rock/Sand:

 

Arouind 70lbs of Live Rock and around 60lbs of Live Sand

 

 

 

 

LiveStock:

 

1 Blue Spotted Jawfish

1 Green Mandarin Dragonet (male)

1 Starry Blenny (unknown)

1 Yellow Tang (unknown)

 

 

 

 

SPS:

 

Purple Pocillopora

Green/Orange Pocillopora

Pink/Purple Birdsnest

ORA Green Stylophora

Strawberry Shortcake Acropora

Tri-Color Acropora

Blue/Yellow Acropora

Blue/Maroon Polyp Acropora

Green Staghorn Acropora

Sunset Montipora

Pink Montipora Capricormis

Green Montipora Capricormis

 

 

 

 

LPS:

 

Torch

Hammer

Frogspawn

Hydnophora

Christmas Favia

Assorted Mr. Coral Acans grown out over time

Duncans

Acan Echinata

Grape Watermelon Chalice

 

 

 

Polyp/Mushroom:

 

Orange/Blue/Green Ricordea

Pink Zoanthids

Radioactive Dragon Eye Zoanthid

Candy Apple Zoanthid

Green Skirt/Peach Mouth Zoanthid

 

 

Inverts:

Assorted snails (a lot thanks to john maloney)

Harlequin Shrimp (male)

Brittle Starfish (small and one large)

Maxi Mini Carpet Anemone

 

Current Lighting:

 

2X39W ATI Blue+

2X39W ATI Purple+

250W 14000K Phoenix MH

[jeremy0411]

Tank sounds like a beuty.....What do you think of teh lights/.I have been wanting to buy an odyssea for a bit worried tho

[matt frizz]

Tank sounds like a beuty.....What do you think of teh lights/.I have been wanting to buy an odyssea for a bit worried tho

 

The T5HO is definitely not a completely solid unit, it feels cheap I mean; it definitely gets the job done though. The lights look exactly like my more expensive (not ridiculous though) current sundial 4x39W. I plan on switching out both bulbs with ATI Blue+ for added actinics. I have no doubt that it's sufficient. There is one sole zoo that hiked on a rock from my 29 and it's open and happy.

 

I receive the 250 W MH unit today so I'll let you know when I set it up. I plan on hanging it around 18" over the tank and switching the bulb with a 14000k Phoenix 250W.

 

I'll probably wait a little while on buying the bulbs though because I just dropped mad bucks on all the equipment. I tried my best not to cheap out but the lighting was just not a possibility. I just purchased an awesome acan frag pack from mr. coral and I'm picking that up as well. It will live in my 29 until the 50 is coral ready.

 

EDIT FOR ORGANIZATION:

 

Here are my FTS so you can see how my tank progressed over time

 

 

FTS 2/2/11:

 

 

FTS 1/16/12

 

 

FTS 2/18/12

[jeremy0411]

well I plan on buying their combo fixture so lemme no what u think. I would also be switching out the bulbs to ati blue plus or similar to get a better blue colr, as long as the lighting quality is good i dont care about the build quality, going in the canopy anyways, for the price what do you expect anyways

[jeremy0411]

So how do you like the light.... waiting patiently

 

Is it too hot>?

 

LMK lol

[matt frizz]

Got in the MH 250W unit a week or so ago. Sorry I forgot to log on because the lack of a camera has discouraged me. The unit is actually better quality than I thought at first and it honestly looks pretty good. The cooling fans actually keep it pretty cool as long as you remember to turn them on. It's a little bit confusing because there are literally no instructions and the hanging kit kind of sucks but I'm going to work with it.

 

I still need to hang the light from the ceiling which would be done already but the ceiling over the tank is nothing but dry wall for the air conditioning in my basement. Hopefully it will be hung over the tank by the end of this weekend. I'm probably hanging it around 16-18" over the tank. I can't really give you any pics of the MH on the tank because it's too small to position on the 50 breeder the lighting unit itself is only 24" and the mounting legs SUCK! Do not buy an odyssea unless you plan on hanging the unit because you'll never get the legs on it. They don't even fit right into the track.

 

TANK UPDATE:

 

Nitrates: 0

Nitrites: 0

Ammonia: 0

pH: Between 8.2 and 8.3

Calcium: 480ppm

 

Whats in the tank as of today you ask?

 

2 False Percs doing very well in their new home

1 Huge torch with 8-9 heads

2 Zoanthid frags which are yellow-green with blue and peach centers and orange with tie die blue centers

 

FTS and Equipment shots to follow this evening.

[jeremy0411]

sounds good, heard the same thing from a lot of people about the legs but I would have figured somethin out

 

I may just have to pick one up.......

[matt frizz]

LTS:

 

 

RTS:

 

 

More Pics:

 

Acans and Chalice frags: Growing very nicely.

 

 

Soon to be macroalgae/seahorse/mandaring tank being broken down for a move as of now though.

 

 

My doggy

[jeremy0411]

I love your tank...mines better but yours is nice

 

also ... nice doggy

 

i need to order one of them.....

 

How did you manage to order it, they are always out of stock

[matt frizz]

I paid more than it's worth on ebay just so I didn't have to wait for aquatraders to get in stock. $160 with the hanging unit.

 

Still working on the aquascape, in the process of transferring more rock from my other tank.

[jeremy0411]

I might ebay it to.... aquatraders never has any stock 160 is still a great price tho.. so far the aquascape is grat but you do need more rock, cant wait to see the finished project

[matt frizz]

I might ebay it to.... aquatraders never has any stock 160 is still a great price tho.. so far the aquascape is grat but you do need more rock, cant wait to see the finished project

 

 

Still moving rock from the other tank so it should look better once I transfer it over. I moved over almost all of my corals the other day and they're all looking much better now that their in the new tank. My zoas are starting to color up verynicely and the acans are looking great as well.

[matt frizz]

What do you guys think about this setup for bulbs.

 

T5HO: 1 ATI Blue+ and 1 KZ Fiji Purple

 

MH: 1 250W Phoenix 14000k

 

It's either that or 2 ATI Blue+ and 1 Phoenix.

[jeremy0411]

i dont know that much about bulb combos but it sounds like it should be fine

[matt frizz]

So I'm currently battling a red slime problem that had taken over the tank almost. I've been doing 5 gallon water changes daily for a week and then i dosed chemi-clean followed by more water changes.

 

Problem is clearing up as of now but the chemi-clean did not get rid of all the slime. I'm still pulling out chunks every day. My corals havn't been affected too badly by the chemi-clean but using the chemicals still worries me. I got 5 gallons of RO/DI ready for another water change today.

 

I'm also considering re-doing my rock scape to allow better flow behind the rocks. I'll probably tackle that later this weekend and post some pics.

 

My Acans are growing wonderfully and have all recovered from a day that I left my RO/DI filter on all day pumping fresh water into the tank and causing my skimmer to overflow quite an amount of water out of my tank onto the carpet. FML was that a pain to clean up. The salinity actually dropped to 1.016 and two of my colonies almost died along w/ my Sunset Montipora and purple Poccilopora. All have recovered and amazingly i did not lose a single coral.

 

I've just been trying to keep the tank as stable as possible which I've so far been successful with. Hopefully this red slime problem clears up soon so I can safely continue my stocking plans.

 

I also need to upgrade my CUC because I believe that this may be contributing to the problem. So some new snails are in order. Probably 2 more turbos, a handful more trochus and Astraea, along with a sand sifting star to keep the sand thouroghly clean. I'm not stocking any crabs besides the one Blue Legged hermit currently in the tank because I personally believe that crabs are not very reef safe.

 

I have the Metal Halide and T5HOs up and running. Both are oddysea and both seem to get the job done great. My corals are showing great coloring and I've really enjoyed the growth and color from the 250W MH. I still want to change out the bulbs so that I can see further growth and coloration.

 

After I get these problems sorted out I'll post some current pictures.

[matt frizz]

Picture updates 12/12/10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ID on this Nem anybody? Hitchiker that's quadrupled in size over the past year. I've seen a huge one before but forgot the name.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dnic]

Nice. I spot a blue tang at the bottom

[matt frizz]

Nice. I spot a blue tang at the bottom

 

Yeah, he's doing great so far. Eats everything i give him. I'll be replacing him w/ a smaller tang when he gets too big. I'll probably just keep switching them out once they reach 5-5 1/2 inches.

[Pen3]

That is a weird sump setup. Usually you put the skimmer in the drain section to maintain optimal water level.

[matt frizz]

I've seen them in the middle a lot. Works fine and water level is maintained.

[fewskillz]

Any tang will go nuts in a 36" long tank, much less a 5" tang, that's a biiiig fish. One that size will be super aggressive and a lot of bioload. I suggest finding a dwarf angel you like after you get rid of the first tang. That way you won't have to catch him, THAT won't be a fun task.

[matt frizz]

Just picked up an amazing frag of acans to add to my garden. $45 for over 25 heads. Acclimating it right now. Couldn't believe what a steal it was.

 

Oh and to few skillz, after i remove this blue tang I was considering trying out a Convict tang seeing as they are the most peaceful and there have been many reported successes of keeping them in 50 Gallon tanks. So far the tang has showed a little aggression towards the clowns but it seems to be in retaliation of their aggression towards him. As of now all of the fish are getting along besides my yellow watchman but he's a dick anyways.

[matt frizz]

Got a new bulb for christmas and a refractometer finally. I needed to throw out my hydrometer really badly.

 

Girlfriend is taking me to get a coral on wednesday and I might just buy something also. Guess we'll wait and see.

 

I've also since gotten rid of almost all of the algae and i ordered a long needed cleanup crew upgrade tonight from reef cleaners. Ships on the 28th, I should have a new FTS after i get my corals and crew.

[matt frizz]

Well it's kinda looking like my MH ballast is broken so I'm gonna have to do something about that. I also just placed an order for 1000 copepods (buy one get one offer) i plan on dosing my tank and trying out a mandarin after they find all the hiding spots and get some time to populate. I already have a bunch in my tank so I'm just making sure that there is a good supply to support the mandarin.

 

I also bought another poccillopora frag and it looks really nice. It's definitely nicer than my other one.

 

Problem is I think I may have found out that I have a coral eating starfish problem which explains why my zoas have always thrived but then dwindled to nothing and why some of my acans have been looking deflated and smaller. Considering buying a harlequin shrimp and feeding him some to get him started.

[matt frizz]