"OverKill" Reef - My Project

[Jcohen9999]

LET THERE BE LIGHT!

It's been a long wait but my MH/T-5 Hood has finally arrived!!!!

Some specs: 1-175W 10K Ushio; 2-24W Actinic T-5; Dual fans and a UV Shield....






I plan on posting a more detailed review in the appropriate forum but this unit was custom made by Tom from Aquatinics and I couldn't be happier.

Jeff

Inhabitant List:
Bi-color Blenny; Yellow Chromis; Red Firefish; Mandarin Goby; 6-Line Wrasse; Fire Red Shrimp; various typical hermits/snails

Porites with xmas tree worms; Chili Coral; Sun Polyps; Feather Duster Worm

[Bax]

Sweet light!

Tank is looking great Jeff.

[kayl]

lookin great!

[Forestal]

Looking super, anxiously following along.

[Jcohen9999]

Thanks all.

So now what???!?!?! I'm stymied. I spent so much effort on researching the set-up that I never really had the time to figure out what's what with Softs, SPS, LPS, Leathers etc.

Any suggests on what to get next?


Any input would be appreciated.


Jeff

[kayl]

get a clam :-P

[Silver Vortex]

how do you like the yellow chromis? Is it a kind that schools? Have any pictures?

[Conano]

Sweet tank man. As for criticism? dont like the color od your bathroom countertop...... joking. it all looks good.

Originally posted by Conano
Sweet tank man. As for criticism? dont like the color od your bathroom countertop...... joking. it all looks good.

your kidding you like that color, ,,,,,,,jk Looks good ,, thats hudge tank for a bathroom, guess it makes since lol Easy water changes, dont have to worry about spills.

[Anthony8858]

Very nice project.

However, my wife has a different opinion.

Basically, she says that if I ever tried to do something like that in one of our bathrooms, she would "flush" me right out of the house.

[Forestal]

get some montipora, acropora, would look great in there.

o, and for those whose wives are less than enthusiastic. try something that worked for me. take them to see live seahorse and set up a tank for them. my wife is now asking when the we will get the next tank . she is now almost as hooked on sw as me.

[datman422]

Im not sure if anyone had asked this, But how many hours do you spend in your bathroom a day? 3, 4, 5, 8 hrs.... cause that sure is a beautiful tank. It will be asshame if you only enjoy if for a few minutes a day.

[tokinreefer]

Tank looks awesome man, my one suggestion would be to maybe move your tubastrea to a little shadier spot.
And then, add an acropora or two with that great light you got. I might stick away from a monti because it seems like it might grow too big too fast and start shading some stuff pretty quick-like. I have a monti cap that I have had for 6 mo or so and it has grown 10 times the size of the frag I started with.
Keep up the posts it looks sweet.

[Jcohen9999]

LOL...nice range of responses....Thanks

Anyway, I know it's kinda strange to have a tank in the bathroom but since it is on the bedroom side of house there is a lot of foot traffic in that area. Plus it was kind of a finishing touch on the fish themed bathroom anyway.

@tokinreefer: Thanks for the suggestions. I have read in various places that the tubastrea doesn't really care whether or not it is exposed to light. I do agree that since it doesn't need all that light it should be moved to make room for a more light sensitive coral. However what I would really like to do is break up that piece and put the polyps all over the place in the tank.


@Silver Vortex: I am not sure of any of the specifics on the yellow chromis because I only have one and to behonest I wish I didn't. Even though this type of chromis is supposed to be less aggressive

Jeff

[UNIFEX]

with all that light and such limited space i would focus on rare and highly colorful hard corals, and possibly some clams. i can see some blue acropora tortuosa, pink/blue millipora, purple rimmed green montipora, purple stylopora pistilatta,as well as a maxima and a crocea clam, oh and dont forget the blue and red zoanthids for ground cover. only the best for such a fine nanoreef!!
and i thought i went overboard on my 20g, hah!

[UNIFEX]

p.s. check out soutassaltwater.com and ecorals.tv for rare corals,
if it's cool or rare most likely i've bought one from these guys, they are out of portland and ship nationally.
and as others have requested keep us posted how you like the poseidon skimmer, i came this close to getting one but opted for euroreef, but they look awesome!

[Jcohen9999]

Originally posted by UNIFEX
...focus on rare and highly colorful hard corals...

Got any frags


As far as the NautilusReef 'Poseidon2' skimmer goes it's so far so good. It seems to be doing a great job without any fuss and my nitrates are almost unmeasurable (of course I don't have much bio-load for 175gals of water).


Thanks for the suggestions.

Jeff

[cyates]

How are you keeping the mandarin alive? I'm guessing you happened to find one that will eat prepared foods? Lucky you!

If not, from everything I've read in preparing for my future Mandarin, you're in for some trouble. Especially with a 6-line wrasse as a competing pod-eater. But, I am extremely new, and still in research phase, so I dunno. (See here)

Oh, and neat setup! Thanks for sharing.

[kayl]

he has a huge refugium

[cyates]

That has no impact, according to what I've read / been told. Any pods that would build up in a refugium (which actually depends on amount of LR (or places the pods can multiple) in the REF, not the actualy size of the REF) would be killed by the pump returning the water back to the tank.

[EdKruzel]

Pods and many types of fauna can survive quite well going through an impeller.
It's not much of a concern for many species.

Ed

[cyates]

Hmm, if that is the case then my setup will be a lot easier. However, http://www.wetwebmedia.com/mandfdgfaqs.htm and various other Mandarin care sites repeat and repeat the need for gravity-based refugiums for the pods to stay alive.

My question is, do you have any links to studies or reports which lend reason to believe contrary to all the other sites I'm reading? Thanks!

[Tek]

Pods will survive going through a pump easily. The water rushes them through the pump very fast and is nothing like how a fan chops air.

As for the Mandarin, I had 80lbs of LR in a 55g and my small Mandarin completely destroyed the 2 year old pod population in 2-4 weeks. The pods population looked like an ant hill in the daytime and night since they had no predator in the tank. Even that many was not enough to sustain him. He ended up lasting only 2 months. Just having a fuge is not enough to keep one healthy.

[Jcohen9999]

Thanks for the input guys.

Originally posted by Tek
Just having a fuge is not enough to keep one healthy.

Ok, first off, I realize there is no real defense to my having bought the madarin. It was not the smartest move and I can't blame a newbie mistake since I knew the issues. The good news is that this guy seems to enjoy the frozen thawed mysis and brine shrimp that I feed the tank regularly and forget about the wrasse, it eats any food that I feed. Also, besides the fuge (with macro and rubble) I have about 40 lbs of LR in my sump both of which are teaming with life. So I am hoping for sucess here.

But to Tek's point: is there more I could be doing to ensure sucess with the manadrin in my small environment????

Thanks,
Jeff

[Strandedthinker]

Your sump is enormous and hes already feeding what you give him. I think there is not much to worry about.