80 Gallon Shallow Reef - 48 x 24 x 16

revhtree · Dec 26, 2016

I love it man!

Antics · Jan 5, 2017

Updates

I had a few issues with numerous quarantine attempts, losing one group to what appeared to be a terrible bacterial infection. I recently completed the quarantine and observation of a blue tang. The fish is a few years old and came from a different aquarium because it was being a bully. No aggression issues yet but its still in the settling in process. The current livestock list includes a Magnficient Foxface, Midas Blenny, and Hippo Tang. I am currently quarantining five Bartlett Anthias. I was originally going to only have a trio but when we got the five in at work I decided to get them all due to them all being a good size and looking very healthy.

Not much to update on equipment or coral on my main display. I have added water to the frag (coral quarantine) system so I will post pictures for that in a week or so. I recently got my hands on some Siporax. I wasn't able to find the larger pond version so I ended up settling on the smaller media. I currently have 3 liters worth, not quite sure how much I need or how I plan to implement it in my sump. I have an empty reactor it can go in, but I think I recall someone saying it works best in a passive setting. I don't really want to use an egg crate cage but that sounds like it might be the only cost effective way to contain the media in a basket. I'm open to ideas though!

pizzaguy · Jan 6, 2017

Very sweet setup. Wiring looks awesome

Antics · Jan 13, 2017

Don't have a macro lens, but tried taking some photos the other day.

exactlyobp · Jan 13, 2017

They are great shots! Props to you! Fish could be a pain to take pics of

Orangezuk · Jan 13, 2017

Very nice!
Gives me something to strive for as I re-boot my tank. Great work

Zero Nitrates · Jan 13, 2017

Great pics. It's hard to catch a pic of those fast fish.

Mpierce · Jan 13, 2017

Tagging along, I really like the 80s.

Janci · Jan 31, 2017

Subscribed.
I love the scape and the way you show your sump area. The doors are one of a kind.
Sumps are more sexy than display tanks nowadays!!! Might be because I am an engineer....

Well done!!

Wayner · Feb 1, 2017

Have you figured out how much siporax you need to keep Nitrates low?

Antics · Feb 1, 2017

Wayner said:
Have you figured out how much siporax you need to keep Nitrates low?

Hey Wayner,

I was running bio pellets on this system since day 1 (still am) and I currently have 6 liters of Siporax in what I believe to be ~100 gallons of water volume. Not sure if this is enough as I haven't stopped using my biopellet reactor yet.

Antics · Feb 21, 2017

Not much has changed in my system since my last update. I'm almost done adding all of my fish, have one more coming later this week. Aquarium has been running for close to five months at this point. Maybe it's time to do my first water change?

I haven't tested my water in awhile, but there are no coral or inverts in the aquarium so I haven't really needed to monitor any changes all of this time. On that note, the lights have been running at 20% intensity and that looks like it's blasting everything. I am very curious on how high the intensity will actually need to be in a couple months when coral are introduced. 4x Gen4 Radions in such a shallow tank may make this a little difficult. I currently have no snails, crabs, shrimp, etc or any form of clean up crew in my aquarium. Surprisingly, it's not too bad in terms of algae but there is a small blanket of green growing near the top of rocks. I watch my fish pick away at the growth, I'm sure some snails would help a lot.

My coral/invert/hope to one day be frag tank quarantine system is running and cycled. I think its overkill, but it looks nice enough and will do the job. I've included a photo below. Waiting on one last piece of equipment and then I will begin adding coral and starting my countdown.

ksfulk · Feb 21, 2017

Really slick setup. Look forward to seeing it move forward with some SPS

ws6kid · Feb 21, 2017

Looks great! QT can be difficult but so necessary.

Sub-Z3ro · Mar 5, 2017

Wow very clean looking work. You have inspired some adjustments to my own 80 DB.
I wish I could have done a peninsula but I did not have the space, but when i move in a few years and it has to come down I am definitely

I am curious why you chose the MP10's over the MP40's?

I currently have 2 MP40's on my back wall and I am running them at really low speeds. I almost feel i would have been better of with the 2 MP10's.

Iceman001 · Mar 5, 2017

Nice, love stand for light.
Can take a closer pic of it.

Antics · Mar 10, 2017

Small update on my coral quarantine. Finally got most of my SPS and LPS back from my friend. Can't complain, he basically double or tripled their size while he was holding them.

Sorry about the glass being dirty! I don't clean it so the snails actually have something to eat in this tank.

Antics · Mar 10, 2017

Sub-Z3ro said:
Wow very clean looking work. You have inspired some adjustments to my own 80 DB.
I wish I could have done a peninsula but I did not have the space, but when i move in a few years and it has to come down I am definitely

I am curious why you chose the MP10's over the MP40's?

I currently have 2 MP40's on my back wall and I am running them at really low speeds. I almost feel i would have been better of with the 2 MP10's.

Heya,

I chose MP10s because I felt like the MP40s were serious over kill and I could never find the sweet spot between too much flow and just right. This is just my personal experience, and I attribute some of it to using an L1 as a return which may be some overkill.