Diving The World's 80g Acro Wonderland!

[DivingTheWorld]

ASD Rainbow Milli

 

[DivingTheWorld]

 

[bubbaque]

One of the nicest tanks on the forum!

 

[DivingTheWorld]

One of the nicest tanks on the forum!

Thanks Bubba, that’s a huge compliment coming from you!

 

[Chlorinated]

Corals looks awesome!

 

[revhtree]

As promised, FTS's. I'll try to mix them in a bit more in my build thread, but here's a couple zoomed out pics to give you some perspective.

I'm in love..

 

[DivingTheWorld]

I'm in love..

I appreciate the compliment Rev. I don't have a huge tank or awesome fish room or a sweet frag tank set up. It's just me and my little tank, trying to make it the best acro tank I can. ;Woot

 

[DivingTheWorld]

Cornbred's Bubblegum Digi

 

[DivingTheWorld]

For today's post, I'd like to show the amazing recovery potential of acros. As you may recall, a couple months back I was attempting some heavy fragging of my RRU Pink Floyd colony when I broke the whole thing off and essentially destroyed it... ;Blackeye Well, I glued it back into place and over the past couple months it's recovering nicely! ;Happy I was recently asked how careful you need to be fragging acros. And the answer as you can see in these photos is, not very, if you have a healthy tank.

05-07-2020

05-19-2020

07-13-2020

07-28-2020

 

[CoralBaskin]

Wow, the growth on that fragged Pink Floyd is amazing.

 

[PastorJ]

It's the start of my first full year on R2R so I decided to start a build of my acro tank. I've had one on another forum for years which I'll link here in case you have some time and want to go back through the first 4 years of my build but I'll try to summarize a little here as well.

Where to start? I started my first reef tank when I was about 8, so almost 40 years ago. It was a 2.5g with a fish, a snail, and an urchin. It wasn't my first fish tank, but was my first saltwater fish tank. Over the years growing up, I had as many as 4 fish tanks in my room. I did everything myself, self funded from working at pet stores and paper routes. My parents didn't really know what I was doing other than being very supportive of my hobby and overflows on my carpet.

Fast forward a number of years and I got married, we bought a house, had a couple awesome kids and I started growing tired of my 29g Tru Vu I had dragged through several moves over the previous 10 years. It was time for a real reef tank! I had saved some money on the side so planned to do it right. I've found the key to reefing and a happy marriage is to not impact your family finances by the fish tank. So far that's worked out for me.

Space was limited by what the wifey approved for our family room. I stretched that a bit and ended up custom ordering a Lee Mar tank:

40" x 24" x 22"
3 Side Starphire, 1/2" glass
Black Back, Black Silicone
Rear Center Internal RR Overflow
Two 1" Drains (Herbie)
Two 0.75" Returns
Trigger Systems Ruby 30 Sump
Reef Octopus POV-DC1 Skimmer
Reef Octopus Auto Waste Collector
2 MP40w ES (since replaced with 2 MP40WQD)
2 Radion XR15 Gen 3 LEDs
Apex Classic Pro
Tunze 3155 Auto Top Off
Reef Octopus RODC-5500 Return

I custom built my stand to match the other furniture in our family room. It was my first (and last) attempt at furniture so took me almost a year working nights and weekends as I had time.

2x4 Frame
Skinned in Solid Alder
Open back with 4 flush doors (two front, both sides)
Stained in Mahogany
Interior Sealed and Painted w/White Boat Paint
Soft Close Hinges

Over the years I've made some changes as this is my first Acro tank and I've learned a lot! First is lighting. After a couple years I switched out my Radion XR15's to an ATI 8 bulb T5. To this day I think that was the biggest improvement I made with my acros. I also started off using Red Sea Coral Pro salt, but later switched to regular old Instant Ocean. I started out with a thin layer of sand but found I couldn't maintain high flow, so I sucked it out and have been bare bottom ever since. I've adjusted my parameters over time and are currently running +/- the following:

Calcium 400
Alkalinity 8.0
Magnesium 1380
Salinity 1.0264
Nitrate 4-5
Phosphate 0.05-0.08 (would like this to be a little lower)
pH 7.7-8.1
Iodine 0.05-0.06
Temp 79.5-80

I've battled demons over the years from Bryopsis (thank you Fluconazole), Bubble Algae (thank you Vibrant), Cyano (thank you Chemiclean). I found a couple Asterina stars once, but it was an easy pluck out. I've been vary careful and lucky that I've never had any coral pests or fish diseases over the years. My current dip regime is Melafix followed by Bayer.

I'm probably forgetting a million things so feel free to ask me whatever you want. I'm an open book and love to share my successes and failures to help others in this hobby. Here's a link to my full thread on that "other" site. If this is not allowed, let me know.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2345585

And here's a few pics to get this thread started:

Clean set up

 

[coral408]

Very nice recovery!

 

[revhtree]

Yes nice job indeed!

 

[jakesweep]

Great tank! I'm getting ready to get my first SPS tank wet, and this is some great inspiration.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

I love this view because it shows the rimless perspective. It's why I bought a rimless tank and why I would again.

 

[BeardedMcG]

Getting the top down view on a rimless tank sure is great. Love my rimless. You have a great tank!

 

[DivingTheWorld]

Today I posted in the "How to successfully keep SPS Corals!" thread. I was thinking some of that info may not have been shared here in my build thread, so figured I'd share it here as well. Feel free to ask any questions:

What makes our tank started October 2014 successful with SPS?

A few things that may contribute:

Clean Start - We started with 100% dry rock and have been as careful as possible with all coral additions. Over the years we've got a few algae pests like Bryopsis and Bubble Algae but were able to take care of them successfully. Starting with 100% dry rock has allowed us to keep out (IMO) pests like bristleworms and other creepy crawly's. I use nitrile gloves anytime I put my hands in the tank. Who knows what I get on my hands throughout the day so I think this helps prevent poisoning the tank. We also never use any harmful aerosol chemicals in the house.

Lighting - We started with 2 Radion XR15 Pros. After a couple years I concluded that it was not enough light. Options were $1500 for a pair of XR30's or sell the XR15's and move completely to T5. We chose the later which was essentially a wash sale. Current lighting is an ATI Dimmable T5 with Reefbrite XHO Blue. Bulbs are 4 B+, 2 C+, 1 P+, 1 Actinic (all ATI). We switch the bulbs out every 6 months. Lighting schedule is 12 hours per day. Reefbrite comes on for 1 hour, then 2 T5 bulbs for 1 hour, then all bulbs for 8 hours, then back to 2 T5 bulbs for 1 hour, Reefbrite for the last hour.

Dosing - I have considered a calcium reactor, but I feel our tank is just too small to justify. Our stand is absolutely stuffed as well so I'd have to put it next to the stand which would be ugly. So we use 2 BRS 1.1ml dosers run by our Apex. We have a dosing program split into two periods, 10pm-10am and 10am-10pm. I know from experience that corals suck Alk/Cal more during lights on than lights off, so this helps us dial in a more even level throughout the day. We dose every 30 minutes 24/7.

Return Pump - We've been through a couple Reef Octopus RODC-5500's, but they didn't last. Currently we're using a Vertex V6. Great pump and I wish I had snapped up another before they were discontinued! Return water flows through a manifold which diverts to two reactors, then splits into two 3/4" returns, each split into two 1/2" loclines in the tank. This allows us to aim each of the 4 outlets towards particular areas of the tank.

Flow Pumps - We run two MP40QD's. They are each on the back wall, lower corners running at 90% Reef Crest, Anti-Sync 24/7. This allows for tremendous random flow throughout the tank without any flow directly hitting any corals. It also gets them out of view which I love.

Skimmer - We run a Reef Octopus POV-DC1. It was a very expensive skimmer, but after a warranty upgrade to a new pump and adapter after the first year, it's run like a pro for the last 5 years. With the upgrade, it's now essentially an Elite 150SSS. It sits on a Reef Octopus adjustable skimmer stand which allowed us to dial in the height.

Supplement Filtration - The only other filtration we run is 2 BRS deluxe reactors plumbed off the return pump. One has 4 Tbsp Rox 0.8 Carbon and one has 8 Tbsp HC GFO, each switched out once per month. We offset these changes by at least one week.

No Socks - I firmly believe removing socks has allowed our tank to have more complete biodiversity and helped maintain a good pod population. We have never added pods to the tank.

Bare Bottom - We sucked out the sand at about the 1.5 year mark and never looked back. Water changes are now a breeze, we can run as much flow as we want and just suck out any detritus during the water change. IMO it also allows us to maintain Nitrate/Phosphate more easily.

Water Changes - We do 10g 1x per week. I mix up 40g at a time using regular IO to 1.0264 and adjust the parameters to what I want. Alk 7.5. Cal 400, Mag 1450-1500. If Cal or Mag mixes higher due to a random batch of IO, I don't sweat it. But Alk is always adjusted to exactly 7.5. Water is adjusted to match the tank just prior to each change. The rest of the month it just fluctuates with the garage temp.

Fish Food - We only feed the fish. We feed a mix of frozen in the morning and NLS Pellets in the evening. Frozen is a mix of Hikari: Bio-Pure Brine Shrimp, Bio-Pure Spirulina, Bio-Pure Mysis, Bio-Pure Ocean Plankton. We do not feed any other food, period!

No Additives - We do not add any other chemicals to the tank, no coral supplements, no nitrate, no phosphate, no aminos, nothing! Any elements (Iodine, Strontium, Iron, Potassium) are replenished through weekly water changes.

Fish - One of our biggest keys to acro success is A LOT of fish. Our tank is 80g, 89g system est. volume. For fish we have in adult sizes:

1 Blue Tang
1 Banggai Cardinal
2 Picasso Clowns
1 Black Cap Gramma
4 Lyretail Anthias
2 Green Chromis
1 One Spot Foxface
1 Spotted Mandarin

Cleanup Crew - We have a limited, yet specialized crew:

6-8 Giant Turbo Snails - These are the workhorses!
Colony of Banded Trochus Snails - These bread in the aquarium so always keep healthy numbers.
2 Fire Shrimp - Mostly for the kids, but help grab big stuff.

Parameters -

Salinity 1.0264
Alkalinity 7.5
Calcium 400
Magnesium 1395-1425
Nitrate 4-6
Phosphate 0.03-0.05
pH 7.8-8.2
Iodine 0.05-0.06

Testing - I think another key to our acro success is lots of testing. In my research of highly successful acro tanks and dealers, they test often, especially Alk. So here's what I test:

Salinity - Once a week, 24 hours after my water change with a Tropic Marin High Precision Hydrometer. I also monitor with my Apex Salinity Probe, but IMO that sucks.
Alkalinity - Once a day with a Hanna checker, plus 4x a day with an Alkatronic. The Alkatronic is mostly for my vacation piece of mind, but sometimes I get lazy and don't use my Hanna for a few days.
Calcium - Once every 1-2 days with Salifert
Magnesium - Once a month with Salifert
Nitrate - Once a month with Salifert
Phosphate - Once a month with a Hanna ULR Phosphorous checker
pH - Once a month with Red Sea, plus throughout the day with my Apex. My Alkatronic also checks pH.
Iodine - Once a month with Red Sea

 

[coral408]

Thank you for very detailed info.
Your tank is one of the best!

 

[DivingTheWorld]

Thank you for very detailed info.
Your tank is one of the best!

Thanks!

 

[DivingTheWorld]

BC Aquatic-Man