Cael Gallery
Active Member
This is my build thread for my new fowlr tank. My phone is broken and i have to use my computer, and this also means i couldn't get any photos or videos for the first week of my build. I have a red sea 750 xxl so about 200 gallons. I live in Australia and while that means our list of fish that can be imported is small and they're super expensive, i have access to some australian endemics which i plan to build this tank around. I guess you could class these as 'predators' but they're not predators like most people keep, eg no triggers, no lionfish, etc.
This tank has been up for almost 2 weeks now and wet for about 1.5. I previously had about 20kgs of rock rubble and ceramic media cycling in a large plastic tub with an ammonia source for 4 weeks. In order to obtain the maximum amount of microbiome diversity (Which i believe will enable me to not have an 'ugly stage'), i went to the local marina and collected several kilos of silty ocean sand, pebbles and macro algae which came with thousand of copepods, amphipods and even Sphaeromatid isopods. I then dosed as many forms of bacteria as i could find including nitrifying ones and lifesource. I then added some mysis, and some kelp macroalgae that was dying and actively decomposing to produce a constant source of ammonia and feed the pods. This method worked extremely well and while i couldn't get many out of the tub with the media i took (they hide in the mud that has formed at the bottom), the walls of the tub are covered so thickly in copepods they look white.
I added as much as i could to the sump of my tank and then went to the lfs to buy about 25 kilos (50 pounds) of live rock. Actual live rock, coral skeletons from the GBR. Finally, i added my first two fish and about 400mls of microbacter start xlm. One is an almost 20cm (7-7.5') long Spanish flag snapper (Lutjanus carponotatus) and the other is a 11-12cm (4.5') spanish hogfish (Bodianus rufus). Even though all of the warnings against adding fish to 'new' tanks, the cycle completed in about 3 days. On the 4th day i tested and i had 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 3ppm nitrate. The addition of the liverock and media produced an instant tank, and really all that needed to happen was the sand bed to be seeded with bacteria.
As of today i added 2 more fish. A 12 cm (4-5') V-tail grouper (Cephalopolis urodeta) and a 16-18cm (6-7') Harlequin tuskfish. I am travelling to western australia for a week so additions will be held off until i'm back, but i'm planning on adding a two-lined monocle bream (Scolopsis bilineata), Purple whiptail (Pentapodus emeryii) and 1-2 more fish. These fish are australian endemics which are unheard of in the hobby outside of australia, so those will remain a secret until i get them. And while the current stocking is nothing much out of the ordinary, some of the additions over the coming weeks are species i guarantee have never been on this forum and some species that have never even been kept in an aquarium before.
Unfortunately i broke my phone a few weeks ago and won't be getting a new one for a while, so pictures will be sparse as i have to use my parents' phone.
This tank has been up for almost 2 weeks now and wet for about 1.5. I previously had about 20kgs of rock rubble and ceramic media cycling in a large plastic tub with an ammonia source for 4 weeks. In order to obtain the maximum amount of microbiome diversity (Which i believe will enable me to not have an 'ugly stage'), i went to the local marina and collected several kilos of silty ocean sand, pebbles and macro algae which came with thousand of copepods, amphipods and even Sphaeromatid isopods. I then dosed as many forms of bacteria as i could find including nitrifying ones and lifesource. I then added some mysis, and some kelp macroalgae that was dying and actively decomposing to produce a constant source of ammonia and feed the pods. This method worked extremely well and while i couldn't get many out of the tub with the media i took (they hide in the mud that has formed at the bottom), the walls of the tub are covered so thickly in copepods they look white.
I added as much as i could to the sump of my tank and then went to the lfs to buy about 25 kilos (50 pounds) of live rock. Actual live rock, coral skeletons from the GBR. Finally, i added my first two fish and about 400mls of microbacter start xlm. One is an almost 20cm (7-7.5') long Spanish flag snapper (Lutjanus carponotatus) and the other is a 11-12cm (4.5') spanish hogfish (Bodianus rufus). Even though all of the warnings against adding fish to 'new' tanks, the cycle completed in about 3 days. On the 4th day i tested and i had 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 3ppm nitrate. The addition of the liverock and media produced an instant tank, and really all that needed to happen was the sand bed to be seeded with bacteria.
As of today i added 2 more fish. A 12 cm (4-5') V-tail grouper (Cephalopolis urodeta) and a 16-18cm (6-7') Harlequin tuskfish. I am travelling to western australia for a week so additions will be held off until i'm back, but i'm planning on adding a two-lined monocle bream (Scolopsis bilineata), Purple whiptail (Pentapodus emeryii) and 1-2 more fish. These fish are australian endemics which are unheard of in the hobby outside of australia, so those will remain a secret until i get them. And while the current stocking is nothing much out of the ordinary, some of the additions over the coming weeks are species i guarantee have never been on this forum and some species that have never even been kept in an aquarium before.
Unfortunately i broke my phone a few weeks ago and won't be getting a new one for a while, so pictures will be sparse as i have to use my parents' phone.
