550 in wall fowlr build

[clekchau]

hey everyone, since everything is finally coming together i guess it's time i share with the forum. note, this is not a sexy sps build or even rare fish or fully adult fish cruising everywhere build, but from scratch fowlr build to keep my favorite fish in a decent size environment so they can thrive, the goal is to start with small fish and watch them grow.

history:
This started as a 600 gallon acrylic mixed reef about 8 years ago and has gone thru several iterations of fish, soft corals, some easy to keep LPS, predator reef and then a major tank crash, due to someone sticking their hands in my open Rubbermaid 150 gallon stock tank which was plumbed into the main tank and contained a really cool 10 inch clown trigger that spit water on people when wanting food. Within 1 week, 95% of the fish were dead, around $2500 worth of fish probably.

here is a shot of the tank at the time:

fast forward to today, due to numerous scratches some major and having to walk on eggshells everytime i clean the tank, got a great deal on an all glass tank, 8 x 3 x 3 to replace the acrylic with.

tank in truck, feel sorry for that truck lol

tank is really heavy so we had someone remove part of the fence and the window so they can back it right into the fishroom, i was amazed at how easy the tank move was, no lifting at all, just pushing and pulling with suction cups.

hole in wall had to be expanded since the old acrylic 600 was only 30" high and this one is 36"

tank in place, took about 4 hours from the time they got to my house to the time the tank was set, day before carpenter widened the hole and removed the window.

filled with old water and rock from the 600

 

[clekchau]

Equipment:
Four Sunlight Supply Tek Light 4 Bulb T5 Fixture (48 Inch, 4x54W) mounted to custom aluminum canopy pulley system, this was already in place for the 600:

Volcano Skimmer with dart needlewheel built by Spazz, this was also built back in the day before needlewheel skimmers became the rage and Spazz was still experimenting, needless to say this thing works great

Skimmer feeds a 150 gallon stock tank that feeds back into the sump, full of live rock

The sump is about 200 gallons and has 3 sections, one contains about 800 lbs of live rock, the other contains a uv sterilizer that came with the 550, hard to get a good pic

Aquacontroller junior for controlling lights, monitoring temp

Cabinet was built with the ability to open from the front, ease for cleaning and feeding:

 

 

[clekchau]

pardon the crappy pics, i need a new camera, all the pics were from an iphone

 

[clekchau]

Got 1000 lbs of live rock from Marco Rocks, these are extremely huge and awesome pieces some weigh over 100 lbs dry! note coke can for reference:

The system probably has 2500 lbs of live rock total, as it will be the main biological filter. Sump, stock tank and actual tank all are filled with rock.

 

[clekchau]

My current attempt at aquascaping yesterday, don’t mind the pumpkin lol

 

[s_kelley]

Wow, awesome looking tank.
You make cutting a hole in the side of your house sound like its nothing, id be pulling my hair out!!

 

[clekchau]

thanks , didn't really cut a hole, just removed the window, then put it back

 

[clekchau]

Inhabitants:

Vlamingii Tang (14 inches): 5 inches and grew like a weed, he is very thick about 4.5 inches at his maximum and eats like a pig. Drawbacks, he is skittish and startles easily which startles the other fish. Still a great fish that attracts the most attention from first impression, mainly due to his size and cool turquoise color with neat blue spots

 

[nonstopfishies]

I am enjoying this thread! Keep the pics of your inhabitants coming!!

 

[clekchau]

Blue tang (5.5 inches): bought at 2 inches, one of the survivors of the crash. Super hardy, nice color, personality and has gotten really thick and is a pig almost as much as the Vlamingii. I conclude that is why people love tangs so much, always out in the open, swimming looking for food and colorful.

Chrysurus Angel (6 inches): Bought or should I say rescued this poor guy from some local reef person at 3 inches. When the beautiful fish started nipping on his corals, I think he aggressively caught him and stuck him in the sump until he sold him, barely fed him probably because he was very thin. Now he is a very fat and healthy fish and my biggest angel, although he is somewhat shy, probably from how he was caught and handled beforehand

 

[clekchau]

Juvenile Angels

French and Emperator came in together from Diver’s den and were eating from day 1, they hang out together and even clean each other, it’s hilarious. Emperator is especially very responsive always coming front and center begging for food and following you around. French also is a character, he wags his tale when swimming and my wife and daughter get a huge kick out of this, I need to videotape it someday.

Blueface, Annularis and Mac also came from Diver’s den about 2 weeks later. All were also eating from day one. Mac was tank raised and bred (I believe) and swimming around the tank like he owned but doesn’t hang out with the French or Emperator, also it’s incredibly difficult to get a shot of the Mac because he doesn’t stay still. Annularis and Blueface are a bit shy, both are not as outgoing but beautiful also, I think with time they will be just as much of characters as the other two. They have only been in the tank for a short while and already eating so I can’t ask for much more

 

[clekchau]

snowflake moray, also a survivor of tank crash, he is really tame, he eats out of my hand, no feeding stick required, i just swish the shrimp or squid in the water a few times and he smells it and comes up, sometimes the big vlamingii steals it lol. here are a few pics of him popping out:

 

[nonstopfishies]

Nice pics! I will be very interested to see how the pecking order plays out once all those angels get settled in and start to become adults.

 

[clekchau]

rounding out the inhabitants:

marine betta a really cool fish, super hardy survived the tank crash, perches on rocks like a grouper (i think they are groupers?)

1 inch royal gramma, so spunky for such a little fish, always moving so hard to get a good pic, here is a blurry pic of him in his huge territory of cavey live rock

blue damsel and tank bred occelaris clown, damsel has been with me for 12 years, usual damsel spunky, hardy, a little aggressive but not so bad. clownfish came in as 3 tank bred from live aquaria, one was doa, one died in 3 days, this one survived but hangs out in the corner although he is always eating etc, he just seems unhappy. we are considering starting a small nano and moving him there as the lone fish with a rbta. my wife feels bad for him lol but he isn't picked on and eating great so

bicolor foxface and scribbled rabbitfish about 4 and 3 inches, these guys are best buds always going up and down the sides and across the entire 8' footprint, don't bother anyone, eating great, grazing on algae etc great fish, highly recommended

longnose butterfly 4 inches, my fav butterfly, his swimming patterns are so cool, upside down, backwards etc, always on the go and front and center, not phased by bigger more aggressive fish, just a great all around fish and very beautiful

auriga butterfly 3 inches, my second fav butterfly, good eater, very active

pakistani butterfly 1 inch, such a cool little fish, seems he explores every nook and cranny, eating well, really neat patterns:

 

[clekchau]

everything is not all nice and perfect:

saddle butterfly about 3 inches and racoon butterfly (4.5 inches), they haven't ate much, picked on some rocks, not sure if they will make it, i tried so many different ways to get them to eat, he doesn't show signs of stress etc and swims and acts like a champ but he's really thin

my one big dissapointment, queen angel who i don't think will make it. i got him from liveaquaria as opposed to diver's den not sure if thats why, he came in almost full adult color and beautiful, eating etc, however in 2 days he started breathing heavy and now quite reclusive. not sure if he will make it and really bummed out about it but as everyone knows, these things happen, doesn't make it less sad but yeah...

cool blues

 

[HASBRO]

Thats a great tank! A true fish lover you are. The bio on each fish was good reading.

 

[nonstopfishies]

Good write ups indeed. That is a lot of fish.

So do you QT at all?

The clown is fine I am sure. Clowns don't move very far from wherever they settle. I am sure she wouldn't be opposed to a small tank with an anemone and maybe a male mate??

 

[geaux xman]

thanks for sharing, i really enjoyed the thread!

now you got me itching for an upgrade.

large angels are my favorite.

 

[clekchau]

Good write ups indeed. That is a lot of fish.

So do you QT at all?

The clown is fine I am sure. Clowns don't move very far from wherever they settle. I am sure she wouldn't be opposed to a small tank with an anemone and maybe a male mate??

do you think it's too many? i still wanted to add a niger trigger, red coris wrasse, lutescens wrasse and dogface puffer, maybe not until next March or so.

No not the normal QT, but I did separate this batch and insure they were all eating and doing well before combining them.

I had some clowns before in my 600 but they wre adult wild pair and roamed the entire tank, this one seems like he is sulking in the corner alone, I feel bad for him

 

[clekchau]

great news, queen is starting to come out of his shell, venture out more and eating well, i was worried for a bit because every queen i've ever had was very bold and aggressive, this one is a little shy. he's already got great color for being so young, i look forward to him getting bold and beautiful!

also clown is starting to swim with the other fish now, he seems more comfortable too.