A Reef Tank in the Desert - +/- 1,400 gallon system

[danfeig]

Wow, I love those angels. They are going to look great in your big tank.

Thanks dotcommer!

They are actually Moorish Idols. Surprisingly, they are closely related to Tangs and Surgeonfish. One of them is eating well and the other is being incredibly finicky. i gave them live brine shrimp last night hoping it would eat a little more.

 

[kubbard]

lettuce

lettuce

We use Romaine lettuce and rubbed a good frozen angel food on it. Do that for a week then try to switch it just the frozen food. (hint from a diver in hawaii who mantains hotel aquariums.)

 

[jjk_reef00]

Here is a great thread on MI:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=993712&page=45

Watch out for agression between the 2 MI's because from what I read it is very difficult to house 2 in the same tank.

 

[havoc79]

you can try to feed the finicky eaters blackworms heard they work good

 

[danfeig]

subscribed looks good

Welcome drktemplar. Thank you for the compliments!

 

[Newbie Aquarist]

I just want to say it was an honor talking to you. Hope all goes well with your MI's and will be awaiting your next update.

 

[rocky23]

Your tanks stunning mate, love the wide selection of fish you have, can see you like your tangs. Powder blue's are my Favorite as I have one Noticed you went to Madrid on your holiday it's a nice place there, been on holiday myself not to far from there and took a day trip to Madrid. If you ever come to Europe again then i'd say come to England We have a great selection of corals and fish at our fish shops, and some pretty nice public aquariums as well. Can't really guarantee you'll get the nice weather though :lmao: But i'm sure we'd have other things you'd be interested for the whole family.

 

[danfeig]

We use Romaine lettuce and rubbed a good frozen angel food on it. Do that for a week then try to switch it just the frozen food. (hint from a diver in hawaii who mantains hotel aquariums.)

Thanks Kubbard. I will give the Romaine lettuce a try. They do appear to be eating a little better. I guess that they are getting more comfortable in the QT!

 

[danfeig]

Here is a great thread on MI:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=993712&page=45

Watch out for agression between the 2 MI's because from what I read it is very difficult to house 2 in the same tank.

you can try to feed the finicky eaters blackworms heard they work good

jjk_reef00 & havoc79:

Thank you both for the suggestions. So far I have noticed any aggression between the two MI's.

I have tried blackworms without success. They do appear to be eating more mysis shrimp. I also placed a rock in the tank that had a lot of sponges and coraline algae on it. Both Moorish Idols have been nibbling on it.

 

[danfeig]

I just want to say it was an honor talking to you. Hope all goes well with your MI's and will be awaiting your next update.

Thanks Wayne. It was nice speaking with you as well. I am anxious to see your tank up and running! No worries with your overflow! Things will work out!!!

My daughter will be disappointed that you changed your avatar. She would see a post from you and would say "Dad, is that Wayne? You do know that he really is one of those masked WWF Wrestlers!!!"

Call me anytime if I can be of any assistance to you!

 

[Geraud]

Hello,

First of all, congratulations on the beautiful tank and overall system. And thank you for providing insights not only on your own achievement, but on the hard work of the teams that have helped you in this endeavor.

Second thing... regarding the Moorish Idols, you might want to look into people that are feeding them sponges (>85% their natural diet) in order to keep them on the long term, as their experience might prove helpful to keep these beautiful animals. I am thinking for examples of the articles by Pedro Nuno Ferreira.

 

[Newbie Aquarist]

Thanks Wayne. It was nice speaking with you as well. I am anxious to see your tank up and running! No worries with your overflow! Things will work out!!!

My daughter will be disappointed that you changed your avatar. She would see a post from you and would say "Dad, is that Wayne? You do know that he really is one of those masked WWF Wrestlers!!!"

Call me anytime if I can be of any assistance to you!

:lolspin::lolspin::lolspin: Wow that was to cute. You can give this to your daughter for me. :love1:

I will change it back for her.

 

[coville]

This is a stunning set-up. I had to move out to re-locate for work and rented my home out for a year, but when I move back in I am going to come back to this thread and take some notes.

I love the height, the rock work, I cannot wait to see future updates on how everything grows in.

 

[shiladitya1991]

@danfeig-When can we expect a video ?? The tank looks amazing. How did you create the rock structure?

 

[danfeig]

Your tanks stunning mate, love the wide selection of fish you have, can see you like your tangs. Powder blue's are my Favorite as I have one Noticed you went to Madrid on your holiday it's a nice place there, been on holiday myself not to far from there and took a day trip to Madrid. If you ever come to Europe again then i'd say come to England We have a great selection of corals and fish at our fish shops, and some pretty nice public aquariums as well. Can't really guarantee you'll get the nice weather though :lmao: But i'm sure we'd have other things you'd be interested for the whole family.

rocky23,

Thank you very much for praises. I love London too. We go there every two or three summers on our way to Italy and/or Spain. We didn't want to go this summer because of the crowds associated with the olympics. We were there last year and did hit a few of the LFS. The cold weather and rain is a welcome change in June/July where temperatures here are in the low 100's!!!

 

[danfeig]

Hello,

First of all, congratulations on the beautiful tank and overall system. And thank you for providing insights not only on your own achievement, but on the hard work of the teams that have helped you in this endeavor.

Second thing... regarding the Moorish Idols, you might want to look into people that are feeding them sponges (>85% their natural diet) in order to keep them on the long term, as their experience might prove helpful to keep these beautiful animals. I am thinking for examples of the articles by Pedro Nuno Ferreira.

Geraud:

Thank you very much. I enjoyed the articles that I was able to pull up written by Pedro Nuno Ferreira. They were very, very interesting!

Both my idols appear to be doing okay and are eating much better. They have been eating mysis shrimp, nori and have been nibbling on rocks that have some sponges and other algaes growing on them.

I just ordered 4 different types of sponges that I will be putting in with them to see if they eat or pick at during the day.

They are definitely high maintenance right now, eating 4-5 times per day. It's been a few weeks though and I am happy that they seem to be adjusting!

 

[danfeig]

:lolspin::lolspin::lolspin: Wow that was to cute. You can give this to your daughter for me. :love1:

I will change it back for her.

Is that an earring Wayne? Nahh...I think the avatar is better! :lol2:

 

[asacopoo]

Wow, haven't been on RC in a couple months because I had to take my tank down and I just couldn't bare to look at all these beautiful tanks, it just brought me down. I log on today and this is the first thread I click on and i just read through the whole thing. It looks like you have done just about everything right and thank you for re inspiring me.

 

[danfeig]

This is a stunning set-up. I had to move out to re-locate for work and rented my home out for a year, but when I move back in I am going to come back to this thread and take some notes.

I love the height, the rock work, I cannot wait to see future updates on how everything grows in.

Thanks coville!!

I still feel like I am just getting started with everything and will continue to post updates often. I am hoping to have some updates of my fish room this weekend.

Thanks for following along. Glad to have you here!

 

[danfeig]

@danfeig-When can we expect a video ?? The tank looks amazing. How did you create the rock structure?

Hi Shiladitya1991.

I may try to do an iPhone video this weekend of the fish room and of the tank. I will be transferring a lot of fish out of various QT's this weekend and if I have time, I certainly will try.

The rock structures were fun to make. I purchased the rock, dry Pukani, from Bulk Reef Supply. I basically sawed or chiseled the rocks so that I could stack one upon another. I used Emaco S88-CI (marine cement) to bind the structures. Once the concrete was dried, I chiseled more of the sides for symmetry and drilled several holes for coral placement and for the fish to swim through. If I have any regrets, it was not drill more holes or make more platforms for the corals.

Thank you for the compliments!