DSA 105 tank thread

[ViktorVaughn]

I recently upgraded from my standard 40 gallon breeder that I had set up for about 15 months. Soon after I started filling the old tank with coral and fish I immediately wished I would have gotten a bigger tank to allow me more room for coral and a few more choices for fish I could keep. Initially the plan was to get a custom 120 gallon ish (4' x 2' dimensions) with an external coast to coast overflow. The cost involved started becoming prohibitive to equipment I wanted to have so I sacrificed the custom tank idea and grabbed a DSA 105 rimless aquarium. I really like the dimension of the 105 in that it has the footprint of a 120 gallon, its just 3" shorter, coming in at 21" tall. Only downside to the tank so far is the bulky center overflow but I'm hoping after I get some coral growth and maybe put some black plastic background or paint it won't be as noticeable. Tank is and will be all SPS other than the two LPS corals I've had since I got into the hobby. A duncan I got with 2 heads that has 30+ at last count and what I think is an Indonesian Elegance Coral. Guess I'm too nostalgic in that regard as they look a little out of place. I was able to trade in about 20 different zoanthid varieties which was definitely hard to do as most were bought as small frags and traded off as decent sized colonies. As you can see from the pictures below, my camera is not up to shooting very good pictures under this lighting, tank has a 14k look with all 6 t5 bulbs on but comes out quite blue in the pictures. Next on the list is a decent camera that won't break the bank.

Coral list:

Mainly all Acropora varieties: Hawkins Echinata, 4 or 5 Milleporas. Not sure on 5th was sold to me at ReefStock as a Millepora but I'm thinking more likely a spathulata or something similar as polyp extension is minimal compared to other Milleporas in my tank. Acropora Yongeii, Pearlberry, few other unknown types.
-Montiporas: red cap, rainbow, and blue digitata

Fish list:

-2 Ocellaris Clownfish
-1 Bangaii Cardinalfish
-1 Green Mandarin
-1 Purple Firefish
-1 Kole tang
-In QT: 1 Solerensis fairy wrasse and Sunset fairy wrasse (maybe Cebu Pylei?)

Equipment/tank specs:

-Tank: DSA 105 Neo rimless aquarium with DSA stand and 40 breeder sump, Running Bean animal
-Lighting: ATI 48" Sunpower 6 bulb: All ATI bulbs- 3 blue plus, 2 coral plus, 1 purple plus
-Flow: 2 Vortech MP10's, Plan to swap for two MP40 Quiet Drives once they are out, the MP10's don't hang on all that great through the 1/2" glass.
-Filtration: Reef Octopus SSS150 skimmer, TLF Phosban reactor with 100 grams GFO, 10 gallon refugium with chaeto, approximately 125 lbs live rock (split 75 ish lbs in DT, rest in refugium)
-Return Pump: Rio 2500 (748 gph, guessing I am getting around 500 gph after head loss). I ran a Rio on my 40 breeder for 15 months without cleaning it once and had no problems but this larger version is quite loud and the vibration is annoying so I might get a different pump.


Pictures of old 40 breeder and new DSA 105.

One of my favorites, got it as a small 1" frag that had some tissue recession

 

[ViktorVaughn]

My new recent addition is a pretty awesome Kole tang who is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Super active and so far really tolerant of my two clownfish who insist on trying to buddy up with every new addition. They are a really funny pair, anytime a fish is entered into the tank, they follow it (try to) around incessantly and the female is even copying the tangs constant nibbling of the rocks and glass. A lubbock's wrasse I had in the past would get quite frustrated with the female constantly swimming right on top of it and following it, quite frequently charging and biting the clown. No amount of bullying from the wrasse would get the clown to persist his constant attempts trying to buddy up, really entertaining fish. Below is a picture of the clowns trying to hang with the Kole tang before he left them in his dust, pretty funny trying to see the clowns keep up with the tang.

New tank is doing good so far, seems to be getting a slight diatom bloom that started in the last few days. Hoping to add my Solerensis wrasses from my QT in the next couple weeks and grab a few more fairy and/or flasher wrasses to finish off my stocking. The ideal scenario would be getting a medium sized male Lineatus and either a flame or other contrastingly colored wrasse.

Clowns and new tang

Sump

 

[ViktorVaughn]

Thanks, I appreciate it. Yeah so far I'm loving mine, such an active and inquisitive fish.

 

[supervdl]

I have a 135 DSA tank and I am very happy with it. Nice looking tank.

 

[ViktorVaughn]

Thanks, I am really enjoying the tank as well. Very clean look going from a petco 40 breeder to a well made rimless. Only downside to it so far is the bulky overflow but in time with some strategic coral placement and good growth, I'm hoping it won't be as noticeable.

On another note, what did you make your mandarin feeding station out of? It looks pretty slick.

 

[ViktorVaughn]

This week was a good one for aquarium goodies, Thursday I received my mp40 quiet drive, WXM module, pm2 module/probe, and another eb8. Friday I happened to call my LFS hoping he had gotten in some cool wrasses, namely a lineatus. I've been asking the last couple times I've been in and I guess he ordered one that was in his store for 2 weeks. I left work immediately to go get it. Turned out to be a stunning, fairly large male that seems to be either very near the terminal phase or perhaps in it. I was hoping for one a bit younger for a longer tank life and to see more of the transitions but he was to stunning to pass up. Super small carpenters flasher was purchased as well. Both seem to be doing good in QT so far.

I also Grabbed 4 Acropora frags as well, a red dragon, blue and green tenuis, dark green millepora, and a light green and purple spathulata. I'll post up some pictures later of the new fish, coral, and electronics cabinet. I had 9" of width to play around with which made fitting the apex, various modules, and 2 eb8's quite the task. I built a cabinet that's about 9" wide, 24" deep, and 30" tall with a couple sliding boards to house everything. Still need to decide whether to put the vortech controllers inside the stand or fit them inside the already packed cabinet.

 

[ViktorVaughn]

Here's a full tank shot

Picture showing the new red dragon. Has some catch up to do with its neighbors, hopefully it doesn't grow painfully slow on me.

Lineatus and Carpenter's. Seem to be the best of buddies so far, just sort of hang out and shadow each other all day. Really need to clean the glass and tank up a bit but I'm letting them settle a little more before I start doing maintenance, they are still a little hesitant when I approach the tank to feed.

 

[Serega]

Very nice build. I have the same tank and stand that I got as an upgrade for my 46 bow. I'm in the process gethering all of the equipment. I want to buy a 40 breeder and build a sump myself, did you have any trouble fitting 40 breeder in to the stand? The opening is only about 30 in.

 

[ViktorVaughn]

After taking the doors off (nice quick release hinges) the 40 breeder fit relatively easy. Still a pretty tight fit that required multiple pivots but you shouldn't have any issues. I'm loving my tank so far, good luck with yours.

 

[Serega]

Thanks. I was worried it wasn't going to fit. All thought it seems a little tide under there in your picture. You didn't mention if you are running an ATO. Is there any room left inside the stand for a container?

 

[ViktorVaughn]

I am running an ATO but with the 40 breeder under the stand it only leaves maybe 6" or so of workable room left. I have my dosing containers down there and my ATO container is on the side of the tank under my desk and out of view. The only option I thought of was a custom acrylic container but with the limited space and what I am sure would be a pricey container, I didn't think it'd be worth it for the 5 gallons or so it would hold.

 

[Serega]

I guess the only option would be an add-on cabinet for an ATO and other equipment.
Looking forward to seeing future updates. Good luck.

 

[ViktorVaughn]

My tank has been plugging along nicely, after the fill up and cycle, everything was transferred over from my previous tank on 2/21/15. Its been running for around 3 months now and I've had a few of the ugly new tank syndromes come and go, I had a touch of cyanobacteria for a week or two as well as some diatoms. Both have since passed but I do have small patches of what appears to be GHA popping up around the tank. My last tank was over run with algae and I fought it for quite some time so this will be monitored closely. My Clean up crew is adequate (I think) for my tank but I might beef it up a bit next weekend.

On the fish and coral front I am fully stocked and probably won't have any new additions for a while. Definitely no fish anyways, coral is always another story. I'd like to just allow the colonies and frags I have to grow in and not have a tank with the 100's frags everywhere type of look but new pieces are always hard to pass up.

Fish List:
Lineatus Wrasse
Naoko's fairy Wrasse
Solerensis Fairy Wrasse
Carpenter's Flasher Wrasse
Kole Tang
2 Ocellaris Clownfish
Bangaii Cardinal
Purple Firefish
Mandarin

Inverts:
Snails: (approximate) 4 turbos, 10 of each trochus, margarita, and astaeas, 3 nassarius
Crabs: 5 blue and red leg hermits, 1 halloween hermit
Shrimp: 1 Cleaner
Various: Blue tuxedo urchin (love this guy, probably grab 2 more this weekend), blue linckia, orange sea star

NOTE: I really need to get a good camera/learn photography as my camera phone doesn't capture the color of my corals at all, everything looks washed out.

Coral Shots:

This was my first millepora and kicked off my love of them. Definitely my favorite type of Acropora. Small little 1/2" nub on 5/24/14 when I got it.

5/20/15

Another of my favorite Acropora, I bought it back in February 2014 and it looked quite nasty with some tissue missing along the back, it has come along nicely and put up with my learning curve.

4/24/15

These guys always seems to meet up at different places and hold hands which thrills my niece.

Some Fish and a FTS:

Lineatus looks so cool when he's flashing, the blue lines running down his body turn a bright blue almost looking like lightning or electricity running through him.

 

[sixpackgarage]

Great upgrade..subscribing

 

[ViktorVaughn]

Great upgrade..subscribing

Thanks, I plan to keep an eye on your thread as well to see how that pvc tower grows in, should be very cool.

Not too much has changed since the last update other than making a algae turf scrubber which so far appears to be working great. Its only been 3 weeks that is has been running but the algae growth I am seeing is on par with progression shots from other threads on them. My last tank had quite the nuisance algae problem that popped up near the end of its run before I upgraded so I am hoping the ATS will prevent any from popping up.

Grabbed a few acans from my LFS this past weekend, my tank is pretty bare and colorless at the bottom so acans seemed the route to go. The zoanthids my last tank had were great and super colorful they just spread too fast.

Really like the centers on these

These are way nicer looking in person too, still need to get a better camera

 

[sixpackgarage]

sweet acans. How often do you feed them? I'm still learning with acans (as well as everything else)

 

[ViktorVaughn]

Thanks, I am really liking them so far. I haven't fed any of my corals in a long time. I only have 2 other LPS corals, a duncan and an elegance that I got shortly after getting into the hobby and for sentimental reasons can't give up. I used to feed my duncan PE mysis every other day or so which seemed to accelerate the growth a bit. Even without feedings for quite some time now both still look great. I have 9 fish and feed on the heavy side so I'm sure all corals are getting plenty of food from the fish waste.

 

[ViktorVaughn]

I am not too sure what is going on with my naoko's wrasse but as of Sunday, he appears to have come completely unhinged. Like a dormant Jekyll and Hyde personality struggle emerging. In the evening I was watching TV and in my peripheral vision saw a whirlwind of colors flying across my tank. My naoko's and solerensis wrasse were both flashing and swimming in the fastest circular motion I have seen fish exhibit, both nipping and not backing down. The solerensis wasn't backing down but also grew tired of the naoko's posturing and found a cave to retreat to.

I was hoping that it was an isolated incident but it appears to be a lost cause. I came home from work to feed and couldn't see the solerensis but as soon as the food hit the water he popped out to eat. The Naoko's (whose usually a giant pig) immediately switched his focus from the food to harassing the solerensis again. After he realized the solerensis wasn't coming back out he switched his focus to my lineatus wrasse who is at least twice his size. Until lights went out there was a repeating cycle of the naoko's going berserk, flashing circles around the lineatus wherever he went for about 10 minutes. He'd ignore the naoko's for the ten minutes and then he'd flash and give the bully two or three solid chases/nips. Wait thirty seconds and repeat for 3 hours, definitely not the usual relaxing viewing I'm accustomed to.

Really hoping the solerensis can hold out until the weekend when I can try and catch the Naoko's. He is quite bold and inquisitive when I do tank maintenance so I am hoping it'll be easy to catch him. I plan to just try and bait a net with some mysis and hopefully have him swim right in. Knowing wrasse, with how fast and intelligent they are, I have a feeling it won't be that easy but one can hope.

 

[Serega]

Try finding a fish net that is similar in color, don't know if this is possible. My net is bright blue color and when I was fishing out some free floating algae from the tank my Melanurus wrasse started attacking it, being the same color, I guess. It practically jumped inside the net by it self, I wasn't trying to catch it, but here it was inside the net. Good luck.

 

[ViktorVaughn]

I'll give anything a shot to get him out, thanks for the tip. Anytime I am in the tank with tongs, a turkey baster, or my hand he never runs and always comes to investigate so I am hoping he does the same with the net. Really stinks because he is always very active and used to be entertaining to watch.