finally beginning my 480g 5'x5'x30" SPS Reef Tank

one thing that I do when I go away for a week or so, is to have my ACIII Pro/AquaNotes email my tank sitter. That way they can respond to a problem faster, call me if needed, or not if they can handle it.

Don't forget to include water sensors for the floor and the upper lip of the tank. That way if there is a leak you will be notified, and if your overflow becomes clogged for some reason, the return pump will be shut down and you will be notified. Chew on that. :)
 
eric

Here is a picture of my cardinal with hatched eggs in its mouth. Enjoy.
DSC_0133.jpg



jonathon

Both good ideas, especially the second one about the water sensor in the sump... damn your a crafty b*****d. Another good idea I will be stealing from you and probably claiming as my own in the future.





LOL... j/k
 
Kick a$$ pic

and Johnathan. good idea. I might have to figure a way to use that as well. What kind of sensors and where can we find them?
 
Nice thread. Happy to be back on track and reading RC again when there are threads like this. :)

Jonathan, that manual that a reefer wrote for his wife....is it online for download, edit and printing purposes? :D
 
jonathan - haha, yeah they get gobbled up pretty damn quick. Only one has survived more then a few minutes and he lived in a anenome for a week before a fish got to him. Luckily I got a video of him before he disappeared.

eric - thank you, think my girlfriend actually took that one. She has a nack for taking pictures of fish. Would like to know where to get those water sensors as well, have to check around. I'll let you know if I find them.

bart - kinda looks like a bulldog doesn't he.

nexdog - thank you for your interest. Would like to know about the accessibility of that manual as well, if only for reference purposes. good idea.




So an update of my fish list, as it stands today, I'm sure I will modify it a hundred times before I'm done. Its is getting rather long so opinions on what should be cut, or if I have to cute anything, would be appreciated. Also suggestions are welcome.
Transfer
1-regal blue tang
1-clown tang
1-cole tang
1-neon dottyback
1-spotted mandarin goby
3-percula clownfish
1-firefish
2-bangaii cardinals

NEW
1-bellus angel
maybe 2 crosshatch triggerfish - awesome!
6-queen anthia
6-bimaculatus anthia
1-sohal tang
1-chevron tang
1-achilles tang
1-highfin perchlet
4-hawaiian four line wrasse
2-leopard wrasse (pair)
2-convict blenny
2-green clown goby
2-yellow clown goby
1-green mandarin goby

44 total fish
approximately 6.5 gallons per 1" of fish.
 
Why just 1 mandarin? Why not try for a pair of each?

Clown tangs get pretty vicious, almost like Sohals, when they get older and if they are the "alpha" fish. The clown tang however is a beautiful fish, and its colors just "pop" under actinics, or the right lighting.

I also hear that firefish do better in groups. I would make sure that they are added more towards the beginning, as more competative or agressive fish may force them to hide perpetually and eventually waste away. Again, absolutely beautiful fish. Any thoughts on which kind, red, purple, helfrichi?
 
Eric: Waterbug is one that comes to mind but there are many. All it does is complete a circuit which the program recognizes.

Laurence: It's good to see you back. The unfortunate by-product of my stroke is a horrible memory...cprowler comes to mind but I really can't say for sure.
 
michika - I was considering a pair of mandarins. That is why I was transfering one from my previous tank and purchasing another. I checked the posted list and I wrote it down wrong. I plan on getting a second spotted mandarin. I would really like to have two pairs but I know I'm going to have to start being a little more conservative so that I don't overstock my tank. Even with all the filtration and extra volume I have I want to make sure that all of my fish have plenty of swimming room.

I have tried to find a mix of fish that occupy different parts of the reef so that things won't look, and get, to crowded. I wanted to try and get pairs for all of my fish originally but I think that would lead to to many territory issues, don't want to deal with that any more then I have to.

I am aware of the clown vs. sohal problem. I currently have the clown tang and really love the way it looks, beautiful fish. I have also always had a week spot for sohal tangs, so I was going to try them together in this tank and see if they will get along on opposite sides, I can always hope right?

The firefish I have is red and it will be joining my girlfriends purple one in her nano tank. Another goof on my fish list. Probably shouldn't write this late at night. I did have the red firefish in my tank by herself for a year now with my other fish and it always did well. It did just hang out by its den most of the time but didn't seem to stressed, except for that one time it jumped out and literly landed on my lap.

Thanks for your advice.





no input or advice from anyone else. come on, I know there are some nice fish out there that I'm missing, just can't remember them...
 
Love the plans so far. I am in the middle of re-doing my plumbing setup and have a question. Is your chiller running off the manifold and returning to the sump? Is that your main pump that also returns to the display or do you have 1 pump for the manifold and 1 to return to the display?
 
One pump for the manifold and one for the display... That way I can keep waste water and clean water seperate. Thanks for the words of encouargement.
 
when two fish are similar what i do is placed them together in QT with clear pc of glass to separate the two of them. making it to where they can get use to each other first then i try that for about 2 weeks then removed the glass hopefully they get along if not try another two weeks. finally if that don't work i will shipped them to federal correctional facilities where the warden will be able to put them in check. hope this helps

crosshatch are beautiful
 
Hey tom what about a purple tang for your tank. They are really nice fish and would go well with your other tangs and fish. You have a hard date for when you are getting back to FL. Cant wait to see all the stuff you got and finally help you start building this thing.
 
invincible569 - thanks for the response. I'll keep'em coming.

cbui2 - Hahah... Good idea, I will have to purchase some cheap tanks as QT for all of my fish when I begin to stock my tank, I will take this idea into consideration when I look for tanks. I definetely want to make sure my fish get along. Thanks for the tip and I can't wait to try my hand at keeping crosshatchs. Always wanted a trigger.

Henry - I was thinking about a purple tang as well. I'll have to discuss my list with Ernie anyways to see what he thinks before I finalize it. Can't wait to get back, eventhough I will only have one day before Crummer to do anything. I'm going to need your help to make some headway. Hopefully everything will be in by then.



Now my refugium design

The idea is a first chamber that acts as the remote deep sand bed and a cheato and other micro algea chamber. The second is a live room chamber to provide biological filtration with some LR rubble to help grow pods. I think I read somewhere that pods prefer LR to Microalgea and sand. Let me know if I am screwing something up here.

basic
refugium%20design.jpg


The volume fore each chamber is calculated as operational volume. Let me know if you have any better ideas.

rough contents
refugium%20design%20filled.jpg
 
Be careful about this design. Make sure you can get under the egg crate to vacuum out detritus and that you change out 1/3 of the sand every 6 months. Otherwise it will get maxed out and then you will run into problems. Sand is a great filter media but must be changed out in the same manner.
 
the sand won't be a problem to maintain but that is a good point about the detritus under the egg crate. Would you suggest just letting the water drop down into the second chamber and removing the second baffle at this location? The reason why I had designed the baffle as described above is so that I could get water movement throught all the rock and try to avoid dead spots. what would you do?

Would it work better if I removed the seperate chamber and just placed live rock rubble over a portion of the sand bed? Eventhough I would assume that would hinder water flow to that area of the sand bed significantly.

Of course if pods are happy growing in microalgea I don't really care about live rock in the refugium and I could just make it one large chamber which I would prefer anyways. Let me know what you would suggest, thank you.
 
you'll have rock in your tank, why bother with the extra work and risk of it in the sump? Pods will grow on glass. Also keep in mind that in order for a fuge to be a major contributor to your nutrient export, it really needs to be huge, otherwise it just can't keep up in nutrient export.

I like fuges for other reasons, like a safe haven for a battered fish, or a school of mollies to make fresh food for the display, plus they are just another interesting part of the system. What's even better is if you can grow macro that your fish will eat.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10479328#post10479328 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by thirschmann
One pump for the manifold and one for the display... That way I can keep waste water and clean water seperate. Thanks for the words of encouargement.
Click to expand...

Thanks. The manifold is the way to go. I probably am going with 1 Hammerhead and run my returns off the manifold. Any comments on my thread I just started are welcome.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1177514
 
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