I love wild acros! Here is the proof...

[Piper27]

This is the sump we use to run the 4 tanks on our system. I use a mag 8 to keep detritus off the bottom of the live rock section. I run rox carbon in a mesh sock in this section. I use a lot of live rock in the system, it really helps keep the tank running well. There are millions of critters everywhere. I used to run a refugium but took it out and switched to a carbon source recently. I just love the look of t5s and a carbon sourced tank.

This is the skimmer I modded with a skims 181 body so the bubbles rise straight to the 3" neck from the 6" body with no issues. I have a neck cleaner but am having trouble getting the skimmer to run right without touching it. So I have the normal top on there for now.

I run a mag 7 to supply the skimmer and an iwaki 55rlt for the recirculation pump through the mazzie injector. This skimmer is my favorite and I don't see me ever switching. It produces around 10 times the skim that an older reef octopus 8" body skimmer did.

I used to run a lot of gfo and regenerated it myself but haven't needed to after switching away from the refugium.

 

[Piper27]

I took some pics of the tank so hopefully my girl will help me get them uploaded in a min. I am no good with a macbook...

 

[reefmutt]

Love that diy skimmer! Frankenskimmer.
Awesome!

 

[Piper27]

Here are some tank shots I took. The water in our tanks always has floating particles in it, I would guess because of how much we feed. I guess its good that its always suspended because it mostly makes its way to the skimmer which will pull it all out.

I am upgrading to a 36" long 24" wide 19" high rimless tank which is coming on the 20th. I should have it up by the end of the year so the fish can be a little happier til we move. Also the corals need a LOT more space to grow for the next few months. Hope you guys like this pics!

Front tank shot


Shot from the back side of the tank viewable from the kitchen


This front tank shot best shows how the lights look on the corals and how the tank looks. The others were shot so that the light wasn't blaring out the corals.


These are two side shots viewable from the dinning room area and the living room.

 

[Piper27]

Water parameters are maintained at the following levels...
Alk 8.5
Cal 375
Mag 1350 swings often because I hand dose weekly, I normally use zeomag in the calcium reactor but didn't have any when I set it up a few months ago
Nitrates 5 (have had them at 20 for a while after removing the refugium and not noticed any difference in coral growth or color). Although I prefer to run them at 5 being the highest and normally run tanks under 1. My goal is to keep nutrients under control using the carbon source but I haven't noticed any drop in nitrates so far. I brought the nitrates down by doing weekly waterchanges.
Phosphates test at 0 with saliferts but I have algaes in the tanks and feed very heavy so its defiantly being processed, I don't test for this much and haven't noticed much difference if they rise to measurable levels.

I do weekly waterchanges of about 25 gallons with instant ocean with magniesum added.

We feed pellets, flakes, algae sheets and frozen food daily. I feed the equivilant of 6 cubes of frozen food daily. We use a number of different brands of each kind of food. The pellets, algae sheets and flakes are fed as snacks throughout the day. We soak our food in suppliments often. I generally broadcast feed one large portion in each tank once in the beginning of the day, then feed the rest later in smaller portions.
We feed coral foods at night sometimes. I never notice any difference using them often compared to not using them at all. We feed so much there is no need. But I do it just since we have it here, it won't hurt that's for sure.

Maintance consists of syphoning the parts where detritus collects on all the tanks bottoms, since they are all barebottom, and we do weekly waterchanges. Other than changing the carbon every three weeks that's it. Most of my time is spent taking care of all the corals and making sure nothing is killing anything or fallen out of place. We have been collecting a lot of new zoanthids and have a lot of work to do to get the tank back in order.

When the new rimless comes for my acros it should be a fairly quick swap. All I will have to do is figure out what kind of overflow to add and drill it.

 

[sh8g8delik]

I wish my wife would come home with a nako fairy wrasse, or any fish for that matter. She's just a watcher of the fish tank and not a participater. I guess i cant complain because she lets me spend my hard earn money on it without much complaining. I also noticed alot of particles while using the new gyre pump. I'm worried its not giving the overflow a chance to catch the detritus and other stuff to reach the sump.

 

[Piper27]

Let me know what you guys think of the tank pictures I posted!

Here is the two angels I keep in this tank for the time being. The emperator is changing FAST and will be the first to move to the new house along with a few more larger fish once we get a new large tank cycled. We have had it since it was a baby exactly the size of a quarter. We used to keep it in our zoanthid tank but moved it once we saw it becoming interested in corals. It snacks on the acro tips often. Hopefully the new tank will give it a little more room til we can move. That fish is the main reason i bought the rimless, we have always wanted one and can't wait to provide a nice LARGE home for it The flame doesn't bother anything. The only angel we had trouble with was a multicolor that took a liking to austera flesh and slime. It would mouth the acro until it slimed and would eat it. I kept the fish in the tank though, thankfully it didn't bother other acros as much.

 

[benihana]

Beautiful fish...you should post a FTS!

 

[Piper27]

I posted 3 FTS and 2 side shots a few posts up, :crazy1:

 

[benihana]

Sorry...silly tapatalk app[emoji13]

They look great, love the front shot!

 

[reefmutt]

Should have read your post before asking if it was a blue face..
Nice emperator!
You must keep him well fed..

 

[Piper27]

I feed more than most do I bet, i talked a little about it a few posts back. I have to feed this tank well to be able to keep all the fish in it calm and mellow. I may have to move a few to the zoanthid tank so there isn't so much competition. I really want to try and get more vanderbelts but they don't do well in smaller tanks as groups ime.

 

[jsnrho82]

Great looking tank! This has come a long way since I last saw it.

Just so I am totally clear, your acro tank is plumbed into the zoa tank, correct? I remember the zoa tank not being all that close to the SPS tank. I am very interested in seeing how you plumbed them together (if they are plumbed together that is).

Keep up the good work growing these out. The DC metro area reefers appreciate it

 

[biggles]

Love those latest tank shots mate, everything is looking super healthy. That angel is beautiful, i'm going to have a show angel as nice as that one day i hope.
We need to see something before and after'd on that whiz bang diamond saw, cut an acro in half please - and don't chop off your :thumbsup:

 

[reeflover62]

I just spent 45 min doing a writeup on some questions asked. Then I hit the back button on my phone... *flaming faced emoticon*

Anyways here is two things that knocked on my door that cheered me up 1 min afterwards *happy faced emoticon*

Your system is looking awesome:bum:I was in Orlando this weekend got to see this Gyre pump on a 5' x 3' x 15" tank . Just incredible !!! I love my mp40s but would love to try the small Gyre

 

[Piper27]

Great looking tank! This has come a long way since I last saw it.

Just so I am totally clear, your acro tank is plumbed into the zoa tank, correct? I remember the zoa tank not being all that close to the SPS tank. I am very interested in seeing how you plumbed them together (if they are plumbed together that is).

Keep up the good work growing these out. The DC metro area reefers appreciate it

Yes I have four tanks plumbed together now. All running on one 40 breeder sump filled with live rock in the picture a few posts back. Thanks for the comment man, come by anytime to check out the plumbing. I originally got into the wild stuff in order to find different corals, everywhere I went everyone has the same stuff! Even the local stores seem to get the same corals... Something had to change!

Love those latest tank shots mate, everything is looking super healthy. That angel is beautiful, i'm going to have a show angel as nice as that one day i hope.
We need to see something before and after'd on that whiz bang diamond saw, cut an acro in half please - and don't chop off your :thumbsup:

Thanks man! We love angelfish so much! I actually have a piece of aussie blue tenuis I am about ready to add to the tank soon. I was thinking about cutting it up into 3 pieces. Its a little big to start and I will put two in my reef and put the other in a tank at a friends house for grow out and backup. I want to figure out how to post videos with Tapatalk, now that I got a new phone maybe I can do it. My old phone it wouldn't work.

Your system is looking awesome:bum:I was in Orlando this weekend got to see this Gyre pump on a 5' x 3' x 15" tank . Just incredible !!! I love my mp40s but would love to try the small Gyre

I still like mp40s the most. The gyre I got is the the xf 150 and its nice but I don't like how it doesnt push water downward real well, it pushes water forward great. Even though its a very thin flow pattern it does keep more water moving. Works really well in my 40 breeder with the mp40 on 100% reefcrest. I can't wait til I get the rimless because then I can really ramp it up since corals won't be directly in front of it. Do they have a smaller one than the xf 150? This thing will be nice in the future if they can add more control and flow options.

 

[knukles55]

I recently got this acro at a great price from the LFS....... I know it's bleached towards the top..... I noticed decent polyp extension in its tank and no receding problems..... I hope this coral is a good recovery coral it would make a fantastic colony counted over 50 branches and nubs....

 

[Piper27]

Nice find, do you have a guess at what color it will be? That's the fun part of buying acros like that. If I may ask, how much was it at the discounted price? Did you add it directly to the display tank?

 

[knukles55]

30.00 and was in qt for 2 weeks o and for color I just see small hints of green hopefully it'll do a complete 360 and turn into a show stopper

 

[Piper27]

Well the new tank came in today from glass cages. There are a few spots on the outside where the silicone was smudged that I have to clean it up but it looks OK other than that. It was shipped 3 days after it was made, not sure if that's a good thing or not. They say to let the tank sit for 3 weeks for a 25" tank. Not sure how long I need to wait to fill this 19" high tank but I emailed them. Anyone know how long I should wait?

Dimensions are 3' long 2' wide and 19" high. I got a glass holes overflow which is very thin and well made. I think I can just drill it and put the bulkhead seal on the outside. That way I won't have to silicone it in place. I will use the mp40 right under the overflow and use the gyre on the viewable side. I can't wait to give the corals and fish a little more room! Its not much but enough til we move next year hopefully.

I will take more pics of corals this weekend because there are a number of frags and colonies I haven't photographed yet.