My 90 Gallon Mixed Reef

[Grenade Glass]

This is going to be my pictures thread for my tank. Bought it 9/10/2010, the tank, stand canopy, lights- 2 250 watt metal halides, 4x 96 watt PC dual actinics, Iwaki WMD-30RLX return pump, ASM G3 Protien Skimmer and about 80 lbs of live rock came from previous owner. I also took the sump which I ended up breaking and replacing.


This is the sump I broke, as you can see it cracked where the bulk head was cut

So I made a new 29 Gal Sump:

Then started making a mess:

This is the lighting under the canopy:

I rewired everything as only 2 out of the 4 PC bulbs were working and a MH wire had a short in it near the top from the canopy pinching it. It all works now, except 1 MH bulb chooses when it wants to be lit and when it doesn't. The same bulb does the same thing when i switch the wires to either port on the dual ballast, making me believe its a bulb on its way out. Not sure if ill replace all the bulbs or just go to a retro T-5 setup.

 

[Grenade Glass]

Filled up with PC lights on:

In went all of my corals, most of my live rock and some inverts, along with the clown fish and PJ cardinal.

 

[Grenade Glass]

Here are all of the corals:

 

[Grenade Glass]

Blue/purple Long Tentacle Anemone:

FTS:

Heres how the sump ended up:

I'm getting some small bits of macro into my display, should i keep my macro in a bag?

 

[Grenade Glass]

and today I added a pink spotted watchman goby:

 

[dreaminmel]

Came out very nice! :thumbsup:

What kind of crab is that? Can't tell from the cool belly shot.

 

[cardiffgiant]

Great job! I like your stand. It's a cool mission style.

 

[Grenade Glass]

dreaminmel- its a sally lightfoot crab.

thanks for the comments

 

[solRNY]

u got a lot accomplish in a week! looks very nice

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

very nice.

A lot of different crab species are called "sallylightfoot". Some aren't trustworthy in a reef aquarium. I'd keep my eye on that one!

Small bits of Chaetomorpha making their way into a display shouldn't cause problems. FWIW I use eggcrate as a screen in my sump in order to prevent larger pieces of macroalgae from jamming my pump intakes. Eggcrate and/or window screening could be positioned right next to one of your sump's baffles.

That's a nice anemone- has it settled down yet?
Macrodactyla likes to anchor it's foot in a safe secure spot. If it keeps blowing around I would try tucking it into one of the rock caves at the front right bottom of stack.

I would place GSP's on the bottom and save the top real estate for other corals.
You might not appreciate my input here and I understand. There is no "right" or "wrong" way of doing things but my suggestions might save you some headaches down the road.

 

[aquadonkey]

Looks great! I like the nem too - and that goby is pretty!
Any future plans?

 

[boosted chemist]

very nice.

A lot of different crab species are called "sallylightfoot". Some aren't trustworthy in a reef aquarium. I'd keep my eye on that one!

Small bits of Chaetomorpha making their way into a display shouldn't cause problems. FWIW I use eggcrate as a screen in my sump in order to prevent larger pieces of macroalgae from jamming my pump intakes. Eggcrate and/or window screening could be positioned right next to one of your sump's baffles.

That's a nice anemone- has it settled down yet?
Macrodactyla likes to anchor it's foot in a safe secure spot. If it keeps blowing around I would try tucking it into one of the rock caves at the front right bottom of stack.

I would place GSP's on the bottom and save the top real estate for other corals.
You might not appreciate my input here and I understand. There is no "right" or "wrong" way of doing things but my suggestions might save you some headaches down the road.

good tip on chateo in teh display tank i need to try this.

 

[superkat]

lovin' this thread! thank you for sharing throughout the process...great pics!

 

[rjmayes34]

Looking good!!! I have a pink watchman and he is awesome!! one of my favorite fish in my tank.

 

[Henry Colf]

Nice looking setup.

 

[tent boy]

I found my watchman goby on the floor behind my tank. I dont know if it was just mine but a mesh cover might be a good thing. Very nice set up though. Everyone looks happy.

 

[Grenade Glass]

very nice.

A lot of different crab species are called "sallylightfoot". Some aren't trustworthy in a reef aquarium. I'd keep my eye on that one!

Small bits of Chaetomorpha making their way into a display shouldn't cause problems. FWIW I use eggcrate as a screen in my sump in order to prevent larger pieces of macroalgae from jamming my pump intakes. Eggcrate and/or window screening could be positioned right next to one of your sump's baffles.

That's a nice anemone- has it settled down yet?
Macrodactyla likes to anchor it's foot in a safe secure spot. If it keeps blowing around I would try tucking it into one of the rock caves at the front right bottom of stack.

I would place GSP's on the bottom and save the top real estate for other corals.
You might not appreciate my input here and I understand. There is no "right" or "wrong" way of doing things but my suggestions might save you some headaches down the road.

The crab came from previous owner of the tank, hes had it for quite some time without problems. The crab does a lot of sifting through the sand or hanging upside down in one of the caves. Hope it stays this way too, because he was a bear to catch even with an empty tank while we tore it down.

The anemone hasn't really settled down yet, its moved across the sand from end to end twice now. woke up this am and it was a ball, not attached to anything and half upside down. I flipped it over and placed it in one of the caves like you suggested. I think its actually starting to attach its foot! Ive been really nervous about it getting sucked into a powerhead, so when im not close by ive been turning them off.

about the GSP- thanks for the advice! I was thinking about putting it right at the bottom of the overflow in hopes that it might start creeping up and cover up the unsightly thing.

Looks great! I like the nem too - and that goby is pretty!
Any future plans?

For now i'm probably not going to be adding too much, I'd really like to find a mate for my clownfish but im not sure how to go about that...

I found my watchman goby on the floor behind my tank. I dont know if it was just mine but a mesh cover might be a good thing. Very nice set up though. Everyone looks happy.

thanks for the advice, with my canopy I think it would be tough to hop out but anything is possible! This one seems to never leave the sand bed so I think ill be alright


to everyone else- thanks for the kind comments! I've learned SO SO SO much from all of you over this past year and I'm glad I can share my slice of the ocean with you!

-Nick

 

[Grenade Glass]

just a quick update

I took the nem out of the tank this am. It was looking really bad. It never actually attached its foot to anything. It had expanded its base into crevices along the rock/sand bed only to shrink and go on the move as soon as the lights went out each night. I wonder if my sand bed was too shallow for it, or if I just rushed it. I have a few nice pics of it, ill get them up later.

 

[Grenade Glass]

 

[Capt_Cully]

very nice.

A lot of different crab species are called "sallylightfoot". Some aren't trustworthy in a reef aquarium. I'd keep my eye on that one!

I was just thinking that...."never trust a crab"!

I like what you've done, it's almost set up as a penninsula. Having those korallias pointing back towards the return should really give you nice turn over, aka a gyre. Good job!