Perry's 120 Gallon Reef

[Wrangy]

Dom thanks so much, the tank definitely looks WAY better with the fish addition, so far all 5 anthias are hanging in there and school well. They have established their pecking order, relevant by their tails and fins being nipped. I will be adding 10 more females and a male lyretail over the next couple of weeks. This will give me a much better BFC, and the tank will have a ton more energy, looking forward to it myself Thanks as always for the kind words Dom, it is very much appreciated!
Regards,

Awesome to hear they've settled and are eating The tank is definitely looking absolutely gorgeous at the moment!! :inlove:
I can't wait to see how it looks with such an awesome load of anthias's and a solid BFC You're deserving of plenty of compliments Perry

 

[plyle02]

Awesome to hear they've settled and are eating The tank is definitely looking absolutely gorgeous at the moment!! :inlove:
I can't wait to see how it looks with such an awesome load of anthias's and a solid BFC You're deserving of plenty of compliments Perry

Thanks Dom,
Really kind of you to say buddy! I am seeing daily progress, I do have some weird green slime, and I want to really get that out of control, so we will have to wait and see... As far as corals go though, they are mostly all coloring well, and the growth tips are quite noticeable, so just stay the course

 

[plyle02]

Small Update to my tank:

I have decided to shut down the frag tank for now, I will use it as a sump given it's shallow depth for a later project. I have the floor of my tank for flat frag plugs to rest nicely, So I have decided on a smaller 25-40 gallon tank for the bedroom. This tank will have all my remaining LPS and softies in it, so the valve on the frag tank is officially shut down.

Reasons:
1. Unsightly in the living room
2. The floor on my tank will give plenty of room for all sps frags
3. I want to continue to focus on the 120 with less volume, allowing my skimmer to only filter 120gallons plus the sump.
4. After I have the nano setup, I will have nor reason for a 60 gallon frag tank, so sort of a waste of space too
5. I am planning a future upgrade, likely next year, this tank will be minimum of 200 gallons, I may just go 4x4x2' cube, I have always wanted that layout.

My AF program will be changed, I will update my new volume and dosing schedule in the near future, I really want to get on top of this green cyano. It is not the worst algae I have experienced, but seems to be deposits in more areas, and the areas seem to be getting a little larger. This was also considered in the decision to shut down the frag tank, my skimmer can now focus on just the display. The frag tank had nothing but colonies of lps, a few sps colonies, and frags. I think if I added matrix or more siporax that I would be fine, but the amount I have now should be ok for this tank volume, as I do have live rock in the display, about 70-80lbs at least, and very mature. Here is to hoping, lol...
Regards,
Regards,

 

[plyle02]

Angles...

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[markalot]

Love the angles. That scape is really working out well (I say this every time).

 

[Acronic]

that red robin..... whooooooo doggy thats nice

 

[Lilmatty5dimes]

Wow. That's an awesome progression on that piece. Tank keeps looking better and better.

 

[fessoclown]

That last FTS is sweet. I like close-ups of corals but I really like context, group shots and especially full tank shots.

I fired up the AF system this weekend. Being in Canada I was able to get everything from Amazon except NP-Pro... for some silly reason (or perhaps oversight) they left it off the menu... I have a serious lack of nutrients right now as it is no I'm not too worried. For now I'll just dose a wee bit of vinegar for the Pro-bio S and see how that goes.

I am really hoping to achieve some nice colours, if they get half as nice as yours I'll be happy!

 

[nemodan]

Perry....those last pictures are great. The colonies are huge and colorful. How do you take the pictures with so much blue. ? If I want to do that with my actinics to show those nice pigmented corals I finish with a disaster of a picture. :hammer:

 

[plyle02]

Love the angles. That scape is really working out well (I say this every time).

Thanks Mark, kind of cluttered on the floor, but it is acros... lol.... Overall the scape has worked nicely, the left side is still a bit bare looking in FTS pics, mainly frags on that side, in time it should catch up to the right...

that red robin..... whooooooo doggy thats nice

Thank you for the kind words, the red robin grows pretty slow, but it is sweet considering there are not too many red stags out there.

Wow. That's an awesome progression on that piece. Tank keeps looking better and better.

Thanks Matt!
When you get that frag tank, you can see it in person, I feel every tank always shows better in person. Thanks again!

That last FTS is sweet. I like close-ups of corals but I really like context, group shots and especially full tank shots.

I fired up the AF system this weekend. Being in Canada I was able to get everything from Amazon except NP-Pro... for some silly reason (or perhaps oversight) they left it off the menu... I have a serious lack of nutrients right now as it is no I'm not too worried. For now I'll just dose a wee bit of vinegar for the Pro-bio S and see how that goes.

I am really hoping to achieve some nice colours, if they get half as nice as yours I'll be happy!

WOW, I appreciate that compliment, it means a lot. I think it is worth mentioning that colors have not really been a problem for me, I think that the AF program has given me an extra push towards glowing corals and providing lighter base colors with electric tips. These things below are what I feel have allowed better husbandry effect, which in turn is allowing AF to push thing to the next level.

1. Re-boot back in late Nov/early Dec.
2. I went BB and pulled sand
3. Added Gyre150 it has improved flow tremendously(key to bb)
4. Added filter socks(to keep clean sump)

Perry....those last pictures are great. The colonies are huge and colorful. How do you take the pictures with so much blue. ? If I want to do that with my actinics to show those nice pigmented corals I finish with a disaster of a picture. :hammer:

Thank You Daniel!!!
I take pics in Raw, then convert them to picassa for post editing. I simply auto correct color(white balance), auto contrast, then go to the tab to darken the background until all the corals closely resemble the color naturally. Really that is it. I don't use gel filters or anything like that. Soon I will get a video in HD, working on that

 

[milsaltnewbie07]

Thats just jaw dropping Perry. You are making me go t5 between Matt and you lol

 

[maxxII]

I figured you would see better coloration with more feedings. Do you space your feedings out or how do you do that? I ask because I love anthias but I'm not home to hand feed them 3 times a day. But if I could feed them three times in evening or something that might work. (With the list still on of course) are you getting different species of anthias?

Corey

Google search for Elliott's DIY Feeder or Elliott's 900 gallon here on RC.

Elliot has a refrigerator he cut into and turned into an autofeeder for his 900 gallon tank.

In the upper freezer compartment of the refrigerator he used a pool timer and two Brute trash can lids, (bottom lid has one hole in it and is fixed in position. Top lid is mounted to dial on pool timer and is set to rotate at a predetermined interval. The top lid has 30 something holes in it, each topped off with a 1 inch PVC coupling. A block of frozen food goes into each coupling. When the top rotates, the hole with coupling will line up with the hole in the bottom lid allowing the food to drop through. A small 900 watt hair dryer is programmed to come on for 5 minutes to ensure the food heats up enough to fall through the holes.

A hole is cut from the freezer portion of the refrigerator through to the bottom fridge portion of the refrigerator. This hole is lined with 1.25 inch PVC and lines up perfectly with the holes from the pool timer and trash can lids.

Finally, two holes are cut in the bottom of the fridge portion and hard plumbed to the sump to allow for passive flow though the fridge compartment. The frozen food drops from the freezer, through the 1.25 inch pipe and hits the passive water plumbing in the fridge compartment. From there it goes to his sump and his return pump picks it up and broadcast feeds the tank.

I'm in the process of trying to build something similar but different. I dont want to plumb the fridge to my sump. I plan to have the frozen food drop into a container I will then fill with water from the tank using a Cole Parmer Peri-pump, and simultaneously pull the water food mix from the container using the same pump.

We'll see if it works like I want.


Perry,

Are you planning on having 16 lyretail anthias in your 120?

ETA - Link to Elliot's reef thread: Elliott's Reef

 

[plyle02]

Thats just jaw dropping Perry. You are making me go t5 between Matt and you lol

Yes, t5s seem to work well, lol... thanks for the kind words.

Google search for Elliott's DIY Feeder or Elliott's 900 gallon here on RC.

Elliot has a refrigerator he cut into and turned into an autofeeder for his 900 gallon tank.

In the upper frezer compartment of the refrigerator he used a pool timer and two Brute trash can lids, (bottom lid has one hole in it and is fixed in position. Top lid is mounted to dial on pool timer and is set to rotate at a predetermined interval. The top lid has 30 something holes in it, each topped off with a 1 inch PVC coupling. A block of frozen food goes into each coupling. When the top rotates, the hole with coupling will line up with the hole in the bottom lid allowing the food to drop through. A small 900 watt hair dryer is programmed to come on for 5 minutes to ensure the food heats up enough to fall through the holes.

A hole is cut from the freezer portion of the refrigerator through to the bottom fridge portion of the refrigerator. This hole is lined with 1.25 inch PVC and lines up perfectly with the holes from the pool timer and trash can lids.

Finally, two holes are cut in the bottom of the fridge portion and hard plumbed to the sump to allow for passive flow though the fridge compartment. The frozen food drops from the freezer, through the 1.25 inch pipe and hits the passive water plumbing in the fridge compartment. From there it goes to his sump and his return pump picks it up and broadcast feeds the tank.

I'm in the process of trying to build something similar but different. I dont want to plumb the fridge to my sump. I plan to have the frozen food drop into a container I will then fill with water from the tank using a Cole Parmer Peri-pump, and simultaneously pull the water food mix from the container using the same pump.

We'll see if it works like I want.


Perry,

Are you planning on having 16 lyretail anthias in your 120?

I am planning on adding 5 more soon. Depending on how well they do I may add more, so far all 5 are doing great

ETA - Link to Elliot's reef thread: Elliott's Reef

 

[maxxII]

So 10 lyretails in a 120. And I was worried that 4 in my 120 would be cramped...

What fish do you have in the tank right now?

 

[plyle02]

So 10 lyretails in a 120. And I was worried that 4 in my 120 would be cramped...

What fish do you have in the tank right now?

Yellow tang, blue green chromis and female true perc, will pull female perc, going in smaller tank. No sand, so no wrasse so decided to dominate with anthias...

 

[maxxII]

Sounds good. It will certainly be colorful. Hopefully you dont see any real aggression between the Anthias.

Cant wait to see them all.

 

[Tweaked]

Wow so jealous of all those Anthias. I have two lyretails, the color they bring to the reef with the blue/green Chromis looks so natural to me.

 

[Oldude]

Great stuff Perry!

 

[sahin]

Wow Perry your corals are looking great! :beer:

 

[FloformAustria]

amazing tank Perry!! :eek1: