Reefer 170 Setup for Anemones / Clowns!

[Kinetic]

Does the gyre stir up detritus? One dude on Youtube whose review I just watched said it creates dead spots and he doesn't have that problem with a vortex due to the even spread wall of water it pushes forward.

I had vortex's in tanks and there were plenty of dead spots. I had 80x turnover and still had dead spots. I used smaller powerheads in the back of my rockwork and corners to try to kill them all.

Deadspots will mostly be caused by your rockwork or other obstructions. Moving more water will help, either it be a gyre or not. My rockwork is pretty minimal, so I don't have any deadspots that I can tell. I have had mysis in the corners and behind the rock, even in the caves of rock, and they flow out pretty quick after I turn the gyres on.

I was only feeding one small fish, so I could count the number of mysis that were left in the tank when my pumps were off. They were always accounted for when the pumps were on (and trapped in the dumb mesh of the gyre pump). My poor nassarius snails have nothing to eat, though secretly I spot feed them one mysis a day lol.

My BTA finally ate two whole mysis yesterday, lol. I'll try again next week with mysis and probably some crushed raw shrimp.

 

[Kinetic]

I'm leaning towards just getting a bunch of BTAs and hoping the ocellaris take to them later on. But, just in case a H. Magnifica pops up anytime that fits the bill, I have some tonga shelf rock. One piece is about 9" x 7", which I think would both fit my tank and a smaller magnifica. So I put a smooth layer of TLF aquastick putty to smooth out the surface. Once it cures, I have some small rock rubble pieces I can then attach this piece to my current rockwork to make a pedestal for a mag.

I also have that gigantic piece too, that's about 15" diagonal. It probably would just shade everything on one side of my tank, but I'm keeping it for any possible tank upgrades for the mag.

 

[CoralsAddiction]

The setup is looking great! I hope everything works out for you. I just don’t understand why things are so much different when it comes to clownfish behavior in captivity. They are found in groups quite often in the wild and usually smaller babies join a resident group without a problem. While I have not done it personally, keeping a small group of 4-6 clowns would be quite natural. Yet there are more reports of failure than success. It’s such a paradox. It will take countless of success stories to change the general perception that keeping more than 2 clowns in one tank is not ok. Which is why I’m rooting for your success.

 

[Kinetic]

The setup is looking great! I hope everything works out for you. I just don't understand why things are so much different when it comes to clownfish behavior in captivity. They are found in groups quite often in the wild and usually smaller babies join a resident group without a problem. While I have not done it personally, keeping a small group of 4-6 clowns would be quite natural. Yet there are more reports of failure than success. It's such a paradox. It will take countless of success stories to change the general perception that keeping more than 2 clowns in one tank is not ok. Which is why I'm rooting for your success.

Thanks so much for the support. Hoping this will all work out as well. I'll keep updating the thread

 

[MMOORE0324]

How is the Nyos breaking in?

 

[Kinetic]

How is the Nyos breaking in?

Hey Matt,

Progress I guess. The amount of bubbles in the body is really great (especially compared to the Simplicity I was using). The skimmer cup has no skim yet, there doesn't seem to be enough bubbles to make it over the top into the collection area, but the cup middle (riser part) is pretty dirty. I have the water/bubbles stop right where the cup meets the body (as most people have recommended), but might raise it up so the bigger bubbles break over the top. Though I could just be more patient and wait it out.

I currently have the air open all the way, and the wedge pipe is closed about 3/4 of the way up (using the threads as an indicator).

 

[MMOORE0324]

Hey Matt,



Progress I guess. The amount of bubbles in the body is really great (especially compared to the Simplicity I was using). The skimmer cup has no skim yet, there doesn't seem to be enough bubbles to make it over the top into the collection area, but the cup middle (riser part) is pretty dirty. I have the water/bubbles stop right where the cup meets the body (as most people have recommended), but might raise it up so the bigger bubbles break over the top. Though I could just be more patient and wait it out.



I currently have the air open all the way, and the wedge pipe is closed about 3/4 of the way up (using the threads as an indicator).

Nice, sounds like it's getting there. As you may know from my thread that you commented in, I was torn between the Nyos 120 and Simplicity 120. I went with the Simplicity just based off of some comments on here regarding both and also for the fact that replacement parts for the Simplicity appeared to be very available and cheaper. Now that my skimmer has broken in, I'm getting very dark skimmate, my tank is still really lightly stocked, but pretty happy with it. One thing that I'm not super happy about is the amount of micro bubbles it produces out of the wedge pipe. Not a super big deal as I've got a pretty good bubble trap, but hopefully those will calm down as time progresses.

Now more importantly, how are the clowns doing? Do you plan to attempt to breed and raise fry?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Kinetic]

Nice, sounds like it's getting there. As you may know from my thread that you commented in, I was torn between the Nyos 120 and Simplicity 120. I went with the Simplicity just based off of some comments on here regarding both and also for the fact that replacement parts for the Simplicity appeared to be very available and cheaper. Now that my skimmer has broken in, I'm getting very dark skimmate, my tank is still really lightly stocked, but pretty happy with it. One thing that I'm not super happy about is the amount of micro bubbles it produces out of the wedge pipe. Not a super big deal as I've got a pretty good bubble trap, but hopefully those will calm down as time progresses.

Now more importantly, how are the clowns doing? Do you plan to attempt to breed and raise fry?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I was the same way with the Simplicity at first. It's not bad at all, but I don't think it fit my system well. The wedge pipe had to be 100% closed for it to come close to working, and the noise was just too much. The NYOS is not without noise, just a deeper hum. I like it better.

The NYOS produces denser micro bubbles, but very little micro bubbles escape the body like the Simplicity. Never was an issue since the reefer bubble trap is great, but yes, way more. My skimmer chamber had little bubbles caught on everything. My Simplicity leaked bubbles out of the volute intake area mostly and the wedge pipe.

I think Simplicity is still great for the price. NYOS slightly overpriced but still great.

 

[Kinetic]

Not going to be breeding the fry. At least no plans. Just going to enjoy them! They're all doing great. Gave away the Vivid Fancy and got another Fancy White Extreme and Fancy White Gladiator from the same clutches as the other two. All clowns are now super calm and non-aggressive. It's great!

 

[Kinetic]

Building the base for the Magnifica's pedestal. Added a small rock to make the highest point, not a point. Tomorrow I will attach the final flat tonga shelf rock to the top of this:

There are plenty of contact points for the flat shelf rock to sit on that. I have the largest stick of reef epoxy to get this all to stay.

Plan:
Remove shelf rock from RO/DI tub tomorrow morning (it's been in there for a week now while I dose lanthanum chloride to pull as much phosphates out as possible)
Rinse with a bunch of RO/DI and let dry for most of the day (12-ish hours)
Use a whole stick of reef epoxy in big globs at the contact points, adding small dabs of cyanoacrylate (super glue gel) on the epoxy to help it cure when underwater
Hold rock in place with my hand for about 30 seconds, hope the clowns don't nibble me too much
By Friday, when the H. mag arrives, the epoxy should be all cured and holding tight

 

[ReefMaster48]

First off, great pictures!!!

Secondly, great tank! Looks awesome!

 

[Kinetic]

First off, great pictures!!!

Secondly, great tank! Looks awesome!

Thanks! Hope to get the tank slowly stocked up to get some better photos of it not just empty

Currently: rainbow BTA, 7x clowns, 1 geometric pygmy hawkfish

Probably done with fish, but going to be getting a green bta and the h magnifica! I'll give those nems a month or more to settle down and then look into getting a few sticks of SPS.

Dreading the day where I'm going to be testing Alk/Ca daily. I'll have to invest in a dosing pump at some point...

I'm wondering if the Neptune Trident that's coming out will be overkill for my tank. But maybe super worth it.

 

[CoralsAddiction]

By Friday, when the H. mag arrives, the epoxy should be all cured and holding tight

Nice. Looking forward to some pics of the mag. Did you buy it online? Was it WYSIWYG?

 

[Kinetic]

Pretty saturated photo of my Rainbow BTA. I could post a not-so-saturated shot, but this kind of shows off the colors he's getting back since being shipped. He's a bit pastel colored when fully inflated during the daytime, when the evening comes around and blues are dominating, he's a pretty dark color.

And of course, with my luck, he stays behind my rockwork facing the back wall, where it's almost impossible to see him. LOL.

And a video of it waving around:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmljkNfAVQ8

 

[Kinetic]

Nice. Looking forward to some pics of the mag. Did you buy it online? Was it WYSIWYG?

The mag is actually from user Gig'em! He had two that were in his frag tank that he was eventually going to sell, but wasn't really promoting them. I reached out after finding out he used to treat them well with cipro and sell them afterwards, having huge success even after shipping once it was treated.

He had one that was purple base with white tips and looked beautiful. 3" is tiny enough to fit well and grow a bit in my tank!

 

[Kinetic]

I'm deciding on which rock to use for the H. Mag. The first one below is larger by about 1" shortest diameter, and 2" longest diameter. Good for the nem to grow a bit. The second is big enough (reportedly) to hold it with 2 - 3" extra space to grow. Obv. I could just go with the larger, but aesthetics mean a lot too. Maybe there isn't enough of a difference, but what do you guys think. A or B?

A

B

 

[CoralsAddiction]

Both are good. B stands out more I think.

 

[Kinetic]

H. Magnifica has arrived from Gig'em! Some poop in the bag but nothing else. Color looks really great. I'm concerned about the mouth, looks to be inside out. When he first arrived, mouth was visible, but after a float acclimation, he looks gross.

Should I put him in a treatment tank with cipro now?

 

[D-Nak]

Assuming it was properly QTed the first time, I don't think you need to treat with Cipro. Looks like the mag didn't like being in the bag for an extended amount of time. You can either set up a QT tank for observation, if you have one, or put it in the DT and let it acclimate to your tank.

Me personally, I'd turn off the flow in the DT and see if it attaches to the rock you picked out.

 

[Kinetic]

Assuming it was properly QTed the first time, I don't think you need to treat with Cipro. Looks like the mag didn't like being in the bag for an extended amount of time. You can either set up a QT tank for observation, if you have one, or put it in the DT and let it acclimate to your tank.

Me personally, I'd turn off the flow in the DT and see if it attaches to the rock you picked out.

Thanks Derrick! I will probably QT him for the afternoon first just in case. I have it setup anyhow. I just hope that extra QT won't add additional stress.

I'm assuming he should be fine as long as he doesn't have a bacterial infection? This is just a show of being upset and not necessarily infection that needs cipro?