Taking the 180 in a new Direction

[ReefMonger]

Well I am selling off my LPS dominated 180 due to having my entire frag system crashing and losing all of my echinos and alot of my favorite pieces. Also I have lost interest in the tank. So to renew the interest I am going to try and keep a totally non photosynthetic tank out of the 180

Flow is going to be a Vortech on the right side and a Korallia 7 or 8 on the left positioned to try and create a circular flow around the tank.

I have a 50 gallon fuge and a phosphate reactor. I have not decided on if I am going to do a skimmer. I do have a sulfur denitrator also.

I plan on purchasing a litermeter dosing pump to administer food. At first I am going to try using Coral Frenzy, Oyster Feast, and some Phyto Feast.

 

[stunreefer]

Sounds awesome man, I'm going the same route :lol:

I'm planning on still using a skimmer since so much food is going to be input into these things.

So sorry to hear about your losses man

GL, and keep us posted! :thumbsup:

 

[ReefMonger]

Not sure what size skimmer I am going to go with. I will run one though.

For flow I was thinking of adding 2 Korallia 8s along with my Vortech all on one side of the tank pointing towards the other end. That will be 9500 gph of laminar flow and then some flow from my return pump.

 

[ReefMonger]

Im am going to switch from the Korallias to 4 Maxi Jet Mods. I will put one on the back side left pointing to the right side along the back.

I then will put 3 Maxi Mods and a Vortech all on the Right side of my tank pointing to the left side. My return pump will only return on the left side and will also point towards the back to the right. Im trying to get a whirlpool effect going around in the tank.

This will put me at around 11,900 GPH and a 66x turnover rate in the tank.

For the fuge I am going to scrap the chaeto and go with xenia as a nutrient export. Im worried about the alleopathy effects from the algae or should I go with the algae?

For food I think I will make a slurry of Oyster Feast, Rotifeast, PhytoFeast, Coral Frenzy, and a few other ingredients fed into the system by a syringe pump.

I want the main pump to shut down for an hour at a time for feedings so the food stays in suspension longer.

For temp I will run the tank cooler around 72-74 degrees

 

[TheH]

If you're setting up such a large, dedicated non-photo tank why not attempt to use live foods? Perhaps culture your own phytoplankton & zooplankton? Or at least some bottled live food?

I read that you were considering Oyster Feast. As per the statements on the bottle, this is basically shredded oyster muscle. I wouldn't consider it high-quality food.

Just my suggestions.

 

[ReefMonger]

I really feel I will have enough work keeping the tank itself up and running to dedicate time to culturing my own food. I may in the future but not right now.

If the oyster feast is just shredded muscle I will use oyster eggs than instead.

 

[smsreefer]

Sounds like a great adventure to me !
Keep us posted !

Look up the Oyster Feast at Reed's .
It is made up of a mix of oyster eggs and the ovarian tissue from oysters . The initial results I have been hearing are VERY good .
Also, look here .
http://stonyreef.com/blog/2008/feeding-azooxanthellate-corals/