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Hogie's 180 Gallon Mixed Reef

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    Posted: December 07 2015 at 5:03pm
Ok, it's about time I started my build thread even though it's been going on for a while. So, I need to do a bit of catch up.

About a yr ago I came across a killer deal on a 180 gallon tank. Included was the canopy\stand (extra tall), 2x2x6 tank (1 minor scratch on the outside of the glass) canopy, skimmer (the skimmer is huge), halide light fixture (bulbs were old) and a bunch of misc stuff. I've accumulated stuff over the past year buying stuff when it was on sale or when it was a good deal off the board. Here's what I have and my plan:

Equipment
Lights:
(4) 80w LED fixtures built by Jeff (Krazie4Acans who seems to be to be more into sticks than acans... )
I'm thinking of adding (2) 48" T5's over the tank just to brighten it up.

Return Pump:
Jebao 12000

Flow:
(2) Jebao wp 40

Heater:
(2) HMA-300w Finnex Heater (titanium)

Controller:
Reef Keeper Archon

Sump:
100 gallon acrylic tank converted into a 3 chambered sump by Tyler a long time ago.

Other:
Dual BRS Carbon Reactor (both filled with carbon)
Single BRS GFO Reactor
3 BRS 1.1 ml Dosing Pumps for Calc, Alk, Mag
7" Filter Socks

Still plan to get:
UV

The Plan
The plan is to run a herbie style drain. It's the only drain system I'm familiar with and it's what I have on my other tanks and it works great. However, the main drain is set into the side of the overflow rather then in the bottom, so to get the full siphon, the overflow has to be really full and it fill the tank so the the cross bracing (which is acrylic) is in the water which is a little bit of a distraction to look at.

The skimmer is going to go into the first chamber with the overflow, the filter socks, and any other pumps for equipment. 2nd chamber will a refugium with macro and rubble rock only (no sand). I also have a small power head to through in that chamber as well to help with a little more flow and circulation. Third chamber is return pump.

All of the rock is from BRS or left over from the aquascaping contest at the MWRF except for 1 small shelf rock which was live from AD to seed the tank and some rock donated to the cause by Dennis (reefer4ever.) Sand was won in the raffle at the MWRF.

Salt is Oceanic for cycling and then will switch to Red Sea and Red Sea Coral Pro Mix when corals start going.

Edited by Hogie - December 08 2015 at 1:58am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hogie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 07 2015 at 5:16pm
The tank has been cycling for a little over 2 months now. I've been phantom feeding about every other day and increasing how much I feed each week. I fed pretty heavy the last week to see how it'd handle it and current readings are:

Ammonia 0
Nitrates 20 ppm
Temp 77.8
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hogie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 07 2015 at 5:20pm
So next on the agenda is to make a fish list. I went to Reefon's auction on Sat. and it was a blast! Scored some great deals, one of which was a clown tang. I know that's about as bad of a choice as you can make for a first fish, but it was such a good deal, they fed it and it ate at the store, so I couldn't pass it up. Since then, I've come to my senses and realized it's not to bright to sacrifice the rest of the tank for the one fish. So, it's going to a new home today (it's still eating really well at my house). Now, I've got to make a fish list and a schedule for adding them.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hogie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 07 2015 at 5:35pm
Fish List:
1 Yellow watchman goby/shrimp pair
2 Neon Gobies
1 Rainford Goby
1 Scooter Blenny
2 Bangaii Cardinals
3 Firefish (2 red and 1 purple)
3 or 4 Anthias
2 Black and White Clownfish (from 45 gallon tank)
1 Ruby Red Dragnette
1 Pearly Jawfish
1 Yellow Coris Wrasse
1 Either a McCosty's Wrasse or a Carpenter's Wrasse
On the fence about a Leopard Wrasse
1 Potter's Angelfish
2 Swallow Tail Angelfish (male and female)
On the fence about a Koran Angelfish
1 Sailfin Tang
1 Powder Blue Tang or Brown Tang
1 Hippo Tang (coming from my 45 tank)

Inverts:
Snails
Sandsifting starfish (eventually after the sand bed get's going)
Rainbow Anemone
3 or 4 Rock Anemones
Sexy Shrimp for the Rock Anemones
Fire shrimp

On the fence about hermit crabs

Corals:
Mainly SPS and LPS with some High End Mushrooms
No Zoas or Palys

What do you think about the order to add them, time frame between additions? Compatibility? Balance between where the fish will be in the tank (water column, in the rocks, on rocks, and the sand?) Too many? Not enough?!


Edited by Hogie - December 07 2015 at 5:47pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Krazie4Acans Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 07 2015 at 6:01pm
First, i must defend my honor. Yes I have a lot of sticks in my new tank. I do also have acans and there will be more soon enough.

I need to see this for myself to believe the "add t5's to make it brighter" thing. lol

What? You're going to dose this tank? Blasphemy!

Add all your small fish first so that they get established before any of the big guys go in. Don't add the Rainfordi, scooter, or dragonette until you know for sure that there is food in the tank for them. Algae and pods in a high enough abundance to sustain them.

powder blue and brown should probably be the first larger ones to go in but only after keeping them in a QT to try and prevent ich from entering your new tank. I did say try. lol

The wrasse I would wait to add until you know the system is stable and you can maybe do without a clean up crew. They will most likely become lunch at some point.

Add the smaller angels first and then any larger ones you want later. Keep in mind that these may also influence your coral choices. I would probably QT the angels in a smaller tank with different corals to see if they decide to partake prior to them going in the big tank.

There is my first input.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Corey Price Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 10 2015 at 9:42pm
<=== Watching...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote phys Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 10 2015 at 9:47pm
pics or it didn't happen ;)

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Reefer4Ever Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 10 2015 at 9:53pm
Bring it, I have been waiting long enough :)
90 gal reef w/refugium
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote rastareefer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 10 2015 at 11:15pm
without zoas or palys the koran should be fine but i would add him last in the angel section and in my opinion i would start with a tiny one from what i have seen in my tank they usually wont nip at much until they start to get there adult coloring...then again i guess it depends on the fish ha but right on dude angels in reefs are awesome!Thumbs Up
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ctreeftank Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 11 2015 at 7:30am
For tangs I would recommend sail fin tang, purple tang.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Fatman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 11 2015 at 12:42pm
I hear odd numbers on the anthia work best.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hogie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 11 2015 at 12:50pm
Time to add some pictures!


This is first adding water to the tank. I ran a hose from the garage to the tank (about 50 ft) and siphoned the water down to the tank so I didn't have to haul all the water by hand. It surprising worked really well with no leaking water!


After we got some water in the tank, time to do some aquascaping which is Kenzy's department. She set it all up outside the tank and then I was going to put it together with rods, but that stuff was a pain to drill through. After going through 3 masonry hammer drill bits, I gave up. Unfortunately I had destroyed her aquscapig in the process. Here's what it look liked when I was done.


So, she had to free stack it and redo it in the tank, but she was a trooper and I really like how it turned out. Everything is sitting on the bottom and it's surprisingly stable.



Next came the sand


Then more water. The water stayed pretty even with the sand.


I threw in a couple temporary heaters and a powerhead and the cycling began!


With the heaters I had, it got the water temp up to about 70 degrees which I figured was good enough for the cycling and I phantom fed really heavy about every other day.

I then go the lights from Jeff and mounted them to a board to go across the top of the canopy. But I left them turned off during the cycling.


After about 8 weeks of cycling, I tested the water and had 0 ammonia and around 20 ppm nitrates. So, I got the permanent heaters, go the temp up to 77-78 degrees and left it for another couple of weeks while phantom feeding extra heavy. I then retest and the parameters were the same.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote phys Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 12 2015 at 12:54am
Cool, man
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Reefboy4life Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 12 2015 at 2:27am
Looking good!
90 gallon mixed reef
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Fatman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 12 2015 at 9:07am
Looking pretty good. I can't wait to see it.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kellerexpress Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 14 2015 at 1:12pm
nice!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Krazie4Acans Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 14 2015 at 1:39pm
Those are all older pics. Where's the new ones with the fish in it?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hogie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 28 2015 at 11:42am
I'll try to take and get up some new pics later today, but here's the update.

The return pump suddenly got more power during the night (I think it has some glue that has run down into it that came loose because there was some blue glue strings in the tank) and so it threw off the herbie drain. I found out my emergency overflow pipe was too tall so it didn't get a full syphon befor the water was flowing over the side of the tank. Luckily, I didn't have the sump full of water, so it pushed over about 5 gallons before it was out of water and started sucking air. The bad news is I had the power supply, controller for the lights, and the controller for 1 of the wp40s sitting on the tile next to the tank and they got fried by the water. So, Jeff helped out (again) with a getting me set up with replacement equipment and now the lights are back up running and a new controller for the pump should be here this week.

I had a diatom outbreak that lasted about a week and a half. I got a pack of snails from reefcleaners.org and they're going to town. I'm debating if I want to do hermits or not. They're great scavengers and all the nieces and nephews love looking at the crab (hundred dollar fish right in their face and they get excited about a $0.50 hermit crab...go figure), but it seems like they always end up going after snails and like don't like the look of the empty, spare shells all over the sand bed. Thoughts on yes or no on hermits?

I've made a few adjustments to the fish list, and I've been adding them with a week in between adding each kind. The current stock in the tank is:
1 Watchman Goby
2 Bangaii Cardinals
1 PJ Cardinal
1 Tailspot Blenny
2 Neon Gobies
1 Purple Firefish
2 Red Firefish
2 Scissortail Gobies

Next on the fish list is to add the anthias (2 lyretails from 45 tank and 1 blotched)

Then the black and white clown pair will more down from the 45 tank.

Then it's on to Wrasses, then tangs, then angels.

Edited by Hogie - December 28 2015 at 11:44am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Krazie4Acans Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 28 2015 at 12:03pm
I think your question about crabs is a mute point. The reason I think this is because with the wrasse list you have you are going to be looking at empty shells on the sandbed anyway. I have the same issue with the crabs so I just limit the number of crabs that I put in and if they start getting larger I pull them and put them in my sump. This does a good job of keeping my snails alive as long as possible.

I can't wait to see that blotched in there. They are cool fish and I think he will become one of your favorites very quickly.

What about coral or anemones? It's about time you got some of those in there isn't it?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Adam Blundell Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 28 2015 at 12:38pm
I may have missed it... But it's there an update on the clown tang? I thought there was a thread on it.

Adam
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