Daelie's 3 Feet of Reef Tank

[daelie]

Never really posted too much here, but have had tanks for a long time and having upgraded back in december, and things also going decently well and stable for me, I thought I would at least start my first build thread on the site and hope to keep it updated regularly from this point.

Equipment List

Tank Dims: 36" x 21" x 20"

Skimmer: Vertex Omega 130

Lighting: Giesemann 8 Bulb 36w T5 with Kessil A360WE supplementation

Heaters: Eheim Jager 100W x 2

Flow: Jebao DC6000 Return & 2 x Ecotech mp10wQD & 1 x Ecotech mp40wQD

ATO: Gravity Fed Reservoir combined with a Tunze Osmolator

The tank itself took a very long time to level on the carpet in the room where we wanted it. Several fills and refills later it finally stayed true.

The first piece to unbox was the lights, which I originally ordered a 6 bulb setup during a sale, but it was mislabeled, and turned out to be an 8 bulb setup, so the store honored the same price, so I didn't complain in the end. Here's a few shots of the lights.

http://i.imgur.com/YFWC6tpb.jpg (http://imgur.com/YFWC6tp) http://i.imgur.com/fcCJ8cnb.jpg (http://imgur.com/fcCJ8cn)

After getting the tank partially wet, I had all my corals/rock/fish from the previous tank divided between two 20 gallon tanks, so I ended up transferring all water/rock/corals from each tank over the course of a couple days, making sure it was a decently slow transition to not really cause a new cycle. Then began the aquascaping.

I started with a small island on the left that's mostly stayed the same this entire time

http://i.imgur.com/ZuhVmUxb.jpg (http://imgur.com/ZuhVmUx)

And then I decided for some shelves on the right side that are mainly going to be the make-up of a large zoanthid garden when everything grows in (hopefully).

http://i.imgur.com/Qz29cSkb.jpg (http://imgur.com/Qz29cSk)

To this :

http://i.imgur.com/QAO0l3gb.jpg (http://imgur.com/QAO0l3g) http://i.imgur.com/mUgsfAbb.jpg (http://imgur.com/mUgsfAb)

After getting everything up and running, I was skimmerless for the better part of a month because my old tunze didn't really fit anywhere very well and I was torn between what would actually work well in the sump. In the end, I went with a used vertex that was a pretty good price, and it ended up taking up most of my sump space, but it started pulling out some really dark, awful smelling junk. I also repurposed some kessils I had lying around to supplement the t5 lighting and I mostly use them for some shimmer, and the dawn dusk lights on the tank. This FTS and sump shots were taken just after I got the skimmer.

http://i.imgur.com/URH48mGb.jpg (http://imgur.com/URH48mG) http://i.imgur.com/i6kytV0b.jpg (http://imgur.com/i6kytV0)

http://i.imgur.com/4UJNeaVh.jpg (http://imgur.com/4UJNeaV)

These pictures were all taken roughly around the same time: Thumbnails are clickable

http://i.imgur.com/8ItWEAcb.jpg (http://imgur.com/8ItWEAc) http://i.imgur.com/pXnD9L8b.jpg (http://imgur.com/pXnD9L8) http://i.imgur.com/oyOt2ikb.jpg (http://imgur.com/oyOt2ik) http://i.imgur.com/eyodZKCb.jpg (http://imgur.com/eyodZKC) http://i.imgur.com/rBCfkPrb.jpg (http://imgur.com/rBCfkPr)

I began dosing a few of the zeovit additives as well a couple times of week to help nutrient levels and see a little better growth than I had in my 30L in the year and a bit prior. My doses were based on someone else's tank build on the zeovit forums that had a very similarly sized tank. My nutrients dropped fast, slightly bleaching a couple of my favias, but everything else responded really well to it and the favias are recovering at a slow pace.

The latest full tank shot is this one taken about a week ago:

[Image: ETcBHFth.jpg]

[daelie]

Adding in the photos and the edit expired to add the last photo: So here is the latest FTS.

http://i.imgur.com/ETcBHFth.jpg (http://imgur.com/ETcBHFt)

As well doing my weekly water change, I took a bunch of top down photos thinking that I would be finally setting up a build thread sometime this week: (Again all clickable for larger versions)

http://i.imgur.com/OHCnpemb.jpg (http://imgur.com/OHCnpem) http://i.imgur.com/0otiKcXb.jpg (http://imgur.com/0otiKcX) http://i.imgur.com/yOd1Hw6b.jpg (http://imgur.com/yOd1Hw6) http://i.imgur.com/Rpp1ffdb.jpg (http://imgur.com/Rpp1ffd) http://i.imgur.com/19i5wKjb.jpg (http://imgur.com/19i5wKj) http://i.imgur.com/oWS7lKqb.jpg (http://imgur.com/oWS7lKq) http://i.imgur.com/lWmBJMhb.jpg (http://imgur.com/lWmBJMh) http://i.imgur.com/87gtneib.jpg (http://imgur.com/87gtnei) http://i.imgur.com/7mU35fDb.jpg (http://imgur.com/7mU35fD) http://i.imgur.com/sEmqbeyb.jpg (http://imgur.com/sEmqbey) http://i.imgur.com/G3hi4OZb.jpg (http://imgur.com/G3hi4OZ) http://i.imgur.com/1YkaVAFb.jpg (http://imgur.com/1YkaVAF) http://i.imgur.com/R3v5rdUb.jpg (http://imgur.com/R3v5rdU) http://i.imgur.com/KKQNrIvb.jpg (http://imgur.com/KKQNrIv) http://i.imgur.com/jLw57dFb.jpg (http://imgur.com/jLw57dF) http://i.imgur.com/F4IOPR0b.jpg (http://imgur.com/F4IOPR0) http://i.imgur.com/cKmJQpRb.jpg (http://imgur.com/cKmJQpR) http://i.imgur.com/YfkxEYFb.jpg (http://imgur.com/YfkxEYF) http://i.imgur.com/KPsDQ66b.jpg (http://imgur.com/KPsDQ66) http://i.imgur.com/ztyDkRDb.png (http://imgur.com/ztyDkRD) http://i.imgur.com/JqPwOXdb.jpg (http://imgur.com/JqPwOXd) http://i.imgur.com/IX3cSVmb.jpg (http://imgur.com/IX3cSVm) http://i.imgur.com/BQpbVpLb.jpg (http://imgur.com/BQpbVpL) http://i.imgur.com/LB7t0HIb.jpg (http://imgur.com/LB7t0HI)

[Skimmer Juice]

nice zoa's , also running a t5/kessil combo best lighting I have had to date. That vertex skimmer smell is quit foul lol.

[daelie]

nice zoa's , also running a t5/kessil combo best lighting I have had to date. That vertex skimmer smell is quit foul lol.

Thanks, I really like the T5 Kessil combo, it looks great with the shimmer and no shadows. The vertex is awful, I try shoving it in my girlfriend's face whenever I clean it, she's not amused haha.

Update:
Things have been growing quite well over the last little while, and I added a few new frags during a sale. I had a chance to snap a quick few photos the other night during a water change. Thinking of adding a sand sifting goby if I can get my hands on one in the next little while. A small bit of cyano has started appearing on the sand in some spots, so I've ramped up the flow a little bit more, and I vacuumed it out during the WC, hoping it doesn't return, and it's been a few days since I last saw it.

Some of the photos I uploaded (Always clickable thumbnails):

http://i.imgur.com/Frlv6XUb.jpg (http://imgur.com/Frlv6XU) http://i.imgur.com/v6qQ8lzb.jpg (http://imgur.com/v6qQ8lz) http://i.imgur.com/fLlgRSmb.jpg (http://imgur.com/fLlgRSm) http://i.imgur.com/Ix3Hzaib.jpg (http://imgur.com/Ix3Hzai) http://i.imgur.com/w33h7QJb.jpg (http://imgur.com/w33h7QJ) http://i.imgur.com/7cA9AA0b.jpg (http://imgur.com/7cA9AA0) http://i.imgur.com/kWWIim6b.jpg (http://imgur.com/kWWIim6) http://i.imgur.com/kmlrcrcb.jpg (http://imgur.com/kmlrcrc) http://i.imgur.com/4jh31ubb.jpg (http://imgur.com/4jh31ub)

[albert_dao]

Great write-up. Really appreciated the well organized flow of this post :D

[smokinreefer]

Matrixx is nice!

With those mounting legs how high off the tank is it?
Do you find there is a lot of light spill?

I want to light a tank with matrixx but it would be beside a dining table.
Do you think the light spill would be bothersome to guests sitting trying to enjoy a meal?

Thanks!

Great tank!

[daelie]

Great write-up. Really appreciated the well organized flow of this post :D

Thanks, I find it helps to not have massive pictures that take forever to load. I find myself reading the forums a lot on mobile and thumbnails that can link to larger pictures are much easier to sift through in a long thread. Every now and then, if the picture I find is quite nice then I add it in larger.

Matrixx is nice!

With those mounting legs how high off the tank is it?
Do you find there is a lot of light spill?

I want to light a tank with matrixx but it would be beside a dining table.
Do you think the light spill would be bothersome to guests sitting trying to enjoy a meal?

Thanks!

Great tank!

With the mounting legs, the fixture sits about 4 inches or so off of the water level. I don't find there is a lot of light spill, but that could just be me. I have an 8 bulb combo too, so it does cover almost the entire tank. I ordered a 6 bulb and they sent me an 8 bulb for free, which turned out to be nice to have the extra 8 bulbs, but my aquarium width I think a 6 bulb would have been more suitable, oh well, later upgrades :)

I just snapped a photo in the room with the aquarium with just the t5's on and all the lights off. It's a cell phone pic, but really all I can say is I would give it a shot, they are an awesome fixture both performance and aesthetically. There's a bit on the floor and the wall but the floor especially will probably get overpowered by the dining room lights anyway. If the reef tank is nice enough, it'll be distracting no matter what fixture is on the tank ;)

http://i.imgur.com/hhUNm2wh.jpg (http://imgur.com/hhUNm2w)

[JoshL]

That's is a beautiful tank. Very nice equipment. So much flow on this tank and a lot of light.

I was thinking about doing the same in regards to lighting on my tank, do you still get the shimmer from the kessils with the 8 bulb t5 running?


I love those Red Sea Reefer tanks. They have a great look to them.

[daelie]

That's is a beautiful tank. Very nice equipment. So much flow on this tank and a lot of light.

I was thinking about doing the same in regards to lighting on my tank, do you still get the shimmer from the kessils with the 8 bulb t5 running?


I love those Red Sea Reefer tanks. They have a great look to them.

I never really thought I'd end up getting one of these tanks til I saw it in person. I would love a custom 300g but we live in a condo at the moment that won't really allow anything bigger.

I do still see the shimmer a good deal from the kessils with the t5's running. I also have the kessils coming on and hour before the t5's and they stay on an hour after the t5's turn off for a good amount there.

[daelie]

The cyano I mentioned in my last post actually got a decent hold shortly after and covered the sandbed. I did a water change and siphoned it all out and it hasn't really come back since. Other than that things are going well. My parameters have been staying quite solid and the favia that bleached during the transfer is finally getting some of its purple color back, very slowly but surely, I have it hiding slightly under a ledge on the left side of the tank. Here's a few pictures, still having trouble really showing how blue a few of the corals are, more practice with the camera and I'll figure it out.

New FTS:

http://i.imgur.com/eDbt6Uzh.jpg (http://imgur.com/eDbt6Uz)

Some half tank shots and a few macros

http://i.imgur.com/ShE6XsPh.jpg (http://imgur.com/ShE6XsP)

http://i.imgur.com/301voi8h.jpg (http://imgur.com/301voi8)

http://i.imgur.com/znVK4Gvh.jpg (http://imgur.com/znVK4Gv)

http://i.imgur.com/tJtwEJCb.jpg (http://imgur.com/tJtwEJC) http://i.imgur.com/tWj6O8Db.jpg (http://imgur.com/tWj6O8D) http://i.imgur.com/SsRQ4wHb.jpg (http://imgur.com/SsRQ4wH) http://i.imgur.com/aIdvX0Hb.jpg (http://imgur.com/aIdvX0H) http://i.imgur.com/fZU5G4wb.jpg (http://imgur.com/fZU5G4w) http://i.imgur.com/633pAyEb.jpg (http://imgur.com/633pAyE) http://i.imgur.com/tls70A5b.jpg (http://imgur.com/tls70A5) http://i.imgur.com/pcvetugb.jpg (http://imgur.com/pcvetug)

[daelie]

For today I just have a small little photo dump of some frags that I'm gonna try to keep track of the growth of over the coming months and hopefully trade/sell them once they get around to covering their plugs. Some have already taken off a lot more than their friends around them. Pictures were taken with the kessils on 100% intensity and 0% color.

http://i.imgur.com/w78b7Hjb.jpg (http://imgur.com/w78b7Hj) http://i.imgur.com/quaP5xPb.jpg (http://imgur.com/quaP5xP) http://i.imgur.com/FpdsMzAb.jpg (http://imgur.com/FpdsMzA) http://i.imgur.com/3TJ9bAcb.jpg (http://imgur.com/3TJ9bAc) http://i.imgur.com/mJElukOb.jpg (http://imgur.com/mJElukO) http://i.imgur.com/W8Tl5Odb.jpg (http://imgur.com/W8Tl5Od) http://i.imgur.com/Sc0UtRjb.jpg (http://imgur.com/Sc0UtRj) http://i.imgur.com/ADzDuqob.jpg (http://imgur.com/ADzDuqo) http://i.imgur.com/7WqcpdEb.jpg (http://imgur.com/7WqcpdE) http://i.imgur.com/bENuUKTb.jpg (http://imgur.com/bENuUKT) http://i.imgur.com/C2DFuK4b.jpg (http://imgur.com/C2DFuK4)

[daelie]

Update!

Added a tuxedo urchin and a few chromis to get some more life in the tank, plus added a couple new corals and fiddled around with the camera to take a few new photos. Hopefully I'll be able to update my frag shots from the earlier post in the coming days/week, as I've looked at a few of them and have seen some good growth, just need to get off my butt and actually get some photos. For now, I'll leave with these.

http://i.imgur.com/yhMsd5Dl.jpg (http://imgur.com/yhMsd5D)

http://i.imgur.com/qFGIMuml.jpg (http://imgur.com/qFGIMum)

http://i.imgur.com/MSnHP13l.jpg (http://imgur.com/MSnHP13)

http://i.imgur.com/Ch46qTPl.jpg (http://imgur.com/Ch46qTP)

http://i.imgur.com/vV2xROjl.jpg (http://imgur.com/vV2xROj)

http://i.imgur.com/Y6EOU2Il.jpg (http://imgur.com/Y6EOU2I)

http://i.imgur.com/RVN8DiOl.jpg (http://imgur.com/RVN8DiO)

http://i.imgur.com/DUNJiVcl.jpg (http://imgur.com/DUNJiVc)

[daelie]

A sad update today unfortunately.

2 days ago, I came home to see my female maroon not eating anything. Usually always at the top of the tank waiting for it when I walk in the room, she was just huddled inside the anemone watching the food go by. I was a little worried, so I took a video and some pictures for a guy who's very active on the international forums and is generally quite good at diagnosing fish diseases, since I looked and couldn't really see anything with regards to white dots on her skin or sliminess building up. He had a good look and couldn't see anything other than he mouth looked a little bigger than normal and she wasn't closing her mouth either, from this he deduced that she may have bitten some zoas near the anemone in an attempt to move them away, as that's decently common behavior, so I turned the lights out, and she stayed in the anemone as I went to sleep.

I woke up, and she was still in the anemone flapping away, still swimming strongly from all I could see, so I went to work that day. My girlfriend feeds the fish once she gets home from work earlier than me and called me to tell me she looked worse, no longer in the anemone and just swimming very lethargicly, sometimes with her fins no longer moving and very near the bottom of the tank. I posted some pics for the fellow again as well as video and he still could see nothing in terms of parasitic infection, but suggested I get her out into quarantine to start some antibiotic treatment. Unfortunately, she was gone when I got home. Within 24 hours, she went from a voracious eater to no longer in my tank, and his best guess was that she bit a zoa/paly and ingested a small amount of palytoxin that led to her rapid demise. Everyone else in the tank seems perfectly fine so far, with the smaller clown taking over the anemone for the time being, until I'm able to find a suitable mate for him, probably soon to be her.

[intarsiabox]

Sorry to hear about your fish, we do our best to keep things alive and well but sometimes these things just happen.

I have a question regarding your lighting. I am running a 6 bulb T5 over a 40g breeder tank and have been thinking about adding Kessils to it. I have seen the Kessils by themselves and they look great but don't want to get rid of the T5's. Do you still get the shimmer and color pop when running both together or do you find the T5's wash the shimmer out? I have run tanks with just LED's and don't want to go down that route anymore. Thanks!

[daelie]

Sorry to hear about your fish, we do our best to keep things alive and well but sometimes these things just happen.

I have a question regarding your lighting. I am running a 6 bulb T5 over a 40g breeder tank and have been thinking about adding Kessils to it. I have seen the Kessils by themselves and they look great but don't want to get rid of the T5's. Do you still get the shimmer and color pop when running both together or do you find the T5's wash the shimmer out? I have run tanks with just LED's and don't want to go down that route anymore. Thanks!

Thanks, it's been a few years since I've lost a fish and it's more the fact that I'm still not even 80% sure as to why.

In regards to the lighting, I do still see a good amount of shimmer from the kessils during midday. But I do ramp up my kessils intensity as well. Over a 40 breeder, you might not be able to ramp up the intensity as much because of the depth, so I'm not completely sure if they'll get washed out. I use my kessils before and after the t5's come on/off as well, so I have some points of just kessils on 10% intensity 0% color which I like in the mornings and late at night before everything goes out. I really do like the color of the tank right now using both.

[intarsiabox]

Thanks, it's been a few years since I've lost a fish and it's more the fact that I'm still not even 80% sure as to why.

In regards to the lighting, I do still see a good amount of shimmer from the kessils during midday. But I do ramp up my kessils intensity as well. Over a 40 breeder, you might not be able to ramp up the intensity as much because of the depth, so I'm not completely sure if they'll get washed out. I use my kessils before and after the t5's come on/off as well, so I have some points of just kessils on 10% intensity 0% color which I like in the mornings and late at night before everything goes out. I really do like the color of the tank right now using both.
Thanks for the reply. I have a 36"x24"x20"H tank as well that I'm in the process of setting up again and will be using the same lights. So good to know about the intensity required to get the shimmer effect.

[daelie]

Been a while since my last update. I've done a little bit of redoing the aquascape to be very minimal on the rock in the actual display and since I have both marinepure spheres and siporax in my sump, I haven't seen any negative effect from this change. There's been some good growth and coloration increase with a lot of corals and I saw a good recovery of a red planet frag that was given to me as a very pale sps frag a little over a month ago. I placed it on my frag rack and watched as it slowly regained color and polyp extension. Those pictures below to show the change.

http://i.imgur.com/dmZSwqc.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/GO2qUbb.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/1iacfFp.jpg

Another SPS I've seen some good growth was my pink lemonade acro, it turned a little green after I ripped it off it's frag plug and glued it onto a rock, but it didn't take very long before the color properly returned and growth took off. Again a couple comparison pics.

http://i.imgur.com/C2QAUf6.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/YLKWGsX.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/S80XZf0.jpg

A full tank shot with the pumps off, and I still need to tidy up a lot of frag plugs that are lying around, which I'll take of once I set up a frag tank I've been meaning to get running for a little while now.

http://i.imgur.com/zRkpiYw.jpg

Finally, I'll end with just a few other pics that I ended up taking after coming home from vacation. And one of the frag rack that I'm hoping to get out of my display in the coming weeks.

http://i.imgur.com/YxV4Llu.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/GcVYg0A.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/uKZfd8z.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/XuedaML.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/XpCuqd8.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/nF4Nfps.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/GDsMaVs.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/tSpNwxJ.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ckQEZfB.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/IgaKEEv.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/OH5tid1.jpg

[Myka]

Looking awesome! Color and polyp extension are excellent! I'm not a fan of how little rock there is (looks like a frag tank to me), but if you like it that's all that matters! :)

[daelie]

Looking awesome! Color and polyp extension are excellent! I'm not a fan of how little rock there is (looks like a frag tank to me), but if you like it that's all that matters! :)

Thanks. To be honest, it kind of is a frag tank right now. I have way more zoas than I know what to do with and I've been getting rid of both those and LPS in favor of replacing everything with SPS. In time, as I get more SPS, it should fill in nicely. They just need to grow a lot faster.

[Skimmerking]

Tank looks good man I have been thinking if I want to get back into the salt world again. I moved to oromocto 2 years ago from Manitoba. Love the can reef world. Nice little skimmer the omega 130. I out in burton now where a outs in Fred's are ya north south east or west

[daelie]

Tank looks good man I have been thinking if I want to get back into the salt world again. I moved to oromocto 2 years ago from Manitoba. Love the can reef world. Nice little skimmer the omega 130. I out in burton now where a outs in Fred's are ya north south east or west

Ah thanks a lot. It's surely addicting. I live in the North end right now, along the river. If you decide to get back into the hobby, I'll always be able to hook you up with some frags and there's a good bunch of other people in Fredericton that reef as well.

[daelie]

Side view of the tank finally starting to come along!

http://i.imgur.com/4OOOccG.jpg