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Bigsby's 215 Gallon Mixed Reef


bigsby

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So a year is coming up since I first purchased this tank and got it up and running so I figured I would finally contribute to the forum and document what I have accomplished so far.

It has had its ups and downs, and been a ton of time and labor, but has been my pride and joy for the last three months, as I am finally getting happy to where it is at. I am still battling some phosphate issues and will be adding gfo as well as a calcium reactor to support the growth of my corals, but as of now a 10% water change every two weeks has been enough to keep my parameters in check.

About the System

215 gallon DSA tank(I believe) 72"x24"x30"

3x250 watt metal halide lights with 20k plusrite bulbs and Lumatek ballasts. Also have (2)72" 96 watt Super Actinic lights and 2 48" BML lights

55 gallon 3 chamber sump (return with live rock -then skimmer with an area for macro algae in the middle section and then the return pumps in the last section.

Return pumps Eheim 1262 and a Mag 18

I run the Eheim to my chiller with a ball valve and then to the right hand side of my tank and the Mag 18 to the left hand side of my tank.

My chiller is a Teco 1/3 hp chiller

I'm running a Bubble Magus Nac 9 Skimmer

I'm using a Tunze 5017 ATO

Jebao DP-4 Auto Dosing Pump

I have a Tunze powerhead, four Jebao wp40's, and two large Koralias for additional flow in the display. I also have another 2 Koralias in my sump for my frag setup.

The sump is lit by 2 AI Sol led units on a reverse photoperiod.

I'm running a dual BRS reactor with carbon and GFO

AquaC Calcium Reactor with Milwaukee PH Controller

Everything is controlled by an Apex Gold

I have around 250-300 pounds of live rock.

Most was from other tanks and quite a bit was dead and cycled for a few weeks before putting in my tank, so I let it run for another 6 weeks before I put anything living inside.

Here is a pic from after I got it filled and the rock put in and before I changed out the powerheads.

post-1459-0-12335000-1405915562_thumb.jp

Video 11/06/14

Current coral list:

Updated 11/06

17 SPS still unidentified

SPS:

Superman Monti

Jedi Mind Trick Monti

Rainbow Monti

Purple Haze Monti

Flower Petal Monti

Strawberry Fields Monti

Sand Dollar Monti

Tyree Sunset Monti

Chili Pepper Monti

Montipora Confusa

ORA Yellow Lantana Monti

Tyree Orange Setosa Monti

Red Monti Cap

Purple Monti Cap

Green Monti Cap

Spongodes

Mint Pavona

Ty's Green Digi

German Blue Digi

Forest Fire Digi

Green Digi

Red digi

Pink digi

Hyacinth Birdsnest

Ponape Birdsnest

Pink Birdsnest

ORA Screaming Geen Birdsnest

Sour Apple Seriatopora

ORA Red Tip Pocillipora

Harry Valentine Pocillipora

Purple Bottlebrush Acro

Green Efflo

Cali Tort

Oregon Tort

Bali Green Acro

Tim's Skittle Granulosa

Rainbow Pocillipora

Rainbow Stylo

Purple Stylo

Red Dragon

Green Dragon

Purple Dragon

Garf Purple Bonsai

Paletta Blue Stag

Rainbow Nasuta

Battle Corals Skinny Love

Upscale Microclados

Purple Freek

Pro Corals Rainbow Acro

Strawberry Millipora

Peach Millipora

Tequila Sunrise Millie

Cherry Corals Watermelon Millie

Blues Clues Acro

Raspberry Delight Acro

Raspberry Nasuta

Flame tip Dragon

Rainbow Nebula

Rainbow Nasuta

Miyagi Tort

Pink Jade Acro

ORA Red Planet

Tyree Lime in The Sky Acro

Shawn Bennett Yellow Tort

Pikacu Acro

DM Marauder Acro

Tubbs Pink Jade

FragFarmers Red Robin Stag

Mint Julep

Branching Meteor Shower Cyphastrea

Blueberry Shortcake Acro

Pink Lemonade Acro

Aussie Passion Fruit

Cherry Corals Pastel Shortcake

Unique Corals Strawberry shortcake

Strawberry Lemonade Acro

Strawberry Limeade Acro

Pacman Acro -

Blue Stag

Mike Paletta Turquoise Lovelli

Purple Valida

Tri color Valida

AquaSD Dinosaur Egg Stag

Purple Bonsai

Purple Bottlebrush

DFS Pink Panther Acro

Aussie Green/Blue Hyacinthus

Pink Acro with yellow polyps

Flame Rose Milli

Phoenix Milli

Sunrise Milli

Blueberry Milli

Raspberry Milli

Chaos Wave Acro

Razzmatazz Acro

Guardian Angel Acro

Ultra Neon Lights Acro

Ultimate Shortcake Acro

Passion Fruit Acro

Jamba Juice Acro

Raikiri Acro

Diamond Dust Acro

Gila Monster Acro

Burning Candle Acro

Tierra Del Fuego

Greg Hiller Aqua Delight

Paletta Pink Tip

Vivid Rainbow Avco

AV Halloween Milli

Knockout Sunset Milli

DFS 3 Color Milli

$500 Efflo

Vu's Blue Abyss

Extremely Tri Color Acro

Plum Prostrata

Shades of Fall Acro

Purple Polyp Blue Milli

Raspberry Sarmentosa

Mighty Mouse Acro

Rainbow Spatulata

Cornbred's Rainbow

Chalices:

Shockfire

Widowmaker

Flamethrower

Brian's hybrid watermelon

Emerald Mummy Eye

Jason Fox My Miami

Tyree Golden Eye

Miami Hurricane

Hollywood Stunner

Purple with Green Eye Leptoseris

War Coral

Bi Color War Coral

Jason Fox Jack-I-Lantern Lepto

Green Duncan's

Superman Rhodactis

Lots of Euphyllia

Scuba Steve Frogspawn

Neon Octospawn

Blue wall hammer

Green with purple tip frogspawn

Green hammer

Bi color hammer

Toxic Hammer

Purple with pink tip torch coral

Green with white tip torch

Toadstool Mushroom

Blue Finger Leather

Rainbow Bubble Tip Anemone

Sherman Rose Bubble Tip Anemone

Rose Bubble Tip Anemone

3 Maxi Mini Carpet Anemones

Rock Anemone

17 different acans

Rainbow Acans

Superman Acan

Fire and Ice Acan

Joker Acan

Sunset Acan

Blue Bowerbankai Acan

Red and White Favia

Ultra Maxima Clam

15" Maxima Clam

Zoas:

Utter Chaos

Jason Fox Bloodshot

White Velvet

Rasta

Gobstoppers

Candy Apple Red

Candy Apple Orange

JKR Rainbow Kazoo

Purple Delight

Eye of Sauron

Time Machines

Highlighters

God of War

Army of God

Yodas

Super Saiyan

Tutti Frutti

Pink Zippers

Fire and Ice

Fruit Loops

Chong Bongs

King Midas

Orange Oxides

Gorilla Nipples

Bam Bams

Tubbs Blue

Fairy Dust

Blowpops

Whammin Watermelons

Radioactive Dragon eye

Green People Eaters

Green Bay Packers

Mint green

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I got super busy at work right after getting the tank, so it really didn't get much attention, well really it pretty much just sat running with a small cleanup crew until the beginning of this year. I finally got a few fish from a friend who was shutting down his tank. I got a sailfin tang a yellow tang and 4 percula (I think) clownfish but what I was really waiting for is the stability for some corals! I had a friend getting rid of a few pieces for cheap so I picked up a maxi mini carpet anemone, a green torch coral, a piece of as Scuba Steve frogspawn and some zoas and a few small sps frags.

ORA Red tip pocillipora

post-1459-0-60682500-1405916214_thumb.jp

Pink Birdsnest

post-1459-0-76579200-1405916271_thumb.jp

Scuba Steve Frogspawn

post-1459-0-09824700-1405916471_thumb.jp

Maxi mini carpet anemone

post-1459-0-53722900-1405916524_thumb.jp

Dragon's eye and whammin watermelon zoas

post-1459-0-09585800-1405916670_thumb.jp

Unknown name zoas

post-1459-0-36782400-1405916842_thumb.jp

Bleached green torch coral

post-1459-0-00270100-1405916385_thumb.jp

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As soon as these frags started to show some growth and gain in color I decided it was time to start stocking the tank properly.

Peppermint acan

post-1459-0-09365900-1405917225_thumb.jp

ORA Red Planet

post-1459-0-06408400-1405917274_thumb.jp

Miyagi Tort

post-1459-0-68273100-1405917315_thumb.jp

Sand Dollar Monti

post-1459-0-42831600-1405917364_thumb.jp

Purple Haze Monti

post-1459-0-61362500-1405917474_thumb.jp

Frag pack!

post-1459-0-19166500-1405917527_thumb.jp

Blue Bowerbankai Acan

post-1459-0-67746300-1405917576_thumb.jp

Purple with green eye Leptoseris

post-1459-0-21512600-1405917631_thumb.jp

A few different kinds of Euphyllia

post-1459-0-71144000-1405917817_thumb.jp

Rainbow Acan

post-1459-0-27448000-1405917877_thumb.jp

Orange Montipora Setosa

post-1459-0-97100800-1405917928_thumb.jp

War Coral

post-1459-0-24831600-1405917969_thumb.jp

Another acan

post-1459-0-34657800-1405918014_thumb.jp

Purple Stylo and Tim's Skittle Granulosa

post-1459-0-32459100-1405918060_thumb.jp

Montipora Confusa

post-1459-0-14259300-1405918158_thumb.jp

Tyree Golden Eye Chalice

post-1459-0-86921500-1405918204_thumb.jp

Red on red acan

post-1459-0-54007700-1405918249_thumb.jp

Rainbow bubble tip day 1

post-1459-0-22996700-1405918359_thumb.jp

Blue finger leather

post-1459-0-72230000-1405918458_thumb.jp

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Aw man that tanks gonna be a stunna' :) I hope those SPS don't give you a hard time like they are giving me lol.

Thanks, so far I have had decent luck. Everything has been keeping its color and growing so far. I'm hoping as long as I can get my phosphate levels back down soon everything should be stay healthy.

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About time Bigsby! Haha.

Tank is looking good sir. How about a FTS with all the corals in there?

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I know! I have been meaning to post something up for a while, especially now that I have the 65 gallon rimless frag tank budget build I have been meaning to post about as well!!

This fts is from a few weeks ago. I have moved a few things around and moved a few things around.

post-1459-0-27466000-1405951803_thumb.jp

Here is a shot of the left hand side of my tank where most of my anemones and Euphyllia are.

post-1459-0-88783100-1405951883_thumb.jp

One more fts from the right hand side

post-1459-0-99272500-1405952176_thumb.jp

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215. The Official ARC Tank Size.

Coming along nicely!

Thanks man! It's been a ton of work and I've had a lot of real estate to fill but I've been working on getting it stocked.

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More corals!!

Maxi mini carepet nem #2

post-1459-0-91019000-1405952929_thumb.jp

Rock anemone

post-1459-0-71975200-1405952956_thumb.jp

Fire and ice acan

post-1459-0-04775900-1405953020_thumb.jp

Toadstool mushroom

post-1459-0-85028600-1405953077_thumb.jp

Zoas

post-1459-0-94000300-1405953170_thumb.jp

post-1459-0-61511300-1405953244_thumb.jp

Sherman rbta

post-1459-0-00692200-1405953335_thumb.jp

Red Monti cap

post-1459-0-68290300-1405953414_thumb.jp

Decorator crab on my acan with my zoas on him

post-1459-0-54947800-1405953549_thumb.jp

Pink digitata

post-1459-0-46418700-1405953663_thumb.jp

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I like your acro island at the top! Good lookin' naso creepin' in that one picture... he's got his eye on you.

Thanks! We call it Fraggle Rock. Lol. It's an old dead piece of coral with 10 holes drilled for placing frags.

And the Naso has definitely claimed that cave as his.

This evening I picked up a Cali Tort, a two tone Aussie Tort, a Rainbow Nasuta, a mini colony of Hyacinth Birdsnest as well as a rainbow acan and two other nice acan frags to add to my collection.

I also got a small colony of Bam Bam Zoas and a small colony of the Rasta zoas.

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Gotta post the video of the clown laying eggs while I was there! ; D

I tried but it said it was too big to post directly to here. I've never posted a video on here so I'm not exactly sure how to honestly.

I'll put it up on YouTube and post a link here soon when I get some more time.

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You're got some spectacular pieces. Love the light too. What kind of life are you getting out of those plusrites. They look fantastic

Thank you, I appreciate that.

I have been searching for pretty specific corals and have had some pretty decent luck. I have accumulated right about 120 different corals since the beginning of the year. There are quite a few I haven't listed or taken a photo of but I have really been meaning to. I'm starting to think this tank is pretty close to stocked and time for grow out with the exception of a few small additions here and there. I'm thinking any new frags I get from here on out will go in my frag tank for grow out until I move some of my other corals into another tank. Most of my softies will likely be moved either somewhere else in the tank or to another tank.

In the last week I picked up a My Miami frag and

I also picked up a Rainbow Millie, Tequila Sunrise Millie, Real Deal Millie, Strawberry Pie Millie, Peach Millie, Green Efflo, Blues Clues Acro, and Blue Rainbow Acro. I couldn't get decent pics where I put them to acclimate but hopefully here soon I can snap some decent pics.

As far as the plusrite I really should replace them as I have been running two of them for an entire year now this week. But I didn't start using the third until February/March when I started to really add corals. I'm going to go ahead and replace them all. I've really enjoyed them and the color they give me even without the super actinics.

I have been debating switching over to LEDs though. I picked up 3 AI Sols because it was too good of a deal to pass up. I'm thinking if I can get one or two more I might make the switch. I absolutely love the color they provide and my corals in my frag tank really popped when I set 2 of them up temporarily on my rimless 65 gallon but I have not decided what I want to do and the frag tank build is on a pretty strict budget and even one or two of those lights would eat that budget up real quick so as of now they sit in a box in bag. Hopefully they will get some use soon.

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Why not run both the ai sols and the halides? Maybe pick up some 10k bulbs instead and run them a few hours a day while you're not home to provide that growing power and color development, and run the ai sols as your primary viewing light?

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I thought about that and I am still considering that as well. I am really wanting to cut down on heat. Right now even though the tank remains pretty constant temperature the room the tank is in gets considerably warmer and I really just want to eliminate the heat source. It's close enough to my thermostat that it causes the ac to run more often than it should and cools down the rest of the house more than it needs to causing my electric bill to go up substantially. When I was only running two of the lights it was a drastic difference so I may consider running three sold and the 2 halides. I have the Lumatek 250/400 dimmable ballast and could always go up to 400 watts but I think that would make the heat issue worse.

But you do have a good idea cutting the photoperiod down from the current 7.5hrs to only 3 or so with some 10k bulbs. That would probably make a significant difference in the heat build up under the canopy.

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At 200+ gallons Bigsby, you might want to look into exhausting the air above your tank outside. It'll remove the heat and the moisture. I've already seen humidity related issues in my house from the 125g over the years so I couldn't imagine what my 215g will do. Once I can finally get an open weekend, I'll install that exhaust vent above the tank and use the full canopy to funnel the hot air and humidity out of the house. While I'm at it, run a line down for my skimmer to get fresh air and add some carbon in case there is anything nasty in the air.

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That is definitely something I have considered but I hate to cut holes in the celing. I am really trying to have to avoid doing that. Luckily this house is pretty open and I haven't seen any issues arise as of yet.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here are a few more recent pictures

Rasta zoas

post-1459-0-22414300-1407168106_thumb.jp

Bam Bam zoas

post-1459-0-23216200-1407168198_thumb.jp

Mixed zoa rock with Watermelon zoas, Green Bay Packers and Radioactive Dragon Eyes.

post-1459-0-83746200-1407168218_thumb.jp

Rainbow Acan

post-1459-0-63987200-1407168179_thumb.jp

Green dragon Acro

post-1459-0-04953800-1407168258_thumb.jp

Purple Nana Acro

post-1459-0-67130600-1407168156_thumb.jp

Neon Green Efflo

post-1459-0-38977900-1407168278_thumb.jp

Peach Millipora

post-1459-0-13572300-1407168301_thumb.jp

Right center side of tank

post-1459-0-95197300-1407169076_thumb.jp

Older shot of most of the acans together

post-1459-0-89780800-1407168143_thumb.jp

Jason Fox My Miami

post-1459-0-56114200-1407168404_thumb.jp

Left center side of tank

post-1459-0-22133200-1407169031_thumb.jp

Right side of tank

post-1459-0-92235000-1407169529_thumb.jp

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