austx Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 About three months ago I switched from my 34g Solana (excellent plug and play starter) of two years, into a 75g non-drilled with a fluval 405 filtration system, a 48'' Aquaticlife T5 hallide, two 1050 powerheads, and an Instant Ocean Seaclone 100g protein skimmer. Nearly 80lbs of aragonite substrate and the previous 30-40lbs of live rock from the 34g plus an additional 20-30lbs I've purchased since the 75g tank was started. Leaving over a month to let the tank cycle and bloom before adding the coral and fish from the 34g. Everythings healthy and I havent lost any of the fish or coral from the transfer, only a little stressed due to a week long vacation to the Domincan that caused my tank to aquire a good deal of algae growth about two months after D-Day. I've been paying for that neglect and have the tank almost back to health finally! I also set my brother up in a 55g reef tank, pictured below too. His 55g was my pet-project, as he financed it and I was able to aquire more knowledge neccesary to upgrade myself to the 75g with ease and confidence later when I had the funds to purchase my tank. Then switched him into a 75g after the next couple months with the exact same setup I have currently. This was after he saw the depth and space available in the 75g I purchased and partially because he couldnt wait long enough to search out a tank so we put him in the 55g as a quick "starter". Now I am looking to get my older brother into a 75g reef tank as well in the next few weeks. Should have plenty of info and pics coming on these setups soon for those interested. Thanks and enjoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austx Posted August 27, 2011 Author Share Posted August 27, 2011 Stopped by the Aqua dome yesterday and picked up some additions to the cleanup crew for my 75g. Purchased two more scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp and a few more blue leg hermits to join the existing group of cleaner and peppermint shrimp, hermits, turbo and nassarius snails. We should be getting the next 75g for my older brother next Thursday and I assume we will start the setup sometime that weekend. Meanwhile I stopped by and took a picture of my other brothers 75g tank that has been up and running now for close to two months. He should be adding some more live rock so his setup may change. Stocked with a few of my corals I ran out of space for in the 34g before my switch and a few more we picked up from the aqua dome and great ocean wonders. Both have excellent selection and great customer service! His fish include two ocellaris clownfish, blue tang, yellow tang, coral beauty, six line wrasse, two neon gobies, lawnmower blenny, and a dragon goby. Spent some time scaping this afternoon, drilling a few more plug holes and adjusting some of the coral placements. Getting ready for some more corals I’m ordering from great ocean wonders next week. My tank currently is stocked with two ocellaris clownfish a blue tang, regal tang, six line wrasse, neon goby, lawnmower blenny, and a dragon goby. I had an atlantic blue tang recently that disappeared and I believe the wrasse was responsible so looking for another atlantic blue tang currently and monitoring the wrasse. The clownfish have quickly taken to the recent addition of the sebae anemone as well and thoroughly enjoy that as you can see in the pictures below. Anyway that's all for now have a great weekend. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roll Tide Reef Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 (edited) like my brother said i stopped by the dome the other day and picked up bout another 15 lbs of live rock. made my set up look a whole lot better and got a couple more archs out of it. now we're both waiting on a 48" reefbrite led each and can't wait to see the incredible shimmer effect! here are a few more photos my brother didn't have to post on the progression of my switch into the 75G tho. 55G seconds before the breakdown. definitely had a good amount of coraline algae growth on the back glass!! after the switch the water was a little cloudy! cleared up really fast tho which was nice haha. and now a good picture of the new rock i added the other day under my white and blues and just blues. Edited September 3, 2011 by Roll Tide Reef Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austx Posted September 6, 2011 Author Share Posted September 6, 2011 Alright update on the newest build for my older brother. His 75g tank came in last Thursday but wouldnt fit inside the stand. We should have the replacement shipped on this upcoming Friday ready for the build this weekend I'm hoping. So should be some new updates later this weekend I hope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 Nice looking tanks. Great job on the aquascaping! I think you're going to really like the leds, I love mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austx Posted September 6, 2011 Author Share Posted September 6, 2011 Nice looking tanks. Great job on the aquascaping! I think you're going to really like the leds, I love mine. Thank you Kim! Ya my aquascaping skills have honed themselves over the last two years. It's nice actually having a little more room compared to my 34g solona I had previously. Which may eventually be turned to my frag tank. I'm really excited for the led's too, 48'' reef brites that should add a great color pop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austx Posted September 20, 2011 Author Share Posted September 20, 2011 Alright after a couple weeks of waiting we finally got the setup done on the newest of the 3 - 75g tanks this past Friday. This project got postponed waiting on the stand that would fit the 75g tank. I wanted to go ahead and thank Gary, Teri and Hunter at the Dome for helping get these builds up and running for us to enjoy. Anyway we started about 7 after work and finished up just after 9, probably the fastest setup I've taken part in. Since then my brother has been taking some photos of the tank as it's been clearing up and cycling. The first four photos are from the night of the setup. The following four have been taken as the water cleared over the weekend. I think he said they had added some clarity to help reduce the cloudiness. I'm going to be giving him my remaining saltwater biozyme to get the diatom up and going soon too. Should be getting some more live rock today and a cleanup crew going in the next week or two. Will post more pictures when they come available. Until then thanks for checking out the builds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 Looks like things are coming along nicely! How are the other tanks doing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austx Posted September 21, 2011 Author Share Posted September 21, 2011 Looks like things are coming along nicely! How are the other tanks doing? They sure are Kim and we appreciate the interest. I may not be an expert but I was more than happy to help break them into reefing and figured I would try and document it as best as possible haha. I'll have some more pictures posted of the tanks soon and some of the corals and fish as well. We've just been busy with work and I had to take my dog to the vet for a good sized cut on his paw so my hands have been full this week. I was able to make it by Stonerollers this weekend and picked up a few frags and got to talk with him about his tanks for a while which was alot of fun. Tried looking for a few pictures of your tank(s) too but only saw the seahorse feeder which looked pretty sweet! Could you direct me to a forum where you have posted some or could you pm a few? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 Sure! My build thread is here: http://www.austinreefclub.com/topic/17604-kimp-47-gal-column/ Stoneroller has some great corals and nice tanks. I have several things from him as well. I hope your dog heals up quickly! Are you putting leds on this newest tank too? Have you already switched the others to leds? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austx Posted October 8, 2011 Author Share Posted October 8, 2011 (edited) Here are the most recent photos of my tank and I should be getting some more pictures of my brothers tanks soon too. Update on some of my additions to the tank, I spent the last month waiting on a tunze nano wavebox to get in stock and ship, so that just got put in the tank on Wednesday. The corals and fish thoroughly enjoy the natural wave motion, it only took a few minutes to install and was making one inch waves almost instantly! I also picked up 5 bartlett anthias, one had an injured fin and I haven't seen him in a few days now.. Another likes to hide out alot and rarely comes out so there are usually only three out at a time now. It doesn't seem like they are getting picked on much but I'm still keeping an eye on them. I picked up a few new corals recently as well and thought I would show a few of those, some other frags I have been growing out as well as the new frag rack I put in last week in the pictures.Thanks for checking them out. Edited October 8, 2011 by bchap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoneroller Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 Looking good. I wanna come see those Rastas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austx Posted October 9, 2011 Author Share Posted October 9, 2011 Sure! My build thread is here: http://www.austinreefclub.com/topic/17604-kimp-47-gal-column/Stoneroller has some great corals and nice tanks. I have several things from him as well. I hope your dog heals up quickly! Are you putting leds on this newest tank too? Have you already switched the others to leds? He really does and that's what I have in mind for all three of these tanks but it could take some major overhauling and time. Thank you my dog had the staples taken out 10 days later and never even noticed.. Only two of the tanks have the 48" Reef Brite LEDs. They have several types like the 50/50 all white or the actinic blues we got that add a great color pop on my tank as well as my brothers. However I am running the 48" T5 HO Aquatic Life fixture still, as is my brother so the LEDs are only supplemental. As for my older brothers tank that just got setup he does not have the LEDs yet only the T5 HO Aquatic Life fixture. Looking good. I wanna come see those Rastas! Thanks! Still trying to get pictures from my brothers too. I would be happy to have you come check them out and give any constructive criticism you would have for the tank. Just pm me to see when I'm available please. The Rastas are thriving right there though. It has 4 more buds that can be seen at night, started with two polyps and I have a fourth polyp under the far right opening up now too. My brothers didn't do as well so I'll be growing those out and replacing his before they hit the classified forums. The Fairy Dust frag I got from you is right behind them and already has 3 more polyps growing looking really good too thanks again for great pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wizardx322 Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 That Miami looking good just notice there is a smily face on the Miami hurricane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austx Posted October 10, 2011 Author Share Posted October 10, 2011 That Miami looking good just notice there is a smily face on the Miami hurricane I actually noticed the same thing last night and thought that was pretty funny. I need to get a better shot of that and post it as well haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roll Tide Reef Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 (edited) Here are some updated pictures of my tank with the new 48" LED ReefBrite Strip! Descriptions provide loction of picture in the tank followed by names of coral and fish. front and left side view (six lined wrasse next to the gum drops on bottom rock with an uknown anemone, [background: yellow tang, purple firefish goby, dragon goby]) right side view (star polyps, button coral, turquoise mushrooms, recovering zenias top left, mafoozala on top rock, and frog spawn top right) and upper left arch (orange digitata, green zoas, bi-color frog spawn, and far right green star polyp) below upper left arch (frog spawn, and darth mauls) and below upper mid arch (purple firefish goby, orange zoas, brown digitata with recovering red bubble tip anemone under rock, new dendro/sun coral with button polyps) left mid section (dragon goby in background, ice blue zoas, green plate montipora, and green digitata) and close up of the ice blues upper mid section ([front row bottom: unknown zoas on left, single avatar, watermelons], [middle row: peach/green tipped birds nest, blue/teal candy cane, puple and green brain], [back section: brown digitata, orange digitata frag, purple acropora frag, orange/green/pink unknown zoa disc, and neon candy canes]) and lower middle section of torch with star fish on left bottom right section (clam and star fish) Edited October 13, 2011 by Roll Tide Reef Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roll Tide Reef Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 somehow i forgot about one section of the tank haha upper right archs (blue zoas with green skirt, rainbow lobo, button corals, dragon eyes, brown digitata, mafoozala, frog spawn, unknown grassy coral top right) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austx Posted October 27, 2011 Author Share Posted October 27, 2011 I've had some of these pictures for a while now but I haven't had time to post them recently. His tank is coming along really good so far. He purchased a couple yellow belly and devil damsels two weeks ago that are very healthy and active. He does not have a goby yet but does have a lawnmower blenny to help keep down algae growth in the tank. As well he has a couple skunk cleaners a fire shrimp along with many snails and hermit crabs doing their parts as the cleanup crew too. He has also aquired a few frags from our other two tanks to try and get his corals started up including a few from the dome. All in all its looking great so far! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon12345 Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Looks great! What filtration do you have running on this new tank? Looks like a canister filter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austx Posted October 29, 2011 Author Share Posted October 29, 2011 Looks great! What filtration do you have running on this new tank? Looks like a canister filter? Ya they are all on Fluval 405 canister filters. Looking at upgrading to the fluval 63 and or 6 eventually in a yr or so? Really hasnt been a problem for the tanks since they werent drilled though. My next tank some years down the road will be 100+ with a sump and all the fixings so just taking it step by step still. As many people will tell you its a slooooow process and I'm happy to wait it out. Thanks for looking the build over though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austx Posted April 18, 2012 Author Share Posted April 18, 2012 It's been a while and I've been very since the last update but we have slowly progressed and added a few more corals and equipment to the tanks over the months. My brother setup his hob lifereef overflow and sump/refugium in the last month and I will be making the same switch here in the next week or so. I also had a request for a recent fts that took a while to get so I wanted to post one of those and a few closeups as well. I honestly don't believe the pictures do the tank justice but I tried. Here are a few photos of my brothers recent upgrade to his tank with the overflow and sump. I am planning on using the same setup once I get my overflow box in. They are double slimlines I and cannot wait to get this setup on my tank, hopefully that will happen this weekend! Thanks for checking out the update! Here are some up to date shots / fts of my tank and my piece of VidaRock I snagged from my other brothers order. Plus an fts of his tank with the VidaRock-scape and the nano office tank we recently setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austx Posted April 26, 2012 Author Share Posted April 26, 2012 Got my sump and overflow setup this weekend with my wife and brothers help. Literally took all Sunday night as my brother and I were up to about 3am adjusting the flow and sump levels till we got it right. The overflow box is a clear acrylic LifeReef double slimeline the same as my brothers that fit perfectly behind the tank and flows into an Aqueon model 2 sump we have both setup as a refugium. We basically used the same setup we had done for his and applied that plus the lessons learned to mine. My wife and I had caught my royal gramma earlier Sunday spending a couple hours on that and basically had to tear down the aquascape to accomplish that feat. Benefit of that was being able to rearrange the rock work to accommodate for the overflow box and space it required. I've spent the past few days moving some pieces around making sure I still have adequate flow, I would say I've finally got a setup I'm happy with and will have to get another fts now. It has the same basic structure I was just able to maneuver some rocks and increase the surface area to place more frags around the tank and get them off the substrate. I got a good lump of chaeto from my brothers sump and put that into my refugium yesterday, I was wondering what kind of critters I would need to add down there to help filter and keep it clean. I already have a couple rocks and a few pods from his chaeto and was thinking a few peppermint shrimp and wasn't sure what else to add. Any tips would be appreciated. Will try and get some more pictures up soon of our tanks, thanks for checking out the thread! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 I don't know anything about refugium/sump creatures, but I am looking forward to a new fts. I kind of cringed when you said you had to tear your tank apart! Why did you take out your royal gramma? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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