My first go at Reefing

[weezyfella]

Well after a couple of years of, looking at others builds, wanting and not having a tank, I decide it was time. My cousin pointed out a MR member was selling a 72 bow front RR tank and we jumped on it. Next thing you know my family room went from 3 sofa's to 2 sofa's and an angry mother. (Happy Birthday to me) Besides whats a family room without a family conversational piece, right? I'll admit 72gal is more then I wanted to start off with but you know when you see something and you want it you get it.


I didn't start off with much more then some dry rock. and about 80lb of sand/crushed coral 60/40 mix. 06/23/10



Whats below the tank in the stand. Sump and plumbing came with the setup. A sump designed by Pro Clear Aquatics, don't know the exact volume. Stand is about 3ft high, has plenty height and space for a future skimmer.



Sadly my first attempt ended in a unpleasant way. I had a ich breakout in my first week and got worse in the second week. I ended up losing all my fishes except for 1 engineer goby which is still alive today.

So after that I had it fish free for close to a month and treated it with kick-ich. I decided to go out and buy live rock, which I picked up from someone who was breaking down his tank. Roughly 110lb in all. 08/07/10



And here is how it sits after almost three months. Added a new light, last one (24" 2 bulb wasn't enough lol) New light is bright and provides a lot of brightness. 09/15/10



Livestock and equipment in the next post.

[weezyfella]

Tank Specs & Equipment
72 gallon Bow Front + glass top
110lb of live rock
80lb of sand/crushed coral (3" deep sand bed)
3ft high Stand, stained dark wood
48" Nova Extreme 8x54w T5HO (432 watts) + (4) LED's Moonlight / (4)12K and (4)460nm Actinic Blue
Pro Clear Aquatic Sump - Bio Balls
(2) Koralia EVO 1050gph Power-heads

nothing advanced right now, will add a skimmer and media reactors in the future.



Livestock and Invertebrates:
(3) Golden Sergeant Major Damsel (Abudefduf saxatilis)
(1) Chromis Damsel (Chromis viridis)
(1) Convict Blenny - Engineer Goby (Pholidichthys leucotaenia)
(1) One Spotted Foxface 3.5" (Siganus unimaculatus)
(1) Cleaner Wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus)
(1) Richmond's Wrasse 4" (Halichoeres richmondi)
(1) Zebra Barred Dartfish (Ptereleotris zebra)
(2) Red Firefish (Nemateleotris magnifica)
(1) Purple Firefish (Nemateleotris decora)

Clean Up Crew
(2) Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis)
(1) Coral Banded Shrimp (Stenopus hispicus)
(2) Mexican Turbo Snails
(25) Nassarius Snails
(25) Turbo/Astrea Snail
(10) Cerith Snails
(5) Margarita Snails
(5) Pink Margarita Snails
(3) Astria Snails
(20) Dwarf White Leg Hermit Crabs
(25) Blueleg Hermit Crab
(3) Scarlet Hermit Crab
(3) Emerald Crabs
(1) Serpent Starfish
(2) Cleaner Clam

Corals
Bubble tip Anenome
Purple Mushrooms
Pulsing Xenia
Purple Xenia
Kenya Tree
Pulsing Sinularia

[Lynnmw1208]

That's a nice looking tank! keep us posted about new additions

[James404]

Great start, I like the aquascaping. Btw a anemone is an invertebrate not a coral

[weezyfella]

Originally Posted by James404

Great start, I like the aquascaping. Btw a anemone is an invertebrate not a coral

Thanks, I didn't stick the rocks together, in case I decide to go for a change in the future when I plan to go SPS. That's good to know its not a coral, I guess it would be dumb to ask what an anemone would be then? lol

[OckMed]

Are thos sergent majors agressive in the tank? I see them all the time while diving. They are always chasing each other

[weezyfella]

Originally Posted by OckMed

Are thos sergent majors agressive in the tank? I see them all the time while diving. They are always chasing each other

Well lets put it this way, they were all added at the same time. One has out grown the other 2, they go from .5" (still the same size from when I added him), 1" and 1.5" (has all the golden color). The one that is aggressive has out grown the other 2. It doesn't bother any other fish, I got a chromis in there and it does it own thing. I want to get rid of them though and go with peaceful fishes only, no damsels or triggers.

[Rensmif]

Not sure if you will get much benefit from the bio-balls, they may even cause you issues down the line.

But the tank looks very nice, thanks for sharing.

[sanchostattoos]

^^^ +1 i would gradually take the bio balls out sooner or later they will make your nitrates rise.

[weezyfella]

Originally Posted by sanchostattoos

^^^ +1 i would gradually take the bio balls out sooner or later they will make your nitrates rise.

I've been told by a few people and lfs that I've talked all suggest that, but the problem is I don't have a protein skimmer at the moment for filteration. but that gradually I plan to reduce a few at a time and eventually make a new sump/refugium combo.

Would a 20gal long be sufficient size? to have sump and refugium?

[Tony78]

Originally Posted by weezyfella

I've been told by a few people and lfs that I've talked all suggest that, but the problem is I don't have a protein skimmer at the moment for filteration. but that gradually I plan to reduce a few at a time and eventually make a new sump/refugium combo.

Would a 20gal long be sufficient size? to have sump and refugium?

You should have no problem with a 20L as a sump/refuge, but I'd go with the largest tank you can fit / afford under that stand. IMO, you can never have too large of a sump. :-D