Introducing myself and my little friends

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troiusmaximus

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I am a long time member of this forum but only recently started posting. I wanted to share a bit about my reef. It's not the prettiest setup, but it seems to work. This is the third go at making this 55 gallon tank what I envisioned when I bought that first piece of live rock and first few bags of live sand. Something I learned along the way is that in this hobby, nobody seems to be completely satisfied no matter how amazing their tank is.

I converted a 55 gallon acrylic tank that I kept an Oscar in years before. I was inspired to go reef by Finding Nemo. I decided to build the tank into the wall. Not sure if that was a good decision or not, it makes cleaning the glass really difficult.

I've made many other mistakes. Using crushed coral for substrate. Using tap water instead of RO/DI. Using a canister filter as a sump .

Now I have mixed reef with LPS and SPS, an AquaC Remora skimmer with pre filter box, an eshopps overflow box, a 25 gallon sump refugium, a DIY ATS, a Jaebo DP-4 that I use for 3 part dosing and ATO, and a 32 inch SB Reeflights fixture.

Current livestock include a scribbled rabbit fish, a yellow stripe maroon, and three wrasses (Lubbock's, orange back, and a Carpenter's).


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troiusmaximus said:
I am a long time member of this forum but only recently started posting. I wanted to share a bit about my reef. It's not the prettiest setup, but it seems to work. This is the third go at making this 55 gallon tank what I envisioned when I bought that first piece of live rock and first few bags of live sand. Something I learned along the way is that in this hobby, nobody seems to be completely satisfied no matter how amazing their tank is.

I converted a 55 gallon acrylic tank that I kept an Oscar in years before. I was inspired to go reef by Finding Nemo. I decided to build the tank into the wall. Not sure if that was a good decision or not, it makes cleaning the glass really difficult.

I've made many other mistakes. Using crushed coral for substrate. Using tap water instead of RO/DI. Using a canister filter as a sump .

Now I have mixed reef with LPS and SPS, an AquaC Remora skimmer with pre filter box, an eshopps overflow box, a 25 gallon sump refugium, a DIY ATS, a Jaebo DP-4 that I use for 3 part dosing and ATO, and a 32 inch SB Reeflights fixture.

Current livestock include a scribbled rabbit fish, a yellow stripe maroon, and three wrasses (Lubbock's, orange back, and a Carpenter's).


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Welcome to Chicago Reefs! Do you have a build out thread with pictures of your tank?

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A few pics for everyone...

First my fish room.

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Here are a few tank shots. Its actually lights out at the moment, so not much activity right now. Also, my camera sucks, so I don't have the best pics available. Maybe that's why I never did a tank build thread.

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Believe me, it looks better in person.

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As you can see, I have a lot of coralline on the front and side glass. This is one of the issues I have with maintaining an in wall tank. I can't get to the coralline effectively without creating a bunch of accidental frags.


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ultimatemj said:
Thanks for sharing!

I'm curious why you decided "crushed coral was a mistake"...
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I became a wrasse lover.

I spent several hours removing crushed coral when I decided to try a melanarus wrasse and was reminded that there was more crushed coral than sand. My burrowing wrasse lasted a few months before he croaked. So now I'm limited to fairy and flasher wrasses.


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He looks to have two mag floats on the left ....
Id say get a tunze....and order spare blades as they will rip right through the coraline. Dont believe it? Watch videos on youtube. I have the tunze strong and it is amazing.
 
#theMatrix said:
He looks to have two mag floats on the left ....
Id say get a tunze....and order spare blades as they will rip right through the coraline. Dont believe it? Watch videos on youtube. I have the tunze strong and it is amazing.
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I will second this. I works better than I ever thought it would.
 
#theMatrix said:
He looks to have two mag floats on the left ....
Id say get a tunze....and order spare blades as they will rip right through the coraline. Dont believe it? Watch videos on youtube. I have the tunze strong and it is amazing.
Click to expand...

Will definitely look into it - thanks! The issue I have with the mag floats is that unless a scrape daily I get crazy buildup and the big montis are too close to the glass (acrylic) to scrape without breaking off pieces because I have to do it from the back of the tank and at an angle.


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jrwoltman said:
Fantastic large colonies!!!
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Thanks! The birds nest, trumpet, acans, and red monti cap were among my first corals and have done amazingly from tiny frags. My hammer was my second piece and has barely opened at all until recently when I changed my light. I am surprised it was still alive!


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I had this on my wishlist, http://mightymagnets.com, but I am not ready to pull that kind of $$$ trigger. Although I have spent and wasted tons of $$$ in this hobby I have not spent that kind of money on anything except the tank itself and I bought the tank back in the mid nineties.


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Ouch. Dont get the tunze if you have acrylic. I doubt it works on that. I believe the shark magnavore for acrylic is ur best bet. But i dont know if its as sharp with coraline.

Whats a natural predator for coraline? And urchin or starfish might take care of some of it.
 
I also have an acrylic tank. I use Dobie pads with Mag float. Simply remove the inner sponge and use it like a sock on the Magfloat. It is VERY similar to Mighty Mag Algae Cutter. I hated my acrylic tank until I found this trick...
 
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