The Journey Continues - Mike & Terry's 280g Reef Savvy

The new fish on the block · Mar 8, 2017

Beautiful tank

Black Pearl · Mar 8, 2017

The progress of this tank is truly phenomenal! the Pyramid Butterflyfish posed perfectly and is that a little Paracheilinus
octotaenia?

Mike&Terry · Mar 8, 2017

The new fish on the block said:
Beautiful tank

Thank You so much!

Black Pearl said:
The progress of this tank is truly phenomenal! the Pyramid Butterflyfish posed perfectly and is that a little Paracheilinus
octotaenia?

Thank You for the kind words! Haha, the Pyramids did pose perfectly. We laughed because the wrasses in the shot all look like they are politely waiting in line to have a go at the salad bar

And good eye spotting the Paracheilinus octotaenia - there are two young ones in there.

Kawasaki213 · Mar 8, 2017

i have the same crab i cant catch i think he is eating my sps...

FireEMT · Mar 9, 2017

I love your tank. I was wondering if you could answer a question for me. I would like to get some Wrasse for my tank, which is a 130g mixed reef. Could you share based off your experience what Wrasse you would recommend for reef safe Wrasse (Breeds, sex, etc...). Thanks again for sharing your beautiful tank with everyone.

Mike&Terry · Mar 9, 2017

FireEMT said:
I love your tank. I was wondering if you could answer a question for me. I would like to get some Wrasse for my tank, which is a 130g mixed reef. Could you share based off your experience what Wrasse you would recommend for reef safe Wrasse (Breeds, sex, etc...). Thanks again for sharing your beautiful tank with everyone.

Thank you so much for your kind words - we truly are appreciative!

Just took a peak at your Miracles build - very nice!

Hunter's article on Reef Safe Wrasses is a good resource:
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/all-about-reef-safe-wrasses-in-aquaria.28/

From reading one of your build posts, it looks like you may already have a few wrasses in there? I am not good with common names, but am guessing the Red Lined wrasse is Halichoeres biocellatus? With a new reef, I would not add more than one fish from the Halichoeres genus and would look at fish in the fairy (Cirrhilabrus genus), flasher (Parachielinus genus) and perhaps the Wetmorella genus. These are all easy to keep. Some species of wrasses can be more aggressive, while others are quite peaceful and sometimes it just comes down to a particular fish's personality. Hunter's article has some good insights on temperament.

We prefer juvenile females or smaller, initial phase males because these fish typically do not have the same lifespans as angelfish, clownfish or tangs. This gives us the opportunity to watch them mature and enjoy them for as long as possible. Hope this helps answer your questions

Mike&Terry · Mar 13, 2017

Updated the first post in our thread with our current equipment list.

We finally had a few minutes to setup and play with the new Maxspect Gyre xf250 and controller over the weekend:

We setup the pump using the default A/B mode and played with various settings. First using random mode and then switching to pulse at 60% max power where we have it set for now.

First impressions:

The pump is really noisy
The pump and controller are well-made
We LOVE that the pump comes with a spare set of rotors and flow cages
It can definitely move some water (AND sand!)
Did I mention it's really noisy?

In all fairness to the pump and it's noise factor, I must confess that I am very spoiled because we have a remote sump/equipment room in our garage which removes a ton of noise from the room. Our dart pump for the closed loop which sits under our stand makes very little background noise (a vague white noise) and our Tunze pumps are silent. So what is noisy in our environment, may not be elsewhere.

We're going to keep it running in pulse mode for the next few days before trying out some of the other options/modes.

Black Pearl · Mar 14, 2017

That's strange about the noise, I have the Gyre 150 and I don't hear it at all. I just actually went and tried to hear mine

bubbaque · Mar 14, 2017

I have to agree, mine is really quiet also. I do remember though when I first got them they were a little loud but after a couple days they were quiet.

Mike&Terry · Mar 14, 2017

Black Pearl said:
That's strange about the noise, I have the Gyre 150 and I don't hear it at all. I just actually went and tried to hear mine

bubbaque said:
I have to agree, mine is really quiet also. I do remember though when I first got them they were a little loud but after a couple days they were quiet.

Thanks for the input guys, we appreciate it! I did mention that we are very spoiled by the silent Tunze's and near silent Reeflo Dart pump.

The sound the gyre makes is reminiscent of an electric weed trimmer and it changes pitch and volume as the pump rev's up and down. It's not terribly loud, but loud enough that I can hear it from the other side of the room. We'll be "playing" with the modes/options over the next 2 to 3 weeks and hopefully will become accustomed to it during that time.

Mike&Terry · Mar 14, 2017

We purchased a Neptune Systems PMK PAR Monitoring Kit back in August of last year to help us determine whether we had adequate lighting over the tank. We have since swapped out (2) of the Kessil A360WE's for (2) AI Hydra 52HD's and have been wanting to take new PAR readings. We finally had some time to devote to it tonight. Here are the results:

Mike&Terry · Mar 14, 2017

This is a very short clip taken a few minutes ago. This is the noise we are hearing from the XF250 gyre...

SeahorseKeeper · Mar 14, 2017

Your tank looks stunning! As far as the noise, I do not remember my gyre making that much noise. I would reach out to Coralvue and see what they think.

Mike&Terry · Mar 14, 2017

SeahorseKeeper said:
Your tank looks stunning! As far as the noise, I do not remember my gyre making that much noise. I would reach out to Coralvue and see what they think.

Thank You, Krista, for the AWESOME compliment! And thanks for sharing your experience with the gyre.