Welcome to all the fun: setting up a 12 foot reef tank

[ScottB]

That's gunna look awesome with lights and coral and fish!

Thank you. I think it came out pretty well. I am getting some pressure to include more softies than I would (personally) prefer, but it is a long aquascape so there is still some room. My preference would be bright zoas down low and only some Duncan and SPS up top.

 

[ScottB]

I knew it!

Oh, keep reading. There were further delays. Nothing good happens fast in ...

 

[400BA]

GREAT build, ScottB! Thank you for sharing your story.

 

[ScottB]

GREAT build, ScottB! Thank you for sharing your story.

Thank you and you are welcome! It was a lot of fun. The coolest part is how into the tank the staff all are. Each time I go over there, the front receptionist must be sending IMs to people as they start showing up and asking questions, sharing observations.

The only bummer is that the tank is so long, it is difficult to get any good photos/videos. At least for a camera noob like me.

 

[ScottB]

Okay some fun here. I happened to be there today just to grab some water samples and such. Some prorocentrum dinos popping up but not a problem. Shortly after I left, this happened. This aquarium is only 5-6 months old and fish are breeding in it. Can't make this stuff up. The spokesperson is the effective COO of the bank. Really cool how many employees are invested in this tank.

 

[mattgsa]

Wow, the build is coming along great. I can't believe you already have fish breeding in the tank.

 

[mattgsa]

Wow, the build is coming along great. I can't believe you already have fish breeding in the tank.

 

[ScottB]

Wow, the build is coming along great. I can't believe you already have fish breeding in the tank.

Yeah that was pretty crazy. We quickly popped two long spine urchins in there, and the fry went right to them as protection. Trying to get that video sent to me.

Not that I know much about fish breeding, but I doubt they survive. The tank only gets feed once per day with mysis and nori. I would imagine they need something like rotifers or smaller to eat.

I am really even more pleased with how well all the acros are doing. I started with just slimer (of course) at week 3 IIRC and the stuff is taking off. Since then, I have added a bunch of other stags, some Cali tort and it is all doing just fine.

200lbs of live rock is definitely the way to start a reef tank.

 

[drawman]

Yeah that was pretty crazy. We quickly popped two long spine urchins in there, and the fry went right to them as protection. Trying to get that video sent to me.

Not that I know much about fish breeding, but I doubt they survive. The tank only gets feed once per day with mysis and nori. I would imagine they need something like rotifers or smaller to eat.

I am really even more pleased with how well all the acros are doing. I started with just slimer (of course) at week 3 IIRC and the stuff is taking off. Since then, I have added a bunch of other stags, some Cali tort and it is all doing just fine.

200lbs of live rock is definitely the way to start a reef tank.

Where did you get that much live rock Scott?

 

[ScottB]

Where did you get that much live rock Scott?

Hey Tim. Gobble gobble!

My LFS sources it from "Real Reef Rock" every couple of months in 400lb palettes of wet rocks. It doesn't come in looking anything like the KP, Gulfliverock or TBS stuff (all are good IMO). It must only be maricultured for a few months or so. There is some stuff attached, but not a much. The guys at the store cram it all into the LFS sumps and fish displays and sell it down over time.

We knew this build was coming very far in advance so we stocked well ahead. That tank has rock in it from 3 different reef systems and two fish systems, in addition to the mariculture time, so it should have a fairly diverse bacteria set in it.

 

[Perry]

I found your journal, sorry a bit late to the party, looking forward to this one Scott!

Edit :
Just realized it's a client build, should still be a fun time, and a good showcase of ypur skills!

 

[ScottB]

I found your journal, sorry a bit late to the party, looking forward to this one Scott!

Edit :
Just realized it's a client build, should still be a fun time, and a good showcase of ypur skills!

Cheers Perry. It was a fun project. Guess I am due for some updates. I have another slug of corals to throw in there; hopefully can get that done next week and grab a couple photos.

It takes a surprising amount of coral to make a dent in a 12' long aquascape. Thankfully, all the staghorn stuff seems really happy in there and I need to make some space in my frag system. Got a big upgrade in the works for my frag system in April. Setting up a 150G stock tank to hold everything until I can swap out my three frag tanks for a nice raceway.

 

[Perry]

Cheers Perry. It was a fun project. Guess I am due for some updates. I have another slug of corals to throw in there; hopefully can get that done next week and grab a couple photos.

It takes a surprising amount of coral to make a dent in a 12' long aquascape. Thankfully, all the staghorn stuff seems really happy in there and I need to make some space in my frag system. Got a big upgrade in the works for my frag system in April. Setting up a 150G stock tank to hold everything until I can swap out my three frag tanks for a nice raceway.

Oh that sounds super cool! What raceway? Are you going to use troughs, or glass, or something else? Replacing 3 frag system to one is going to be so relieving, less failing points. Look forward to hearing more, maybe already mentioned, so forgive me if so. I am thinking of adding another tank myself for collector type stuff, but not speciosa or tenuis, something else in mind Anyway, hope all is well!
Cheers

 

[ScottB]

Oh that sounds super cool! What raceway? Are you going to use troughs, or glass, or something else? Replacing 3 frag system to one is going to be so relieving, less failing points. Look forward to hearing more, maybe already mentioned, so forgive me if so. I am thinking of adding another tank myself for collector type stuff, but not speciosa or tenuis, something else in mind Anyway, hope all is well!
Cheers

All is well thank you. I am going to give acrylic a try this time, something I can muscle around solo if required. A ten foot tank made of 3/4 glass... gets heavy. This will end up less than 300lbs so is a bit more portable. Just started a thread for it here:

Frag Build - New Build: 10 foot frag tank

Well, it is finally starting to get a little real. My stand materials arrived yesterday from Framing Tech. I was a little miffed there were no assembly instructions, but once I organized all the parts, and spent a few minutes with the CAD drawings, it was pretty obvious. This is what 172 lbs of...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Perry]

All is well thank you. I am going to give acrylic a try this time, something I can muscle around solo if required. A ten foot tank made of 3/4 glass... gets heavy. This will end up less than 300lbs so is a bit more portable. Just started a thread for it here:

Frag Build - New Build: 10 foot frag tank

Well, it is finally starting to get a little real. My stand materials arrived yesterday from Framing Tech. I was a little miffed there were no assembly instructions, but once I organized all the parts, and spent a few minutes with the CAD drawings, it was pretty obvious. This is what 172 lbs of...

www.reef2reef.com

Thanks for the tag

 

[Gp!]

It takes a surprising amount of coral to make a dent in a 12' long aquascape.

I missed where you updated with the coral! I flipped back through and saw some counts! Wow. Any chance for a summary post with the numbers and types of corals (and maybe size) that all go in?

Would be neat to get an idea of how much it really takes to fill it out!

 

[ScottB]

@Gp! you proposed an interesting exercise "What does it take to fill a 12 foot peninsula?"
Well it takes a lot. And then there are some inevitable losses. The tank had a brief round of dinos early on that starved the stylos, bubble gum digis, one tricolor valida and the anacropora. There is also a Kleins butterfly in there that hammers the zoanthids every so often. The price you pay for aiptasia control.

For all we talk about how difficult acropora can be in a "new" tank, all the stags in this tank are rocking just fine.

The tank is run under heavy blue lighting, so the videos I have taken just come out blue. I need to figure that out still.

May set of starter corals:

JF Setosa X 2
Bubblegum digi X 2
Reverse sunset digi X 3
Purple stylo X 2
Plus 8 two inch disks of various zoanthids

July 6 Install of Coral
	July Install
Species	Count
Purple Stylo Lg	2
Duncan 10 head	1
Duncan 15 head	1
Bali G Slimer Lg	1
Bali G Slimer Med	2
Golden Barrel Med	2
Golden Barrel Lg	1
2 Head Torch	1
1 Head Torch	1
Total
Zoa 2"	3
Zoa 1"	3
BubbleGum Digi Med	2
BubbleGum Digi Sm	2
Hammer 4 head	1
PC Rainbow Acro Med	4
Tricolor Paletta Acro Lg	2
Yeti Anacropora Med	1
Purple Stylo Med	1

September:

	Price	Count
Zoanthids 2"	30	6
Acropora Large	50	2
Acropora Special	50	1
Acropra Med	30	3
Duncan 8 head	45	1
GSP 2"	25	0
Total
Ricordea	store	2
Sea Whip	store	3

 

[Gp!]

@Gp! you proposed an interesting exercise "What does it take to fill a 12 foot peninsula?"
Well it takes a lot. And then there are some inevitable losses. The tank had a brief round of dinos early on that starved the stylos, bubble gum digis, one tricolor valida and the anacropora. There is also a Kleins butterfly in there that hammers the zoanthids every so often. The price you pay for aiptasia control.

For all we talk about how difficult acropora can be in a "new" tank, all the stags in this tank are rocking just fine.

The tank is run under heavy blue lighting, so the videos I have taken just come out blue. I need to figure that out still.

May set of starter corals:

JF Setosa X 2
Bubblegum digi X 2
Reverse sunset digi X 3
Purple stylo X 2
Plus 8 two inch disks of various zoanthids

July 6 Install of Coral
	July Install
Species	Count
Purple Stylo Lg	2
Duncan 10 head	1
Duncan 15 head	1
Bali G Slimer Lg	1
Bali G Slimer Med	2
Golden Barrel Med	2
Golden Barrel Lg	1
2 Head Torch	1
1 Head Torch	1
Total
Zoa 2"	3
Zoa 1"	3
BubbleGum Digi Med	2
BubbleGum Digi Sm	2
Hammer 4 head	1
PC Rainbow Acro Med	4
Tricolor Paletta Acro Lg	2
Yeti Anacropora Med	1
Purple Stylo Med	1

September:

	Price	Count
Zoanthids 2"	30	6
Acropora Large	50	2
Acropora Special	50	1
Acropra Med	30	3
Duncan 8 head	45	1
GSP 2"	25	0
Total
Ricordea	store	2
Sea Whip	store	3

This is really awesome

 

[ScottB]

This is really awesome

Thank you. It is fun.

I am replacing my frag system early April so it is a good time to keep moving my "retail coral" out over the next couple weeks. Gonna try to reintroduce the purple stylos, monti digis, reverse sunset, and tricolor validas.

 

[New&no clue]

When can you see some updated pictures?