Our latest tank
- Thread starter lmm1967
- Start date
180
ripI appreciate it - it's really not as hard as it looks to be honestly.
Its time consuming as I have to walk in / out of the house quite a few times and since the tank takes up the entire front door I have to walk through the garage each time.
The hardest part is lifting one side of the tank & stand high enough so my wife can get the dolly underneath. Thats just a matter of remembering to use your legs and not your arms or back.
Once each end is up on dollies it's a matter of rolling around obstacles and a quick lift to get through the front door.
I do NOT envy all you guys dealing with multi-level homes. I would not want to move one of these larger tanks up or down stairs.
I am interested in that sump. Is it home made? Never mind. I see its a lifereef sump. Still looks cool!
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I am not even close to being skilled enough to make that.
It's an entire Life Reef setup. Sump, skimmer, refugium. I purchased it used from a member here specifically for this tank. I do love it - it's a very nice setup.
LifeReef sump/refugium full setup
I have a lifereef sump and refugium with protein skimmer and return pump/manifold. In basically new condition, cleaned well. Looking for $1500 (edit 6/15: price drop to $1200). I paid over $2100 for it. Dimensions are 64x14. I’ll include the black stand I built to keep it elevated off the floor...
atlantareefclub.org
OK - resurrection time on the build thread.
We've gone down to just 2 tanks now - both of them Marineland 180 gallon tanks. One has just our Toadfish in it that many of you have seen or known we have.
The other is a mixed reef - mostly on auto pilot these days. Some things thrive - some don't. Luckily all of our fish are wodnerfully happy and healthy, Growing well. Coral? - well, some is great, some is not so great, some is dead.
The life reef sump & skimmer setup (standalone refugium as well) runs great - I don't think I've made any adjustments to anything in 2021 other than to replace the pump feeding the skimmer.
We are running 6 Nopsych lights over the reef tank (toadfish lives without light).
I'll get some pictures up with some weekly updates on what we do over the coming weeks.
Ugly photo of the reef setup (haven't cleaned the glass since before we went to the beach) - and of course an obligatory updated toad fish photo.
We've gone down to just 2 tanks now - both of them Marineland 180 gallon tanks. One has just our Toadfish in it that many of you have seen or known we have.
The other is a mixed reef - mostly on auto pilot these days. Some things thrive - some don't. Luckily all of our fish are wodnerfully happy and healthy, Growing well. Coral? - well, some is great, some is not so great, some is dead.
The life reef sump & skimmer setup (standalone refugium as well) runs great - I don't think I've made any adjustments to anything in 2021 other than to replace the pump feeding the skimmer.
We are running 6 Nopsych lights over the reef tank (toadfish lives without light).
I'll get some pictures up with some weekly updates on what we do over the coming weeks.
Ugly photo of the reef setup (haven't cleaned the glass since before we went to the beach) - and of course an obligatory updated toad fish photo.
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LOVE tat Toad-fish!!
thanks - he's an interesting creature for sure.
The best thing is his tank is just about completely carefree - I do a water change about once per year and rarely do I run a heater. No lights so no algae - and we keep him on a fairly slow eating schedule so other than some bristleworms, pineapple sponges and those tiny feather duster thinks you see - there's really nothing bad to deal with in the tank.
Lost our Foxface the other day.
I noticed he wasn't around and I couldn't find him. Sort of typical for a few minutes - after about 10 I became concerned and started searching.
After a few minutes I looked in one of the overflows and he was in there. Looked like he somehow jumped and made his way over the overflow. I have no idea how - I have lids and he was FAT. Obviously he was strong enough to move the lid. He was stuck face down between the 2 drain pipes and had been dead for a while. I assume he jumped in there, went head down, got stock and drowned due to the water flowing backwards over his gills.
Even with lids and a fish I had never seen jump - they seem to find their way in to crazy places.
I noticed he wasn't around and I couldn't find him. Sort of typical for a few minutes - after about 10 I became concerned and started searching.
After a few minutes I looked in one of the overflows and he was in there. Looked like he somehow jumped and made his way over the overflow. I have no idea how - I have lids and he was FAT. Obviously he was strong enough to move the lid. He was stuck face down between the 2 drain pipes and had been dead for a while. I assume he jumped in there, went head down, got stock and drowned due to the water flowing backwards over his gills.
Even with lids and a fish I had never seen jump - they seem to find their way in to crazy places.
so sorry man.
Sorry to hear that Leo.
Refugiums - I love ours, although it's not really providing all the greatness a good one could do - and I'm positive it's due to my laziness / lack of interest at times / crazy work schedules etc.
Chaeto - you see that little blob of it? yeah, been in there for 9 months, nice and deep green, always looks super healthy - REFUSES TO GROW!.
I'm also one of those crazy people that think pulsing xenia is cool - and I've never had issues with it spreading more than I'm OK with. I have a good bit in our refugium - with the low flow, nice lights etc - it really pulses at times.
I keep a couple peppermint shrimp in here to keep aiptasia in check (works great - I never see any in the fuge)
Also keep 1 or 2 emerald crabs in there - keeps bubble algae away, although I'm pretty sure I'm rid of that. I can't find a single bit in our display or refugium. Between the emeralds (get them from reefcleaners if you want them to eat bubble algae) and our foxface (before he commited overflow suicide) - I think all bubble algae has been eradicated.
I also have a good bit of rock in the refugium - as well as sand. The sand in our display is more like small rocks and is not fine enough for a cucumber - we had 2 (1 fell in love with a gyre a while back) - and I wanted a place for them to live that would have plenty of food for them. I haven't seen the one still in there for a few weeks - but last time I did he was just as happy as can be.
Lighting is a Kessil a360x and runs at night. Overall refugium size I would estimate at 30 gallons
Chaeto - you see that little blob of it? yeah, been in there for 9 months, nice and deep green, always looks super healthy - REFUSES TO GROW!.
I'm also one of those crazy people that think pulsing xenia is cool - and I've never had issues with it spreading more than I'm OK with. I have a good bit in our refugium - with the low flow, nice lights etc - it really pulses at times.
I keep a couple peppermint shrimp in here to keep aiptasia in check (works great - I never see any in the fuge)
Also keep 1 or 2 emerald crabs in there - keeps bubble algae away, although I'm pretty sure I'm rid of that. I can't find a single bit in our display or refugium. Between the emeralds (get them from reefcleaners if you want them to eat bubble algae) and our foxface (before he commited overflow suicide) - I think all bubble algae has been eradicated.
I also have a good bit of rock in the refugium - as well as sand. The sand in our display is more like small rocks and is not fine enough for a cucumber - we had 2 (1 fell in love with a gyre a while back) - and I wanted a place for them to live that would have plenty of food for them. I haven't seen the one still in there for a few weeks - but last time I did he was just as happy as can be.
Lighting is a Kessil a360x and runs at night. Overall refugium size I would estimate at 30 gallons
SPS - grrrrr - those things make me lose interest in the tank.
Soft corals are doing very well - hard corals, I had them going well for a bit and then summer showed up and the same old pattern I end up in started again.
I'll have 2,3 or 4 months of nicwe growth, good coloration etc - everything will be happy. Then suddenly I'll see RTN start on 1 piece. It will be fully dead within about 2 days - and then the same thing happens to the next piece - and so on.
I'm down to I think 1 stick - this go around it even affected my chalices, which I've never had a problem with. I'm positive its' something I'm doing (or not doing) - could by NO3/PO4 be a problem? yep - it could be. Maybe trace elements? again, could be.
I could run myself crazy trying to chase it down - but I've been there a couple times and it's just not worth it for me right now - so I'm gonna let the tank do what tanks in our house do well. Happy fish, happy inverts, happy soft corals (most of them at least) - and enjoy it as it is.
Shrooms below - doing wonderful (pic taken today). These things were nearly invisible 18 months ago - they were seriously nothing more than a couple greenish specs on that rock.
and below is what is likely my last hard coral - and it's on it's way out.
I'd really love to have one of those "WOW - look at all those crazy growing corals that grow so fast I can't give them away fast enough" tanks - but it's just not something I'm gonna pursue.
We have so many creatures in our tank that are healthy and doing great that I'm just not interested in chasing my tail on what is likely not going to happen.
Soft corals are doing very well - hard corals, I had them going well for a bit and then summer showed up and the same old pattern I end up in started again.
I'll have 2,3 or 4 months of nicwe growth, good coloration etc - everything will be happy. Then suddenly I'll see RTN start on 1 piece. It will be fully dead within about 2 days - and then the same thing happens to the next piece - and so on.
I'm down to I think 1 stick - this go around it even affected my chalices, which I've never had a problem with. I'm positive its' something I'm doing (or not doing) - could by NO3/PO4 be a problem? yep - it could be. Maybe trace elements? again, could be.
I could run myself crazy trying to chase it down - but I've been there a couple times and it's just not worth it for me right now - so I'm gonna let the tank do what tanks in our house do well. Happy fish, happy inverts, happy soft corals (most of them at least) - and enjoy it as it is.
Shrooms below - doing wonderful (pic taken today). These things were nearly invisible 18 months ago - they were seriously nothing more than a couple greenish specs on that rock.
and below is what is likely my last hard coral - and it's on it's way out.
I'd really love to have one of those "WOW - look at all those crazy growing corals that grow so fast I can't give them away fast enough" tanks - but it's just not something I'm gonna pursue.
We have so many creatures in our tank that are healthy and doing great that I'm just not interested in chasing my tail on what is likely not going to happen.
Sometimes the tank just decides what's good for it. 
My 125 was pretty happy with most but couldn't get birdnest or montis to stay alive. Birdnest would be good for a month and then poof RTN overnight. Montis would just slowly decay or remain stagnant. SPS was doing fine, chalice etc. I eventually learned to be more like your approach and just stop trying.
My 125 was pretty happy with most but couldn't get birdnest or montis to stay alive. Birdnest would be good for a month and then poof RTN overnight. Montis would just slowly decay or remain stagnant. SPS was doing fine, chalice etc. I eventually learned to be more like your approach and just stop trying.
