Pufferdady's New 120

[pufferdady]

So, after a couple years of lurking in the shadows I thought I'd start a thread. I have been puting together a 120gal RR tank for the last couple months and just put some corals in tonight. As of right now I'm running a 30 gallon sump, about 75lbs of LR, TurboSea pump rated at 1270GPH, 1 Koralia, Reef Octopus DNW150 skimmer and Aqualight Pro fixture w/250watt bulbs.

My setup before the 120 has been a 75gal w/ a couple Koralia pumps, 2 backpack skimmers, and an Auqualight Pro fixture w 150watt bulbs. It is mostly soft corals and some LPS, a Yellow Tang, CB Angel and Tomato Clown. The first 3 pics are from about a year ago and all of the LPS in those pis are now in the new 120, except the (red, not doing so hot) Lobo in the first pic. It is still alive and colored up alot better but, the reason it was doing so poorly at the time was too much light w/150s and being that high. So I figure 250s couldn't make it happy unless it was BB and I placed him in the sump:lol:.

The last two pics are the 120, as of a couple weeks ago. With this tank I want to do the LPS, SPS and Clams. I love the 75 but all the softies are getting too "friendly" w/ the LPS. So far, the only bummer was the Frogspawn had grown into the LR and I had to break it up to transfer. Now I have 4 frags w/ a min. of 4 heads per frag. Trading material for the new tank right? Anyway, I just wanted to share and I will post some more pics of the new tank as it matures.

 

[Sascha D]

Tank looks awesome. The rock is nice and purple too! Quite a bit of coraline on the tank walls, how long have you had it up?

Hows that skimmer doing on your tank? I'm thinking of getting one for my next tank.

 

[pufferdady]

Thanks, those pics of the 75 were taken last Feb. It had been up and running for about 4-6 months, I wanna say at that point. All the LR and the softies came out of a 55gallon that I'd had running for a year and a half or more before that. It's not nearly as purple since I added the LPS and some macro algae that uses calcium. With everything fighting over calcium and me being a bit too lazy I lost some of the coraline. I plan on rearranging the 75 this weekend now that all the LPS is out.

Here are some more pics of the 120 I took yesterday with the LPS in it, and that beautiful new tank diatom look

 

[pufferdady]

So far I'm very happy with the skimmer. It's only been up and running for about a week and started skimming after the first day of running. Although I don't have any fish load, I know the LR is still cycling a bit and I've given the corals some food. This is what it looks like so far.

 

[jake65]

Welcome aboard Looks good. The third pic in your first post, those frilly shrooms in the back did you get them from Barbie? They look like the cluster I had given her a while back when I took my tank down

 

[pufferdady]

Yep, that must have been yours. I really didn't have the room for that piece of LR but it was so nice I couldn't resist. Those shrooms and the green fuzy shroom in the front of that pic are the reason I want to rearrange. So they can be seen better. Also, the poor toadstool isn't getting enough flow.

 

[Barbie]

That's looking awesome so far! I can't wait to see how it progresses. The skimmer is just a slightly different model than mine and I think you're going to love it long term. Now we just have to start adding fish! :lol:

Barbie

 

[pufferdady]

Thanks, yeah, how about a Moorish Idol, Achilles Tang, Dragonet, and uhhh hell a Clown Trigger? Can you get all those by next week? :lol:JK

 

[Sascha D]

So what kind of fish are you planning to add? THinking heavy or light bioload?

 

[pufferdady]

I'm thinking a light bioload, I know I want a Powder Blue tang but, that's down the road. Black Oscillaris are calling my name too, they might be the first. Other than that I'm not really sure. Some sort of pygmy angel, maybe, lol. The last thing I want to do is run out and buy a bunch of fish and then see one I really want and can't have because of a conflict. It's pretty funny, this is the biggest "fish tank" I've ever had and I haven't put hardly any thought into fish. I'm happy staring at a pile of rocks right now haha.

 

[pufferdady]

So, I thought I'd update the status of my algae factory oh I mean 120. I've been fighting nutrient levels and the tank had a big algae bloom. I'm on the downward slope right now and it's getting better, the coraline is starting to spread. The snails are starting to catch up with it and nitrates are at 0, but, with all the algae that's what I expect. Also been blowing out the LR and doing big water changes. So I guess I'll post some pics of the process :lol: can't always be a perfect looking reef :lol: Oh ya, I broke down and bought a couple black clowns! For now that's the only fish I'm buying, with the exception of a rabbit untill I get a handle on the algae. Also, I'd like to get a different sump with a refugium built into it. Anyone have any recomendations??

 

[pufferdady]

On different note I rearranged the 75 and here are some pics of it I took today

 

[Sascha D]

Wow thats one green tank! Heres a link for some sump suggestions.

http://www.melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html

 

[pufferdady]

Thanks for the link Bo, little too expensive w/ shipping but I may look into building. As of now, the algae has not been getting any worse, if anything it's getting better. I'm pretty sure I've got the nutrients under control. I've got a Rabbitfish coming soon and I bought a sea hare yesterday. The sea hare parked on the glass last night and is hanging out I guess he's not hungry :lol: He is starting to move around this morn now that the lights have been on a while. HEY!!, THE ALGAE IS BEHIND YOU DUMMY!!!

 

[Krish]

Looking good!

 

[Sascha D]

the sump link was for ideas on building your own + it shows you the tools you need and such. Good info.

He is starting to move around this morn now that the lights have been on a while. HEY!!, THE ALGAE IS BEHIND YOU DUMMY

LOL

 

[pufferdady]

Yeah, great info on there thanks for the help! It just kinda scares me to build my own and have it leak But, that might be the road I go down. I guess it depends on which one gives first the algae or my patients. Either way I eventually want to add a refugium for the pods ect. The algae problem just might make me go down that road sooner than I planned. The way it's been going the past couple weeks though, have me thinking positive so, I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[pufferdady]

So, it's been another 2 weeks and the algea is getting a bit better with water changes and I added a tuxedo urchin. Although as you can see, now I've got cyano on the sand. The urchin is doing a good job at cleaning up the algea. The Seahare on the other hand is not really doing anything. I'll probably take it back to the LFS this week, as I'm not so sure it's happy. I don't want it to die and foul up the water more. I'll be getting a new sump in the near future with a refugium and I think that will help with the algea. Also, right now I'm running the skimmer off my main pump. I think when I put in the new sump I'll give the skimmer it's own pump and that should give some more flow to the tank.

 

[Barbie]

I'm sorry I sold you a defective sea hare! Definitely bring her back . Hopefully Michael will get in and get his tank set up and his foxface captured at some point :lol:.

Barbie

 

[pufferdady]

I can't believe it's been almost 3 months since my last post here. The algae in my tank is doing much better, little foxface, tuxedo urchin, water changes, adding a refugium, and patients has been the key to it so far. Oh ya, and a #%stard lawnmower blennie helped a bit but I had to remove him (that was an adventure) because he developed a taste for the T. Crocea. It's kept me busy, I think now I can relax and watch it mature. I still have some room for that coral "I can't resist". BARBIE!! With your ORA order lists I also plan on adding some more fish in time, there is a hogfish and a hawkfish that I didn't get a pic of. They are pretty shy unless it's feeding time. Anyway, here are some more pics of the tank as of today. Not really the best color. I plan on getting some 14,000k bulbs when these 10,000k are worn out.