Tank Upgrade

So it's been about a year since I started my first tank. The bottom line is the Red Sea MAX 130D is not bug enough for my stocking desires, so I am planning a bigger tank: ~120 gallons. THe focus of this tank is to be very quiet and somewhat energy efficient, but have enough flow and enough lighting to grow some SPS corals. I also want it to be more automated and therefore require less maintenance.

Here is the basic design:

and from the back:

The basic design is a coast-to-coast overflow with a BeanAnimal overflow drain design. This should enable a long thin sheet of water off the top and little to no air mixing in order to reduce the noise.

I also have designed some DIY LED lighting that should be plenty of light at a reasonable wattage:

Finished Sump

Here is the finshed sump in the stand and a detailed photo of the layout (below):

Adding a Sump/Refugium

In order to increase the load of fish and corals and in order to provide a more stable system in terms of water parameters, I have decided to add a sump with a refugium to my RSM 130D. This adds a separate tank below the aquarium that holds additional water volume. It will also hold some deep sand as a place for denitrifying bacteria. These bacteria convert Nitrate (NO3) back into nitrogen gas and water. The gas will then bubble out of the sump. I will also add some macroalgae (good info here: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-01/sl/index.php). These sea plants consume nutrients that would otherwise contribute to nuisance algae and other instabilities in water chemistry.

Here is my my final design. I am having an expert cut the acrylic pieces for me and I will assemble the tank myself. Water flows into the right side through the middle part which is where I will put the sand and macroalgae and then out the left side. I will move the protein skimmer from the mini-sump in the back of my tank to the right side of the sump. An "overflow box" is used to get the water from the tank down to the sump and then a return pump will bring it back up again.

Thinking About My Future Fish

I have a smaller tank (34 gallons with about 30 gallons of saltwater -- live rock & live sand displace the remaining volume); I, therefore, can add only a few fish and they need to be small fish, so I need to plan my live stock judiciously.

My favorite (and the favorite of a lot of aquarists) is the Green Mandarin Dragonet (Synchiropus Splendidus):

These fish, however, are difficult to feed. They prefer live food and a lot of it, so it can be difficult to have a food supply for the fish. Currently, they are wild caught. They grow up eating certain things in the wild and frozen food just doesn't do it for them. Most wild fish are not as picky, so the vast majority of wild caught fish put into aquaiurms adapt to a variety of convenient foods.  Some aquarists are able to wean the Mandarin Dragonet off of live food to frozen food and are able to keep very healthy specimens for years, but from what I have read, a lot of these fish die of starvation. Also, although they are not endangered, some classify them as exploited and report the aquarium trade puts pressure on their populations. Here is an article that describes how they spear the fish in order to catch them: Mandarin Harvest Realities

The good news is that Oceans, Reefs, and Aquariums (ORA) has announced they will be selling captive bread Green Mandarins that will have been raised on frozen food. They plan to start selling them this summer. I hope to add a one (or maybe a male/female pair) down the road.

In the meantime, I used www.liveaquaria.com to research some potential candidates and I have narrowed it down to the following list. This is based on easy to care for fish that are safe with coral reefs and will do well in a tank that is a minimum of 40 gallons.

In order of interest:

Firefish

Royal Gramma Basslet

Hi Fin Red Banded Goby

Spotted Cardinal FIsh

Banggai Cardinal Fish

Tail Spot Blenny

Yellow Candy Hogfish

Six Line Wrasse

A Little Chemistry

I changed 10 gallons of water yesterday (about 33% of the water in the tank) and the chemistry is looking pretty good. It has taken me 3 weeks but I got my SG up from 1.024 to 1.026. I am still working on raising Alkalinity and Calcium using SeaChem Reef Builder and SeaChem Reef Advance Calcium. Once I get the numbers where I want them I bought a two part system: SeaChem Reef Fusion 1 and 2 to maintain these parameters.

• Temp: 78
• SG: 1.026
• Ph:8.2
• Ammonia: 0.0 ppm
• Nitrite: 0.0 ppm
• Nitrate: <5 ppm (close to 0)
• Phosphate: 0.0 ppm
• Calcium: 400 ppm
• Alkalinity: 9 dKH
• Magnesium: 1290ppm
• Iodine: 0.06 mg/L

I bought a SeaChem Iodine test and it's really a tough test to judge because the color is not that stable, so I have very little confidence in it. I order a $40 professional test kit to see how that compares to mine. Although I sent test out last week, so their numbers will be from last Monday and these numbers are from my test last night (Sunday) after my water change. I took a test last Sunday, so my plan is to compare it to that one.

Latest Full Tank Shot

A New Addition...

I added this very cool Long Tentacle Plate Coral. I am hoping the clown fish will call this home. It's actually a bit too big for my tank, but it should have some room to roam around. At least a few inches in any direction.