Jake's 50 gallon mixed reef

I started this build in May and knew progress on the tank would be very slow since I had to go away for work so often, so I refrained from starting this thread until now. Anyways here it is!

Equipment summary:
20 gallon DIY sump with Mag 9.5 return
Life Reef HOB overflow with hofer gurgle buster.
SWC Xtreme 160 cone skimmer
Sunlight Teklight 36” 6 x 39 W (3 actinics, 2 aquablue+, 1 aquapink)
2 x PhosBan reactors run in series (Carbon then RowaPhos)
1 x Koralia evolution 425
1 x 250 W Jager heater

Fish:
Potters angel
Brown watchman goby
Solar wrasse

Corals:
Montipora digitata
2 acropora frags
Encrusting porites
Green bubble
Fox coral
Pulsing xenia
Pearl bubble coral
Three mushrooms - red, green and blue.

Other inverts:
1 Purple reef lobster
2 Cleaner shrimp
10 Astrea snails
1 Strawberry top snail
1 Abalone
5 Margarita snails
3 Bumblebee snails
2 Nassarious snails

Here is a more extensive write up for those who are interested:

The tank is a 36”Lx18”Wx18”H glass tank. I had a rim built on the tank stand so the tank would sit in the stand, versus just on top of it. I also painted the back of the tank black. Unfortunately my floor is very uneven, so I had to use toilet shims to even out the tank. I keep an extra 10 gallon tank beneath the stand as a quarantine/hospital tank.


April 27th


May 1st

There is about 30 pounds of bali live rock in the tank. It is very light rock and fills out the tank well… I originally planned on 50 pounds, but that was expensive and I liked how things looked at just 30 pounds. I tried my best to make the design “flow” and to obey the 1/3 rule in photography. I also wanted to avoid the stacked rock look. Hopefully I succeeded! There are a couple of over hangs for corals that prefer dim conditions, but I didn’t allow much room for growth beneath them.


May 28th


June 8th

In those pictures there is a power filter, I eventually removed it because it was messing up flow and trapping detritus. I left it on for one month while I was away for school with some carbon in it.

I opted for an oversized skimmer, the Deltec MC600, so that I don’t need to buy another skimmer when I inevitably upgrade the tank. The Deltec skimmer doesn’t produce many microbubbles, but I still modified the outlet with two 90 degree elbows to further reduce microbubbles. I didn’t find the degassing plate that the skimmer came with to be very effective. To say that the first month with this skimmer was rough would be an understatement! It was constantly over reacting and very noisy. After three months, I can say I’m really happy with the MC600. It produces skim that makes me gag… and there aren’t even fish in the tank yet. The big downside to the MC600 is cost… is this skimmer worth over $500? Bottom line: It’s a great skimmer, but overpriced. Simply because of the price, I can’t recommend it.

For lighting, I opted for a 6 bulb Tek light with Geisemann bulbs. I hung it above the tank. I have 2 actinic + bulbs, and 4 aquablue + in it. The color is a little too white right now. Next year I think I’ll add a midday bulb.

So, that is the set-up I had before I had to leave for one month on a NOAA research cruise in Alaska... and this is what I came back to one month later:


June 25th

That was an unpleasant surprise! I’ve decided always to start running phosphate removing media as soon as I start a new tank. To reduce algae I did a few different things… I added two PhosBan reactors in series. The first one ¾ full of carbon and the second one ¼ full of RowaPhos. At the same time I added algae eating snails, 10 Astreas, 5 Margaritas (these guys eat a lot of algae), 1 abalone (just thought it was cool), and 1 strawberry top snail (aka bulldozer). That was all after I picked as much algae off as I could with my hands!

After cleaning the tank up and picking off algae:


July 5th

Still couldn’t get in the cracks!


July 5th

After a month, the Phosban media and snails caught up!


August 16th

Once I got back home from the trip, I added a few corals. The fox and pear bubble corals are really the only ones that need additional care (I'm using a two part additive right now). I went away for a week again in July for school and when I came back the fox coral wasn’t looking very good:


July 28th

Water parameters were acceptable. Calcium was low when I got back at 380 ppm and alkalinity was 7 dKh. I increased both of those values and put a shade over the coral resting on top of the tank in case the lighting was too much. I went away once again for 9 days (this time on vacation) and it looked much better when I got back.


August 8th

Even though it looked a lot better, I thought the colors had bleached out a bit. Now I have moved the coral under the center bridge in the tank. Hopefully it gains back some color. It expands a lot more now. I think this is it's permanent spot. I didn't like moving it around so much.


August 16th

I put in Rhodactis and Actinodiscus mushrooms at the same time as the fox. Originally I had them in too much light and they were very small. They also went from a bright red to a dark brown.


July 28th

I moved them under a ledge and after I came back on vacation I was completely stunned at the difference! They were 5x as big and color had almost returned to what they looked like when I bought them.


August 16th

I didn’t take a before and after photo with the other species, but the change was less dramatic. The polyps are a little bigger and color hasn’t changed from the in-store color.


August 16th

And here is the pulsing xenia, which are spreading very quickly. Does anyone know how to cut and anchor xenia in a different location? They are easy to keep and a common coral, but I really like them and they’ll be prominent in this tank.


August 16th

I also added a pearl bubble coral recently. For a few days it was a bit shrivelled up and poorly colored on one side, but now it looks ok.


August 16th

Here is an up to date full tank picture. Right now my goal is to add fish. I'll be adding a Potters angel, a brown watchman goby, a yellow tang and one more fish that I haven't decided on. Once fish are added I'd like to add a clam and some stony corals pretty much everywhere else.


August 16th

I have a Potters angel and brown watchman goby in quarantine right now. I’m keeping the salinity at 14/15 PPT as a preventative measure against white spot. The display tank has had no fish in it for 3 months and I think I can keep white spot completely out if I pre-treat fish at low salinity for 3-4 weeks. They will be in the tank for 1-2 more weeks.

I was/still am worried about them. Neither ate for three days. The goby had severe fin rot (I should have looked at it closer in the store, but there were so many I just said catch one). The Potters angel was very difficult to start feeding and once it did start it would only have a couple of bites. Potters angels often do not adapt well to captivity, so I was really worried. A few days into quarantine, the Potters angel developed a few cotton-like white lesions; one on each pectoral fin and a couple on the body. It is not ich/white spot. Fin rot also started. Lately both fish have shown improved appetite, especially the last couple days after adding ground up freeze dried garlic from the grocery store to the food. I’m also on day 2 of a treatment with erthyromycin (4 days). I think I’ll do two rounds of this treatment and if that does not clear up the fin rot/white spots I’ll treat with an anti-fungal medication. I’ll post some pictures if I can get a shot of the spots on the angel. I doubt they’ll show up well since there are only a few and they are small.

Anyways, that is my tanks life story so far! I’ll keep this threat updated.

 

Love the layout with the rocks... great job!

 

Excellent progression images. It's interesting to see how long the phosban and snail took to clear up the algae.

Very nice tank, I really like the scape.

 

Beautiful rockwork

I suggest from my experience to use just 4 of the bulbs, this will keep the corals from losing color and getting light inhibition. Adding the midday will make your tank look whiter and will most likely couse your corals to brown out. I suggest removing 2 of the white bulbs. This will get you a bluer look and more color on your corals most likely. Also consider using the aquapink in place of one of the aquablue+ it will make your pinks, reds and purples look much better.

 

Thanks guys. Next time I put in an order I may get a aquapink bulb. I like a more natural lighting, but I would like to see the pinks and reds stand out more.

I think this is a species of SPS. It came in on the live rock. Anyone know what it is?

 

Love the scape.

 

looks like some sort of encrusting monti.

 

hard to tell but I think that may be some type of colony sponge...

 

Love it!

 

It definitively has small polyps all over it (hard to tell from picture) so I don't think it is a sponge. Maybe I'll post it in the ID forum.