Kenny G's 150G tank build

Just wanted to introduce myself.

I live in MN and used to have a 110 gallon aquarium 10 years ago. I was very lucky then. At one point I had a leopard shark in my tank but died when it got stuck under some coral. Pretty bummed about it but did not get another as I later found it grew 5-6ft long. Also did not want to stunt his grow due to the small tank.
Then I got on a triggerfish high. At one point I had the following triggerfish in my 110 gallon tank:

2 clown triggerfish (both were about 9-10" and must have been opposite sex because they never fought)
1 niger triggerfish
1 blue throat triggger
1 blue line trigger
1 picasso
1 hawaiin trigger

All of the fish were returned when I moved to NYC.

Now I am 40 and want to do it the smart way and have kids so have to be much more conscientious of monies.

Anyways: I purchased a 150 gallon about Aug and cycled the tank with live sand and 2 damsels. I slowly added triggerfish ( 1 clown, 1 niger and 1 picasso).
All the water tests were average in the beginning and usual for new tanks. I slowly added fish every two weeks with success.

Here are two pics of the tank during my brown algae bloom phase.

 

continue

I bought my current tank on craiglist and got a pretty good deal. It had a cracked center brace and I ended up getting that replaced. The rest of the tank is as follows:

tank 150 gallons long 72x29x18
original tank stand (will have a 120-150 stand for sale soon
sump 20 gallon wet/dry filter
dual overflow
quiet 1 3000 return pump
seaclone 100 skimmer
48" dual 10k and actinic lights compact flourescent
maxijet 600 powerheads (very little flow with low stock)

Upgrade process in the works due to fish stock:
1. Custom building a new tank stank raising the tank up 10 more inches, wider and to allow bigger sump and skimmer underneath. Will definitely post pics in the building and staining process. (Stand being build on Dec 29 and hopefully up by Jan 4-6th)
2. Upgrading to a 40 gallon breeder sump (waiting for the tank stand)
3. upgrading to a Octopus Extreme 200 skimmer (coming when the stand build)
4. Upgrading to Mag 18 (in the mail tomorrow)
5. 2 Coralife 36" T5 lights (already using)
6. 1 36" LED lights for more pop (already using)
7. bought 2 koralia 1400 evolution powerheads and using now (the tangs love it) 1 more koralia 1400 coming in the mail tomorrow.
8. Getting rid of the bioballs underneath and adding live rock to the sump for a total of 170-200lbs of live rock total in show and sump (divided 120 above/ 50-80 below)

Here are pics then and I will tank final pics as they come

Hope I get good suggestions or tips as I build from here. Wish I could have posted when I started.

 

Tank Stock

Since the setup and addition of all my fish, I have had only one loss. It was a snowflake eel. For 2-3 weeks my chain link eel and snowflake were getting along very well. No changes to the tank or anything. Both of them were about 10 inches long. Then one day last week the chain link went crazy.

He continual chased and bit the snowflake. I thought it was a dominance thing. One day my wife found the snowflake on the rug. She picked it up and placed it back in. 2 days later the eel was dead. Felt bad.

Well I won't be getting any other eels. One only.
here are the pics.

 

tank stock

These are the following fish I have currently. The only thing left to add is a blonde naso tang unless someone would liike to donate a black tang or purple tang for my tank.

1 clown triggerfish
1 picasso triggerfish
1 blue niger trigger
1 Achilles tang
1 Powder blue tang
1 Desjardini sailfin tang
1 yellow tang
2 yellow tail damsels (used to cycle)
3 3 stripe damsels
1 percula clown fish (about to trade for zoas)

Softies in the tank:
1 kenya tree (an arm broke off and a new one is growing now)
2 toadstool leather coral (favorite one)
mushroom leather coral
live rock with about 100 bam bam zoas
red mushrooms
waving hands frag
green zoas

LPS?
frogspawn coral

My water quality as NH4, NO3 and NO4 at 0. I know zoas like dirty water. I am increasing my Calcium and lowering my alkalinity. Would like to one day have a very nice mixed reef.

All the fish are happy and healthy. The triggers are non aggressive (blue shows dominance every so often) right now. I just got my Achilles tang on last Thurs and was very nervous the PBT and Achilles would not work. There was aggression for the two days but all of the tangs now swim around like they've been friends forever.

Oh all of the fish in the tank are less than 2 inches long except the Blue Niger trigger and the Achilles tang which are about 2.5 inches.

So here are the pics. My favorite fish are the Achilles tang, Powder blue and Clown Triggerfish.

 

more pics

Happy day for everyone after the Achilles and the Powder Blue became friends. Two different shots showing the two swimming past each other.
I got the Achilles Tang last Thursday and he was kind of shy but he's slowly coming around to eating more. Introduced seaweed into the tank and he's nibbling here and there.

It's pretty amazing how nature works in some tanks and not at all in others.

 

Softies

I know that 3 triggers in the tank are not what is advisable especially if you want a reef tank. I do not particularly want a reef tank; however, there are some corals I do like.

Some of my friends were kind of enough to give me some softies to try in the tank to see if the tankmates would eat them or bother them.

Amazingly none of the softies have been eaten or destroyed by any of the fish.

I keep the triggers all fed and they don't bother any of it. The thing that is so funny is I have seen both the Blue Niger move coral from one spot to another and the Clown trigger move coral. THEY MUST NOT LIKE MY DECORATING.

 

New Coral

About 2 weeks ago, I went to a guy's house to look at his tank. He had an awesome 240 he was building and a 90 well established reef. He gave me some xenia as he had an incredible amount in there.

I brought it home and it died the next morning. I was told some people can keep them in tank and others can't. I thought my tank was one that couldn't. I was pretty bummed and could not figure out why considering I had all of the ideal water conditions.

So over the weekend someone here in town was selling some xenias. I called him and asked if he could give me 2 or 3 free to try out again and if it worked I would buy the 6"x5" rock of pulsing pink xenia. He did and we chatted a while. I had to show him my Achilles Tang on my phone. The ironic thing was he wanted to buy that same exact tang 2 weeks before but it was on hold at the same store. He was jealous but liked my Tang.

So I tried a new approach to transferring the xenia> Long story short, I got home and drip acclimated for an 1.5 hours. All of the stalks closed up and shrivled up once introduced into my tank. I was hoping it was due to the lights turned off but had the fear of another loss.

This morning I woke up and all of the xenias had opened up.

Can't wait to go get the big piece of rock he is selling me for a good deal.

These are the coolest coral ever. They are going to go to the top of the list moving the toadstool down to 2nd place.

I'll post the new pics tomorrow. Hopefully I will have the same success with the transfer.

Any suggestions for xenia besides they grow like weeds once established????

 

Forgot the xenia pic

Forgot the xenia pic.

 

question about xenia

Is there a specific time the xenia pulse? All of mine have been in the tank for over 15hours now. I moved them as I thought the current was too strong where they were.

The position here in the pic has less current obviously. When are they going to pulse?

 

Your tank looks great, some of the pics of the PBT and Achillies look like they were or have been getting picked on with the torn fins? It might just have been the introduction phase but definately something to keep an eye on.