Anu Fitness 150 gallon in-wall diary

[mr_X]

I started a tank a few years ago for a friend that owned a gym and maintained it for about 2 years, until I moved further away. Just recently he contacted me and complained about the guy who was taking care of it now, and after some discussion I agreed to take care of it again.

The tank is a 150 gallon in-wall, with a 55 gallon for a sump. Lighting consists of three Taotronics blue and white panels which have been over the tank for about 1.5 years now.
The protein skimmer is a Seaside Aquatics ES-2.
Flow is achieved by a hand full of Hydor Koralias and a pair of mag drive 7's for return.

Went I went to see the tank it was late and I didn't have a camera with me, but I was able to take a few shots with my phone, to give you an idea what was going on. It seems the corals outgrew the tank and it was nearly impossible to clean the glass.

There is no access to the front of the tank so everything must be done from the room behind.
Basically, there was about a 3' Green Sinularia leather dominating the display, along with a massive orange capricornis.

I figured I would remove the orange cap completely (which I already had a buyer for), and take out most of the leather.
So the following weekend I came back with the monti buyer and he helped me remove what we could.
The end result was this-

While I was cleaning up and the cloudiness was settling, the upsetting of the tank caused a massive brittle starfish spawn. It was totally awesome. There were hundreds, maybe thousands that came out from every where and all piled on top of each other and lifted up and let off what looked like little clouds of smoke...I caught some on camera-

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[mr_X]

I was just back there again today, doing the weekly maintenance, which is a 25 gallon water change. This is the only thing that is done to maintain these corals, and they seem to be growing quite nicely for the last 3 years or so.
Nothing is ever dosed, and another interesting thing is that the initial fill of this tank, and every gallon of top off water since it's setup, has been treated tap water.
I bring the 25 gallons of RODI based salt water with me each week, but not the top off.
I took a few pics of the pieces as I was changing the water-
This is a giant (football sized) Hulk Fist Montipora (I know, i know...silly name)

A pretty big purple Acropora Valida-

Here's a volleyball sized galaxia-

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[mr_X]

a nice sized frogspawn-

and more I haven't shot yet.
This tank also had a pretty bad majano anemone infestation, which I am working on. I kalk pasted about 10 of them today. We'll see how it goes...








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[PISCES4LIFE]

MR. X you the man

 

[mr_X]

I thought for sure someone would comment about the crazy starfish spawn.

 

[Dary421]

I thought for sure someone would comment about the crazy starfish spawn.

That's so cool and mind boggling ,. What the heck did you do with all of em?...... I added a couple of them to my tank a while back but have never seen one since ( triggerfish might have something to do with that ? ) ...but, From my experience they seem to live under the rocks etc and you may NEVER see one but ,they're there anyway doing what ever they do,..... But your encounter looks like one of those rattlesnake dens!!!!

 

[Dav3]

I thought for sure someone would comment about the crazy starfish spawn.

Cool stuff for sure. Same thing happened to me when I re-did the rock scape in my old 65 last year. Got some on video. Not best quality.
http://youtu.be/AoiyHcwNBuM

 

[mr_X]

Good video! What did I do with them? Nothing. They are all fine now I suppose. I didn't see a single one Monday when I did the 2nd water change.

 

[mwilliams]

I remember a thread that you had going when you first started taking care of the tank over there.
Man I would love to have some of those brittle starfish. I no longer see them in my tank. I use to see their legs come out of my zoes when I would do water changes but no more.
Oh those corals have gotten so big very nice.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Xparent Green Tapatalk 2

 

[erichm20]

Wow looks great! And it obviously goes to show that water changes are sufficient. Interesting about the tap water all I ever hear is that "you better use rodi or you're doomed!" Is there macro algae in the sump?

Also those are awesome pics with the starfish- I wonder what prompted that behavior?

 

[mr_X]

The toxic environment prompted the behavior I guess. I stirred things up pretty good in there as I was ripping out things.
Yes, there is some razor caulerpa in the sump. Chaeto won't grow in this tank....at least not since a power outage killed almost everything a couple years ago. Still to this day chaeto just withers away.

 

[TheTodd]

What fish are in there? I see a PBT and Foxface...anything else?

The brittle star thing is pretty crazy. It is amazing how they just disappear too.

 

[mr_X]

There is a Powder Blue Tang, a Foxface, a Red Sea Sailfin, a 5" Lawnmower Blenny, and a pretty large Maroon Clown.

 

[Rpbustillo]

Those are some amazing corals. I would feel lucky being able to maintain a tank like that.

 

[Sniperhank]

Man, how did I just find this? A starfish spawn is awesome. My tank is filled with those little guys. They really are neat. The coral in that tank are massive after all those years. Was one of the complaints that the guy who was maintaining them just not trimming them? That "hulk fist" is a really nice piece, it reminds me of my marshall island latana...not the same coloring obviously.

 

[mr_X]

Yeah...mainly that it was overgrown and the glass could not be cleaned. I took a piece of that monti home with me
Heading out to do a water change in a few minutes...will take some updated pics.

 

[Sniperhank]

Can't wait to see more. This looks like a great tank. What I don't understand is that if you are incharge of caring for such a tank, trimming coral like that is a necessity! Wouldn't cutting them back like that just promote another side of the business for them?

 

[mr_X]

Yes, if i was the kid I got to replace me, I would have been fragging the heck out of that stuff and at least trading it in for credit.

 

[Dary421]

Those brittle stars still amaze me,... I wonder if they're asexual or do you need a mated pair ? I originally put in three or four of them in my tank ,... I might have a army of them in there somewhere and not even know it (if the trigger didn't find them first.)

 

[mr_X]

I don't think fish eat them. Every time one of them or asterina stars float through the water and a fish takes a nibble, they always spit them out. If you looked at the tank today, you might have seen one or two legs hanging out of tiny holes...I bet you have plenty of them.
BTW, sorry folks but i forgot my camera today...Going to have to take some pictures next week.