300 gallon "Outside Corner" Reef

[obscurereef]

Haha I'd be a little intimidated. You don't have inverts or corals on the sand bed then?

 

[Gregcoyote]

Yes, they leave them alone. Occasionally they will try to bury a big green leather that grows from the sand bed, but I just unbury him. They can be big chickens, so attack is unlikely.

 

[bigbanker]

The tank is amazing as is the stock.

Well done.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Thank you.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Yes, it's a blue tuxedo urchin with sun glasses. He has a blue mushroom for a hat.

 

[waterfaller1]

Awesome tank!

Question: I find a lot of pods in the chaeto in my algae scrubber. They also inhabit all the nooks in the systems. Is there a way to concentrate them to one area for capture?

Yes, make "pod piles". Small piles of rock rubble. The pods will congregate there, especially if you shoot a little bit of food towards the piles. Keep crabs like emeralds out of this tank, they eat pods too. There have been some people who have had success feeding mysis, I did when I had mine. You can take a small glass bottle, keep it on it's side next to the glass of the tank. Take your trusty turkey baster and shoot some thawed mysis into the bottle. The mandarin will go in and eat them. It takes awhile for them to get used to it. Good luck.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Will try that. Thanks!

 

[Gregcoyote]

This trigger fish is like bringing a Great Dane home. He eats like a horse. Lucky I have so much filtration in place because he alone has doubled the food the reef critters consume.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Okay my fishy friends. These are appearing and I don't recall seeing them before. Is it a starfish?

 

[Flaxon-Waxon]

Okay my fishy friends. These are appearing and I don't recall seeing them before. Is it a starfish?

Asterina starfish... I have many in my tank. I use to remove them, but don't anymore. They do seem to eat my Coralline algae tho 8-(

 

[Gregcoyote]

Thanks, I had guessed it might be. He can eat all the pink algae he wants, I am tired of scraping it off.

 

[bigbanker]

I personally can't stand the stuff.

 

[Gregcoyote]

It is a byproduct of good reef water. So I guess you can't have hard corals without lots of pink algae. It encrusts everything, pumps, walls.

 

[Sniperhank]

I have a really neat type growing in my tank that grows out like a scrolling coral in several colors. Makes what look like big potato chips.

 

[bigbanker]

It is a byproduct of good reef water. So I guess you can't have hard corals without lots of pink algae. It encrusts everything, pumps, walls.

That's what I hate. How invasive it is.

I have a really neat type growing in my tank that grows out like a scrolling coral in several colors. Makes what look like big potato chips.

That is pretty interesting!! Do you have pictures on your thread

 

[Sniperhank]

Um, not that I can think of. I only noticed the largest one which grew on a power head I cleaned in vinegar. I pulled it off so it would survive and reestablish in the tank. Ill try to take a picture of it tomorrow along with the recent discovery of the small red variety on my one rock.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Tangs, I have been pretty successful keeping tangs alive for over 10 years now for many of them. It was not always so, even in this large system. I had early bouts with ICH, especially when introducing purple tangs and powder blues. But that changed over a decade or so when a few things happened.

I first came to the realization that adding tangs is tricky. In order to not cause a ripple effect of stress it had to be handled by first not being unrealistic in what could be added. Example; adding a clown tang to a already peaceful group of tangs. Trouble will be happening. Also, how to add them in a way they can effectively feel safe and hide until they gather themselves and are ready to stand up to the inevitable challenge then sparing contest.

The next was realizing (at least to me) how much food they need to process. Mine would eat lettuce and nori until they exploded. They are plump and not too prone to cause much trouble. They are very active, just not frantic for food. Seems to calm everyone down.

And the one I can't really document, but can report seeing in my tank is the effect of having every rock surface covered in corals that filter feed parasites if available. I haven't seen any ICH or other parasites in a long time, knock on wood.

I think my tank is kind of like a zoo. I don't put the lions in with the penguins. And I don't lock the big cats in phone booths. And everyone eats well.

 

[erichm20]

Hey that's good to know I can't wait until I have a big enough tank to keep some. I see you have a moorish idol in your profile pic I've read they can be difficult and have a tendency to eat corals (obviously not an issue w yours!) can you talk about yours?

Also could you put up a pic of the lighting system over the frag tank?

Thanks!

 

[Magickiwi]

Gorgeous ecosystem you have built there. Very impressive considering all the coral etc. you have grown.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Hey that's good to know I can't wait until I have a big enough tank to keep some. I see you have a moorish idol in your profile pic I've read they can be difficult and have a tendency to eat corals (obviously not an issue w yours!) can you talk about yours?

Also could you put up a pic of the lighting system over the frag tank?

Thanks!

I took the Idol photo off the coast of the big island of Hawaii. One of my favorite fish, he is an example of something you shouldn't see in a aquarium. He was the size of a dinner plate.

Frag tank has its own thread:

DIY high output moving LED for frag tank