NOY's 110 Gallon Mixed Tank

[noy]

IMG_1416

This is my first marine tank. Its been up and running since January 2012. I've been a freshwater aquarist forever and wanted to give saltwater a try. In 2012 we bought a new house and there was 5 foot space in the front living area that just cried out for an aquarium. So I noticed a big sale at Big Al's and went out and bought a 110 gallon tank.

This is what the tank looked like on Feb 2012 (after cycling and ready for livestock)!

IMG_3268

April 2012, My first fish were an ocellaris clown and a yellow tang. Both are still with me! This is after adding my first corals.

IMG_3715

One day I noticed some sun corals at a LFS and just fell in love with them and how they moved and ate food with their tentacles. This was my first start in to NPS (Non-Photosynthetic Corals). At this point most of the coral I had were LPS and Soft Corals.

IMG_3963

My soft corals and my montipora plate grew and grew and I started to add more corals and livestock.

IMG_4702

I started getting in SPS corals and began to replace some of the soft corals with SPS frags. My tanks is now organized into SPS coral in the upper half and LPS and NPS corals in the lower regions (generally).

FTS 2013-09-07_2-A

I had some up and downs in the tank including an ich outbreak that killed a powder blue tang that I had for a while. I think all my fish had ich at some point or another. Probably the most devastating event was getting montipora eating nudibranches. This wiped out a few of my prized and rare montiporas.

One of the best moments was getting asked to do a tank feature for Reef Hobbyist. I ended up just writing and article on a topic I research constantly - NPS corals.
This is the article - its the 2013 Q4 at page 38
http://reefhobbyistmagazine.com/archives.php

Another is my dendro spawning - I just think this is super cool!

I think this tank is fairly mature now and I plan to keep everything stable without adding any more fish. I am starting a new build for Gorgonians only and will move the non-sun coral NPS corals into this build. My plan now for this tank is to simply grow out the SPS coral into mature colonies. I am planning an upgrade into a bigger tank but not in the near future.


Coral Garden2My setup is probably not that elaborate. All of my equipment fits under the tank and I don't have a separate fish room setup.

Aquarium- 110 gallon (4 foot).
Sump - Aqueon Model 4 (30 gallons)

Lighting
6x54w T5HO
Kessil A360w (controlled via Apex Neptune)
3x Kessil H150 (Deep Blue)

Skimmer CSC-400

IMG_4397

Refugium - live rock, assortment of macroalgae and mangrove plants

Controller - Apex Lite with VDM/Breakout Box

Wavemaker - Jebao WP60 + Sicce Model 4

GFO Reactor - Innovative Marine All-in-one midsize
Biopellet Reactor - Innovative Marine All-in-one desktop
Nitraguard Biocubes via airstone (bomb method)

Return pump - Speedwave (1320 gph)

Dosing (MC-03) - Magnesium, Calcium, Alkalinity, Kalk (homemade stirrer)Fish

Video of Fish Interactions

Orange Shouldered Tang

IMG_0895
Blue Tang

IMG_0890
Salifin Tang

IMG_0892
Kole Tang

IMG_4284
Purple Dottyback

IMG_5681
Mandarin Goby
Flame Angel
Yellow Tang
Ocellaris Clown

Corals

 

[Washburn82]

That's one great looking tank Noy! Well done. How's that jebao holding up for you? Been reading some mixed reviews on them.

 

[d2mini]

Very nice! Great selection of coral. :)

 

[noy]

That's one great looking tank Noy! Well done. How's that jebao holding up for you? Been reading some mixed reviews on them.

No mixed reviews from me - that thing rocks. Even the light sensor which is kind of cheap looking works surprisingly well. I was originally going to hook this up and control it via an apex but the different modes that the new control unit offers and the light switch makes it redundant!

 

[noy]

Very nice! Great selection of coral. :)

thanks dennis - your tank is definitely an inspiration for me!

 

[Washburn82]

That's great to hear about the jebao. Been looking at the wp10s for my 20 gallon long. Can't seem to find them anywhere though. Anyways, stunning tank love those dendros, beautiful.

 

[Barch]

very nice looking tank.

 

[usmarine_0369]

Great looking tank, awesome selection of corals. I wish I could be that successful with corals. Maybe its all in the right equipment, im looking over your setup and going to do some more reading.

 

[noy]

That's great to hear about the jebao. Been looking at the wp10s for my 20 gallon long. Can't seem to find them anywhere though. Anyways, stunning tank love those dendros, beautiful.

check gtaaquaria - there's a few guys that bring in Jebao equipment on occasion

 

[noy]

Great looking tank, awesome selection of corals. I wish I could be that successful with corals. Maybe its all in the right equipment, im looking over your setup and going to do some more reading.

thanks, just fyi - I'm probably going to stop with the biopellets after this batch runs out. Don't find they do that much and it seems to cause cyano growth.

I think the best investment is a good skimmer followed by a gfo reactor.

 

[AnthonyTheNewbie]

thanks, just fyi - I'm probably going to stop with the biopellets after this batch runs out. Don't find they do that much and it seems to cause cyano growth.

I think the best investment is a good skimmer followed by a gfo reactor.

I agree :). Tank looks awesome :)

 

[noy]

thanks!

 

[noy]

Some recent shots

Seasons Greetings Monti

IMG_1132

Purple Bonsai

BonsaiST

Birdsnest

IMG_1389

Forest Fire

IMG_1393

ORA Bird of Paradise

IMG_1395

Blasto

IMG_1399

Duncan

IMG_1518

Blue Gonio

IMG_1514

Red Gonio

IMG_1516

Red Monti (grew from a nub left on a disk when the frag broke off)

IMG_1503

 

[noy]

Yellow Gorg

gorgst1

Meteor Shower

meteorsst1

Pink Mille

IMG_1490

Dendro

IMG_1464


IMG_1484

 

[Sakura2282]

Your corals are so beautiful @noy and the shots are amazing. :)

 

[Big K]

Ditto. I can't wait for my set-up to look half as good, Noy. :D:notworthy:

 

[noy]

thanks for the kind comments. sometimes it just takes time for things to grow out and colour up - some of my SPS looked like brown sticks when they started.

anyways - more pics (have the day off).

Orange Chalice
These corals provide for some nice closeup shots.


IMG_1551

Yellow polyp gorg

IMG_1552

Donut Coral - full extension of tentacles

IMG_1549

Euphyllia close up

IMG_1555

Danae

IMG_1544

 

[noy]

I saw this last night and decided to take a video.
Enchino (Hollywood stunner) Chalice releasing its feeder tentacles at night

 

[fishon78]

Unbelievable!

 

[noy]

Efflo!
Finally found the efflo I was looking for (Canada Corals). Bit browned out but lets see what I can do with it. The polyps are a nice light green. I re-oriented the coral so it will probably have to re-encrust before I see any real growth.


IMG_1568

2nd colony hiding behind other corals

IMG_1570


IMG_1569

LPS - Chalice
Started buying a few frags of chalices - kind of cool looking stuff.

Hollywood stunner

IMG_1587


IMG_1580


IMG_1579


IMG_1582