# 65 Gallon SPS tank



## Big Ray (Dec 8, 2009)

Hello all,
so I finally gave up on trying to find a nice camera that can take pics of corals, so here are some pics of my tank with my Iphone camera and a friends camera.

main tank is 65G SPS dominated : 









and some close ups, although the colors are really off and for some reason the Florscent is not really showing up on the pics !









I will take more pics tonight and post them, hopefully can get a couple nicer ones this time 

and of course, the seahorses :










and one of the batches of babies :









the seahorses have babies every 14 days usually, over 100 fry each time, although by the time I Get up, I can save only about 100. the record has been 12 days so far for growing them, but I fail at that point    and its partiually due to small space, and limiting my ability to culture enough rots and BBS, so now giving Copepods a shot, hoping to grow more using Enzymes ! we shall see how it goes.

some info on the system : 
main tank is 65G 
connected to a 40G sump, connected to a 25 G seahorse tank.

skimmer is a Euro reef RS 80 !! yes underrates for the total volume of water.

lighting in SPS tank is 8x 39W T5 Ho, all KZ bulbs, 2 coral GEN, 5 Blue, 1 fiji purple. lighting for seahorse tank is 2 t5HO 24W each.

MP40 ES for the main SPS tank and 2 small power heads for seahorse tank for water movement.

3" DSB on DT, 6" in Fuge in sump with cheato on top (cheato has stopped growing and is dying off, and I have it there as a place for pods to populate.) and a 6" DSB under the seahorses !.

Full out Zeovit system, been using Zeovit for past 6 months, tank is 9 months old. I dose Start2, bak, PCS, ZZ, CV. AAHC, K+, Xtra, PIF, and some more additives from Zeovit plus the ZEolith rocks in a phos reactor (HOB since no room in sump)

Balling method to maintain CA, KH and MG. using Aqualifter pumps to do automatic dosing using a RKL controller. parameters are prety stable : 
KH 7 DKH (API, seachem(6.5 for seachem))
CA 420 PPM (salifert)
MG 1350 PPM (salifert)
Ammonia and nitrite are undetectable using API .
No3 (nitrite is finally Zero to 0.1 PPM) using salifert.
Po4 is Zero testing with HAnna po4 checker.
PH is 7.8-8.1 due to AC being on all times, I did make a CO2 scrubber, but decided to ditch it as it was limiting air intake of my skimmer.

I do about 10 G water change weekly, change the Zeolith stones once every 2 months, change carbon Bi weekly (seachem matrix) and empty skimmer daily (WET skimming)

any more question, please ask me


----------



## gucci17 (Oct 11, 2007)

Awesome! Thanks for sharing!

That SPS tank looks pretty jammed pack...I think it's time for some fraggin' and sharin lol


----------



## Big Ray (Dec 8, 2009)

gucci17 said:


> Awesome! Thanks for sharing!
> 
> That SPS tank looks pretty jammed pack...I think it's time for some fraggin' and sharin lol


thanks  and yes ! indeed lol not clear in the pics, but some of the lower colonies are actually much bigger and higher ones are sitting on top of part of the colony :S the parts underneat get no light, so the color is not good, but PE still is excellent.

Issue is that I keep fragging them, and then loose the frag in the rock work lol so gave up, and as you can see no more room for a frag rack, and that's why I'm in the process of upgrading to a 105 G system soon. by Xmas hopefully.

other than that, I have 4 gorilla crabs in there, which do a good job at trimming the SPS and also red bugs :S but they are growing and showing nice colors and nice PE, so why bother  I'm gonna have to dip everything before the moving to bigger tank.

here is one of them : 








pic from a couple months back, you can see the change in color from then to now.

thanks for looking


----------



## KeMo (Sep 3, 2010)

Looks really nice. Their are some videos on youtube about keeping rotifers .
Tank does look abit full  
Pics are not that badd they look good. Great shot of the Seahorse.


----------



## Big Ray (Dec 8, 2009)

KeMo said:


> Looks really nice. Their are some videos on youtube about keeping rotifers .
> Tank does look abit full
> Pics are not that badd they look good. Great shot of the Seahorse.


thank you 

he is about to give birth in that pic (the night before)  poor guy lol

rotifers are easier, hard part is BBS, decapping them, hatch them, grow them for 24 hours, then enrich them for another 24 hours and then feed it ! I just cant keep up with all that specially in a one bedroom condo  so I'm basically ignoring the fry for now, till I have 3-4 10 G full of pods, and then gonna give it a shot again lol they are H. Reidi and the fry cant hitch itself for first 2 weeks, which also adds to the difficulty of breeding them :S one day, I'll get it haha


----------



## explor3r (Mar 14, 2010)

Very nice, u have tons of sps there dont think u have room for more.lol 
Good luck with the seahorses.


----------



## Big Ray (Dec 8, 2009)

DP.





sorry


----------



## Big Ray (Dec 8, 2009)

lets see how these pics look now lol

okay the colors are still no good, what setting do you guys take pics with ? these are taken with a Canon powershot :S


----------



## Big Ray (Dec 8, 2009)

^reef safe my a.....
lol


----------



## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Looks like it's growing in nicely!

Is that last pic a montipora verrucosa? Green and blue? I'd love a frag of that when I finally have space for encrusting montiporas.


----------



## Big Ray (Dec 8, 2009)

ameekplec. said:


> Looks like it's growing in nicely!
> 
> Is that last pic a montipora verrucosa? Green and blue? I'd love a frag of that when I finally have space for encrusting montiporas.


thanks  although the crabs and the red bugs are really taking a toll on growth and coloring :S I need to do a serious dipping of all corals before I transfer them to new tank.

yes it is a montipora verrucosa, light green with blue polyps, its growing on my glass, so I placed a couple of frag plugs around it so it would grow over those as well. I REALLY need a bigger tank with a frag rack  lol


----------



## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Ai yai yai, RBs. Have you tried to get a hold of interceptor?


----------



## KeMo (Sep 3, 2010)

Tank looks really Good Ray. !!


----------



## Big Ray (Dec 8, 2009)

ameekplec. said:


> Ai yai yai, RBs. Have you tried to get a hold of interceptor?


well I have a source I can get it from, BUT, I hear it also kills all crabs, pods, and shrimps ! and I have alot of those. also the seahorse tank is connected to this and I really dont want to kill all pods in the seahorse tank.(copepods, amphipods, mysis shrimps, .... .) (I'll actually be happy when the crab dies  ) do you know if it in fact kills all pods ?

I tried to dip in revive, did nothing except stress corals a bit. so I stopped after first dip.

now when I set up the new tank, since it has to go the same place as this one, I will have to move this tank to my room for 14 days while I cycle the new one, so was thinking I could treat the whole tank then, and move everything over .... or just treat the corals by themselves ... ?
what do you think ? or should I just treat the tank now with interceptor ?


----------



## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

I would treat everything - let it go through your system. Also, take all media out of your reactors and run the drug through them too. Also the skimmer and anywhere else water flows through.

IMO, I'd just treat your whole system now before you move it - that way it's stable. If you treat after moving, I'm thinking the destabilizing of the system might weaken the corals and kill some things.

As for the pods and the shrimps, will you've got to take a hit somewhere unfortunately.


----------



## Big Ray (Dec 8, 2009)

Thanks Eric, you have a good point ! I should do it before moving. 


will have to check with Zeoheads to see if I should take Zeoliths offline as well, and I guess I can feed the seahorses multiple times a day if pods go away ... 

and worse of all, I know where I got them from too ! at the time, I was like awww Cute little red pods  hahaah


----------



## Kweli (Jun 2, 2010)

Is that a massive clam on the bottom right? 


Sweet tank... When are you going to frag some things?


----------



## Big Ray (Dec 8, 2009)

Kweli said:


> Is that a massive clam on the bottom right?
> 
> Sweet tank... When are you going to frag some things?


thanks  yeaa its HUGE ! I cant even get it out no more lol (unless remove all rocks first.)

I do some fraggings, but havent spent time on making a frag rack yet, but I really do not like giving frags away for now, due to Red bugs !! I got it from another reefer who didnt tell me, I wont do that to anyone else lol will have to wait till I get rid of the Red bugs haha.

but now I have 3 SPS tanks (1 at friends and 1 at parents, just from the frags of this tank  hahaha )


----------



## Kweli (Jun 2, 2010)

Do i also see 2 anemones on the bottom? The one in the middle looks like a nem, but the one on the bottom left?

No worries of it roaming around stinging everything? This is my biggest fear


----------



## Big Ray (Dec 8, 2009)

Kweli said:


> Do i also see 2 anemones on the bottom? The one in the middle looks like a nem, but the one on the bottom left?
> 
> No worries of it roaming around stinging everything? This is my biggest fear


lol wow you have good eyes !! lol yes there is a Large long tenticle anemone at the bottom, and a Green BTA on left side  both clowns host in the lower anemone, the higher one has too much flow around it.

Reb Bugs and crabs are killing me ! lol My nicest corals, tri color ones specially are infested with these guys, and they fade the corals colors alot, and leave white DEAD patches, although the water is so good, and I use ALOT of additives, that the coral repairs itself within the same day ! so at the end colors just look a bit faded. crabs are bad as well, as I see corals grow during the day, and next day the growth tip is gone lol and a full crab under it LOL if it wasnt for Zeovit, I would have lost most of the colonies by now .... . I dont want to treat whole tank just yet cause of my seahorses ... so at this time, Im cycling another tank for the seahorses to stay in for a while and hopefully can dip all corals when my new tank is ready


----------



## Kweli (Jun 2, 2010)

What do you use to keep the SPS in place? epoxy?

I could imagine with such a deep tank that its hard to do any manual removal of stuff... Looks great though, hopefully you can kill em off


----------



## Big Ray (Dec 8, 2009)

Kweli said:


> What do you use to keep the SPS in place? epoxy?
> 
> I could imagine with such a deep tank that its hard to do any manual removal of stuff... Looks great though, hopefully you can kill em off


exactly, too deep and too much rocks in DT, next tank will have alot less rocks lol

yes Epoxy, sometimes super glue added in to make it harder.


----------



## aquanutt (Aug 27, 2010)

Nice tank Ray, what a coral collection!

What are you trying to kill in your tank Ray? lol

cheers
sly


----------



## Kweli (Jun 2, 2010)

What epoxy do you recommened? Seems like every fish store has some but its like 30 bucks a tube.... Which I cannot convince myself to buy (which typically isnt the case in this hobby)


----------



## Big Ray (Dec 8, 2009)

Hey, thanks 

Red bugs : http://www.melevsreef.com/redbugs.html

and acro/fish eating crabs

researching more on interceptor, its ingredients are toxic to fish, and seahorses, I will not risk it.

right now Im in a cycle  acros grow, crabs and angelfish and red bugs eat them lol


----------



## Big Ray (Dec 8, 2009)

Kweli said:


> What epoxy do you recommened? Seems like every fish store has some but its like 30 bucks a tube.... Which I cannot convince myself to buy (which typically isnt the case in this hobby)


To be honest, I have a hard time iwth those as well lol they just dont stick, and when they do, they stick to my hand 

I buy it from SEAUMARINE, less than 30 but close ...
you can use super glue from dollar stores though as well.


----------



## Kweli (Jun 2, 2010)

Superglue, do i need to take the rock out to use it though? I use superglue to mount frags to certain rocks... but I have some rocks that I cannot take out of the water and im too scared to use superglue inside the tank


----------



## Big Ray (Dec 8, 2009)

Kweli said:


> Superglue, do i need to take the rock out to use it though? I use superglue to mount frags to certain rocks... but I have some rocks that I cannot take out of the water and im too scared to use superglue inside the tank


good question, I use it, but not sure if any bad effects, so will check with some chemists and post results.


----------



## Big Ray (Dec 8, 2009)

just a couple of new pics with iphone this time










a FTS :









Plumbing the two tanks, and the high tech balling method (I dont think that can be called balling at all  haha)









ANNNNDDDDD , my newest addition :










NO ! I dont mean the hair algae, haha the longfin bath fish 










the bathfish is really young and is captive breed, first of its kind.

I dont mind the hair algae in there, as there are tons of pods within it and seahorses love hitching around it and just hunt pods in them, so I dont remove them, nor do any water changes out of this tank. most of the algae is dead and comes off if pulled or something blows at it, but due to the low current in this tank, its fine 

anyone can help me understand why the soft coral is brown though ?! the lighting in this tank is 2 T5HO,


----------



## KeMo (Sep 3, 2010)

Bat fish looks crazy!! Good grab. How big do they get ?
Saw you were talking about crazy glue. Just a short note * crazy glue was invented in WW1 to seal wounds. Its is bio safe 
As for Epoxy I get mine at HomeDepot its called Rector seal and its about 10 bucks. Its the same epoxy that Eric Borneman uses. I herd him talk about it on dis. so I picked it up.
http://www.reefflix.com/video/806/borneman-Coral-Fragging-Techniques


----------



## Big Ray (Dec 8, 2009)

KeMo said:


> Bat fish looks crazy!! Good grab. How big do they get ?
> Saw you were talking about crazy glue. Just a short note * crazy glue was invented in WW1 to seal wounds. Its is bio safe
> As for Epoxy I get mine at HomeDepot its called Rector seal and its about 10 bucks. Its the same epoxy that Eric Borneman uses. I herd him talk about it on dis. so I picked it up.
> http://www.reefflix.com/video/806/borneman-Coral-Fragging-Techniques


the bathfish could outgrow me 

not everything biosafe is reef same  things act differently in salt water. although that is not the case with superglue .


----------



## gucci17 (Oct 11, 2007)

Big Ray said:


> the bathfish could outgrow me
> 
> not everything biosafe is reef same  things act differently in salt water. although that is not the case with superglue .


Batfish right? I never heard of a bathfish...it looks sooooo cool like a cartoon from that video game Viewtiful Joe. lol

Ddi you pick it up from Ken?


----------



## Big Ray (Dec 8, 2009)

gucci17 said:


> Batfish right? I never heard of a bathfish...it looks sooooo cool like a cartoon from that video game Viewtiful Joe. lol
> 
> Ddi you pick it up from Ken?


LOL thanks for catching that LOL firefox spell check :S

not this one, but Im gonna pick up a wife for him from Ken as soon I have this guy eating regularly.


----------



## PACMAN (Mar 4, 2010)

it's a gorgeous fish! and unique at that. Never saw one for sale before.


----------



## Big Ray (Dec 8, 2009)

PACMAN said:


> it's a gorgeous fish! and unique at that. Never saw one for sale before.


yea they dont do well in captivity, these guys are however the first ever captive breed ones.


----------



## Kweli (Jun 2, 2010)

Are they reef safe? how big do they get?


Your SPS tank looks awesome....


----------



## Big Ray (Dec 8, 2009)

Kweli said:


> Are they reef safe? how big do they get?
> 
> Your SPS tank looks awesome....


they grow big and long , and also nip on corals, but I dont care  my angelfish eats ALOT of SPS as well .lol he takes care of trimming and fragging for me 

thanks  when the new tank is up, the bat fish will most probably go in the current SPS tank. OR with my lionfish if he grows big enough till then,


----------

