My 65 G Tank

[RFURBP]

Tank Parameters:
1.026 Specific Gravity
78-79 F
Lights on for 12 Hours a day

Water Volumes:
65 Gallons - DT
35 Gallon - Sump
100 Gallon System

Honesty time:
I have test kits for calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, ammonia, nitrate, but DO Not Test regularly. Would like to acquire Trident.
Test for PH weekly, sits at 8.2

Water Changes w Supplements:
30 Gallons a week with RO/DI
5 ml Kent Marine Purple Tech
5 ml Seachem Reef Trace
5 ml Red Sea Trace-Colors Iron
5 ml Kent Marine Strontium & Molybdenum
5 ml Kent Marine Coral Accel
5 ml Brightwell Aquatics Iodide
5 ml AcroPower Amino Acid

Replace Filter Sock every two days
The display tank following Inhabitants:
Fish:
1 Ocellaris Clownfish
1 Aiptasia File Fish
1 Yellow Tang

Inverts:
3 Peppermint Shrimp
10 Brown Cortez Hermits
5 Scarlets
2 Emerald Crabs
3 Trochus
10 Cerith
5 Astrae
2 Bumblebee
3 Nassarius
4 Trochus
2 Turbos

Corals:
Colony Brown Palythoa
Red Cap Monti
Blastomusa
Blue Stylophora
Kenya
Slimer Acro
Blue tip Hammer Coral
Green Star Polyps
Blue hued Birds Nest
Xenia Colony
Red Stylophoras
Purple/Green Acan
Green Spotted Mushroom
Christmas Rock flower Anemone
Zoas(blue and red center with yellow tips)
Toadstool
Pink tipped Green Bubble Anemone
Blue/green mushroom
Favia
Couple Misc Acros
Red Accent Purple Acans
Digitata

60 lbs Live Rock in DT



The display tank has the following equipment:
2x Hydor Koralia 3g Third Generation Circ Pump 1350 Gph
2 Hydor 1150 GPH
(One of each pump mention above is on each side running on 6 hour tide cycle)
3x Hydor Koralia Nano Circ Pump 425 Gph (in the back pushing water to the front)
2x 165 W Philzon Led Aquarium Light
BN-Link 8 outlet w Timer Surge Protector

The back sump( my gear sump) has the following equipment:
300watt Hygger Titanium Aquarium Heater
Aquatop Multimedia Reactor(Carbon)
Bubble Magnus Curve 5
Coralife Protein Skimmer
BRS Universal CO2 Scrubber
One Filter Sock Compartment w 4 inch sock (preferred)
6" dome Air Stone w Air Pump
10 Outlet Power Strip Surge Protector

The front sump (refugium) has the following equipment and inhabitants:
Reef Octopus Varios-2 DC Pump (792 gph)
Hydor Koralia Nano Aquarium Circ Pump 240gph
Hygger 6.2" Filter Media Block 7.9 lbs
1 Pound Ceramic Bio Balls
20 Pounds of Carib Sea Arag Hawaiin Black
Sun Blaze Grow Light 2ft, 4lamps, 10000 lumens
Chaeto
1 Mangrove

 

[RFURBP]

I am a relatively new reefer. I started in the summer of 2018. Quickly upgraded from my 28 gallon acrylic hexagon into a 45 gallon acrylic bowfront. I subsequently last month bought a used 65 gallon glass tank because I was fed up with scratches. Very pleased with my new tank. Will keep quarterly updates on my reef and hopefully I'll have some frags to give in 6 to 8 months.

 

[Newjack]

great start, welcome to the club

 

[ofzakaria]

Great setup. You ste at the right place. Welcome

 

[NanoCrazed]

Wow. Admire your dedication from your WC / maintenance routine... as compared to me being lazier than @The_Lazy_Reefer

 

[Coral reefer]

Would like to see pics of the blue tip hammer and the red stylophora.

 

[RFURBP]

They are blue under blue light, but under white light they are a soft purple.

 

[RFURBP]

Thank you, NanoCrazed! I just find it easier to do larger water changes. Its easier to drain my sump all the way than just a little bit. Its kind of like doing laundry, I can walk away and not have to sit there watching it drain. I run a pump and tubing 60feet to my bathroom so its a slower process, but it beats carrying buckets and having to monitor intensively.

 

[RFURBP]

Can I add any more fish to my tank? I was thinking about three chromis. Would this be too many fish for a 65 gallon.
The
Clownfish is 1"
Aiptasia FIle FIsh 1.5
Yellow Tang 3"
Everyone gets along really well atm.

 

[Flagg37]

I think you’ve got room but Chromis are known to be a bit aggressive (even though they’re small). I’ve never had any though. Cardinals are a good choice. If you’ve got a good supply of pods a mandarin would work. Fire fish are nice but they jump so you’d want a lid. Starry blenny is a favorite too.

 

[RFURBP]

So I've been wanting more fish and I pulled the trigger on two chromis and a 7" snowflake moray eel. I redesigned my aquascape in anticipation for the eel. I epoxied the rock to the glass tank and epoxied two, 2" wide pvc tunnels roughly 36" long and the other 30" to the rock and the tank. I read that when they get larger they can cause avalanches which result in horror stories of broken glass tanks. I installed a removable screen on the top of the tank with clips to hold the screen down. The lights also fortunately gently rest on the screen, so hopefully I'll have no escapes.

I have been feeding the eel .25" pieces of shrimp. How often should I feed him or her? I read two to three times a week, but I am on day two, and he or she has eaten three, .25" pieces of shrimp each day over the past two days. I read if you keep them well fed that they shouldn't bother any crabs nor fish. The eel is currently too small to eat any of the fish, but I intend to keep the eel well fed so there is no temptation as it grows bigger.

The Chromis seem to be rather picky eaters. I read chromis mostly eat plankton in the wild. They currently only seem to go after New Life Spectrum Marine Fish Pellets. I make my own fish food using selco, reef roids, reef chili, nori then sourcing fresh seafood such as: scallops, shrimp, oysters,and mussels. Will they eventually eat the home made food or should I alter the ingredients to include something specific for them?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Snowflake Eel Munching

 

[Coral reefer]

That’s large eel in a small tank

 

[RFURBP]

I read a lot of conflicting information, that said 55 to 75 gallons is a good size. What size do you think I should have to house a snowflake moray eel?

 

[Coral reefer]

Not saying it’s too small. I have no direct experience with them. Just seems like a long eel in a tank that isn’t too large.

 

[Im_not_nemos_dad]

FYI. Snowflakes eel will eat your chromis. If you want a reef safe eel go with the zebra.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[Flagg37]

I had a zebra moray eel. He was my favorite fish. He was very docile and not aggressive at all. Even when he was hungry I never saw him go after any of the other inhabitants. I had a few tangs that would tail swipe him and keep him in his cave. When I moved I sold the tangs first and that’s when he finally explored....the outside of the tank. It was a very sad day when my 3 year old found him on the carpet. He was probably 2-1/2’ long at that point. So the top is a must.

As he gets bigger you’ll probably want to upgrade. I had about 3-1/2’ of 3” ABS pipe. They will want their cave to be large enough that they can fit their whole body inside. As he gets longer he’s going to get thicker too. The danger comes when he’s so long that he has to double himself inside the pipe and with 2” pipe he could get stuck. Right now I’m sure he’s super happy with it but keep it in the back of your mind that the upgrade is on the horizon.

For feeding make sure you are using tongs or something to keep your hands far away. They won’t attack you but they can mistake your hand as food. Their eyesight is pretty bad but their smell is what they use to find food and if you’ve been touching the food then it’s going to smell like it. I would feed as much as he would eat at a time. Then he would go several days before wanting more. They are quite seclusive (at least the zebras are, the snowflakes may be more social) and stay in their cave most of the time. They’re also nocturnal and usually like to eat in the evening time as they are waking up. Don’t be surprised if they go for a long time without feeding though. It’s not uncommon for them to go several weeks without food. There was one time I was getting really worried because it had been 4 weeks without eating. My typical food was raw table shrimp (you can get a big bag at Costco, just make sure they’re raw and don’t have any thing else like seasoning). With him not eating though, I tried a bunch of other things like squid, scallops, and clams and he still didn’t eat. One day he just started eating again like nothing was any different.

Anyway, have fun with him.

 

[RFURBP]

I will keep everyone posted. Thank you for your comments. I sincerely appreciate them. In a few years I plan to upgrade, once I get my career job and hopefully a house. Hopefully I can keep him until then. If not, I will be sure to take him back or list him on here to find the eel a more suitable home. Thinking about a 300 gallon peninsula that has an upwelling effect.

 

[sfsuphysics]

60 inches tall? Oh boy, that's going to require some mucho thick glass/acrylic at those deeper parts.

That said, the "I plan to upgrade" mentality should leave fish at the store, it's not like the fish are once in a life time things. It would do much better to hold off on larger fish until you actually get said larger tank up and running. Life as a real good track record of knocking plans off kilter

 

[RFURBP]

Hello,
I just wanted to give everyone an update on my reef. Its been a little over a month since my last post. The eel is doing well, feeding quarter inch piece of shrimp daily, no fish or crustacean has been eaten. I am wondering if I will need to start dosing calcium and alkalinity? I have continued with my rigorous water changes, ranging from 30% to 35% weekly. I just tested my calcium (400) and alkalinity (9.6), and I am planning to do a water change tomorrow. It has been a week since my last water change. I tested a while back, coral pro reef salt which after a day of being mixed had a dkh of 12 and calcium of 460.
I continually change the filter socks daily and feed three times a day for the fish. Nitrates are at 1 and my phosphates are at .1.

Should I mess around with dosing yet, or simply keep the weekly water changes.

 

[Coral reefer]

It isn’t broken. I wouldn’t fix it.