Johnny Reefer's FOWLR

[Chaloupa]

Hey Mark! Your tank is looking/looks really nice! We are in the process of setting up our FOWLR 120 and was looking through your thread for ideas on stocking it....LOVE your trigger selections especially the Pink Tail. I think that's what we are going to get and your pics confirmed it.

[Johnny Reefer]

Well it's been two months since my last post so I thought it's time for an update.

Sarah: Thanx for the good words. I think you'll be happy with a Pinktail. I know I am. It's my fave. The Clown and the Humuhumu are the toughest in the tank and they exhibit some interesting behaviour toward each other at times, particularly at feeding time. A little agressive, competitive rough housing, but nothing serious.

Goby1: Welcome. Welcome. Welcome to the website know as CanReef, my friend. Ah yes....nitrates. A problem, yes, but I think I have that at acceptable levels in my tank. More below.

So....the Green Brittle Stars....uh, not a good idea with Triggerfish. At least not Clown and/or Humuhumu Triggers. The legs on both were pretty much devoured. I put them in the sump of my Reeftank, but as they had no legs they couldn't move around to get food. Lesson learned.

Nitrates. To help with this problem I bought and hooked up a Rena XP3 solely for the purpose of using Kent Nitrate Sponge and filled this filter with said product. It worked. Got the nitrates down from 50mg/l (and climbing) to 20mg/l. Stiil high, I know, but better than 50.

Cyano: That got real bad in late May so I did a Chemi-Clean routine on the tank. It worked, .....but it looks like it's coming back.

Anyhoo, maybe I'll pull the camera out again in a day or two and post another pic. (Although it kinda looks the same, really).

(Typing like mad right now to beat the time-out!)

Cheers,

[reeferaddict]

Heya Mark...

50 mg/l Nitrate = Cyano...

I gotta get down and see it someday!

[goby1]

Hey Mark,

Thanks for the tip (re: nitrate sponge in the filter). I was just running it with the foam pads that came with the filter. If my nitrates go up and I decide to run the filter again, I'll have the option of running something different in it. I just hated cleaning that thing and as long as I keep up with the water changes, things seem to be going okay without it. I just have to watch I don't overfeed the tank.

[Johnny Reefer]

Just wondering why there are no longer any pictures in this thread.
Were they removed for some reason?

Thanx much,

[muck]

Check your links... maybe Photobucket changed something..?!?

or did you delete them from your Photobucket account..?!?

[Johnny Reefer]

Originally Posted by muck

.....or did you delete them from your Photobucket account..?!?

Well, by Jiminy, yes I did. What I don't get, though, is that I deleted a whack of photos out of Photobucket and yet other threads, such as my "Upgrades Done" thread, are not affected. .

Oh well. No biggie. I guess I can reload them. This FOWLR is in for big changes soon anyways, so maybe I'll just start a new thread.

EDIT: AW, CRAP!!! I just checked a few of my other threads. Pics gone. What a downer! I was not aware that this would happen. Now I know. Sheesh. That's what I get for trying to be too meticulous.

Thanx much and cheers,

[Johnny Reefer]

Well getting the pictures back in wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. Just had to re-upload them into Photobucket. Did not have to copy/paste them into the thread here.
Phew. Don't do that again.

Cheers,

[Johnny Reefer]

Changes soon forthcoming in December.
Here’s a “before” shot of the FOWLR tank. (135g to be upgraded to a 180g).
No sump running at all.
Water circ is by way of 4 MaxiJet 1200s only.
Been running skimmerless since mid September due to unreliable HOB skimmer.
Fluidized Bed filter removed and gone for good.
XP3 filter on the bottom left running nothing but Nitrate Sponge for nitrate control.




Here’s a shot of the new 70g sump.
(It will not be used on this stand, as photographed. The sump will sit down on the floor, beside the display tank).
Live Rock will go in the first chamber and the second chamber, in those baskets under the skimmer.
The ‘fuge will have a 2” sandbed and I’m going to use Chaeto as the nutrient exporter.
The canister will run carbon and RowaPhos.




More...

[Johnny Reefer]

Here’s a detail shot of the right side of the sump.
The only thing missing is the top-off float valve and stanchion, which are still in use on my reef tank 33g sump.



I’ll post “After” pics when the time comes.

Cheers,