120gal mixed predatory reef tank

[Myka]

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!! Love the Lion in the reef!!!

[JDigital]

Wow... that lionfish is massive.. Very clean, mature looking tank!

[whatcaneyedo]

I've had the lion for nearly 3 years. The oldest picture I could find of him was from September 2005. Here you can see him with a ~1" astrea snail for scale. I feed him selcon and vita chem soaked silversides, krill, or sometimes clam every second day.

I had a really hard time getting him to eat frozen food at first. I think he nearly died of malnutrition feeding on guppies before I succeeded.

[whatcaneyedo]

Well this is the Tank Journal forum so I guess I should keep this up to date. I've made some changes to the equipment I'm using, and to the general contents of the tank.

Right now I'm in the middle of cooking most of my liverock in batches to rid my tank of caulerpa, hair algae, GSP and anthelia so things are a bit of a disaster at the moment. I'll post pictures again when I've got everything cleaned up. I'm also reducing the size of my aquascape, removing some of my sand and cutting back on the number of corals to allow for more swimming space for my lionfish and tang.

Equipment:
new Neptune Aquacontroller III
new Two Sunlight Supply Lumenmax 3 pendants with Phoenix 14K and Blue Wave 7 ballast
Precision Marine Bullet 2 Skimmer with Iwaki 55 pump
new Precision Marine 622 Calcium Reactor with aquariumplants.com CO2 Regulator
Oceans Motions SS Compact
new Sequence Dart return pump
Mag 12 running a spray bar behind the rocks
one new Two Phosban reactor, one for carbon and another for rowaphos
new DSB in rubbermaid tub in sump
20gal fuge in sump with Gracillaria
Tunze Osmolator for auto top off and DIY Kalk reactor


Livestock:
Volitan Lionfish
Snowflake Moray Eel
Purple Tang
Copperbanded Butterfly
Tomatoe Clown

big Sebae anemone
5 Tridacnid clams
Green Death Brittle Star
Tiger Tail cucumber
9 SPS
11 LPS
5 Softies

[Keri]

That's one big surly looking tomato you've got in there!! Gorgeous tank!!

[whatcaneyedo]

Here are some newer pictures from December. Notice all of the anthelia and caulerpa trying to take over? I'll post new pictures when I'm done killing it off.

[Rbacchiega]

great looking tank....I used to have a black Voltan Lion...rad RAD fish

[untamed]

Very nice! You know, there is 'sump'thing to be said for a sump that just allows you to get at everything. It may not be pretty, but it is very manageable and effective.

I love how you have some clams imbedded in the rockwork. That's a very natural setting for them.

I have found a few lionfish while snorkelling. (NOT, where they are supposed to be...but that is another story) Typically, they seem to just hang out under crevices...sometimes upsidedown. My point is, they aren't big swimmers. I doubt your tank size bothers him much.

Are you still fighting red flatworms? I was never able to beat those in my previous tank.

[whatcaneyedo]

The sump is visible beside the tank for now. Eventually I'll make this an in-wall tank so that I can hide all of the equipment in a fish room.

I've had those flatworms for 4 years now and I just dont care anymore. I see them in a large cluster in one spot in my frag tank but everywhere else in the system its just a few here and there. I hit them with Flatworm Exit once and the treatment process killed my last lionfish so I'll just be leaving them alone for now.

[fishytime]

Great tank man. That has to be one of the healthiest, most beautiful lionfish I have ever seen.