Soggy Down Under

[soggycookies]

Hey everyone!

I’ve decided to make my 180G the focus of the rest of 2020 while I let my 300G low maintenance softie reeftank run on autopilot. The focus of this build is going to be unique and/or interactive fish.

 

After the recent upheaval of my mangroves from 2 different systems and realizing it isn’t feasible to keep large fish with them in a setup like this(see accompanying pictures below). (At this point most of them were around 80cm to a metre tall)

 

I eventually did away with all but 1 of my mangrove plants, and I’m considering placing this last rhizopora in the overflow section of my

180G display.

 

Prior to being in this system, they grew out a lot better as propagules in a deep sandbed in this old system i had to decommission earlier this year:

 

Now, I’m rolling with a completely different setup but one that’s close to my heart cause it’s what got me into reefing to begin with- a classic fowlr with my favorite marine teleostei specimens.

 

Of course, I had to get down and dirty(and especially soggy) revamping my system as I reconfigured the plumbing, swapped out for a stronger return pump, and housekeeping that was way overdue.

 

Previously, I had a 9” Batfish in the tank along with a few other fish with the mangroves. I let these go as well and the system was running fishless for a good 2 months.

 

Over the past week, I’ve been hard at work refurbishing, consolidating and fine-tuning the main components of this system that was given to me FOC in September last year from someone who was letting it go with only the condition of payment for the moving fee.

 

At $250 for a 4x2.5x2.5ft tank of approximately 180 gallons, I had my work cut out for me in the beginning, as the system was in a putrid state overall, but I got it running after a while.

 

Recently, I stripped the system back to its fundamentals and scrubbed it down. Here’s a before & after of the sump for reference:

Before~

After~

 

In the coming weeks, I’ll be documenting my journey refurbishing and setting up from scratch of an older system.

 

Albeit the fact that it’s not the most prestigious or ambitious build, I want to help beginners and people just getting into the hobby realize that reefing/maintaining of a marine aquarium need not be as intimidating, super expensive or sophisticated as it may appear or be.

 

Stay tuned for more!

P.S. also, I’ve already got my first member for this fowlr setup that is something of a old dog with new tricks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[soggycookies]

Getting started with salt! Here’s what I’m using for a fowlr setup while still sticking to a synthetic mix:

 

Picked Fauna Marin’s synthetic salt to eradicate the need for crud in a mixing bin compared to naturally derived mixes as the first thing I’m doing is filling up the 180G of tank volume directly with RO/DI water before mixing it with this salt. Opted for the regular Sea Salt as it’s 10bux cheaper and my system is going to be a fowlr(fish with live rock) without any plans for coral so it doesn’t require additional elements like calcium and alkalinity in higher quantities.

 

Hooked up my the 4-stage RO/DI to my garden hose and hid the entire unit in an outdoor storage bench for a clean install:

 

Keeping it hidden for a neat install.

 

Cut some pipe to create a waste water line down from the garage into the drain outside my house gate:

 

And the 0 tds water’s goin’ in! I expect a total of close to 9hours to fill up the main display.

 

 

 

 

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[soggycookies]

Just mixed all 25kg of the Fauna Marin Sea-salt bucket into my 180G system filled with RO-DI overnight for around 10-12hours.

An entire bucket yielded saltwater with a salinity of 1.024 specific gravity(32.5 ppt), perfect for my fowlr setup.




Gonna wait half a full day for the water to settle cause I mixed everything directly in my tank with a much larger water volume than a mixing barrel.


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[soggycookies]

Aquascaping planning..


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[R0B]

Looks like a fun project. Keep the updates coming.


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[soggycookies]

Planned for the aquascape with the balance of live rocks I had from a previous commission.



the final result in the display tank:


Initially I’d planned for a taller rockscape cause the tall DT(2.5ft high) afforded that, but realized I didn’t have enough large rocks for the middle column of support after the base rock. The end result could have been better but at least I managed to create a network of several caves for this aquascape, ideal for fish-only setups like the one I have in mind.

Even managed to create a top structure with a couple of volcano-like orifices at the peak:



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[soggycookies]

Finally got around to adding sand. For this setup, I went with Caribsea’s 1-2mm grain special grade, as I prefer my sand staying put or at the very least not get blown about by the flow in my tank. The still relatively small grain size will mean while it’s not the finest substrate it’s also still a viable habitat for sand-dwellers such as gobies and halichoeres wrasses.





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[soggycookies]

Water took about 2 days to clear after I added sand. Had I added the rock and sand before the water it’d probably have taken half the time. some pics of the process:

 

Once the water had looked relatively clear, I added some additional media into the sump as well as 3 clumps of chaetomorpha. Still contemplating whether to run the sump lights 24/7 or on a 12-hour cycle via a timer.

 

Nearly done!

[soggycookies]

Some finishing touches to the aquascape: a couple of structures I put together with some small rocks I attached together with DD’s epoxy/putty(in coralline algae colours, which I purchased way back in 2018 but forgot about completely).


Pretty satisfied with my aquascape for the 180G fowlr considering all this was done with balance rocks from older systems that weren’t the best pieces as the bulk of my best-looking rocks are already in the 300G.

Main viewing side(upon entering from the house gate):


Front:


View from the living room(indoor side):



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[soggycookies]

Finally added my first fish today: Meet Puffcake the locally collected longspine Porcupine Puffer!

happy camper.


he really loves the cave network in the aquascape



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[soggycookies]

Added some clean-up crew. I know it probably looks more like I’m introducing food than cuc in the form of a hermit crab in a tank with a porcupine puffer, but the latter doesn’t seem at all interested in the hermit crab- likely because it is a behemoth species: Dardanus megistos(the largest hermit crabs are of this genus).

A good thing for me cause the white-spotted hermit itself is such a beauty in the display tank itself.

 

 

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[superdoggiemojo]

coming along nice

[soggycookies]

Hooked up my RO/DI unit to the ATO reservoir(I’m using the larger IKEA laundry bin model of the same design as per my other thread for the 300G softie reef) for the weekly refill.


Clean and easy assembly and housing of the entire unit




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[soggycookies]

Besides the first addition of my Longspine Porcupine Puffer, I’ve more recently been stocking up on smaller and/or more delicate and gentle fish, such as these 2 halichoeres wrasses:

A transitioning Chain-Line Wrasse and a terminal male Erdmanni Wrasse.


I’ve also added a group of 4 juvenile teira batfishes, a 2-inch Feathery Filefish and surprise surprise: a Longhorn Cowfish! All of these are juveniles so I doubt I will be adding anything even semi-aggressive to this setup.

More photos to come.




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[soggycookies]

Just a small update this evening: my Cowfish, Porcupinefish and wrasse having a wee chat before getting utterly photobombed by one of my batfish!



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[soggycookies]

Couple shots of a new addition: my Pink-speckled shrimpgoby!




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[soggycookies]

Been a while since I last updated. Here are some recent additions of species that occur locally.

Feathery Filefish:

Red Breasted Maori Wrasse:

Shortnose Boxfish:


My long-term goal for this system is to create a biotope featuring fish species that can be found in Singapore, and the unique variety that can be found here despite our oft teh tarik- coloured waters.


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[soggycookies]

Been a very long time since I updated, but here’s a snapshot of my Scarlet-Breasted Maori Wrasse, one of my favorites among wrasses and a rather underrated species.




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