Nemanthias carberryi

I started my planning for this tank (125g reef) with the animals in mind. My primary goal is to be able to keep a good number of fish. I love Anthias! A school of 8-10 Carberry Anthias would be awesome for this aquarium. I also have a list of several other fish that I would like to keep.

With such a high fish load I decided to stay away from the more demanding SPS (small polyp scleractinian) corals. Anthias require feedings about 3-4 times a day. This aggressive feeding will create a higher amount of nutrients and dissolved organics. SPS require a low nutrient environment to maintain growth and coloration. LPS and soft corals seem to be a more natural choice for this style aquarium.

I would also like to stay away from having to use a chiller. Using primarily T5 lighting will hopefully allow me to keep the temperature in the 76-78 degree range. I have also chosen some very efficient return and flow pumps in an effort to control temps.

My one other goal was to have a separate fish room for the majority of the equipment. I would like to keep noise to minimum level as this room is also a home office. Having the sump, refugium, return pumps, skimmer, etc. in another room behind the tank should keep the display side pretty quiet. On to the list...

Livestock

Fish
Carnivores
10- Threadfin Anthias Nemanthias carberryi  (39)
1- male, 9- females

Herbivores
1- Tomini Tang Ctenochaetus tominiensis (6)

Omnivores
2- Percula Clownfish Amphiprion percula (6)
5- Bluestreak Cardinalfish Apogon leptecanthus (12)

I have seen several different recommendations on stocking levels for saltwater tanks. I like the 1/2" of adult fish per gallon rule. This will give me a stocking level of about 62” of adult fish. The number () after each fish is the total inches for the fish at adult size.

The Threadfin Anthias is really the main fish and the primary animal in this aquarium. I am steering all of my planning around housing this fish. Anthias require feedings about 3-4 times a day to stay truly healthy. Feeding 4 times a day and keeping the water clean seems to be the main hurdle with Anthias. I am thinking that the the two auto feeders will help feed the Anthias. The auto feeders can be loaded with pellet food and/or freeze dried cyclopeeze and set to go off a couple times a day. This auto feeding along with me feeding frozen foods in the morning and at night should be more than enough to meet Anthias feeding requirements. I will likely have to experiment with the auto feeders to get the correct amounts of food.

The Tomini Tang will be my obligatory herbivore. I am going to avoid keeping a large number of hermit crabs in this tank and will need the Tang to round out my cleanup crew. This will also be the largest fish in the tank.

I guess that it would be difficult to set up a reef tank and not include Nemo (Percula Clown). That was about the first question my daughter asked, "are you gonna get a Nemo"?

The Cardinalfish will probably be the first fish in the tank. I will add these guys after I set up the tank to help mature the system for a few months before I add the Anthias and other fish.

Soft corals
Zoanthid Zoanthus sp.
Mushroom Coral Actinodiscus
Ricordea Ricodea florida
Green Polyp Toadstool Leather Sarcophyton sp.
Fiji Yellow Leather Sarcophyton elegans
Green Finger Leather Sinularia
Green Pineapple Tree Capnella
Clove Polyp Clavularia

Hard Corals
Orange Plate Coral Montipora Capricornus
Red Blasto Blastomussa
Red Open Brain Trachyphyllia sp.
Green Candy Cane Caulastrea
Frogspawn Euphyllia

I have most of these corals already sitting in my propagation tanks ready to add to my 125 when it is ready. Most of the corals are in the frag state and keeping in the prop tanks for a few months will allow them to grow out before adding them to my display. 

Inverts
20- Nassarius Sand Snails (O)
20- Cerith Snails (O)
20- Astrea Snails (H)

5- Red Reef Hermits (H)

1- Spotted Linkia Starfish

1 - Bubble Tip Anemone

The Bubble Tip is really a key species. I plan to have two seperate seamounts (reef structures) in the tank in the hopes of partially isolating the Anemone and creating a key territory for the Clownfish.

I really like the idea of having enough room for a starfish in this tank. The Spotted Linkcia is red/orange in color and will make a great foreground creature.

I will probably have to add larger numbers of snails and hermits for cleanup but this seemed to be a good number to start with.

Live Sand & Live Rock

40Lbs Dry Aragonite
80Lbs Arag-Alive Sand
90lbs Fiji Premium

These weight on the live sand and live rock are just a guess as to how much I will actually need. I really am not sure on how much rock it will take to "scape" the reef. I am guessing that I will need less than normal as I am planning a large open area in the center of the tank with two separate reefs. This will allow me to build up live rock structures in front of each overflow.

I may be way over on the sand? I don't want to have more than 1.5 inches or so in the display. The DSB will be in the refugium and can be removed/replaced if needed.

Aquarium & Plumbing

Overflow Diagram

125 Gallon Megaflow Aquarium (72x18x22)
AGA Modern Black Stand (18x72x34)
30 Gallon Sump 36x12x16
30 Gallon Refugium 36x12x16
2 - Megaflow Kits
2- GenX 1500 400 GPH at 20 Watts (800GPH Total
Mag 3 - for refugium
Dart 3600 GPH (Closed Loop) 
Oceans Motions 4-way (Closed Loop)
Pacific Coast RPS-1000 Skimmer
Mini-Jet 606 Feed Pump (for skimmer)

I have always loved the look of the 125g 6 foot aquarium. The proportions are very nicely balanced and there is plenty of room for aquascaping. The All-Glass Modern series stand is super nice as far as looks and seems to be well built. The overflow kits from All-Glass fit this tank and include the bulkheads, drain and return. These are sort of a "Durso style" design and will likely perform well.

The sump and refugium will be in the fish room behind the tank. I had a previous tank set up in this spot and the drain and returns were plumbed through the wall. I should be able to use those same holes for plumbing this aquarium.

The sump is a 36 x12 x 16 (30g) with acrylic baffles installed to make a skimmer section, center section for feeding the refugium and a pump return section. Baffles help to maintain water at a consistent level for the skimmer making adjustment a bit easier. The pump section will be effected by evaporation so this is where the ATO (auto top off) float switch will go.

Plumbing drawing

The Gen-X pumps seem to be about the most efficient as far as GPH/watt. The 1500's run 400 GPH at only 20 watts! These two pumps will be the main returns for the system. I am only shooting for 3-5 times the display volume/hour for the turnover through the sump. This will hopefully eliminate problems with microbubbles that I have had on some of my previous tanks.

The refugium is a 36 x12 x 16 (30g) with a single hole drilled on the left back for a drain to the sump. The refugium supply from the sump is driven by a MAG 3 pump with a spraybar style return. The spraybar should distribute the water evenly through the refugium. The refugium will contain a 5-6” deep sand bed and a few pieces of live rock. Cheatomorpha macro algae will be used to help export some nutrients. The sand will be maintained by a group of Cerith snails. Light will be supplied by a 36” 42w T5 fixture (Aqualight).

Refugium plumbed upstream from the Sump

The refugium will have about 10 times the volume/hour for flow. The Mag 3 may be slightly undersized for this but it will only have about 2 feet of head pressure so it should be close to the correct flow as the refugium will probably only have a net volume of about 20-22 gallons.

Tough flow choice between the Nano Stream and Sequence Dart. The Dart won.

The Dart Pump pushes 3600GPH. With the flow provided from the return pumps I should have well over 4000 GPH of flow in the aquarium. This level of flow should turn over the tank no less than 32 times the display volume per hour!

The OM 4-way distributes the output from the Dart to 4 different nozzles. A rotating drum inside the device alternates the output providing a randomnes to the flow.

The Pacific Coast RPS-1000 protein skimmer has great potential. It is super efficient using only 24 watts for the recirculating needle wheel and 6 watts for the feed pump (Mini-jet 606). I have mine running on a big rubbermaid container with my curing live rock and it is pulling some serious skimmate.

Lighting

AGA Modern Black Canopy (18x72)
4- 36” 2x39w IceCap Retrofits
2- Actinic +
4- Pure Actinic
4- AquaBlue
2- GE 6500K

4- Canopy Fans
2 – Timers

Most of the corals I am planning fall in the LPS and soft coral category. While most of these have moderate light requirements a few still require intense lighting. The aquascape will be two seamounts with one in front of each overflow.

I am considering only using 5 strips instead of 6. Not sure?

The primary lighting for my tank will be T5 HO. The Ice Cap reflectors have a good reputation. With the spec T5 ballasts, the Giesemann and GE lamps I should have a good balance of spectrum and intensity.

Accessories

ATO
pH Controller
pH Monitor
Digital Thermometer
Salinity monitor
Intermatic FD32H Reverse timer for return Pumps
2- Auto Feeders (for Anthias)
CAP Air-2 Temp/Humidity controller
2- Jager 250w Heaters
Gutter Guard (overflow guards)

The auto feeders are for the Anthias (see below).

The Intermatic reverse timer has a timer dial that can be set for 30 minutes. This will turn the circulation pumps off and allow me to broadcast feed the corals without everything getting sucked up by the skimmer or refugium. The nano streams should keep the food in suspension in the display allowing the corals to feed on phyto or zooplankton. After 30 minutes the timer will turn the circulation pumps back on. I have been feeding the corals in my propagation tanks like this for quite some time and have had good results.

I will probably use the reverse timer in the mornings to cut off the Ocean Runner returns for about 30 minutes while I am feeding the fish. This will also give me the opportunity to feed phtyo and zooplankton for the corals while the main lights are still off.

The gutter guard material is a plastic screen type material that will be placed on the overflows to helps keep fish and snails out of the overflows.