SDguy's 240g FOWLR upgrade!

[SDguy]

Believe it or not I still have this tank . It's been through a lot. I'll post details here one day. For now, here's a recent video.

[[G]h0s'][']

Good to see you’re still here, Peter. That fish look happy and that sand bed cleanliness is on my bucket list to achieve. Lol

[cboltsd]

Looks great man!!

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

[Funkateer_1]

Wait.... Is that the stripey I gave you? That thing is a dinosaur now

[pirate2876]

Whoa, Peter is still around?

[jason142]

Awesome seeing you still going Peter, was just talking about you the other day!

[SDguy]

Good to see you’re still here, Peter. That fish look happy and that sand bed cleanliness is on my bucket list to achieve. Lol

Ha! Thanks! I actually don't do much anymore with the sand.... gravel vacuum it maybe once every year or two. I think it is fine enough, and there is enough flow in the tank, that very little crap actually settles into it.

Looks great man!!

Thanks!

Wait.... Is that the stripey I gave you? That thing is a dinosaur now

Yup, still a few old timers in the tank. I mean, look at the size of that saddleback

Whoa, Peter is still around?

Creepers gotta creep

Awesome seeing you still going Peter, was just talking about you the other day!

My ears were burning!

[SDguy]

So here's my TL;DR update, for anyone interested.

2018 and 2019 were rough years for me, and therefore for the tank as well. Between work being insane, and some personal medical issues, I admit to a pretty severe amount of neglect towards the tank. Maybe 2 water changes total in that time, and basically throwing in some pellets once a day (at best) for food.


2020 has been a bit of a resurrection for the tank, and myself. At the end of 2019 I left my job of almost 20 years. Amazingly, all my medical issues apparently stayed with the job While I had only planned to take a few months off, a certain pandemic hit, and I ended up taking all 2020 off.
Changes to the tank itself at the start of 2020: I did a major deep clean of the neglected tank. The 2nd fuge with just LR had like 7” of detritus in the bottom of it. The rest of the filter/sump wasn’t much better. So I first did a major water change where all I did was clean the sump/fuges. I completely removed the LR from the 2nd fuge. Next, I deep cleaned the display LR and internal overflow. I set up a temporary second return pump, a strong one, to maximize flow from the tank to the sump. With a dozen pairs of clean filter socks ready, I started using a MJ1200 to blow clean every nook and cranny of the rock in the tank. You can imagine what a **** storm that was. Filter socks clogged quickly, and were replaced as needed. To clean the inside of the overflow, first I used a long brush throughout. Then I pumped water directly from the sump into the overflow, bypassing the actual tank. Again, multiple filter socks filled up. And of course, a good size 120g water change was finally done on the system, during which I gravel vacuumed ALL the sand. Again, nothing but grossness to be found LOL.


After the SWC300 skimmer pump died (and nothing available as a replacement, I replaced the entire skimmer with a Reef Octopus Regal 250INT 10" Internal Protein Skimmer (VarioS). I LOVE how quiet the DC pump is, so I also replaced my return pump with a Current Eflux DC pump.


I moved my Neptune AC Jr. from the reef (finally sold that tank too after sitting empty in my living room for years). The AC Jr. basically functions as a glorified light timer.


Lights: The tank originally had 2 x Blue PLUS and 2 x Fiji Purple T5. I added four 4ft TrueLumen Pro strips (2 x daylight, 2 x diamond white) just because I had them laying around for some reason. I also then added some 5050 LED accent lighting (the 5 meter strip rolls you can get from Amazon) 2 x 8ft red, 4 x 8ft violet. There are also 3 smaller LED units used for minor dusk/dawn/moonlight effect. With all these options, and the AC Jr. I can create/simulate all sorts of times of day. At no point during the day are all the lights on, however.


After the tank settled down, I began to restock. Still always using my QT – cupramine, prazi, nitrofuracin green powder, and other meds as needed. I also did metro in food in the main display after most additions were done.

Here’s the current stock list.


Amphiprion occelaris “gladiator” x 2
Apolemichthys trimaculatus
Apolemichthys xanthurus – currently in the fuge looking for a new home.
Chaetodon burgessi
Chaetodon ephippium
Chaetodon lunula x 2
Chaetodon vagabundus
Chaetodon kleini
Chaetodon ulietensis
Chrysiptera parasema x 2
Chrysiptera talboti
Ctenochaetus cyanocheilus
Ctenochaetus strigosus
Ctenochaetus tominiensis
Genicanthus lamarck – M/F pair
Halichoeres chrysus x 2
Halichoeres melanurus
Hemitaurichthys polylepis x 3
Hemitaurichthys zoster x 2
Holacanthus tricolor
Labroides dimidiatus
Microcanthus strigatus
Paracanthurus hepatus
Pomacanthus annularis - Tiny juvi.
Pomacanthus navarchus
Pomacentrus alleni
Pomacentrus coelestis
Salarias ramosus
Xanthichthys auromarginatus



I think that's it