The trials and tribulations of my 57 rimless

[stazitto25]

In February of 2013 I started running a 57 rimless with the intention of starting a mixed reef. In the year and half that I have had the tank running I have had many experiences and learned a great deal. My intention for this tank thread is to share my experiences and spread some knowledge, as well as hopefully learn some things from your posts and replies.

 

[stazitto25]

Chapter 1 - 57 Rimless Build and after thoughts...

First off, I had been eyeballing this tank from my freshwater days and had always wanted it. When I decided to light my tank with a single Kessil a350w spotlight I purchased this tank because there was no center brace. I purchased dry Pukani rock which was cured/cycled in a 35 gallon brute trash can, as well as treated with PhosFree for phosphate leaching. I purchased this rock as it was very visually appealing and would be free of pests. Below is a list of everything else in my current setup, although it has changed some over the past year and a half:

ATI 6 bulb Powermodule - Switched from Kessil a350w
Reef Octopus NWB150 Skimmer
MP 40w
Jebao 25
Phosban and Carbon Reactor
Tunze Osmulator
BRS dosers for two part dosing
Neptune Apex with Lab grade PH probe
Eheim 3000 return pump

The tank was great for the first 6 months I had it up. My coral collection was slim and included a Birds of Paradise, a zoanthid, torch/hammer, and a few Capricornis. I also had a bubble tip anemone. My fish list was two clowns, a fire fish, a chromis and a small yellow tang. Everything was going great and my tank was on autopilot until I decided to move, that's when I started having the first of many problems. With some advise from this forum, I managed to move the tank and set everything up in one weekend. Within two days my sand, which was brand new, turned bright red. This was not cyano bacteria and it seemed to come and go as it pleased with no rhyme or reason. To this day, nearly one year later, my sand still does this. About 2 weeks in I had my very first hair algae problem. I tooth brushed it off and did not see any more hair algae for a few months.

My review of the 57 rimless is mixed. I love the look of this tank including the center overflow. Although the overflow is oversized IMO, it still leaves room for a variety of rockscapes and visually I am very pleased with the way everything turned out. Although I love the look, I have had problems getting my flow right for what has turned out to be an SPS dominated tank. If I could do it over again with this tank, I would split the return to have it coming out of both sides of the overflow, not just one. I would also probably invest in another mp40 or possibly an mp10. I find that the center overflow blocks a large amount of the flow from my MP40 which leads to dead spots and just doesn't give my SPS the optimal flow. I feel the same way about the stand. I think it looks great and fits the style of the tank well, but it is extremely hard to clean the sump. Overall I would recommend this tank to someone else if they were interested in purchasing it.

<img src="http://www.manhattanreefs.com/gallery/files/3/3/5/4/3/tank_shot_1.jpg" alt="Tank Shot 1" />

<img src="http://www.manhattanreefs.com/gallery/files/3/3/5/4/3/tank_shot_2.jpg" alt="Tank Shot 2" />

 

[thirty6]

Looks pretty nice, put few more pics up

 

[stazitto25]

Chapter Two - Montipora Eating Nudibranchs

A few weeks after I moved my tank I was checking out my capricornis and noticed something white and fuzzy on the underside of it. I thought nothing of it at the time until I looked a few days later and noticed that there were more white fuzzy things on the underside of all of my capricornis. I immediately researched and found that I had Montipora Eating Nudibranchs. Of course I was concerned as many of the threads I read said that people have lost colonies and tore down their beloved tanks because of these pests. I immediately moved the capricornis to a quarantine tank and began treatment.

What Didn't Work:

First thing I did was dip. I dipped in a few different solutions which all killed the nudibranchs, however it did not kill their eggs and they continued to come back. Next I dipped some more. This time however I scraped the bottom of each capricornis and then dipped. This also did not work as there must have been eggs I could not see or get to. At this point I was ready to just throw the frags out and cut my losses. The frags were brown with zero PE and were starting to turn white in the spots where the nudibranchs were focused.

What Did Work:

I was all researched out and ready to give up when my girlfriend stepped in and came across one random thread with the answer. What this person did was dip, scrape, and crazy glue over the entire bottom of his capricornis. Even though this was the only thread we came across that tried this, we decided to go for it. We watched the capricornis for three months and never saw another nudibranch again. In those three months the capricornis grew over the crazy glue entirely, colored back up, and began to grow again. As a side note about the thread we located, I would like to add that this person spot treated with crazy glue and it worked for him. I just decided to go over the whole bottom as an experiment. It has been 11 months and safe to say that the nudibranchs are gone for good.

 

[stazitto25]

Recent pictures of my capricornis

 

[saltwaterinbrooklyn]

The 57 rimless is a tank for some but not everyone , I loved the 57 when I saw the deep blue, but I was lucky enough to get my 57 for free from a friend, and it was the oceanic 57 so the overflow was significantly smaller than the deep blue , overall it is a great tank and with dual ai sol units over it , I totally love mine , keep the pics coming , great thread.