illumnae's 4x2x2 "Predator Reef"
 

Hi all, it's been really quiet in the hobby lately, so I decided to spice things up a couple months back by replacing my living room 4x2x2 tank with a marine tank of the same dimensions. Been in the wild discus hobby for coming 6 years already, and I've done all I set out to do since the start of that hobby, so it's about time for a change!

The tank specs are as follows:

Tank: 4x2x2 120 gallons with 40 inch sump (inc refugium compartment)
Return pump: Eheim 1264
Lights: Maxspect Razor 300W
Chiller: Hailea HS-90a with Eheim 1260 pump
Skimmer: Bubble Magus c9
Wavemakers: Jebao WP-40 x2 with twin controller
Sand: Caribsea Aragonite Reef Sand 80lbs
Hardscape: Aquaroche ceramic designer live rock
FR: Enductor FR-45 with Eheim Compact+ 2000 pump running NPX biopellets

Cycled the tank using 4 different types of BB products and a large whole raw market prawn. The BB products worked, and ammonia/nitrites tested at 0 and nitrates tested positive by day 4.

The plan for this tank is to have 7 different species of lionfish (all the common dwarf and medium body species) with some tankmates in a mixed reef tank - NPS, LPS and some hardy SPS.

So far, I've managed to gather 3 of the 4 dwarf species, and am still trying to get the 3 medium body species. Pity I won't be able to keep the majestic volitans lionfish, but it grows too large to be comfortable in a 4x2x2. Perhaps I will be able to keep it next time if I get a larger saltwater tank!

Here's a FTS of how the tank currently looks - the lions are very small but 2 of them can be spotted in the picture if you look closely.

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x...pssb3vcdp2.jpg

Mmm you will have a challenge keeping the parameters optimal if you have SPS/LPS and predatory fishes due to the bioload. Probably getting soft corals would be easier.

Maybe 1 big showpiece in a mixed reef would be nice :D

Nice tank bro.. Care to advice est. price for the equipment?

I'll "downgrade" the corals if need be :). Most of the corals are NPS/LPS with just a few hardy SPS frags that are just there to test water. LPS are definitely growing well as I'm already finding the need to dose calcium, kh and magnesium. They are also fully extended during lighting period.

I have lots of nutrient removal on this tank too. Oversized skimmer, biopellet reactor and a large refugium. Current parameters are nitrate under 2 and phosphate under 0.03, both almost undetectable.

Equipment list is stated bro, price best to check with retailers yourself.

So gonna keep lionfish? Frog fish? Used to keep them...love the way they hunt...not forgetting the reef/cat sharks:)

Hey bro, tank too small for the sharks! Not planning on frogfish, but there's a yellow leaf fish that caught my eye...

Sorry bro . U mean yr tank is fully cycled in day 4 ? How u do that ?

Threw in a dead prawn on day 0 together with a full bottle of ATM Colony Marine + Double dose of Brightwell Aquatics Microbacter 7 + Double dose of Microbe-Lift Nite-Out II + 2 ampules of Prodibio Biodigest + Double dose of Seachem Stability. Thereafter, daily double dose of Microbacter 7, Nite-Out II, Stability and 1 ampule of Biodigest. Daily tests of Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates. Ammonia and Nitrites never appeared, but Nitrate spike occured on day 4.

Kept the tank running with clean up crew (just snails) for the rest of the week with continued daily dose of Microbacter 7, Nite-Out II, Stability and 1 ampule of Biodigest with daily tests of Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates. Nitrates going up, and still no Ammonia and Nitrites. End of the week I started adding corals and fish with no in-tank casualties so far. The only deaths have occurred in the QT tank with newly imported unstable fish.

Keep some predatory fishes la...seahorse? love those angels also...queen, flame majestic angels but they bite the soft corals like butterflies so cannot...

Lionfish and leaf fish are predatory ma bro haha.

Current stock list:

Potteri Angel
Golden Angel
Kole Tang
2x Yellowfin Flasher Wrasse
Fu Manchu Lionfish
Dwarf Fuzzy Lionfish
Dwarf Zebra Lionfish
Mombassa Lionfish
Antennata Lionfish
6x Sunburst Anthias

Tank is now very lively!