New tank for Bimac

[RCLasley]

Hi guys

Just wanted to start a thread on my Octopus journey!

70 gallon tall drilled aquarium with a built in overflow and a 20 gallon sump!

We have about 25lbs of established live rock and 50lbs of dry rock we added. There is approximately 50 lbs of live aragonite sand as well. We glued and epoxied the dry rock together (using reef safe products) letting it sit for 24 hours before starting the tank to make sure we had a nice strong bond. Happy to say it was stuck together insanely firm! Then placed our established rock in ways if it was moved it wouldn’t hurt the octo or the tank.

We have a protein skimmer to accommodate the heavy bio load and will have a refugium to go along with it. Our power head will be covered before we order the octo to prevent any curious arms from getting tangled up. We will be getting our chiller this weekend.

My LED lighting will be here in a few more days.

Suggestions for octo-proof lids are welcomed. We have a hood to go over the top of the aquarium to hide anything along with the standard glass lid it came with.

I was thinking adding some sort of filter mesh/netting or something to cover the over flow box. With Bimacs larger size do I need to find something cover the slats drilled into overflow box? They are small but I’ve never seen an octopus beak in real life to have a size idea.

If there is anything I need to do in addition to what I have done please educate me! Thanks guys

*The pictures were taken right after moving some of the rocks so if it appears a little cloudy that is why*

 

[Tomh]

I have kept chocolate chip starfish and snails with Bimacs! Snails may get eaten but it’s not a favorite as far as I’ve seen and they are cheap! . I have never tried Urchins? Thanks

 

[RCLasley]

I have kept chocolate chip starfish and snails with Bimacs! Snails may get eaten but it’s not a favorite as far as I’ve seen and they are cheap! . I have never tried Urchins? Thanks

My only concern is trying to find what species do well in colder water!

 

[RCLasley]

~Just wanted to post an update on the tank~

pH- 8.2
Ammonia- 0
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- 5
Temp- 71

We have a JBJ 1/10 chiller with a Siice pump I haven’t set up yet but will closer to the time of bringing the octo home.

We have quite a few various snails, 20-30 hermits, 2 emerald crabs, peppermint shrimp, and a red serpent star all doing great. I’ve been heavy feeding the tank to make sure it can accommodate the large bio load and have not seen a spike in ammonia or nitrates despite that since the initial cycle completion.

The diatoms stage resolved itself after about 3 weeks!!

We do a weekly 10% water change and change the filter sock and the filter floss every 3-4 days.

The macoalgae in the refugium seems to be doing a good job keeping nitrates in check.

Our pod population seems to be growing quite nicely. I had some come in on the live rock we purchased and I also seeded the tank about a month ago. I plan to add at least one more round before we get our Octo.

When I purchased this tank (used reef tank) it came pre-plumbed. Whoever plumbed it must not have had the intention of using a lid because the return pipes stick up higher than where the lid would fit flush. After lots of headaches I was able to get in contact with a company (Reefin Ain’t EZY) and they are making me a lid that will accommodate this problem while also making every adjustment in their power to contain an octo. Once we get the lid we will get the 3M version of Velcro that’s supposedly stronger than average Velcro to help conceal the tank. We should have the lid mid March. By that time our tank will be over 3 months old and will be ready to welcome our new family member home!