Hey everyone! Been a long time fan of the rabbit holes of information on Reef2reef and figured this build deserved some proper documentation to hopefully one day become my very own rabbit hole!
The Backstory:
I've been keeping aquariums as far back as I can remember. Freshwater planted tanks were my first love but saltwater always intrigued me. After achieving my goals in the freshwater "high tech scene" I was ready for a new challenge and took the jump into reefing. The bug bit hard and I was instantly hooked. Fast forward 7 years and here I find myself embarking down the road to an sps dominant build.
I currently have a 10gallon aio sps dominant tank that is surviving but not thriving. The limited volume has been a real struggle keeping stable and the lighting is suboptimal and has alot of shading. The 80 that im planning to build is currently running and has been established for 4 years as a mixed reef that became overrun by RBTA's and GSP. It looks "nice" but it's time for some re-aquascaping. Sps have never done well in it in its current state and i chocked it up to running a high nutrient level, insufficient light, and not stable sps friendly params (hence the 10 gallon project).
The Plan:
I pulled all the RBTA's and any live rock that has even the slightest amount of GSP on it (about half the rockwork) and transferred to my frag tank.
To get nutrients/levels under control, I did an 80% water change with Tropic Marin Pro (same as I use in the sps nano) and shifted all the rockwork so I could siphon 100% of the sandbed. I added dry Marco rock to the top of my new scape.
For lighting I upgraded to 3 ai hydra 32hd with diffusers to get an even spread and higher average par.
Because this is essentially a remodel, i dont have to worry about a cycle as the majority of my existing liverock,sand, and bio media will be staying. The new rock added will probably go through an ugly phase but should seed fast and my CUC will keep algaes away. Im also going to keep my existing fish and mixed coral in the tank and then start moving the hardy sps in after a week to dial in the new parameters.
What I'm working with:
Tank: Deep Blue 80 gallon rimless RR
Lighting: 3 AI Hydra 32HD
Rock: ROUGHLY 50lb established live rock from existing system 40lb dry Marco rock
Flow: Ecotech Mp40 wqd, Jebao MLW-5
Return pump: Jebao Dct-4000
Skimmer: Reef Octopus Classic 200 Int
Heater: Eheim Jager 300w
Heater Controller: Finnex max-300
Ato: IceCap dual optical
Refugium lighting: Kessil a160we
Chemical Filtration: Dual Stage Reactor (currently running carbon as needed not 24/7)
Sump: Acrylic Single compartment w/single filter sock
Dosing: Jebao 3.4 4 channel doser
Salt: Tropic Marine Syn-biotic at 1.026
Additives: Kalkwasser (brs), Mag (brs), All4Reef (tropic marine), Acropower, Bacto-Balance (tropic marin), KZ Flatworm Stop
Feeding: Reefroids, Rods, PE mysis, frozen brine shrimp, Ken's Fish Ultra Marine Flake, New life Spectrum Pellets + garlic, BRS nori sheets
Fish/CUC: Vlamingi Tang, Yellow Tang, Hippo Tang, 2 turquoise Chromis, 2 Ocellaris Clownfish, Azure Damsel, Pink Smith Damsel, Gold head sleeper Goby, Banded Coral Shrimp,Blue Tuxedo Urchin, Tiger Cucumber, blue legged hermit crabs, conch, turbo snails, nassarius snails
There will be many pictures to come, video updates on my YouTube/Instagram Cloud9Aquariums, and of course all the down and dirty fish geek details will be dropped here.
Grab a beer this is gonna be a good one
The Backstory:
I've been keeping aquariums as far back as I can remember. Freshwater planted tanks were my first love but saltwater always intrigued me. After achieving my goals in the freshwater "high tech scene" I was ready for a new challenge and took the jump into reefing. The bug bit hard and I was instantly hooked. Fast forward 7 years and here I find myself embarking down the road to an sps dominant build.
I currently have a 10gallon aio sps dominant tank that is surviving but not thriving. The limited volume has been a real struggle keeping stable and the lighting is suboptimal and has alot of shading. The 80 that im planning to build is currently running and has been established for 4 years as a mixed reef that became overrun by RBTA's and GSP. It looks "nice" but it's time for some re-aquascaping. Sps have never done well in it in its current state and i chocked it up to running a high nutrient level, insufficient light, and not stable sps friendly params (hence the 10 gallon project).
The Plan:
I pulled all the RBTA's and any live rock that has even the slightest amount of GSP on it (about half the rockwork) and transferred to my frag tank.
To get nutrients/levels under control, I did an 80% water change with Tropic Marin Pro (same as I use in the sps nano) and shifted all the rockwork so I could siphon 100% of the sandbed. I added dry Marco rock to the top of my new scape.
For lighting I upgraded to 3 ai hydra 32hd with diffusers to get an even spread and higher average par.
Because this is essentially a remodel, i dont have to worry about a cycle as the majority of my existing liverock,sand, and bio media will be staying. The new rock added will probably go through an ugly phase but should seed fast and my CUC will keep algaes away. Im also going to keep my existing fish and mixed coral in the tank and then start moving the hardy sps in after a week to dial in the new parameters.
What I'm working with:
Tank: Deep Blue 80 gallon rimless RR
Lighting: 3 AI Hydra 32HD
Rock: ROUGHLY 50lb established live rock from existing system 40lb dry Marco rock
Flow: Ecotech Mp40 wqd, Jebao MLW-5
Return pump: Jebao Dct-4000
Skimmer: Reef Octopus Classic 200 Int
Heater: Eheim Jager 300w
Heater Controller: Finnex max-300
Ato: IceCap dual optical
Refugium lighting: Kessil a160we
Chemical Filtration: Dual Stage Reactor (currently running carbon as needed not 24/7)
Sump: Acrylic Single compartment w/single filter sock
Dosing: Jebao 3.4 4 channel doser
Salt: Tropic Marine Syn-biotic at 1.026
Additives: Kalkwasser (brs), Mag (brs), All4Reef (tropic marine), Acropower, Bacto-Balance (tropic marin), KZ Flatworm Stop
Feeding: Reefroids, Rods, PE mysis, frozen brine shrimp, Ken's Fish Ultra Marine Flake, New life Spectrum Pellets + garlic, BRS nori sheets
Fish/CUC: Vlamingi Tang, Yellow Tang, Hippo Tang, 2 turquoise Chromis, 2 Ocellaris Clownfish, Azure Damsel, Pink Smith Damsel, Gold head sleeper Goby, Banded Coral Shrimp,Blue Tuxedo Urchin, Tiger Cucumber, blue legged hermit crabs, conch, turbo snails, nassarius snails
There will be many pictures to come, video updates on my YouTube/Instagram Cloud9Aquariums, and of course all the down and dirty fish geek details will be dropped here.
Grab a beer this is gonna be a good one
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