Latest updates

Moved all the sps and most of my LPs to a 20 gallon aio system. Tanks has been doing great since splitting the bio load with another system.

Longhorn Cow needs some attention.

My live rock disappeared after seven years. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to see my live rock.

TL;DR: Copepods are visibly thriving on the sandbed. Kalkwasser dialed in at 7.5 dKH. Three new corals arrive Tuesday. Dead snails removed. GFO on hand. Everything is stable.

The Pod Discovery
Yesterday: thousands of copepods visible on the sandbed. Not hiding in the rocks, not microscopic — visibly crawling everywhere under the lights.

Tisbe and Apocyclops from Pod Your Reef are establishing and reproducing. Fed by AB+ dosing every other day. At 79°F in a stable system, they’re in their happy place. Doubling every 2–4 weeks.

Kalkwasser Dialed
The gravity-fed dosing system is working. Here’s the journey:
• Apr 14: 6.9 dKH baseline (corals consuming faster than replacement)
• Apr 15: 6.6 dKH (check valve was blocking drip)
• Apr 16: Removed backflow preventer, opened airline valve
• Apr 17: 7.1 dKH (drip working, added 2-gallon water change)
• Apr 18: 7.5 dKH (stable, holding)
• Apr 19: 6.8 dKH (didn’t refill dosing container yesterday — lesson learned)
• Apr 20, 5:45 AM: 7.5 dKH again (fresh batch + consistent refilling)
The key insight: Kalkwasser systems work, but you have to refill the dosing container daily. Miss a day and the container level drops, flow slows, alk drops. Simple math, but easy to forget.
The evaporation guard tradeoff: Kraken Reef lid is working too well. Less evaporation = fewer ATO cycles = slower kalkwasser delivery. Removing the guard temporarily to increase evaporation and ATO frequency until alk holds consistently. Once parameters stabilize post-corals (week 6–7), putting it back and dialing drip rate accordingly.
This is the real lesson of reef-keeping: every system affects every other system. Installing a lid changes evaporation, which changes ATO firing, which changes kalkwasser delivery, which changes alk stability. It’s a web.

Dead Snails & Ammonia Spike
Found a couple stinky snails in the empties I’d removed during the initial CUC check. They were decomposing and spiked ammonia to 0.25 ppm (API test — false read). Hanna ammonia checker showed 0.07 ppm (trace, normal).
Removed all questionable snails. Ammonia dropping back to zero. This is what an established cycle does — one small ammonia source, the bacteria process it without drama.
Current CUC count: ~60 snails + 1 conch. Quality over quantity.

GFO Arrived
Kolar Labs HC GFO (700g jar) arrived. Phosphate at 0.25 ppm still high (target 0.03–0.1 ppm).

Starting conservative. Gradual phosphate reduction = no coral stress. Going in today after the new corals settle.

Wave 2 Corals — Tuesday
Order placed and arriving:
• Pandora Zoanthids — vibrant, hardy soft coral
• Aussie Teal Duncan — beautiful LPS, branching, low aggression
• LA Lakers Scroll — underrated LPS, unique coloration
All three established vendors.

Added a few NPS

After the last flash sale, added some to the tank thanks to WWC and Alex!

Loving how the tank is coming together and wild to have a mixed reef (which has been the dream) after only 10 months.

The Wife and kids chipped in and bought me a beautiful PC Rainbow fragrance and a new Yellow Tang for my BD! Both tge frag and YT are stunning. I long story short I acquired a YT a few months back from Biota ant it was doing great and growing but my dam Powder Blue harassed it relentlessly until it killed it. Well the PBT has been re-homed and eventually I was planning on getting a new YT. My family beat me to it and added the PC Rainbow to the mix. Both are stunning! I want to thank my friends @Pieces of the Ocean for helping my wife! Especially Jessica and Chris as both were a surprise I was unaware of. My family at POTO are the best!

I looking good and they start growing really fast. Im cycling my nyos g2 440 and after the vacation i will swap tanks.

Reef update

Tank has gone through alot, equipment failures the death of coral and livestock, blood sweat tears, many hours and alot of my money put in for crap that barely works. Overall its been quite the journey to stability with many lessons to take in. I remember first starting the saltwater hobby and many saying it was therapeutic and relaxes you and even though personally it couldn’t be further from the truth this slice of ocean is definitely worth every last struggle

So, ok. I have changed from running two pump to a single pump and a wave maker. I have added a ton of live stock (coral), and unfortunately lost my lawnmower blenny. I have began to dose kalk, and I have reduced the amount of waters changes to improve the nutrient levels. I have also begun to feed the coral. Check out my tank thread for better updates.

Some new photos!

We are free of nitrates and GHA
We have added:
Lyretail anthias
Arrow crab
Two hammers: one green one blue.
Longnose hawkfish
Rose BTA split
REMORA has boosted in efficiency I'll have to re3d print the part to make it as efficient as possible.

Moved a couple things around. Its getting close to time for the monti plates to get a trim. They are starting to shade everything again.

The title is foreshadowing because this is a historical account thus far, rather than a current blog. I suppose I'll catch up eventually. I must say being fresh to saltwater (you see what I did there? :) I am quite sure I had the completely wrong vision in my head when building this scape for two reasons. Firstly, the influence for a reef tank initiated from freshwater youtubers with macro algae tanks, which I was absolutely sure that was direction I was headed. I was completely uneducated about how the whole layout and light thing works with coral if I should happen to change my mind. Secondly, the Hello Reef videos suggested an arch (apparently my mind is weaker to suggestion than I am aware of. I've always thought when watching Star Wars the Jedi mind trick would NEVER work on me. Now, I am not so sure... lol) Thus, I went with an arch. In retrospect it was a bad idea. Nevertheless, Here is how it started with the build of the scape.

As a lifelong freshwater keeper (well almost life), my first fish was a Betta about too long years ago. As we all do, I've delved deeply into the hobby and have experienced life breaks. With my current aquarium obsession, I began to admire British you tubers and that's where it all began. The influencers, the curiosity, the dreams of what I, what my reef aquarium could be. One part of the hobby that enthuses me the most is the learning, the research of it all. But how can I experience the unknown and unexplored to me. Can I take a chance?

The New Beginning

I am quite a lazy keeper of freshwater aquariums. The planted tank, both beautiful and low maintenance was intriguing. But alas, the saltwater planted tank was also just as beautiful, new creatures, new adventures and new exploration. Could I? I? The one who had spend so many years dedicated to one side of the hobby cross over. Now you may wonder what was the tipping point. Hmmm.... It was the influence.... in my area a LFS had everything you could want all freshwater and a fully stocked saltwater array. The plan was to do an fact finding mission, investigation if you will. Maybe I'll invest in a new saltwater aquarium or I'll just add some stock to my freshwater tanks. Not a wasted trip. No. Just an exploration of the unknown. A walk on the side of salinity.

Hello Reef? But I'm not new ....

During my investigation, or reconnaissance mission at the LFS I looked at all the fancy saltwater aquariums. Now, I had watched many "budget saltwater" videos that explained about using regular tanks and HOB. I had an empty tank and some spare HOB but if I am going to dip my toes. I wanted to do it right. Now, I had it all planned out... I'd ask my LFS for their recommendation..... They'd recommend a Red Sea Cube (I didn't know, don't @ me ... lol) I'd go that's expensive but I'll do it. So after walking around the store, it was the moment, I said well I am thinking about trying out saltwater aquariums. To my surprise they recommended Hello Reef. I said well okay. Now he explained, I could recommend a different set-up but you'd think I'm just trying to sell you things, this kit is good and comes with everything you need. Now that sounded like honesty if I've ever heard it. So I trusted him and purchased it. I purchased a few other items and the water and I was off. But in the back of my mind... I thought Hello Reef, isn't that for newbies... I'm not new!

Updated photos . Tank is doing well. Having an issue with nightmare palys growing out of control covering all of my rock. Thinking about a larger Aquarium…

Lots homes with the tank.. custom elements added from reef quest making a huge difference !! But also will be all going up for sale and refining soon as I’m having a tank 3 times the size and can’t fit this one as well. So starting again