125g Reef and Seagrass 2-in-1!

ThePurple12

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Hey! You've found the build thread for my 125g tank.

The system has been set up for 6 months, but it began as a 30g I set up 2.5 years ago.

Half the tank is a reef with SPS, LPS, and anemones, and the other half is a dirty sand bed dedicated to seagrass and macroalgae. The tank is lit by 2 blackbox LEDs and 2 250w metal halides, 10,000k and 6,500k.

Livestock

Fish:
-bicolor blenny
-ocellaris clownfish pair
-female bluestripe pipefish (I'm currently looking for a male)
-engineer goby
-yellow watchman goby pair
-cleaner wrasse
-coral beauty angelfish
-lawnmower blenny

Corals/anemones:
-magnifica anemone
-8 or 9 bubble tip anemones
-candy cane
-various Acropora and Montipora
-bird's nest
-purple gorgonian
-hammer coral

Plants:
-tons of Gracilaria hayi
-Sargassum
-Codium
-shoal grass
-Johnson's seagrass

Pictures coming up.
 
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ThePurple12

ThePurple12

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Thanks!

Its going through a bit of a cyano phase...
8F90AB86-72BD-4FDE-8DA8-8B019DC243B4.jpeg
 
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ThePurple12

ThePurple12

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For some unknown reason the seagrass isn’t doing too well. I’ve tried upgrading the lights, dosing nitrates, and fertilizing the sand bed, but I haven’t seen a new shoot of shoal grass in months. The Johnson’s grass is doing OK.
 
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ThePurple12

ThePurple12

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Anyone know what this NPS coral is? I found it 2 years ago in Florida washed up on the beach. I took it home with me and it's been living in my tank ever since. It hasn't grown at all, probably because I've only been feeding it Reef Chili every few days. I'm gonna try feeding it more.
IMG_2773.JPG
 
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ThePurple12

ThePurple12

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A lot has happened in the past several weeks.

That big acropora colony was overtaken and killed by dinoflagellates. I saved a few frags and glued them in place of the old colony.

The dinoflagellates are finally gone, I think adding a DIY algae turf scrubber really solved the problem.

Since the dinoflagellates are gone, the shoal grass is finally growing! I think what happened is the dinos were constantly covering the grass, smothering it and stopping photosynthesis.
 

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ThePurple12

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Yup, the only reason I don't have tangs is because I'm afraid they'll eat the seagrass. I had a yellow that did, and I had to return it. I might try a blue hippo, as they're supposed to be more planktivorous.
 
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ThePurple12

ThePurple12

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The seagrass is actually growing now! Here's a recent FTS:
IMG_4303.JPG


Now I need to work on getting those corals to thrive. I've raised my alk from 5.5 to 8-9, and calcium from 340 to 420. Not sure why I let them get so low in the first place. I'm using Randy's 2 part recipe.
 
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ThePurple12

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any update?
Looks like your Candy Cane Coral took off too!
It sure did! The Klein’s butterfly started picking at it unfortunately, hopefully it won’t do too much damage.

I'm battling dinos again. I really need to get my nutrients up-- n and p are both at 0. I blame the ATS and the relatively small fish load. I'm dosing potassium nitrate and phosphate, and the algae suck it up in a few days. I'm going to try turning off the algae scrubber for a while, but still give it a small amount of light to keep the algae on it alive.
 
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ThePurple12

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DINOS BEATEN! What must've worked for me is keeping elevated levels of n and p, encouraging GHA growth...which I now have unholy amounts of. I'm going to leave the GHA alone for maybe a week, then I'll remove it in stages to hopefully prevent the dinos from taking hold again. I ordered a few conchs to help with the hair algae.

I'm loving the seagrass growth:

File_000 (10).jpeg

I bought 6 green Chromis (they're not green at all, who named them??) in celebration of beating dinos. They're doing great, and add lots of movement. Here's a FTS:
File_000 (11).jpeg
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 69 37.5%
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