150 Gallon Fresh Start

[bnord]

Update 03/15/22​

I discovered bryopsis on the rock and performed surgery on the rock and also sprayed 78degree Perrier soda on the holes of the rock with a 3ml syringe and 18g needle. Ended up flushing out another crab and mated pair of pistol shrimp(one with eggs). Then proceeded to add my clean-up crew to the qt tank minus the nassarious that went in the display tank for the sand. That night while critter hunting I spotted a 3-4" long fire worm that was caught and released into an undisclosed location The following day I dosed 1 pill of ReefFlux into the 10g qt tank. Then spotted another molt of a tiny tiny crab. So time for more critter hunting

great write up on an extraordinarily well thought out and disciplined build. Designed for success and hope it comes to you and thanks for letting us peak over your shoulder

 

[Seek&Reef]

great write up on an extraordinarily well thought out and disciplined build. Designed for success and hope it comes to you and thanks for letting us peak over your shoulder

Thank you, I really appreciate that! I'm getting excited to get some fish & coral in there for sure. But patience is key lol. Looks like May 6th will be the end of my fallow period since adding cuc. May have to turn on my display lights May the 4th, because you know Star Wars

 

[Soilworker]

Following along, I really like your idea of doing two HNSA pieces. Have you put the live rock in yet? I would love to see it when you do.

I think the mix of dry and live rock is ideal from a high biodiversity perspective. Is that something you're going for?

 

[Seek&Reef]

Following along, I really like your idea of doing two HNSA pieces. Have you put the live rock in yet? I would love to see it when you do.

I think the mix of dry and live rock is ideal from a high biodiversity perspective. Is that something you're going for?

Yes, I specifically was after high biodiversity. The rock is still in qt as of today. It ended up having bryopsis, Sunday will be the two week mark with fluconazole. It seemed to knock it out rather well. Sunday I will be doing another "surgery" on it to see if any red macro has taken off or any more bubble algae has reared its face lol. Trust me I cant wait for it to go in the display.

 

[Seek&Reef]

UPDATE 03/28/22​

Well the long awaited day is here! Live rock is in the display, ATI 6x80w fixture is hung and running, (2) Jebao SCP150 gyres are installed and running, and I have all the test kits for coral parameters. So without further ado the tank is henceforth known as "Chalice of the Hammered"

 

[Soilworker]

Awesome! How did you aquascape the live rock?

How many pounds of live rock is that?

 

[Seek&Reef]

Awesome! How did you aquascape the live rock?

How many pounds of live rock is that?

I honestly just arranged it and set it in place. And it’s the 15 lb premium from KP Aquatics. Great rock, dosing phyto for the pods. I have a really cool bivalve in the rock too. It’s hidden though.. I may have to figure out how to turn the rock so I can enjoy him lol

 

[squidarcher]

Any updates on the tank?

 

[Dburr1014]

Nice build, I'm actively looking for this size tank to swap out my 75. I'd like to see more now. How's it going?

 

[Seek&Reef]

Update 09-09-22​

I have not realized it has been 6 months since my last update... There is so much I have done, it's not even funny. I have made some mistakes along the way and some major victories as well! I have purchased the majority of my fish from my lfs who pre qt's all of his livestock. There are two fish that I purchased from Dr. Reefs since my lfs could not get his hands on them at the time. Livestock wise I ended up with a pair of long fin Wyoming white clowns (Hades and Persephone- clowns are mean lol), exquisite wrasse (Hermes- he's a jumper and has already hit the net top 3 times that I have seen), McCosker's wrasse (Zeus- son named him), melanurus wrasse (Apollo god of plagues), purple tang(Ares- hes the boss aka god of war and bloodlust), whitetail tang(Artemis- seemed fitting for this beautiful fish), and a chocolate tang(Prometheus- stole fire and I equated this with his color transition). I have one more fish in qt with my lfs a Black Barred Convict Goby. I'll get into that later.

I have faced a few major issues so far. First was I beat bryopsis in qt that came on my live rock. So I started my tank and bryopsis came back in my display this time. Dosed 2nd fluconazole treatment and I did beat it for good that time. The second issue was small cell amphidinium (dinos). I battled this for months dosing silicates, sodium nitrate, trisodium phosphate, mb7, eco-balance, and rigorous maintenance and countless microscope slides analyzed. Once beaten large cell amphidinium showed up which I was able to "beat" by adding aquabiomics sand and 10+ year old rock from a friend's tank. I say "beat" because it is not as prevalent as it was but I believe it will eventually go away completely over time when my tank's biome matures. I am now currently battling these giant amphipods that eat some of my zoas, war coral, duncans, and other meaty types of corals. I am not asking for a debate on whether some amphipod species eat coral or not so please don't even start. I have tried dosing Interceptor twice once with 1x strength and once with 2x strength. It did nothing but wipe out a good portion of my copepods. This is where my BBCG comes in. He is a nocturnal goby and is said to decimate their populations. I will obviously stay on top of special feedings with him if he ever eliminates my microfauna population.

Onto the fun stuff! I have added tons of new gear and tons of coral. I currently have Favia, cyphastrea, torches, hammers, frogspawns, gsp, micromussa, blastomussa, spongeode, smooth skin acro, tenuis acro, zoas, duncans, war coral, stylophora, montipora (encrusting), candy canes, gonipora, and a milli acro(not doing well). I have lost a few pieces to those pods (I think) a few duncans and an elegance coral.

Equipment wise I am now running an A3 apex pro(love it), red sea doser 4 head(love it), octopus 150 int classic(love it), and same jebao scp-150 gyres and jebao dcp-15000 return pump, and same sunpower 6 bulb(LOVE IT). I currently dose BRS 2 part and Mg, mb7, po4 occasionally, ab+ occasionally, phyto occasionally, and reef roids about once a week.

I am sure I am missing/forgetting something but if anyone has any questions feel free to reach out! Here is some pictures and a video of things recently!