piercehp
New Member
Hey guys this is my first ever saltwater aquarium. I have kept planted aquariums for every part of a decade but finally decided to jump into coral. The build (and goal) is a tideline 31 gallon AIO tank and I want to keep a true mixed reef. Upon making this post and digging for the original photo, I have realized that I have definitely rushed things as the tank is only 3.5 months old... I'm open to honest advice but please be kind because it is what it is at this point. I do not plan on adding more coral until the tank matures more.
For the most part things have been going smoothly. Only until recently I have been dealing with high phosphates and some unhappy corals. I have been using half a bag of Phosguard to try to combat this but I still can't get my phosphates to an ideal range or even bleow 0.2. To help reduce the phosphates, I have been thinking of making a DIY chaeto refugium in the center filtration chamber. Thoughts on that would be appreciated if someone has done it before.
The tank is currently doing okay. The SPS have noticeable polyp retraction and the Heliofungia has been shrinking up quite a bit. My guess is due to the high phosphates.
The photo with the fungia retracted is the current state of the tank. Any input or general discussion is appreciated!
Equipment is as follows:
AI Nero 3 wavemaker
AI Axis 40 return
ATO from Amazon
Kessil A360x at about 60%
A filter pad insert that replaces the sock and also holds carbon and my phosguard
Parameters:
Salinity 1.025-1.026
Nitrate: 10ppm
Phosphate: 0.27-0.22 ppm
Mag: 1320
Alk: 9dkh
Calcium: 440-460
I dose 10ml of All For Reef almost daily and the parameters (besides phosphate) seem to stay stable.
Livestock:
2 storm clownfish
1 exquisite wrasse
1 bi-color blenny
1 citron goby
1 blood red fire shrimp
Livestock gets fed daily, usually alternating pellets and frozen mysis. The shrimp gets his own pellet daily.
Coral:
Zoas: Lorax, stargazers, super sayins, salted agave, and a few mixed polyps
Mushrooms: 2 rhodactis and one orange ricordea
LPS: 1 Green Heliofungia, 2 goniopora, A booberry Duncan, 1 Green Hammer, 1 sad looking lobo, and an Acan colony.
SPS: 1 Orange digitata colony, 1 Crazy T montipora frag
I feed reef roids once a week and also target feed the fungia and some other LPS mysis one a week too.
For the most part things have been going smoothly. Only until recently I have been dealing with high phosphates and some unhappy corals. I have been using half a bag of Phosguard to try to combat this but I still can't get my phosphates to an ideal range or even bleow 0.2. To help reduce the phosphates, I have been thinking of making a DIY chaeto refugium in the center filtration chamber. Thoughts on that would be appreciated if someone has done it before.
The tank is currently doing okay. The SPS have noticeable polyp retraction and the Heliofungia has been shrinking up quite a bit. My guess is due to the high phosphates.
The photo with the fungia retracted is the current state of the tank. Any input or general discussion is appreciated!
Equipment is as follows:
AI Nero 3 wavemaker
AI Axis 40 return
ATO from Amazon
Kessil A360x at about 60%
A filter pad insert that replaces the sock and also holds carbon and my phosguard
Parameters:
Salinity 1.025-1.026
Nitrate: 10ppm
Phosphate: 0.27-0.22 ppm
Mag: 1320
Alk: 9dkh
Calcium: 440-460
I dose 10ml of All For Reef almost daily and the parameters (besides phosphate) seem to stay stable.
Livestock:
2 storm clownfish
1 exquisite wrasse
1 bi-color blenny
1 citron goby
1 blood red fire shrimp
Livestock gets fed daily, usually alternating pellets and frozen mysis. The shrimp gets his own pellet daily.
Coral:
Zoas: Lorax, stargazers, super sayins, salted agave, and a few mixed polyps
Mushrooms: 2 rhodactis and one orange ricordea
LPS: 1 Green Heliofungia, 2 goniopora, A booberry Duncan, 1 Green Hammer, 1 sad looking lobo, and an Acan colony.
SPS: 1 Orange digitata colony, 1 Crazy T montipora frag
I feed reef roids once a week and also target feed the fungia and some other LPS mysis one a week too.
