40 Gallon Mixed Reef - First time Reefer

pluikens · Mar 5, 2018

Added some new frags from the @WWC Tax Time sale. I plan to get them on the rocks towards the end of this week. I feel like I've found a good combination of pumps to get the flow I'm looking for. I'm running the MP10 on the right side of the tank at 100% reef crest. The Maxpect XF230 is running an automatic program I created which is +30%/-70% alternating gyre most of the day, +10% constant gyre from midnight to 8am, and 90 minutes of +100% constant pulse in the afternoon to lift detritus. All corals seem happy with this flow. Acros have polyp extension during the day, red goniopora extends under the light, the duncan has several new heads that seem to grow daily, and both blastos have new heads coming up.

cracker · Mar 5, 2018

All this in 5 months, great job

pluikens · Mar 5, 2018

I also added a four-pump doser so I can feel more comfortable taking vacations away from the tank. Right now I'm only dosing Alk to stay at 9 dKH. I haven't seen enough consumption of Mag or Calc to dose those, my water changes seem to keep those levels constant. I turned down my GFO usage to 5 tbsp changed out monthly. The chaeto is growing consistantly under the new 300W LED grow light that runs all but 4 hours a day during the early evening. That's keeping phosphates right at 0.05 ppm (Hanna ULR) and Nitrate at about 1ppm (Red Sea). Next up on my shopping list is a new 2016 Apex so I can monitor the tank a little closer.

pluikens · May 10, 2018

Since my last post, I added a new Apex to the tank March 14th. I think the Apex is running great, so nice to have all the control over the tank equipment. I've never gotten the salinity probe calibrated but all the rest are monitoring correctly. I plan to use the same Apex brain on my basement build so I'll probably just move the conductivity probe to a PM2 down there.

Overall I'd say the tank is doing ok. I'm seeing some growth in the blastos, duncan, and birdsnests for sure. Acros aren't spectacular but it's still pretty new and I've got time to learn how to support those better. We've had the windows open for a couple weeks now so I've updated the dosing schedule to account for the increased ph (from an average of 7.6 to 8.0).

I'm battling bubble algae right now. There are clusters of it every few inches all over the rockwork. I've been picking at it with a siphon hose during my water changes but it seems to be coming back stronger every time. I also have some bryopsis growing in two spots near frag plugs. I'm thinking I'll dose fluconazole for the bryopsis and then start using Vibrant for the bubble algae. Before I add any fluconazole or Vibrant, I want to get my kole tang out of QT and comfortable in the display. I'm interested to see what algae get's cleaned up with the kole grazing.

I'm currently into my second dose of PraziPro for two tangs in QT: a kole tang, and a tomini tang. Both are eating well and seem to be getting along. The kole tang will go into the display around the middle of June if all goes well in QT. The tomini tang might have to stay in QT while his new home is getting finished, a 50 gallon frag tank in the basement. That build will need it's own thread as I'm probably working my way toward a flooded basement.

Pictures!

pluikens · Aug 1, 2018

It's been a while as I've been working on my other system. But I haven't forgotten about this tank... New Frags!

pluikens · Aug 13, 2018

Minor update this week. In preparation for my two-week trip coming up at the end of August, my wife (who is staying home) has been taking on more of the feeding tasks to get familiar with the process. Unprompted, she has started to tell me when something in the tank sounds a little off. I think this is great as I believe knowing what your tank sounds like when running well and when not is important to the success of the tank. She's been able to identify when the skimmer cup is overflowing based on a new trickle sound under the stand so I have all the faith in her to keep the tank running on her own for two weeks. That being said, I will miss my tank so I've installed a new camera more so I can enjoy the tank while away rather than having to check on things when my wife or the Apex alerts me to issues. Here's a look at the tank through the camera!

pluikens · Oct 4, 2018

I'm pretty pleased with the tank. I've been getting more ventilation in the house so indoor CO2 has dropped from 1600s to 400-600ppm. This has caused the tank pH to increase so daily settings are from 8.1-8.4. Alkalinity demand is now 2.4 dKH daily and growth is good. Here's a picture from this morning with just blues on.

I have some bubble algae again that I've been trying to manually remove. I just started Reef Flux treatment which has worked for me in the past. Previously, this wiped out my chaeto so after this treatment, I'll do several water changes while manually removing any algae that's left to get the Fluco or if the tank. Then I can add chaeto back to the refugium to keep nutrients under control. I have another Triton ICP test to take but I'm going to wait until after all of the water changes and Fluco is removed.