50 seaClear Reef tank Build

[Simple reef]

50 seaClear
stand is from petco.com
20g long sump with fuge.
jebao dcp4000 return pump
1- jebao ow-10 powerhead.
1-jabao cp-25
2 - ai prime hd's (hoping this will be enough light) will get/rent a par meter in the future)
1 tunze 9004 skimmer (got for almost free) eventually might upgrade
mechanical filteration- will start with filter sock might remove eventually
biofilteration- seachem pond matrix and marine pure balls.
chemical filteration- chemipure blue

Livestock:
Fish:
valentine puffer
Spotted hawk fish(mean *******) killed a wrasse.
Lawnmower blenny
1 bangjji (. Had 2 but had to regulate 1 to simp because of aggression considering getting 3 more and having 5)
1 Wyoming white clown
1 Black white clown (hosting nem)
Bicolor dottyback
Coral
Green hammer
Devils hand leather frag
Toadstool leather frag tiny piece
Unknown leather coral frag looks like broccoli but pink.
Silver Xenia
2 difference green mushrooms.
Green palies
Gsp

 

[Simple reef]

Original first post: I am creating a reef build that I have been planning and slowly acquiring items over the past 4-5 months.
50 seaClear (orginally planned on using Cobalt C-vue 40 but after receiving a Cracked 1 I decided to go a different direction.)
stand is from petco.com
20g long sump
jebao dcp4000 return pump
1- jebao ow-10 powerhead. might upgrade to mp10qd if I can get one a good price.
2 - ai prime hd's (hoping this will be enough light) will get/rent a par meter in the future)
1- DROP.6x will start out with this might move this to my coral qt tank eventually
1 tunze 9004 skimmer (got for almost free) eventually might upgrade
mechanical filteration- will start with filter sock might remove eventually
biofilteration- seachem pond matrix and marine pure balls. I have them being seeded in my office fish only saltwater tank. Will remove when system is ready for fish to strengthen bio-load.
chemical filteration- will start with chemipure blue eventually. any suggestions let me know. looking at new nyos media reactor looks pretty sweet.
I went with 2 different types of rock 7lbs of brs pukani that I cured with bleach for 1 week and than 4 weeks rodi changing the water out each week. I went to buy more and they were completely out of stock and won't get any till june. So I went with amazon dry rock. I will show some before and after shots of it.
I have no live stock atm as I add water and do some diy I will add updates below. I am open to suggestions and feedback.

Thanks,
Joe





I purchased Worldwide Imports dry rock. It can smashed pretty bad with only 4-5 decent size pieces and very dirty. That being said after 20 mins of pressure washing it is good quality dry rock very similar to many Florida dry rocks out there. It was a Great value. I only ended up using about 30lbs and will save the rest for my coral quarantine tank. Let me know your thoughts.
Thanks,
Joe

 

[Simple reef]

I drilled this acrylic tank and installed an overflow box. I will plumb a herbie overflow. It was very easy. I was nervous at first. only thing I would recommend would put a wood board to drill into.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Looks like a great start. Pressure washing helped the rocks I am sure. You may want to soak them in RO/DI for a week or so and see if they leach a high level of Phosphate as well.

 

[Greybeard]

It'll be live rock, in no time at all. No need to add out-of-the-sea rock. Bacterial inoculation will come from the marine pure you have aging.

So far, so good.

Why are the lights mounted differently?

 

[Simple reef]

Thanks for the replies guys. I bought some seachem stability. Was considering doing a fishless cycle with ammonia. I wasn't sure on light height. I will adjust once I dial it in.

 

[revhtree]

Looking good!

 

[Simple reef]

I am doing a fishless cycle with mysis. I added some seachem stability as well.

 

[Simple reef]

This is my cord management for my tank

 

[Simple reef]

Tank has been cycled for about 2 weeks. I have been ghost feed 1 cube every 4-5 days. Add some frags to the tank.

 

[Simple reef]

The battle is real been fighting Gha. Seems the sand must be releasing phosphates did a black out and algae cleared from everywhere except sandbed. After blackout before water change phos was .07 and nitrate was 15. Considering nopox. How would that effect macro algae?

 

[NY_Caveman]

The battle is real been fighting Gha. Seems the sand must be releasing phosphates did a black out and algae cleared from everywhere except sandbed. After blackout before water change phos was .07 and nitrate was 15. Considering nopox. How would that effect macro algae?

Not sure about NOPOX and Macroalgae. I would not expect a problem, but have never used it. You may want to start a thread in the chemistry forum to get some experienced eyes on the question.

Also, the appearance of this algae early in a tank’s life is not uncommon. A more effective and natural response might be to beef up your clean up crew. Some snails (Astrea, Turbos, Cerith I believe will go for some GHA), urchins, sea hares, etc. will help with hair algae, but manual removal is usually required to really get at it. Research some of those critters and see where others have had success.

 

[pjb9166]

Hey Simple Reef. Nice beginnings of your reef. I'm looking at getting the 50 gal Seaclear tank. At the beginning of June I adopted a complete 65gal reef ready tank, sump and custom stand. It was setup as a fish only for three years. Unfortunately it looks like the previous owner used sand paper to clean the glass. He was using tap water and treating it with chemicals. It's been hard work over the last three months to get it reef ready. Well now the water chemistry is stable. I also went through the algae issues. Grrrrr.... But I knew time and as I replaced the old water with clean RO/DI would take care of it all. So as you can appreciate all that goes into a tank. I'm really looking for an affordable tank to take the place of my heavily scratched tank.
I'm just saying. Nice lights hard work on chemistry, just to look through a haze of scratches.
If you don't mind me asking. Why did you go with the normal Seaclear tank and not the one with the built in corner overflow? How are you liking the tank? Do you feel it was a wise purchase?

 

[Simple reef]

I I went with the seaclear because ups sucks and broke 2 separate glass tanks I ordered online . Live almost 2hrs from a aquarium store other than petco and pet-smart. I got a great deal on the seaclear and decided to roll the dice. I love the tank, but not sure if I would do acrylic again because how easy it scratches. I have to baby it. I diy’ed the overflow because of cost and space. If I did again I would go with eshopp external overflow. The front to back space is limited. That is why I decided against internal prebuilt overflows. They take up a lot of space.

I like the eurobracing and plastic lid that came with it. It’s prevents jumpers from aggression.

 

[Simple reef]

I have attached some updated photos. Finally getting ahold of algae issues. Because doing weekly 15-25% water change. Phosphate has been between 0-.1 for past 2 months. And nitrates have been hovering around 10. Going to stay with lps and softcoral till end of year.

 

[pjb9166]

I might be a bit old school.. Even older yet. Have you tried simple carbon dosing? When I got my setup back in June Nitrates were over 50 ppm. Now I'm steady at 0.
I chose to use vinegar.

 

[Simple reef]

I bought some nopox, but I think my fuge with cheato has done the trick and reducing the algae in the display.

 

[Simple reef]

Been I while since I updated thread. Things have stabilized. been doing weekly/biweekly 10% water changes. I have been testing alk and cal but currently don't need to dos as of yet. plan on adding about 4-5 frags each month. doing to grow gsp on back glass. considering an upgrade to flow have a ow-1o and cp-25.