Just thought I would share,
I took down my 500 gallon in December and completely cleaned everything. It was setup for about 5 years originally with the REAL fiji rock at the time. (the stuff you can't get anymore). It had become infested with vermetid snails and aiptasia anemones so much that they looked like they were covered in carpet. My copperband kept them all tiny but they covered everything. I ended up giving it all an Acid bath then pressure wash and let it all dry out. Now it is rehomed in my 2 large re-setup refugium's.
My 500 gallon display now has a large variety of Ecoscape Rock and I think it looks better than anything on the market!
Its super light and super pours & stacks very easy! And looks like it's already covered in coralline.
Previously I was bare bottom but wanted a more natural look and some Jawfish that need a sand bed.
I opted to use Carbisea Ocean direct sand and a bottle of PNS Deep Cycle poured under the sand before putting it in the tank.
Then filled it with Redsea Blue bucket made saltwater and cycled with FritzZyme TurboStart & Nitro cycle, got ammonia up to 2ppm and about a week later all that remained was about 20ppm nitrate and just a very small amount diatom algae showed up with lights on most of the cycling time.
Added some pods and now daily plankton and a week later a cleanup crew.
I've been maintaining NO3 at about 8ppm and PO4 at .04ppm with 8-12ml of NOPOX daily via DOS
Everyone was back in the tank within 3 weeks and best of all my two Heteractis magnifica Anemones from @PacificEastAquaculture that I have had for a couple years are doing great and have stayed exactly where I put them! A sure sign that everything is healthy.
SPS corals are coming this week!
This is what it looks like at about 5 weeks now.
Best of all NO UGLY STAGE!
I took down my 500 gallon in December and completely cleaned everything. It was setup for about 5 years originally with the REAL fiji rock at the time. (the stuff you can't get anymore). It had become infested with vermetid snails and aiptasia anemones so much that they looked like they were covered in carpet. My copperband kept them all tiny but they covered everything. I ended up giving it all an Acid bath then pressure wash and let it all dry out. Now it is rehomed in my 2 large re-setup refugium's.
My 500 gallon display now has a large variety of Ecoscape Rock and I think it looks better than anything on the market!
Its super light and super pours & stacks very easy! And looks like it's already covered in coralline.
Previously I was bare bottom but wanted a more natural look and some Jawfish that need a sand bed.
I opted to use Carbisea Ocean direct sand and a bottle of PNS Deep Cycle poured under the sand before putting it in the tank.
Then filled it with Redsea Blue bucket made saltwater and cycled with FritzZyme TurboStart & Nitro cycle, got ammonia up to 2ppm and about a week later all that remained was about 20ppm nitrate and just a very small amount diatom algae showed up with lights on most of the cycling time.
Added some pods and now daily plankton and a week later a cleanup crew.
I've been maintaining NO3 at about 8ppm and PO4 at .04ppm with 8-12ml of NOPOX daily via DOS
Everyone was back in the tank within 3 weeks and best of all my two Heteractis magnifica Anemones from @PacificEastAquaculture that I have had for a couple years are doing great and have stayed exactly where I put them! A sure sign that everything is healthy.
SPS corals are coming this week!
This is what it looks like at about 5 weeks now.
Best of all NO UGLY STAGE!
