LAReefer4Life

Lover of Angelfish
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My story begins approx. 15 years ago with me cruising down the fish isle at Petco and stumbled upon an Australian Harlequin Tusk-fish. With not knowing anything about the hobby, I still purchased him along with a 20 gallon fish tank, heater, and filter. After conducting more research on the species and I quickly realized my mistake and it was then I did what any responsible parent would do and upgraded my equipment to 75 gallon aquarium.

This was just the beginning of my long road to discovery. I didn't cycle my tank properly which caused my poor tusk-fish to struggle through this process. Its was super painful for me to watch but with beginners luck on my side, he made it through. Months later I purchased a Queen Angelfish. I immediately acclimated her to my DT and just like that my beginners luck was over. Within days I noticed strange behavior and days later I experienced my first ICH out break. I spoke with the owner of my LFS and copper treatment was advised. At the time I didn't have any LR or inverts so I dosed directly into my DT not knowing any better. Harlie my tusk-fish made it through the whole debacle but unfortunately ICH took foot hold on my Queen Angelfish and she died days later. Distraught over the loss I took some time off and kept it simple but it wasn't long before I wanted to venture deeper into the hobby.

I setup a new DOPE 120 gallon aquarium with oak stand and matching canopy since I seeded my last aquarium with copper. I had cycled it for 6 weeks prior to adding any livestock. Things were going well but months later I wanted to change up my rock scape with 60lbs of LR purchased from LFS which according to them was cured. NOPE! The ammonia levels aggressively spiked and killed all my livestock except my hardy tusk-fish. Unfortunate, I have many stories like this one that took place during my first year in the hobby. The aquarium maintenance just became very time consuming and it just wasn't fun anymore. I ended up breaking down my aquarium after just 4 years to relocate for a professional opportunity.

Fast forward to August 2018, my obsession started again when my boyfriends parents were visiting from Australia and we were killing time before dinner. We drove by a LFS and I convinced them to stop in. The Red Sea Reefer was on demo with a super sleek unlike tanks back in the day that were clunky and salt creep just made for a hot mess. I was initially interested in the RS 170 build and ordered it from Aquarium Care Center. I actually changed my order several times until I finally landed on the 625XL build V3 with refugium. The tank arrived on a giant pallet early November and I assembled the aquarium build myself, I even hard plumbed all the equipment like a bad butt. :)

I learned so much from my past experiences but mainly that patience is a virtue when it comes to reefing. I felt confident this time around... so I thought. I purchased a male Scribbled Angelfish but decided against a QT Setup. HUGE mistake. Three weeks after acclimation, King (my scribbled) showed symptoms of ICH and to make the situation worse I had acclimated a RS Regal Angelfish in my refugium three days prior to identifying the issue. I quickly setup two QT tanks and migrated them over. The next few weeks was stressful to say the very least. I was mixing 50 gallons of fresh saltwater and conducting 50% water changes daily. I went fallow for 80 days to eradicate the parasite from my system FOR GOOD. Thank goodness I didn't have any casualties and a big shout out to my loving boyfriend who dealt with me along with fish tanks scattered around our home for months.

I am now slowly adding my fish back into my DT. It has been 8 weeks since I've added my Regal, I wanted him to be the first addition to establish dominance because this particular specimen can have trouble acclimating under stressful conditions. My Gem tang was added second as he is only 1.5" in size, just a baby. Three weeks later my Conspicuous Angelfish joined the family. My male Scribbled coming in heavy at 7" in size still in QT. He was the first fish in QT and the last out. He got screwed in the deal due to his size but I am happy to report he is going in tonight!

See progress of my build below...

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Ron Reefman

Lets Go Snorkeling!
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Welcome back! Good looking system. BTW, is that a wood floor?

Oh, and that's a really good looking dog! Very handsome.
 
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LAReefer4Life

LAReefer4Life

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Welcome back! Good looking system. BTW, is that a wood floor?

Oh, and that's a really good looking dog! Very handsome.

Thanks @Ron Reefman. Yes the floors are laminated wood. Not slab. My dog loves the attention!
 
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LAReefer4Life

LAReefer4Life

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5 months in qt? woow! so far i like it!!

Yes, 5 long months! I initially took him out due to an ich outbreak and ran DT fallow for 80 days. During this process I purchased gem tang and conspicuous and QT'd all of them. I introduced my RS Regal first, followed by gem, conspicuous, and then scribbled. He is much larger than all my fish so he was last in DT.
 
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LAReefer4Life

LAReefer4Life

Lover of Angelfish
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Here is the nuts and bolts to my Reefer build.

My extra bedroom was essentially storage for months prior to the tank arriving and being assembled.

Livestock:
- Conspicuous Angelfish
- Regal Angelfish
- Male Scribbled Angelfish
- Gem Tang
- Sand Shifting Starfish
- 3 Cleaner Shrimp
- Acros
- Mushrooms
- Leathers
- Plate Corals
- Zoas in Fuge

Equipment:
- 625XL Red Sea Reefer
- (4) Ecotech Radion G4 LED Lights
- Tunze Full Spectrum Regium Light
- 230 Watt Royal Exclusiv Pump
- 150 Royal Exclusiv Super Cone Bubble King Protein Skimmer
- Teco 2000 Chiller/Heater
- Aqua UV 57 Watt UV sterilizer
- Pentair 40 Watt UV sterilizer
- (2) DOS & DDR (AF Balling Method)
- Neptune APEX Controller
- APEX ATK
- APEX Leak Detection
- APEX WAV kit
- Lifegard GFO Reactor
- QEye Wifi Camera
- CyberPower Backup Battery

VNgnWKQ5SWyz8%Jgam4rdw.jpg
 
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AZMSGT

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I gotta ask why two UV Sterilizers?
- Aqua UV 57 Watt UV sterilizer
- Pentair 40 Watt UV sterilizer
 
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LAReefer4Life

LAReefer4Life

Lover of Angelfish
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I gotta ask why two UV Sterilizers?
- Aqua UV 57 Watt UV sterilizer
- Pentair 40 Watt UV sterilizer

I heard both are great units but mixed reviews online. The pentair has longer contact time with the bulb so I decided to have the best of both worlds.
 

Kim Lund

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I like your set up so far.

I am looking at buying the 625xl too. My only concern is i have a wooden floor too, and as i dont own the house, im a bit worried about salt stains or damages to the floor.

How are you dealing with this "issue" or do you even consider that being a problem?
 

Lorenzo Angotti

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Yes, certainly coming on now, I don’t know if you feel the same, the photos does not do your corals detail justice, that’s the problem I’m trying to get sorted with my tank, been using those filter lenses you can get, they’re ok but you have to play around with them along with using photo apps. Maybe will invest in a Avast Top-Down Porthole housing for your camera or smartphone
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

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