65g Dream.... errrr Reality Build

[BeejReef]

Quick text update. I promise to put up some pictures tomorrow.

The canopy is done and I'm very happy with it. I still lose some light out the top, but don't bleed any out the sides. Now my powerheads are able to go into sleep mode as the blues wind down for the night.
I start and end them late bc that's when I have time to spend with the tank. I'll let the pictures tell that story.

As far as chemistry and the uglies, it's all positive news this week
PH 8.4
Alkalinity 8.7
Calcium 460
Mag 1380
Salinity 1.026
NITRATE 3
PHOSPHATE .02

Yes, Phosphate .02. That's down from over 3.0 when the third table shrimp disintegrated in my tank 3 or so weeks ago. My nitrates were off the measurement scale, well in excess of 100. I'd guess closer to 200.
I thought it was the diatom bloom that dropped them, along with WC's, but I think it has to be the chaeto.

I've slowed down on livestock and have only added CUC, 2 turbos and 3 trochus. All I had before was two turbos. I thought this was conservative, but I've seriously probably near doubled my bio-load. I wasn't paying particular attention to which snails they gave me, but I call them King Kong and Bundy! Big, big boys, like ping-pong ball sized. They eat like hyenas and shi* like hampsters... constant. They devoured the diatoms, went into a food coma for two days, and last night straight crushed the beginnings of my GHA stage.

I'm quite pleased with myself. The fuge matured and drove down my nitrate and phosphate to SPS tank levels at precisely the time my GHA tried to get a foothold. After a stop and go start, the chaeto is now growing noticeably every day and has gone from tennis ball to volleyball size in about 3 weeks.

The only other addition was a dime-sized (at best) goniopora frag. It's beautiful and is visibly growing day by day. My toadstool and mushroom are growing as well. I can't say if anything is fast or slow, better or worse than normal bc it's my first tank and I have no context. I realize that ultra low nutrients may open the door to other issues, but I plan to ride it out for a week or so and see whether it is possible to dodge a GHA plague.

Upping feeding isn't really an option, I only have two tiny clowns and snails and they eat two, sometimes three times a day. I have dialed back the fuge light to 15 hours from 18.

So, I'm losing alkalinity and calcium now. I wasn't expecting this yet with two softy frags and a tiny, tiny lps frag. Dropped alk from 9.2 to 8.7 over the course of a week. Prior to this, it was absolutely stable at 9.2. Calcium down 40 units over the same period. I'm happy to see it (and have Kalkwasser en route). However, I didn't think tiny frags would have an impact. I do have some aquacultured live rock that has coraline, so I suppose I could be seeing the beginnings of coraline growth. It could also be the chunk of coraline on Kong's shell! Anyhow, good problem to have, so I'm savoring the good times while they last.

 

[Hemmdog]

Quick text update. I promise to put up some pictures tomorrow.

The canopy is done and I'm very happy with it. I still lose some light out the top, but don't bleed any out the sides. Now my powerheads are able to go into sleep mode as the blues wind down for the night.
I start and end them late bc that's when I have time to spend with the tank. I'll let the pictures tell that story.

As far as chemistry and the uglies, it's all positive news this week
PH 8.4
Alkalinity 8.7
Calcium 460
Mag 1380
Salinity 1.026
NITRATE 3
PHOSPHATE .02

Yes, Phosphate .02. That's down from over 3.0 when the third table shrimp disintegrated in my tank 3 or so weeks ago. My nitrates were off the measurement scale, well in excess of 100. I'd guess closer to 200.
I thought it was the diatom bloom that dropped them, along with WC's, but I think it has to be the chaeto.

I've slowed down on livestock and have only added CUC, 2 turbos and 3 trochus. All I had before was two turbos. I thought this was conservative, but I've seriously probably near doubled my bio-load. I wasn't paying particular attention to which snails they gave me, but I call them King Kong and Bundy! Big, big boys, like ping-pong ball sized. They eat like hyenas and shi* like hampsters... constant. They devoured the diatoms, went into a food coma for two days, and last night straight crushed the beginnings of my GHA stage.

I'm quite pleased with myself. The fuge matured and drove down my nitrate and phosphate to SPS tank levels at precisely the time my GHA tried to get a foothold. After a stop and go start, the chaeto is now growing noticeably every day and has gone from tennis ball to volleyball size in about 3 weeks.

The only other addition was a dime-sized (at best) goniopora frag. It's beautiful and is visibly growing day by day. My toadstool and mushroom are growing as well. I can't say if anything is fast or slow, better or worse than normal bc it's my first tank and I have no context. I realize that ultra low nutrients may open the door to other issues, but I plan to ride it out for a week or so and see whether it is possible to dodge a GHA plague.

Upping feeding isn't really an option, I only have two tiny clowns and snails and they eat two, sometimes three times a day. I have dialed back the fuge light to 15 hours from 18.

So, I'm losing alkalinity and calcium now. I wasn't expecting this yet with two softy frags and a tiny, tiny lps frag. Dropped alk from 9.2 to 8.7 over the course of a week. Prior to this, it was absolutely stable at 9.2. Calcium down 40 units over the same period. I'm happy to see it (and have Kalkwasser en route). However, I didn't think tiny frags would have an impact. I do have some aquacultured live rock that has coraline, so I suppose I could be seeing the beginnings of coraline growth. It could also be the chunk of coraline on Kong's shell! Anyhow, good problem to have, so I'm savoring the good times while they last.

Cool stuff man! Why are you going with kalk over 2 part if your calcium is dropping as well? Just curious

 

[BeejReef]

Cool stuff man! Why are you going with kalk over 2 part if your calcium is dropping as well? Just curious

I think Kalkwasser will boost both, if I'm not mistaken. The main thing is just the $ I don't have an ATO yet, but when I get around to it I can dose it straight from the resevoir. I won't need dosing pumps. I'll just drip dose it into the sump with a needle valve. I also don't run an Apex yet, so two-part would be a heavy lift and require some sort of pump controller. I'm trying to not spend money twice.

Mainly, I'm still in the honeymoon phase where I love spending time with the tank, mixing, testing.. lol. I'm sure that will wear off soon enough and I'll be using two part... or four!

 

[Hemmdog]

I think Kalkwasser will boost both, if I'm not mistaken. The main thing is just the $ I don't have an ATO yet, but when I get around to it I can dose it straight from the resevoir. I won't need dosing pumps. I'll just drip dose it into the sump with a needle valve. I also don't run an Apex yet, so two-part would be a heavy lift and require some sort of pump controller. I'm trying to not spend money twice.

Mainly, I'm still in the honeymoon phase where I love spending time with the tank, mixing, testing.. lol. I'm sure that will wear off soon enough and I'll be using two part... or four!

Lol, I love it. Nice man!

 

[BeejReef]

Ok, so canopy pics. It works better than it looks, but it looks pretty good in the pics. I c all the flaws.

Diffuser works awesome. No disco, just shimmer Only the most determined fish could escape when it's closed up. Ph still 8.4 all day. (that's an expression, I don't gave a probe for hourly variations).

Phosphate well under .1, Nitrate holding at 5sh. Modest CUC easily keeping GHA well in check. Waiting on cyano or whatever comes next. Wouldn't it be nice if it were coraline!

Did remove and sterilize one small rock w a small suspected aptasia. Kind of hoping to see more. Lfs has file fish and I really like them.

 

[BeejReef]

So, rented a par meter tonight. Was hoping for a little more oomph, but, I have what I need for a solid mixed reef. Prime real estate on the sanded is 80 to 110 par. The corners and front glass 50 to 80. My rocks cape is only 14" at max, mostly 10 to 12". 140 to 180 along the top of the scape with two or three perches in the low 200s. With 6" of vertical growth, getting 300s. Not as much as I had hoped for under near full power, but I should have what I need.

Three small frags atm, but adding 3 more tomorrow. I fig if coral mass and coverage is a key to a mature tank, I may as well make hay while the sun happens to be shining.

 

[BeejReef]

Ok, so slowly ramping up my lights to get to the par numbers I charted.

I may have started melting my mushroom, an orange crush. His colors were just starting to really come out and I think I really shocked him in the 30 min I was testing the lights. He's turd brown now and although I put him in a confirmed low-light area of 50-60 par, he was still very unhappy. I finally broke down and flat out mounted it in the shade, maybe 20 par. Still not happy, but it's sink or swim time for him. All other corals seem to be doing well. Toadstool growing well, goni showing growth, pipe organ looking fantastic. I thought I may have killed it dipping/acclimating, but it was just a slow opener. Loving my hammer frag. It's even more open and flowing than when I saw it in a professional system at the lfs. Threw in some blonde,blue-eye babies for the wife, and a pavona frag since the guy at tidal gardens flat out calls it a beginner coral, not just a beginner sps.

So, a snail question. I have 70g total water volume and a middle of the road rockscape. Have 4 turbo snails, 2 trochus (they do basically nothing) and three nassarrius.
The tank is less than one month since cycling, but it's near pristine. Algae tries to grow, but they crush it. I moved two turbos to the fuge so there would be more food to go round. I thought that was a pretty modestly sized CUC. Do I have to worry about starving them?

Parameters are solid. Not detecting alk/calc consumption. Nitrate 6, Phos .11, Alk 9.1, PH 8.4

I had dialed back my fuge light, but will ramp back up if phosphate keeps rising. Was .02 a week ago. I'd like to see where it settles in before trying to adjust, but only will give it so much leeway.

 

[BeejReef]

Yaayyyy!

Tank celebrates its one-month birthday today. One month since cycle finished is how I'm keeping track.
What a crazy month. EXPENSIVE! The next few months are going to be "watching it grow," a.k.a "not spending money on it."

Parameters continue to be fairly stable. I'm coming into the ugly phase. Through diatoms, now all the rocks are green. Whatever it is, the snails are having a tough time with it.
Nothing is overgrown, but it is ugly. Also have an inch or two of rock that is either cyano or dinos, but whatever it is, it's receding on its own, so I'm not touching it.

So, livestock is still just the two clownfish and three pajama cardinals. If you're one of the two people who have read this you'll remember that one clown ate the other one's tail off... deep! A month on, and it is growing back. Looks like another month at least until he's regrown whatever's able to regenerate.

CUC is four turbo, 2 trochus, three nasareus snails. Only fatality was one trochus. He never moved much after going in and was dead a week later. Everyone else is fine.

Corals are all just frags. A goni, mushroom, toadstool, favia, lepto, pavona, hammer, frogspawn, and pipe organ... a few zoas. Saving the top of the rockscape for sps, someday. Most frags have only been in a week or three, but most are showing detectable growth (if you stare at the tank like only us reefers can). All are open and happy, more so even than in the tanks I bought them out of.

I've finished installing a real salt mix station and am able to pump straight up from basement to fill tank after wc. I was bragging a month ago that I'll have a drain tank-side. That's the plan for the weekend. Also bought a remote outlet controller so I'll be able to drain 10g down the drain, press a button, and refill from basement.

I'll be away from the tank for the first time over Easter, so a Tunze ATO and Eheim auto feeder arrive tomorrow. I want a few weeks with them before I trust that much. It's easier to type on my desktop at work, but will take some pics over the weekend and add them below.

The best news overall is probably that my wife and kids love, LOVE, the tank. She'll even browse our local coral auctions and like frags (my cue to buy). Kids have named all the fish. Pressure is on for a happy, healthy tank.

 

[BeejReef]

Yaayyyy!

Tank celebrates its one-month birthday today. One month since cycle finished is how I'm keeping track.
What a crazy month. EXPENSIVE! The next few months are going to be "watching it grow," a.k.a "not spending money on it."

Parameters continue to be fairly stable. I'm coming into the ugly phase. Through diatoms, now all the rocks are green. Whatever it is, the snails are having a tough time with it.
Nothing is overgrown, but it is ugly. Also have an inch or two of rock that is either cyano or dinos, but whatever it is, it's receding on its own, so I'm not touching it.

So, livestock is still just the two clownfish and three pajama cardinals. If you're one of the two people who have read this you'll remember that one clown ate the other one's tail off... deep! A month on, and it is growing back. Looks like another month at least until he's regrown whatever's able to regenerate.

CUC is four turbo, 2 trochus, three nasareus snails. Only fatality was one trochus. He never moved much after going in and was dead a week later. Everyone else is fine.

Corals are all just frags. A goni, mushroom, toadstool, favia, lepto, pavona, hammer, frogspawn, and pipe organ... a few zoas. Saving the top of the rockscape for sps, someday. Most frags have only been in a week or three, but most are showing detectable growth (if you stare at the tank like only us reefers can). All are open and happy, more so even than in the tanks I bought them out of.

I've finished installing a real salt mix station and am able to pump straight up from basement to fill tank after wc. I was bragging a month ago that I'll have a drain tank-side. That's the plan for the weekend. Also bought a remote outlet controller so I'll be able to drain 10g down the drain, press a button, and refill from basement.

I'll be away from the tank for the first time over Easter, so a Tunze ATO and Eheim auto feeder arrive tomorrow. I want a few weeks with them before I trust that much. It's easier to type on my desktop at work, but will take some pics over the weekend and add them below.

The best news overall is probably that my wife and kids love, LOVE, the tank. She'll even browse our local coral auctions and like frags (my cue to buy). Kids have named all the fish. Pressure is on for a happy, healthy tank.

Two month update.

Equipment

~ new Sicce Syncra Pro 2200 return pump has solved my finicky overflow tuning probs and is DEAD quiet.

~ tunze ato.. had to do it.

~ skimmer running on overflow.

Livestock

Added lawnmower blenny, hermits.. many baby snails.

Added first acropora

Params ~ Alk 8.8, cal 430, mag 1400, ph 8.4, Nitrate .75, phos .05

Lead ~ Perhaps the end of the beginning. 6 fish, hardworking CUC, 19 corals, and it's all going well. I've finally zeroed in on alk dosing and keeping detectable nutrients.

Longwinded commentary (scroll for pics)

I've been living a charmed life and have been having a smooth go of it so far. Some little uglies here and there, but nothing a little brush and siphon hasn't solved. Coraline is coming on after seeding two weeks back. A pinker variant that was on sole LR I started with is spreading well too.

A little ahead of schedule, I dropped in some budget Acro after finding a basement seller w bargain prices 600 yards from my house!! Too early to make a call, but they've kept color, have extension, and show feeding response.

Euphelia and other LPS growing well. Galaxia is going hard. I'm relieved that my mushroom has recovered from par testing. The, "if you can't keep mushrooms..." adage has been weighing heavy, particularly when my zoas do suck [emoji2]

At least two species of snail have bred in the tank. Certainly the turbos. I think the other are nasarius.

The algae blenny (lawnmower) is all I could have hoped for. He even works the sand bed.

Had to stop skimming all together and cut back to a 9 hr fuge photoperiod to keep from zero-ing N and P. Hoping my softies will show a little more life w that sorted.

Also have a nice salt mix setup in basement and a strong pump w a line upstairs for push-button refill to DT after WC w remote outlet. Keeping the faith w 12g weekly WC.

We're ready for our "flagship" fish. Wife favors a flame angel. A pistol/goby pair and a nem probly this fall. Probly add more sps to upper scape this summer and diddle w zoas and shrooms to stay busy and fill in.

I'm knocking on wood cuz it's been a .ice ride thus far.

 

[norfolkgarden]

Looking great!

 

[Captain Quint]

Looking good!

 

[BeejReef]

RIP "Mr. Pooper"

So, in the spirit of transparency, I have to document the sad passing of Mr. Pooper, one of my three PJ Cardinals. Sadly, he earned his name in death. I've learned he likely succumbed to internal parasites or worms.
Unfortunately, I was just too inexperienced in the hobby to spot an underweight fish. He was always the "small, cute one" of the three and was only months old. Perhaps that's why he went downhill so fast. I first noticed a white, stringy poo on a thursday, took note and googled, saw another friday evening, asked for help on here, got some advise and ordered meds, but he was gone by the following morning. The pic was taken hours before his demise. It was likely game over by friday regardless, as he suddenly stopped eating.

It's eye-opening and humbling. I've absorbed the internet regarding fish and corals, but some things you just have to see with your own eyes.

Foregoing coral buys for a couple of weeks and acquiring an observational QT/hospital tank in memorium

 

[BeejReef]

dang, it's summer!

I was caught flat-footed with this little heat wave we're having in PA. I had installed a (will rename nameless) cooling fan from Amazon in early spring. NOT up to the task!
The tank got up to 82.3 last night before I went nuclear on it, dropped freezer packs (inside sealed bags) in the sump and balanced a fan on top of the sump and another on top of the canopy. The temp came down quite rapidly... nearly a degree per hour.

We run our AC during the dog days, but high 70's to low 80's, we try to stick with windows. Once the AC goes on the first time, it never goes off. My better half will still have a window unit on full cold well after thanksgiving.
Anyhow, I think my canopy needs a mild redesign. I was using an acrylic diffuser as a tank cover that was nearly air-tight just above my black flaps and the tank was running a degree or two warmer than ambient. Not gonna work for summer. I'll update the thread when that's completed.

Also in the reality build this week, FragstoFishes, a great local business and online coral auction, had a garage sale after a system overhaul. As promised, I've acquired a QT tank. I'm guessing it's 15 or 20g's? Either way, tank, stand, and filter $40 I had wanted a bigger one, but the more I think about it, this is a good size. It fits in the dining room for when it's in use, and when it's not, it's light and easy to take to the basement.

Pretty crusty, to be sure, but it even came with an overflow. Once our tank is stocked, I may set it up as a nano and gift it to my brother.

Not sure what kind of QT I'll be running. I'm leaning towards an observational QT and doing preventative de-worming with general cure. Trays of sand and live media to be pulled if treatment with chelated copper is required. I suppose it could also be a coral QT, but who am I kidding.. lol.

The biggest problem I have as a noob isn't a lack of understanding (ty reef2reef & youtube), it's a lack of experience. I could barely recognize a huge blob of bubble algae, let alone some tiny flatworm, or a beneficial v a harmful acropora crab.

Another few weeks for some media in my sump to cycle and we'll be setting up the QT and get going on filling up with fish. Modest ambitions. Flame angel, 2 chromis, pistol/goby and we should be good... perhaps a radial filefish or a wrasse. I'm leaning towards 3-4 rounds of QT and introductions with pistol/goby last.

Yes, I know, I've still yet to address the snarl of cords or building a concealment

 

[Richard Ivory]

following with interest "mate"

 

[BeejReef]

Monthly Update

Haven't screwed with it. Letting them grow

CU next month!

 

[BeejReef]

5 Month Update -

So, this was a "help me" post in the beginner's section, but it makes a decent build thread update.

The tank has struggled some. My phosphate numbers bottomed out just as the weather turned seriously hot. That threw my evaporation and ATO/Kalkwasser dosing out of balance as well. Most of June and July has been about finding stability with my alkalinity and Nitrate/Phosphate.

Since I run a chaeto fuge as my only real export (no socks, no skimmer), when Phosphate hit 0 for a week, Nitrates exploded up to 60+. Ofc Amazon lost one order and had another severely delayed. I ended up dosing Tri-Sodium Phosphate straight from the Home Depot for near a week before the pharma grade stuff arrived.

This worked fantastically well! Too well really. I would dose P up to .3 or so every evening as the fuge lights came on and it would be back to near 0.0 within 24-36 hours. Each time, N would drop maybe 15 points. Inside of a week, N was down to 6.

Ofc then I decided to get cute, add some edible macro, severely harvest the chaeto, add a few fish from QT to the DT. So, now I'm struggling to hold N down. It's sticking at about 25-30 with continued phosphate dosing. I'm confident I'll get it back to 5-10 as my chaeto regrows.

The swings seem to be the problem. Alkalinity still wanders depending on if my wife is home or not, ac is on or not. Then I have this cycle of high to low P. Next week, I'll have a dosing pump that will be set up to dose a set amount of kalk water fortified w phosphate and the ATO will simply run RODI.

Fish wise, it's going very nicely. A wrasse that was as close to DOA as I can imagine has survived. Shipping delay, hot as hell. I honestly would have euthanized it, but the vendor required a pic of the dead fish on a white background. It wasn't so dead that it would lie still for a picture and I figured a shoe-print on the fish would void the "arrive alive."

I'm going to rent out my 4yo son to struggling reefers. He points at it and sadly says that "it's not dead, it's sleeping," and it comes back to life He did the same thing to my Galaxea. It was a white skeleton with a hint of flesh clinging to a few polyps. It's 90% back.

Most corals growing or thinking about growing. The parameter swings have def slowed me down, but I think the tank is finding its footing. It was all going so well that I rode the wave and was adding coral most weeks. I slowed considerably in late spring though as I started to see some fluctuations. I think it will be in a good place for some more additions this fall.

I've seen a few brave souls post their troubles this week and get some really great feedback. I'm prone to babble on some, so I'll try to be to the point.

1 - SPS stn'ng
2 - brown crud in sand
3 - unhappy frogspawn
4 - Orange coraline?

History - tank is 5 mo old since fully cycled. Most corals 2-4 mo old.
Generally been going very well. Coraline coming in hard, fish healthy, corals doing well (aside from noted).

Parameters (generally)
9.2dkh
425 calc
8.3 ph
1400 mag
25 nitrate
.08 - .18 phosphate

(above) full tank shot for reference. Par 70-100 @ sandbed, 120-140 mid rockface, 180-220 top of scape

c

.
I have black sand. What are these brown blotchy patches? Easy to vacuum out. Cyano?

wider view of brown blotchy

Coral issues - I have a frogspawn that has stopped opening up much. When it was happy, it used to open to near hockey puck size. Now, shot glass at best. One day I turned it 180 degrees and it has never been the same. A neighboring hammer is fine. However, both are at least 4 mo in tank and no growth or new heads. A newer duncan has five new heads.

A neighbor gifted me two acro frags. I believe the one pictured is called a rainbow granulosa. Tank was only 3 mo old when they went in. They were doing well, but the phosphate nitrate and alkalinity battle that all kind of happened at once took a toll. A staghorn frag (not pictured) has stn'd 1-2mm from the plug. This one stn'd tips and base. Losses have stopped on both for a week or so. Hope for regrowth or cut off dead, dip, and re-glue?

I have some healthy coraline on the bits of live rock and even the dry I started with. Most is the classic light purple. Look just to the right and just below the gold pavona though? I have orange something or other? Not sure it's gonna show in the pic. Any ideas?

Softies growing well, most have doubled or tripled. LPS holding or growing. Seems to be starting to take off. SPS (aside from orange pavona that is doing well) either treading water or doing poorly.

Kalkwasser in ato. Manual magnesium dose. Miracle mud and water changes for trace. Weekly 10-15% wc.

 

[BeejReef]

6 mo update

Going well. I'm starting to add some hardy sps to the top of the scape... poscillapora, a birdsnest, and a digitada.

Broke the digi in half trying to mount. We will see.

Sexy shrimp! half dozen of em are getting a host from the duncan. Looking into a rock flower nem.

Gonis love the tank (knock on wood). Pipe organ, acans, favias, hammer all doing well. Many growing noticeably.

U can see I FINALLY did some cord management and built a blind.

Also added a kamoer single head doser. Still using kalk, but dosing it fully saturated frim a separate resevoir.

No skim, no socks. Bag of carbon and a hunk of chaeto. 200 snails. It's an orgy in there. I do have to dose tank to near .3 P each day to keep the chaeto sucking N. Typical levels 20N, .14P.

I'd prefer them 50% lower, but they are stable, so. Alk 9.4, Ph 8.3, calc 425, mag 1420.

We also added a sea star and 7 (total) emeralds. Bubble algae receding under the assault.

Not blown away by growth rate of corals and considering adding some light before adding any acro.

 

[BeejReef]

Winning!

 

[BuBBly FiSh]

Hello R2R,

A picture or two will be up tonight. Not much to see on a tank running bleach.

I have a well-used, 3', 65g tank and a standard 3 chambered sump. I've run vinegar to dissolve minerals and am currently running bleach to disinfect the tank, sump, and equipment.

Equipment... lol... 1) ASM G2 skimmer 2) two AI Sol lights 3) two Jebao RW-8 powerheads 4) 300w Finnex titanium heater w external temp setting.

Used 4 stage RODI aquired. Muni water quality report confirms pretty good water and no chloramine. New filters en-route.

So, I'll be rocking some serious legacy hardware. My big score so far is that I bought the tank from a very local hobbyist/businessman who runs a part time retail outlet out of an addition to his home. He's been extraordinarily helpful already and has saved me the small premium I probably overpaid on equipment.

Most of my supplies are riding out a UPS weather delay in the great lakes, on their way from BRS.

Done So Far
1) Spent a lot of $ on things I don't understand
2) Plumbed RODI to hpvc line in basement
3) Cleaned up tank
4) Converted from 1 pipe DURSO and 1 pipe return in overflow to a Herbie with return now looping over tank.

The Vision - I really wanted a 120g. However, I'm in the gradual process of completely remodeling our fixer upper. Will be a solid year before I've finished with all bedrooms and third floor. Strong men (not me) will have to be able to move a 70% drained tank at least 8' at some point so I can refinish the hardwood and insulate the wall. Plus, this was a much easier sell with the wife.

In the meantime, I'm sizing my purchases and plans to, hopefully, smooth the transition to a larger tank. Perhaps when demo day arrives, I'll simply use it as an opportunity to transition to a 120. I've also bought stuff that will work with APEX... someday.

Highlight!
The tank shares a wall with our downstairs bath. The house plumbing runs right under it. I WILL HAVE A DRAIN in the floor adjacent to the tank. I should also be able to snake a RODI line up to the vicinity of the tank from the basement where it is plumbed. It will probably just go to a reservoir. No immediate plans to implement ATO or ATO direct from RODI.

Basement?
Another bonus is our basement. It's a freaking dungeon and will never be anything but. No one goes down there except me. TBH, I'm not happy with the size of my sump and really want to implement a robust refugium in the basement. Atm, I'm holding off and trying to KISS, but that's a distinct possibility and I've left the tank far enough from the wall (and used unions) so I could hole saw the returns and overflow on a straight run down to a good spot.

Dreaming - (subject to change) The hope is to get to an SPS dominant tank in a year or two... still a mixed reef for sure, but leaning that way. Until my rocks age and the parameters really stabilize, I'll probably just grow mushrooms, frogspawn, beginner lps, and maybe a nem. Perhaps by late summer, I'll be ready for some SPS. I really like staghorn (for whatever reason). Hoping for a minimal rockscape with two or three dominant coral species with two or three highlight perches to showcase some vibrant color.

Next Up - Rockscaping this weekend. I have a mixture of dry and live already paid for. If my goods ever arrive, water and cycle within the week.

I can not wait to the pictures

 

[NY_Caveman]

Love it!