Added Acros Two Weeks After Starting Tank

[Reefer Matt]

This thread will be used to document the accelerated addition of livestock in an Eshopps M130 reef tank by Reefer Matt. The tank is two weeks old. Most of the coral and fish have been on hand for many years. The sps coral are from another established sps tank, with the same lights and chemistry of this build.

A Neptune Apex system with DŌS and Trident are in use to monitor alk, ca, mg, while dosing All for Reef to maintain alkalinity.

The tank was cycled with half live rock, (which was kept submerged in transit from a lfs), and half dry pukani rock, as well as 140 lbs of live sand. A full CUC has been added to combat any algae before it creates an “ugly phase”. They are actively keeping the current diatom bloom under control. Also, an algae scrubber has been started to combat phosphate leaching from the pukani, as well as intermittent gfo use.

Current water chemistry is 1.025 sg, alk: 8.37 dkh, Ca: 456 ppm, Mg: 1329 ppm, NO3: 15 ppm, PO4: .12 ppm. Par range is 100-250 and will be adjusted as required.

Here’s the tank so far, sps were added yesterday (9-1-26)

The build thread:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-reefer-matt-mariner-m130-build-it’s-finally-here.1165373/

 

[X-37B]

Should be no problem. I setup all my systems similar and have coral in within a few weeks.
This should be educational for all reefers.

 

[Reefer Matt]

Should be no problem. I setup all my systems similar and have coral in within a few weeks.
This should be educational for all reefers.

Thanks! I usually like to wait at least a few months for acros, but didn’t like seeing them crowding out the frag tank.
This got me thinking if it’s more the tank or the Reefer that needs to mature before adding sps to a cycled tank? Live rock and sand really played a role here though, but I’m prepared for disaster too!

 

[X-37B]

Thanks! I usually like to wait at least a few months for acros, but didn’t like seeing them crowding out the frag tank.
This got me thinking of it’s more the tank or the Reefer that needs to mature before adding sps to a cycled tank? Live rock and sand really played a role here though, but I’m prepared for disaster too!

Think positive! No disaster allowed.
My current 112 is 5 months.
I started with 35lbs of glr, no sand.
This is a growout system.
I had coral in within a few weeks.
This is a kalk only ran system until demand requires more.

 

[BryanM]

Looking good for sure.

 

[Reefer Matt]

Looking good for sure.

Thanks! I decided to have a little fun instead of playing it safe, time will tell if that was a mistake. I think if it gets to month four or so without major issues, then it’s a successful start. I’ll share the results either way.

 

[Biokabe]

How are you correcting for potential measurement drift from the Trident? Are you using the official reagents from Neptune or the cheaper ABC reagents?

I find that the Trident needs fairly regular correction - not as bad when using Neptune's reagents, but still something I've always needed to correct from time to time.

 

[xiaoxiy]

I agree that things are probably gonna take off without a hitch. I've found that a trick to quickly maturing a tank is adding a large amount of coral early; they seem to carry quite a bit of beneficial bacteria and can help process nutrients too. The downside is you have to have enough coral to add, which makes it hard and almost cost prohibitive for a starting hobbyist.

 

[Reefer Matt]

How are you correcting for potential measurement drift from the Trident? Are you using the official reagents from Neptune or the cheaper ABC reagents?

I find that the Trident needs fairly regular correction - not as bad when using Neptune's reagents, but still something I've always needed to correct from time to time.

I use the neptune reagents and calibrate every two months.

 

[Reefer Matt]

I agree that things are probably gonna take off without a hitch. I've found that a trick to quickly maturing a tank is adding a large amount of coral early; they seem to carry quite a bit of beneficial bacteria and can help process nutrients too. The downside is you have to have enough coral to add, which makes it hard and almost cost prohibitive for a starting hobbyist.

This is something I’ve never done this fast or even had a fully mixed tank. Reefer Matt is a small aquaculture facility, and there are plenty of coral to choose from. So this isn’t really from a hobbyist standpoint, just more about what’s possible. Still plenty of room for error though. I hope you’re right!

 

[xiaoxiy]

This is something I’ve never done this fast or even had a fully mixed tank. Reefer Matt is a small aquaculture facility, and there are plenty of coral to choose from. So this isn’t really from a hobbyist standpoint, just more about what’s possible. Still plenty of room for error though. I hope you’re right!

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. I started insta stocking my tanks after reading this thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/explain-why-roberto-can-break-the-sps-rules-and-succeed.884933/

This isn't an acro tank, but corals were added day 1 and things did amazing over over a year. I used a fourth of a cup of biomedia from my main tank.

This tank was also stocked within day 1 with a bit of biomedia (maybe a cup too?) from main system, and has done well for >90 days.

I also stocked these picos within a day of setup too with new rock (granted these tanks somewhat connected to my main system's water system)

 

[Reefer Matt]

Hmm, so I guess this isn’t that big of a deal. Added more coral and par mapped today. Everything is doing great at three weeks in. Here are the test results for today as well. PO4 went back up from the dry pukani rock, so the gfo reactor is running again for a day to lower it.

Par Map:

Water chemistry:

This isn’t as much of an experiment as previously thought, and is very achievable, though not recommended. Progress will continue in the build thread from here.