AK’s Reef V2 - 100g Mixed Reef

Kostas G.

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Hello



Last year, on September, we decided to upgrade our reef to 100g from our 35g cube tank. And a long treacherous journey began....



We acquired the tank and sump used, the tank had a severely scratched front panel so we decided to cut the whole tank apart for safety and change the front panel to extra clear glass as well. And so we did. The sump was in so and so condition but did not cut it thinking we will probably upgrade again in a couple years and it should hold this long. So far it’s ok and seems sturdy



We got the basic equipment and set it up, a Coral Box d500 skimmer, diy ATO and setup the plumbing. Got the rock from a fellow hobbyist with fish only tank that seemed clean of parasites and hitchhikers and it indeed was as his fish had eaten everything there is as far as microfauma goes. We got a 7 year old par of Amphiprion percula as well as he was getting out of hobby and helped rehome some of his other fish



We also got some Real Reef rock and were all setup as far as rock needs. We lighted the tank with a black box led we had laying around till the Hydra 32 arrived and till the tank was ready to move the rock, corals and fish from our original tank.



Then we got a bit careless.... and a whole lot of problems followed!

I used to not buy anything from shop I knew had Ich or I knew had velvet or there was a serious chance of disease. I used to only buy fish from certain “clean” shops and not get tempted by anything in shops with diseases. Well, we wanted to expand our sources and my love wanted things from shops I feared of getting anything. Of course there was no chance I would refuse.

We got an awesome Acanthurus leucosternon and a pair of Amphiprion polymnus. We got lucky and they were healthy, just malnourished. Raised them to great condition, had them eat off our hands and also got a great Zanclus and got him loading himself on sponges I collected for him from our sea. The sponges acclimated to our tank and were growing faster than he ate them, so it was sustainable even without me diving for him once a week like I thought I would need to.

Then we got a Palythoa Purple Monster plug from a shop I knew had velvet. I did a freshwater did for 40seconds like I used to do when buying from questionable sources and did not do longer because they were freshly glued and didn’t want to have them come off the plug as they were ordered by the love of my life. In the next 24h I found the Zanclus on the mp40... I did a freshwater dip as a last ditch effort but we lost the Zanclus. 24h later our beloved leucosternon too :( I did not have any experience dealing with diseases of saltwater fish. I tried metronidazole but only controlled the disease some. Then I removed all corals to quarantine and tried plaquenil but things progressively got worse and lost the male Amphiprion polymnus. I was searching for a solution and was not finding any good one for velvet. My love had gotten mad at me for having this messed up tank in our living room.

I searched and searched the diseases and their life cycles and got somewhat confident I can rid the fish of both Amyloodinium and Cryptocaryon by doing daily tank transfers for 12days. And so I did, plus doing brief freshwater dips between the transfers and a couple longer FW dips at the start and end of the tank transfer. I also used plaquenil for the duration of the TTM. And it worked out, they all cleared of diseases!

In the meantime I took apart the tank, cleaned it with FW and the rocks with boiling water, and dried everything out for days and days. Then I got new saltwater and set everything up again. And when the fish were ready, I put them in. The fish were healthy indeed. Then I put some Chaetomorpha from my original smaller tank which I thought I had not contaminated and which I though did not have any Ich. After a day I saw Ich in the original tank. I was devastated. I knew I would have to go through all that again. And now both tanks were diseased and I had no clean chaetomorpha to take care of ammonia and keep water quality while the rock cycles properly.

I decided to go fallow on the new tank, do TTM and quarantine the fishes till the tank is ready. Then, I would do TTM to the fish of the original tank(AK’s reef), move the rocks and corals to the new tank and restart the fallow days count. The fish would all be in quarantine with water changes every 2-3 days and external filtration that would be allowed to cycle ... it was a nightmare. I hated every day I had the fish in quarantine as they were in suboptimal conditions. I lost a few fish in TT from disease and a few dear ones from stress because I did not know better at the time. I did not know fish die of anxiety. I have since altered my ways and include hideouts and normal lighting in the TT and fish do wonderfully and not stressing.



Anyway, the days of fallow passed, the fish were moved and things were nice.



Then I changed from dosing pump to a CaRX because I was mixing buckets for the dosing pump too frequently or my likings and because I wanted to gain experience using CaRX as my goal is to eventually have a several thousand liter reef tank and it would be more cost effective to run on Ca reactors.



Corals went downhill fast not only from me not knowing how fast a reactor can affect KH but also from local of trace mineral additions. LPS corals suffered most probably from lack of Iodine, Fe, Potassium and other trace minerals. None told me what I would need to supplement and none teached me how to use a CaRX and how to properly tune it. I also ended with low Calcium as the reactor was not outputting Calcium, just Alkalinity.

To make matters worse, a pair of Zanclus I got got a taste for Trachyphyllia and Scolymia, Platygyra and Montipora caps, Turbinaria too, damaging and further stressing them to the point of very difficult return. RTN setted in and we lost a whole lot of Acropora, a couple Trachyphyllia and have severely damaged Scolymias.....



We go through that..... managed to eventually tune the reactor properly and have a stable tank again. We started adding Trace with the use of AquaIt took months but things are recovering and the fluorescence is getting back


We still have some Aptaisia which are being dealt with with Berghia and peppermint shrimps. Also probably have some nasty flatworms that recently killed a nice Euphyllia and I think were the reason we lost 2 Trachyphyllia while all others are super happy, and I will need to treat with Exit. But things are on their way to a problem free tank

I will post detailed information and pictures in the coming days

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Last edited:
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Kostas G.

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Now for some details :)

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Display:
115-60-55cm

Lighting by 1x Hydra 26HD, 1x Hydra 32HD

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Sump: 100-50-45cm

Skimmer: Coral Box d500

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Ca Rx: Knop Korallin with Tunze pH controller set at 6.25 and an Ecotech Versa feeding the effluent to the sump

Temperature control: Teco TK500 wifi

Dosing: Fish Street dosing pump for Red Sea’s Colors program
Manual dosing of Red Sea Colors Bioactive elements and of Calcium when needed.
Manual dosing of Red Sea Energy

DIY ATO

Chaetomorpha refugium in the sump with 24/7 lighting
 
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Kostas G.

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Some new photos
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Acropora hyacinctus ‘Red Planet
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Acropora tenuis
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Acropora millepora
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Acropora carduus(?)
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Kostas G.

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Here I am again 1 year after the previous photos…

I had Phosphates creep up on me and some trace levels fall too much and lost many corals and clams… I watch the above pictures and cry…. I saw my phosphates rising and was relying on Chaeto for their control, so I was fighting them by increasing lighting and photoperiod but they were not falling. They crept up by being immeasurable by Hanna Phosphorus Low Range and I started losing various corals and clams while others being fine and finally all Euphyllia at the same time. I sent an ICP and phosphate was 4ppm…… and many trace elements immeasurable

I took drastic action and within a month things were resolving and corals growing well. Within a few months most problems were solved and I send ICP often now. I also have Xepta autoBalance hooked on now and the growth rate has picked up exponentially

Here are some photos now
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Kostas G.

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Latest photos :)
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A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

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