Apollon's new reef adventure

[Apollon]

Following a hiatus of 3 years, I have now started my new reef adventure. As space is a bit limited, I opted for the Red Sea Reefer 200XL. Thusfar I’m quite impressed with the build quality and clean lines of the Red Sea tanks. My only real gripe would be the sump which is rather small and a bit restrictive.

Current equipment:

Lighting: Red Sea Reef LED 90

Skimmer: Red Sea RSK600 – I have always preferred running a slightly oversizing the skimmer, so this works well

Return pump: Tunze Silence (2000lph)

Gyre pump: Red Sea Reefwave 25 – Might be a bit light in terms of flow, so will see how this goes

Seneye Reef

Inkbird Temperature controller with 2 x 200W heaters

Kamoer P4 Pro dosing pump: To be commissioned at a later stage, when the need for dosing arises

I have about 14kg (30lbs) of acquascape base rock and 3kg (7lbs) of Indo live rock in the display and another 1kg (2lbs) of live rock in the sump.

I decided to use KZ’s Zeovit system from the start, so I’m keen to see how this progresses. Only challenge has been finding a reactor which is small enough to fit the slightly restrictive sump. I initially used a Nyos Torq 1.0 for the Zeolites, but find it rather cumbersome to shake up the Zeolites daily in the reactor, so will change this by placing the Zeolites in a filter bag. Will probably need to DIY a reactor for the Zeolites at some stage…

I’m planning on having a SPS dominant tank but I do love my Acan’s and Chalices, so certainly a few of those would be added. Other than that, a couple of sexy shrimp, a Mini-Max anemone (once everything stabilizes) and probably about 7-8 fish. Currently thinking about the following fish as possible additions:

Premnas biaculeatus: Lightning Maroon clowns

Gobiodon histrio: Broad barred Goby

Halichoeres vrolikii/ Halichoeres melanurus: Pinstriped wrasse

Lactoria Cornuta: Cowfish

Ecsenius bicolor: Bicolor blenny

Zebrasoma flavescens: Yellow tang

Valenciennea bella: Bella Goby


Setup was done over the past week and tank wetting took place on Monday.

A couple of pics ( Taken from cellphone, so excuse the poor quality):

• Sump layout – Rather busy, so need to get round to rearranging things a bit and sorting the wiring

For now I’m running with the Red Sea felt filter sock (Not the one that came with the tank, as it doesn’t appear to catch all that much debris). This will be changed out to a filter media cup and filter floss, as I loathe having to clean out the filter socks every 3-4 days. The skimmer is still bedding down, so will do some final adjustments in the next few days. One issue that I have had is the water level in the return pump compartment and also the ATO that came with the tank. Frustratingly difficult getting the right water level set, but I think my return pump probably needs to be throttled back a bit. Only other issue is a rather noisy overflow, but it probably just needs a bit of fiddling with the valve. Will get to it this weekend.

• FTS: Not much to show as yet. Just rocks….

That’s pretty much it for now.
Will update again once the cycle completes and the first livestock is added.

 

[Conchman]

Very nice, and welcome back into hobby...

 

[Apollon]

So, just a quick update: Yesterday I noted with interest that I have literally hundreds of pods running up an down on the glass and back panels. Found it interesting that 2-3 days after setting up the tank, that I already have a large pod population present. The LR and base rock was however cycling in a separate container for 2 weeks prior to setting up the tank, so this might have something to do with it.

Also started noticing the fist signs of green algae on the LR appearing. Will reserve my judgement until this grows a bit more, but it does look a little like the dreaded cladophoropsis algae (which I had endless issues with in my previous nano) with hard "wiry" ends. Too small yet to get a good photo, but will just keep an eye on this. My base rock is still pretty much the same colour with no signs of algae as yet, but this will likely change as the cycle progresses. I am wondering though how long the base rock will take to fully cycle...

Lastly, still having some challenges getting the correct water level in the sump, especially the return pump section, which seems to alternate between too high or too low (both of which affect the ATO float valve). Skimmer is still bedding in and as there is not much organic matter in the tank as yet, it's not producing much of anything except bubbles.

Will update with more pics in the coming days as things start growing/developing on the rock.