Box Of Crayons

[ReeferTCG]

Hi All,

Super excited about my new build. Going through cycling. Coming back to the hobby. Trying to implement all the new information and have a long time with lights off to develop a bio culture and reduce the ugly phase. Looking for constructive feedback to improve my bare bottom tank.

Equipment:

- Fuge with ocean direct sand (will add chaeto once fish finish quarantine)
- Reef matt 250 filter roller
- Octo 110 INT classic Skimmer
- 2x BRS titanium heaters with inkbird controller
- 2x sicce 357GPH return pumps
- 2x MP10
- Radiom XR15 Pro G6
- 30 lbs Marco rock
- Dos Auto water change
- Apex controller
- Apex Auto top off
- apex auto feeder

 

[Tahoe61]

Starting out with a great scape. I think BB tanks are awesome.

That's a nice size tank.

Curious to see how the AWC out.

 

[ReeferTCG]

Thanks! Yeah ill post updates when WC are going. Did do a partial one to test it and its woking well

 

[jwestwood]

Wow! That's beautiful! Great work.

 

[ReeferTCG]

3 fishies still in quarantine 21 days observation complete June 10th!

 

[ReeferTCG]

Couple of updates from this week:

1- tank cycled after a month

2 - Fish finished 21 day observation QT

3 - Raised salinity back up to 35ppt after low salinity to help cycle and temp back down to 78

4 - Fish transferred to DT after aclimation

5 - Cleaned QT ready for social wrasse and tailspot blenny

 

[ReeferTCG]

Yeaterday I found the tail spot blenny having an infection. Im going to treat with neoplex today after a water change to the QT tank. Crossing my fingers!

 

[ReeferTCG]

Man! these sumps are tight!! With a lot of patience and moving things I was able to fit the skimmer again! Hoping the pump does not break again.

Anyone know a great brand that might make something smaller that the reef octo clasic int 110?

The pump is under the reef mat so it all fits

Tank and fish still doing great with auto water changes!!

 

[ReeferTCG]

Maybe over reacting but can never be too sure, I covered the gaps from redsea DIY net due to the new wrasse in the tank. I ordered a @Kraken Reef lid because Im sure the wrasse will find a hole to jump out while im out on vacation.

Im going away for 15 days, I have apex auto feeder, cameras, Apex controller and a pump to refill my 4G ATO with alexa plug. Also have a camera to ensure I don't overfill the ATO, tested it and takes 4 mins to fill up 4 gallons once the sensor says its empty.

What are some of your favorite ways to prep for extended vacation?

 

[ReeferTCG]

Coral day is always exciting!!

What is yor favorite coral?

 

[the sailfin tang]

Nice tank

 

[ReeferTCG]

Getting corals acclimated. How long do you usually leave them in lower light acclimating? Its been 2 weeks for me.

 

[ReeferTCG]

Hey R2R, it’s been a while since my last update!

This new build is going so much smoother than my first tank. Having a sump with a proper skimmer, chaeto, and a filter roller has been a total game-changer. Add in better pH control and finally getting a quality light… huge difference.

I’ve also gone with more utilitarian fish and trochus snails, and I’ve officially passed the “failure point” of my first tank (that one crashed from algae, fish loss, and coral loss). This time, the algae is staying in the refugium where it belongs. And for the first time ever—Coralline algae growth!! Woohoo!

QT’ing all the fish has also made things much more stable.

Curious:
• When did you all start noticing coralline in your tanks?
• Any must-have utilitarian fish/snails you recommend?

Thanks to this community for all the advice—it’s paying off big time! Pics below

 

[ReeferTCG]

Delete

 

[ReeferTCG]

Hi All,

I haven't posted in a while, have been busy trying to get things going. We are at the 7 month mark and I think things are starting to grow!!! Coraline is growing like crazy and some SPS are encrusting.

I had a mini crash where I dosed prazi pro for the fish and it caused a bacterial bloom that dropped PH super quickly, I didint think Alk consumption would go down drastically so with dosing I had an ALK spike. Many SPS had STN and some LPS lost heads. It was very tough but we cqme the other side doing well.

Next a lot of stuf was not looking great brown, receding, loosing tissue. STN chalises doing bad you name it. I was looking at parameters , doing ICP watching videos like crazy was it flow was it chemestry? Was it too much light??

Decided to rent a par meter…. I was getting 50 par at the top almost 20 where stuff was dying.

Bumped the lights up to around 60% and everything started doing well and even growing.

Next step was flow I changed flow around to blast the SpS and in a day or 2 polyps came out!!! I had no polip extension until flow was high so it was a fantastic finding.

The last thing I started doing is trying the chris meckly chase PH so bumped up my PH with both CO2 scrubber and dumping a lot of kalk through the day with a doser. I am now seeing a lot of SPS expand their base and ALK did not go up too much.

Still tryong to dial in AFR dosing with manganese and iron for my gonis and trying to figure out why mushrooms and zoas seem happy but not growing.

What big things have you changed and seen positive results?

How do you get these softies to grow???

 

[ReeferTCG]

Hi all, I have been increasing flow like a lot strong flow and random-ish and I am now seeing a lot of polyp extension, so went ahead and bough more pumps to hit other areas I was missing.

Second change was PH Im working on getting PH as High as I can. With both those changes Ive seen corals start encrust so fast.

Anecdotally.. PH and flow have made my corals have explosive growth!

Next change I am looking is to get reef brites to supplement lights.

Ill try to make some befor after pictures.

 

[ReeferTCG]

8 days growth of pushing higher PH

 

[ReeferTCG]

What a haul at the michigan sterling heights frag swap vendors are always great!

 

[ReeferTCG]

It’s been a couple months and all corals look good overall.



Alk has been running at 13 dKH due to the Chris Meckley method of holding pH stable. I was holding pH over 8.5, but I was overdumping kalk, which lowered salinity. I’ve corrected that and now I’m holding 35 ppt steady. Corals are much happier.

When I stopped water changes for two weeks, the corals looked a bit worse. Once I resumed water changes, things improved.

I stopped water changes due to flux RX dosing which worked like a miracle!! No casualties and everything bryopsis was gone.




I have never seen my corals grow this fast while running kalk and holding high pH.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

It’s been a couple months and all corals look good overall.



Alk has been running at 13 dKH due to the Chris Meckley method of holding pH stable. I was holding pH over 8.5, but I was overdumping kalk, which lowered salinity. I’ve corrected that and now I’m holding 35 ppt steady. Corals are much happier.

When I stopped water changes for two weeks, the corals looked a bit worse. Once I resumed water changes, things improved.

I stopped water changes due to flux RX dosing which worked like a miracle!! No casualties and everything bryopsis was gone.




I have never seen my corals grow this fast while running kalk and holding high pH.

Your corals are looking great!