Brad’s 180g mixed reef build

[Eagle_Steve]

I currently have a 12 hour photo period, including an hour moonlighting before and after peak intensity. LED Lights turn on at 11am and off at 10pm, so ramping from peak intensity from 11am to 1:30pm and then it starts to decline at 8:30pm. My T5 lights kick on at 12pm and off at 9pm. It’s about an hour more overall lighting compared to my old tank. Is that too much? I used the radiant color template by ecotech

Shouldnt be too much once it is stocked and the tank has some diversity.

Did you dose phtyo to the tank at any point? If so, how much?

 

[Brad_95]

Shouldnt be too much once it is stocked and the tank has some diversity.

Did you dose phtyo to the tank at any point? If so, how much?

No phyto, just the bacterial start up for a new system and I fed the system for a month before transferring everything over.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

No phyto, just the bacterial start up for a new system and I fed the system for a month before transferring everything over.

OK, so more than likely just a green algae bloom. Easier to fix than phyto bloom from my experience.

Has it increased any, reduced any or stayed about the same? Just curious, as thinking that a good wet skim, lights out for 24 hours may be a good way to start and see if it reduces how dense it is.

@fishguy242 @F i s h y thoughts on the above?

 

[F i s h y]

OK, so more than likely just a green algae bloom. Easier to fix than phyto bloom from my experience.

Has it increased any, reduced any or stayed about the same? Just curious, as thinking that a good wet skim, lights out for 24 hours may be a good way to start and see if it reduces how dense it is.

@fishguy242 @F i s h y thoughts on the above?

Agree wet skim. Watch salinity while doing a wet skim if using an ATO. Don't want it to drop to much. Lights out for maybe even 36 hours. Keep water well oxygenated.

 

[Brad_95]

Agree wet skim. Watch salinity while doing a wet skim if using an ATO. Don't want it to drop to much. Lights out for maybe even 36 hours. Keep water well oxygenated.

Thanks guys for all the help, got the skimmer tuned for wet skim. I’ll run lights out for 36 hours and check back in. Should clear up pretty well.

I always notice at night when it’s just the blues on, the tank is almost pristine.

 

[Brad_95]

So the light out idea only ended up working for about two days before it came back. After running some tests and coming to the conclusion that my phosphates are leaching from the rock and sand at an exponential rate since the sand wasn’t rinsed out, I ended up running a small amount of GFO. Roughly 1/4 of what is recommended and now the tank is perfectly clear. Running into a bit of diatoms, which is a bit delayed but it’s nowhere near as bad as my first system was. So overall off to a better start!

 

[Brad_95]

Here’s a rare glimpse of the system with the basement lights on

 

[Brad_95]

Soooooo, with my compulsive need to continually add things to this wonderful hobby, my fiancé (bless her soul since she doesn’t know what she has just done) has given me permission to utilize the storage closet to the left of the main tank. It is large and spacious, and now I am getting a 50g lowboy tank from my LFS and plumbing it into the main system and will be using it as a frag tank. bringing total water volume to 270g.

I love this hobby so much

 

[Brad_95]

And another little update, thanks to some small coral sales, we got our first “new” addition towards the frag tank!

 

[vpierce3]

Soooooo, with my compulsive need to continually add things to this wonderful hobby, my fiancé (bless her soul since she doesn’t know what she has just done) has given me permission to utilize the storage closet to the left of the main tank. It is large and spacious, and now I am getting a 50g lowboy tank from my LFS and plumbing it into the main system and will be using it as a frag tank. bringing total water volume to 270g.

I love this hobby so much

Haha. Without telling you, she’s probably getting into the hobby too. That’s what my wife does. I just transferred my old 75 gallon tank into a new 150 gallon. And she said, “the tank seems so empty now, you need to put more stuff in it”. Hook, line and sinker. Lol.

 

[Brad_95]

hey everyone. I just wanted to update this build. Unfortunately, life has taken a major change this year. I had to step away from the hobby abruptly this past summer, after coming to some relevations and becoming newly single again.

On the brighter side of things, I am closing on a new home and I am making some major changes coming back into the hobby. Some cool updates will hopefully play out sometime soon as i get moved in.

 

[Brad_95]

Reviving this old thread…. Finally made some traction! Been renovating the new fish room over the course of the year and will take some photos of it this week once the drywall is up!