ricketyroll
Community Member
Hey folks,
I wanted to share my experience and success'/ failures on my Mixed reef.
I have a rimmed 55 gallon big box store tank.
1 Fluval FX6 running filter floss, ceramic media, X-port PO4 and NO3 cubes, with Kaytalst
1 Fluval 407 running sponges, ceramic media, carbon, and Phosban,
1 Coral life turbotwist 12 UV hooked up in series to the 407 (completely oversized but it was much cheaper than the appropriately sized!)
1 HOB Coral life skimmer
1 HOB DIY refugium with cheato and pom pom gracilaria, powered by an air lift tube and amazon growlight strip
1 Inkbird controller running a 300W heater
1 Tunze nano osmolator 3
Lighting
2 Noopsyche k7 pro v3s running white heavy mornings and blue heavy evenings maxing about 50%
Stocking:
1 large Snowflake Moray about 2 feet long
3 banggia cardinals
1 yellowtail damsel
1 3 bar damsel (until I can catch the *******)
Corals
Lots of Zoas
Lots of Mushrooms
Lots of LPS ( torches, hammers, trumpets, gonistraia, hydronaphora, elegance, acan)
Small Sps population ( pavona, purple stylo, stylocenella, psamaocorra, 2 montis)
System runs pretty high nutrients, its a constant battle that i think is mostly fed by the eel, he gets/ needs 2 large shrimp every 2-3 days, i alternate with mussel squid clam mix, and silver sides.
Its not unusual to have 20-30 nitrates as my goal
Phosphates are finally under control with the x-port po4 cubes, running about .1 to .2
I do weekly water changes of 10 to 15 gallons mostly due to the Nitrates.
Salt is AF +
In general i have had a lot of success, the LPS is growing and dividing well, coral death toll is small with only a few mysteries.
Recently beat back Bryopsis with fluconazole (reef flux) initial all corals seemed fine but 3 weeks past im seeing some lps were negatively effected
This is my first tank and ive been learning and adapting, Id love a sumped system but this is what I have for now !
Just wanted to share and encourage and see if folks had any ideas for better nitrate control. Id love to do less waterchanges.
I wanted to share my experience and success'/ failures on my Mixed reef.
I have a rimmed 55 gallon big box store tank.
1 Fluval FX6 running filter floss, ceramic media, X-port PO4 and NO3 cubes, with Kaytalst
1 Fluval 407 running sponges, ceramic media, carbon, and Phosban,
1 Coral life turbotwist 12 UV hooked up in series to the 407 (completely oversized but it was much cheaper than the appropriately sized!)
1 HOB Coral life skimmer
1 HOB DIY refugium with cheato and pom pom gracilaria, powered by an air lift tube and amazon growlight strip
1 Inkbird controller running a 300W heater
1 Tunze nano osmolator 3
Lighting
2 Noopsyche k7 pro v3s running white heavy mornings and blue heavy evenings maxing about 50%
Stocking:
1 large Snowflake Moray about 2 feet long
3 banggia cardinals
1 yellowtail damsel
1 3 bar damsel (until I can catch the *******)
Corals
Lots of Zoas
Lots of Mushrooms
Lots of LPS ( torches, hammers, trumpets, gonistraia, hydronaphora, elegance, acan)
Small Sps population ( pavona, purple stylo, stylocenella, psamaocorra, 2 montis)
System runs pretty high nutrients, its a constant battle that i think is mostly fed by the eel, he gets/ needs 2 large shrimp every 2-3 days, i alternate with mussel squid clam mix, and silver sides.
Its not unusual to have 20-30 nitrates as my goal
Phosphates are finally under control with the x-port po4 cubes, running about .1 to .2
I do weekly water changes of 10 to 15 gallons mostly due to the Nitrates.
Salt is AF +
In general i have had a lot of success, the LPS is growing and dividing well, coral death toll is small with only a few mysteries.
Recently beat back Bryopsis with fluconazole (reef flux) initial all corals seemed fine but 3 weeks past im seeing some lps were negatively effected
This is my first tank and ive been learning and adapting, Id love a sumped system but this is what I have for now !
Just wanted to share and encourage and see if folks had any ideas for better nitrate control. Id love to do less waterchanges.
