Aquarium: Red Sea XL300
Established: February 12, 2020
Past: I started this tank bare bottom, because I had never done this before and wanted to try it out. I also used 100% dry reef saver rock. This was a big learning curve, as I had always used live rock in the past. It definitely made things harder. I live out in the middle of nowhere and the closest reef shop is about 3.5 hours away. I had a bacterial bloom that lasted 5 weeks at one point. It ended up fixing itself, but I bought a UV sterilizer in case it returned (it never did).
Present: Everything finally settled out, so I added a few test corals a couple of weeks ago. On June 15th I decided to add mesoflakes, for esthetic reasons, although I think a mature bare bottom looks just as good. My last reef tank was a 150 gallon with a large 75 gallon refugium (an no skimmer). This tank utilizes a large skimmer as the main source of nutrient export. Also new to me are filter socks and LED lighting. My past reef tanks utilized metal halide lighting.
Future: I am currently manually dosing 2 part, but plan on adding a calcium reactor down the road in about a year when I'm ready for a clam. I also plan on utilizing the refugium section of my sump once my tank matures. I currently have one mp40 on the tank, which seems to be sufficient at the time. I may add another one and turn them both down as the corals grow out.
Established: February 12, 2020
Past: I started this tank bare bottom, because I had never done this before and wanted to try it out. I also used 100% dry reef saver rock. This was a big learning curve, as I had always used live rock in the past. It definitely made things harder. I live out in the middle of nowhere and the closest reef shop is about 3.5 hours away. I had a bacterial bloom that lasted 5 weeks at one point. It ended up fixing itself, but I bought a UV sterilizer in case it returned (it never did).
Present: Everything finally settled out, so I added a few test corals a couple of weeks ago. On June 15th I decided to add mesoflakes, for esthetic reasons, although I think a mature bare bottom looks just as good. My last reef tank was a 150 gallon with a large 75 gallon refugium (an no skimmer). This tank utilizes a large skimmer as the main source of nutrient export. Also new to me are filter socks and LED lighting. My past reef tanks utilized metal halide lighting.
Future: I am currently manually dosing 2 part, but plan on adding a calcium reactor down the road in about a year when I'm ready for a clam. I also plan on utilizing the refugium section of my sump once my tank matures. I currently have one mp40 on the tank, which seems to be sufficient at the time. I may add another one and turn them both down as the corals grow out.
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