Fern's 54 Gallon corner reef

Fernthereefer

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Hi all,

So I realized I was focusing on the DIY section for my tank pictures rather than posting an actual thread in the Members section.

My name is Fernando, I am from Montreal, Canada. I have been into aquariums for 20+ years, but only recently joined the club by owning a piece of reef!

I did not make it easy on myself by chosing a tempered glass, not drilled, corner aquarium. I like to DIY and this fit the bill...

Tank is now 6 month old. Using Aquaforest Reef Salt. Manual dosing of TM all for reef every 72 hours (mostly for the iodine and trace elements). Kaklwasser in ATO. Viparsepctra 165W currently at 60% Blues, 40% whites. 10 hours/day (8h whites, 10h Blues).

I have a thread in the DIY section with the sump setup.

Current inhabitants:
- Neon dottyback
- 2 Ocellaris
- 2 Firefish
- Coral Beauty Angelfish
- 4 turbo snails
- Tiger conch
- Pistol Shrimp
- Cleaner Shrimp

Corals
- Sunny D' Zoa
- Green bay packer Zoa
- 2 other less colored zoas
- Branching Hammer coral
- Torch coral (1 head)
- Moon coral purple
- Red RIcoradea Yuma
- Gold Ricodea Yuma
- Birdsnest green
- Birdsnest
- Seriatopora
- Purple acropora
- Green Star polyp
- Red acan
- Red Montipora cap

20200527_192119.jpg 20200430_193032.jpg 20200502_191113.jpg 20200502_191107.jpg 20200501_160109.jpg
 
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Fernthereefer

Fernthereefer

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Sad day in Fern's 54 corner....

Yesterday I made a newb mystake....

So my 3 months seeded copepods took over the refugium and started irritating some of the Zoa's in the display... so I though to myself: lets buy a pod-eating fish.

Short story: I got myself a diamong goby and a Falco Hawkfish. Everything was running well, but I had a problem, I only have 1 acclimating box. So I though I would put the Falco in the box, and the sand-dwelling Goby will do fine hiding for a few days... He did look fine when I left him 10 minutes after introduction.

2 hours later (had to leave the house).... that is all it took for it to jump out from the back. I have the tank 90% glass covered, except where it meets the overflow box and return pipe...

Sad day..... RIP little one, this post in in your honor. Don't even have a picture. Thats how quick it went....

Its on me. Should have left him in QT for a few days.

Here is the remaining Falco and the tank as of today.

20200611_172018.jpg 20200611_172023.jpg
 
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Fernthereefer

Fernthereefer

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SO my phosphates and nitrates are still undetectable after 8 months in. My DIY refugium and skimmer, combined with the few residents that I have are probably the cause.

However, all the corals seem happy. My only acropora, the birdnests and the stylophora have grown rapidly. So I believe they are happy.

Parameters right now.
1.026
78.5F
Nitrates: 0 (red sea Pro test)
Phophates: 0 (red sea pro)
Calcium 400, slowly raising to 430 ppm with manual dosing
Alk 7.2, slowly raising to 8.5 with manual dosing
Mag 1450ppm, al little high, but I leave it for now.
Ph: 7.95 in the morning; 8.15 at night. Consistent.


Problems these last 2 months:

1- GHA is slowly creeping up on me. It is limited to a piece of rock/coral skeleton that I bought from a fellow reefer (colony of favia that is well encrusted). Will have to find a way to frag that and remove that piece.

2- Falco Hawkfish turned out to be a very aggressive fellow, so I traded him for a Papaya Clove Polyp frag and a Ricordea Yuma Superman. I think its a good trade

3- Lost my emerald crab. No idea why he died.

Thanks for following!
 
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Fernthereefer

Fernthereefer

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So I started dosing.....

I could not maintaing my alk at 8.0 as of late, it kept creeping down to 6.7 in a matter of 48 hours. So I started dosing:

Randy's #1 recipe. I am starting slow, trying to keep the alk and cal to 8.0 dKH, 420 ppm.

I use all for reef TM for the trace elements, 15ml once every 72 hours. Its negligible in terms of alk and cal, but I think it may sustain the iodine and mag. I will follow with an ICP in a short while.

I added corals in the past 2 weeks, so def. needed dosing at this point. Also, the LPS are growing fast! Did not expect this for a 8 mths old system.

New corals (for record keeping):

1- Ricordea Florida orange
2- Ricordea Yuma orange
3- Ricordea Yuma blue/red/green (don't know the official name)
4- Zoa's (Elegance)
5- Green toadstool (small)
6- Miyagi tort acropora

I also got a red fairy wrasse, looking better this week (was spooked). But I find it in the overflow box from time to time. Need to figure a way to block it.

Thanks for following!
(Will add pictures as soon as possible)
 

revhtree

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Nice job on the growth!
 
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Fernthereefer

Fernthereefer

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Nice job on the growth!

Thanks. I hope this continues. As a newb, I am one mistake away from a crash. I try to compensate as much as possible with knowledge acquired in this forum.

I will setup a frag tank to have spares just in case. Nothing replaces a DT, but I have grown to be fond of my corals. LOL
 

revhtree

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Thanks. I hope this continues. As a newb, I am one mistake away from a crash. I try to compensate as much as possible with knowledge acquired in this forum.

I will setup a frag tank to have spares just in case. Nothing replaces a DT, but I have grown to be fond of my corals. LOL

It takes a lot more to crash a tank than you know! Just do your best and you will learn as you go! We're happy to have you here.
 

Tahoe61

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I really like the tank, nice open scape.

So the All For Reef was not enough to keep the alk in line?
 

JCTReefer

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So I started dosing.....

I could not maintaing my alk at 8.0 as of late, it kept creeping down to 6.7 in a matter of 48 hours. So I started dosing:

Randy's #1 recipe. I am starting slow, trying to keep the alk and cal to 8.0 dKH, 420 ppm.

I use all for reef TM for the trace elements, 15ml once every 72 hours. Its negligible in terms of alk and cal, but I think it may sustain the iodine and mag. I will follow with an ICP in a short while.

I added corals in the past 2 weeks, so def. needed dosing at this point. Also, the LPS are growing fast! Did not expect this for a 8 mths old system.

New corals (for record keeping):

1- Ricordea Florida orange
2- Ricordea Yuma orange
3- Ricordea Yuma blue/red/green (don't know the official name)
4- Zoa's (Elegance)
5- Green toadstool (small)
6- Miyagi tort acropora

I also got a red fairy wrasse, looking better this week (was spooked). But I find it in the overflow box from time to time. Need to figure a way to block it.

Thanks for following!
(Will add pictures as soon as possible)
Very nice!
I hope you like the tank! I have the exact same 54 corner. It’s been a great tank! Just to give you an idea of an alk/calcium dose for that size tank, I thought I’d chime in. Yes, every tank is certainly different. My aquascape is really open kind of like yours. It consumes about .5 dkh per day. I dose 4 times daily. 12:00pm and 6:00pm alk. 3:00pm and 9:00pm calcium. Dosing 21ml of alk and calcium a day to maintain alkalinity between 8.5 to 9.0 dkh. BRS 2 part is what I use, so basically Randy’s recipe. Here’s an idea of my coral load. Maybe it would give you a general idea. We actually have some of the same type corals.
85A29B91-3962-4C4B-A370-BEADD4CFBE86.jpeg
 
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Fernthereefer

Fernthereefer

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Very nice!
I hope you like the tank! I have the exact same 54 corner. It’s been a great tank! Just to give you an idea of an alk/calcium dose for that size tank, I thought I’d chime in. Yes, every tank is certainly different. My aquascape is really open kind of like yours. It consumes about .5 dkh per day. I dose 4 times daily. 12:00pm and 6:00pm alk. 3:00pm and 9:00pm calcium. Dosing 21ml of alk and calcium a day to maintain alkalinity between 8.5 to 9.0 dkh. BRS 2 part is what I use, so basically Randy’s recipe. Here’s an idea of my coral load. Maybe it would give you a general idea. We actually have some of the same type corals.
85A29B91-3962-4C4B-A370-BEADD4CFBE86.jpeg
Wow, beautiful tank. I hope I get to this!

How do you deal with flow? I feel I don't have enough. Thanks
 

JCTReefer

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You will get there for sure!!! The tanks actually grown out a bit more than the previous picture! Flow is a little tricky in these style aquariums. I use two Tunze 6025’s rated at 740gph each. I have one in the upper left back wall and the other in the upper right back wall. They are pointed directly at each other and angled up. The return is located in the back corner. It’s only putting out about 252gph. It’s a Sicce 2.0. Here’s a few pics of how mine are positioned. Excuse the UV sterilizer plumbing. It’s hopefully temporary! I turned on the lights manually for a couple of quick shots. Corals are still closed up.
996A879F-C298-4BF3-8D34-672CC37634CB.jpeg
E2F3AA31-ACBF-4794-8407-EC616B7B20B2.jpeg
DE8B298F-84CF-41CE-A94A-9381AB1B41E5.jpeg
 
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Fernthereefer

Fernthereefer

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You will get there for sure!!! The tanks actually grown out a bit more than the previous picture! Flow is a little tricky in these style aquariums. I use two Tunze 6025’s rated at 740gph each. I have one in the upper left back wall and the other in the upper right back wall. They are pointed directly at each other and angled up. The return is located in the back corner. It’s only putting out about 252gph. It’s a Sicce 2.0. Here’s a few pics of how mine are positioned. Excuse the UV sterilizer plumbing. It’s hopefully temporary! I turned on the lights manually for a couple of quick shots. Corals are still closed up.
996A879F-C298-4BF3-8D34-672CC37634CB.jpeg
E2F3AA31-ACBF-4794-8407-EC616B7B20B2.jpeg
DE8B298F-84CF-41CE-A94A-9381AB1B41E5.jpeg


Nice setup! Thanks for sharing. So our setup is actually not that far appart!

I use 2 current USA 660gph positionned one on top, the other almost at the bottom. My return is at 550gph (jebao DC at lowest settings), and I also have a 300ghp pump on the far back that serves to maintain the siphon of the overflow box.

My flow problem is mostly on the bottom, as I cannot get a good flow to remove detritus that settles there.

Also, I just removed my UV sterilizer myself after a Dino outbreak. ;)
 

revhtree

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Very nice!
I hope you like the tank! I have the exact same 54 corner. It’s been a great tank! Just to give you an idea of an alk/calcium dose for that size tank, I thought I’d chime in. Yes, every tank is certainly different. My aquascape is really open kind of like yours. It consumes about .5 dkh per day. I dose 4 times daily. 12:00pm and 6:00pm alk. 3:00pm and 9:00pm calcium. Dosing 21ml of alk and calcium a day to maintain alkalinity between 8.5 to 9.0 dkh. BRS 2 part is what I use, so basically Randy’s recipe. Here’s an idea of my coral load. Maybe it would give you a general idea. We actually have some of the same type corals.
85A29B91-3962-4C4B-A370-BEADD4CFBE86.jpeg

I can't tell you how much I love this!
 

JCTReefer

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Oh yes, dreaded dinos! It’s been a battle for sure!
We are really close with flow! I’ve found most of the dead spots in the far left and right corners. I suppose you could add a couple more powerheads pointed directly in those corners to keep detritus suspended. I tell you what though. I had to look for a long time before finding a sump that would work in this stand! Lol. It’s a little tight down there! And had to build cabinets next to the stand for the ATO reservoir and dosing pumps. And also had to modify how the lights are set up. Most manufactures don’t gear their stuff for corner tanks! You have to be creative. Haha.
 

JCTReefer

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I can't tell you how much I love this!
Thanks Rev! Much appreciated!:)
It’s going to be sad to tear it down here in a few months. It’s about 3 years old. Custom 210 is setting in my garage! Can’t wait to start the new build! I’m sure the tang will appreciate more real estate!! Haha.
 

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