First Reef Tank - 20G Long w/ 10G Planted Refugium (in progress)

pepper89

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Note from future me... I know this is long, and I am really sorry for anyone that reads it fully. It is a pretty lengthy post and may ramble a lot, as I haven't had time to edit it all. Eventually, I do plan on making a TL;DR portion near the top here with the basic bullets of information for quicker reference, though for now, this is what it is.

This is still in the planning/buying process, so I don't have many pictures yet, though I wanted to do this to keep my head organized and give a place for people who know what they are doing to help correct me if needed. I've been planning this tank for over a year and slowly collecting pieces to get a good setup with quarantine tanks. I have zero experience in saltwater and/or reef tanks, though I have little expertise in keeping freshwater-planted aquariums many years ago. So any advice will be appreciated. I have been watching tons of BRS videos and doing a lot of research, so I am not entirely uninformed about what I am doing.

I will eventually add a few pictures in the next post with sort of some basic ideas, pictures, and diagrams. As well as hopefully an update on the drilling for the overflow and the sump setup.

Design Ideas
For the base design idea, I am going with a toxic/death/wasteland that nature/coral is taking back sort of theme. I have various-sized skull aquarium decor that I plan on placing around and in the rockwork. They will work as structural pieces that guarantee suitable little dark hiding holes inside the rock for the fish to hide/destress, but I do want them to peak out, so it looks like the rockwork is just beginning to work its way over the dead. Then I plan to fill a few small glass bottles with highlighter water meant to look like glowing toxic waste under the blue reef lights I plan to secure along the rockwork and sandbed. I have like 4 different highlight colors that will fill up about 12 small bottles (blue, green, purple, and pink). For these, I will seal them with a good amount of silicone at the top to keep the highlighter water in, though I plan to put them in a tub of saltwater for a month to ensure they don't leak before actually putting them in the tank.

As for the rockwork, I want it to be a series of shelves that go up to a point near the mid-back corner of the tank but lean slightly off-center towards the left. I plan to keep it 1-2 inches away from the rear glass and have several arches and holes to help keep the flow moving around the structure better. Though I am placing the tank in my house, it would give me the best viewing option from the front right corner, where my desk sits (I work from home). So that is the view I will cater to the most, but I do want most of the front and sides to be pretty open as well, so things closest to the front and sides will be closer to the sandbed and working their way up to help optimize viewing.

As for the refugium, I want to decorate it like an overgrown trail, with planted algae along the edges pushing in and choking out the path. I am putting sand at the bottom of my refugium and using a bit of rock rubble to give the algae some added height, with the smallest rock rubble along the sandbed making up a "cobblestone" walking path. Having that twilight on a scary path type feel with the more red refugium lights. I still have to get a few more decor pieces, but I wanted to get some tiny benches and a little town decor items that give it more of that feeling of a once-populated walking path that is now deserted (well, of people).

The theme is why I want to name the tanks "Killer Cove" and give all the fishies names from horror movies. Like the clownfish, I was thinking of going with Pennywise and Krusty, Chucky and Tiffany for the dragonettes; if I get a goby, I was thinking of naming the Sandman and the pistol shrimp Freddy—that type of idea and giving a fun little twist to things.

Anyways, I want most of the design idea to be something that sort of adapts over time, as the tank progresses. I see the design idea as something more living a story, than as a picture in time. I sort of want to embrace each stage of the reefing process with a little hypothetical storyline as nature takes over and claims the space. So I design plan will change as various corals and things start to grow and various things start to cohabitate in the little ecosystem.


Plan
The display will be a 20G long tank but be upgraded into a 30G once things are more established and the fish start getting into their adult sizes. The sump is a 10G that I plan to separate into 4 sections—a 2.5G section where the overflow water will enter the refugium and houses my mechanical filtration, a 5G middle section that will house the refugium area, and another 2.5G section that will split down the middle to house the heaters/return pump. With the dividers, I plan on drilling holes that are meant to allow water through at set heights (the top 1/3 about), allowing, for whatever reason (like a clogged overflow), that the return pump area is the only one that can run completely dry, saving my heaters and refugium.

As for filtration, I actually don't plan on using any mechanical filtration. Though I plan to leave enough room in the sump to place a few of the smaller filter socks just in case, I hope that most of the larger debris will settle to the bottom of the overflow part of the sump and that I can vacuum that out weekly. I am doing this because I don't want to kill the copepod population by removing too much at a time with mechanical filtration, so I figured, at least early on, I would give them a chance to establish themselves and see what the refugium can handle on its own. Later I can figure out whether I would like to polish my water more. I have quite a few bio-balls and some of those bags that help contain them, which I plan to place around the sump to increase the biofiltration surface area where I can hide them.

As for rock and startup, I plan on mainly using dry white rock. I chose this primarily for aesthetics, as I think the white of the skulls and stuff would make the white rock look alright together. As well as giving the impression like the area was "toxically bleached" and finally recovered when the coralline algae finally took hold and started covering the rock and the skulls together. I know this could cause a few issues early on, as it has less biodiversity and whatnot. However, I plan on adding Microbactor 9 to help start the bacteria cycle in the beginning, as well as getting a little bit of live rock from my local aquarium into a dark part of my sump to help seed this process a little faster and hopefully fix this. Though otherwise, I am prepared to be patient for the most part, give it time, and add different varieties of bacteria later.

I have about 30 lbs of dry rock right now that I plan to use between the display and the refugium that I plan on mostly breaking into pieces and putting back together with epoxy, glue, and aquascaping cement into the desired shapes. This is where the skulls and other various structural things will help keep things from falling apart on me :face-with-hand-over-mouth:. I also have a few acrylic rods that I plan on using to help make shelves, archways, and flow holes a little more structurally sound. Ultimately, the plan is to have the primary display rock one large piece that I can effectively move when I upgrade to the larger tank when it's time. The goal is to use most of the dry rock in the display tank and the leftover pieces to make up the refugium. Though, I might get a little bit more to fill in, depending on what I am left with.

Side note: I also plan on setting up some blackout curtains that wrap nicely around both tanks separately. Since my display and my refugium, I am planning on having opposite lighting cycles, one for the pH stability, and two so that the refugium can be the star at night, I didn't want too much light spillage causing unwanted algae growth in weird spots. So to combat this I plan on cutting up and hemming a few blackout curtains, and sewing some magnets into the hems. Then take a few extra magnets and supergluing them to the sides of the tank at various spots. This way I could easily snap the curtains around either tank or open and close each one to various degrees. This I think will help me hide the overflow/filter/return areas on the refugium when I am not doing maintenance on them, but still keep the pretty accessible when I am. Let alone I think it will help maintain tank temps better (aka less work on my heaters) since where I live it gets pretty cold in the winters. Lastly, though, I think it will give me a way to nicely hide some tubing and cords in the back without being too conspicuous.


Stocking Plans
Livestock-wise, I plan on keeping the tank simple and adding 1-2 fish every few months (or longer) until I have it stocked. I am first adding a clownfish pair, mostly likely a designer kind, though I haven't decided yet between snowflake or darwin. I am then adding a few cleanup crew members as needed, primarily snails and hermit crabs, though I might get a fish later if my algae from the refugium could support it. Once the copepod/brine shrimp/etc population gets high enough, I would look into a pair of dragonettes, most likely yellow mandarins. Eventually, once the sandbed seems established enough and seeing what I would need to supplement, adding a watchman goby with a pistol shrimp. If all that doesn't work out, I have other ideas for a few easier fish to replace the more challenging fish, though this is what I am planning for now.

Corals, I am not sure what I will be getting fully yet. The only thing I know is I want them to go with the theme and be pretty fluorescent. Giving off the idea that they absorbed some of that toxic waste or something. I think this will come together a little more once the tank is up and running, and I can test the PAR levels around the tank. I plan on having a good mix of different SPS and LPS corals in the end and would like a nice piece to be the central part of the rockwork, but I plan on starting with some easier/cheaper corals. I have a few small garden rocks that will be away from the main rock structure, and I plan on starting with some zoanthids and GSP on these until I decide what I want later. However, things like leather corals, frogspawn-type euphyllia, mushrooms, bird nests, and various others have been where I've been drawn.

Foodwise, I am hoping to create an environment that could sustain itself for the most part. Still, this is more of a process than a destination, especially after adding the dragonettes and goby, as they might kill off the established populations (I'm not sure). To start, I plan on culturing some copepods, brine shrimp, and phytoplankton in plastic containers that will be added into the tanks regularly to allow a decent population to take hold. But eventually, I would like to cut back on this if I can and have the refugium naturally do most of the work to keep the numbers high enough in the display tank. As I go for this, though, I will have to see and likely monitor after adding new fish or corals. Also, I plan on growing things like sea lettuce and pompom gracilaria as my refugium algae. In the design, I plan on having various rock rubble switched back and forth between the refugium and the display to keep the cleanup crew fed and the algae pruned, though some might change depending on what and how much is consumed by the tank.

At first, I know this probably won't be enough to sustain anything. I also know that I need phosphates and nitrogen in the water column, at least a little for the refugium algae, so this is why I plan on starting off feeding twice a day for the first month or so and monitoring things daily to adjust as needed. The idea of 5-10 pellets per fish in the morning and 1/4 of a frozen cube each night sounds reasonable until I can understand what my tank is producing at that level to adjust from there.

Corals I do not initially plan on feeding. I sort of what to see how they do with filter feeding from the tank and just doing my best to maintain various aspects like alkalinity, calcium, or magnesium and get that tuned in first. Since I have no idea what any of that takes, I plan to monitor it weekly before and after my water changes and figure out what I need to add manually. I also probably will quickly start figuring out some amino acids and fertilizers to add for the corals/refugium and trace elements. However, I plan to get my mind around the alkalinity and major elements first, then figure out what is missing from the more trace elements and whatnot. Though in the future, I would enjoy a few that benefit from target feeding occasionally.


Equipment
Lighting - I have two Fluval Sea Marine 3.0 LEDs. One is 15-24 inches to fit over the sump, and one is 24-34 inches to fit the display tank nicely. I got them as a pair for a discount, which is why I plan to use a marine light in the refugium (at first). They do have apps that allow me to set color variations, so for now; I am planning more blue/cyan lighting for about 8 hours (6 full strength) during the day for the display, and for the night, more red/white lighting for the refugium for about 12 hours (10 full power). However, these might get replaced depending on the PAR after the tank is set up. The refugium lights are the first ones I plan on replacing. I plan to eventually move the smaller marine light to the Coral Quarantine and get a more refugium-specific light here.

Overflow - I am using the Two Little Fishies Xaqua InOut Overflow and Return, along with their hose kit made for it. I'll be honest; their hose kit seems a little overpriced for what it is, though I got it for the peace of mind that it would all fit together nicely when I was ready to do that. Since I just got the very basic aquarium tank from Petco (with glass lid cover), I also had to buy a diamond hole saw set cause this overflow didn't come with it, but that is also beside the point. I found a decent set for various small to larger sizes for not too much more, and I can use it for things like drilling holes in glass for my copepod cultures and things of that nature.

Return Pump - For this, I am using the Quiet One PRO-1200 Pump (317 GPH), and I hope this is enough to turn the tank over enough times (it's 30 gallons in total, so this would turn that over in a little over 10 times each hour) when performing optimally. For now, I have two backups that pump 240 GPH of the same brand, just in case the cheaper pump breaks faster than I anticipated. Though only time will tell. I hope to have at least a year before I have to replace this at the very least.

Monitoring Device - I have gotten the Seneye Reef Aquarium Monitor (V2), which, since the tank will be close to my computer, I can hardwire for constant updates on at least the important stuff and give me a better idea of where the basics are sitting without having to test 5 times a day. This also has a basic PAR meter, and I plan to get at least a basic idea of what PAR is around the tank and at various heights. TBH, this was the main reason I got it, as PAR meters can be expensive, and I figured the extra testing was beneficial. I haven't used it yet to know how accurate it is, though.

Powerheads - I have 6 various different powerheads and wavemakers that are decently cheap. 3 of them are AQQA 3W 530GPH with what I think to be a decently wide flow and 3 Freesea 1050GPH that have more of a narrow flow. so I ended up getting a few power strips that will be hooked up to some simple timers to help give various flow rates throughout the day. Down the road, I would like to eventually replace these with nicer powerheads that can do this with fewer powerheads to do the same thing, but for the price, they were a little out of the budget for yet, with the ones that I was looking at being closer to $400 per. So these will probably be one of the last things I actually replace.

Heaters - I am using the Aqueon PRO-150 heaters. I plan on eventually getting a 2nd one as the backup, but for the first few months, I'm going to rock with the one and see what temp it is able to keep easily. I also have 2 Fluval M50 50W that I plan to use in the two separate quarantine tanks. Right now I have zero ideas about which one works better, though the Fluval ones seem like an easier design to hide, but I was unable to find large enough ones for the 30G between the display and refugium. It is also really cold where I am, especially in the winter, and this is why I went a little higher on the W recommendation for the heaters.

Algae Barn - As for the algae and the copepods/phytoplankton/brine shrimp, I plan on getting most of that from the algae barn. I find BRS to be the most cost-effective way, though actually for what I wanted it was cheaper to piece it together than getting the refugium startup kit. This is because I do want to start off with Algae Barn Galaxy Pods since they have the most diversity, as well as two different algae. The Galaxy Pods I plan on breeding in a culture to help really get the numbers established, though I may plan to switch types later to more specific types that are being consumed the most as time goes on. I also plan on getting Algae Barn Nano Brine Shrimp to culture and keep going in the water column, as well as Algae Barn OceanMagik PhytoPlankton to feed the copepods/brine shrimp. As for the algae, I am planning on getting Algae Barn PomPom, and Algae Barn Sea Lettuce that I will be ordering about 2oz of each I believe. I may end up getting 4oz, but we will see what I have the money for in the next month when I start to get to that point.

Fish Quarantine - The fish quarantine setup will be pretty simple. A basic 10G tank from Petco, hang-on-the-back filter, an airstone or two for some air exchange with a small wavemaker near the top, a simple heater, and some PVC hiding holes. As much of the basics as possible that are easily cleaned and sanitized if ever needed. I do not plan on having any light on my fish quarantine area. It is near a shady window so it will get a little bit, but I don't want to promote unwanted algae growth.

Coral Quarantine - I plan this to also be a 10G basic tank, but with a decent-sized canister filter (for 75G) as it has a setup that I think will keep a better flow. It will also have a small heater, a wavemaker, and depending on maybe a small powerhead just to be sure there aren't too many stagnant spots. This will get the light from the refugium at the start, and I will have to replace that one. I think using a similar light as the display though will help the corals adjust a little better to the type of light they will be living in. I also plan on getting some plastic egg carts and gluing some magnets to them, while also gluing some magnets to the back of the glass that are at various PAR levels. This way I can set them in a spot that will be relatively similar to PAR to where they will be placed in the tank.

Bacterias - I do plan on mostly using Brightwell Aquatics Microbactor Start XLM to seed most of the tanks and keep the ammonia cycle under bay until the tank can sustain itself. Though I have considered also adding some Brightswell Aquatics Microbactor Clean just to help prevent some of the ugly stages. I also plan on using the Brightwell Aquatics QuikCycl during the time that I only have the refugium up and the first fish are in quarantine. Anyways, eventually, I might experiment with another company and some different products, but for now, I figured it was probably safest to use the things that work together. I did consider using Fritz-Zyme TurboStart 900, but the LFS I have been frequenting recommended Brightwells. They said both works just as well, though they said that Brightwell was something they found more adaptable. IDK if that is true, but I figured it couldn't hurt to go with it.

Water - For now I plan on buying RODI water from the fish store. Only because early on I figure that I have a lot of things I need to be learning and getting stable, I don't want to have to add the stress of if my RODI filter is working to get everything out of my water. Also, I am on some pretty iron-filled well water, so I want to do some testing and stuff and figure out how it all works before I end up depending on it. My LFS will know when to change their filters and all the things, and the water is only about $1+tax per gallon. I bought some 15-gallon food-safe plastic tubs to store it in.

Salt - Even though I am getting RODI water from the LFS, I did want to make my own salt water. This way I have a little more control over the salinity and nutrients and various aspects. I believe this will help me learn and understand a little better, plus make it so that I don't end up in a situation where I have no RODI water, too much salt water, and vice versa. I can just make up the salt water as I need it in 1-2 5G buckets, or in the 15G tubs if I need more. I have settled on using the Red Sea Coral Pro Salt Mix (purplish jug), as it was the one recommended by my LFS if I want to maintain a mixed reef tank. So that is what I am going to go with for now. IDK if changing salt mixes hurts later on, but I know Red Sea was one that I have seen BRS recommend, and it has good reviews, so at the same point I am not too worried about changing it up.

Time Frame
As of right now, I am still in the buying/building/initial setup process of everything. The only things that are "done" are the tank stand is built with the two aquariums where they will go. LOL. So yeah, there is still a lot of actual physical work to do, plus I still have a few of the last items to buy (like a quarantine setup). This is why I don't expect to have it up and running with water until the end of March, maybe a little later cause I do plan on quarantining my first fish, and don't plan on filling the actual display tank with water until they are ready to go in.

Anyways, the plan, for now, is to get the quarantine stuff bought and set up this next month, as well as get the first two clownfish at least started with that. Then I need to drill into the acrylic dividers, and then securing them into the refugium, and making sure that all of the compartments are well sealed with silicone. Drilling some holes into the display tank glass and hooking up the overflow, and making sure it isn't leaking. Working on the rockwork for the display and the refugium, seeing if I want/need more, and getting that all dry/cured. Lastly what I plan for over the next month is getting the copepods/phytoplankton cultures up and running, as well as getting water and algae into the refugium and getting some water in it cycling. Basically doing a no-fish cycle with about 1/3 of the tank volume (adding bits of ammonia and fertilizer for the algae, bacteria, phytoplankton, and copepods), but regularly getting into the habit of harvesting my copepods/phytoplankton and adding them into the refugium/quarantine. Since the display isn't going to have water yet, I plan on just having the return pump feed into the first chamber of the sump, to keep the water flowing over the refugium.

Once the fish are done quarantining, I plan on finally filling the display tank to add the fish. Though first I plan on getting a few of those powerheads in there with the rocks, and kind of seeing what my flow is doing, and getting some idea of how to work that out before I put the fish in. As well as getting that little Seneye around to figure out what some of the PAR levels are around the display tank. Also then redirecting the return pump where it will actually go through the display tank, and adding some of the cultures to this tank as well. This is when I plan on replacing the refugium lighting and using this marine lighting for coral quarantine instead. Once the fish quarantine is empty I plan on giving it a good clean before I start quarantining a few clean-up crew members, so they are ready when the tank starts getting algae. This is when I would start buying the stuff for a coral quarantine tank! Which will be these 2-3 zoas that I have had my eye on for a bit, plus some GSP. I kind of plan on this month mostly just getting into a good habit of the maintenance of the tanks/cultures and making adjustments as needed, and start figuring out a plan on what types of corals I want next.

As for lighting %, and getting the corals ready for the schedule that I have planned, I am thinking about starting them out at 25% of the max schedule strength, and working my way up 5% each week until I get to the desired PAR. This way when they do get added into the display tank (which is at full schedule strength) they are adjusted to it already. I may adjust this to longer, giving them a little more time, but it sort of depends on what seems to work. If they seem to be struggling at all, I might let them recover by leaving the light level or knocking it back, and working my way up by 5% every 2 weeks.

With the lights for the display, I plan on turning them on at 5% once I get the fish in. Since I have blackout curtains and it's in a pretty dark part of my house, I will need at least a little light to observe the fish. Plus I figure it would get the fish used to the day/night cycle I have planned for the tank, and give the phytoplankton something to feed on in the display. Though I plan on working that up along with the quarantine tank. So that when the corals are ready to enter the display, the PAR levels/lighting/timing/etc will match. I already have each 5% marked on (for both lights) so the most I have to do is switch the new % lighting schedule that is saved.


When I finally get to really start adding those first few corals into the tank, and the coral quarantine tank is empty, is when I plan on buying a few more corals to start quarantining. I do plan on for awhile keeping this sort of pattern of buying 3-5 corals, quarantining them for 21 or more days (21 days of ALL the corals alive in the tank being symptom-free), then getting 3-5 new ones when the quarantine is empty. I figured this will help me sort of prevent buying a ton of corals and having one sick one killing off a lot of others. I am new to his hobby, and figure, I would rather kill 3-5 at a time while I figure out treatment options than a whole tank-wide issue. I know this won't stop all issues, but I do think preventative measures are better than cures.

I am also planning on the fish quarantine tank being a similar rotation, of it being emptied before I add anything new to it. Though it will probably spend more time empty, or with only a few cleanup crew members quarantined when they need to be replaced, than it will actually be in real use, since I don't plan on getting that many fish for this tank setup. This is why I might eventually downsize to a 5G of a similar setup that is just for the cleanup crew since that is what would fit in the actual cabinets of the fish tank that stays up and running, and the 10G can be torn down and used just in case a fish gets sick, or aggression, or all the other issues.

Anyways, after I add a few corals, and feel like I'm in good habits with the maintenance of everything and kind of have my nutrients and stuff more honed in, is when I want to start considering adding the dragonette pair, and culturing some brine shrimp. I think after I have the other stuff under control for a few months, and things begin to level out, I will have a better idea of how many of the copepods and stuff are thriving in the tank, how many am I actually supplementing (or even able to keep cultures from crashing), and how much the livestock already in the tank is eating. I can also then see how much they actively consume in the quarantine tank by themselves, so I have a realistic idea of how many are actually needed. Though that is probably way overthinking anyway, as I do plan on getting captive-bred ones and feeding them as often as needed, I figure I would rather be safe than sorry if I do end up buying them.

This is is also when I would start kind of getting into the habit of buying backup things, finally getting a chance to replace some of the cheaper equipment with the things I actually want, getting the 30G tank, and various other little things like considering getting a doser, RODI filter, etc. This way the extra things and the items that are a little more expensive, can be spread out over these months and (hopefully) be a little less hard on the wallet later... LOL.

Once I sort of have the bigger things that I need, the backups, upgraded to the 30G and the things that I want, etc, when I start planning on getting some more expensive corals, and really trying to fill in the main rockwork. For the most part the corals up to this point I want to be decently affordable, and things that aren't going to be hard to replace. Though I think by this point I should be close to 6 months or a year into the reef tank and have a better idea of what I can handle difficulty-wise to know what I want to finish the main rock off with.

Though I'll be honest, I don't want to buy too many corals, or any too large. I really want to eventually start fragging my favorite ones and using those frags to fill in the gaps and various things, and just otherwise letting it be while everything just grows. Then starting on a larger tank (probably 75G or so) as my next project while I just enjoy this tank, and eventually take my favorites from this tank, frag them to fill in the other tank to keep costs down in stocking that tank.
 

Peace River

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To your current self - great job on laying out the plan and congratulations on the adventure!
 
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pepper89

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Ok yeah, I will be getting a RODI filter ASAP LOL. I just hauled 25G from my LFS, and I'm exhausted, and it's not even enough water to fill my display tank and refugium sadly enough. Luckily I am not planning on filling that yet. Just needed a few gallons to start the cultures and a little extra to wash things off and whatnot. IDK how anyone else can do that though for anything larger than maybe teeny tiny nano tanks! lol. If you can, I envy you.
 
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pepper89

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Finally got the macroalgae and copepods/phytoplankton yesterday. The algae seemed a little off, but I'm starting to think it is just me being new and just over-worried about anything and everything. Everything else seems to be coming along well. I decided to go ahead and have my local glass store cut my 20g display for the overflow, and that should be done tomorrow or the next day. I finally got my sump baffles in and siliconed in place. So things are moving along well.

I am adding a few photos of the sump. Keep in mind this is my first time so it's kind of messy. The first one was def worse than the 2nd, but I plan on taking a razor blade to it tomorrow and cleaning it up a bit and maybe filling in a few holes if it's really bad.

Next time though, I am def going to just buy a premade sump and save myself all the hassle of fighting silicone.
 

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pepper89

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Haven't had time to finish the rock work this weekend or get the refugium set up, though hoping to have more time tomorrow since it is a day off. Though the algae and the copepods seem to be thriving pretty well as is anyways, so figured I might as well not rush it, and keep things as they are for now. I do hope to have time tomorrow afternoon to at least get the refugium set up though, and get some pictures of it with the macroalgae once it's planted. I am waiting on the 50-micron mesh, and to be able to order my RODI filter, so hoping those will come next so I can finally start cycling my display and getting my quarintine setup.

Sadly though, my phytoplankton froze (in the fridge too close to the freezer), so I'm going to have to get some more tomorrow.

The pompom algae are still orange at some of the tips, and still have some kind of build-up on them, though, it doesn't seem to be getting a little better as the days go on. I add about .2 ml of F2 fertilizer every few days to give it something to work with since it's under a mild light, and the orange is slowly starting to get a little deeper color ever so slightly. The buildup isn't spreading, so makes me think it's less of unwanted algae or mold, and more just a detritus build-up from being grown densely as it just eventually breaks off with the light flow from the air pump. I think though I am going to clean it up, and just add the best bits to the refugium just to be safe.

The copepods culture is doing very well, though growth does seem slow, there is a noticeable increase in life. I add about 1/2 ml of phytoplankton every two days, though, considering increasing the dose by another 1/2 ml or just adding the 1/2 ml daily, as they seem to be consuming it faster, as today is the end of day one and the water is pretty clear already. I would say the culture has increased by (estimated guess of visible life) 10-15% of its original size in the last (almost) week. Most of it is tiny little white dots that dart around the container. I can't really say if there is an increase in adult populations, but it doesn't seem like any have died either, so that is promising.


I think the slow growth is because it's cooler than a typical tank. Probably stays somewhere from 65-70 throughout the day without a direct heater (just the ambient heat of the room + light). So not cold enough to fully halt anything, but I think it's enough to slow them down a bit. But I do think this is a good thing for me, as I think the slower growth rate will help me prevent it from topping out on me as fast and crashing.

I did test the ammonia today of both of the algae and copepod containers, and it tested at 0 with the Hanna HI784, so the start bacteria I added to both seems to be working to keep ammonia levels in check in both. Which is good, and means I might not need to worry too much about the refugium once it gets water. Especially since I do have Arag-Alive sand that I will be adding at the base of the refugium part in the middle. I do though plan on adding about a cap-full or two of the MicroBacter Start XLM and a little food to start a fishless cycle and just monitoring it for a while. Probably adding small doses of bacteria, and a little bit of fertilizer to help make sure the macroalgae have food for the next week and just keep monitoring the copepod cultures over the next few weeks while I wait to get my RODI filter.
 

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Been working most of the day on just trying to figure out a decent escape. It's coming together though I am fighting the epoxy more than I would like to lol. Eventually, though, I'm hoping for it to look something like the final pictures. That has parts of it secured, but mostly just stacked, so there is still some work to do to secure it all as mostly one piece. The little rocks out in the front I plan on being the zoa gardens. I did also order a few foundation pieces from BRS to raise the main rock pieces just a tad bit higher to add a little more elevation to the scape, and a few flat pieces around the arches to create a little more separation from each other.

P.S. Excuse the mess lol.
 

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Got up early to finish the refugium and get some water in it today. It's coming together really well though. I might have added the macroalgae a bit too early, as it seems like some of the sand and stuff settled onto it giving it a white kind of powered look, but I figure later tonight or tomorrow I might blow it off with a turkey baster to clean it up.

Also, the powerhead was in the salt mixing bin, and it seems like it has a lot of build-up of minerals from that. I might take it out later tonight and give it a nice little scrub with a toothbrush in some RODI water if it doesn't find a way to work itself out in a while. Though, I hope it isn't harmful.

I did add a good deal of the microbacter startXLM to the water just to help seed the rock and bio-balls with good bacteria early on.

The lights I have on about 5% of what will eventually be their normal cycle, so hoping that the low intensity will help keep the macroalgae happy, but not grow too much pest algae.
 

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Tested both the refugium and the copepods for ammonia a day ago. The refugium is at 0, but the copepods were creeping up (it was only at 0.01 ppm). I still didn't have the 50-micron mesh to harvest the preferred way but figured since I have no fish yet, it didn't matter as much if I added the decaying matter into the refugium with some copepods. Added fresh saltwater to the copepod culture, and a bit more Marcobacter Start XLM to both. This seemed to work, as retesting today both are at 0 in ammonia.

I'll be honest, I was a little worried I killed off the culture, as I didn't see much movement in either the refugium or the copepod cultures right after the transfer, but today I saw a good amount of life, so not as worried. There are hundreds (at least) in the culture, they are just very very tiny (probably in juvenile stages), zooming around the bottom. Most of the adult population I believe made it into the refugium, and I did spot at least a dozen or two jetting in and out of the bio-balls.

Maintenance wise other than that, I haven't done much. The refugium gets about 1/8-1/4 a cup of water evaporation out of it daily, so I top that off every day. The culture doesn't seem to evaporate water at all, so I haven't had to top that off. I add 1 ml of F2 fertilizer every 2-3 days to the refugium, and since the transfer, I added 2 ml of phyto and plan on adding another 2 ml tomorrow (and will keep up adding about that every 2-3 days). The copepods since I wasn't sure how alive the were, I only added about 1/4 ml of phyto to them, just enough to tint the water the slightest bit of green. Though it was gone by today, I added another 1/4 ml. Going to check back tomorrow, and if it's gone, going to start adding 1/2 ml every 2 days or so.

This weekend I plan on doing my first real cleaning, but no water change. Since adding the water from the refugium everything got covered with a slight white powder. I think it was because I forgot to rinse my dry marco rocks before adding them. So going to try to remember to do that before I add water to the display... lol. It's not terrible, but it's annoying enough that I do want to at least suck out a good bit of it, let the water settle in a bucket, then re-add the water slowly into the tank. Also, give some of the tubes and pumps a slight scrub in some RODI water to just manually remove what I can that had settled on removable things. Also, I plan on removing any of the algae that floated away and got stuck in less-than-ideal spots so that it doesn't foul up the water as it decays.
 
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I ended up getting very sick and spent a lot of time in the hospital doing tests that required me to spend long periods without service or the internet for the machines to not act up, so I moved this to an offline document. I plan on posting eventually if anyone is interested in reading more specific detailed updates.

1 - Things basically stopped with me getting sick, being unable to transport water, and not having a full RODI at home yet. So afterward, this was my main goal. I ended up buying a 150gpd RODI system from BRS with 7 filters, just to be on the safe side, and make it so I could fully use up DI by doing the rotation method instead of replacing it as often. Though that also ended up being a whole project as my house is pretty old (the 1940s) and increasing the pressure was an issue. So I ended up just hiring a plumber, who set up a decent house filter system to replace the very old one and set up my RODI filter after; which will be finished Friday.
- Despite the extra expense, it has saved me tons of headaches, and tbh the setup will be pretty nice. I will have a storage tank of 50 gallons of RODI water in my basement that can be pumped straight to the tank area on demand by a hose setup and replaced just that part of the pipe so he could increase the pressure so I can fill buckets in a few minutes without having to haul anything anywhere. He was able to set up these very nice automated flush system that gets directed into my garden, so every night at midnight for about 1 minute the RO filters are flushed and the water isn't wasted, and weekly every Sunday it would do a 20/80 flush where it would drain 20% of the RODI tank into the garden and make fresh so there isn't standing water in those canisters, even if I'm on vacation or something. Plus when he replaced the house filters, he kept the RODI afterward in mind, so we could optimize the filters in the line so that I'm getting enough filtration to read 0 TDS, but I'm also not spending way too much over-filtering already low TDS water for something like a shower. It basically goes through a large house sediment filter, but he said I should only have to replace it every year since we don't have much particulate matter in our well water. Which then diverts into two separate ways from there. One where it's softened/heated for the house storage tanks, or sent through the RODI filter system to be stored for the tank and or drinking water tap on the sinks. Now the most I have to do is go down and check the filters every so often, and since now I know I have quite clean and fresh well water, I'm much less concerned about using it.

2- Other than that, nothing has really been done, though a few more things have been bought, and or small projects finished. It's still only the refugium setup, and that has definitely gone under-cared for. Though it has no living things put in it despite copepods, phytoplankton, and macroalgae, so I'm not overly concerned. BUT my copepods/phyto I do believe topped out at some point and crashed (both the culture and the tank at slightly different times), and lead to a mass nutrient spike. Now the refugium has decent growth of some green hair algae (I believe anyway) issue, that has just taken over the rocks, as well as I believe some diatoms that have settled in the darker spots. So I quit feeding the tank the f2 fertilizer, cause it def doesn't need it, and dumped/sterilized the culture containers for later use. Though, I'm sort of just letting the refugium do its thing since I haven't had the ability to transport water to the tank yet. I haven't been able to do many water changes since I have a limited supply of water, but I did one about every month of 20% ish, and one yesterday of about 50% and removed by hand a good deal of the hair algae and a good deal of the macroalgae. The macroalgae was doing alright, but it wasn't sticking where I needed it to with the flow I have in the refugium, so I end up pulling most of it off the power head. I figure I might as well let the green hair and diatoms do what it's going to do (and figure that out first) before getting something that roots a little better to start with (and or tying them to rocks so they don't float around). Which at this rate will be another 6 months .
- I plan Saturday after the RODI system is up and running, to give it another good clean, remove as much of the green hair algae as I can by hand, and do another good 50% water change before adding some Mircrobactor Clean. Then try to get better at doing maintenance tasks like 10% weekly water changes, water testing regularly, etc. Seeing what just better maintenance and monitoring + some cleaning bacteria can do for the hair algae and diatoms over a few weeks to a month.
- I also plan on restarting my copepods/phytoplankton cultures and getting better at maintaining those, and getting a more sustainable population back into the refugium now that it's more established (it is now 4 months old, just not stable 4 months ). I also had an issue with my fridge accidentally freezing my copepods/phyto that I was storing, so I need to do some tests on the fridge to see what temps it is getting and where to stop that from happening. Giving this 2 weeks ish to see what just the copepods and phyto can do for the hair algae and the water after just the first addition.
- Once I start having kind of an idea of what the bacteria plus the copepods and phyto start having on the refugium hair algae I plan on adding a little more macroalgae. This time though, gluing pieces to rubble and other rocks so that they have some grasp and don't just float into the power heads this time, and give them more of a chance to root into the rock and soil. Then monitoring that for a few weeks to a month to see what this does for things. I was thinking about adding 1 oz of sea grapes, and either 1 oz of sea lettuce or another oz of pompom from algae barn, but it will kind of depend on what they have available when I'm ordering.


3 - I also bought a Hanna Marine Master Bluetooth Multiparameter Photometer HI97115, a Hanna High Range Copper Checker, and a Hanna Digital Salinity Tester. I have used them a few times, but have not gotten into a good habit of testing regularly or at the same times, so things are a little bouncy. It has been very nice though to just get really accurate ppm or ppb readings. The Hanna Bluetooth Multiparameter Photometer does a lot of different tests, from Calicum and Magnesium, High Range, Low Range, and even Ultra Low Range Nirates, ultra-low range phosphates, etc all in one. It is a little tricky to get used to though, and some of the tests take 15 minutes to process, so it kind of stuck you can't start them at the same time to save time, but it's also nice not to have 10 different Hanna Checkers and 10 different black boxes. It also lets you store which tank or "location" you are testing, so it helps keep data a little more understandable even days later, so long as you remember to put the right ones in. Plus the tutorial mode makes even testing Low or Ultra Low Range not as hard. THOUGH, one HUGE drawback of this device is the Bluetooth app is very ... finicky at best. If you back out while it's testing, it will keep doing the tests, but not read out on the Bluetooth. If you are using your phone for anything OTHER than the app and or your phone screen shut off when it completes a test it will not send the data to the Bluetooth app. If it doesn't send the data to the app, then the app will glitch out and not allow you to store the data, or retake the test, you have to just start ALL over if you want the app to store it. So it... is a pain in the butt. I plan to get the cheapest tablet at a pawnshop or used somewhere that I can find that can download the Hanna App, and just dedicate it to it specifically to make my life a lot easier. Set and set the screen timer to over 15 minutes, so I don't have to constantly retest hopefully ever again, and use that to store the data better. THOUGH, the device itself DOES store the data inside itself, so I've not used the app much, and just stored the data in a spreadsheet after writing it down.
- I got these about 3 weeks ago, and have tested about 8 times now. Mostly just the refugium, but I have also tested my LFS RODI water, and my house water after the new filters (but not the new RODI filter, they need one more part to finish it). All that has come out pretty well, nothing too bad or concerning, despite having left the refugium for 4 months untested/barely cleaned, even that wasn't bad at all.
- slight phosphates can be found in both my LFS and well water, about .05 or so, so I need to keep an eye on that and just remember I am adding phosphates (aka algae fertilizer) with every water change (if even slightly) and do add that into account if I end up adding fertilizer again. Though, the refugium always tests at 0.00. My well and LFS read 0.00 for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, but the refugium does read up to .10 ppm ammonia, 37 ppb nitrite, and .70 ppm nitrate (at the highest reading), so something is breaking down and the tank has completed the nitrogen cycle to be able to turn that into phosphate to support algae.
- pH of my refugium seems to go between 8.0 and 8.2 depending on lighting (lower at night and in the morning and higher in the day and into the evening), which I hope will even itself out more when I set up the display tank filled and attached. Though this was after the water had not been changed for 2 months, so it might change; as the dKH was as low as 4.4, the calcium was 580 and the magnesium was 1625 (at the time of testing). So I'm hoping with regular water changes starting to happen, and more readings, I can see a pattern and get first the low alkalinity + high calcium and magnesium issues to level themselves out naturally.
- My salinity seems to be pretty stable, as that is what I've actually gotten to test since the beginning pretty confidently. I seem to vary between 35-36 salinity. I tend to mix my salt mix at 36, and it can get up to the high 36s when I forget to add fresh water, but it doesn't evaporate much (it's got a glass lid that fits well), so it's pretty gradual that will happen. It had gotten down to as low as 34.9 when I hadn't changed the water at all for 2 months and hadn't pushed any salt creep down. So I mixed my salt mix to 35 this time, and figure running it a little lower might help fix the alkalinity/calcium/magnesium imbalance. I might even lower it to 34 or 33 for a bit, just to see if lower salinity might help right itself a bit. Figure I can slowly bring it up as I actually get corals, and monitor it.
- If the magnesium/calcium/alkalinity doesn't fix itself by the time I end up getting fish ready for the display, I might try adjusting the salt mix I use. I am using Coral Pro by red sea, but it might be more calcium/magnesium than I need right now, and contributing to my imbalance. Though I plan to monitor it at 35 better than I have been, with the correct water changes first, AND if that doesn't work try lower salinity, THEN if that still doesn't work I would try switching mixes. I think all of that is a better option for low-maintenance me, than trying to mess too much with the actual chemistry of things and mixing
Kalkwasser. I would probably stick with Red Sea, just something lower in calcium/magnesium until I need it, though if I switched it would be to Marin Reef something most likely.
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

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