FishFace NJ build

[Evil1]

Have you tried dosing Brightwell Purple M? I purchased some when it was released and I will tell you in my experience I do see a cleaner sand bed, clearer water, happier corals and slightly lower nutrients. So I dose as directed for initial dose. Then I dose 1 capful weekly after that.

 

[CoralB]

How do you know if phyto is dead?

It has a sign of RIP on it . Lol !!

 

[CoralB]

When it smells like . Generally it will only last a week or 2 in fridge. I don’t care what they say that is what I experienced

If it smells like it’s already in the trash !

 

[fishguy242]

Yummy...

 

[CoralB]

Yummy...

Nice ! What does your smell like Frank ?

 

[fishguy242]

...

 

[fishface NJ]

If it smells like it’s already in the trash !

Thank you!

 

[fishface NJ]

Sand is 98% clean. I didn't clean the cyano from the sand against the tank glass. I hovered my hose and sucked out the cyano that was on top of the sand bed. A lot of sand stuck to the cyano mat. Emptied and refilled my ATO container. I will start the change out of the ATI T5 8 bulbs tomorrow.

 

[fishface NJ]

To be honest I dosed varieties of live phyto some time ago for almost a year and saw no benefit to doing so. It became quite expensive to purchase and I was not willing to cultivate my own. That’s my truth and I’m sticking to it. I will tell you that during my time using it I did notice an uptick in algae blooms. Nothing crazy and could have been a coincidence.

I purchased pods with phyto April, July and Aug. I am not motivated to culture my own pods and phyto. The wrasses wipe out the pods quickly. I will stop with the phyto.

 

[fishface NJ]

Have you tried dosing Brightwell Purple M? I purchased some when it was released and I will tell you in my experience I do see a cleaner sand bed, clearer water, happier corals and slightly lower nutrients. So I dose as directed for initial dose. Then I dose 1 capful weekly after that.

I will try it.

I have tried Hydospace ProBio which I think is the same thing. They are both PNSB

​

 

[fishface NJ]

Woke to find my sand was moved by the powerhead. I lowered the two heads by 3 inches. I was attempting to get more flow on the sand.

In the photos I took this morning, you can see the poop gathering on the sand in the mid and back area.

I have to unbox a Tunze ORCA. Not sure where to place it.

 

[Evil1]

I like to keep my wave makers up high for surface agitation. Doing so not only agitates the top but forces water to hit the opposing side creating wave to flow down and across bottom. I have 2 RS reef waves at opposite ends of tank running alternating waves so one runs for a few seconds lowers down then the opposite side runs so back and forth creating reef type natural flow. Sand bed is clean. Do I have dead spots yes I’m sure but short of creating a tsunami in my tank just for some fish crap is not a worry. The bacteria will eat it.

 

[UnderwaterGardener]

Aug 27, 2019 Hi! I am Diana. I am a new/old member on here. I signed up for my own account today. I had been sharing my son's account since he signed up some time ago. I have been reef keeping since 1995. I had upgraded to a 90g and then my son @DaveNJ wanted my 90g. So I bought a 40b and had been using that for 3 years. This past May I lost all of my corals due to a salt issue. I have been an avid Red Sea Pro user. I bought (2) 200g boxes of a different brand from a group buy. The first box elements were fine. When I got to the second box of this different brand, I had no idea that the elements were off drastically. I never thought that besides testing with my refractometer that I should test my elements with a new batch of salt. I did a water change with the salt and got my salinity to 35. Day 2 I see corals acting oddly. Check salinity and it's spot on. By day four my corals were died. After this craziness I thought of checking all the elements. I found them either extremely high or low. I was in shock. I then checked the batch of left over saltwater mix that I had used for the water change....same results..they were off extremely. I then mixed up another batch to 35 salinity, and got the same results yet again. I will never go back to this brand, and will stick with Red Sea Pro. I am currently upgrading my 40b to 75g. I like the water volume of the 90g but hate the depth of 90g. I would love a 90g that is the height and length of the 75g but deeper. My new 75g tank will be coming from @Aquarium Care Center llc here in NJ. The owner John and his crew are great! The 90g and 40g I had been using a Fluval FX6. This will be my first go at a sump. I decide to try my hand at a sump kit. I was afraid that once I filled the tank with water, the acrylic baffles would expand and crack the tank. I ran it for two days with no problems. I will be on my way back to @Aquarium Care Center llc now that I didn't have an issue with the sump build, I will be back to see John. I have been slowly building my corals again. I had lost a total $1092.82 from the salt issue. Here are a few shots of what I currently have.....





Oct 16, 2023

Sept 25, 2025

......................................................

Oct 15, 2025 New Build https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/fishface-nj-build.643019/post-13933664 Jump to new build

Tank: 150 gallon

Overflow: Bean Animal Modular Marine 1600

Stand: AluFab T-Slot

Light: ATI T5 with Orphek OR4 bar and RB Meridian Edge (not installed yet)

Pump: Jebao MDP-10000 DC

Powerhead: (2) Jebao DMP-40

ATO: Tunze 3155 ATO

ATO Reservoir: Red Sea ReefCan 10.6 gal.

Skimmer: Reef Octopus Classic150 Int

Filtration: 60g breeder; Filter Socks

Heater: x2 titanium heaters

Rocks: 80lbs (roughly) of KP Aquatic live rock in sump

Sand: Tropic Eden Reeflakes 120 pounds

Chemistry:

Salt: Instant Ocean

KZ Flatworm Stop

KZ Coral Snow

KZ Cyan Clean

Miracle Mud Refug Media 20LB Removed 4/18/26

AF Life Source

Fishes:

Radiant Wrasse - Stymie Yellow Wrasse - Spanky (2) Leopard Wrasses

Regal Angelfish - Wile E. Coyote

Midas Blenny - Casper (the friendly ghost)

Firefish Exquisite

It looks amazing!!!

 

[kevgib67]

Good morning Diana, I’m not knowledgeable on your full livestock list so this might not pertain to your situation. I never have to clean my sand as it always looks clean thanks to my

nassarius snails, cerith snails, 3 conches and my sand sifting gobies and current up high. I previously had a diamond goby and now these two twinspot gobies since I upgraded this year.

 

[fishface NJ]

Good morning Diana, I’m not knowledgeable on your full livestock list so this might not pertain to your situation. I never have to clean my sand as it always looks clean thanks to my

nassarius snails, cerith snails, 3 conches and my sand sifting gobies and current up high. I previously had a diamond goby and now these two twinspot gobies since I upgraded this year.

Learned something today. I thought that Diamond Watchman goby were the only sand sifters. LiveAquaria has the Twin Spot listed as difficult and Diamond as easy. Do you know why the care level is different? Are your Twin Spots mated?

Maybe I shouldn't have bought the Tunze ORCA.

 

[fishface NJ]

It looks amazing!!!

Thank you @UnderwaterGardener. That photo is of my 40b that I donated last year to one of my neighbors daughter. She is a college student... @Samantha A . I just gave her everything with the exception of the rocks in the sump and skimmer. @Samantha A has done a great job keeping it looking the same.

 

[tbrown]

Learned something today. I thought that Diamond Watchman goby were the only sand sifters. LiveAquaria has the Twin Spot listed as difficult and Diamond as easy. Do you know why the care level is different? Are your Twin Spots mated?

Maybe I shouldn't have bought the Tunze ORCA.

If I remember correctly Twin Spots are carnivorous sand sifters where as Diamond Watchman are omnivorous so Twin Spots don't get as much nutrition from a young sand bed - similar to Sand Sifting Stars.

 

[tbrown]

Twin Spots soft for pods, Watchmen Gobies sift for detritus, pods, algae, diatoms, dinos, etc. They eat almost anything that's in the sand.

 

[kevgib67]

Learned something today. I thought that Diamond Watchman goby were the only sand sifters. LiveAquaria has the Twin Spot listed as difficult and Diamond as easy. Do you know why the care level is different? Are your Twin Spots mated?

Maybe I shouldn't have bought the Tunze ORCA.

I had the diamond goby for four years, I haven’t noticed a difference regarding care levels but both types spend all their time turning the sand over. I didn’t buy a pair but two separate ones packaged separately but from day one they don’t leave each other’s sides. Paired?

 

[tbrown]

I had the diamond goby for four years, I haven’t noticed a difference regarding care levels but both types spend all their time turning the sand over. I didn’t buy a pair but two separate ones packaged separately but from day one they don’t leave each other’s sides. Paired?

Most likely paired.