Hello, I wanted to make a revised build thread now that I have gotten used to my tank. A few things have changed, and it's all running well. Anywho...let's get down to it.
Old Thread
12/7/2016
Today (12/5/2017):
I changed the scape some, I REALLY love that blue ridge coral, but by removing it I lost some nice places for fish to hang, and gained some of my mid tank PAR space. Free'd the front up for algae magnet room / Mushroom garden
I traded the Wav pumps for a ton of coral frags, and picked up a Gyre. Other than that nothing really changed.
HARDWARE:
Stock:
2 Ocellaris Clowns
2 Blue/Green Chromis
1 Pj Cardinal (Ol' Dirty *******)
1 Royal Gramma
1 Yellow Rose Goby
1 mini 6 line wrasse
Shrimp / Inverts: 2 pistol / 1 cleaner / 1 Pepeprmint / Purple Reef Lobster (THE KRAGGLE!!! It only comes out to molt and eat some pellets that float past its hole) all get along great
Things I have learned:
That's it guys!
I am going to share a few other things down below. Like my lighting profile etc. After the important stuff I am going to BOMB this page with photos from the reef over the last year.
Old Thread
12/7/2016
Today (12/5/2017):
I changed the scape some, I REALLY love that blue ridge coral, but by removing it I lost some nice places for fish to hang, and gained some of my mid tank PAR space. Free'd the front up for algae magnet room / Mushroom garden
I traded the Wav pumps for a ton of coral frags, and picked up a Gyre. Other than that nothing really changed.
HARDWARE:
- BRS 6 STAGE UNIVERSAL WATER SAVER PLUS RO/DI SYSTEM W/ Chloramine filter added on
- AI Hydra 26" LED Light
- Basic Fluval Heater
- SYNCRA PRO (550 GPH) Return Pump
- BRS MINI REACTOR - 5" for Carbon and GFO
- Innovative Marine Biopellet Reactor
- COBALT MJ1200 to power the reactor
- REEF OCTOPUS 150SS INTERNAL SPACE SAVING SKIMMER
- NEPTUNE SYSTEMS Apex Controller
- Maxspect Gyre 250
- NEPTUNE SYSTEMS DOS Dosing Pump (Using it for micro water changes daily now)
Stock:
2 Ocellaris Clowns
2 Blue/Green Chromis
1 Pj Cardinal (Ol' Dirty *******)
1 Royal Gramma
1 Yellow Rose Goby
1 mini 6 line wrasse
Shrimp / Inverts: 2 pistol / 1 cleaner / 1 Pepeprmint / Purple Reef Lobster (THE KRAGGLE!!! It only comes out to molt and eat some pellets that float past its hole) all get along great
Things I have learned:
- Propagation is fun, I love fragging corals, whereas all my old reefs I was too scared to try.
- Don't freak out on a little algae...I think I have bottomed out my system twice in the last six months..almost back to back by trying to combat something most likely part of the tank maturing.
- If you AC goes out in the middle of August in Texas for over a week...you're going to have a bad time. NOTHING DIED! But I got some algae, b/c I couldn't keep up with frozen bottles. It was 90 in the house in the middle of the night some nights. Had to use ice a few times and I bet it had some phosphates in it....6 grand for a new AC could have been a frag tank...
- Tank lids...F'n make one...I lost three awesome fish over a few weeks to not having one. Having dogs and cats, I had no idea what was happening till I found one personally.
- Did you know you can re-use filter socks? The reefer is my first REAL reef ready tank using a sump / socks...WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME
- Don't chase numbers...and if you plan to...Make sure your Apex probe is even F'n accurate. My PH seemed REAL low...I even have manual red sea tests on hand. Turns out my probe was off calibration...when it was at 8 it was really almost 11 by the time I got wise..Dodged a bullet mostly there
- On that...the Apex likes to lose calibrations kinda easy....Make sure you stock up on the probe solutions. Currently my PH is off and Temp reads about 1.5 degrees off. So I have two other digital thermometers to cross reference.
That's it guys!
I am going to share a few other things down below. Like my lighting profile etc. After the important stuff I am going to BOMB this page with photos from the reef over the last year.
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