Goody's 80g Mixed Reef

[goody]

For the past 4 years, classroom tanks and a couple of small garage tanks kept me in the hobby after a 6 year hiatus.

We moved houses and the original plan was to upgrade from my previous 150g sps dominant tank and do an in-wall build with a 200+gallon tank, but too much was involved and it would have just delayed my full return to the hobby even longer. So, I bought an unused SCA 80g and t5 fixture from a local member. Got the stand assembled, light mounted on ceiling and then we decided to get new lighter flooring, so tank was stored in the garage and delayed once again. Finally in August of 2023, I have a tank in the house again.

Tank
SCA 80g "cube" 32x24x24 with center overflow and rustic white stand

Lights
ATI 24" 4 bulb powermodule hybrid.

 

[goody]

I had started acquiring larger equipment for the bigger tank, but ended up selling since that wasn't going to happen. Most of the equipment I am using came from my 150g I broke down around 2012. I even held on to the rock for all those years. I also kept the acrylic rods and stacked the rocks for a 3 pillar kind of look.

The sump is in the garage and is plumb through the wall. Will post pics soon.

 

[goody]

I have never been great with the plumbing, but I managed to plumb the tank through the wall. Installed a small shelf above the Sump and then a larger section above to store equipment. Also have my planted tank in the garage that also holds livestock over the summer from my classroom tank. Still need to do some clean up of the cords. Sump is 48"x20"x20". Water level through sump is higher than I want but I couldn't really modify the existing baffles. I have a large middle section as my refugium.

 

[goody]

My initial plan for this tank was to mix salt and do routine WC but I was reading up on the Reef Moonshiners method and decided to give it a go, so my last WC was in December of 2023 and I've been using RM since.

Livestock
2 clowns (Wyoming White and Subzero Frostbite)
2 Pajama cardinals (Now breeding)
Foxface
Leopard wrasse
Mandarin dragonet
2 peppermint shrimp
CUC of various snails, hermits, cochs, and crabs


7 torches
7 hammers
10 gonioporas
2 zoa frag
2 chalice frag
28 sps frags


Refugium
Coral Beauty (temporarily due to nipping at sps polyps)
Green mandarin
Aptasia eating filefish
2 three stripe damsels
About 10 different macros

During the first 6 months after cycling, I dealt with some nutrient instability so I have had a few bouts of bad algae outbreaks and some coral losses. That was earlier on and nutrients are more stable now. I also had some bubble algae starting to show, but some Pitho crabs took care of that. I also didn't notice some clove polyps that came in on a frag and they started to spread quickly. Ended up taking out that rock and doing a bit of reaquascaping
Quick sampling of photos

 

[goody]

Summer of 2024 I bought 2 Quanta OG Pop Pro bars to supplement my ATI fixture. I had to get a little creative on mounting them because this fixture is curved on the sides.

 

[Bohemian Waxwing]

That's a nice lighting set up.

 

[Anna K]

Your coral are stunning! Are the sticks acros or are those sps? Love the torches!

 

[goody]

Your coral are stunning! Are the sticks acros or are those sps? Love the torches!

Thank you! Yes, the "sticks" refer to the sps (small polyp stony or hard coral). Acros are short for acroporas which is a type of sps.

 

[goody]

I forgot to list the equipment. So here's what I have:

2x Tunze 6105 on Sea Sweeps
Varios-4 return pump
SRO 2000int skimmer (run sparingly)
ATI 24" 4 bulb hybrid powermodule
2 x Quanta OG Pop LED bars
Sump 48x20x20
Apex Classic
GHL 4 head doser (old version) but switching to Aquavitro Sentia dosers.
1/4 Chiller not inline yet.
Tunze 3155 ATO