Hexabonal's Hong Kong 250

Hexabonal · Sep 13, 2019

Current FTS:

Original post:

I want to track the progression of my new tank here. It's in a pretty crude state at the moment and I'm hoping I can see some steady development by logging photos. I had a dirty nano with no skimmer which I loved and decided to upgrade to a red sea 250. I'd still describe myself as a new reefer and would appreciate advice. I left my rock (a mix of live and dead) to brew for a few months. At the moment the tank is in a fairly ugly stage since a couple weeks ago when a big melanarus wrasse died somewhere in the sand and I haven't been able to find him anywhere. Nitrates are at 2mg/L (is that 2ppm?). I'm doing a 20% water change now.

The tank looks greener than it really is because of the light (A Hong Kong brand, Zetlight's QMaven II, I really like it). It certainly has algae problems, but the algae does not seem to be growing/spreading and it has not moved from the areas it has colonised. Advice appreciated.

Coral is cheap here in Hong Kong so I have quite a bit. There's some cyphastrea here which I love. The bigger one is a favia, right...? My zoas look stunning under blues but are brown under whites. Would the high nitrates be affecting this?

In terms of livestock I have two clowns, a flasher wrasse, lawnmower blenny and a baby tomini tang (I'll give him away when he gets too big). I've got about 5 snails, 2 cleaner shrimp, 2 peppermint shrimp who I've not seen since I added them but they ate the baby aiptasia I was noticing.

I have about 30 corals in the tank at the moment. Many of them about $5-$10.

I have an oversized Bubble Magus skimmer, a 'fuge with cheato and a load of biobrick stuff in the sump. There are a couple of small mangroves on top of the rock on the right side.

I need to remove some live rock in the display, or at least fashion it into a tower for the simple SPS I plan to keep.

vetteguy53081 · Sep 13, 2019

Interesting little tank!

mta_morrow · Sep 13, 2019

@ScottR !

Aren’t you in Hong Kong ?

Hexabonal · Sep 13, 2019

mta_morrow said:
@ScottR !

Aren’t you in Hong Kong ?

Haha, there aren't many of us English speaking reefers in HK so we all know each other!

ScottR · Sep 13, 2019

mta_morrow said:
@ScottR !

Aren’t you in Hong Kong ?

Yes. In fact @Hexabonal is my good buddy.

Hexabonal · Sep 21, 2019

A local shop was shutting down and the guy sold me a 12 head green+blue frogspawn for 40 usd. It fell apart in transfer into lots of heads but they're all really happy. I think the skeleton was dead. I also got a big yellow sponge. I did two 50% water changes and vodka dosing and the algae situation has definitely turned around. The colour on the zoanthids improved massively.

powers2001 · Oct 2, 2019

@Hexabonal Great to see another reefer 250 in Hong Kong!! I have a reefer 250 also, see my signature line.

Hexabonal · Oct 3, 2019

powers2001 said:
@Hexabonal Great to see another reefer 250 in Hong Kong!! I have a reefer 250 also, see my signature line.

Hey man, we have a small reef group/club/whatsapp group where we trade and sell frags if you want to join, I'll message you my whatsapp.

Hexabonal · Oct 3, 2019

I re-did the rock work to create a clearer divide down the middle. I've taken much of the coral up out of the sandbed and placed it on the rock now. My wrasse was looking unwell and I think it has died in the sandbed. The tank still has algae issues but only in the bright light and so I have turned my light down a bit.

powers2001 · Oct 3, 2019

powers2001 said:
@Hexabonal Great to see another reefer 250 in Hong Kong!! I have a reefer 250 also, see my signature line.

@Hexabonal actually I'm not in Hong Kong. I was just saying it's good to see a reefer from there on Reef2Reef.

Hexabonal · Oct 4, 2019

Some "progress pics". The upper tank has algae problems but the lower area doesn't which makes me think I should dim my lights a bit?

powers2001 · Nov 19, 2019

@Hexabonal any sign of the Wrasse that's missing? And could you post a fish list?

justmee · Nov 19, 2019

Is it true that HK toilet water uses salt water and HK saltwater hobbyist use it for their tanks?

And how's the protesting scene like out there?

Hexabonal · Dec 17, 2019

I'm going on holiday for a couple of weeks over Christmas - here's a "before" shot of the tank so I can compare how much it has thrived/died in my absence.

powers2001 said:
@Hexabonal any sign of the Wrasse that's missing? And could you post a fish list?

I have gone through a few wrasse. They are very cheap here (maybe $5-7 usd) but in extremely poor condition. I wonder if they use cyanide to catch them.

Off the top of my head I have:
5 pyjama cardinals
4 blue chromis
1 leopard wrasse (known as 'Disco')
1 checkerboard wrasse
1 mandarin dragonet
1 tomini tang
1 peppermint shrimp
1 cleaner shrimp
2 emerald crabs
2 blue hermit crabs
Some margerita snails I found in the sea

justmee said:
Is it true that HK toilet water uses salt water and HK saltwater hobbyist use it for their tanks?

And how's the protesting scene like out there?

Yes! Apparently it's saltwater that has had some minor purification. A few shops and hobbyists here use it with great success (one seller claims it creates more growth than salt mixes) but I've heard a few concerning tales and have yet to give it a go.

The protesting has made living in HK much more difficult but any events are planned and widely publicised (therefore easily avoidable) and it's still a much safer city than, say, London.

powers2001 · Dec 19, 2019

@Hexabonal thanks for the fish/invert list and video. Could you post an equipment list with picture of the inside of your cabinet?

Do you have any coral reefs nearby?

Tahoe61 · Dec 19, 2019

Gorgeous tank.

How do you clean the corners where the rock is? Snails?

Hexabonal · Jan 31, 2020

Here is a video tank tour!:

powers2001 said:
@Hexabonal thanks for the fish/invert list and video. Could you post an equipment list with picture of the inside of your cabinet?

Do you have any coral reefs nearby?

The inside of the cabinet is a horrifying mess so I don't take many photos of it. The ATO is converted to an ugly ghetto refugium. My skimmer is too big and I can never get the skimmate up high enough.

Hong Kong does have coral! Apparently it's one of the northern-most places in the world with coral. The coral can only survive in certain places. Given the pollution from China and that air temperatures can reach freezing in winter, I was very pleasantly surprised by the simple corals in the sea here and the range of fish. There are many butterfly fish and apparently even seahorses can be seen.

Some info here: