How not to start a reef tank, my first reef tank build

Which light should I upgrade to after coral qt is done?

  • 2x ai prime

    Votes: 5 50.0%
  • Reefbreeders 24 in. Photon v2

    Votes: 2 20.0%
  • Stick with current orbit USA marine

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Viparspectra 165w

    Votes: 1 10.0%
  • 2x hipargero 30w

    Votes: 1 10.0%
  • Other

    Votes: 1 10.0%

  • Total voters
    10
  • Poll closed .

KGNickl

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Ok, I’ve had enough of Rudy. Going to buy some Walmart distilled water right now.
Yah, that is a great starter rodi but is not the fastest. Expecially if its the 50gph. Walmart has gallon jugs of distilled or they have the machines that are a little cheaper if you bring you own jugs. You just want to test the TDS on what you buy to make sure its good. Same story as home RODI.
 
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living_tribunal

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Is this what it looks like when a candy cane is splitting heads?
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living_tribunal

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Alright, I have finalized my decision on new livestock for the tank.

I will be getting a McCoskers Flasher wrasse and one of those pretty Tailspot Blennies as my newest additions.

I’m going to clean up/start cycling the qt tank this weekend and place the order a week and a half from now.

Both fish are colorful and the blenny adds some nice utility.

Most importantly, both are passive and won’t consume any of my pod population which is the #1 most important thing.
 

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They are pretty looking fish for sure. I could get a smaller tang with my tank but I prefer getting more smaller fish. The McCosker was a no brainer.
I feel the same way, I like lots of smaller fish. A Tomini Tang is the only one I’d even consider. The owner of one of the LFS in my area has a Tomini in a smaller Red Sea setup that’s been there for 5 years and seems fine. I have slightly more swimming space than that but I’d feel weird about putting a Tang in a tank with 37 total gallons of water in the system, even if it stayed small. Better to go with multiple smaller fish.
 
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living_tribunal

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I’m not sure what’s going on but it’s driving me nuts. My tank temp has been 80-82 degrees the last couple of days despite my heater being set to 76. I’m pretty sure my hydras are heating it up at 8” up. I might have to increase their height to 9-10” unfortunately or get a chiller.

Has anyone else experienced this?
 
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The lighting would be first guess as well.

I’m really certain it is. I removed my heaters and the temp stayed at that range until the lights went off.

I could lift them up and increase their intensity I guess.
 
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This little hammer head is sort of cute. It has three arms that are basically mini-nubs. He only comes out during the day but it will be fun for watch him grow. First real new head on something other than the cloves.


Oh ya, this pink goni is sexy as well.


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living_tribunal

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Quick update on the frag tank.

Everything is growing like gangbusters.

That is all.

8860FA47-CC50-440B-8B3F-7E611BBFD971.jpeg
 
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living_tribunal

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Just tried my Hannah phosphorous checker for the first time and it’s saying my display tanks phosphates are...
2928198C-54A7-4771-8F32-14FB1E767845.jpeg

So confused right now.
 

Why-Me

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I read on here all the time of people having the same thing. Usually but doesn't have to be the case, is everything in the tank is depleting po4 out of the water giving an inaccurate test result? Or something along those lines.
Search "po4 zero" or phosphate zero or 0. any of those.
That being said I haven't checked po4 one time since starting reefing in March.
I've been using chemi pure elite in my sump or HOB filter since 4-6 weeks into reefing.
I've only had GHA so far (fingers crossed) It's not a cure or fix all for anything but I feel it helps "polish" or clean the water from being overwhelmed by certain things like po4 or bad algae. If I'm not mistaken it's just gfo and carbon in a bag that helps keep things stable more or less, just generalizing there but I'm sure you get the point.
Sorry long week; brain fried.
 
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living_tribunal

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I read on here all the time of people having the same thing. Usually but doesn't have to be the case, is everything in the tank is depleting po4 out of the water giving an inaccurate test result? Or something along those lines.
Search "po4 zero" or phosphate zero or 0. any of those.
That being said I haven't checked po4 one time since starting reefing in March.
I've been using chemi pure elite in my sump or HOB filter since 4-6 weeks into reefing.
I've only had GHA so far (fingers crossed) It's not a cure or fix all for anything but I feel it helps "polish" or clean the water from being overwhelmed by certain things like po4 or bad algae. If I'm not mistaken it's just gfo and carbon in a bag that helps keep things stable more or less, just generalizing there but I'm sure you get the point.
Sorry long week; brain fried.


All good, and thanks for the tips.

The only thing I can think of is the huge amount of tang heaven I had in my sump. It was sucking so many nutrients that my Chaeto started to die.

I gave away 80% of it to another hobbyist, this was 3 days ago.

I tested water I pulled from my return section which may have impacted as well.

Testing the frag tank now, if that’s zero as well I need to assess the situation and test a sample that I dose phosphate to.

Hopefully I can figure it out and hopefully my phosphates aren’t 0.
 
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Results for the frag tank came in. I have a reading of 14, which means phosphates of .04.

That’s a pretty nice level! Going to test the display again from the actual tank water and see if maybe I made a testing mistake.
 
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Re-tested the display and think I messed up a step. The display reads 24 so .07 phosphate.

I did spill quite a bit of regent so might want to test again.

Very happy with this hanna checker. The regent is hard to work with but I’ll get the hang of it.
 
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So I think Dino’s may now be in my display now...

I really don’t know how this happened, I’ve been keeping nitrate and phosphate levels up. Maybe it come through on one of the frags?

Notice the bubbles and strainy strands... really ticked.

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