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Schulks

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Welcome to my Innovative Marine EXT 50 gallon build thread! I am a beginner reefer who started a few years ago keeping fish and took my time learning everything I could to care for them. About 4 months ago I started this build and started buying coral so officially I became a reef keeper. I have always loved euphelia so I am trying for an LPS tank.

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I called this build fools gold because I saved money for the 'important' things. I should have just gone all the way and bought a stand a this point.. A lot of it was purchased used too.

Gear list:
1x Innovative Marine 50 EXT
1x Trigger Triton 20 Sump
1x 55 Lbs Gulf Live Rock & 15 lbs live sand

1x Reefmat 250
1x Royal Exclusiv Mini Bubble King 160
1x Pentair 40w UV

2x Nero 3
1x Vectra S2
2x Radion xr15
1x Kessil a160we

1x Innovative Marine Helio Universal heater controller
1x Aqua Ready FR-S Reactor (carbon occasional)

1x Hydros Launch
1x Hydros Minnow
1x Hydros 2ml/min doser

Hydros controls everything. I am using 7 of the sense ports and 3 of the drive ports. On the sense ports I have 5 level sensors, a temp sensor, and a rope leak sensor.
3 level sensors are in the return chamber. A low level sensor, normal level sensor, and overflow. Then I have 1 in the ATO reservoir and 1 in the Fresh Salt Water bucket I use for auto water changes. On the drive ports I have a pump for fresh top off water and 2 pumps I rigged up and use for the AWC. I plan on using the last drive/sense ports to setup an ATO for an AIO on the other side of the room.

On the AC outlets I have return pump, skimmer, UV, and the 2 ml/min doser. I might free up the doser spot so I can connect the Helio Heater controller but I don't think it is necessary unless I finish my plans to setup a battery backup. I have some idea of how I can use the 0-10v input on the launch so it can detect when power goes down and change to power saving mode. Hurricane Helene had me pretty worried... I actually ran out and bought a generator but returned it when I did not need it. I want a better deal.

Hydros Auto water changes 5% a week right now and my N and P are at 24 and 0.126.

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My Launch is rigged up under my desk. Here you can sort of see the Launch, fresh salt water, and waste salt water buckets(1st picture(reef crystal buckets))
I cant see the mess of wires unless I crouch under my desk. You can also see my UV there. It runs tee'd off the return plumbing (3rd picture) and I have a gate valve on the return line to control the flow rate. I aim for about 120 gph to make sure I am eradicating protozoa.

Fish list:
2x Snowflake clowns
1x Yellow Watchman goby
1x Royal Gramma
1x Neon goby

Shrimps list:
Scarlet Cleaner shrimp (At least 3 years old!)
tiger pistol shrimp

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These guys got me started in the hobby. $25 a piece nearly 4 years ago. Everyone says their clownfish are problems but mine have always been great. I love them and I am terrified of crashing my tank because of them. Please help me figure out how I am most likely to crash! I do think I have made them more timid because they lived in a fluval 13.5g for a few years. It was just them in it but now they stay hidden behind and under the rocks most of the time.

I have a yellow watchman goby and pistol shrimp as well. I've had them about a year less than the clowns. I care less about him because he is pretty territorial and I've seen the most aggression from him but 3 years is a long time. He has grown a lot.

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Then there is my royal gramma. She cool. Sits in this hole in the rock and just watches from the shadows.. lol

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And a neon goby but I don't have any good pictures of him. I plan on picking up a McCosker's Flasher Wrasse to start QTing soon. Then I think I will have room for 1 more wrasse someday.

Corals!!!


I have a lot of acans.. I am having a lot of fun feeding them lol.

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This arrived on my gulf live rock and it isn't the best looking but I've been feeding it and it seems to be growing a lot. Can anyone ID it? Sorry it is hard to get a good picture with the glass distorting it.
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This torch is at a fellow reefers. It was having a hard time so I gave it to him to hold while I tried to improve my system. I plan on picking it back up today or tomorrow. It has about 7 heads. I did not grow them though but I did get a great deal from TCK corals.
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And a quick shot of each side this morning.


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