That one guy
Community Member
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2015
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Would like to get my reef featured anywhere if possible to know what people think of it, weather good or bad I'm open to all opinions
First of all let me start by saying this is 3yr old mix reef 46g(60"x15"x12").On Equipment, as far as filtration I run a HOB skimmer and two reactors, one with gfo and the other one with carbon. I do run the system sumpless and not to mention all 10 mangroves that help the water stay clean. As far as lighting, I run three Aquaillumination Hydra 52HD(15" above water line. 10hrs a day) along with two coralife fixtures(2- ati blue plus, 1-ati purple plus & 1-ati coral plus). On pumps I run two on each end, 2-rio pumps & 2-hydors.
Before I get into the actual reef I want to mention that the last water change I did was about a year ago, and throughout all this time I've been using tap water without any prime or whatever. Never owned a RO/DI system. Tap water is what I use to wash or rinse anything I need and also use it to top off my tank. You might be asking how do I get away with nitrates and phosphates? Well I'm going to be real honest with all of you, the secret to keep the reef running as it looks is simply by being well accurate on what you dose and place in the tank. Let me explain myself what I mean by that, last time I ever tested my tank weather I was checking on nitrates or how my parameters are such as ca, mg, etc, was about two years ago. Ever since, I don't own any type of test kits. I know exactly how much to feed, when to replace media, and how much to dose by how long.
So now let's get a bit into what goes into the reef. Dosing, I dose every week (Sunday to be exact and around 7-8am to be clear). No matter what I'm up to around that moment it needs to be done no exceptions. Calcium(10mls), alkalinity(10mls), magnesium(5-10mls due to having mangroves), strontium(10mls), potassium(5mls), iodine(1ml), iron(5mls), replenish(2mls), coralcolor(3mls), & boron(1/2ml). All brightwell products btw. I change the gfo & carbon media just when ever I see the reactors clogde up which is about every month or so. When it's time for feeding, I feed corals daily, one or two times( phytoplankton, fuel, reefroids, acropower, zookplanton, and other related foods as such) weather its broadcast or target feeding it all varies. I also feed fish once a day, flakes, pellets and frozen foods.
So now let's get into what makes and holds this reef together, It first started with two seperate islands that throughout time it became one long piece, yes one whole because I notice the other day when I bumped my hand a bit hard on the far left rock I notice my zoas and the rest of the corals on the far right side retract and closed up. No doubt that in that moment I realize it all grew together as one big piece. Anyways, I used to have fish in there but after the heat got so bad here in California I lost some fish and also because power went out and like I mentioned earlier, I also don't run a chiller and if I don't run a chiller I don't run a heater neither. I let the tank run naturally on the weather conditions it gets. So for now I only have a blue tang(tang police lol) a green wrasse and a white spotted grouper lol yes a grouper that someone dumped in my tank thinking it was a good joke. Ofcourse you gotta have a cuc which I have so I'm not gonna go into detail of what and how many. Lps, Sps, 3clams and softies are in there and that's where carbon is used since almost if not everything is touching one another. I have a 4"-2" sand bed with about 4 different types of sand all mixed up as time went by I kept adding more and more sand don't know why. Never vaccum nor stir the sand bed since it was dumped. Nassarius snails take care of that.
Last but not least, it has had its ups and downs but the outcome always keeps me pushing it to its limits. I dont know if I'm leaving any info out if so lmk and I will answer any other questions anyone may have.
Btw the results of my tank is what I always imagined to have(for now) so this goes to show that what ever your goal is, aime for it and time will make it happen
Happy reefing
First of all let me start by saying this is 3yr old mix reef 46g(60"x15"x12").On Equipment, as far as filtration I run a HOB skimmer and two reactors, one with gfo and the other one with carbon. I do run the system sumpless and not to mention all 10 mangroves that help the water stay clean. As far as lighting, I run three Aquaillumination Hydra 52HD(15" above water line. 10hrs a day) along with two coralife fixtures(2- ati blue plus, 1-ati purple plus & 1-ati coral plus). On pumps I run two on each end, 2-rio pumps & 2-hydors.
Before I get into the actual reef I want to mention that the last water change I did was about a year ago, and throughout all this time I've been using tap water without any prime or whatever. Never owned a RO/DI system. Tap water is what I use to wash or rinse anything I need and also use it to top off my tank. You might be asking how do I get away with nitrates and phosphates? Well I'm going to be real honest with all of you, the secret to keep the reef running as it looks is simply by being well accurate on what you dose and place in the tank. Let me explain myself what I mean by that, last time I ever tested my tank weather I was checking on nitrates or how my parameters are such as ca, mg, etc, was about two years ago. Ever since, I don't own any type of test kits. I know exactly how much to feed, when to replace media, and how much to dose by how long.
So now let's get a bit into what goes into the reef. Dosing, I dose every week (Sunday to be exact and around 7-8am to be clear). No matter what I'm up to around that moment it needs to be done no exceptions. Calcium(10mls), alkalinity(10mls), magnesium(5-10mls due to having mangroves), strontium(10mls), potassium(5mls), iodine(1ml), iron(5mls), replenish(2mls), coralcolor(3mls), & boron(1/2ml). All brightwell products btw. I change the gfo & carbon media just when ever I see the reactors clogde up which is about every month or so. When it's time for feeding, I feed corals daily, one or two times( phytoplankton, fuel, reefroids, acropower, zookplanton, and other related foods as such) weather its broadcast or target feeding it all varies. I also feed fish once a day, flakes, pellets and frozen foods.
So now let's get into what makes and holds this reef together, It first started with two seperate islands that throughout time it became one long piece, yes one whole because I notice the other day when I bumped my hand a bit hard on the far left rock I notice my zoas and the rest of the corals on the far right side retract and closed up. No doubt that in that moment I realize it all grew together as one big piece. Anyways, I used to have fish in there but after the heat got so bad here in California I lost some fish and also because power went out and like I mentioned earlier, I also don't run a chiller and if I don't run a chiller I don't run a heater neither. I let the tank run naturally on the weather conditions it gets. So for now I only have a blue tang(tang police lol) a green wrasse and a white spotted grouper lol yes a grouper that someone dumped in my tank thinking it was a good joke. Ofcourse you gotta have a cuc which I have so I'm not gonna go into detail of what and how many. Lps, Sps, 3clams and softies are in there and that's where carbon is used since almost if not everything is touching one another. I have a 4"-2" sand bed with about 4 different types of sand all mixed up as time went by I kept adding more and more sand don't know why. Never vaccum nor stir the sand bed since it was dumped. Nassarius snails take care of that.
Last but not least, it has had its ups and downs but the outcome always keeps me pushing it to its limits. I dont know if I'm leaving any info out if so lmk and I will answer any other questions anyone may have.
Btw the results of my tank is what I always imagined to have(for now) so this goes to show that what ever your goal is, aime for it and time will make it happen
Happy reefing
Last edited:
I'm sure 
