Lifegard Crystal 25 Build

AFHokie

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Hey fellow reefers,
Bit late to get to my build thread but here goes. I didn’t get a ton of pics as it has progressed but enough to get an idea.

It’s been up and running just shy of 3 months and all is going pretty well. It’s not my first reef but first once since my last came down around 13 years ago.

Since setting it up my biggest challenge has actually been getting consistency in my salt mixes. I started with Fritz RPM which was great for Ca and Mg numbers but around 6 for KH. They sent me a new bag for free which was right on for KH but barely broke 300 for Ca (mixed salt several times to make sure it didn’t settle). I’m now using IO as it was on sale and I needed to try something else. Ca and Mg are just a tad low but still within parameters and KH is good if not a bit high but it works for now. Debating where to go after this bag of IO is empty.

Equipment:
Lifegard 25 AIO w/ stock pump
3D printed random flow nozzle
Hygger mini wave maker
XR15 G5 Pro, run AB+, still ramping Auto Aqua smart ATO lite
Marco rock
Special grade Arag-alive

Chemicals/Food:
Cycled with Fritz Turbostart
All-For-Reef, .7ml daily until this weekend’s addition of my WWC sale grab so I need to test and see how much to adjust up.
Red Sea Reef Energy AB+, 2-3ml few times a week
Xtreme marine pee wee pellets
Rod’s Food
PE Mysis

Fish:
Pair of orange and black ocellaris
Longnose Hawkfish
Carpenter’s Flasher

Coral:
Bam-bam
Radioactive dragon eyes
Sonic flare
Cat eye
Rasta
God of War
Watermelon
Citrus
Rising Sun
Peanut butter cup
Space Queen
Pandora
Green rhodactis
Orange rhodactis
Green hairy mushroom
Superman disco
Orange ricordea
Xenia
Bi-color(?) candy cane
Platygyra
Spicy lemon Favites
Tyree space ghost favites
Festivus favites
Ice dragon favia
Misty alveopora
Blood orange leptoseris
DEFCON cyphastrea
Fireworks psammacora
Hollywood stunner chalice
Darth maul chalice
Tyree sunset monti
Blue monti digitata
Mystery acropora from WWC
Assorted lords

Whew….I think that’s everything. Here are a couple pics. Still learning how to get the best pictures, it’s been a learning experience.

5 March 22
3D19F27A-B970-4210-83BE-A6820F9B819D.jpeg

29 March 22
2FAF7366-67B3-4AEA-840D-C1BCFC7F108C.jpeg

20 May 22
60857C53-851C-46E2-B896-0CAD16AED92B.jpeg
 
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Chris99999

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Love the light rays coming down the middle. Looks like your tank have divine intervention lol!
 
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AFHokie

AFHokie

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Got a few closer shots

Lepto, ricordea, and alveopora. The alveopora will be moved elsewhere after a couple acclimation days
27901B46-3E1C-49A8-9887-1C46E0D165B0.jpeg


Ice Dragon Favia
FA090542-461B-4450-BA6A-D57E637FC6F3.jpeg


Future acan garden. There’s one more to the right behind the rock
39A25E8A-26FF-4492-A399-5C194DE483CE.jpeg
 
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AFHokie

AFHokie

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Well it’s been a month and I haven’t updated at all. For good reason, though.

A few days after I started this build thread I discovered a small dino infestation in my tank…about two days before I was leaving for a long weekend. Since then most of my R2R time has been spent focusing on getting rid of the dinos. Now that I’m almost a month into seeing no clear signs of any dinos it’s time to post some more updates.

Figured I’d start off with the couple pics of the offenders that I got (albeit not very good ones).
D86CF6EB-823D-41FC-B5F0-FB720270682D.jpeg

30A7720F-572F-48F1-BA56-2AB6513DD5D4.jpeg
 
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AFHokie

AFHokie

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The coral that suffered the worst was my Birdsnest…which also happened to be one of my best growing frags and was becoming one of my favorites.

Before the dino-induced die back
881E2698-D4AC-49CB-874C-275FB92D0251.jpeg

When I first noticed some damage but didn’t realize it was dinos yet
58EF3911-164B-4973-B2A5-B79496FC65D8.jpeg

After the worst of the damage when I started treating the tank
EA3110DE-B827-458F-879B-7A0511B7D6C1.jpeg


I don’t have a good pic right now but I’m happy to say (fingers still crossed) that the Birdsnest has been recovering nicely. The leftmost branch has regained a ton of green on the top side and now the middle branch is greening up towards the bottom. More tissue and polyps have grown over all of it in general. Not considering it a total success yet but it’s definitely come a very long way.
 
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AFHokie

AFHokie

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Here are a few shots I got using the new clip on filter set one of my boys got me for Father’s Day. Totally changed the quality of my phone photos.

Sonic Flares
DA5481E6-93B5-4FDD-9C66-9519D274C190.jpeg


Spicy Lemon Favites
FB0CEF68-A887-4442-AC62-3734579666EB.jpeg

WWC DEFCON cyphastrea
13604181-5EE2-407D-A13C-CD97F5039F38.jpeg

Pandora (?) Zoas free frag from Tidal Gardens sale
82A5A390-D45B-4E8F-BC89-95592E716E1B.jpeg

Night Time FTS
9C7DA744-FFDD-448B-AB19-D0B577A22542.jpeg
 
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