Lloyd's Reef Tank - 55 Gallon

[CallMeLloyd]

Hey everyone!

New to the hobby and almost done with the cycling process. I will be posting my Reef tank journey here. Hopefully it will help some people along the way!

 

[blaxsun]

Looking forward to it!

 

[Sven 142]

Awesome, post some tank stats and plans for the tank going forward.

 

[CallMeLloyd]

Here's my tank. Should be adding a pair of Snowflake clowns sometime next week. Let me know what you guys think!

 

[CallMeLloyd]

So I ended up ordering a pair of Extreme Onyx Picasso Clowns instead of the Snowflakes. Super excited! Should be here in 3-4 days. Will be uploading pictures when they arrive!

If anyone else has a pair of these and wants to give me some tips/pointers I'd gladly appreciate it.

 

[CallMeLloyd]

Added both clowns to the tank yesterday and here is a video of them this morning. They have been chilling by the powerhead pretty much since I put them in. Are they just comfortable there or too much water movement?

 

[Fishkins88]

My clowns at night stay in the corner. Have yours spread out since your build? Any updated pictures. I am considering a 55 gallon build.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Would love to see updated pictures of the tank as well!!

 

[CallMeLloyd]

Here is an updated tank photo. And unfortunately both clownfish died. I currently have a pink anthias, 2 blue chromis, fire shrimp, sally lightfoot crab, a few corals, snails. I also just got in some new lights so I will probably have them installed by the end of the week.

Other near future plans: Change rock scape, finish upgrading my test kit, getting a ATO system

 

[CallMeLloyd]

Just got my new lights installed and set up. Need to do a little more tweaking and cleaning up before I'll be completely satisfied. May lower them an inch or 2, they are currently about 14" above water surface. I have my blues (Ch1) set @ 40 and my whites (Ch2) set @ 10. Will probably up the blues to 50% next week. I also have some rock and Hanna checkers coming so I'm pretty excited! 2 out of 5 Hanna checkers down :face-savoring-food:

 

[Fishkins88]

Here is an updated tank photo. And unfortunately both clownfish died. I currently have a pink anthias, 2 blue chromis, fire shrimp, sally lightfoot crab, a few corals, snails. I also just got in some new lights so I will probably have them installed by the end of the week.

Other near future plans: Change rock scape, finish upgrading my test kit, getting a ATO system

Great aquascape. Very sorry to hear of your fish loss.

 

[CallMeLloyd]

Great aquascape. Very sorry to hear of your fish loss.

Thanks, I feel like my aquascape needs some work. Just not a lot of space to work with. I see a lot of people don't like the 55 gallon breeder because of this issue. I also think I have too many "big" rocks. Will be lowering my lights 2-4" to have them 10" from water surface. I feel like there is a lot of light spill so lowering lights should help a bit. Hopefully corals will respond well if not I can lower intensity.

 

[Fishkins88]

Thanks, I feel like my aquascape needs some work. Just not a lot of space to work with. I see a lot of people don't like the 55 gallon breeder because of this issue. I also think I have too many "big" rocks. Will be lowering my lights 2-4" to have them 10" from water surface. I feel like there is a lot of light spill so lowering lights should help a bit. Hopefully corals will respond well if not I can lower intensity.

I have a 29 gallon with almost the same width. It is a little tricky with how narrow they are. But, I feel fish care more about length to swim and height than width. I am considering picking up a 55 gallon myself for my next tank.
I 3d printed some light shades for my lights to reduce the spread and glare. What is light model? Do you 3d print ? There are free files you can scale to fit most lights. This is what I did.

 

[CallMeLloyd]

ALGAE ATTACK!!!
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/zero-nitrate-phosphate-readings-what-now.1014871/#post-11863282
This is what I battled last month. Had to remove everything and scrub with a brush. Still dealing with low nutrients, going to try and feed more food and let my filter get dirty. I tried skipping Wc's for 2-3 weeks but that just brought my alk down and nitrates still 0 and phosphates around 0.04. Going to go back to weekly/bi -weekly water changes.