M&M's 120 gal.reef

[RaeRae]

Nice tank man.

 

[cmjreef]

Thanks M&M, I have the same exact tech tank, two mp40s, but I run a Giesemann 2x250mh and 4x54 T5 combo infiniti light. Ive had great growth rates on acros in the past, but this tank has grown slow in its first year. Just wanted to see what some of your tricks might be. How do you assure yourself of being pest free? Do you just trust your LFS or do you quarantine, dip, etc?

 

[M&M]

Thanks M&M, I have the same exact tech tank, two mp40s, but I run a Giesemann 2x250mh and 4x54 T5 combo infiniti light. Ive had great growth rates on acros in the past, but this tank has grown slow in its first year. Just wanted to see what some of your tricks might be. How do you assure yourself of being pest free? Do you just trust your LFS or do you quarantine, dip, etc?

I do quarantine my new additions and dip every coral,but even then I get some pests past quarantine (aptasia),thank God no red bugs. I really don't trust any LFS or anybody else in that matter.Your lighting is more than enough for your tank,just make sure your bulbs don't get too old.I usually see slower growth on my corals,I know it is time to replace my bulbs.(I change them every 6 months).Also as you know, lighting is not the only thing corals need,so stay on top of your WC and keep parameters stable,and your corals will start growing again.

 

[Henry C]

schweet tank man!!!!!!!!

 

[milkman]

I have a 120 gal of the same dimensions and run my MP40's on the ends facing each other on Reef Crest and Anti-sync. I see you went with them on the back pushing to the front. Did you always run them this way? I like how the outside powerhead would be hidden from view. Just wondered if pushing the 2 ft dimension vs the 4 ft length was better?

Great looking tank. Mine has been up 18 mths and my SPS growth is not even close.

 

[M&M]

I have a 120 gal of the same dimensions and run my MP40's on the ends facing each other on Reef Crest and Anti-sync. I see you went with them on the back pushing to the front. Did you always run them this way? I like how the outside powerhead would be hidden from view. Just wondered if pushing the 2 ft dimension vs the 4 ft length was better?

Great looking tank. Mine has been up 18 mths and my SPS growth is not even close.

Actually my MP40 are on the sides facing each other.I run the same mode as you.On those first pictures you see my old Koralias on the back wall.Those 2 MP40 replaced 4 of my other powerheads.

 

[milkman]

Thanks, I was looking at the progression shots and didn't look at the first shots.

I run the same light fixture with the same bulbs except I have one more aqua blue spec instead of a blue plus. I think it is just a little too white, so may switch out to a blue plus.

Other than the two additives, anything else you run like biopellets, GFO, GAC, etc?

I was thinking about starting some Lugols myself.

 

[M&M]

I run biopellets in TLF 550 reactor with MJ1200 pump.Total 750 ml.of pellets.I also run GAC,but no GFO.Lugol's and Coral Amino are the only other things I dose.Today I changed my bulb combo and I love it.Now I run front to back:
ATI Blue Plus
KZ Fiji Purple
KZ New Generation
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aquablue
ATI Blue Plus
KZ New Generation
ATI Blue Plus

Those New Generation have some nice color.

 

[jiffy]

very nice, I love the red monti! what kind of CuC do u have? I didn't notice one snail..

 

[CoralClark]

the azoo fans keep your tank at that temp without any type of ac unit running in the house? my ac just went out and i need to do something to keep my 120 cool. what brand bio pellets do you use? do you get a pretty good tumble using the tlf? in the market for a new bio pellet reactor as well tlf 150 just aint cutting it. do you dose mb7 with your pellets? how much? thanks for your time.

I feed my fish 2-3 times a day,mostly frozen and pellets.Couple days a week feed them live blackworms,they love it.I do 10 gal.WC once a month with Red Sea Pro Coral salt.I also dose Lugol's 2 drops every 3 days and Brigtwell CoralAmino 10 drops every other day.Nothing but T5,but you're wrong here,no actinic at all.All those bulbs are high PAR bulbs.If you do some research you will find out those ATI blue plus put up tons of par. Because T5 put only a little heat all I use is Azoo 4 unit cooling fan in the back of my tank.Temp. stays steady now is summer 79-80.

 

[M&M]

very nice, I love the red monti! what kind of CuC do u have? I didn't notice one snail..

Thanks,I do have about 8 snails, 4 hermit crabs and 8 nassarius snails for sand bed.

 

[M&M]

the azoo fans keep your tank at that temp without any type of ac unit running in the house? my ac just went out and i need to do something to keep my 120 cool. what brand bio pellets do you use? do you get a pretty good tumble using the tlf? in the market for a new bio pellet reactor as well tlf 150 just aint cutting it. do you dose mb7 with your pellets? how much? thanks for your time.

I do run AC in my house when it gets very hot,otherwise I would not be able to live there.I like cool weather.Once my wife forgot to turn the AC on and my tamp went up to 83.If you have no AC two of those Azoo units should do the job.I use two brands of biopellets mixed together, the original NP biopellets and WM EcoBack. I have total of 750ml.of pellets in reactor.I have very little tumble and that is the way I want it.Its been going like this for one year now and I have no issues.There are different schools as far as how much pellets should tumble,I personally believe you don't need very much tumble at all.I used to dose MB7 but was getting some brown stuff on sand bed and some cyano as well.Since I switched to Special Blend by MicrobeLift all problems went away quick.Now I dose Special Blend once a month.Ecological Labs Special Blend - 8 oz.
I pour two full cups that come with bottle.Hope it helps,good luck.

 

[jiffy]

wow that's a small clean up crew for such a large tank. you never have any algae problems?

 

[milkman]

Interesting similarities. I use the EcoBak pellets and dose the Microbe Special Blend as well. I am dosing 80 ml once a week. Maybe I will cut back a little.

 

[M&M]

wow that's a small clean up crew for such a large tank. you never have any algae problems?

No,no algae at all.One time about 6 months ago, I had some cyano I could not get rid of,I used Chemi Clean red slime remover and had my skimmer off almost a week, some hair algae got hold ,but in three weeks completely disappeared on its own.After this no more cyano or any algae.

 

[M&M]

Interesting similarities. I use the EcoBak pellets and dose the Microbe Special Blend as well. I am dosing 80 ml once a week. Maybe I will cut back a little.

I used to dose recommended amount,but I found out my tank don't need this much anymore.So I cut back and looks like everything is ok.

 

[rafy_pr]

tank looks great and all the corals seem very healthy!!!

 

[M&M]

Today friend come by with PAR meter,so we took quick measurement.I am pleasantly surprised.Tek Light T5, 3 wks. old bulbs. Don't let anybody tell you that Tek is not good fixture.As long you use good bulbs you can grow anything.Here are results.

 

[revhtree]

Magnificent is the word!

 

[M&M]

Hi guys,it has been a crazy week for me, so I did not have time to finish my aquascape and final coral placement.I will be finishing it slowly over couple of weeks.I got rid of almost half of my rock ,making it more open for future coral growth and fish to swim.Unfortunately I broke a lot of coral in the process,but have tons of frags for sale in my local community.Everything is doing good,some corals lost some color,others are doing even better.I am very happy with my new Apollo Solar Blast LED's so far.This is the only picture I have right now,excuse the frag racks in the tank,also there is still a lot of corals on the bottom that I need to find a spot on rock,so it looks messy right now..You get the idea of what I did with my aquascape.Light on the picture is blue leds only on,notice how some corals fluorescence.Especially my green slimer looks like bright green neon.When all leds are on the overall look is close to 10K-12K.I will post more pictures when finished with all rocks and corals.Enjoy.