Missionaries Aquarium Allowance- 150g SCA Reef

[Marine Iguana]

Howdy everyone!

My name is Noah, and I'm excited to share with you what I've been cooking up and planning for the past few years. I've kept aquariums for the past 20 years, and started my first reef back in 2010. During college I took a break from reefing, but for as much as I've loved playing with my southeast asian blackwater biotope I've been ready to get back into reefing for a few years now. Life is always a bit crazy as a minister, but I've always found rest in the tanks that I get to care for, and boy am I excited to share with you what I've been cooking up:

This build is the culmination of about 2 years of patiently planning, accumulating equipment and waiting for life to slow down enough to give me the space to get this beast running! I want to introduce you to my Missionary Aquarium Allowance, an SCA 150g tank. Specs below:

SCA 150g 5x2x2
DIY Stand
Trigger Systems sapphire sump
Maxspect Jump sk400 skimmer
Maxspect Jump 12k return pump
Reefbreeders Photon 50 V2 Pro
Icecap 4k Gyre (x2)

I have a CW-100 algae turf scrubber and a carbon reactor that I will be hooking up soon!

This tank is going to revolve around the fish livestock primarily- I have a soft spot in my heart for angelfish. We'll see what they don't have a taste for- I'm hoping that SPS will be off the menu as I've always gone for LPS in the past and am looking for novelty. Hopefully I can track down some herpolitha, my favorite coral as well!

I hope that you'll come along on the journey with me! More details to come soon! Until then, enjoy my current view!

 

[SPR1968]

Very nice Noah, and keep the pictures coming!

I love the aquascape design

 

[Marine Iguana]

Very nice Noah, and keep the pictures coming!

I love the aquascape design

Thank you! My hope was to provide enough cover for fish to pop in and out of the rockwogk while also keeping it mostly elevated off the tank bottom!

 

[death-by-reef]

It looks nice! what fish ae you planning on?

 

[Marine Iguana]

It looks nice! what fish ae you planning on?

Thank you! Here are some of the fish I'm hoping to add:

-Tang Gang (tomini, powder blue and a 12 year old yellow tang that my dad has been holding on for me)
-Angels (Regal, bellus female, flame- perhaps a pair of flames. I love venusta angels, but am cautious to put them in with corals)
-Magnificent Foxface
-A few fairy/flasher wrasse
-A few anthias, leaning towards bimacs. I love lyretails and bartletts but don't want them to get whittled down over time.
-Flame Hawk
-Gramma- if I can get my hands on a linkii I would be ecstatic!
-Pair of clowns
-When tank is mature, might add a pair of dragon face pipefish!

I'm also going to be on the lookout for some more oddball/less represented fish. I had a pair of crimsontip long fins back in my old 65 that were really interesting fish!

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Very nice scape!

 

[ScubaShane]

I have an SCA 150 also. I went with the Synergy overflow.

 

[Marine Iguana]

Figured I'd do an update for ya'll! Not much has changed, had a small diatom bloom two weeks ago that is starting to subside- added a pair of percale clowns (an onyx and a Picasso) and a mscoskers flasher wrasse about a few weeks back! This past week added some snails and hermits from Reef Cleaners and a few hammer frags!

This upcoming week I have some fish coming in from @Reef Pro, very excited for them!

Here's a FTS from earlier today!

 

[Marine Iguana]

The fish from Reef Pro are doing phenomenal! I got a eight line flasher wrasse, pintail fairy wrasse, brunneus fairy wrasse and a female watanabei angel!

Been dealing with a minor bacterial bloom over the past 2 weeks. Skimmer assisted in clearing it up for a day, but stripped my nitrates and phosphates to zero and ticked off my hammers. Considering if I should bite the bullet and purchase a UV sterilizer or if I should just ride it out and hope the bacterial blooms cease when the tank matures.

Going to see if I can snag some well-priced frags during Black Friday- upcoming plans for the tank are to connect my carbon reactor and clearwater scrubber to the manifold for future use. I requested my LFS to order a tomini tang and juvenile chocolate tang, so hopefully those will come in the next couple of weeks! Also currently have a fireball angel in quarantine who has quite the personality

I hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving!