Well, after raising 2 kids that are off to college, the wife and I moved. Obviously this is a stressful event for any reefkeeper; more so if you’re a stick head like me. Most colonies were unfortunately lost.
So...onward as I start the process over. The tank is in a newly finished basement that I built out myself where I have multiple tanks that will house my addiction for SPS corals. The in wall display aquarium is a Coast to Coast Custom Aquarium with Eurobracing, corner overflow, starphire front measuring 72x26x24 (approximately 195 gallons). I’ve had this tank for 13 years. You get what you pay for and Pat at Coast to Coast is unrivaled in his passion and craftsmanship. My only regret is not taking pictures of it in its glory but the past is the past.
specs:
Tank: 195 gallon (72x26x24) Eurobraced Coast to Coast Custom Aquarium, Starphire front panel, corner overflow.
Sump: Icecap 30” (2 four inch filter socks, skimmer chamber, return pump chamber, ato reservoir, Tunze Oamolator
Skimmer: Reef Octopus SRO 2000 INT with Bubble Blaster pump
Return Pump: Eheim 1262
Lighting: ATI Sunpower (4 bulb fixture) with 3 Blue Plus/One Purple Plus) flanked by 2 Reefbrite actinic Strips). Sorry...haven’t made the jump to LED’s just yet and don’t know if I ever will.
Powerheads: 2 Reef Octopus Octopulse 4’s on opposing sides
Biological filtration: approximately 110 pounds Carib Sea South Seas dry rock, 100 pounds Bimini Pink sand
(all monitored by Apex)
Methodology: well, I’m admittedly old school in many approaches but one thing I’ve done differently in this aquarium is rely heavily on bottled bacteria products. From the onset, I cycled the tank with Brightwell MB7 and a few fish I brought over from the move: (Powder Blue Tang, Yellow Tang, Foxface Lo, 2 Blue Green Chromis, 2 Ocellaris Clownfish). I want the system to establish itself before I add more delicate fish like Anthias and wrasses I’ll be putting in quarantine the next couple weeks. Once I was through the MB7 initial dosing stage I introduced Brightwell’s Microbacter Clean; not because I needed it, but simply because I’ve done dry rock setups before and the dinoflagellates stage is not a fun rabbit hole in wished to jump down again. What I’ve learned over the years is that Dinos love a new tank with dry rock, negligible nutrients and low biodiversity. So...with that in mind (as in previous dry rock systems where I’ve had success) I dosed potassium nitrate until I was reading at least 10 ppm consistently even with dosing both bacterial cultures on a weekly schedule. So far...so good. The tank was set up November 15th. I firmly believe that if one is up to the challenge, adding corals helps introduce bacteria that help a tank stabilize. I also have had good success running a higher alkalinty (@10 dkh) at the onset of a new dry rock reef as I believe a higher ph and alkalinty with nutrients in the water pushes through the ugly stage. So far. So good. I hope to get much better at taking pictures and will strive to update this thread every Friday.
yes...I know this isn’t a lot of light for sticks but I’ve always done more harm to SPS corals with too much light rather than not enough. Seeing videos of Jason Fox running 4 T5 bulbs and reefbrites gave me the confidence to give it a try with a 4 bulb ATI fixture I previously had over a shallow holding system. I realize I’m moving faster than most and have already introduced many, many corals. It’s my opinion that the biodiversity introduced at the onset by adding corals once a calculated routine has been established is the best way to get through an ugly stage. I’ve replicated it in the past and hope to do it again here. Sorry for the wordiness. On to some pictures.
So...onward as I start the process over. The tank is in a newly finished basement that I built out myself where I have multiple tanks that will house my addiction for SPS corals. The in wall display aquarium is a Coast to Coast Custom Aquarium with Eurobracing, corner overflow, starphire front measuring 72x26x24 (approximately 195 gallons). I’ve had this tank for 13 years. You get what you pay for and Pat at Coast to Coast is unrivaled in his passion and craftsmanship. My only regret is not taking pictures of it in its glory but the past is the past.
specs:
Tank: 195 gallon (72x26x24) Eurobraced Coast to Coast Custom Aquarium, Starphire front panel, corner overflow.
Sump: Icecap 30” (2 four inch filter socks, skimmer chamber, return pump chamber, ato reservoir, Tunze Oamolator
Skimmer: Reef Octopus SRO 2000 INT with Bubble Blaster pump
Return Pump: Eheim 1262
Lighting: ATI Sunpower (4 bulb fixture) with 3 Blue Plus/One Purple Plus) flanked by 2 Reefbrite actinic Strips). Sorry...haven’t made the jump to LED’s just yet and don’t know if I ever will.
Powerheads: 2 Reef Octopus Octopulse 4’s on opposing sides
Biological filtration: approximately 110 pounds Carib Sea South Seas dry rock, 100 pounds Bimini Pink sand
(all monitored by Apex)
Methodology: well, I’m admittedly old school in many approaches but one thing I’ve done differently in this aquarium is rely heavily on bottled bacteria products. From the onset, I cycled the tank with Brightwell MB7 and a few fish I brought over from the move: (Powder Blue Tang, Yellow Tang, Foxface Lo, 2 Blue Green Chromis, 2 Ocellaris Clownfish). I want the system to establish itself before I add more delicate fish like Anthias and wrasses I’ll be putting in quarantine the next couple weeks. Once I was through the MB7 initial dosing stage I introduced Brightwell’s Microbacter Clean; not because I needed it, but simply because I’ve done dry rock setups before and the dinoflagellates stage is not a fun rabbit hole in wished to jump down again. What I’ve learned over the years is that Dinos love a new tank with dry rock, negligible nutrients and low biodiversity. So...with that in mind (as in previous dry rock systems where I’ve had success) I dosed potassium nitrate until I was reading at least 10 ppm consistently even with dosing both bacterial cultures on a weekly schedule. So far...so good. The tank was set up November 15th. I firmly believe that if one is up to the challenge, adding corals helps introduce bacteria that help a tank stabilize. I also have had good success running a higher alkalinty (@10 dkh) at the onset of a new dry rock reef as I believe a higher ph and alkalinty with nutrients in the water pushes through the ugly stage. So far. So good. I hope to get much better at taking pictures and will strive to update this thread every Friday.
yes...I know this isn’t a lot of light for sticks but I’ve always done more harm to SPS corals with too much light rather than not enough. Seeing videos of Jason Fox running 4 T5 bulbs and reefbrites gave me the confidence to give it a try with a 4 bulb ATI fixture I previously had over a shallow holding system. I realize I’m moving faster than most and have already introduced many, many corals. It’s my opinion that the biodiversity introduced at the onset by adding corals once a calculated routine has been established is the best way to get through an ugly stage. I’ve replicated it in the past and hope to do it again here. Sorry for the wordiness. On to some pictures.
