My build Thread! Cages 50g Reef Tank

NickCage007

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So, i should have done this a long time ago, but, ill see if I cant make up for lost time..
My reefing journey started somewhere around 2008. I had a freshwater discus tank. The local store had a saltwater section, and i always thought the fish were "prettier". So, we started with a 10 gallon hang on filter, simple saltwater tank, and had two clownfish. That reefing journey ended in 2012, i had progressed to a biocube, and had a few zoas, an acan, and a single frogspawn, that withered away, but i was very very proud of it. Here are a few shots i still have, of that one.

tank3.JPG supermanAcan.JPG tankpic1.JPG
 
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NickCage007

NickCage007

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So, because of college, and moving, i havent had a tank since, and in 2018, my gf gave me a small fluval, but then a 10g waterbox, and the journey began again. Pretty simple, lots of rock, and lots of euphyllia. Here are some shots of that one..

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NickCage007

NickCage007

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We upgraded from the 10 to a 20, and i had my heart set on the IM50 lagoon, but, doliscontinued at that point, so, i watched marketplace. While gathering euphyllia, and cramping it all in that 20. Eventually, just before xmas 19, we found one. And i moved the rockwork from the 20, added a few more live pieces, from local friends, and got it filled, cycled, ect. And then came the corals...

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NickCage007

NickCage007

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We got a noopsyche, for the 20 gal. I used chemipure blue, and purigen, and basic filtration. And when we moved into the 50, i added a second noopysche. Both running at about %50 power, mostly blue light. Some green and red, and lots of uv.. so, now we can get to the current tank..
 
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NickCage007

NickCage007

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To Catch you up, the current tank is an IM50.
The lighting is 2 noopsyches, a radion g5 xr15 blue, and a reefbrite xho actinic strip. (par level chernobyl!)
My stock list is a borbonius anthia, a lyretail anthia pair, and a black white and blue clownfish. Yep, blue.
We also have a tailspot blenny, a orchid dottyback, and a baby cherub, and baby fathead anthia.
And the mandarin. The fat, mandarin.
Misc hermits, snails, and a fighting conch.

I run a refugium, in the back, along with simple filtration again. Chemipure blue, sometimes clear fx, purigen, aquachar, and i change them like clockwork.
I trim the cheato about every two weeks.
Use the acke light, taped to the back of the tank. Works very well.
I could probly write a very very long list of corals. But, thats fir a day im not working. For now, ill share some pics...
 
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NickCage007

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Some other info on the build...

The lights sit in a diy canopy. 8"tall, which puts them just at 10" off the water.
I use random flow generators, for my returns, with a pump, per return. Both pushing 530gph. (jajales) and, i run two jebao wave pumps on opposite sides, alternating flow.
There is a 3rd wavepump behind the rockwork, to keep detritus from settling in the back of the tank. (Really to keep mushrooms from getting stuck, back there!
The radion, is somewhat new. Most of the photos are noopsyche and reefbrite xho only. But i have programmed the radion to run the radient color setting, supplimented by the noops, and xho with more blue. So far im very happy with the results, but time will tell.

My lights run for 12 hours. With 4 hrs peak daylight. The rest is bouncing on a few spectrums, for color, and then lots of blue for nightime viewing.

As far as salt, dosing, ect, i use reef crystals. I found the only "clean mixing" salt to be esv, and i love their stuff. But, it became hard to find during covid. So, reef crystals has always been the old reliable, so i switched to that, for now.
As u can imagine, i run my tank around 8alk, 430cal, 1.025-26 and 78° with an inkbird controller.
I dose esv two part. I used ati essentials, but, without dillution, its just TOO strong for a 50gal. Esv seems a bit watered down in comparison, so it works well for me.
Tank goes thru about 7mils a day currently of alk and cal, of that solution.
 
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NickCage007

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As u guys can see, euphyllia is what got me hooked into the hobby. I found torches and spawns in college, and thought they were the neatest thing. Its taken me a while to find a few special variants, but,i have most of the ones ive wanted. The last piece is the "holy grail" the 2017 version, since i have found what we were calling a grail, back in 2012, and that ones in the garden!

Some of the torches include a cb dragonball, a ny knicks, (the real knicks, not the variant, this one is truly orange and blue) the og indo gold, aka a tsa black panther? (Dumb name!) An ultra indo gold, (the one with random green tentacles, amongst the gold. And a solid green base) an cherry corals midnight gold, and a purple, green base, yellow tips torch.
We had a "todds", and a dragon soul, but gave them to locals, along the way, to make room for others.
Hammers, i have a wwc holy grail hammer, the ones they sold back in 2017, they have baby blue tentacles, cream kinda tips, green mouths, its a beautiful hammer..
We have the indo gold branching hammer. An indo orange branching hammer. A pink one. Green ones.
Bicolor octospawns. A yayamensis, we think, a gold and blue octospawn. And a few splatter hammers, and traditional frogspawns, in the mix.

My gf has a beautiful zoa garden. Ill try to get some pics posted of that..
We have lots of other stuff. Favias. Acans, which have always been a soft spot i have, candy canes, more zoas.
Rock flower nems, a few, a black widow anemone, (was supposed to be babysitting it, it escaped its basket, and my clownfish took to it..)
A few rics, discos, a candy crush electus, and some cool blastos in the mix.
Ill try to find some shots of the rest of the tank, to share for u folks!
 
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NickCage007

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My gf, who now has her own 20gal, started this zoa garden. She loves zoas, mushrooms, and nems! And has quite the collection. Her garden, consists of, and im sure i will forget some, but here we go..
Utter chaos, gatorade, jungle juice, johnny pumpkin seeds, rainbow infusions, sunny d, fruit loops, rastas, la lakers, king midas, blue hornets, alien antivenom, pinwheels aka stargazers, sonic flare, lady vamp, beauty and the beast, buttmuncher, cats eyes, master chiefs, valentines massacre, radioactive, dragon eye, and im sure there are plenty i forgot, since the lights are off. But, it started in the waterbox 10, and the rock has moved thru the tanks, and has filled out very well, as u can see. Had to expand it, and now they are also on the base of my nem rock, frag rack rock area, on the left side.

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NickCage007

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Here are a few pics of the journey, from before we had sps, (youll see a giant green star rock, on top, its alll i could get to tolerate the par up there!)
And some pics of the tank before i had no space left for frags! Hahaha

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NickCage007

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And a few more recent favorites. Ill take some pictures of the tank itself, and setup, later. Shouldve documented the journey from the beginning, with more than just photos, but, atleast were keeping track now!

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NickCage007

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So a quick update, and timeline..
Started in october of 2018, as a 10gal waterbox.
System (rock, media racks, ect, swapped to waterbox 20, in feb 2019)
Feb 2019, upgrade to waterbox 20.. 1 noopsyche

December 2019, upgrade to IM50 aio lagoon
Added second noopsyche.
Tank dimensions are 30×24x18

March 2020, added reefbrite xho 15" actinic strip

June 2020 radion xr15 g5 blue

Current equipment..

*Ghost skimmer, retro fitted with nuvoskim pump and impeller, custom airline. Custom smimmer, really.
*Jebao slw10, and ow10 wavepumps.
*Current usa 660gph wavepump behind rockwork, for detritus accumulation
* 2 noopsyche k7 pro 2 lights
*1 reefbrite xho 15" actinic strip
*1 radion g5 xr15 blue
*Inkbird temp controller, eheim 300w heater
* Intank media racks, x2, clear fx, cheato, aquachar, cobalt resins
*Jebao 4 head doser esv 2 part, aminos, nopox
*Aminios i use are acropower, brightwell freeform, nyos full, and redsea ab+, i also like to use brightwells restor, in the coral food, esp for stressed, or new corals.
My tank runs..
Alk 8.0
Cal 430
Mag 1250
78°
Nitrate stays around .15-.20, .25 is waterchange day
Phos around .35-.40 .50 is waterchange day

I use a refugium, opposite the tank lights, and good old WC for nutrient control.
Tank has a shallow sand bed, black Hawaiian, 3/4-1" thick, and i vacuum it where i can, when doing a wc.
 
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NickCage007

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We feed the tank larrys reef frenzy, the nano version. (Smaller pieces, and no seaweed) and tdo pellets, hikari pellets, and formula 2 flakes and pellets.
Also lots of eggs. The rods polyp poppers and tentacle teasers are some of the best all around tank foods, ive tried.. ive never seen sps go nuts like they do for that stuff...
I feed the corals with broadcast of eggs and or powder food mix, once a week, and we target feed atleast once a week.
My coral food mix is
Fish eggs, or, something "meaty"
Tsp of coral feast, or coral frenzy powder
Few ml of aminos, i use a few diff types
Some Tdo pellets or coral frenzy lps pellets

I mix that all together, in a shot glass. With minimal tank water, if any, and let it sit for about ten mins, then target feed the corals with that mixture.
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 64 36.8%
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    Votes: 59 33.9%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

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  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

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