My bumpy SPS tank journey

[BriansBrain]

Hello Reefers!

I’ve posted on R2R a couple times, but never really introduced myself or posted my tank. I started in the hobby in 2012 and got absolutely hooked. I began with a 75 gallon mixed reef with a sump. Unfortunately, I had to part ways after 4 years because I had started a job that required a lot of traveling.

I started my current tank in January 2020 with a lot of ups and downs. I began with all dry previous live rock from my last tank years ago and bacteria in a bottle. Man, never again. The tank has taken forever to start maturing. I’ve had more ugly stages than I can count.

After about a year of misery, I decided to rip it apart and reaquascape. Smashing apart the live rock making something new took some planing. Definitely added some more surface area for coral placement, the fish seem to enjoy it, and it gets much better flow.

I still could use some cord management, but for now I’m happy with how it turned out!

Tank: Planet Aquariums 60” x 20” with stand
Sump: Trigger Tideline
Lighting: 4 Radion XR-15 Pro AB+
Flow: 2 MP-40
Skimmer: my old champ Reef Octopus 110 Int
Bio Filter: Clear Water CW-100 Scrubber
Return: Neptune COR20
Controller: Neptune Apex
UV: Pentair 25w - newly added
Dosing: BRS 2 part with Dōs

The pictures are from when I set up to now.

*Edit 9/23/24 - Current setup and equipment on page 2*

 

[WIReefer]

Glad you introduced yourself! Beautiful looking tank!!

 

[BriansBrain]

My first saltwater tank in 2012

 

[fishguy242]

very nice tank,happy to meet you

 

[wenliu51]

Nice progression and oh man that algae bloom

Welcome back!

 

[Zach B]

Looks awesome!

 

[Rp8]

Welcome aboard! Enjoyed your build, thanks

 

[BriansBrain]

Nice progression and oh man that algae bloom

Welcome back!

Thanks! The uglies were real! The bigs were golden algae, cyano, hair, dino, turf and some unknowns lol still dealing with turf but there’s light at the end of the tunnel!

 

[Rp8]

I am smack dab in the middle of the uglies now lol

 

[stylolvr]

Welcome to R2R!!

 

[Jeffcb]

Very nice. Good job. Welcome.

 

[BriansBrain]

I am smack dab in the middle of the uglies now lol

My first tank’s only ugly was dino that went away easily with a blackout. This tank has been.....frustrating lol. Strange how different tanks react and weirdness just pop out of nowhere

 

[BriansBrain]

*Long update*

Tank is coming along. Still frustratingly dealing with some very aggravating turf algae. It went away when I rescaped my rocks, but it came back.

It is so short and tightly rooted it is next to impossible to manually remove and the tangs and snails try but aren’t to effective. Urchins have been my best bet. Tried fluconozole, waste away regiment, vibrant and I’m sure others with no real positive results. I feel like I’m done with snake oils lol

I have since added a Clearview Lids screen top which was beautifully done but it had significantly lowered my par. I began slowly ramping up my Radions from 65% to 80% to get back into 250-300 par for the acros and monti (which were dying off unexplainably until I tested par with the lid). I may keep adding light but I need to figure out my algae issue first!?

Most acros aren’t growing much but seem to be doing better since raising light intensity. LPS doing good other than my green cynarina which seems happy, but it’s tissue has been receding.

current fish: chocolate tang, Kole tang, 2 clowns, 4 chromis, 3 bimac anthias, crescent tail wrasse, orange back wrasse, malunarus wrasse.
Bunch of trochus snails, dwarf ceriths, 3ish nassarius, 1 large zebra turbo, 7ish Mexican turbos, 30ish bumble bees, 1 pincushion urchin and 2 tuxedos ( more on the way)

parameters:
NO3: 0-2 Red Sea
PO4: 0-0.01 Hanna PO4 ULR (never had a reading over .0since starting my tank!??)
Ca: 430 red sea
Alk: 8.2-8.5 almost daily with Hanna
Mg: 1440

Did a Triton ICP about a month ago and everything came back good other than iodine and strontium being a tad low.

Tried to keep doing 10% weekly water changes, but now my nitrates bottomed out. Filtration hasn’t changed since my opening post.

Started a phytoplankton culture of nanno and tetra with the hopes of outcompeting the turf. Can’t say for sure if it’s doing anything

The struggle has been real, but gotta keep on keepin on!
Pictures are current as of today.

 

[BriansBrain]

Another cool little extension has been culturing nanno and tetra phytoplankton. Going to try out pods next!

 

[BriansBrain]

*Update*
The turf algae has been beaten back over the past few months. It’s not 100% gone, but it’s manageable to where its not choking out corals. I’m not a fan of chemical additives or snake oils but I’d figure I’d give Vibrant a try. I dosed 1/2 dose the first 2 doses (every two weeks) then full dose every two weeks for several doses. I’m probably going to continue dosing a half dose once a month. Maybe.

I can’t say that that was my cure but it started to disappear while dosing. My snails, urchins, crabs and algae scrubber started to get a foot hold. I do have a small bit of cyano now, but it’s not the end of the world. That could be from the vibrant or the warmer tank temps from being summer.
Corals, especially acros, began to finally take off!

Crazy thing to me is that my nutrients have always been near zero since starting the tank 01/2019. So it’s been difficult to see a spike to correct something I am doing wrong. Unless my issues have been solely from leaching nutrients from the rock.

My last nutrient test over the weekend was Nitrate 2 Phosphate 0.01.

 

[revhtree]

*Update*
The turf algae has been beaten back over the past few months. It’s not 100% gone, but it’s manageable to where its not choking out corals. I’m not a fan of chemical additives or snake oils but I’d figure I’d give Vibrant a try. I dosed 1/2 dose the first 2 doses (every two weeks) then full dose every two weeks for several doses. I’m probably going to continue dosing a half dose once a month. Maybe.

I can’t say that that was my cure but it started to disappear while dosing. My snails, urchins, crabs and algae scrubber started to get a foot hold. I do have a small bit of cyano now, but it’s not the end of the world. That could be from the vibrant or the warmer tank temps from being summer.
Corals, especially acros, began to finally take off!

Crazy thing to me is that my nutrients have always been near zero since starting the tank 01/2019. So it’s been difficult to see a spike to correct something I am doing wrong. Unless my issues have been solely from leaching nutrients from the rock.

My last nutrient test over the weekend was Nitrate 2 Phosphate 0.01.

WOOT! Way to fight and the reef is looking fabulous!

 

[TnFishwater98]

Welcome out of the shadows to da Reef!

 

[BriansBrain]

Just an update. I’ve done a lot of syphoning of the cyano with a weekly WC, dose microbactor 7, storm the water with turkey baster, and added some more flow with a Nero 3 and Nero 5.

Those little Neros are great! It really helps for supplemental flow for in the back of the tank to help flush crud from settling as well throughout the rock. I’ve also noticed more polyp extension from the extra flow.

The last bit of nuisance is some bryopsis. The continuing syphoning, turkey basting, and bacteria is definitely beating it back. I do have some reef flux but really don’t want to use it because the corals are doing so well.

Added some more CUC for diversity. Limpets, crabs, conchs, various snails.

Also took the Algae Scrubber offline because it was such a maintenance annoyance and took up so much room it made it difficult to maintain other equipment. I’ll probably upgrade my skimmer for Black Friday.

 

[BriansBrain]

Since removing the algae turf scrubber my nutrients have been steadily rising over the last few months. Yesterday’s check was nitrate was 15 and phosphate was 0.10.

So I decided to upgraded my skimmer from my old RO 110 classic to a 150 Regal. Nothing wrong with the old skimmer, it just was undersized I felt. This was the largest skimmer I could fit in my space other than the Maxspect Aeraqua Duo.

The new skimmer came in today, so of course I had to install it! Lol. Even though the specs and footprint aren’t terribly larger, I was very impressed by the overall size difference. I should have take the skimmer body side by side photos, but I forgot because I was to excited to install it.

It is dead silent compared to the old ac 110 and looks to be pulling gunk right out of the box. I’ll let it break it for a week or two. Hopefully it’ll do a better job of keeping the nutrients down because I have no interest in reinstalling the algae turf scrubber.

 

[rhizotron]

Beautiful setup! Well done!