My first saltwater tank mixed reef

[Digitalfirex]

Keep feeding that bubble coral. Reef tours and LPS pellets. That thing is getting HUGE!

I feed flakes and pellets daily to the general population. That is 2 -3 times daily. Daily also broadcast feed live phyto. Roughly 2 times a week I make a mixture in a small container. I mix the live phyto with like 5ml of sechems amino acid, cyclops-ez, a cube of mysis shrimp, and Reef roids. I also thrown in a piece or two of either store shrimp or scallop. Turn the pumps off and feed each coral with a turkey baster. So far all corals show growth

 

[Digitalfirex]

Random question:
The Kessil ap700 right now it's at roughly 60% intensity at its highest peak. I tested par at 100% and my high light demand acro on top of rock work got shy of 300 par. Frag source had them at around 350 par. So I've been thinking on maybe adding some lights... thoughts? Like maybe 2 kessil a160we next to ap700 would be ideal. I want 350 par at upper third of tank... I also don't think running the ap700 at 100% is a good idea for the long term life of the light.

 

[Digitalfirex]

I got some chunky acro frags from @Rachid Stoury . Wanted to try my hand at acros one more time since the last frag I had just bleached on me. Couple of weeks and they are very happy in my tank, definitely excited!

I ordered some GLO frag rack so I can place them a bit higher in my water column for higher par. So far love the look. My AP700 is at 60% intensity at peak. Stourysreef is 350 par if I'm not mistaken? So have been slowly increasing par from my previous 40%. See previous post #42.

Not sure on names, think Birdsnest, Bubblegum Digi, Black Mamba Milli, California Tort, Green Slimmer? That's the only issue I've found with frag packs like that, I don't know the names. Its not a big deal to me, I'm just looking to enjoy my tank and not impress the internet.

Originally I got my 10 pack (aside from these acros I also got 2 zoa frags and a mushroom). 1 acro bleached... Rachid immediately offered to replace it. Answered all my questions and concerns. My only problem was deciding what frags to get honestly... the bleached acro upset me because it made me wonder if my tank wasn't ready... now seen my happy frags I feel better about my choice. I drove 1 hour to Stourysreef and it took me 2 hours back... so I do think that played a role in the acro bleaching too (my ac in the car?). I would definitely buy another pack, perhaps a jawbreaker mushroom or even a Colorado Sunburst if I had the budget!

 

[revhtree]

Nice frags!!!

 

[Digitalfirex]

Picture update!

 

[Digitalfirex]

Also got me a new frag rack...

 

[Digitalfirex]

So I've had quite a week with the tank...
Let's start at the beginning tho...

Tank as of Monday Pic.

 

[Digitalfirex]

On Wednesday, tank woke up to a peppermint shrimp eating my hammer.

Also my dkh was 7.4.

I wasn't sure if my hammer was ill based on a parameter swing ect. Didn't know what to do...

Ended up moving hammer to frag rack. Is looking better (after 1/2 eaten by shrimp)

 

[Digitalfirex]

Turns out I'm not sure my shrimp is a true peppermint. Reports of hard to identify and LFS selling wrong shrimp as peppermint. Decided to sump this guy. Other corals are happy.

 

[Digitalfirex]

Got a mystery frag pack from WWC...

Figured, how bad can it be, chance of good frags, probably won't get doubles (odds to get a frag I already have are low from thousands of possibilities)...

I got a gsp, pandora zoa, and watermelon zoa. I already have those :')

Bright side I also got some hitchhikers.

 

[Digitalfirex]

New frags on New rack lol

 

[Digitalfirex]

Last update for today: (most recent event as of today)

My inkbird 306t just started beeping and display "err" on it. Tried to troubleshoot a bit but I'm assuming it just died... (my heater works fine and it's keeping temp OK on its own)... so now I'm considering, should I buy another inkbird, or get a controller that also can do heater backup safety. Does the Hydros replace an inkbird in that aspect? Or why both? (Seen setups with both). I'm ruling out a new apex based on price. (Unless I find a good deal on a used one)...

That being said, anyone monitor dkh with a hydros? Again, other than buying an apex and a Trident.

 

[Digitalfirex]

Random update:

Lost a couple of the frags above. My tank doesn't do too well with the monti type. Also lost the peppermint frag. Otherwise crazy growth on some of the frags. That bubble gum digi growth!!!

 

[Digitalfirex]

Long over due update: picture heavy!!

 

[Digitalfirex]

Added a couple of fish:

I lost the purple firefish, no idea what happened but I'm sure bubble coral or cuc took care of any trace.

Total fish count
2 clown fish
2 pj cardinals
2 chromis
1 blue damsel
1 royal gramma
1 green dragonette
1 melanurus wrasse male
1 leopard wrasse female
1 pintal wrasse male
2 yellow coris wrasse
1 neon dotty back

Yes heavy bioload = heavy export

Thinking of the redsea roller filter once it's available to make keeping up with the filter socks easier. GFO reactor keeping up with phosphate, changed monthly.

 

[Digitalfirex]

Added a micro garden corner. Rearranged some rocks to avoid stinging

Top view

Clown fish

Wrasse

FTS

Ironically, my wife said the frag racks look ugly. So I have to figured our a way to clean up the small frags...

 

[Digitalfirex]

Finally:

Frag Build - DigitalFire's Zoo Med 50g Lowboy Build

So I've been exploring the reefing world for a bit over a year now... This is my journey: Before reefing, I had a good amount of freshwater tanks 60g planted community build Then I built this 125g South American Cichlid tank Then my first reef tank... 20g H aqueon tank from petco... and...

www.reef2reef.com