My lil reef

seahorse_man · Jul 15, 2019

Rick.45cal said:

It's so great to see such an amazing grown out tank, that is packed with color. Much more refreshing than the usual these days of giant tanks with nothing but frags the size of dimes (I'm guilty of this too sometimes).

Probably the best I've seen on this site.

drawman · Jul 15, 2019

Tank is looking great Rick!

Rick.45cal · Jul 15, 2019

seahorse_man said:
It's so great to see such an amazing grown out tank, that is packed with color. Much more refreshing than the usual these days of giant tanks with nothing but frags the size of dimes (I'm guilty of this too sometimes).

Probably the best I've seen on this site.

Thank you so much! It’s been an interesting ride just letting it do it’s own thing. I just keep my hands out of it. (I can’t honestly remember when the last time I had to stick my arm in the tank, 2 years at least.

Rick.45cal · Jul 15, 2019

drawman said:
Tank is looking great Rick!

Thank you very much!

Daniel@R2R · Jul 15, 2019

Rick.45cal said:
Thank you so much! It’s been an interesting ride just letting it do it’s own thing. I just keep my hands out of it. (I can’t honestly remember when the last time I had to stick my arm in the tank, 2 years at least.

Wow! That's impressive! So no new additions or even in tank maintenance during that time?

Rick.45cal · Jul 15, 2019

I still haven’t gotten around to soaking the pumps

Rick.45cal · Jul 15, 2019

mdbannister said:
Wow! That's impressive! So no new additions or even in tank maintenance during that time?

I haven’t added anything in probably 2.5 years now, after I stuck the Homewrecker in there I decided it was a closed system and only things leave the tank now. (Coral wise).

As for maintenance, I do nothing inside the tank. If something happens inside the tank (drop something etc.) I use a pair of grabber to retrieve it.

Rick.45cal · Jul 15, 2019

Obviously I scrape the glass, but it’s with a flipper magnet so it’s from the outside too

Grey Ghost · Jul 15, 2019

Fantastic looking reef tank! Can I ask what bulb combo you’re using?

vetteguy53081 · Jul 16, 2019

Beautiful pieces and colors!!
How on earth are you getting thesy guys to grow out so full??

LoneStarReef · Jul 16, 2019

Rick.45cal said:

Are you trying to make me drool on my iPhone? Dang that’s a nice tank.

Rick.45cal · Jul 17, 2019

Grey Ghost said:
Fantastic looking reef tank! Can I ask what bulb combo you’re using?

I’m using 4 Giesmann Actinic and 4 Giesmann Super actinic bulbs. The LED’s emulate the ATI coral plus bulb.

Rick.45cal · Jul 17, 2019

vetteguy53081 said:
Beautiful pieces and colors!!
How on earth are you getting thesy guys to grow out so full??

Lots of light, high nutrient levels and extremely high water flow. I think the extreme flow has the most to do with it. I’ve also been adding amino acids, vitamins, and iron daily and colors have really taken off as well.

. Thank you for the compliments!

Rick.45cal · Jul 17, 2019

@LoneStarReef Hehe thank you! Sorry about your phone lol

CoralWealth · Jul 17, 2019

when you say high nutrients. what is your phosphate and nitrate?

LoneStarReef · Jul 17, 2019

Rick.45cal said:
@LoneStarReef Hehe thank you! Sorry about your phone lol

Ha! No worries. It’s time for a new phone anyway.

Rick.45cal · Jul 17, 2019

codydemmel4 said:
when you say high nutrients. what is your phosphate and nitrate?

Just tested yesterday. 10ppm NO3 and 0.5 ppm PO4. (I bumped up my NoPOx daily dosage). I think my calcium reactor has solved my constantly bottoming out PO4 problem I was having. I also added potassium nitrate to my ATO to keep up with the boosted NoPOx supply now. These corals look best 10-25ppm of Nitrate.