Newb looking for advice!

fox0521 · Mar 8, 2021

Hey folks! Fee free to skip down a ways if you want to get to my questions!

so I started my reefing journey back in October 2020 with a 55 gallon peninsula tank. Fast forward a month and my husband gifted me a 130 gallon acrylic tank! Fast forward a few more months and I decided to tear down my 55 gallon and add all existing corals and fish to my new 130 gallon. I’m new but don’t be fooled, I’m a quick study.

alright! You’re caught up. So now I have a 130 gallon tank with:
Purple tang
Scopas tang
Pair of clowns
Gold head goby
Banggai cardinal
Turbo and astraea snails
Hermit and emerald crabs
Fighting conch
Peppermint shrimp

Corals:
Anacropora
Stylophora
Toadstool leather
Devils hand leather
Hammer
Duncan
Zoa
Paly
Trumpets
Kenya tree
Leptoseris
Hollywood stunner chalis
Tounge plate coral
And one I’m forgetting the name to!

For flow i am currently using an aquastation dc return pump, two Tunze 6045’s, and an MP40. (Just added the second 6045 today to help with cyano and bon left side of tank). Going to upgrade one of the 6045’s to an MP 10 and the other to an MP40 eventually, but these are fine for now.

For lighting I am using two AI hydra 32’s and one AI prime 16hd.

Params are stable, corals have good growth and color (although I’d like my
Leathers to look a little fuzzier than they do), having good coralline algae growth, and everyone’s getting along!

on to my questions!

I have noticed the tips of my stony corals (anacropora and stylophora) bleaching since being added to this tank. Is this because of too much light or not enough? The tank I had them in before had no lids and used two AI prime 16hd’s. I have one more 16 hd I could add if necessary. Running saxby preset. Rigged my mounting hardware (clearly) but it can be adjusted! Any advice here is appreciated!

I’m using a peninsula tank and I should have blacked out the back before setting up.. but I didn’t! Ideas on how to black it out now that it can’t be moved?

what else can I add for fish? I am thinking of a blue throat trigger (juvenile). Any concerns with what I have now besides inverts? What are some of your favorites??

any other general feedback is appreciated! Thanks for reading!

vetteguy53081 · Mar 8, 2021

Blue throat trigger safe.
On the tips, causes are usually:

Too much light
alk high
CA low or high
Salinity high
Water flow too high or low

Stylo does best under moderate light and water flow.

fox0521 · Mar 8, 2021

thanks!! I think I’ll plan on qt’ing a BTT in a couple months!
Alk is good around 8, CA usually right around 450-475. Salinity 1.025-1.026. I never see swings in parameters, I test every 10 days or so. Could be flow, I’ll try adjusting return pump nozzles. Might need to move my stylo down a bit too. I’ll keep an eye, if anything else starts having issues I’ll try turning the ai 16 down since that’s the one right over these corals!

thanks!

Taff · May 19, 2021

fox0521 said:
Hey folks! Fee free to skip down a ways if you want to get to my questions!

so I started my reefing journey back in October 2020 with a 55 gallon peninsula tank. Fast forward a month and my husband gifted me a 130 gallon acrylic tank! Fast forward a few more months and I decided to tear down my 55 gallon and add all existing corals and fish to my new 130 gallon. I’m new but don’t be fooled, I’m a quick study.

alright! You’re caught up. So now I have a 130 gallon tank with:
Purple tang
Scopas tang
Pair of clowns
Gold head goby
Banggai cardinal
Turbo and astraea snails
Hermit and emerald crabs
Fighting conch
Peppermint shrimp

Corals:
Anacropora
Stylophora
Toadstool leather
Devils hand leather
Hammer
Duncan
Zoa
Paly
Trumpets
Kenya tree
Leptoseris
Hollywood stunner chalis
Tounge plate coral
And one I’m forgetting the name to!

For flow i am currently using an aquastation dc return pump, two Tunze 6045’s, and an MP40. (Just added the second 6045 today to help with cyano and bon left side of tank). Going to upgrade one of the 6045’s to an MP 10 and the other to an MP40 eventually, but these are fine for now.

For lighting I am using two AI hydra 32’s and one AI prime 16hd.

Params are stable, corals have good growth and color (although I’d like my
Leathers to look a little fuzzier than they do), having good coralline algae growth, and everyone’s getting along!

on to my questions!

I have noticed the tips of my stony corals (anacropora and stylophora) bleaching since being added to this tank. Is this because of too much light or not enough? The tank I had them in before had no lids and used two AI prime 16hd’s. I have one more 16 hd I could add if necessary. Running saxby preset. Rigged my mounting hardware (clearly) but it can be adjusted! Any advice here is appreciated!

I’m using a peninsula tank and I should have blacked out the back before setting up.. but I didn’t! Ideas on how to black it out now that it can’t be moved?

what else can I add for fish? I am thinking of a blue throat trigger (juvenile). Any concerns with what I have now besides inverts? What are some of your favorites??

any other general feedback is appreciated! Thanks for reading!

Hi, re blackout back of tank.
I'm a newby too, little over a year.
What I used was a heavy duty black garbage bag, cut to fit and just taped on.
Cheap and easy fix.
Cheers,
Tony.