Yojoe10
Community Member
Hey everybody fairly new poster here on r2r. I'm trying to get some information for a possible large undertaking for my 60 gallon cube reef. Tank specs are as follows:
Lighting- Radion (gen 1 I believe) run on the new coral lab setting for LPS. 7hoirs full photo at 56 percent with 1 hour ramp down each end.
Filtration-ecosystem miracle mud with chaeto. Took off all other means of filtration because system seems to run ULN no matter what I do.
Flow- one vortech mp10, small Korallia, and ~600 gph Sicce as main pump for miracle mud sump
Heater in overflow
Livestock:
2 mean ocellaris clowns (5 years old
1 mandarin dragonet (6 years old)
4 fire fish (two always in hiding cause other two beat them up [emoji48])
1 tuxedo urchin
2 turbo snails
3 leather corals (green toadstool, regular toadstool, and cabbage leather)
Purple gorgonian
GSP ( basketball sized island rock)
Three orange ricordea (haven't done jack squat growing since inception of my tank 6 years ago)
1 purple tipped frogspawn (also not done jack squat in 6 years of owning it)
Rebel flag acan( just bought them. Doing well it seems)
Various mushrooms
Two varieties of zoanthids (not done much but started feeding heavily with reef roids, coral frenzy, as well as dosing potassium nitrate and seems to have helped.)
Dosing- as mentioned already I began dosing potassium nitrate on friends advice and finally have measurable nitrate. Other dosing includes ESV 2 part and magnesium but those don't seem to be needed much anymore since my sps have died off mysteriously. [emoji53]) also started dosing aminos about three weeks ago.
Parameters as of three days ago:
NItrate- under 5ppm
Phosphate- under .03 ppm
pH pretty constant between 8.3 and 8.5 due to heavy chaeto growth.
Alkalinity- around 9.5-10 dkh
Calcium- 555 ppm
Magnesium- 1400 ppm
Tank is 6 years old and bare bottom as of about three years ago when I got sick of no coral growth and algae problems so I yanked the sand out.
So here is my major decision I'm trying to decide how to go about making: the tank is in the basement and for the last year my wife and I have toyed with the idea of moving it upstairs and plumbing the sump down below. However that is going to take a while as some renovations are needed down below before we can make that happen. With that plan in mind I bought some Marco mortar with plans to completely redo my Aqua scape from the simple stacked rock arrangement I've had for years. A friend gave me a bunch of his old real reef rock that I planned on cleaning up and using in the new scape and pretty much performing a system restart/recycle.
However things have changed and it doesn't look like the tank is going to be able to make the move upstairs for some time (new baby on the way. And low on funds for needed renovations and equipment.). That being said I am very Fed up with the current Aqua scape and overall mediocre at best growth of my corals. I really want to use this Marco mortar and finally get a top-tier Aqua scape within my reef. I've been told that if I take my current rock out to use the Marco cement that it will cause a recycle of my tank and therefore probably kill most of my livestock. A reset might not be a horrible idea as I have had an aptasia issue for awhile now that I treating with berghia. However I just do not have the space to place corals and fish while I recycle an aquarium with the new reef rock.
Given all of this information (which I know is a lot!) how would some of you guys advise me and moving forward with this endeavor? I just want to have a thriving reef with a top tier reef scape (that doesn't fall over all the time) and not have to lose all of my livestock or invest in another holding tank while I reset. Also I had toyed with the idea of adding sand back in the tank because the low nutrient thing just seems to conflict with my goals of wanting to grow mostly soft coral, L PS coral, gorgonians, and zoanthids. So any advice from guys who have been in my situation? Could my rock handle being out of water long enough for me to submit a great structure or am I looking at major catastrophe? I will try to post pictures of my system so that you all can get an idea of what I am dealing with. Thanks so much!
Lighting- Radion (gen 1 I believe) run on the new coral lab setting for LPS. 7hoirs full photo at 56 percent with 1 hour ramp down each end.
Filtration-ecosystem miracle mud with chaeto. Took off all other means of filtration because system seems to run ULN no matter what I do.
Flow- one vortech mp10, small Korallia, and ~600 gph Sicce as main pump for miracle mud sump
Heater in overflow
Livestock:
2 mean ocellaris clowns (5 years old
1 mandarin dragonet (6 years old)
4 fire fish (two always in hiding cause other two beat them up [emoji48])
1 tuxedo urchin
2 turbo snails
3 leather corals (green toadstool, regular toadstool, and cabbage leather)
Purple gorgonian
GSP ( basketball sized island rock)
Three orange ricordea (haven't done jack squat growing since inception of my tank 6 years ago)
1 purple tipped frogspawn (also not done jack squat in 6 years of owning it)
Rebel flag acan( just bought them. Doing well it seems)
Various mushrooms
Two varieties of zoanthids (not done much but started feeding heavily with reef roids, coral frenzy, as well as dosing potassium nitrate and seems to have helped.)
Dosing- as mentioned already I began dosing potassium nitrate on friends advice and finally have measurable nitrate. Other dosing includes ESV 2 part and magnesium but those don't seem to be needed much anymore since my sps have died off mysteriously. [emoji53]) also started dosing aminos about three weeks ago.
Parameters as of three days ago:
NItrate- under 5ppm
Phosphate- under .03 ppm
pH pretty constant between 8.3 and 8.5 due to heavy chaeto growth.
Alkalinity- around 9.5-10 dkh
Calcium- 555 ppm
Magnesium- 1400 ppm
Tank is 6 years old and bare bottom as of about three years ago when I got sick of no coral growth and algae problems so I yanked the sand out.
So here is my major decision I'm trying to decide how to go about making: the tank is in the basement and for the last year my wife and I have toyed with the idea of moving it upstairs and plumbing the sump down below. However that is going to take a while as some renovations are needed down below before we can make that happen. With that plan in mind I bought some Marco mortar with plans to completely redo my Aqua scape from the simple stacked rock arrangement I've had for years. A friend gave me a bunch of his old real reef rock that I planned on cleaning up and using in the new scape and pretty much performing a system restart/recycle.
However things have changed and it doesn't look like the tank is going to be able to make the move upstairs for some time (new baby on the way. And low on funds for needed renovations and equipment.). That being said I am very Fed up with the current Aqua scape and overall mediocre at best growth of my corals. I really want to use this Marco mortar and finally get a top-tier Aqua scape within my reef. I've been told that if I take my current rock out to use the Marco cement that it will cause a recycle of my tank and therefore probably kill most of my livestock. A reset might not be a horrible idea as I have had an aptasia issue for awhile now that I treating with berghia. However I just do not have the space to place corals and fish while I recycle an aquarium with the new reef rock.
Given all of this information (which I know is a lot!) how would some of you guys advise me and moving forward with this endeavor? I just want to have a thriving reef with a top tier reef scape (that doesn't fall over all the time) and not have to lose all of my livestock or invest in another holding tank while I reset. Also I had toyed with the idea of adding sand back in the tank because the low nutrient thing just seems to conflict with my goals of wanting to grow mostly soft coral, L PS coral, gorgonians, and zoanthids. So any advice from guys who have been in my situation? Could my rock handle being out of water long enough for me to submit a great structure or am I looking at major catastrophe? I will try to post pictures of my system so that you all can get an idea of what I am dealing with. Thanks so much!
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