Potomac Reef - 180 gallon Mixed Reef - Travel and Maintenance Friendly!

[emvanburen]

Folks- we are joining the Potomac Reef journey 22 months into its life. It's a Red Sea Max S 650 LED set up as a mixed reef with a good amount of automation.

I've created a number of videos documenting my thought process and progress on my YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL6eh-EIDjF7xBux6V-2N9Q?view_as=subscriber

Current state of the tank is generally good - working to figure out life with the Alkatronic. I have it measuring alk every 3 hours- am getting a lot of fluctuations and if I go much longer, it forces a manual retest. It has really opened my eyes to the effects of daily life on alkalinity. Skimmer clogs cause it to rise, vacation / people away cause it to drop. It's been interesting seeing the impacts. And limiting them.

I recently reaquascaped the left side of the tank to create a little more coral placement area and massively pruned a colt coral that loves to grow.

SPS growth ranges from good to none, directly related to price with my prized specimens precisely as I bought them! That's not completely true but it sure feels that way!

I just started up a frag system in the basement to catch all the clippings from the main tank. It uses the main tank's auto water change water - 15 gallon frag tank with about 1.5 gallons changed every day. Video is here:

I travel a decent amount for work and have tried to prepare for adversity. I have a video on this topic here:

My current challenge is an ICP test that returned Cr levels of about 15 ug/ml. That's fairly high but seems to be within the range of salt mixes based on some research. I've sent off another ICP test of my Red Sea Coral Pro saltwater to see what kind of levels it has - no need to stress about things if the base saltwater has it in there. I've looked for metallic objects but absent totally gutting the tank, not sure how I can really rule out a screw in the tank.

Still have a bunch of corals to decide on, and another few fish. All in all, it's been a good ride so far and a lot of fun. Hope you enjoy and I'd love thoughts and comments. Ed

 

[Ranjib]

Great tank. Love the episode on redundancy. Subscribed. Thank you for sharing,

 

[emvanburen]

Great tank. Love the episode on redundancy. Subscribed. Thank you for sharing,

Thanks!

 

[emvanburen]

New video on my mixing station - adding an automated fill function.

 

[emvanburen]

Generator failed inspection due to proximity of window. Getting moved this week after being in place for 14 months. Unreal. Tank is doing well. Sps corals have ok color but not great yet. Fish doing great. Alkatronic has me seeing daily changes to alk that are fascinating. Maybe ignorance was bliss but...

Switching to tropic Marin pro salt since I’m not getting any benefit from Red Sea Coral Pro since it’s precipitating out

 

[emvanburen]

Totally anecdotal, but I had a minor salinity fluctuation and lost my birds nest. It totally rtn’d the next day. I fragged it up but lost most large parts.

Not devastating. It was really big but a pain to prune. I have a bunch of backup frags downstairs plus the new saved pieces. Plus it has grown into some rocks in tank and I have local backups too. And now I have some more space for new coral.

 

[emvanburen]

Today they move the generator so it will pass inspection. An amazing lack of coordination. Try one - we sent them away because they were going to cut a decorative tree down. Had landscaper move tree. Try two- sent them away because they hadn’t arranged for the plumber to move gas at same time. Third time a charm? We will see.

 

[emvanburen]

New video - bit of a tank tour of corals! Hope you enjoy!

 

[emvanburen]

Tank has been doing well - lots of growth with montis going insane and many of the nicer sps coloring up nicely. Given that the tank has been well maintained for over two years in our family room, I’ve gotten the green light to upgrade to a built in 8 footer. Planning has commenced for Potomac Reef 2!

 

[emvanburen]

Tank is doing well. Here is a morning room shot. Will be starting a new thread for the upgrade.

 

[PanchoG]

Your S-650 is looking good.

 

[emvanburen]

Goodbye Potomac Reef!

This is a bit bittersweet as this is probably my last update on Potomac Reef – which has been my largest and most successful reef tank to date. Sad, because I’ve loved the tank despite its limitations and nuances. But happy, because soon Potomac Reef 2 will be up and running in time for the Superbowl. The build thread for it is HERE.

Potomac Reef served as a great gateway back into the throes of the hobby. It was up and running for 2.5 years – certainly not long enough to reach its potential– but plenty long enough to make its potential obvious. However, as a stand-alone tank it never fully integrated into the décor of our family room despite being the first step back into full blown reef addiction. Maintenance was messy and was a challenge with everything mounted under-tank. And I was constrained by Red Sea’s choices in lighting, sump and filtration. There is no way I would have started with an 8 footer....

Nonetheless, it was a success, and restored my enthusiasm for the hobby and for detailed system design and management. All of your continued encouragement and camaraderie helped keep me moving forward.

I was able to keep happy fish, softies, some nice LPS, and an array of SPS corals with dramatic growth (from all but my most expensive, Walt Disney acro…)

Almost everyone will find a home in the new tank. Sadly, my beloved Xenia and Green Star Polyps, both of whom flourished in Potomac Reef, will NOT be making it onto the bus…Fool me once…

When we return in the new year, construction of Potomac Reef 2 will begin in earnest. The new fish room is already prepared, and the majority of gear will land before our winter break ends. If it's up and running before the Superbowl, and the Ravens make it in, we can call it a Christmas miracle!

Happy Holidays,

Ed