Prostar 90v2

[rc8t6353]

Got all the Aquashella frags mounted except for the Rainbow Pectinia. I'm pretty sure it's gonna go next to the Space Invader. Everything is looking really good. (Knock on wood) Lol. My phosphates are a little higher than I'd like at .20 so I added a bag of chemipure elite. I'd like to keep it between .08 and .15. That's seems to be the sweet spot in my tank. Here's a few shots of the tank. I think I'm almost out of room for coral! It may be time to sit back and let everything grow and fill in. Tank is at the 5 month mark.

 

[Solo McReefer]

I wonder how it turned out

 

[rc8t6353]

Honestly this part of the tank probably gets the most visual attention from me now. It's my little SPS peak. I'm determined to get the recipe for healthy colorful SPS. I figure there's a mixture of easy to medium difficulty SPS. I told myself if I can keep these alive and well colored for at least 6 months, I'll start trying the expert/more expensive, prettier SPS.

 

[rzimm33]

Love it! You have a great taste in coral. I hope to have a similar collection of stock in my tank one day! I’ve heard a ton of mixed reviews on mixed reef, but I think there’s enough evidence that it can be done for me to pursue.

 

[rc8t6353]

Love it! You have a great taste in coral. I hope to have a similar collection of stock in my tank one day! I’ve heard a ton of mixed reviews on mixed reef, but I think there’s enough evidence that it can be done for me to pursue.

Thank you very much! It's a work in progress. I learned a lot from my previous tank and still am!

 

[rc8t6353]

Did a 20 gallon water change yesterday. This might be the first time I've done one and didn't need to siphon anything from the sandbed. Just dropped the pump in and let it do it's thing. I'm really happy with how the tank is looking right now. 2nd pic is how I get rid of my waste water. Pull the end of the garden house in, run the other end to the curb, and start the pump.

 

[rc8t6353]

Some quick top down shots with some water removed. I was doing a water change every week. I think I may try to go every two weeks as long as everything looks good and parameters test within range. I figure 20-25 gallons every two weeks should be good to keep nitrates in check, and keep trace element levels ok. One day soon I'll get an ICP test sent out.

 

[rzimm33]

Did a 20 gallon water change yesterday. This might be the first time I've done one and didn't need to siphon anything from the sandbed. Just dropped the pump in and let it do it's thing. I'm really happy with how the tank is looking right now. 2nd pic is how I get rid of my waste water. Pull the end of the garden house in, run the other end to the curb, and start the pump.

I really like the rock work with the euphylia going up it. Tank is looking really nice! Have you seen much growth on anything yet?

 

[rc8t6353]

Quick little mancave nano update. I haven't added any new coral. The zoas weren't opening up. I figured the water is probably too clean since I basically was emptying the tank when doing water changes and replacing it with new. So this last water change, I kept about 4 gallons from the main tank, and did the water change on the tank with it. Happy to say the zoas are opening up more since.

 

[rc8t6353]

I really like the rock work with the euphylia going up it. Tank is looking really nice! Have you seen much growth on anything yet?

Thanks. I may add one more piece on that ridge. I have. The favias are spreading, the the big torch has finished splitting a head, and the mushrooms are making babies. The pink chalice is almost covering the whole plug now. My goal is to fill up the open areas with frags, let everything grow out, then prune as necessary. Thanks for checking out my thread!

 

[rc8t6353]

Quick update on the Prostar. Happy to say that the Chemipure is working as intended. It brought my phosphates back in range from .20 to .12. Alk is still sitting steady between 8.5-9.0. I had been messaging a local reefer back and forth about some SPS frags for a few weeks and we finally were able to meet. He said they were frags, when I got there they were more like mini colonies lol. I'm not

complaining at all. Just gotta find some real estate in the reef.

 

[rc8t6353]

Stopped at my LFS the other day for my weekly fix lol. I really didn't plan on buying anything, just browsing the fish and coral stock. The coral addiction is kinda bad when you know the shipment dates lol. Stopped at the dry goods section and saw a few clearance markers. One thing that caught my eye was a medium sized Icecap C02 scrubber. Normally over $100, but on clearance for $40. I'd been wanting one to try and help raise PH.

 

[rc8t6353]

I have to say, the construction of the scrubber is very robust and the clamp fit the lip of my sump perfect. It came with color changing media. I just removed the skimmer silencer and attached it to some RO line I had laying around.

 

[rc8t6353]

About a week in the tank so far. They're keeping color and showing some polyp extension!

 

[rzimm33]

Lemme know how the scrubber performs for you. I was also having an issue with low pH (7.7) and ended up running airlines outside to the skimmer. Brought my pH up to around 7.9.

 

[rc8t6353]

Lemme know how the scrubber performs for you. I was also having an issue with low pH (7.7) and ended up running airlines outside to the skimmer. Brought my pH up to around 7.9.

I sure will. I have a pH pen that I have been using to check pH until I get a controller. My tank was around the same pH as yours. I'll check it tonight before and after lights go out.

 

[mikesreef83]

The build is looking pretty sweet! I need to get me one of those water change pumps. I got a Python but this seems a bit easier. My python hose @ 50' is too long!

 

[rc8t6353]

What's up everyone. Been awhile since my last update on the tank. Sadly it's not gonna be all good news. Life and work kept a lot of my attention away from the tank over the last month or so. I lost some coral as a result. The good news is I'm pretty sure I know exactly what happened, and I've already began to take a few steps to fix it. I'll get into that next post. Hopefully my mistakes will help another reefer avoid the same things from happening to them.

 

[rc8t6353]

I few months back I added a CO2 scrubber to the skimmer intake with the goal of raising my PH. Well I can say that it for sure does the job. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but it's my understanding that PH and Alk are kind of related. Well my PH went up along with the tanks uptake of Alk. By the time I caught it my Alk level was 6.9. My other levels were off but not by much. Over the last few weeks I've gotten back on my water change schedule which got my levels back to where I think the tank is happy. The corals that survived are all looking much better

 

[rc8t6353]

Once my levels were back to somewhat normal, I mixed up some a gallon of kalk, this time with double the potency. I'm still messing around the the dose amount to match the tanks uptake. I'm still supplementing ESV 2 part with the kalk until I find the sweet spot.