Protodad’s First “Big” Tank

[Protodad]

Well, tank has been up for a year and things are looking good. Swapped the vertex skimmer for a smaller one. Picked up a sand sifting goby to help clean the sand bed. Still struggling with super low nitrates. I’ve never had LPS before but this one is looking good.

1 year after lights on. Picked up a tobacco basslet.

Started setting up a tank for my wife as well. Hard to believe but we got the IM Nuvo and stand for free off the side of the road.

 

[Protodad]

More of life getting in the way. Had a nem split about the 17 month mark. That’s 3 now. I also added a gold hammer, and a tiny piece of sps (that nub in the upper right).

Finally got sick of small, difficult water changes. Found a screaming deal on a Panworld 100px pump on eBay, found some rain barrels at a local feed store And got to work.

100px is strong enough that I can pump from my garage to my living room through 50’ of hose with no issues. I used a smart plug so I could turn it off and on from the living room via my phone.

Around this time I won a 6 stage RODI system from BRS and installed that in the garage as well to feed the RODI tank. Worst part about this whole thing is that the 50’ of hose was the most expensive part of the setup.

FTS

 

[Protodad]

16 Months

Struggling with some turf algae. Tangs aren’t hitting it so ill have to scrub it off at some point.

Everything is looking pretty healthy. I’ve never had SPS but this piece looks to be growing

 

[Protodad]

20 months

22 Months

 

[Protodad]

23 month update. Having some trouble with my MP10 staying attached. I also had some trouble with my reactor not able to handle both GFO and carbon. My phosphates were high and not ever going down. I swapped to just GFO so it could tumble appropriately.

 

[Protodad]

Well, here’s where things started going downhill again. I noticed my Acan starting to recede but couldn’t find anything that had changed. My nitrates were still reading zero (they have for a year) and my phosphates were still high but finally coming down with the new GFO in place.

I was still having trouble with that MP10 so i pulled the both out and cleaned them thoroughly. Turns out I found the problem.

Looks like the crack at the magnet not only caused the wet side not to stay attached, but it leached metals into the tank and killed the Acan and the SPS stick i had. No idea how long its been a problem but it likely started being an issue once I pulled the carbon out of the tank. With nothing to absorb these pollutants, it quickly started hurting things.

I added some carbon in a filter sock as a quick fix, still trying to figure out how I want to deal with carbon and GFO in the future.

Eco tech warrantied the wet side but it took nearly a month after I mailed it to them to get the replacement.

 

[Protodad]

Whew, ok that’s two years of updates in rapid fire succession. Time to work on current and future “build” progress.

First, my nems have been busy. When I had 3 I moved one to my wife’s tank. She now has two. The remaining two in my tank have become 8! I got a few off using the “nem cannon” method But I’m still swimming in them. Good pricing to anyone who wants to pick up in the antelope valley area.

 

[Protodad]

So here is the tank today at the 2 year mark.

FTS

Top Down

Current sump setup

ATO

 

[Protodad]

Current Hardware List

120g (4x2x2)
2x MP10 (non Wi-Fi)
2x Kessil A360w
2x Kessil A360N
Kessil Spectral Controller
Waveline DC12000 Return Pump
AF1 Filter Roller
IM ChaetoMax Fuge Light (18w)
BRS Heater controller with 2x 300w heaters
Aquamaxx Fluidized Reactor (GFO)
Filter Sock with some carbon
Avast Marine ATO with a 10g Petco Tank

Not currently running a protein skimmer as I was trying to get my Nitrates up

Fish

Orange Stripe Tang (Ctenochaetus Striatus)
Yellow Belly Blue Tang
Male and Female Lyretail Anthias
Black and White Clownfish
Diamond Goby
Jewel Damsel

An assortment of soft corals and a bunch of Rainbow Bubble Tip Anemones

Parameters

Temp: 78
Salinity: 1.026
Nitrates: 0 (Hanna HR) (waiting on new test kits, this was about 3 weeks ago but its been zero for a year)
Phosphates: 0.24 (Hanna LR)
Alkalinity: 9.9 (Hanna)
Calcium: 440 (Red Sea)
Magnesium: 1200 (Aquaforest)

Salt: Red Sea Blue (usually HW Marine Mix Reefer)

I’m a little thrown off as I have had BRS 2 part sitting in my garage for over a year and never had to add Alk, Calcium or Mag. Not sure if the salt is doing all the work or if the corals simply aren’t up taking much. I don’t currently dose anything.

 

[Protodad]

So while I’ve been meaning to get a build thread going for a while, what’s really driving this is lack of Success in the hobby. While the tank is up and looks pretty good, its not where I want it. I want a tank I have no fear of adding corals to. I want to grow SPS. I want it to look like these incredible tanks I see photos of constantly. I’m not there yet and that’s fine, but that’s my goal for 2023. I’m not sure what it will take just yet but I’m ready to push this tank way beyond what its been at for the last year or so.

 

[Protodad]

Finally got a different test kit for nitrate. Ended up with the salifert kit as it had good reviews (and was half the price of the refills for my Hanna).

Looks like at 2.5ppm which is a nice change from the zero reading my Hanna kit has always given.
So while my nitrates seem to be in a good spot, my phosphates are still pretty high. GFO is still going and we will see if it brings it down more.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

So here is the tank today at the 2 year mark.

FTS

Top Down

Current sump setup

ATO

Tank looks really good!!!

 

[Cthulukelele]

Current Hardware List

120g (4x2x2)
2x MP10 (non Wi-Fi)
2x Kessil A360w
2x Kessil A360N
Kessil Spectral Controller
Waveline DC12000 Return Pump
AF1 Filter Roller
IM ChaetoMax Fuge Light (18w)
BRS Heater controller with 2x 300w heaters
Aquamaxx Fluidized Reactor (GFO)
Filter Sock with some carbon
Avast Marine ATO with a 10g Petco Tank

Not currently running a protein skimmer as I was trying to get my Nitrates up

Fish

Orange Stripe Tang (Ctenochaetus Striatus)
Yellow Belly Blue Tang
Male and Female Lyretail Anthias
Black and White Clownfish
Diamond Goby
Jewel Damsel

An assortment of soft corals and a bunch of Rainbow Bubble Tip Anemones

Parameters

Temp: 78
Salinity: 1.026
Nitrates: 0 (Hanna HR) (waiting on new test kits, this was about 3 weeks ago but its been zero for a year)
Phosphates: 0.24 (Hanna LR)
Alkalinity: 9.9 (Hanna)
Calcium: 440 (Red Sea)
Magnesium: 1200 (Aquaforest)

Salt: Red Sea Blue (usually HW Marine Mix Reefer)

I’m a little thrown off as I have had BRS 2 part sitting in my garage for over a year and never had to add Alk, Calcium or Mag. Not sure if the salt is doing all the work or if the corals simply aren’t up taking much. I don’t currently dose anything.

Was a fun read! Enjoy the rapid fire walk-through. Good to see your family enjoying it too. To your 2 part question, with the corals you're growing your calcium consumption is essentially 0. No need to dose!

 

[Protodad]

Was a fun read! Enjoy the rapid fire walk-through. Good to see your family enjoying it too. To your 2 part question, with the corals you're growing your calcium consumption is essentially 0. No need to dose!

Thats kind of what I figured. I’m on the hunt for a lot of cheap LPS/SPS frags. The tank has sat with the same inhabitants for a while and I think I need to kind of “dive” right in. At the moment I’m less of concerned about looks and more about being successful with it.

 

[Protodad]

Tank looks really good!!!

Thanks. Some of the setbacks have made me cautious about investing more into it but I think it’s time to start adding more coral.

 

[Protodad]

Well, finally went and made some changes. I found a “LFS” that’s at least 50% closer than the one I have been using and avoids some of the worst of LA traffic. Guy operates a great shop via appointment only but very friendly and well stocked on some critical reef stuff I’ve needed.
First up are some new additions.

A monti, favia and an acan(?). After acclimating I let them sit for a bit before…

Dipping!

Yea, yea. Not very exciting for most but I’ve never done it before. Ended up using Coral Rx dip.

A good sign, the corals I bought didn’t have anything coming off them. That said, I still had some existing issues to deal with. Both of my hammers have been ticked off for a while. My teal one had too many heads and the bottom ones were getting shaded and my purple and green had a major case of vermitid snails.

These guys had stuff jumping off them. Did some fragging for the first time as well. Maybe not the best (and no plugs until Monday) but I was able to scrape off every snail I could see.

Gross…mostly snail though.

Back into the tank

Several “new” additions.

Corals are starting to peek back out. I’ll see how they do tomorrow.

 

[Protodad]

Welp. That sucks. Corals are turning white and pulling back pretty bad. I knew this was a possibility but was hoping for better results.

Retested and now I think something goofy is going on. The only change as been to switch to some Rods Food and the AB+ which has been very sparing (10ml every other day).

My phosphates and nitrates went up a little (have an salifert kit so I’m actually getting readings again) which is to be expected from the extra nutrients. What’s not expected is the jump in magnesium and calcium. I’m going to have to retest to see if I screwed up the test. Taking the water to someone later next week to check my tests as well.


Phos - 0.5
Alk - 9.7
Nitrate - 0.4
Calcium - 500*
Mag - 1260

 

[Protodad]

Talked to my local guy and had all my parameters tested against my results. Everything looks good and ph came out at 7.9. Mag was low (1170) compared to my test so I started bringing that up but it didn’t explain the near instant tissue recession I had with these last coral.
Decided the best bet would be to hit it with chemiclean as I had some cyano growing in the sump and in my nem basket combined with what might be “RTN”.

Set up dual bubblers, swapped to a sock to make room for a skimmer. Made sure bubblers were under the power heads to really put some scrubbing power into it (kidding, this is what was recommended to make sure you keep everything oxygenated.

About 12 hours in, everything seems to be doing well. I guess we shall see after 48 hours.

 

[Jacked Reefer]

I would recommend an ICP test if you continue having issues with corals dying randomly! It might also be smart to check par, but I doubt that would kill your corals that quickly! Great looking tank!

 

[Protodad]

I would recommend an ICP test if you continue having issues with corals dying randomly! It might also be smart to check par, but I doubt that would kill your corals that quickly! Great looking tank!

I was thinking the same. I’ve never done one and it would be nice to get a baseline for the tanks.