Red Sea E170 max AIO mixed reef build - first reef tank

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kiswanson

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Thanks! Just got my self this tank and I've been reading through your build for ideas
It’s a great system! You should definitely post a build thread as you get your system started
 
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Check out the end of 2021 Wisconsin Reef tour on YouTube


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a update on carbon dosing

i started using NoPOx a few months back for nitrates in the 20-30 range. After dosing consistently 4 ml a day and also dosing the PNAS denitrifying bacteria 1-2 weeks it is now at 0.8. This is despite a relatively high Fish bio load and generous feeding of fish. I also does 7-8 ml Red Sea AB+ and 15 ml ocean magic phytoplankton a day.

So far I have been really pleased with NoPox. Good nutrient control and only a few spots of hair algae.
 
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I added a yellow headed sleeper goby, which is a sand sifter. I love watching him work and his the sand bed looks amazing…but he drops the sand from more height than I expected. The sand is particularly ticking off my green star polyp rock (maybe keep this in mind if you are trying to stop GSP spread) and my purple bubble coral. It also frequently gets in my scolymias though they don’t seem as bothered. I moved the purple bubble coral and the scolymia to areas further away from where the sleeper goby usually hangs out. I like both the fish and the coral, so I don’t want to choose, though by leaving the fish I may apart be making a choice.

I’ve also been dealing with issues with algae in my gorgonians. I only have a few isolated spots if hair algae, but it really seems to enjoy growing in the gorgonians branches. I hand clean them and then they look great with excellent polyp extension, but over time the algae comes back and the polyps start retracted. I moved two of them up to the top of the rock work next to the sps so hopefully the markedly increased flow will help. I had got the sailfin mollies to eat this algae, but even though they are thriving their algae eating has been underwhelming.

One of the gorgonians is a blueberry NPS gorgonians which looks awesome everyone I clean it off. Since i dose phytoplankton and Red Sea reef energy ab+ it seems to be doing great as long as I keep up with removing the algae. Hopefully the increased flow will help.

i really need to add back the other MP10 on the right wall halfway up on the back to hit the gorgonians, which are more in the back, with flow from both sides. Maybe I’ll get that done tonight. Currently I have one MP10 on the back wall towards the top near the back and the Red Sea gyre on the left along the top.
 
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I got a yellow headed sleeper goby which is a consummate sand sifter. I love watching him work and the sand bed looks great but some of my corals are getting showered with sand. Surprisingly my green star polyp looks like it died. I did not think it would be susceptible to just some sand, but it has been a week since I saw any polyp extension and there is some algae starting to grow in it. The Xenia next to it is of course still going gangbusters

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Other areas seem to be growing well. Love my euphyllia garden and pocillopora. The montipora and Acropora have recovered and are now encrusting and the base. My gorgonian that I moved to the top of the rock work is living life with good polyp extension

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Update on nutrient control - I’ve been running NoPox 4 ml/day on a pump and using Chemipure elite which does contain GFO and my nutrients remain nicely controlled with nitrates 1.4 ppm and phosphates 0.04 (both with Hanna checkers). I also dose 15 ml of oceanmagik phytoplankton a day and 7-8 ml Red Sea reef energy AB+ a day. I’ve also been doing ~35-40 ml of PNS probio denitrifying bacteria 1-2 times a week, but I’ll probably stop that at this point. Given my relatively highly stocked tank I’m really happy with those values.

I’ve also started dosing Tropic marin all for Reef and my alkalinity was 8.3 and calcium 451. I would love to stay around that level. I’ve been trying to dose 5 ml a day, but that is a little tough just using the bottle measurement and dosing by hand. I really need to get it on the apex DOS as well since I’m only using the DOS for NoPox and have a channel available.

Overall I’m really happy where things are and now i need to keep it stable at these values and not do too much tinkering.

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