Red Sea Max E 170

brendanwilson94

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Hey all! I’m currently going through the stages of my first cycle on my first tank. I have a max e 170 aio with an INKBIRD Wi-Fi controller, 200w titanium heater, 1 ecotech mp10 power head, roughly 25lbs of dry live rock, with roughly a 2in bed of caribsea live sand. I copied my lighting schedule from someone that has the same lighting as me and has had success in their tank. I feel like all of this is a really great starting point. Question is…. Is one powerhead enough for a mixed reef application? Also I’ve been speculating on what exactly I want to put into my tank. My list includes 8 Cerith snails, a blood shrimp, a pair of longfin black ice clowns, and a lawnmower blenny. Would my tank be overloaded with all of this plus coral?

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brendanwilson94

brendanwilson94

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Your scape came out nice! Definitely not to much bioload. Probably could add one or two more fish depending on size and more cuc as more algae appears. Good luck.
Thanks! I’m pretty happy with it! One of the rocks looked like a seagull head so naturally I threw that in as one of the peaks. Do you think one mp10 powerhead is going to be sufficient? I left a good amount of room around the structure to try and allow flow around it.
 

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Even though I mainly have soft corals I have 2 3300 gph circulation pumps positioned to create turbulent flow as opposed to laminar flow. Some corals like laminar flow but most like turbulent flow. I’m not sure what size tank you have. If you have a smaller tank, one pump aimed at the adjacent glass or rock that has no coral right in the line of fire can also create turbulent flow.

You have a nice system. I like the aquascape. As others have stated you could have a couple more fish in there. Corals have very little bioload. If anything they reduce bioload by eating fish poop and by taking up the ammonia, nitrates, and phosphates generated by fish and other CUC members.
 
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brendanwilson94

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It depends, how many gallons is your tank and what type of corals do you plan to dominate your tank (sps need more flow)?
I have a 45 gallon tank and I plan on loading it with ricordea mushroom coral, Duncan coral, and eventually after about 6-8 months I was planning on maybe putting in a bird nest coral or something like that.
 
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brendanwilson94

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I have a 45 gallon tank and I plan on loading it with ricordea mushroom coral, Duncan coral, and eventually after about 6-8 months I was planning on maybe putting in a bird nest coral or something like that.
Also have been contemplating a BTA but I haven’t delved very far into the care of them.
 
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brendanwilson94

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Even though I mainly have soft corals I have 2 3300 gph circulation pumps positioned to create turbulent flow as opposed to laminar flow. Some corals like laminar flow but most like turbulent flow. I’m not sure what size tank you have. If you have a smaller tank, one pump aimed at the adjacent glass or rock that has no coral right in the line of fire can also create turbulent flow.

You have a nice system. I like the aquascape. As others have stated you could have a couple more fish in there. Corals have very little bioload. If anything they reduce bioload by eating fish poop and by taking up the ammonia, nitrates, and phosphates generated by fish and other CUC members.
Thank you! Im glad with how my aquascaping turned out. As far as other fish I had been thinking about getting an orchid dottyback or a wrasse of some sort. I’m really open to anything that’s reef safe, peaceful, looks cool and brings benefit to the tank (I.e eating bristle worms or aiptasia).
 
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Added 9 Cerith snails today! These ones had some pretty cool looking shells!
 

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@brendanwilson94 Nice tank. I think you could get away with just one power head depending on what ends up on the bottom. In fact, one might consider the other side too as I did with the Max Nano, to ensure there's sufficient flow on the back where one might not be able to clean well as the tank matures.

Also, turn your lights down for now. I believe this is painted reef rock and without natural, balanced bacterial biome your tank will break out in macro algae. It will likely still do much of this during the ugly stages but can be balanced with attentive care, lighting and food control with planning on biome export like refugium or similar. UV light when used on higher turnovers from your sump or in your overflow can also help mitigate the worst of these stages, along with the smaller parts that make up the smaller ecosystem in the wild, zoo/phytoplankton, copepods, etc.

You might also consider Trochus snails later on.
 
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@brendanwilson94 Nice tank. I think you could get away with just one power head depending on what ends up on the bottom. In fact, one might consider the other side too as I did with the Max Nano, to ensure there's sufficient flow on the back where one might not be able to clean well as the tank matures.

Also, turn your lights down for now. I believe this is painted reef rock and without natural, balanced bacterial biome your tank will break out in macro algae. It will likely still do much of this during the ugly stages but can be balanced with attentive care, lighting and food control with planning on biome export like refugium or similar. UV light when used on higher turnovers from your sump or in your overflow can also help mitigate the worst of these stages, along with the smaller parts that make up the smaller ecosystem in the wild, zoo/phytoplankton, copepods, etc.

You might also consider Trochus snails later on.
I think I’ll grab another power head for the opposite side when they go on sale for Black Friday. The rock I am using is painted, yes. It’s caribsea liferock that I’m using. I forgot to mention I’m using red seas starter kit and I used biomedia from my dads established tank. I had been thinking about turning the lights off since I don’t need them at this point. I did however want to make sure the snails had sufficient food. My plan was to have added a lawnmower blenny at this point but I had an ich outbreak in my quarantine tank. So now that’s getting purged and re-cycled. I’m also setting up a separate 5.5gallon for coral/invert quarantine.
 
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My tank currently! One of the most difficult parts of this tank is mastering the flow, considering how tall the tank is. Your scape looks great!
 

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brendanwilson94

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My tank currently! One of the most difficult parts of this tank is mastering the flow, considering how tall the tank is. Your scape looks great!
That looks awesome! Very nice work! I am starting to notice just how tall this tank is. I was hoping to somewhat compensate for that with a deeper sand bed.
 

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One powerhead is fine. The return pump is strong you can even add a splitter. I have the same tank and the flow is pretty good with just the return and a nero3. I have a small jebao that i have used on other side of i had a dead spot with my old scape.
 
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One powerhead is fine. The return pump is strong you can even add a splitter. I have the same tank and the flow is pretty good with just the return and a nero3. I have a small jebao that i have used on other side of i had a dead spot with my old scape.
I see you also have the Red Sea 170. Is there any reason you opted to go without the sump? I’ve been on the fence about it because then I could do things like a refugium.
 

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Was my first tank. After a year or so i dot have the need. I may upgrade to bigger tank in a year or two. I don’t do sps. Just lps/softies. Didn’t have nutrient issues except for phosphate which i just used meds/chemicals for. Didn’t have much algae issues after the initial ugly/diatom/Dino’s
I see you also have the Red Sea 170. Is there any reason you opted to go without the sump? I’ve been on the fence about it because then I could do things like a refugium.

i do a water change every 1-2 weeks. Check nutrients 1x per week. The sump just isn’t necessary for what i do.
 
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brendanwilson94

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One powerhead is fine. The return pump is strong you can even add a splitter. I have the same tank and the flow is pretty good with just the return and a nero3. I have a small jebao that i have used on other side of i had a dead spot with my old
Was my first tank. After a year or so i do t have the need. I may upgrade to bigger tank in a year or two. I don’t do sps. Just lps/softies. Didn’t have nutrient issues except for phosphate which i just used meds/chemicals for. Didn’t have much algae issues after the initial ugly/diatom/Dino’s
Awesome, I’m completely new to all of this aside from what work I’ve done on my fathers tanks. The sump has been one of the things I’ve been on the fence about. What all did you do for filtration?
 

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Awesome, I’m completely new to all of this aside from what work I’ve done on my fathers tanks. The sump has been one of the things I’ve been on the fence about. What all did you do for filtration?
Bio filtration is live rock and sand. Filter floss in my intank media basket with carbon. Also have some bio media or pellets in a bag that i keep but mainly use that to have on hand to seed a qt tank if needed. Skimmer
 
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brendanwilson94

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I’ve decided to go with the sump upgrade. I couldn’t pass up the current sale, plus all of the additional features of having a sump. I will post updates when it’s installed. I’m also looking into installing an apex system as well as upgrading the skimmer.
 

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