ReeferMadness80G’s Shallow SPS Reef

[ReeferMadness80G]

 

[ReeferMadness80G]

Any over saturation you see in my pics is definitely editing, however I edit to show what my corals look like to the eye. I edit to get the blue out. Most people know I use the Aquarium Cam App(Beta Tester) and I also use Snapseed. Sometimes the editing doesn’t come out great, but considering the amount of Blue I am eliminating from my phone pics, it’s pretty darn good!

 

[bubbaque]

Pics look awesome and it looks like the tank has had a turn around when it comes to the algae. I spot some sand in there now.

 

[ReeferMadness80G]

Yep, I started to feel bad for the YWG, needless to say that frowny face won me over and he got his sand.

 

[ReeferMadness80G]

Apex coming soon.

 

[bubbaque]

I know lots of people love them but I hated mine. I had to send back the ph probe for replacement after a week, salinity probe would just bounce all over and would constantly send me alerts. I ended up selling the whole unit after 2 weeks.

I hope you have much better luck!

 

[ReeferMadness80G]

I know lots of people love them but I hated mine. I had to send back the ph probe for replacement after a week, salinity probe would just bounce all over and would constantly send me alerts. I ended up selling the whole unit after 2 weeks.

I hope you have much better luck!

Dang yeah I hope so too!

 

[ReeferMadness80G]

I’ll be starting ATI essentials soon, if anyone has any tips or wants to share their experience with this product, albeit a very new product, it’d be appreciated.

@ATI North America

 

[ReeferMadness80G]

lets go!

 

[Mrx7899]

lets go!

I have been using ATI for 3 months and what a difference it has made. Tanks is sps dominant color and growth has really picked up very happy with it. One thing is that you will dose alot I dose 56 mls a day in a 50 gallon.

 

[ReeferMadness80G]

I have been using ATI for 3 months and what a difference it has made. Tanks is sps dominant color and growth has really picked up very happy with it. One thing is that you will dose alot I dose 56 mls a day in a 50 gallon.

Awesome! Do you have a thread I can check out? 56 mls is a lot, but doesn’t surprise me after the instructions say 50 ml per 25 gallons right?
Edit: saw that’s for sps dominated tanks.

 

[ReeferMadness80G]

So, I couldn’t find a real easy way to measure out 5 Liters of solution per 500ml of concentrate. I ended up pouring each concentrate in a measuring cup first, adding a little RO to make 1 Liter and then dumping it into a container and then one at a time adding liters 2-5 to make up 5 total liters including each concentrate. I couldn’t find any containers that would fit in my stand that held at least 5 liters. The canisters I used hold 1 gallon, which is roughly 3.8 liters so when I was done mixing, in a separate container that held 2 gallons, I filled up each canister and put the remaining 1.2 liters into ANOTHER container( 1 gallon water jug ) then I wiped my brow and sighed.
Note: The #1 ATI essential container (powder/Carbonate) doesn’t mix real easy, the water I used was a little cold so I did warm it up and that helped. I would recommend using warm water.
I am using a Jebao Dp4 to dose this stuff and as it was said above, you have to dose a lot of this stuff daily. The instructions say
Mixed Reef: 25ml/ per 25 gallons of water
SPS dominated : 50ml/ per 25 gallons of water
I have what I would call an SPS dominated tank, however that’s only bc I haven’t really added much LPS yet, even when I do I would still say I will have more SPS than anything though. I didn’t want to start off with the recommended 200 ml of each solution bc most of my sticks are still just frag sized and I don’t have a tank full or anything. Instead I started with 100 ml daily of each solution. I’ll start testing alkalinity daily on Monday. Instructions say to keep alk between 7-7.9 dkH. My alkalinity was 8.6 today so I may watch it for a few days before adjusting doses.

 

[bubbaque]

Sounds like a good plan but I would probably check alk the day after you start just to make sure nothing is skyrocketing levels. You would hate to check Monday and some how your alk rose to 11. Are the containers air tight? If so, you might want to make a small hole in the lid so as it pulls the liquid out, air can fill in the empty space. If not it will start to crush your container or not be able to pull any fluid out.

I am interested to see how your corals react to this program. Does it require macro algae like triton?

 

[ReeferMadness80G]

Sounds like a good plan but I would probably check alk the day after you start just to make sure nothing is skyrocketing levels. You would hate to check Monday and some how your alk rose to 11. Are the containers air tight? If so, you might want to make a small hole in the lid so as it pulls the liquid out, air can fill in the empty space. If not it will start to crush your container or not be able to pull any fluid out.

I am interested to see how your corals react to this program. Does it require macro algae like triton?

Well, technically tomorrow is when the dosing will start. Maybe I’ll check tomorrow night and see how it’s doing. Dude thanks for bringing up the vacuum possibility, I didn’t think about that. I’ll punch another hole in the lids tomorrow to be sure. From what I understand it doesn’t require anything.

 

[ReeferMadness80G]

I was able to stop by my favorite LFS today some of you may know as Living Reef Orlando! @LivingReefOrlando @Living Reef Orlando I got an amazing 4 pack of LRO Signature pieces!
Barbie Jeep Millie

Rainbow Rose Millie

Fun-dip Millie

Frogskin

The pack was actually a 3 Pack, and Alex and Ann decided to give me the Fun dip as a freebie just bc they are awesome like that! I think we agreed it was a xmas gift! Ok back to some pictures, these pics are taken with my iPhone in my tank. The frag in the middle is not one of the frags from LRO

I’m struggling with my lighting right now, referring to intensity, photoperiod and height AWL, also struggling with ATI Essentials, I haven’t quite locked down how much I should dose but so far I’ve been quite high. I’m skipping a few days to get my parameters back down. Then I will start back with 30ml of each “essential” per day.

 

[blesk]

Nice.

 

[ReeferMadness80G]

Nice.

Thank you

 

[ReeferMadness80G]

I’ve had a emerald crab in my tank for 4-5 months or so, always liked crabs so it was a toss up whether to add one or not bc they’ve been known to nip corals. I took a chance anyway bc I had a lot of algae.
Last night just before lights out, I caught this guy getting very unfriendly with my rainbow loom Acro, idk if he was eating it or just eating algae really close to it. However it made me nervous bc he’s now about 2.5” Big and could easily take out an expensive frag.
I decided to take action and employ the diy bottle trap. I put in some jumbo mysis and this morning BOOM he’s in the trap and we’re having crab for dinner! Just kidding, meet the new ruler of the sump refugium!

 

[Second Shot]

Nice, I have at least one crab I need to get out. I was able to get one with long forceps but this one is quick. Which bottle trap design did you make? Looks like plastic bottle. Did you just cut top off or invert the top? Thanks

 

[ReeferMadness80G]

Nice, I have at least one crab I need to get out. I was able to get one with long forceps but this one is quick. Which bottle trap design did you make? Looks like plastic bottle. Did you just cut top off or invert the top? Thanks

Yeah, I just cut the top off and put it back in reverse. I did cut the original opening to be a bit bigger so he could get in, I didn’t think the original mouthpiece(opening) was large enough for his shell to fit through.
I’ve used this method a few times and been successful with it. Good luck