Reeferoo's 120 mixed

[Reeferoo]

Hey everyone! I posted a bunch of this on an intro to R2R thread, but now I wanted to upkeep a build thread, so I am moving it all here

Intro:

Greetings and salutations,

Thought I post an intro here. I've been on Reef Central, but I'm new here and really like R2R so far.

(Tl;dr)
120 gallon mixed LPS/softy reef (started as FOWLR in 2015, converted to reef 2019) Orphek Bar 90 (daylight and blue) 29gal sump, Mag 12 return, Vortech MP40/Koralia 4, 100 Vertex IN skimmer, chiller (reefkeeping since 8/07) Looking for GSP, hairy mushrooms, LPS/softy freebies. Active SCMAS member.

(my camera doesn't play well with my LEDs - open to advice) Current tank photos attached.

Previous tanks (nano and 50 mixed) http://s559.photobucket.com/user/marxistwombat/library/?sort=3&page=1

(verbose version - we're on a reef forum, we'll read it!)
I've been in the hobby since 2007 - I started with a 50 gallon mixed softy/LPS reef with much guidance from Ron at Total Tropical in Upland (I know some people remember that amazing store! Wish they were still around). I also have had a 12g nano cube set up a few times. I have frequented Mystic Reef and Tropical Fish in Rancho, as well as Fontana Fish and Pets on Sierra (mostly for water).

In 2015 I upgraded to a 120gal aggressive FOWLR keeping my rock from my first tank, but some illness tore through the tank late last year and I lost every fish except Mr Muggles the sailfin tang who is a fat happy dude. So I let the tank chill for a while, and now I'm going back to a mixed softy/LPS reef.

Thanks to a local reefer, I just upgraded my lights to Orphek Bar 90 (daylight and blue) LEDs. I run an MP40 that I've had since 2010 (new wet side in 2016 and just got a new dry side a month ago). I have a 29g sump, and Vertex 100 IN skimmer, Mag 12 return pump, and a chiller. I also have a Korailia 4 in there for cross flow. I top off and two-part (Randy's/BRS bulk) the good old fashioned way. I just made an egg create sandwich for my cheato (thanks for the suggestion, R2R) in my sump, and I run chemicure blue and a filter sock. I make my own Instant Ocean Reef Crystals salt.

For livestock, right now I have a cleaner shrimp, 1 captive bred ORA true perc clown who is a bit broken (he always stays at the surface. I can urge him down, and I've seen him swim normally without a ton of effort, so I don't think his swim bladder is shot, but he's not all ok either). I have the mighty Mr Muggles my fatty sail fin, a little ORA captive bred watchman goby I plan to get a pistol shrimp buddy for, and what I hope is a bonded pair of tank bred Bengaii cardinals.

I have some ORA duncans, 1 frogspawn/hammer, 2 monti caps, a gorgonian, a lovely leather, and one angry purple mushroom that still hasn't latched anywhere so he's locked in a strawberry basket with some rubble right now. Tank looks bare, but it's still really new coming back to the coral game.

I'm hoping to get some GSP, some hairy shrooms or ricordias, and other delightful softy/LPS (let me know if you hear of local freebies). I want some pulsing xenia, but I know it can be a weed and I want to see if people think I could isolate it or if it isn't worth it. I like the movement it brings to a tank, but easier to put in than to take out, for sure.

I got some new dry rock (40lbs) I'm going to add as well. I really enjoyed the aquascaping tips sticky here. Maybe I'll make a different thread for that adventure.

I have plans for a dwarf flame angel (always been a fan) and maybe another niger trigger (I've had luck with them being polite and I'm not into SPS). I'd like to have more than one clown, so if I think they can coexist ok, I might go that route. I'll see what else tickles my fancy for fish.

I also have an awesome guy that comes helps me clean and do a water change monthly, so if you are local to my parts of SoCal, I highly recommend AquaZone John.

Dude, high five if you made it to the end of my huge post.

 

[Reeferoo]

I have since gotten myself that orange phone camera filter per some advice - thanks for the tip!

March 13th update
Things are going well!! I am hankering for some new fish, but have to take it slowly to let everything settle. I just got the clown and bengaiis in January.

My new lights are awesome. These are the best I can do with my pixel right now, but the little orange filter folks have recommended to help is in the mail.
Here is FTS from far away to see the new aquascape, a closer FTS, and a shot of what I think might be an ultra ricordia looking glorious front and center

I got some frags from a local reefer - some green palys, some palys grandis (I believe), a green sinularia (YAY!) and some gorgonians!

I got a little bit of brown on the sand after the new rock (I added 40 lbs and had about 70 in there), but I turned my mp40 up and it seems to be taking care of itself without getting worse. It'll be a while for them to purple up, but it will be worth it.

Params are settling pretty well - I got new test kits coming in the mail because my tank maintenance guy is getting different readings than me on nitrates and I want to double check that.

Specific gravity: 34 - working my way to 35 with sw topoff - (I think the cause was a water change that was a little too low)
Alk 10.5
pH 7.9 (I think I just had my house buttoned up too much - I've been keeping the windows open more to try and keep this up)
Ca 420
Nitrates 40 (edited - got a new test kit - I thought they were 15, but they were 40!)
Phosphates - I read 0, but I am sure I have some - last time Steve Garrett tested for me at SCMAS I was .25
Nitrites and Amonia 0

 

[Reeferoo]

March 14th:

I have some pretty serious browning with my new rock/on the glass and some on the sand. I think this is all probably normal with how much rock I added even if it was dead and rinsed (it's that stuff they mine out in Florida).

I now have my big chunk of chaeto in the sump and am keeping my flow high in an effort to help. I'll give it some time and keep testing to make sure the nitrates aren't going up. I think they've been pretty stable at 40 for at least 3 months, which is much better than a steady climb.

I also switched to LRS Reef frenzy in hopes of reducing my pollution from feeding. I'm trying to dial in the right amount of nori so my sailfin tang doesn't make a huge mess of it - it seems like once it's off the clip he ignores it - rascal!

Between upgrading the lights and adding the rock and recent frags, that's a lot of changes for the tank in just a couple months.

If the rocks and chaeto settle out, and everything still looks as happy as it does, I might just let it run its course, but if it goes up or starts driving me too crazy, I'm looking into vinegar or vodka dosing. I don't currently have a dosing pump and I don't have a controller, and I wasn't planning on getting into all that unless I really have to. The risks of blooms sound daunting, and if 40 isn't that serious (especially as I'm not planning on getting into SPS, so I don't need a pristine tank), I thought I'd try the lower risk approaches first. I do want to get closer to 20ppm eventually, for sure.

Am I correct that even more frequent and bigger water changes probably won't be very effective? Is 25% every other week good enough? That's another low-risk change I could make, but it's work as I make my own SW, so I only want to add more if it's really going to be impactful

 

[Reeferoo]

March 20th:
Last night I tested and am holding steady at 40 nitrates, and the browning is still concentrated mostly on the new rock and the lowest flow areas. All the fish and corals look good (my sinularia is still a little shell shocked as it used to be in far less light, but he's opening up enough that I think he'll be ok).

 

[Reeferoo]

Update for today 3/26

My ORA Clown who was always a little broken finally managed to jump out and die

We put our screens from the old tank back on, and I'm looking into cutting the acrylic lids that came with the tank and mounting mesh on them for a cleaner look (black aluminum framing stands out a lot more on a tank without a black rim).

I got 2 more clowns (ocellaris this time) this weekend who are awesome so far, so I am super happy about that. They are far more active and healthy than the previous clown was, poor guy.

I added an inkbird dual heater temp controller with two jager heaters for redundancy (keeping my Ranco for use when I am heating my water change brute). I bit the bullet and bought an ATS and a new dj strip power thing as my GFCIs are getting too crowded with all the random plugs and timers! I'll get some pics once they arrive and I get them all set up.

The browning on the tank got REALLY SERIOUS for a while, but it seems to be easing down. I spent a long time cleaning the tank and I've noticed the sand and glass aren't browning up much at all anymore - thank goodness!

My new chaeto looks good still, and I've been skimming a bit wetter to try and help process the bloom. All the corals and fish still look great. My ultra ric has two mouths and my red monti is encrusting really quickly!

I'm now feeding only LRS Reef Frenzy which everyone seems to enjoy very much.

I really wanted to DIY an ATS, but I read and read and read and really wanted to do waterfall from my drain into my sump, but could not for the life of me find a consistent/cheap/easy way to protect the LEDs from the spray and buy all the PVC/lights/etc for cheap enough to take me down that route. It's an investment, for sure, but I'm hoping it's worth it!

 

[NY_Caveman]

Tank is looking great! The Chaetomorpha and the new ATS should help with the Nitrate levels. 25% water change seems like a lot to me to do regularly, but if it helps until the ATS kicks in, should be fine. Just give it time. If you are looking for something to feed Nori I use the Innovative Marine Gourmet Grazer. It holds the Nori in place until it is gone.

 

[Reeferoo]

Thank you so much for your feedback. I agree with all of your suggestions! I have the Innovative Marine defroster feeder thing and love it; I'll check out this nori clip - thank you!

 

[SPR1968]

The tank looks very nice and thanks for taking the time for the detailed write up.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Welcome to R2R!! Good looking progress so far on the reef!!

 

[Reeferoo]

Things are going surprisingly well! My nitrates are all the way down to 15! Couldn't believe my eyes, but I gave it a day and tested again and it's true! I think Ivan's Chaeto must be helping tons. I still haven't installed my new ATS as I'm re-doing my power set up this weekend to use my new awesome power strip thingy.

I had some GHA sprout up on a couple of frag plugs that were given to me from another tank which I tried to remove as much as I could, but the ATS should help with that over time.

My new clowns (Luna and Stella I've decided) are still doing marvelously, as well as all the other fish. The LFS Reef Frenzy is really well. My cleaner shrimp (whiskers) is a dick, and eats right out of my Duncan when I target feed.

Still not using 2-part for now, Alk and pH are holding steady with 25% water changes every 2 weeks.

The bloom is still playing out with brown on the sand and the rocks, and the glass gets filthy, but it's all part of the process.

 

[ccombs]

Welcome to R2R!!

Everything is coming along nicely.

Let us know if you have any questions or need anything at all!

 

[Reeferoo]

We re-did my whole power set up! We used this guy
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B072KPXD8F/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And it looks much nicer now.

Here's the shelves we built for next to the tank

They are usually hidden behind a screen

I also installed my new Santa Monica HOG1x ATS in the sump, so I'm hopeful that will be an excellent addition. I taped a hilarious DIY splash guard there that I'll need to come up with a better soluton for - the ATS spits a little and I didn't want it salting up the dry side

Here's my awesome battery operated pump to make topoff easier

I also realized I have a different skimmer than what I had posted (lol). When I got the new tank, I must have gotten it from the LFS - I'm so used to having online records of my purchases. It's a Reef Octopus Classic 150 INT - slightly oversized (as it should be). It's been doing such a great job with helping with my bloom!

I'm running my Chemi-pure blue and the Chaeto still looks very nice and full. Maybe eventually the ATS will cause it to die out, but while it breaks in, I think it's got to be what helped bring my nitrates down so drastically.

Corals are already showing really nice growth and polyp expansion which is so pleasing to see. All the fish are eating well and looking healthy and happy. Can't wait for my watchman goby to get a little bigger and yellow up - he's still that yellow-grey for now. My cleaner shrimp appears to have doubled in size!

I still want some kind of sand sifting crew, but I am not sure I have enough sand for a starfish - maybe some Nassarius snails? I think I've only got one crab in the tank, but my turbo snails are rocking it.

My aptasia is exploding and didn't seem to respond at all the Apstasia X, but I am on the list to borrow an aptasia munching file fish, so I hope that will help!