ReefingInTheBuff’s Reefer XXL 750 NSA Build

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ReefingInTheBuff

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20% water change completed to try and help cycle as stuck at 0 ammonia and elevated nitrites going on day 49…will do another 20% percent tomorrow if necessary….fingers crossed this will nudge cycle forward
 
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Looks like nitrites were a little lower this morning so hoping this will zero out over next few days as I found a pair of clowns I want to be first additions.
 
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So did another water change last night and should be ready for fish by end of week. List of fish include:

Blue Throat Trigger
Porcupine Puffer***
White tail Tang
Purple Tang
Foxface
Breeding pair of clown
Melanurus Wrasse
Longnose Hawkfish
Lawnmower blenny
Diamond watchmen goby
Few more wrasses TBD

***well aware this is a controversial addition but given new tank without corals want to see if it will work. Aware I will need to replenish snails and no crab/shrimp which I’m fine with. Trigger puts me in that boat already.

Also, hardwired internet connection to apex which was worth the hassle as I had multiple disconnects despite having router for mesh network on same floor. Not worth potential issues with wi fi IMO.

getting help from fellow reef2reefer to program apex and make sure ready for fish additions.

Tank almost 2 months old and ready to move forward. Maybe turn lights on for first time this week if for a brief moment.
 
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Happy Labor Day!!!

Tank finally cycled and breeding pair of clowns added (Fish and Chip). Will post some full tank shots later today.

So having issues with connectivity with Red Sea reef led 90s and think it may relate to power brick issues. Put a service message in with Red Sea so will let you guys know result. Otherwise lights are amazing looking with good PAR readings.

Finalized my fish stocking list after lots of debate which is the following:

blue throat trigger
Porcupine puffer
Purple tang
Convict tang
White tail tang
Foxface
Melanurus wrasse
Mccoskers wrasse
Blue throat wrasse
Clown breeding pair
Diamond watchmen goby (2)
 
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ReefingInTheBuff

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Added first few fish:

white tail tang
Blue throat trigger
Pair of clowns
Two diamond watchmen goby

built that net top for Red Sea before adding and still had a goby end up surfing on top of net …sucks

water tested and looks darn near perfect

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 4
Alk 8.4
PH 8.2
Salinity 1.026
Phosphate 0.01
Mg 1420
Ca 440
Fe 0.15
Iodine 0.06
Potassium 404

think I’m going to try a tester coral
 
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First coral in so fingers crossed but like using Duncan’s as they are pretty good indicators if parameters are good at least in my limited experience
 

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I am setting up 750 XXL as well, is the tank stable on carpet? I was thinking of adding plywood sheet underneath. What do you think?
Looks like we both got same carpet floors.
 
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Tank is stable on carpet and has a bunch of levelers if surface uneven. Mine is in basement so cement underneath. This tank is so heavy not sure carpet affects it.

Bigger concern if on floor other than cement is bracing of floor at spot you are putting it on. Tank alone weighs over 350 lbs without water.
 

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Love your aquascape it looks amazing. Nice build thread to really like what your doing with the tank! Definitely giving me ideas for when I make the jump from my reefer 250 to a bigger one!
 
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Well noticed my purple tang and trigger look like they have come down with Ich. Setting up a 75 gallon QT/hospital tank which is a necessity with tangs anyway. Will treat with copper and use solely for fish qt/treatment. Just glad I have space for tank. Will update once treatment started.
Also want to post pics of tank because added several corals.
 
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ReefingInTheBuff

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****3 month update****


Haven’t updated in awhile but here it goes:

Lost most of my fish despite putting purple tang in hospital tank.

Added UV sterilizer and plan on letting tank run for 30 days without fish added to try and give tank time to purge from any pathogens although I realize mixed reports of UV sterilizer handling all pathogens.

Corals doing great despite fish losses so that’s a win.

Going through ugly phase and plan on introducing a bunch of blue legged hermit crabs which combined with UV sterilizer should help.

Cycling QT to use with any future fish additions.

Will put out video of tank when I get some time.
 

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Smoke-Town

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Glad your still fighting through this startup. Sorry to hear about the fish loss. One of our tanks just had a big ich attack and took out a few tangs and a goby. Just ordered an 80 watt aqua uv classic. Looks like these days in reefing you absolutely need one on hand. Fish come so much dirtier then they used to it seems.

How has the dry rock cycle been treating you? On my newer tank started in January its only now finally starting to balance out and look like live rock from the ocean. Been 10 months. Fought dinos twice. Turf algae, chrysophytes, cyano. Added so much bacteria and stuff to try to seed the system. Very very hard to start a tank dry like this. I like to think the ocean direct sand was a key player and getting a natural balance to start... but I think the several sacrificial frags I put in probably helped a lot with rock dwelling bacteria to help compete with the turf algae that started colonizing as the dinos receded. I stopped dipping the frags too just thinking the risk of pests was worth it for the thought that I could also be getting some key unknown bacteria that it seems the tank needed.

Hope your having an easier time then I did! I'm still not out of the woods but expect to be by my one year mark!
 
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Thanks…Glad to hear you are nearing end ifI’ve had a biocube running since last Feb so I see light at end of tunnel in regards to “mature” tank.

I think as a relatively new reefer, you have to accept that there will be some setbacks and some headaches. If you can push through you will be rewarded immensely. I like to tell my kids that nothing easy is worth doing and this certainly falls under that category. I had an event yesterday where I let my ATO overflow into sump and learned my lesson to never fill or drain any part of tank unless you stay near it. ThAnkfully it overflowed Into sump and not floor and only dropped my salinity slightly below 1.0025. Large tank saved my bacon (200 gallons total vol). I take every misstep as an opportunity to learn. Hopefully I can then pass on these lessons to other reefers so they can avoid some

Dry rock cycling was tough as I used dry sand as well which took over 50 days to cycle. After that I had a fairly short Diatom bloom and now am developing GHA. My water parameters have been spot on so I think I can control this fairly well. The UV sterilizer should certainly help moving forward. I’m also adding over 100 blue legged hermit crabs today to eat the GHA at the recommendation of my local LFS guy. He’s a fellow reef2reef subscriber and has helped me immensely throughout the process (Neon Reefs in Lancaster, NY).

When I had fish issues, he scrambled to order and install my UV sterilizer which hopefully will help. Also, has amazing corals which have done really well in my tank.
 
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****4 month update*****

Still battling GHA but have taken few steps:

-Added GFO even though phosphates reading low as this is likely false reading. My nitrates are between 2-4.

-Added more CUC including hermits, urchin, and a sea hare (will return sea hare to LFS after GHA gone).

-Added lawnmower blenny

Continuing to run UV sterilizer at low flow to hopefully clear as much pathogens as possible,

Added a CO2 scrubber as pH running a little low with dips below 8.

Currently having a Gem Tang QT at LFS with a powder blue tang akso QT’d ( been there since this summer disease free)

Corals have done great with only one loss of an Aussie torch from brown jelly which it likely had before I added.

Very few fish in the system, but will keep it this way with no additions for over a month prior to adding Gem and PBT. Those will be only tangs I have in tank and they will be added at same time.
Also seeded tank tonight with coraline algae in bottle so fingers crossed it works and outcompetes the GHA over next couple of weeks to months.

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So seems like I’m almost past the GHA portion of ugly phase and pretty confident it’s secondary to phosphates leaching from Marco rock as the last area still with GHA is involving the largest rock structure. The CUC including the sea hare has made amazing progress in under 2 weeks and think that along with some manual debunking has helped immensely. GFO in this time has also helped with the source of the problem as well. So if you are going through a similar issue think this may be an approach to consider.

In other news, my fish stocking list has evolved and the current inhabitants are doing great and include:

-Breeding pair of clowns
-Diamond Goby
-Lawnmower Blenny
-McCoskers Flasher Wrasse
-Melanurus
-Moyer’s Leopard wrassse (risky yes but this guy was eating well at LFS for 6 weeks and eats like a pig in my tank including foraging at non feeding time)
-Tamarin Wrasse

Soon to be added fish include:

-Lineatus Fairy Wrasse Super male
-Gem Tang (last edition with PBT) this guy is being QT’d by my LFS
-Powder Blue Tang (add with Gem last) this guy also been QT in frag tank at LFS since a July)
-Chromis (6-8)
-Firefish(6-8)

If I’m missing anything or may have any issues happy to receive constructive feedback as I am constantly learning in this hobby.

My CUC currently consists of following:

-Sea Hare (will trade in to LFS after GHA gone)
-Urchins (3)
- Cleaner Shrimp (1)
- Decorator Crab (1)
- Conchs (2)
- emerald crabs (5-6)
- blue and red hermits (150-200)
Mix of snails
 

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Plumbing will be finished tomorrow and hope to have sand and water in by weekend. Ready to get cycling started and begin the long process. While cycling will need to figure out apex controller set up as never used one before but figure I have time.
That rock came out awesome!
 
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7 months today!!! Been a journey but getting past algae phase and starting to feel comfortable managing the tank.
Things I’m working on:

Have to work on trident dosing bc my dos have been giving me issues but have call with Neptune tomorrow.

setting up auto feeder in sump so I can add some anthias.

dipping toe in SPS but very slowly with a tabling sps and slimer as testers. Had a tester tenius was given to me by my LFS but bleached after looking good for few weeks. Not sure what happened there.

going to add a clam as my parameters have been stable while hand dosing alk.

wouldn’t mind adding another wrasse or two.

have mild Aiptasia breakout and gonna add some peppermint shrimp as long as they are document as actively eating Aiptasia. May place them in sump after to clean frags.
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 73 37.6%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 66 34.0%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 12.9%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 28 14.4%
  • Other.

    Votes: 2 1.0%
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