Scotty's Epic 6g Mixed Reef!!

Scotty LaBeouf

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 12, 2016
Messages
281
Reaction score
99
Location
San Francisco
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Hello!
Starting a build thread for my 6g mixed reef. I started the tank on May 1st with water, sand, and biolux from a 20g tank I had running and cycled with fish for a few month earlier in the year. I started the 6 gallon with new Marco Rock tho. For the last 5 months I have just let the tank sit I basically didn't do any water changes and I didn't have the light on. I poured in a little bit of MicroBacter 7 here and there, but mostly just would top off the evaporation. I hope I didn't screw anything up by doing that, but I had just taken my LFS advice on just waiting and letting it cure. I bought a bunch of coral last week from WWC and CaliKid corals online auction. I also got a big red monti a week prior to that and after a week it started bleaching. I turn the light way down and that seems to have helped, looks to be making a comeback. None of the other new corals are really opening up though and its been almost a week. Is that normal? All my parameters seem to be good and I have an inkbird for temp control, so far the most temp swing is ~2 degrees. I definitely am pushing it with this tank. It's a dream tank for me (I used to be in the hobby 2012-2016). I had an acro in there that just bleached overnight, noticed this morning. Maybe cause of light? I turned the light up to 30% on the blues for 6 hours, everything else a bit lower like 15-20%. I didn't expect to have much success with that acro, but it was a gamble I was willing to take.

Equipment:
Tank - UNS 45S
Tropic Marin Pro Reef Salt
AI Prime 16HD
Innovative Marine Mighty Jet Mini (pulse mode)
Auto Aqua AWC/ATO (2 very small awc's/day)
Aquael 50W Heater
Inkbird Dual Probe Wifi Temp Monitor
Chemi Pure Blue and Filter Floss

Corals:
Acans
Blasto
Button Scoly
Red Monti and WWC Grafted Monti
Goni's
Bubble Gum Digi
Hellfire Torch
Hammers
Sungod Fungia
Zoas

It seems like all of the corals are not adjusting well to the tank. I can't figure out what it is whether is flow, lighting, maturity, water quality, nutrients, etc. I started adding a little Phytofeast the other day. The tank never went through an algae bloom yet, So I'm watching for that. Not sure what I'm missing I'll post a photo of my spreadsheet so far for my Salifert testing. I build the overflow box myself. I don't really like any of the nano/pico AIO overflow designs out there, so I got some acrylic from TAP Plastics and designed this dual overflow.
IMG_1932.jpeg
IMG_1892.jpeg
IMG_1925.jpeg
IMG_0090 2.jpeg
IMG_0093.jpeg
IMG_1926.jpeg
IMG_1822.jpeg
Screen Shot 2023-09-19 at 10.17.48 AM.png
Screen Shot 2023-09-19 at 9.42.27 AM.png
 
Last edited:

droblack

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 6, 2008
Messages
1,313
Reaction score
26
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Nice tank, but don't splash that Vic Damone album!

Alk is low for corals, and needs to be stable when dialed in. Nitrates are a bit high, corals not gonna like that, especially sps.
 
OP
OP
Scotty LaBeouf

Scotty LaBeouf

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 12, 2016
Messages
281
Reaction score
99
Location
San Francisco
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Nice tank, but don't splash that Vic Damone album!

Alk is low for corals, and needs to be stable when dialed in. Nitrates are a bit high, corals not gonna like that, especially sps.
How great is that Vic Damone album! Love that cover I don't want to get in the habit of chasing numbers, but rather stability. I'm surprised my nitrates haven't come down. The tank has probably had a complete turn over in tank volume through water changes over the last month.
 

Reefing threads: Do you wear gear from reef brands?

  • I wear reef gear everywhere.

    Votes: 27 15.2%
  • I wear reef gear primarily at fish events and my LFS.

    Votes: 11 6.2%
  • I wear reef gear primarily for water changes and tank maintenance.

    Votes: 1 0.6%
  • I wear reef gear primarily to relax where I live.

    Votes: 24 13.5%
  • I don’t wear gear from reef brands.

    Votes: 103 57.9%
  • Other.

    Votes: 12 6.7%
Back
Top