Sharbuckles UNS R120

[Sharbuckles Reef]

A few shots of my new sps frag collection. Some beautiful pieces thanks to my friend Jason.

A couple more pieces I’d like to order from Frag Garage. I really want a piece of the classic Red Dragon Acro. One of my all time favourites.

 

[HollaAtChaReefBoy]

A few shots of my new sps frag collection. Some beautiful pieces thanks to my friend Jason.

A couple more pieces I’d like to order from Frag Garage. I really want a piece of the classic Red Dragon Acro. One of my all time favourites.

Corals looking great!

 

[Sharbuckles Reef]

Corals looking great!

Thank you sir!

 

[Sharbuckles Reef]

Temperature holding steady at 78f. Much better than before. It’s been dropping to about -20c (-4f) overnight lately and the tank was sitting at some dangerously low temp levels. Glad the second heater is doing the trick.

 

[Sharbuckles Reef]

Quick test for nutrients today and everything is looking good. I was wondering what a tank that has no fish would test. Now we know.

N03 5ppm
P04 0.07pm

Not feeding anything right now, leaving the glass slightly dirty for snails to graze on.

 

[Sharbuckles Reef]

Nothing new to report. Which is a very good thing. The “ugly phase” lasted only about 24 hours with a slight diatom bloom.

Corals don’t seems to be consuming much yet. Dkh very stable and only drops about .1 every 4-5 days. No need to start dosing yet.

Noticing my sps frags are starting to encrust their plugs. Very good sign.

 

[Sharbuckles Reef]

Added two new Goni frags today and moved a couple things around. My large toadstool hasn’t opened since it went in the tank. I’ve moved it right side up in hopes it gets a bit more flow and encourages the polyps to extend. I have a feeling it’s just getting too much light, I may have to sell or rehome it.

 

[Sharbuckles Reef]

A local reefer and chef friend of mine had the worst case scenario happen… their tank came apart at the seams….

Having said that, he decided to leave the hobby after 35 years and left me with some beautiful colonies.

The UNS R120 is getting FULL…..

 

[Sharbuckles Reef]

Just in case you all wanted to see how easy the plumbing and setup of this tank was! I made a short video .

 

[Sharbuckles Reef]

When I bought this coral I figured it was Micromussa lordhowensis. However as it’s grown and coloured up I’m not so sure. Any experts out there?

 

[Sharbuckles Reef]

Just noticed my first spot of coraline algae. It’s official, it’s a reef tank now! Just need some fish…. 52 days to go. I may add couple extra days on just in case. Fallow sucks but it’s also given my tank a chance to cycle really well. The coral is responding incredibly well, sps is encrusting, gonis expanding, leathers shedding regularly and open every day.

Nutrients incredibly stable.

I like this no fish 90 day cycle!

 

[Sharbuckles Reef]

Got this 42 polyp Duncan colony from the tank shutdown as well. Needs a bit of TLC to reach full potential but I couldn’t be happier

 

[Sharbuckles Reef]

47 days left of fallow. Hard to believe we’re almost halfway there! Sps are encrusting, LPS seem to be losing colour, I may start feeding them soon.

 

[Sharbuckles Reef]

LPS starting to fade quite a bit. I suspect it’s because of not having any fish and nutrients being super low.

Needless to say I’m going to start feeding the tank a bit of coral food. Specifically Coral Power Food from Sustainable Reefs. Let’s see how this goes!

 

[Sharbuckles Reef]

Fed again tonight. So fun seeing the feeding response of coral. Especially the micromussa. Will test over the next 48 hours to see what nutrients do.

 

[Sharbuckles Reef]

Water change day!

 

[Sharbuckles Reef]

Tanks looking good tonight. I did notice the film algae on my glass is much thicker and grew a bit faster today now that I’m feeding the coral. I may scale it back to once every two days. Having said that, I need to pick up a phosphate test kit to monitor what’s happening.

 

[Sharbuckles Reef]

Woke up to a cloudy tank and basement smelling like low tide. Having a hard time pinpointing what caused this, doesn’t look bacterial so I have a feeling the trochus snails have spawned!

Regardless, it’s time for a small water change.

 

[Sharbuckles Reef]

 

[Sharbuckles Reef]

Some testing done today.

SG 1.025
Temp 77.9
Alkalinity: 9
Calcium: 370
Nitrate: 8
Phosphate: out of reagents


Nitrate slightly higher than I’d like and calcium slightly lower. I don’t think the tank is ready for dosing so I just did a small 5 gallon water change to boost up the calcium. Will see tomorrow if that worked.