TC's 180G build
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tc760
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Ok day 22 of the cycle and my ammonia is finally 0 but nitrites still at 2ish ppm hopefully they will drop in the next week. I forgot how much it sucks to wait for this to finish. Gotta say I'm not impressed with Dr Tims one and only. Expensive and didn't save any time.
tc760
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Had to get rid of my temporary tank so had to move some corals and turn on the lights earlier than I wanted, so I got a nice diatom bloom. No big deal gotta get through the ugly stages.
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tc760
Active Member
I used these https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/sm-clamp-for-pvc-pipe.html. I used short screws to anchor them to the underside of the stand top for the return pipes. I added a 2" cross board along the back horizontally to attach more clamps along the return pipes.
tc760
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So I decided not to sell my Radions and just add t5s to the mix. Once I get more corals in and if the demand for light goes up I will look into whats new. Figure this will get by for at least 2 years. Got a nice algea bloom after running them for a few days.
tc760
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Decided since I didnt buy new lights I should blow the extra money on something totally not necessary 
Going to Auto Water changes and dosing based off the Tridents data. Figured it will help me be more stable. Every tank I have had looked nice but could have been a lot better. I really want to focus on nicer corals both LPS and SPS in this tank. My last tank I did water changes every 4 to 6 weeks mostly cause I was lazy. Now with a bigger tank it will be a lot more work so I figured I would give AWC a try.
Going to Auto Water changes and dosing based off the Tridents data. Figured it will help me be more stable. Every tank I have had looked nice but could have been a lot better. I really want to focus on nicer corals both LPS and SPS in this tank. My last tank I did water changes every 4 to 6 weeks mostly cause I was lazy. Now with a bigger tank it will be a lot more work so I figured I would give AWC a try.tc760
Active Member
Months of a bacteria bloom finally cleared up. I never used a UV light on a reef tank but I had a 5 year old 13 watt UV light I got off Amazon for my turtle tank years ago sitting in the garage. Just as test I threw it in the sump. Took less than 24 hours and it's super clear. Not sure I'll invest in a UV that's rated for my tank at this point but I'm happy this $35 UV light was around.
tc760
Active Member
I'm probably the worst reef keeper when it comes to taking pictures of my tank and documenting my progress. Here are a few pics of the 1 yearish mark. I will say progress has been quite slow on this tank. I have had a bunch of setbacks and issues that prevented me from buying a ton of corals.
This is my first tank with Acros. It started off terrible and had several deaths. I got a few to stick around but have not really thrived. I chalk a lot of it to a newer tank and not being able to stabilize my parameters. I have noticed in the last 3 months that colors are starting to increase and corals that have been living but are ugly and lack color all of a sudden look "better" I am starting to see colors that didn't exist since I bought the coral.
It's funny when one coral starts to look better another starts to look worse. I think this is the problem everyone talks about with mixed reef tanks. For example, my acros are gaining color but I have a huge colony of utter chaos zoas brownout. No idea why it happened in a few days. All the other zoas are doing fine. It's been about a month and a half and I am seeing color come back ever so slightly but I have no idea what happened. I am not going to make changes to try and fix it. Hopefully, it will bounce back.
I have fought flow issues for months. Have been fighting Cyano and detritus build upon the rocks. I finally gave up on the Reef Waves. I am sticking to the MP40s and added a Neptune WAV which other than the size I really like its performance.
I think I have learned that nutrient levels and success really vary from tank to tank. I tried to go with the .05 or less phosphate and .5 to 10 nitrate and had nothing but algae issues and color and death issues with the corals. When I gave up and just let things be the numbers shot up for a bit and everything started to looks better. Gradually the numbers lowered and stabilized without me changing anything. My cyano is mostly gone and I have the best colors in the acros that I have ever had. Last I checked phosphate is around .1 ppm and nitrates are around 15ppm. At one point phosphate got up to nearly .2 ppm and nitrates were around .25 ppm. So I am done trying to go lower nutrients.
I recently dumps the T5/Radion G3 hybrid I was running and now just have Gen 5s. The color pop is much nicer to my eyes. Hopefully it will prove to be a better setup long term.
I am actually approaching the 2 year mark so I will update again in a month or two with current pics.
This is my first tank with Acros. It started off terrible and had several deaths. I got a few to stick around but have not really thrived. I chalk a lot of it to a newer tank and not being able to stabilize my parameters. I have noticed in the last 3 months that colors are starting to increase and corals that have been living but are ugly and lack color all of a sudden look "better" I am starting to see colors that didn't exist since I bought the coral.
It's funny when one coral starts to look better another starts to look worse. I think this is the problem everyone talks about with mixed reef tanks. For example, my acros are gaining color but I have a huge colony of utter chaos zoas brownout. No idea why it happened in a few days. All the other zoas are doing fine. It's been about a month and a half and I am seeing color come back ever so slightly but I have no idea what happened. I am not going to make changes to try and fix it. Hopefully, it will bounce back.
I have fought flow issues for months. Have been fighting Cyano and detritus build upon the rocks. I finally gave up on the Reef Waves. I am sticking to the MP40s and added a Neptune WAV which other than the size I really like its performance.
I think I have learned that nutrient levels and success really vary from tank to tank. I tried to go with the .05 or less phosphate and .5 to 10 nitrate and had nothing but algae issues and color and death issues with the corals. When I gave up and just let things be the numbers shot up for a bit and everything started to looks better. Gradually the numbers lowered and stabilized without me changing anything. My cyano is mostly gone and I have the best colors in the acros that I have ever had. Last I checked phosphate is around .1 ppm and nitrates are around 15ppm. At one point phosphate got up to nearly .2 ppm and nitrates were around .25 ppm. So I am done trying to go lower nutrients.
I recently dumps the T5/Radion G3 hybrid I was running and now just have Gen 5s. The color pop is much nicer to my eyes. Hopefully it will prove to be a better setup long term.
I am actually approaching the 2 year mark so I will update again in a month or two with current pics.
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