ThatDPTguys's 625xxl

[ThatDPTguy]

Hey everyone,

Finally taking the plunge to start a build/tank thread. I've been in the hobby forever. Started out as a kid loving aquariums, worked my way through undergrad growing coral and helping run a saltwater/aquaculture shop, now I'm married and converted my wife into a reef nut so now all bets are off.

My wife and I recently upgraded from an AquaTop 24g cube to a Redsea 625xxl. I'll be honest. The aquatop is a heck of a budget small AOI cube for the money. If you know what you're doing that tank can go a long way.

Currently our equipment is as follows:

Tank:
-Readsea 625xxl

Lighting:
- Radion XR30 pro (G3)
- AI Prime HD (Fuge light)

Equipment:
- Vortech MP40
- Reefkeeper controller (Old school hand-me-down)
- Reef Octopus Skimmer (way too loud right now)
- Eheim main pump

24g cube was transferred ~2 months ago. I dosed some Amquel+ to our small cube and started a tank crash. I will never use Amquel ever again. I had the 625xxl cycling with bleached/cleaned rock from an old tank. We said screw it and transferred everything to the larger tank to mitigate the crash. The planets aligned and everything made the transition remarkably well. Coral expanded, fish were happy, all went well.

Currently the only issues we're having is keeping NO3 and PO4 at measurable levels. I've recently turned off my skimmer and bumped feedings.

Current stock list:
- Gladiator clown pair
- Yellow tang
- Yellow eyed kole tang
- Bangai Cardinal pair
- Leopard wrasse (Macropharyngodon meleagris)

Our Leopard and Cardinals were inherited from an established tank and are several years old. My plan is to keep multiple different types of Leopard wrasses. I've had Potters, blue star, common, black leopards all living well and eating off frozen. Tank will be an SPS dominant and then whatever the wife wants.

My wife and I are looking forward to finally having an active thread and updating regularly. We have a new shipment of corals coming in tomorrow so we will see how they look. We hope everyone is well and staying safe!

Also, if anyone has tips for using an Iphone X for photos it would greatly be appreciated. All my photos come out terrible!

 

[Fourstars]

Looks like a great start! Your photos look better then mine, of course I still have an iphone 4 :cool:

 

[ThatDPTguy]

Looks like a great start! Your photos look better then mine, of course I still have an iphone 4 :cool:

I appreciate the reply!

 

[Hydrored]

I use the Orphek lenses with IPhone for coral pics, haven’t tried the other brands. Looking forward to the updates.

 

[ThatDPTguy]

I use the Orphek lenses with IPhone for coral pics, haven’t tried the other brands. Looking forward to the updates.

I'll have to look into that. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[ThatDPTguy]

Just an update. We had a small coral frag shipment last week. Everything has made the transfer very well. Corals are growing rapidly, everything is extended, and everyone is eating well. I'm shocked that I'm struggling to keep my NO3/PO4 measurable. I've cut my refugium cycle to 6 hours. I've been feeding heavily and still struggling.

Our bleached rock is coloring up quickly. Still looks a little goofy having 30lbs of old rock and about 75lbs of new rock. With time!

New Coral:
- Green Milli (almost dead on arrival but coming back)
- Green encrusting montipora
- Bird of paradise Seriatopora
- Purple/green Pocillopora

Invert:
- Strawberry conch

A few photos. Still messing with the settings in the lightroom app.

 

[ThatDPTguy]

Well I haven’t updated in forever. The tank is growing and maturing. Here’s an updated video!

Added plenty of fish since our last update.
- Copperband Butterfly
- Pintail Fairy wrasse
- Flame Hawk
- Dispar Anthias (6)

My cardinal pair was actively spawning but unfortunately we lost the male. The female was producing new clutches too quick and I was unable to fatten the male up in between spawns.

I started with 1 male dispar and 5 females and now I have 3 males and 3 females...........go figure. The three alpha males posture daily. There hasn't been a terrible amount of fighting, however, the group is no longer cohesive. We have a 4 group with 1 male and 3 females and two solitary males.

If anyone has any advise for uploading 4k videos it would be greatly appreciated! I tried with youtube but the videos stay at 1080p.

 

[ThatDPTguy]

Here are a few pictures as well!

Coraline algae is coming in well. I battled a bit of green hair algae, cyano, and green turf algae during the ugly phase. Apart from a few tufts of green hair most is gone.

I weirdly just went through a small bout of RTN with a few SPS colonies and Monti's. Fragged the dying colonies and saved a few pieces. Meanwhile all my LPS are flourishing.

Im pretty old school so my husbandry is really just doing 1-2 30 gallon water changes a month and adjusting Alk when needed.

 

[ThatDPTguy]

A few quick shots today.

 

[ThatDPTguy]

We added a small purple to our tank. He spent 2-3 days in an acclimation box. We let him out late evening and our other two tangs weren't thrilled. They postured and dominated him but didn't do any damage. Today he's just part of the crew!

 

[ThatDPTguy]

Maxed out on fish. No we just need more frags!

 

[ThatDPTguy]

Here's a fun time lapse of the tank. Everything is growing quickly. We added a doser to keep up with our Alk demand. Other than that the tank is just doing its own thing!

 

[ThatDPTguy]

Update video. Everything is growing in nicely!

 

[ThatDPTguy]

Its been a long time since I've updated. Tank has been relatively stable. Really the only issue I've had is random STN with some of my acros. Some are fine, some are slowely STNing at times. Everything else is growing and happy!

 

[ThatDPTguy]

Messing with my iphone settings. Here are a few photos.

 

[ThatDPTguy]

A few more action shots. I was trying to get the fish but they are quick.