WB REEF 220.6 mixed reef build in tattoo studio.

[Alexoss]

 

[Jonathan Adams]

Here we are, i'm an "almost" 40 years old tattooist, working in his own private studio, used to have a 5 feet african cichlid tank just next to the workstation.
Sold it three weeks ago because some guy offered me a fair price for the whole setup, was planning to switch to SW some day, so i took it.
The sold tank missing was making the place really dull and empty, it bothered me, and seing it my beloved wife surprised me by giving me the missing money i needed to order the 6 feet reef tank of my dreams ( yes she makes a good living working as a mortage specialist in a bank).

So, while waiting for my already ordered Marine X 60.2 which is still backordered here in Canada, i start a second thread for this one as it seems that this one will be here first.

The plan is to go with a mixed reef tank with easy and sturdy fishes (clowns, tang, wrasse...) for a start, then easy corals, softies, etc... before going for the more difficult ones.

The gear should come in this week and goes like this :

- Bubble Magus Curve 9 Elite Protein Skimmer w/ Sicce PSK-1200
- Coral Box by Jebao DCA 12000 Smart Pump (Max 3220 GPH)
- 4 x AI HYDRA 32HD
- 2 x Ecotech Marine Vortech MP60wQD Quietdrive
- Tunze osmolator universal 3155 - auto top off
- 2 x Eheim (Ebo) Jager 250W Heater
- InkBird heater controller
- 8 x CaribSea Arag Alive Special Grade Reef Sand 20 lbs
- 60 lbs of marco rocks
- 50 lbs of base rocks
- 30 lbs of live rocks

The tank will start with a fishless cycle with Microbacter7 as a kickstart, and the first fish will be two couples of clowns once the cycle is stable.

Gear i plan to buy, in a near future, along the way :
- Kamoer F4 PRO Wifi Doser with containers
- media reactor if needed
- Neptune Apex (probably ?)

Will see from there how i'll manage the evolution of that tank.

Not sure if i missing something as it'll be my first ever reef tank, advices and constructive critics are welcome !

Ps : tank will go along the wall with the mirror, customers will be amazed !

Definitely following your plan is darn close to mine congrats!

 

[Alexoss]

Definitely following your plan is darn close to mine congrats!

great to hear, feel free to PM me if you have any question !

 

[Alexoss]

Successfully went through my fisrt quarantine for 4 clownfish.
Followed @Jay Hemdal procedure (just switched the 2 weeks prazi/ 4 weeks copper as i wanted to transfer the fish directly from copper to DT)
Didn t went to any NH3 spike that i know of, did a WC each week, wasn t that much of a struggle, close monitoring of copper with Hanna tester and just a patience game.
Two of the clowns went to the 220.6, the other two in the marine x 60.2, all seems fine and healthy.
Next step will be to check to add other livestock, not sure which fish yet, open to ideas
Current stocking is to date :
- 4x clownfish
- 1x diamondback goby
- 1x dragonet goby
- 8x green chromis
- 1x flasher wrasse
- 1x yellow watchman goby
- 1x royal gramma

 

[Jonathan Adams]

Awesome!

 

[Alexoss]

A few pics to go with the new fish, iPad make okay photos, a little bit of gha, a little bit of cyano, not that worried as i strongly believe that those are to be expected in a new tank (4 months in)

 

[Alexoss]

Pics frenzy today !
WARNING, UGLIES INSIDE !
Tanks being 4 months old....had to happen.

 

[Alexoss]

Tank is reaching its first birthday in a few days, though i would share the progress made.
No updates for quite some time as i was struggling with a wild ugly phase (and i mean UGLY), wasn t fighting that much against it as i strongly believe letting the tank settling and balancing itself is worth the wait in the long run.
Anyway, got diatoms, dyno, cyano, GHA, bryopsis, and only got a little GHA left here and there, but it keeps on going off by itself along the weeks.

Frags comes mainly from Candy Corals and some from Fragbox (Canada), i have lots a handfull of SPS, LPS and softies to GHA invading their space, all good now, my first acro (Pink Cadillac) is around 6 months old and encrusting well on the rock and starting to grow and as a really beautifull coloration.

Updated my lights a few weeks ago by adding 2x XR30 blue (to the 4x Hydra 32) running at 33% for now, will increase the intensity slowly.
Installed a ReefDose4 to dose KH and Cal, (cal not that needed for now tho), still dosing phyto pretty much everyday (around 100ml/day) and RedSea AB+ 2 to 3 times a week.
Replaced the 2x MP60 initially placed on each end by 4x MP40 on the back glass as i didn't liked the flow with the MP60 (two strong on the sides, messy in the middle where i have mainly softies) and powerheads on the backglass is so much appealing to my eyes (black on black, barelly visible).
I make WC every 2 to 4 weeks depending of No3 building.

Cheers reefers.