Woooo Woooo! 95G Tank build! (1st tank ever)

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Alrighty, well it's been awhile since I've updated this. Everything is going good! Levels are good and I am doing weekly water changes with vacuuming the sand to keep everything in check. Here are some pictures as everyone likes most.

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I am also trying to culture phytoplankton to then use it to culture cope pods. It may look like an odd setup but so far so good, and it is in the water because I am going to put a heater in there to keep the temp up a bit to help speed up the culture process. ( I read that culturing them in warm water speeds up the process.)
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Just an acrylic rod and some plastic attachments. It's actually made by Thrive. This is the 360 model. They also have a 180 model that can stick onto glass.
 

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How has culturing phytoplankton/pods been going? I've always wanted to give it a try. Heard it's not too hard but can be a bit of work
 
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The phytoplankton is a breeze. But my culture tank has tisbe pods in it and I can't see them so I don't know how population is doing. I'm going to dump them out and switch to tigger pods so I can see them.
 
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Thanks RS. Yeah I got a few newer pics on my phone. I will also add that I got a tomini tang recently. I also have a phosphate reactor arriving tomorrow cause I have a phosphate issue that is feeding the algae in my tank. I'm still learning as I go and it's been a good first tank experience. Learned a lot and I have a better understanding for when I go to build my big tank. I will take more pics after I get the reactor up and running.

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What size tank do you intend to move up to? Care to share any thoughts are what you would do differently the next time? I thought this was an amazing build has gotten me very excited about starting my tank in the next couple of months.
 
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Are you starting your first tank? Or just a new one?

For my next tank, I am thinking a 180-220. But I will make it longer. My setup now is good for the space it is in. However I feel it isn't long enough.

Now things I would change. I would start out with a phosphate reactor, I would start my sump out with no filter socks and just a skimmer and then a refugium with miracle mud, some LR and chaeto/caleurpa.

I'll see if I can think of anything else I'd change.

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Don't mind the cyano. It'll be gone someday.
 
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Cool build thread! Lots of attention to small details. Any updated pics of the coral and tank?

Thanks man! I got just a couple pics. I've been meaning to update my thread. I took my tank down and pretty much started all over. I wasn't happy with the aquascape and I added miracle mud to my sump.
The tank has been up and running now for 3 months since I started over. I just added a new light as well. I took the kessils down and went with a new Helios. PAR numbers are much much better now. Here are a couple pics.
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Do you feel that the miracle mud is helping?

Glad to see this build still progressing.
 
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Do you feel that the miracle mud is helping?

Glad to see this build still progressing.


Well it's hard to tell right now if the mud is helping. Especially since I only have two sps frags in the tank currently. However I will say I wasn't successful with any sps frags the first bout, and they are thriving now. I am much happier with this second attempt though. I will have a lot more pics to show soon when I get home from traveling and am able to pick up all my corals from my "baby sitter." A friend is watching my nano tank with all my coral.
 
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UPDATE!!!!! Hello everyone! I finally have some time to give an update on my tank. Let me first explain some things. I had my tank set up for about 5 months. This is my first tank and I was having a lot of algae issues. With being new to the hobby I was impatient (well, I am an impatient person in general) and wanted a fast solution to the algae. I thought I was doing something wrong and I wasn't happy with the rock work of the tank or the sump setup. I took down my tank and started over.
For this second time I added some new rock and I changed the aquascape. I was not wanting to use adhesive this time. That way I can take out any rock I want easily. I also added a GFO reactor and a carbon reactor. I took everything out of the sump and I added two bags of Miracle Mud to the fuge area, along with a good stock of grape caulerpa. (I have a buddy sending me fern caulerpa, which is what I would rather use in case I want to feed some to my tang).
Currently I have hair algae and some bryopsis covering my rocks. The tank has been back up and running for 3-4 months now. I am not worried about the bryopsis due to how new the tank is. I have changed my outlook on my tank and really started to embrace the saying that "nothing good happens quickly in a reef tank." I just picked up some new frags, fish, and I got my prized Davincii clowns back from OBD (an LFS who was holding them for me). Here are some pics of everything.
 

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Not sure why those last photos uploaded sideways. Here they are again. And I had a spare kessil laying around so I want to see how it does as a fuge light. It did crummy as a regular light.




 

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Currently I have hair algae and some bryopsis covering my rocks. The tank has been back up and running for 3-4 months now. I am not worried about the bryopsis due to how new the tank is. I have changed my outlook on my tank and really started to embrace the saying that "nothing good happens quickly in a reef tank." .

I agree with the statement that nothing good happens fast in a reef tank, but when it comes to bryosis and hair algae you need to act on trying to get it under control. It will not go away on it's own. It will only get worse.
 

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