Welcome to my (near) Zero Maintenance Reef!
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- Thread starter VintageReefer
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Man, that 24k acanthos is an amazing standout coral among standout corals! The anthias really bring it all together, too.Got 6 / 7 fish in one picture!
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There basically is none
Overflow —>
chamber 1 in sump - heater —>
Chamber 2 in sump is normally refugium chamber. I have 3” live sand, scrubber, rest filled with live rock. This is my cryptic filtration section - it’s dark, and houses pods, sponge, dead coral skeleton, dusters, bristle worms, possibly a gorilla crab —>
—> media shelves between 2 and 3 - 2 bags chemipure, 1 bag matrix, couple bio blocks —>
Chamber 3 - return pump and live rock —> back to display
Schedule…algae scrubber lighting is on a timer, 18 hours a day.
My only maintenance is Once every 7-10 days I take our a handful of algae and throw it out. Once every 3-4 days I clean the display glass. Once a week I add 2g fw with all for reef.
Every 3-4 months I replace the chemipure, I buy them in 6 packs
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Thank you! It will stand out more soon…tomorrow…hahaha
Let’s just say I cleared out some space next to it for some new arrivals that will contrast nicely and make it stand out more
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New cynarina and new rainbow Goni 
Morning pictures
Morning pictures
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Oh and I forgot I also added a fluted moon coral !
And some photos of the new cynarina’s expanded
And some photos of the new cynarina’s expanded
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New Cynarina trio decided to be golf balls today. Monster tentacle golf balls lol
And did some rearranging, I think the orange acantho will look great in the new spot once it inflates fully
Moon coral is adapting well and displaying some yellow in the ridges
I don’t really photo this often because I feel it’s a nuisance, but I also have a crazy blue sponge that’s about 10” tall and 6” wide. It just started growing out of a rock about 2 years ago, and if any part of it touches something, it attaches. I’m always having to pry it off, reposition, or tear off pieces to throw in my sumps cryptic zone. I keep wanting to throw the whole thing in the sump…but it’s kinda grown on me and is unique
And did some rearranging, I think the orange acantho will look great in the new spot once it inflates fully
Moon coral is adapting well and displaying some yellow in the ridges
I don’t really photo this often because I feel it’s a nuisance, but I also have a crazy blue sponge that’s about 10” tall and 6” wide. It just started growing out of a rock about 2 years ago, and if any part of it touches something, it attaches. I’m always having to pry it off, reposition, or tear off pieces to throw in my sumps cryptic zone. I keep wanting to throw the whole thing in the sump…but it’s kinda grown on me and is unique
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Connected the return pump to a 600 watt hour lithium battery backup
If power goes out this kicks in automatically and powers the return pump and can provide my tank with water circulation and filtration for 41 hours.
When power is restored it switches back to ac power and recharges the battery automatically
If power goes out this kicks in automatically and powers the return pump and can provide my tank with water circulation and filtration for 41 hours.
When power is restored it switches back to ac power and recharges the battery automatically
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Yes, I add 2g of freshwater with all for reef added in. I know my approximate consumption but as coral grows and as I add more, consumption increases. Once every few months I’ll test ca and alk and make a correction if needed with baking soda, or a calcium product, and then increase the amount of all for reef that I use.
I do not “monitor” salinity, I have no probe or computer based equipment.
I do test salinity every few weeks. It’s stable. I have a mark on my sump…when water is at the line my tank is 1.025. When evap happens and the water drops below the line, salinity increases to 1.026. I refill with freshwater to the line and it’s back at 1.025
With no skimmer the majority of water I lose is to evap, and with solid lids evap is greatly reduced. The other way I lose water is from acclimating new items.
Corrections are needed once in a while. I add a cup of salt to a high flow area of the sump and check again the next day.
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Ok done with pics for today all the fish were out and some corals were looking extra good. Might be from dosing aminos earlier today
all the fish were out and some corals were looking extra good. Might be from dosing aminos earlier today smitten with ocean life
Well-Known Member
amazing!! love them all!!New Cynarina trio decided to be golf balls today. Monster tentacle golf balls lol
And did some rearranging, I think the orange acantho will look great in the new spot once it inflates fully
Moon coral is adapting well and displaying some yellow in the ridges
I don’t really photo this often because I feel it’s a nuisance, but I also have a crazy blue sponge that’s about 10” tall and 6” wide. It just started growing out of a rock about 2 years ago, and if any part of it touches something, it attaches. I’m always having to pry it off, reposition, or tear off pieces to throw in my sumps cryptic zone. I keep wanting to throw the whole thing in the sump…but it’s kinda grown on me and is unique
Low maintenance is working for you!
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New coral, whatcha think?
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Inflated more and the moon coral is coloring up great!
I tend to accidentally (or purposely?) jack things up just so I can cause more frivolous effort,,, but to each his own.Work smarter, not harder
Seriously though, nice tank/corals/stuff,,, I like it!
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Gotta throw a curve ball in or life gets boring. I just don’t do that with my reef lol
Thanks for the positive feedback, I appreciate it!
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I use reefbreeders photon v2+
1 and 2 are red/green. I always have this on zero
I have a preset for afternoon
Ch 3,5,6 blue, royal blue, violet - 40%
Ch 4 white - 8%
I have a morning / evening preset - 3,5,6 - 35%
I use morning /evening preset from 11am until 3 am
And I switch to the brighter afternoon preset usually 1pm-5pm
It’s random based on how I feel. I’m not strict about it. Around 10 or 11 I’ll turn it on to the morning preset. A random time early afternoon I’ll switch to afternoon. When I get out of work around 5 or 6 I’ll go back to the evening preset
No matter what preset I use the corals are getting either 35% or 40% blues and that’s all they need. I ran over year with blue/violet only on 35%.
The light does have a timer/schedule feature, I used to use it for more consistency but my profile got deleted and I never rebuilt it :/
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