J's 50gal cube mixed reef

[Spsfreak1981]

Okay so tank details

SCA starfire glass internal double wall overflow
SCA glass 3 chamber sump "modified" for return pump

APEX core 20 return pump

Simplicity slimmer with dc pump and controller

2 MP40s

1 MP 10

RADION XR30 GEN 5

APEX SYSTEM, with trident, D.O.S. wxm ,pm,lm moduels, 2 DB28s ,

Custom 3d printed "by yours Truly" filter shock removable holder
Custom plumbed with a herbie style overflow, 1inch drain 3/4 returns, APEX automatic fish feeder

Titanium heater "can't remember the brand"

APEX ATO system

65lbs of live rock aquascaped as 2 large pieces for easier husbandry, used the Marco cement and glue from BRS ,

Sand is carib sea

So this tank has been running for over 2 years, after a dinoflagleted outbreak I kinda let the tank just run and really just put the tank on the back burner, corals colonies died off , fish all survived, recently I just had a new daughter ...she really started looking at my sad reef tank with smiles wich gave me the itch again to go back to reef keeping, I've had tanks op to 900gallons in the past including a 3000 gallon coral farm , so when my baby girl was intrasted in the 50gallon I took action, the past month or so have been pretty much a bunch of maintenance and good husbandry skills to bring this guy back to life I just added some new frags as my levels are back to were I will start them at thank you for who all is reading this as I will post pics and future updates on the tanks progress

 

[Spsfreak1981]

Some pics

 

[Spsfreak1981]

More pics

 

[Spsfreak1981]

Since I've been working on the tank my wire management is very messy but that is the next step to make a control center for the apex stuff

 

[PizzaOven]

Looks like you're getting things back on track! Nice work.

What kind of tang is that? I am not the tang police, just genuinely curious and hard to tell from the pic.

 

[Adauqua]

I think it's scopas tang

 

[Kensington Reefer]

I am the tang police
that is a scopa
and man, that some crazy overkill with flow from the mp’s
i’ll hope you only run them at a fraction of full power

you’ve already got the flow, go right for the larger tank
and become a $upporting member
as you see we are well worth the entrance fee

 

[Spsfreak1981]

I will become a supporting member here soon...I run those mp 40s at a range from 20% to 58% depending on what mode I have then going through my apex..and yes his name is trumpet he is a Scopus yang, had him for 2 years now..

 

[Spsfreak1981]

So adding to my tank journal..I'm dealing with some low PH at the moment..my tank isn't really consuming alot of KH or CAL so I may jump on the lime watter deal for a bit..also added 2 more additions too, a clam and another SPS acro...kalkwasser may be my PH answer for now..also in making of running a fresh air supply to my skimmer but I have to order a inline valve to adjust the air supply from the out side source..also building my macro alge reactor so I can get away from GFO...pics soon to come..happy reefing

 

[PjFish]

Welcome back! The coral itch is hard to ignore. Do you have any photos of your older systems you mentioned above?
Thanks
Paul

 

[Spsfreak1981]

Yes ill have to look for them

 

[Coral reefer]

I’m not so sure the macroalgae reactor will use enough phosphate to not need gfo, hope I’m wrong.
Also, I thought long spine urchins are not coral safe?

 

[Spsfreak1981]

Well co for on the spiny character has been harmless..I've had them in the past...I'm hoping that the alge reactor will do enough..I don't really want to run a fuge, plus getting my kalkwasser dosing set up up and running my poor PH is to low for me since the restart, with my apex I should be able to keep a solid ph plus alk were I want it till it gets full. We will see

 

[Darkxerox]

Had a longspine urchin hitchhiker like that one about 20 years ago and wow, do not get one of those spines in your finger!

I run my kalk on a reverse light cycle with a dosing pump to buffer the pH at night and cover the day's evap. It takes a bit of time to dial in the volume but it's pretty helpful.

 

[Turkeysammich]

I run my kalk on a reverse light cycle with a dosing pump to buffer the pH at night and cover the day's evap. It takes a bit of time to dial in the volume but it's pretty helpful.

Doing that doesn’t spike your alk ?

 

[Darkxerox]

Nope, as long as you dial in what you add at night to be what you consume during the day. Calculate your consumption during a full day and divide that volume out by how long your dark period is. You can adjust the strength of the kalk solution if you're consumption is low and pump doesn't flow slow enough.

 

[grizfyrfyter]

I did the same thing when I had the calcium reactor. It's easy when lime water has a dependable saturation.

 

[Spsfreak1981]

Yeah I've done this in the past but with out the APEX ..when my ph got to about 8.3 or so I'd just let the ATO do it's thing, my alk did climb to about 13dkh for a out 5 months till all the carbonic acids were gone and released all the KH and calcium that was being held up by the carbonic acids, but several months after the huge climb it went down to were I usually keep it 8.4 or so...honestly PH is the most important parameter in a reef tank ...this is a widely argued theory but when you can dose kalkwasser at its full strength "not a slurry" meaning 12.44 Ph a d keep your ph average around 8.3...your corals will grow so fast ..I mean frags to mini colonies in month not years, full colonies in a year or so, the corals always tell you what they want..with suppressed ph I feel is were most reef keepers fail...always worried about KH/ cal to much..natural salt water is 7.7 to 7.9 dkh and calcium of about 390 to 400, but the PH never swings always 8.3

 

[Spsfreak1981]

Some nutrients issues I'm taking care of love hanna checkers

 

[PizzaOven]

How high is your nitrate? I just see the timer countdown on the hanna checker