Reef nutrition

Lawrence’s 120 Gallon SPS Dominated Reef Aquarium

L

Lawrence Yang

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Hello! My name is Lawrence and I live in San Francisco. I am currently a college student as an Environmental Science major. I’ve always loved animals, but there’s something fascinating and mysterious about these ancient relics we desperately try to keep alive in our home aquariums. Researching and understanding more about them has only increased my interest in marine biology and reefing. I started this hobby with a 14g biocube I bought from a friend. During my time with that nano cube, I researched endless hours until I was comfortable enough with my own knowledge and ability to start a bigger system focusing mainly on pretty sticks and LPS to fill the lower void of my rockwork. This will be a journal of my aquarium and I will try to update with photos powered by my iPhone 5. Happy reefing and follow along! Comments, questions, criticism all welcome!


Running for 9 months

Display Tank: 120g (48in x 24in x 24in), Dual Overflows, Deep Sand Bed

Display Lighting: Coralife Elite Ballast 2x 250w 20K Metal Halides, 2 PC Actinics, 48” 453nm Blue LED Strip, 48" Magenta/12k White LED Strip

Sump: 55g Acrylic, Refugium w/ Deep Sand Bed and Macroalgae

Dosing: KNOP Calcium Reactor and ESV B-ionic 2 Part to tweak

Water Circulation: 2x Jebao WP40, External Return Pump

Filtration: SWC 180 Protein Skimmer, GFO Reactor, Filter Socks, GAC

DIY Auto Top Off

Eheim Heater

Vodka Dosing

Lugol's Solution: 1 drop per day

Most Recent Aquarium Parameters:
Salinity: 1.025
Nitrates: 0.25 ppm
Phosphates: 0.07 ppm
Calcium: 480 ppm
Alkalinity: 9.1
Temperature: 78 F



Livestock:

Yellow Tang

Blue Hippo Tang

(2) Snowflake Clowns

Solar Fairy Wrasse

Pearly Jawfish

Midas Blenny

Royal Gramma

Firefish

Squareback Anthia (f)

Spotted Mandarin


Lots of SPS frags

Some LPS

still looking to fill up a lot of space!
Let me know what you think!

FTS(I will turn off the blue led strip next time, it drowns the photo):
image.jpeg

Sump:
image (1).jpeg
 
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Thank you!
First update!
Paid my BAR membership and looking forward to learning with yall!
And I got some new coral! Had to share! :p
Newbies from my trip to Neptunes:

Gold Torch:
image (3).jpeg

10$ frag (completely orange at the shop, turned sunrise shades under my lights :])
image (2).jpeg

Excited for these two caps to colonize into each other across my ravine! Bicolor wall hammer in the back, firefish cam-whoring:
image (4).jpeg


Also i was wondering what people thought about my fish bioload. I am going to be sps dominant so do you think my fishstock is overload?
 
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Lawrence Yang said:
thanks for the input! which fish do you think i can do without? How many do you think is suitable for my 120?
Click to expand...
Basically I have no idea of an exact count.
It totally depends on your exact corals, exactly what you feed, and how diligent you are at keeping water quality up.

My reluctant opinion : The Hippo Tang is probably not a good idea, but without that, you may be ok.
They are a messy herbivore, and they get pretty big.
Some would argue a 120G is not big enough to make them happy anyway.

Take it slow. See what happens to those SPS frags. That will tell you more than I can.
 
rygh said:
Basically I have no idea of an exact count.
It totally depends on your exact corals, exactly what you feed, and how diligent you are at keeping water quality up.

My reluctant opinion : The Hippo Tang is probably not a good idea, but without that, you may be ok.
They are a messy herbivore, and they get pretty big.
Some would argue a 120G is not big enough to make them happy anyway.

Take it slow. See what happens to those SPS frags. That will tell you more than I can.
Click to expand...

lest we call upon the wrath of the tang police. I agree completely with what you say! I got that blue hippo when he was a tiny 1 inch big and now he is 3inches. I will definitely rehome him when that time comes! Then I gotta deal with the headache of catching him... i think when he reaches 6in, ill give him up.

So far my sps are all doing ok! encrusting and growing! Color could be better!
 
Fish trap with some tasty seaweed will capture that tang easy.
But no hurry, be a while till he gets big, and may not be an issue anyway.
 
This tank is cool. I like the opposing islands with your rockwork. The Monti's are gonna look very cool when they meet, and your fish will love the new hiding place. Nice work.
 
Kmooresf said:
This tank is cool. I like the opposing islands with your rockwork. The Monti's are gonna look very cool when they meet, and your fish will love the new hiding place. Nice work.
Click to expand...
thanks! means a lot! i am seeing some really nice growth as of late. Hope i can keep it up! just did a 20g water change, i hated it but you convinced me haha..

I have an led strip coming in the mail! I will post an update with a new fts! Hopefully they make my tank pop even more :].
 
With my upgrade I'll have a drain tube that a siphon can go in that will go straight to a drain downstairs, and a fill hose for new water to be pumped in. From my mixing tank. Won't get much easier than that.
 
Update!

Got my Magenta/12k White LED strip from marine depot in the mail! I think adding this light has rounded out my spectrum and I am really enjoying a good blend of lighting and colors for my Display! The added white washes out the deep blue hue that I was getting a bit tired of since switching my metal halides to 20k. Corals seem to be ok with the added lighting, but gold torch is still taking some time to get used to it.

Lighting:
image (5).jpeg

FTS w/ new lighting:
image (7).jpeg

even my jawfish poked out of the bottom right for the photo :]
 
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