myi8909
Guest
Hello Bay Area Reefers! Been a member for about 2 months but a lurker for longer. I just did a rework on my system so I figure this might be a good time to start my tank journal to monitor my progress. I started the hobby in the summer of 2018 and made the mistake of going small (13.5 gal Fluval), thinking it'd be easier. I quickly found out that was a mistake and upgraded to a 40 gal breeder before my cycle was complete. I didn't have a sump and was finding it hard to control nutrients so I decided to bite the bullet and buy a Red Sea Reefer in December 2018.
Without further ado, here is the build:
Equipment:
Lighting Schedule
Parameters:
Livestock:
2 cubes of frozen mysis/brine mix and some pellets from my auto feeder. Dose Red Sea AB+ everyday and phyofeast every other day for pods.
Pics:
The installation. Dec 1, 2018. Moving all the livestock from a 40g breeder took all night.
June 2019. I think this was the peak of my tank. I went on vacation for 2 weeks after and had a massive die off of all my euphyllia, including my prized gold torch.
August 2019. I switched from AI Primes to Kessil 360WE to get ready for SPS. As you can see, I had a massive amount of cespitularia.
July 2020. Switched lights to AI Hydra 32 HD and added an MP40 for flow. Pics are hard to take because of the massive amount of coralline that has consumed the tank and especially the back wall.
September 2020. Ulva breaking out but got a tuxedo urchin and some GFO to try to deal with it.
Current Issues and Goals:
For the past two months, I was battling some parameter issues. I lost most of my SPS pictured above due to an alkalinity swing and my nitrates hitting 0. Since then, I've bought a Trident and slowly lowered by alkalinity to ~8.5. I used to run it at ~11 because I was using Red Sea Coral Pro Salt but have switched over to the blue bucket. Currently dosing nitrates and dealing with an ulva outbreak but nothing too out of control. I was apart of the large BattleCorals group buy from a month ago and all of my frags are thriving with good polyp extension so I think I'm out of the woods. My goal is to get phosphates below 0.1, get rid of this ulva issue and transition the tank to become SPS dominant.
Without further ado, here is the build:
Equipment:
- 2x AI Hydra 32HD
- 2x 200W heaters
- 1x MP40 (mounted horizontally, running 45% reef crest)
2x IceCap Gyre 1K (mounted on the back wall, 50% on random pulse)- 1x MP10 (anti-sync with MP40, 75%)
Simplicity DC return pump 1000gphCor-15- Simplicity DC Skimmer 120
- Apex EL
- Trident
- 3x Kamoer x1 dosers (Mag, Alk, Calcium)
- Smart ATO micro
- ACKE LED grow light
- Custom lid from ClearView
- Eheim auto feeder
- BRS dual reactor (GFO + Rox 0.8 carbon)
Lighting Schedule
- 13 hr total: 3 h ramp up, 3 h ramp down
- 100% blues, 90% UV, 40% cw, 8% green/red
- Mounted 12" off the water
Parameters:
- Alkalinity: 8.5-8.8 dKh
- Magnesium: 1320 ppm
- Calcium: 440 ppm
- pH: 8.2-8.4
- NO3: 2-5 ppm
- PO3: 0.05-0.1 ppm
- Temp: 77 - 78 deg F
- Running refugium with chaeto and a bunch of bioblocks. 14 h light schedule opposite of display tank lights
GFO in media bagBRS Rox 0.8 carbon in media bag
Livestock:
- Yellow Tang
- 2x MochaVinci clowns (spawned once)
- Spotted mandarin (male), eats frozen
- Biota blue mandarin (female)
- Leopard wrasse
- Lyretail anthias
- 2x Blotched (Borbonius) anthias
- Midas blenny
- Randall's goby
Royal gramma- 16x Ultra RBTA (<3")
- Ritteri anenome
- Sand sifting starfish
- Fire shrimp
- Large Cleaner shrimp
- Coral banded Shrimp
- Tuxedo urchin
- Emerald crab
- Maxima clam
- tons of snails, and some scarlet hermits
2 cubes of frozen mysis/brine mix and some pellets from my auto feeder. Dose Red Sea AB+ everyday and phyofeast every other day for pods.
Pics:
The installation. Dec 1, 2018. Moving all the livestock from a 40g breeder took all night.
June 2019. I think this was the peak of my tank. I went on vacation for 2 weeks after and had a massive die off of all my euphyllia, including my prized gold torch.
August 2019. I switched from AI Primes to Kessil 360WE to get ready for SPS. As you can see, I had a massive amount of cespitularia.
July 2020. Switched lights to AI Hydra 32 HD and added an MP40 for flow. Pics are hard to take because of the massive amount of coralline that has consumed the tank and especially the back wall.
September 2020. Ulva breaking out but got a tuxedo urchin and some GFO to try to deal with it.
Current Issues and Goals:
For the past two months, I was battling some parameter issues. I lost most of my SPS pictured above due to an alkalinity swing and my nitrates hitting 0. Since then, I've bought a Trident and slowly lowered by alkalinity to ~8.5. I used to run it at ~11 because I was using Red Sea Coral Pro Salt but have switched over to the blue bucket. Currently dosing nitrates and dealing with an ulva outbreak but nothing too out of control. I was apart of the large BattleCorals group buy from a month ago and all of my frags are thriving with good polyp extension so I think I'm out of the woods. My goal is to get phosphates below 0.1, get rid of this ulva issue and transition the tank to become SPS dominant.
Last edited:
