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Tom's upcoming Waterbox Marine 90.3 Mixed reef

t0mmy108

t0mmy108

Supporting Member
BARcard
The Journal Photos here
A little about myself... I grew up in San Jose up until High school and my dad always had fresh water tanks in our home. When I moved to Houston for college, I continued to have my own fw tanks until I decided to go saltwater in 2000. By 2004, I had two display tanks and a frag tank. My avatar picture is of the 180g Oceanic tank that I had for 10 years. It's been 14 years since I've had a reef tank since I had to break that tank down to move back to San Jose for work. So here I am feeling that Saltwater itch again after taking a couple scuba dives on my last Hawaiian trip. The tank is coming next week and I'm putting together the plans of how I'd like it to look.

It'll be great to meet fellow Bay Area reefers and get into all the fun again. I was a member of MARSH (Marine aquarium reef society of Houston) before and even hosted one of our club's Christmas parties at my house. I loved the club!

Google's Gemini AI just designed my future rockscape.....
g.co

Gemini - Rock Aquascape Design

Created with Gemini Advanced
g.co g.co


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What a cool way to design a rockscape! Thanks for sharing that. I may need to give that a try for an upcoming build myself!

Welcome back to the hobby and to BAR! I look forward to meeting you at the CFM.
 
Welcome back to the hobby! Great selection of fish and corals, I see u got some of the classics on there. Definitely check out CFM for the latest coral crazes, even if it's just to browse. I'd say the biggest change from 14 years ago though is equipment. A lot of advancements in technology, a lot more complex, but sometimes unnecessarily so it'll a fun journey researching and selecting. Any questions you have the club will be more than happy to help. Sometimes I think people here like the planning and building process more than the maintaining a reef part :p
 
Thanks for the warm welcomes everyone! I've found myself busy planning every day for the past two weeks and my wife is starting to wonder if this is going to become an obsession (of course it is). So far, based on my research, my setup includes; Waterbox Marine 90.3, CaribSea Liferock, CaribSea Florida crushed Coral, Scuba 200W heater, 2xVortech MP40, Tunze Osmolator 3 ATO, Kessil AP9X LED, Reef Octopus VarioS-4 DC return Pump, Reef Octupus Classic 150SSS Protien Skimmer, Tropic Marin Pro Reef Salt, Reefmat 500. I'll add an Apex controller with DOS later for the automatic water changes and dosing. I've never done a full dry rock setup before so I'll see if I get the bad hair algae issue I've been seeing posted by others. Let me know if I'm missing any other critical peices of equipment or should consider switching something out. Everything is still on it's way here.
 
CaseyP said:
Welcome back to the hobby! Great selection of fish and corals, I see u got some of the classics on there. Definitely check out CFM for the latest coral crazes, even if it's just to browse. I'd say the biggest change from 14 years ago though is equipment. A lot of advancements in technology, a lot more complex, but sometimes unnecessarily so it'll a fun journey researching and selecting. Any questions you have the club will be more than happy to help. Sometimes I think people here like the planning and building process more than the maintaining a reef part :p
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I just started looking through a few threads and some online retailers. I can't beleive how many new color variants have become the new designer corals! Wow. I need to rethink my wish list and maybe look into some oif this new age stuff. Give me some ideas. I'd love to hear about what's available here locally that I can buy from club members.
 
t0mmy108 said:
Thanks for the warm welcomes everyone! I've found myself busy planning every day for the past two weeks and my wife is starting to wonder if this is going to become an obsession (of course it is). So far, based on my research, my setup includes; Waterbox Marine 90.3, CaribSea Liferock, CaribSea Florida crushed Coral, Scuba 200W heater, 2xVortech MP40, Tunze Osmolator 3 ATO, Kessil AP9X LED, Reef Octopus VarioS-4 DC return Pump, Reef Octupus Classic 150SSS Protien Skimmer, Tropic Marin Pro Reef Salt, Reefmat 500. I'll add an Apex controller with DOS later for the automatic water changes and dosing. I've never done a full dry rock setup before so I'll see if I get the bad hair algae issue I've been seeing posted by others. Let me know if I'm missing any other critical peices of equipment or should consider switching something out. Everything is still on it's way here.
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Welcome back to the hobby. It looks like you have a ton of experience, so catching up with the latest hype on how to reef will be your primary focus.

My thoughts on your planned purchases:
  • Limit the amount of dry rock as much as possible compared to live rock. KP Aquatics for live rock or trusted friend (or Tampa Bay Saltwater). Aiming for at least 30% live rock or more would be best. Many say it is a gimmick, but I would go with 100% actual live sand next time. In his latest presentation at Reef a Palooza, NY, Ryan (I am not a BRS fan!) said the same thing, but he might just be selling Tampa Bay Live sand. The microbiome power of live sand is underestimated in my opinion.
  • I'm not sure if the heater is strong enough for a 90-gallon tank unless you meant two of them. Which controller do you plan to use for your heater? Not sure about this brand but a secondary controller will help manage any problems with the heater.
  • I am in Camp Gyre over MP40s, with a hydros/wavemaker or full controller setup. I think the flow from gyres is so much better, and very easy to combine with the controller vs MP40s. I have MP40s but no longer in a primary role. Cleaning is not as difficult as many say.
  • Fauna Marin salt is cheaper and produced by Tropic Marin and should, therefore, be of the same high quality. Depending on your alkalinity preference, it is also better balanced in my opinion. But currently only available at Neptune, while soon be back online.
  • I would look into hydros over APEX for a new setup. APEX seems to be falling behind the curve.
  • Look into @ReeFi lights. They are very strong, very affordable, and grow everything very well.
In terms of missing equipment, I only wonder how you plan to dose major and minor elements?
 
Alexander1312 said:
Welcome back to the hobby. It looks like you have a ton of experience, so catching up with the latest hype on how to reef will be your primary focus.

My thoughts on your planned purchases:
  • Limit the amount of dry rock as much as possible compared to live rock. KP Aquatics for live rock or trusted friend (or Tampa Bay Saltwater). Aiming for at least 30% live rock or more would be best. Many say it is a gimmick, but I would go with 100% actual live sand next time. In his latest presentation at Reef a Palooza, NY, Ryan (I am not a BRS fan!) said the same thing, but he might just be selling Tampa Bay Live sand. The microbiome power of live sand is underestimated in my opinion.
  • I'm not sure if the heater is strong enough for a 90-gallon tank unless you meant two of them. Which controller do you plan to use for your heater? Not sure about this brand but a secondary controller will help manage any problems with the heater.
  • I am in Camp Gyre over MP40s, with a hydros/wavemaker or full controller setup. I think the flow from gyres is so much better, and very easy to combine with the controller vs MP40s. I have MP40s but no longer in a primary role. Cleaning is not as difficult as many say.
  • Fauna Marin salt is cheaper and produced by Tropic Marin and should, therefore, be of the same high quality. Depending on your alkalinity preference, it is also better balanced in my opinion. But currently only available at Neptune, while soon be back online.
  • I would look into hydros over APEX for a new setup. APEX seems to be falling behind the curve.
  • Look into @ReeFi lights. They are very strong, very affordable, and grow everything very well.
In terms of missing equipment, I only wonder how you plan to dose major and minor elements?
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Agree very strongly with Hydros, Reefi, live rock, and gyres!

Where I will disagree is with the salt - I have 5 different brands of salt in my garage right now cause I buy whatever is on sale. Have never noticed one single bit of difference, and I use them at random. All are "quality" salts I guess, but I don't know of any non-quality salts available either. I have used IO, Red Sea, FM, TM, Fritz, and another one in the last 6 months. You will find people with very successful tanks using and swearing by every single option on the market!
 
Alexander1312 said:
  • Fauna Marin salt is cheaper and produced by Tropic Marin and should, therefore, be of the same high quality
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Tropic Marin is contract producing the salt. What goes into it is what is on the contract, which could vary from Tropic Marin. If its cheaper, its most likely not using the same stuff as Tropic Marin.
 
t0mmy108 said:
I just started looking through a few threads and some online retailers. I can't beleive how many new color variants have become the new designer corals! Wow. I need to rethink my wish list and maybe look into some oif this new age stuff. Give me some ideas. I'd love to hear about what's available here locally that I can buy from club members.
Click to expand...
Just be wary that most of the flashy colors you see are under heavy/all actinic lighting and won't look the same in your tank if you run more full spectrum. That being said, there are indeed a lot of new color strains out there! That's what makes CFM appealing is that you can see them in person and not just online pictures, which can be deceiving. Part of the fun is trying them out and seeing how they develop under different conditions. Are you going for a true mixed reef or lean more towards sps, lps, of softies?
 
I ordered a couple more items and will decide what to keep on the system when everything comes in. So far, I've added the Hydros 4 starter pack, Fluval M300 Watt Submersible Heater, CaribSea Seafloor Special Grade Reef Sand. Still debating between the Special grade and Florida crushed. I had already ordered the A3 Apex Jr + DOS QD yesterday for the auto water changes and dosing of kalkwasser so couldn't cancel it. Maybe I'll keep both and use them for different functions or as a redundancy.

I envision a mixed reef with softies and monties coming in first on the bottom third of the tank. Then some LPS and SPS coming in last. Something like 70% SPS covering the top 2/3 rds of the tank. That's the idea at least. In reality it make turn into something else completely if I can't control my impulse buying. There is only so much space. I'm open to different salts as well. Just picked up a bucket of Nyos Pure that didn't exist back in the day to try out. I'll be adjusting trace elements/ph/dkh, etc. anyway to get everything where it needs to be. More lighting will come later as suggested as the SPS needs won't exist for a while.

Since KP Aquatics looks to be out of stock on live rock, once all the Caribsea Life rock comes in, maybe a trade of a couple pieces for someone's established live rock can be worked out. I also ordered two extra Nero5 pumps that I may trade for live rock if I don't use them. I plan on using Dr. Tim's bacteria and ammonia to start the cycle. Lugol's and All for Reef will be dosed by hand.
 
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I second others on here about natural rock. Stay away from the life rock, that just doesn't have the porosity of real live rock or even the mined rock from Florida. Lots of folks have had issues with it (Reef Bum included).
 
I was skeptical about this Liferock and using dry rock for new tanks. I took this as another one of those new advancements in the hobby while I was away to minimize the risk of unwanted hitchhikers and pathogens. I see the pros and cons. I just visited Neptunes (the first and only LFS) I've seen in the past 12 years and was surprised to hear that they no longer sell live rock anymore when I asked about their price for it. What? I thought they'd been throwing rocks in the ocean to make live rock to sell this whole time. This is a tough one without a viable source for the stuff. I'm open to buying a rock or two from anyone willing to sell me some just to seed the tank.
 
I used "reef saver" dry rock + copious ancient biomedia, and I have yet to suffer for it, but I've been told that at 7 months, I'm reaching that threshold of "hey, your tank's gonna get turbulent" with my dry rock choice.

I'm currently getting significant SPS growth, acros growing okay, anacro and montipora have been growing steadily too (caps doubled or tripled in size, copious branching on anacro) despite the age + rock choice in my tank.

Not going to recommend either way, just sharing my personal experience. You can look at my tank journal to see what dry rock does in 7mo, and compare it to a live rock user.
 
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tribbitt said:
I used "reef saver" dry rock + copious ancient biomedia, and I have yet to suffer for it, but I've been told that at 7 months, I'm reaching that threshold of "hey, your tank's gonna get turbulent" with my dry rock choice.

I'm currently getting significant SPS growth, acros growing okay, anacro and montipora have been growing steadily too (caps doubled or tripled in size, copious branching on anacro) despite the age + rock choice in my tank.

Not going to recommend either way, just sharing my personal experience. You can look at my tank journal to see what dry rock does in 7mo, and compare it to a live rock user.
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What do you mean by ancient biomedia? Sounds like you’re talking about seeding your tank with well established media - I think that’s wise but also wouldn’t really consider it a true dry rock start either.

At any rate, @t0mmy108 sounds like you’re on the right track. You can source live rock from Tampa Bay Saltwater (what I used) or KP Aquatics. Lots of members would be willing to give you a chunk of rock or two from their sump also if you are going with mostly dry. We have a lot of members in the South Bay and the CFM is coming up too which would be a great place to go meet up for rocks and pick up coral!

I would add lots of coral and critters sooner rather than later to get things going and diversifying as @tribbitt has done. This was my approach too and my tank is also doing fairly well for being relatively young (15mo).

As Thomas already mentioned, most people do not like the Caribsea dry rock in particular…
 
derek_SR said:
What do you mean by ancient biomedia? Sounds like you’re talking about seeding your tank with well established media - I think that’s wise but also wouldn’t really consider it a true dry rock start either.

At any rate, @t0mmy108 sounds like you’re on the right track. You can source live rock from Tampa Bay Saltwater (what I used) or KP Aquatics. Lots of members would be willing to give you a chunk of rock or two from their sump also if you are going with mostly dry. We have a lot of members in the South Bay and the CFM is coming up too which would be a great place to go meet up for rocks and pick up coral!

I would add lots of coral and critters sooner rather than later to get things going and diversifying as @tribbitt has done. This was my approach too and my tank is also doing fairly well for being relatively young (15mo).

As Thomas already mentioned, most people do not like the Caribsea dry rock in particular…
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I used 100% dry rock, but also a handful of bio balls from an established sump, thatve been in there for many many months
 
@t0mmy108 video on the topic of Carib Sea life rock and the problems seen:

Note that Keith is one of the long time SPS gurus out there so he's got really good knowledge.
 
Oof! So first, I setup the bare tank without any rocks...only the Caribsea special grade sand and let it sit for a week. I've ordered 35 lbs. of premium Live rock from Tampa Bay Saltwater but it won't ship until August 21st. I used Dr.Tim's fishless cycling method.

The tank looked really BORING, lol! And I had all this Liferock here already. So I decided to play with it. I'm gonna get so many "I told you so!" I made two pillars using only the large and small arches, glueing them back to back and on top of each other. Then added ledges. Lets see where this goes. I like the idea that I can create a really custom scape that I don't think is possible with liverock.
When the shipment from Tampa Bay Saltwater gets here, I may replace some of the peices and put the rest in the sump.

I added a few test Acan Lords and have been testing the water. My Apex pH probe says it's at 7.5 while Hydros says 6.74. Both were recalibrated so I don't know. More Kalkwasser dripping until I get to 8.2. Now.....we wait for the UGLY phase and prepare for battle. I have some snails on the way.

Tank and Sump vid
LifeRock build vid

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