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A Minimalist Reef


bobssecrtsn

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bobssecrtsn

2/01/16

algae101_zpssenssyxx.jpg

 

 

Lighting:
Radion gen3 xr30

ati 6bulb Dimmable

ATI nanobox fixture 6bulb/6pucks
Flow:
2x vortech mp40WEs
Skimmer:
Vertex omega 130i
Return pump:
Quietone 3000

Vortech VectraM1

Custom made sump by AA

Tunze ATO

Controller:

Apex Gold

Dos + Ddr

3 EB8

1 PM1

1 BOB

1 WMX

1 AFS

1 ALD


thats about it folks! stay tune for the updates!

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bobssecrtsn

yes majority will be sps!

 

so an update 4/14/15:

i went to the fish store (aqua SD) out here in san diego CA, if you ever get a chance you should come by, amazing corals to choose from! anywho ! i picked out some rock work, i couldnt justify spending 8$/LB for shelf rock so i got myself uncured, dead, base rocks. and got to work! needless to say i spend a total of 110$ there! rocks/sand/filtersock/misc stuff!

 

this is how it turned out,

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havent gotten wet yet, but im very anxious to do it! i still need to muratic bath the rocks and then epoxy them together, and somehow manage to get 40 gallons if r/o into the tank ( i dont have an R/O unit anymore )

 

on another note, MAX is this weekend at the OC fair in CA. hopefully ill get some good equipment for a good price!

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bobssecrtsn
UPDATE 4/15/15:

cleaned the rocks up with acid, rinsed them off and dried them out, i can say its ALOT cleaner then before!

added the sand and epoxied the rocks so the only thing left is to get the water in !


FTS:

2EE65C2D-3642-4AF9-82F8-164FDCE517E6_zps

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bobssecrtsn

Can back from max with this... Kind of a Christmas present for me! I'll post an update later !

A42BE3ED-514C-4EB8-AAA7-25D0742AF6EB_zps

Update 4/22/15

 

I connected my apex but I'm missing an aquabus wire so that's on the list of things to do today, but so far I have the eb4 running and breakoutbox running with my floats. And apex fusion up and running!

 

As for the radions, this light is awesome, very sleek and light, programming will be getting use to we will see how this holds up!

 

I installed my webcam as well. I don't like the quality of the pixels, so I ordered another cam and returning this one !

 

There's some more little things I have to get, skimmer(on order from cad light), power heads, fuge light,

 

This is how she sits, quality of the webcam picture

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And a fts with my phone

 

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Cool tank. I love my CAD 34G Mini, so I am sure you will love this tank! Your 50G looks like it was a pretty cool tank. I expect to see some nice SPS in this thing once it is dialed in. Tagging along.....

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bobssecrtsn

Update 4/28/15

 

not much to give but we are about half way with the cycle!

 

i went with seaside aquatic 3.5 skimmer, 2 jebao rw8! i also got 2 more webcams.

 

FTS

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my apex fusion set up!

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im still setting up the auto W/C as well is their new doser.

 

with my cabinet webcam just in case

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  • 2 weeks later...
bobssecrtsn
Update 5/6/15 yesterday I tested for Ammonia/nitrite and they were both zero! ( i added some ammonia to do another cycle just for the heck of it) so i lowered my temp and zoomed straight to the fish store! my rocks were having some gHa so i purchased 6 hermits/ 6 asteriths / and 1 conch snail by the morning all my HA was gone! these guys were impressive. If i ever have any problems with my hermits i will toss them in my refuge. I also picked up 3 chromis ( only had 3 left ) brought them home, acclimated them and tossed them in! none showed signs of stress. and 1 had a cut or some sort above the eye. will keep an eye on that one


i also purchased some misc items! used heater/powerhead to make some water and a 5 gallon bucket of RSCP! a total of 250 dollars spent!


fast foward today: i got myself a Auto feeder from a local reefer, APEX AFS to add to my apex list :) this thing in action is a nice little gismo! ecotech marine finally restocked on their gen2 > gen3 PRO kit so i purchased the upgrade as well! ( second day shipping ) so hopefully it'll be here before friday!


pictures will be up tomrow!

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bobssecrtsn
Update 5/12/15

I added BRS GFO in my reactor, 10 table spoons to start off! sad news is the chromis with the messed up eye didnt make it, but i did add some new members to the tank, designer clowns, 40 for a 1" pair(one is a it smaller then the other)! i love them to death, but the pair seems to be nipping at each other and the smaller one keeps running away, so I put the small one into a bottle until he does the sexy dance, but so far both clowns sleeps in the same location!

10.14.14230010_zpslghpha1s.jpg

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on to the corals, i purchased 4 frags for 70$ hawkins, SSC, red planet, and a pink lemonade on sunday ! I'm excited to see how they do in the tank as well i dipped with bayer 8 minutes, i wont be suprised if they loose the color!

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as well. a package arrived today! the radion gen3 pro upgrade! i want to get the wide angle lens so it covers more, but time will tell!

10.14.14230004_zpsyr70ft6q.jpg


I made my first purchase of test kits, Red sea ALK,CA,MG tests, i hope it will be here tomrow so I can begin testing!


FTS 5/12/15

10.14.14230009_zpstzcvetji.jpg

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12_egg_Omelette

I think I might be sold on this tank. How did the upgrade lights do. Does it seem sufficient or do you think you need two?

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bobssecrtsn

The lights, they're good enough, I'm going to upgrade with wide angle lens for a better spread 36x36 as for upgrading it. It's a lot better then the gen2 and it took only 10 minutes!

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bobssecrtsn
thanks for your reply's! the SCC is really popping and but unfortunately it lost some color. due to dipping it with Bayer.


UPDATE 5/20/15 i will be out of town from thursday-monday. so the tank will go on cruise control and hopefully there wont be any mishaps.


i also got some new fish. I knew the big chromis was going to bully the smaller one so i took him out and traded him for some other fishes.


Female barlett anthias, Firefish, and carpenter's wrasse.


I'm almost done with my fish stockings, I'm looking for a mccosker wrasse, and a male anthias.


coming to conclusion i am not sure this skimmer is sufficient enough for this bioload, any thoughts? its kind of alike the bubble magus 3.5, but this one has a siccre pump, better performance I assume!


hopefully by next Monday I will be getting a ton of mariculture sps so time will tell!


FTS:

10.14.1423002_zpsj9q6rs3j.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...
bobssecrtsn
update 6/1/15


I havent updated in awhile, and alot of things happened!


Lets just put this here FTS June 1st

10.14.1423011_zpsyx4jyytn.jpg


i got 10 new acros from Steve Garrett, on may 25th, so this will be my last batch of sps until RAP. my filefish is in QT at the LFS because it has a fungus on its lip.

1 garf bonsai

1 green slimer

4 different types of stag horns

1 rainbow millie

1 unknown tort

1 red millie

1 purple passion

and 2 freebies monti of some kind?

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my wrasse is picking on my blue chromis non stop so i caught the chromis and put him in a bottle to see if the aggression stops,


as for ALK,CA the comsumption is off the charts, i was dosing 7-8 ml when I got my first batch of sps (4) now im at 24ml ALK and counting. my alk went from 7.2 to 6.9 in under 2 nights, i was lucky enough to catch it in time. CA on the other hand went from 4ml to 12 ML daily and rising !


as well as additives I am dosing Pohls Xtra and Coral Virtalizor!

no algae yet, i did have some brown algae on my rocks, so i purchased 2 turbo snails, my tank looks alot cleaner with them 2! since i banished all my hermits down to the sump for the time being.


as for the fish stockings, I am going to wait until the corals color back up, ATM they're already encrusting ! At least i am doing something right!



on the other hand my #2 outlet on my apex JR was acting strange, it kept disconnecting my internet browser when i log on, and while that has gotten resolved all my maintenance logs has gotten wiped clean. I guess i should have kept a back up log somewhere on hand.

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bobssecrtsn
even though these sps lost colour, they are making a recovery from the dip and encrusting !

1 month ago

10.14.14230006_zpsnhu1uceg.jpg

today

10.14.1423001_zps2cq7c4en.jpg


1 month ago

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today

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1 month ago

10.14.14230005_zpsabekjmmh.jpg

today

10.14.1423012_zpsteaydx3d.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...
bobssecrtsn
UPDATE: 6/18/2015

sdfdgg001_zpsbaniqhtk.jpg



so much stuff has happened recently,

1. Jebao rw8, these are nice pumps for the money, but as a SPS fan I believe these pumps cant produce the correct flow ( variety range of flow). so i upgraded them and bought myself 2 MP40WES, anti sync mode and on reef crest. so far they've been on the tank for 1.5 weeks now and i see alot better p.e then before. I can also tell that detrius is getting picked up from the sand bed and between the rock work and getting sucked into the overflow now, rw8 has a narrow turbulance, not so wide, ( thats my idea of why its settling down the detruis)


2. I recently changed my schedule for my gen3 radions. I was getting good growth, but the colour wasnt there, even dosing AA and pohls extra did not get me anywhere. so i lowered the Red/Green/White when the intensity is about 40% ( I have the peak hours for 4 hours with intensity at 60%).


3. my biggest mistake: i thought my pinklemonade deserved more lighting, and more flow, so i decided to move him to the top of the rockwork. sadly to see it has lost all its colour and its brown now with NO P.E like before.. ( maybe expelling their zooxanthallae) thats the only thing i can really think of. I cant find any pest or any fish nipping at it. i wouldve thought if it was to much light it would bleach. but its the complete opposite. I have now moved it lower to the old location and keeping an eye on it.

before

10.14.1423008_zpsnao9ptfg.jpg


after

sdfd001_zpslce6cpnk.jpg



4.my cheato has grown into a softball size now. (from a baseball size) and now its in need of some trimming. as for as coral growth, everything seems to be doing great besides the P.L.


as for fish list goes, i traded in the carptenter wrasse and got myself a royal gramma, did not change any aggression to the tank ( they are both really mean and picks on other fish) so im keeping the fish stock for now as:

Barlett Anthias Female

Royal Gramma

Hifin Goby

2 clowns

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  • 3 weeks later...
bobssecrtsn

UPDATE: 7/6/15

7.6.15024_zpsqnmvnvgv.jpg

 

So many things has changed in this aquarium. All sps has been growing and healing very fast but i had a mishap last night.

 

After checking my GFO reactor i noticed a decent amount of clumping, and as well as the gfo turning grey, due to precipitation. after soaking in vinegar and cleaning it up and putting it back on, my pH decided to go from 8.15 to 8. in a matter of minutes, sadly i didnt have any buffer to raise it so it went up slowly throughout the day.

 

after 15 hours has past i do not see any side effects and my pH is back at 8.13. I will report back if theres any STN.(knock on wood)

 

My male clown has developed fin rot for some unknown reason ( maybe the femaile is bullying to much?). so the fish went in QT for 2 weeks. and now its back in the display eating like a pig.

 

I aquired a WXM module for my apex. Now i can set what mode and at what time i want my MP40's to be at. I will soon have my radions connected once the it reaches its peak intensity ( i am slowly raising it to 60%) i finally purchased the wide angle lens as well! but i will want to wait till everything is done

 

As for algae, I am trimming my cheato every other week, and there is a brownish hair-like film growing onto my rocks, maybe its time to make my CUC bigger. I am getting some coraline growth on my glass walls as well as my rocks. I must be doing it right!

 

My parameters has been steady since, but the addition of the monti plates and stag its been slowly declining, so I upped the dosage to 64ML daily. CA,ALK,MG is as followed : 400CA/ 7.5ALK/ 1360MG

 

I didnt take a photo of the red millie because he was far back, but this guy has grown pretty fast this photo you can see as well the blue tort has encrusted nicely, and the stag on the right as well

 

ATTENTION: sorry for the bad photos, i still have to mess with my white balance.

Before June 1st

10.14.1423006_zpsak1nkitq.jpg

After July 6th

7.6.15023_zpscznvww4u.jpg

7.6.15015_zpszr51k0hp.jpg

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Before June 1st

10.14.1423005_zpsazcudkyr.jpg

After July 6th

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Here is my Pink lemonade, Recovered and growing finally!

June 1st

sdfd001_zpslce6cpnk.jpg

July 6th

7.6.15006_zpswr6dteut.jpg

 

This stag has growing beautifully

June 1st

10.14.1423010_zpsuzcnoqv5.jpg

July 6th

7.6.15001_zpsxdwpyh3m.jpg

7.6.15005_zpsgtjlrxth.jpg


Millie has started to semi Sprout

June 1st

10.14.1423007_zpsk4qfygyt.jpg

July 6th

7.6.15009_zpspsncqhhr.jpg

 

Heres my Garf Bonsai, Encrusting very nicely with new polyps

June 1st

10.14.1423003_zpsgutch2ha.jpg

July 6th

7.6.15014_zpstteindiq.jpg

 

Hawkins

June 1st

10.14.14230007_zpsdzkuxilc.jpg

July 6th

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Heres my main problem, SCC it lost all its green and just pink, and encrusting.

June 1st

10.14.1423001_zpsxkuyegvk.jpg

July 6th

7.6.15011_zpsviq9prgc.jpg

 

Green slimer

June 1st

10.14.1423004_zpsqgr84fif.jpg

July 6th

7.6.15008_zpsr3oveszv.jpg

 

I cant take a good picture of my Red Planet, but its grown onto the rocks, hopefully it will sprout..

June 1st

10.14.1423012_zpsteaydx3d.jpg

July 6th

7.6.15017_zpsy47lmjdp.jpg

 

Additional Photos

Monti's

7.6.15020_zpsvlsp3mvp.jpg

Another stag

7.6.15022_zpsbp0tn5kr.jpg

 

Top down photos

Heres some top down shots

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bobssecrtsn
Update 7/13/15


I keep thinking to my self that my skimmer is kind-of under-rated for my tank, and i also want to feed more, but I didnt want to change anything since everything was going so well, after looking around and searching, I ended up getting a Vertex Omega 130 skimmer. i know theres been good and bad about this. but please if you have experience with this skimmer please let me know! hopefully i can have this up and running before friday! I'll update this as soon as its installed!


C2AAFAE4-3C66-45C8-B73C-D5C8DE64C606_zps

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bobssecrtsn

A small update for those waiting to use the skimmer, I couldn't tell myself to use this sump, knowingly that some guy with zero experience in making sumps it was also in back of my head that it might spring a leak at any giving moment, and it's always at the time you at least expect it.

 

So I custom made on by John at ADVANCE ACRYLIC!

F347B2BB-D585-4BAC-B623-0EA837804350_zps

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  • 2 weeks later...
bobssecrtsn
Small update 7/27/15


I never thought I would actually upgrade my apex JR to a full apex, until now. Technology never ends with this tank, and hopefully this will be the last of it!


So far in the last month I have upgraded my skimmer, sump, radions, and my powerheads, Hopefully by next year I will have a 120G setup :)


7.6.15001_zpsfa0o18mu.jpg


As with any update, the inhabitants are doing great, my coralline is taking off everywhere, Soon I will have to scrape my glass. Its starting to grow next to the sandbed because thats the area I try not to clean

7.6.1533001_zpsu2tgw1ab.jpg


Some close up's will be soon after the apex is up and running!


P.S dont mind the yellow tang :)

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dragonxflare

Very nice tank!

 

Question, how often does your fire fish come out? I got a Helfrichi couple days ago, and he hides 90% of the time.... lol

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squirrelieygrrrl

Sweet set up!

 

I'm going for the same thing with my tank. Sps dominated. Full tech. I'm interested to see what you think about the vertex skimmer. I bought the same one. Following for sure. :)

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