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CSR’s Lucky Lagoon 25 - 2 Year!!


CarolinaShoreReef

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CarolinaShoreReef

I present to you all, The Lucky Lagoon!!

 

 

The tank is running:

-2 AI Prime HD

-AA micro ATO

-IM Minimax GFO reactor (no longer need, chaeto does all work)

-1 cobalt MJ 1200 and 1 stock return pump into spin streams

-2 240 koralia pumps

-2 IM media caddy basket

-AquaTop Ti heater 

-Jebao PP4 Wavemaker

-DIY Mini Fuge

-ca. 20-25lbs Caribsea Liferock

-ca. 30lbs Caribsea Fiji Pink LS

 

Livestock:

-Pistol Shrimp 

-Yasha Goby

-Pair of Snowflake Clownfish

-B&W Clown

-Leopard Wrasse

-Blood Shrimp

-Tile star (Beginner's mistake)

 

CUC:

-Bunch of nassarius, ceriths, trochus, hermits (blue and red) and astrea snails

-emerald crab 

-Peppermint shrimp(getting evicted soon) 

-sorry I couldn’t tell you for sure because they all came with the tank 

 

 Coral:

-montipora (Orange, grape)

-Duncan

-Ricordeas

-Bunch of Zoas 

-ORA Vargas Cespitularia

-BTA

-Ultra RFA

-Green RFA

-Bunch of acans 

-Green Clove Polyps

-Palys 

-GSP

-Watermelon Chalice

-Blue and orange chalice

-Rainbow Chalice

 

The tank already cleared up but then when I realized that I buried that branch of rainbow monti, I tried to find it lol

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Lastly, here’s the thread explaining how I got this treasure box! 

 

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CarolinaShoreReef

First livestream showing the tank at the lfs while walking through the store. 

 

 

 

Second ls of the setup (literally the entire thing)

 

 

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CarolinaShoreReef

I need some color pop corals, but I’ll need to empty out some space so I’ll probably donate some coral back to the LFS.

 

What are some recommendations for a beginner like me (only 4 months in the reefing side)? 

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Looks good, I haven't even got mine wet yet. Doh! Are you going to still keep the small tank up and running or focus on one?

 

I would ditch the matrix and sponges.. bioballs ect.. why is it even needed with live rock - meh. Just crap to get dirty. At least ditch the sponge and anything not being ran after filter floss.

 

Check out InTanks media basket or filter floss holder. They are fabulous! Way better than using a sock. 

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CarolinaShoreReef
27 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

Looks good, I haven't even got mine wet yet. Doh! Are you going to still keep the small tank up and running or focus on one?

 

I would ditch the matrix and sponges.. bioballs ect.. why is it even needed with live rock - meh. Just crap to get dirty. At least ditch the sponge and anything not being ran after filter floss.

 

Check out InTanks media basket or filter floss holder. They are fabulous! Way better than using a sock. 

Hey thanks for checking it out! I’ll be focusing on both tanks as I have my younger brother’s help in maintaining things.

 

When I say sponge it’s really just like a cm thick to do what filter floss does too. When I do a wc I’ll make sure to put up a pic of it because I think it’s different from the intank one. 

 

I thought the baskets fit into the outside chambers, if not I’ll look into it. There’s one shelf that I can put floss into and just dump the matrix into the second chamber that is already filled with it. I’ll be swapping out the sock soon for a basket as well. ?

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I meant a floss holder to replace the sock. They do make a fuge type basket for the other chambers though. 

 

Remember you will need to clean the back chambers with water changes. Sometimes less clutter is better as it is easier to keep free of debris. Hence why rock rubble in the back chambers is not recommended anymore. 

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CarolinaShoreReef
7 hours ago, Tamberav said:

I meant a floss holder to replace the sock. They do make a fuge type basket for the other chambers though. 

 

Remember you will need to clean the back chambers with water changes. Sometimes less clutter is better as it is easier to keep free of debris. Hence why rock rubble in the back chambers is not recommended anymore. 

Oh alright I see what you mean. I’ll have to look into it all when I get the chance. Thank you!!

 

so what would you use in the fuge basket? I can’t think of anything besides algae or the matrix rocks. 

 

And this his is the floss holder right. I’d probably throw another im basket in there instead and run floss on the top shelf. 

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I'm going to use some cheato just to help with pods and some carbon to help with chemical warfare. I may throw a skimmer in there if I get some messy fish. Sometimes I toss in some PO4 remover if phosphate creeps up. Seachem purigen is also popular.

 

I don't really have a solid plan of what I will use because it really depends on what the tank needs. Po4 high? > PO4 remover, Nitrates out of control? Skimmer - ect The tank will tell me :)

 

Pick up some media bags maybe to make it all easier to clean? They do have listed dosage levels since getting Nitrate too low can starve corals (my problem atm).  It looks like you dug through all your fish bins and just tossed in whatever you could find lol :P

 

One other thought to leave you with is some ppl claim it leaches aluminum: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/is-marine-pure-effective-at-reducing-nitrates-we-learn-some-valuable-lessons-brstv-investigates.307515/page-4#post-3803880

 

I do use the matrix stuff in my cold water tank and would consider it in tanks where Nitrate is an issue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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CarolinaShoreReef
50 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

 

3 hours ago, WV Reefer said:

A fish in the sand is an awesome surprise!  Looks like you are off to a running start. :)  

Thank you wv reefer! 

 

50 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

I'm going to use some cheato just to help with pods and some carbon to help with chemical warfare. I may throw a skimmer in there if I get some messy fish. Sometimes I toss in some PO4 remover if phosphate creeps up. Seachem purigen is also popular.

 

I don't really have a solid plan of what I will use because it really depends on what the tank needs. Po4 high? > PO4 remover, Nitrates out of control? Skimmer - ect The tank will tell me :)

 

Pick up some media bags maybe to make it all easier to clean? They do have listed dosage levels since getting Nitrate too low can starve corals (my problem atm).  It looks like you dug through all your fish bins and just tossed in whatever you could find lol :P

 

One other thought to leave you with is some ppl claim it leaches aluminum: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/is-marine-pure-effective-at-reducing-nitrates-we-learn-some-valuable-lessons-brstv-investigates.307515/page-4#post-3803880

 

I do use the matrix stuff in my cold water tank and would consider it in tanks where Nitrate is an issue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lol I just used what they had in it already. I figured the matrix would be a good idea because it had been running for a year and should be colonized  so it should help since I swapped out the sand. I’ll probably toss the matrix in a media bag that I have like you said for easy cleaning but when I was setting it up my knee was killing me so I just wanted to get it over with.

 

The phosguard uses aluminum oxide and at very low pHs (below 5 I think) you can have the aluminum leach out or if you use way more than recommended (it’s about 1g per gallon). I have the gfo reactor set up for phosphate control anyway, just need to figure out if I’m running it right. I’ll probably swap the sock out for the IM basket because it’s only $28 and would pay for itself over the socks. Maybe a fuge basket idk yet because I already have the matrix with good bacteria so I don’t see why I’d change it, maybe if nutrients start to hurt me.  

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Ah... if they had all that crap tossed in there, probably explains the cyano as the tank probably didn't get the regular cleanings nano's thrive on!

 

Keep an eye out for a used INTANK basket, they show up a lot on the hardware section and go for around $25 shipped and are better than the IM ones (tighter fit, better flow through media). They make your tank wet ;)

 

I haven't set up my IM media reactor but I am fairly certain the water draining out the holes is intended. 

 

As for corals with pop, certain zoa's, palys, chalices, and favia are bright bright bright!

 

 

 

 

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CarolinaShoreReef
1 hour ago, Tamberav said:

Ah... if they had all that crap tossed in there, probably explains the cyano as the tank probably didn't get the regular cleanings nano's thrive on!

 

Keep an eye out for a used INTANK basket, they show up a lot on the hardware section and go for around $25 shipped and are better than the IM ones (tighter fit, better flow through media). They make your tank wet ;)

 

I haven't set up my IM media reactor but I am fairly certain the water draining out the holes is intended. 

 

As for corals with pop, certain zoa's, palys, chalices, and favia are bright bright bright!

 

 

 

 

They told me they did water changes every two months ...??

 

Thanks I will keep an eye out then! I contacted them for a sponsored video but didn’t here back lol I’ll take a discount too? 

 

i watched a video on how to set it up yesterday and I’m fairly certain it’s running correctly. 

 

There are a bunch of zoas in there right now I want to try and get into some easy sps in a few months from now! 

 

 

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CarolinaShoreReef

Here’s a FTS and some closer shots of the tank in better lighting. These are all shot on an iPhone 7 but appear blurry when uploaded so follow me on insta if you want to see the crispness ? (@carolinashorefishing)

 

Does anybody know if the Hanna checkers ever go on any sales (black Friday, etc)? 

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CarolinaShoreReef

There are some really awesome looking zoas and palys in here too! It’s time for me to cough up the money and buy an aquariclip gel filter because the aquarium cam app can’t keep up now lol. 

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CarolinaShoreReef
49 minutes ago, Livia said:

The tank look greate so far I also have the lagoon, but I have no where near as many coral as you.

Sweet do you have a journal thread, I’d love to check it out! The only reason I have all of these coral is because I got lucky haha. 

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CarolinaShoreReef

I’m going to slowly start collecting Hanna checkers. I want to get them all, do full kits ever appear here in the classifieds? 

 

I was was thinking to get the phosphate one first from DFS when they send me another 30% off because thats the hardest one to read with the API kit. Does anyone object to this, like is there a more important thing to accurately test for? 

 

Thanks! 

 

-John 

 

Edit: well the guys at the LFS convinced me to go:

Salifert:

-Mg

-Ca

Redsea:

-Alk

-PO4

Seachem:

-NO3

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5 minutes ago, CarolinaShoreReef said:

I’m going to slowly start collecting Hanna checkers. I want to get them all, do full kits ever appear here in the classifieds? 

 

I was was thinking to get the phosphate one first from DFS when they send me another 30% off because thats the hardest one to read with the API kit. Does anyone object to this, like is there a more important thing to accurately test for? 

 

Thanks! 

 

-John 

 

Do your research, the Alk and PO4 ones are great. Calcium seems unreliable and may be a waste of money. 

 

There is a hanna phosphate and hanna phosphorous, phosphorous is supposed to be more accurate for ultra low nutrient systems but you have to do some math to turn the number to phosphate. 

 

 

Also, yes they do go on sale and I have seen them marked down on black friday before.

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CarolinaShoreReef
1 hour ago, Tamberav said:

 

Do your research, the Alk and PO4 ones are great. Calcium seems unreliable and may be a waste of money. 

 

There is a hanna phosphate and hanna phosphorous, phosphorous is supposed to be more accurate for ultra low nutrient systems but you have to do some math to turn the number to phosphate. 

 

 

Also, yes they do go on sale and I have seen them marked down on black friday before.

Okay, I will when I’m out of school because im too busy doing real research lol. Calculating phosphorous to phosphate won’t be that bad.  Thanks Tamberav!

 

Edit: I’ll do it sooner on my free time though, I can’t help it ?

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19 hours ago, CarolinaShoreReef said:

Sweet do you have a journal thread, I’d love to check it out! The only reason I have all of these coral is because I got lucky haha. 

Yes if you search Livia’s Lagoon 25 it will show up

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