DreC80 Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 Hello Nano Reefers, been in the hobby off and on since 2004...but due to military service I haven't been able to keep a reef going for more than a few years at a time. On a positive note, this has allowed me to start up several tanks and learn as much as possible, especially from my mistakes. Throughout the years I've browsed several the of reefing community sites, but never created a profile or interacted with folks. I decided it was time to finally create a profile and start this journal in an effort to document my tank's progress over the next couple of years. I'll be able to retire in about 18 months and would like to eventually start a large reef in the 200 gallon range. My desire to start this current tank was to begin building my coral collection in order to transfer them to the larger system upon retirement. My plan was to keep it as simple as possible, reuse the equipment I had on hand and see if I could successfully grow SPS corals in this "smaller" system. Got the tank wet and started the cycle in January 2018. * Upgraded to a Red Sea Reefer XL425 - Sep 2019 Parameters: Temp: 77.8 Salinity: 1.025 Calcium: 395 - 415 Alkalinity: 7.5 - 8.0 Magnesium: 1260 Nitrate: 20 ppm Phosphate: .03 Equipment: Aquarium - Red Sea Reefer XL425 Return Pump - Simplicity 120DC Flow - 2x Nero 5, 2x Icecap Gyre 4K Lights - 3x Radion XR15 w/ diffusers & Aquatic Life T5 w/ 2x blue plus & 2x coral plus bulbs Dosing Pump - ATI 6 channel Skimmer - Simplicity 240DC Heater - Eheim Jager 250w x2 Controller - Neptune Apex EL Filtration: Skimmer Filter Socks Carbon (occasionally) GFO (sparingly) 85 lbs Marco & Reef Cleaners Rock Dosing: ESV Calcium and Alkalinity Brightwell Magnesium Acropower Stability (on occasion) Livestock: Fish: Wyoming White Clownfish Six Line Wrasse Falco Hawkfish Scribbled Rabbitfish Captive Bred Yellow Tang Captive Bred Rolland's Damsel x3 Corals: Jack O Lantern Leptosaris Green Leptosaris Mr. Freeze Leptosaris Meteor Shower Cyphastrea Burning Banana Stylocoenela LA Lakers Scroll Coral ORA Purple Stylophora Green Stylophora Birds of Paradise Seriatopora Sunset Montipora Slow Burn Montipora Red Montipora Cap Seasons Greetings Montipora Cap Rainbow Montipora Mystic Sunset Montipora Orange Montipora Digitata Green Montipora Digitata German Blue Polyp Montipora Digitata Jedi Mindtrick Montipora Tubb's Stellata Montipora Green Goblin Anacropora JF TNT Anacropora Cali Tort Acro GARF Bonsai Acro ORA Frogskin Acro ORA Pearlberry Acro Bali Green Slimer Acro Miyagi Tort Acro ORA Red Planet Acro JF Coolers Champagne Acro JF Fox Flame Acro Pink Lemonade Acro ASL Red Robin Acro JRC Great Unknown Acro JRC Oscar the Grouch Acro JKR Apocalypse Now Acro FHC Kryptonic Acro Blueberry Limeade Tenuis Acro RRC Pink Cadillac Acro TCK Orange Milli Acro TCK Pikachu Acro TCK Rainbow Acro TCK Molten Core Acro TCK Pink Bear Acro Sanjay's Leprechaun Beard Acro ARC Fireworks Acro CC Firewalker Milli Acro WWC Lil' Red Ferrari Acro WWC Yellow Tips Acro Katropora - Acropora Subulata Thanks for looking, Andre Nuvo 30l - 2018 Red Sea Reefer XL425 - 2020 6 Quote Link to comment
alpinestar Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 What a lineup - Looks fantastic. Let's see some closeups! 1 Quote Link to comment
DreC80 Posted December 20, 2018 Author Share Posted December 20, 2018 A few more photos...not the best as I'm taking them with a Galaxy S9. 4 Quote Link to comment
alpinestar Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 and boy did you deliver.. 1 Quote Link to comment
DreC80 Posted December 20, 2018 Author Share Posted December 20, 2018 Not sure what type of acro the third picture is, but it's encrusting the bare bottom rather quickly. Let me know if you can ID it. Quote Link to comment
DreC80 Posted December 20, 2018 Author Share Posted December 20, 2018 Haha, thanks alpinestar. I guess I'll eventually need to work on the photo taking skills/get an actual camera... Quote Link to comment
FISHnChix Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 Well shit you didnt waste anytime filling that sucker in.. nice work looks great I will be following along.. thanks for your service buddy. What branch and where did you serve your time?? Quote Link to comment
DreC80 Posted December 20, 2018 Author Share Posted December 20, 2018 2 minutes ago, Weikel said: Well shit you didnt waste anytime filling that sucker in.. nice work looks great I will be following along.. thanks for your service buddy. What branch and where did you serve your time?? Sure didn't...I think I put some SPS in there around the second or third month...definitely experienced some struggles until the tank settled down around the 10 month mark. Still serving in the Air Force...been all over the US, Korea, Afghanistan....18 more months and I'll be retired at 39 years old so not too shabby. 1 Quote Link to comment
FISHnChix Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 5 minutes ago, DreC80 said: Sure didn't...I think I put some SPS in there around the second or third month...definitely experienced some struggles until the tank settled down around the 10 month mark. Still serving in the Air Force...been all over the US, Korea, Afghanistan....18 more months and I'll be retired at 39 years old so not too shabby. Not to shabby at all. Actually really impressive good for you.. enjoy that shit and keep on reefing Quote Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 Welcome to the community @DreC80! 👋 Glad you decided to join in and share your nano reef, what an epic collection of SPS coral! Where do you like to get your coral frags from? My good friend recently retired from the AF at 41, flies in the reserves now and just landed a job with a commercial airliner. You're right on track, that's so awesome! I get the sense it's unlikely you'll be transferred anywhere, this close to retirement? So cool. Quote Link to comment
DreC80 Posted December 20, 2018 Author Share Posted December 20, 2018 Thanks @Christopher Marks looking forward to not having to move anymore. Definitely shouldn't get transferred anymore at this stage in the game. I've gotten all of my corals from an LFS...they always have a good variety and very reasonable prices. I don't think I've paid above $35 for anything. I haven't purchased anything online yet. If I do I would probably get a battle pack from Battle Corals, but don't think I'll have room for more in this tank. 1 Quote Link to comment
DreC80 Posted December 20, 2018 Author Share Posted December 20, 2018 Just got the nuvoskim DC midsize skimmer in today for my wife's tank. I'll let you guys know how it works in the next couple of weeks in case anyone is interested in getting one for their tanks. I know the ghost skimmers didn't get good reviews, but maybe this version will be better. Fingers crossed. 1 Quote Link to comment
DreC80 Posted December 27, 2018 Author Share Posted December 27, 2018 Well guys, the nuvoskim DC has been up and running in my wife's tank for almost a week now. It's definitely very quiet, no micro bubbles, and is starting to produce some skimmate. It's rated for up to 50 gallons but I wouldn't put it in anything larger than the 30l. Let me know if you have questions? 1 Quote Link to comment
DreC80 Posted December 27, 2018 Author Share Posted December 27, 2018 Just in case any other nuvo owners hate cleaning filter socks as much as I do, a cheap and effective mod is to cut the filter sock off the plastic attachment, but reuse the plastic attachment as a floss holder. 1 Quote Link to comment
DreC80 Posted December 27, 2018 Author Share Posted December 27, 2018 Picked up a few new corals today. 2 1 Quote Link to comment
alpinestar Posted December 28, 2018 Share Posted December 28, 2018 That first new coral tho... Wow! 🤙 1 Quote Link to comment
DreC80 Posted December 29, 2018 Author Share Posted December 29, 2018 Yeah, it's a rainbow monti and hopefully the color will hold. I'm most excited about the second picture which is a JF Fox Flame...it's my most expensive coral at the moment. Got it at my favorite lfs for $60...which isn't bad compared to some of the online prices. Quote Link to comment
alpinestar Posted December 29, 2018 Share Posted December 29, 2018 14 minutes ago, DreC80 said: Yeah, it's a rainbow monti and hopefully the color will hold. I'm most excited about the second picture which is a JF Fox Flame...it's my most expensive coral at the moment. Got it at my favorite lfs for $60...which isn't bad compared to some of the online prices. I dig it! Quote Link to comment
SkiCatTX Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 Nice! I just got one of the Nuvo Skim DC Desktop skimmers, I love it so far! Quote Link to comment
DreC80 Posted January 26, 2019 Author Share Posted January 26, 2019 On 1/24/2019 at 10:00 PM, SkiCatTX said: Nice! I just got one of the Nuvo Skim DC Desktop skimmers, I love it so far! They are definitely quiet. Is yours pulling out dark skimmate? Mine isn't, but it's on the wife's 18 gallon tank with a fairly low bioload. Quote Link to comment
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