Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'sps'.
-
RDA's 15 Gallon Bowfront: It’s happening 👀
The Rainy Day Aquarium posted a topic in Nano Reef Journals
Hey all. Over the past few years I've had a enough tanks to figure out what I like and what I don't. Throughout all of them, though, I kept coming back to this idea of a low tech, SPS dominant reef tank. Call it my reefing unicorn, but I've never really been able to tack down a solid routine to achieve such a tank, given, I don't think I have ever "hardcore" tried to do so. In other words, welcome to The Rainy Day Aquarium's last attempt to achieve the tank of all tanks, the holy grail, RDA's white stag: THE LOW TECH SPS REEF For myself, the term "low tech" has always meant simple. I love simple. But simple and high demanding corals don't always play nice it seems. So lets blur the lines a little. Get down to the nitty gritty. The goal of this build is to make a low tech reef look so good it will make you want to smack yo mamma and say, "That reef looks good!" For the tank I'll be using an Aqueon 26 gallon bowfront. "Wait a RIMMED tank?!" you ask, "RDA I thought you were into those nice, smooth, rimless glass boxes?" I would say yes, I was; I still am. Everyone has their affair. Bill Clinton for example. As for myself, I have closeted my love for those thicc rimmed tanks for years. After all, what could I do? All of those Instagram influencers and their sleek waterbox aquariums has made it so anyone wouldn't be caught dead with one of these rimmed beasts. Well, I suppose I like the wild side regardless of current reefing pop culture. And as the great rapper Nathan Feuerstein once said, "I guess I'll be the outcast". So going against the grain with my bowfront, and fighting the urge to get that Penguin Bio Wheel 350 -I ended up getting one 🙄-JK I switched back to the Tidal 75- I switched back to the Bio Wheel 350. Additional water movement will be had by two Sicce voyager nano stream 1000 pumps. I've also decided to take a chapter out of the "ye old crusty reefer" handbook and hunt down a new, in box, Hydor smart wave pump controller. If that wasn't retro enough, I scored a pretty much new 24" Coralife Lunar Aqualight Quad T5 fixture off of the good ol E of Bay. (I knew I wanted T5s for this build and at first I questioned if this light could provide enough for SPS corals, but hey, I had a neighbor back in the day that had one of these lights over his 24" deep tank and it looked amazing, so I figured I'd give it a shot. If not I can always back step and get a juicy metal halide). And that's pretty much it! I was thinking about getting an order of liverock from KPaquatics, but sheeeeesh talk about expensive, and that's not just with KP. Shipping heavy, wet things overnight across the country is very expensive. Might just go with BRS reef saver and deal with ugly white rock for a time. Corals will be mostly SPS with a few select filler pieces (I'm looking at you @joshthebox #fijiyellowtoadstool). I only wanted one or two fish for this tank really. A possum wrasse would be cool, or maybe I'll sell my left kidney and get a deepwater candy basslet, who knows? Anyways we'll see you all next year for setting up this tank. Enjoy the holidays and as always, thank you for stopping by! Happy reefing! Equipment: Tank: Aqueon 26 gallon Bowfront Stand: Petsmart Special Lighting: Coralife Lunar Aqualight Quad T5, with a Coralife Digital Power Center Filter: Marineland Penguin Bio-Wheel 350 Heater: Cobalt Neo-glass 150w Flow: 2x Sicce Voyager Nano 1000 (with Hydor smart wave controller) Corals: TBD Fish: Pygmy Angelfish Bristletooth Tomini Tang Pajama Cardinalfish Inverts: Fighting Conch Small army of Cerith Snails 3 Trochus Snails FTS: 2/23/2023 2/26/2023 3/27/2023 4/24/2023 -
Tank: RS Reefer 170 (~43g total) - Started 8/23/20, restarted 8/1/21 (apt. move), another apartment move in July, 2022, last move end of June, 2023 Lighting: GHL Mitras in 24" AL Hybrid Fixture Dosing: GHL Doser 2.1 Skimmer: Coral Box D300+ from Reefbreeders Circulation: 2x MP10 QD running at 100% Return: Platinum DC Blue 800 Heater: 150w Jager w/Cobalt controller Bulbs: 2x Blue+, 1 Actinic, 1 Purple+ (last changed 1/15/23) Supplements: BRS Two-Part + Evo EasyReef SPS gel + KZ Coral System 2 & 4 Salt: Instant Ocean (Switch from RS Blue Bucket in Nov., 2022) Rock: Tropic Eden Supreme Tonga Branches 👌 (10-12lbs) with AquaMaxx Reef Welder (Purple) Sand: CaribSea Fiji Pink (20lbs) Fish: 1x Talbot's Damsel, Sailfin Blenny Supported by: GHL USA ❤️ Not on the forums much or just want pictures? Follow the tank on Instagram here! Lighting Schedule: T5's ON 11am - 3pm, LEDs ramp 9am-6pm RODI: Changed out carbon and sediment cartridges on 6/5/22, DI resin last changed in July, 2023 (water had a smell) Status : Tank has been stable and things are growing, slowly Inspiring tanks... Full-tank shots (November 1st, 2021 - 3 months after soft restart) August 13th, 2023
-
Hi everyone, I've started a new build, and have decided to document it in this journal so that you might follow along (if you're interested). Background: I used to have a wonderful tiny mixed reef picotank for the last few months which brought me much joy. Unfortunately, 2.6G of volume wasn't enough to grow out all my corals, and I did add more than 60+ frags in that little tank. Eventually, I decided upgrading was the best solution. I needed a tank that wasn't too large that it would become a burden doing WCs, but not too small that it didn't have enough space to accommodate all the corals either. I settled on a 10G+ tank - it was roomy enough to meet my requirements, and most importantly, be simple enough to WC every week. I used the Tank Transfer Method (TTM) to upgrade, and used established cured LR (~5-years-old) from older systems as a biofilter. Only the LS was new, but I seeded it with a small cup of LS from my picoreef. The new nano is now located in my bedroom, and the temp. dips down to as low as 25'C (night) and as high as 30'C (very hot afternoons). The swing seems wild, but my pico operated under the same temp. range (more or less), and so far the animals didn't have any issues with the temp. Specifications: 10.23G tank 18" x 12" x 11" Rimless 6mm Crystal Glass Equipment: H300 Dophin HOB (440L/Hr) Aqua Knight Spectra M029 (30W) Jebao SOW-4 Wavemaker (4000L/Hr) Media: Activated Carbon Filter Floss Rocks: Established LR taken from my previous 2.6G's picoreef, 60G's refugium & 10G's nanocube in the library Sand: 4.5kg Aragonite Live Sand --> seeded with a small cup of LS taken from the sandbed of my 2.6G picoreef Water: Tap Water + Dechlorinator (Nutrafin/Prime) Salt: Fritz RPM Fish: 1x Purple Firefish (Nemateleotris decora) - Bullet II - 07/12/2023 Inverts: (My monsters! a.k.a. Critters of Chaos!) 1x Yellow Coral Banded Shrimp (Stenopus cyanoscelis) - Shrimpy - 02/05/2021 1x Blue-Eyed Red-Clawed Hermit Crab (Calcinus gaimardii) - Geralt - 15/12/2021 Hitchiker Collonista Snails Hitchiker Microbrittlestars Hitchiker Spaghetti Worms Hitchiker Stomatella Snail Hitchiker Limpets Corals: SPS (6 Types): Red Pavona Garf Bonsai Acropora Valida Forest Fire Montipora Digitata Chili Pepper Montipora Lime Green Montipora Jack-O-Lantern Leptoseries LPS (13 Types): Meteor Shower Cyphastrea John Deere Leptastrea Orange Eye Leptastrea Green Leptastrea Christmas Favia Purple/Blue Whiplash Blasto Merletti Malayan Rainbow Acans Purple-Striped Green Acans Neon Green Candy Cane/Trumpet Red Fungia Red/Blue Lobo Brain Coral Rainbow Brain Coral Duncan Coral Soft Coral (6 Types): Orange Clove Polyps Metallic Green Star Polyp Neon Green Star Polyp Green Weeping Willow Toadstool Leather Green-Polyped Brown Toadstool Leather Red Pineapple Tree Leather Zoanthis & Palythoas (20 Types/Morphs): Green Nuclear Death Palys Rusty Red Death Palys Rainbow Infusion Palys Metallic Green Palys Captain America Palys Utter Chaos Palys Sunny D Palys Sunflower Zoas Vampire in Drag Zoas Firestorm Zoas Fire and Ice Zoas King Midas Zoas Purple Monster Zoas Orange Bam Bam Zoas Pinwheel Zoas Daisy Cutter Zoas Bam Bam Zoas Radioactive Pink Cat Eye Zoas Tequila Sunset Zoas Blueberry Zoas Mushrooms (19 Types): Green Leopard Discosoma Mushroom White Striped Green Leopard Discosoma Mushroom Golden Leopard Discosoma Mushroom Superman Discosoma Mushroom Watermelon Discosoma Mushroom Red/Green Discosoma Mushroom Ironman Discosoma Mushroom Blue Discosoma Mushroom Skittles Discosoma Mushroom Golden Spotted Green Discosoma Mushroom Interstellar Discosoma Mushroom Cherry Red Discosoma Mushroom Green/Orange Bounce Rhodactis Mushroom Acid Green Rhodactis Mushroom Green/Light Green Bullseye Rhodactis Mushroom Forest Fire Rhodactis Mushroom Rainbow Yuma Mushroom Blue Hairy Mushroom Green Hairy Mushroom Macroalgae: None Current Coral Count: ~64 Types/Morphs/Varieties *TBA: Livestock: Nanofish x1 Ornamental Crab Ornamental Shrimp Assorted Corals Pictures: Empty tank on 16/11/2020: Post-TTM on 16/11/2020: FTS on 17/11/2020: Topview FTS on 17/11/2020: FTS on 12/12/20: Topview FTS on 12/12/20: FTS on 09/01/21: FTS on 09/02/21: FTS on 20/03/21: FTS on 23/04/21: FTS on 25/05/2021: FTS on 15/07/21: FTS on 10/09/21: FTS on 16/10/21: FTS on 15/11/21 (*1-year-old) : FTS on 16/12/21: FTS on 23/1/2022: FTS on 19/02/2022: FTS on 21/03/2022: FTS on 16/04/2022: FTS on 16/05/22: FTS on 06/06/22: FTS on 08/07/22: FTS on 13/08/22: FTS on 20/09/22: FTS on 26/10/22: FTS on 25/11/22: FTS on 19/12/2022: FTS on 23/1/22: FTS on 20/2/23: FTS on 12/03/23: FTS on 29/04/23: FTS on 29/05/23: FTS on 28/07/23: FTS on 16/08/23: FTS on 12/09/23: FTS on 10/10/23: FTS on 07/11/23: FTS on 07/12/23: FTS on 10/01/24: FTS on 16/02/24: FTS on 21/03/24:
-
Starting all over, after full home renovation. 🤔
- 156 replies
-
- 2
-
-
- reefer 170
- sps
- (and 2 more)
-
Skip to this post to ignore the 3 years of rambling. Current Full Tank Shot: January 29, 2024 Past Full Tank Shots: EQUIPMENT: Tank: IM NUVO INT 75G Sump: Synergy Reef Systems CL-34 (33g) Skimmer: Skimz Monzter SM167 Lights: 2 Ecotech xr30 G4 Pro with RMS mounts Flow: 2x MP40QD Return: 1x Vectra M2 Heater: 150W IM Helios RODI: BRS 150G Controller: APEX A3 + Trident + FMM Doser: APEX DOS SUPPLEMENTS & ADDITIVES: KZ Pohl's Extra KZ Coral Vilatizer KZ Coral Booster - KZ Amino Acid LPS KZ Pohl's Extra Special ReefRoids Reef Chili Rod's Food CHAPTERS: The tank arrives 12.23.2020 The First Fish 4.8.2020 The First Corals 7.19.2020 New Fish 9.28.2020 Corals from Mitten 10.29.2020 Red Bugs! 10.17.2021 LPS Haul 11.3.2021 Mini Bar Goes In 11.10.2021 Sand Algae Problems 11.20.2021 SPS Color Improvements! 1.12.2022 Crash 2.16.2022 Reboot 3.13.2022 Reboot 2 1.1.2023 Trident 1.1.2023 Moving 8.9.2023 Cherry Corals SPS Haul 9.1.2023 Cultivated Reef SPS Haul 9.12.2023 Unique Coral SPS Haul 1.6.2024 CC Coral Haul 1.10.2024 FISH: Potter's Angel Yellow Eye Kole Tang 2x ORA Frostbite Clownfish Melanarus Wrasse Diamond Goby CORAL LIST: LARGE POLYP STONY CORALS: Ultra Torch (CC) Torch #1 (CC) Dragon Soul Torch (ex-friend) Toxic Green Hammer Gold Hammer ORA Red Goniopora (CC) CC Bullet Proof Elegance (CC) SOFT CORAL: Eagle Eye Zoa Orange Rhodactus Mushroom Gold Plume Gorgonian Orange Spiny Gorgonian SMALL POLYP STONY CORALS: Montipora Spongodes (CC) Toxic Anacropora (CC) Yellow Anacropora (TSA) Teal Stag (TSA) Green Slimer (UQ) Red Slimer (UQ) Myagi Tort (UQ) Yellow Millepora (UQ) CR Eternal Flame (CC) CC Purple Tip Echinata (CC) ATL Shades of Fall Nasuta (CC) Copps Efflo (CC) Blue Slimer (CR) Telah Monster (CR) RR Pink Cadillac CR) Oregon Tort (CR) Cali Tort (CR) Green Ghost (UC) Incredible Hulk (UC) Slytherin stag (UC) Cherry blossom (UC) ORA Skyline Granulosa (CC) JF Fox Flame (CC) CC Needle in a Haystack (CC) TSA Bill Murray (CC) INVERTS: Emerald Crabs (WWC) Assorted Snails (WWC)
- 916 replies
-
- 3
-
-
- innovative marine
- 75 int
- (and 11 more)
-
Tank IM 20 Outside DIMS: Length 23.62” Width: 15” Height: 13” Display DIMS: Length 23.16” Width: 11.38” Height: 13” Sand & Rock Ocean Direct Sand (10lbs) CaribSea Liferock Shapes (15lbs) Equipment Lights Radion XR15 Pro G6 Reefbrite KHO 15 Powerheads 2 MP10s set to alternating pulses switching every 4h. I play with flow constantly, so this is unlikely to stay this way longer than a few weeks. Nero 3 in the saltwater container. Skimmer Eshopps nano (foam removed from skimmer & pump) Simple BRS style CO2 scrubber attached (non recirculating) HVAC Cobalt NeoTherm 75w Honeywell Fan mounted to the wall beside above the tank. Controller Neptune apex circa 2019 Dosing 1 Versa (Kalk) 4 Head ReefDose Testers Trident 4x per day Hanna Low Range PO4 weekly Hanna HR NO3 weekly RO/DI Aquatic Life 4 stage ATO/AWC Auto Aqua Smart AWC 3 White 5G Buckets (ATO reservoir, Saltwater reservoir, Exported tank water) backlit so water level is visible. Salt Aquaforest Reef Salt (Mixed to 1.025) Livestock SPS RR Red Dragon RRC Holy Grail CC Purple Haze FG Gila Monster FG Mother Pucker FG Grape Soda DV Bonsai Cali Tort Limeade Nasuta Teal Echinata ND Red Montipora Digitata ND Rainbow Montipora LPS Goniopora Aussie Blastomusa ND Neon Trumpets FCC Bling Bling Cyphastrea Micromussa Lords FCC Jack-O-Lantern Leptoseris Soft Long Tentacle Japanese Deepwater Toadstool 2 Varieties of GSP Photosynthetic Gorgonian Ricordea Red Discos - Discosoma That 70s Shroom - Discosoma Crock Skins - Rhodactis Persian rugs - Rhodactis Money Shot - Rhodactis Bullseye - Rhodactis FCC Hairy Green - Rhodactis Fish 2 Clownfish 1 Royal Gramma 1 watchman goby Inverts 2 Peppermint shrimp 1 Pistol shrimp 5 Dwarf hermits 3 African hermits 1 Polkadot hermit 9 Nasarius 2 Strawberry conchs 4 Trochus 3 Astrea 2 Star astrea 3 Turbos A thriving pod population Food Frozen Reef Frenzy big seaweed removed. Get the nano to skip this. Our LFS isn’t super consistent keeping nano stocked. Hikari Mysis Alternated Randomly daily. 1 cube mysis or 1 1” square of Reef Frenzy. Powdered Benepets Coral Frenzy Alternated randomly 1/16 tsp mixed daily with frozen. We’ll substitute Reef Roids every now and then (twice a month roughly) to bump PO4 Frozen and powdered food is put in 20mls tank water, thawed, mixed, and fed in 3-4 feedings. Frozen is not rinsed. Liquid Oyster Feast - 4 drops into a powerhead a few times a week after lights out. Live Phyto - 5ml every 2-3 days Dry Vitalis flakes and pellets - only used if no frozen is available, and used sparingly even then Feeding regimen inspired by Reinaldo of Pirate’s Reef. Maintenance Daily 1-2L water changes Change floss every 2 days Empty skimmer cup every 2-3 days Change carbon weekly Change RowaPhos monthly Clean skimmer pump and body every 2-3 months Clean return pump every 2-3 months Clean media caddies every 2-3 months This is the ideal, bits and pieces slide around. Filtration Filter floss Marine Pure gems RowaPhos 3 Tbsp in a bag changed monthly Carbon (ROX or ReefSpec) 3 Tbsp in a bag changed weekly Eshopps nano skimmer 1.3ml daily NO3PO4X We run an inTank IM caddy in each side of the IM 20. Biological media on one side, carbon and Rowa on the other. Filter floss top layer on both sides. Parameters Alk 6.8 - 7.5 Ca 400 - 430 Mg 1400 - 1440 NO3 10 - 20 PO4 0.03 - 0.1 PH 7.9 - 8.3 Dosing Daily 425ml full strength kalk (Seachem) dripped 24/7 with Versa 1.8ml Foundation B (Liquid) 1.4ml Foundation A (Liquid) 1ml Foundation C (Liquid) 1.3ml NOPOX We live in a high-rise condo, and this particular combination gets us to a pH We can live with in the cold Canadian winter, and a great pH the rest of the year when we can open the windows. The dosing is all spread out over 24h. Live Phyto - 5ml every 2-3 days 10ml Eco Balance every 3-4 weeks The Story So Far This tank was started November 2021. It was started with Stax rocks, but was rescaped by my wife with LifeRock in May. That rock was run in a bucket of heated saltwater for 5 weeks, with 1tsp Aquaforest Life Source dosed weekly. The lid was loosely on to keep light to a minimum. We’ve had 0 algae/cyano/dino issues doing it this way. The rocks were replaced 50% at a time, 4 weeks apart. Live stock was added in the following order, after cycling for 4 weeks, and testing 0 Ammonia and 0 Nitrite. Clowns Mushrooms 6 each, hermits, nasarius snails, trochus snails Various LPS (some we kept, some didn’t make it) Royal Gramma Toadstool Goby Pistol Pair More mixed hermits and snails Montipora Acropora More mixed hermits and snails This was spread evenly across 12 months. Our philosophy is largely influenced by Nicholas Marion @Aqua Splendor. Build a full ecosystem, from phyto, to micro and macro grazers. Create habitats for the animals, adjust what you do in response to the animals in your care. For instance, we feed many foods that everything can eat. Pretty much everything eats the powdered food, phyto, oyster feast, and tiny bits of LRS. The goby is well fed now.The fish eat anything large enough to see. We like a nice diversity of invertebrates, and the microscopic food keeps them thriving. As we notice fewer inverts, we replenish. As there aren’t any massively useful nano fish, we think a healthy and thriving crew of inverts is a necessity in a nano tank That said, in the first year here are the bummers & battles. Cyano (Best Fix: just go straight to a chemiclean treatment, dose bacteria weekly for a month afterward) LCA Dinos (Best Fix: Sponge Excel 3 drops every 4 days, 5ml live phyto every other day, Tisbe or other pods, 10ml Ecobalance weekly. Don’t clean your glass. You are trying to outcompete it with anything - cyano, diatoms, GHA are all easy by comparison. Skip the blackouts and higher temps, they do nothing towards the solution and add stress to the already stressed system. Run nutrients 100:1 eg Nitrates 30 Phosphates 0.3, neither should be 0. Identifying strain of ydinoflagellates is critical to solving the problem. I highly recommend Mack’s Dino support group on Facebook. They are THE dino solvers, just follow the advice, it’s literally the best around.) Diatoms (Best Fix: Pods & Live phyto.) GHA (Best Fix: get nutrients in line, 100:1 N:P eg 30:0.3. Manual removal, increase snail and crab numbers by diversity and amount.) 3 Fancy mushrooms disappeared An Australian and an Indonesian torch coral started to fight, and the Indonesian lost. The Australian one died six weeks later. Several micromusa never got comfy and eventually died. A chalice and cyphastrea frag didn’t make it. Several Montipora frags were tossed after Montipora Nudibranch eggs were spotted on the frag rack (why you should monitor frags on a rack for a few weeks before placement). Several acros stripped as the chemistry wasn’t yet stable enough. Larger (maybe double the price) encrusted Acropora frags improve success approximately 90%. 20G is too small to nurse tiny frags until you get some SPS in there and your dosing is dialed in. What Would We Do Differently Start with Life rock and dose 1 teaspoon of LifeSource mud for the first 10 weeks that the tank is wet with rock in it, including during the cycle. Add two bottles of pods and dose a couple of mls of live phyto every few days and get them reproducing after adding the first fish. Start dripping Kalk much earlier on, even if it’s a very mild solution. Upping the saturation as the demand from LPS slowly climbs. Do this slowly, go by Alk tests. Get a Hanna checker, you’ll be testing Alk weekly if not daily. Run high alk & calcium while only softies to encourage coralline. Our Reefing Story We got into reeefing shortly after my diagnosis of multiple sclerosis in 2006. Prior to that I was a software engineer, my disability was enough to take me out of the workforce however. We were immediately addicted. A weekly LFS trip minimum. That first tank was taken down within a year. Although largely a success, we hadn’t anticipated how much of a roller coaster MS would be. Fast forward to 2019, I am now in a wheelchair and have plenty of time to dedicate to something. We started a FOWLR in a BioCube 16. It eventually got overrun with algae, and with the pandemic keeping us home… We had never lost our love of reef tanks and had contemplated numerous times starting another reef. So last fall we started up the Innovative Marine Nuvo 20. We agreed to split the duties. I’d handle all the research, the chemistry, monitoring, dosing, anything that didn’t need fine motor skill. She’d handle all the stuff that did, and all the heavy lifting, and we’d automate as much as we could as budget allowed. So while there is a great deal of automation, you can think of it as accessibility. It started with an AI Prime HD, but that got switched for a Radion XR15 pro when we started to go for SPS. Then we added the Reefbrite strips. We tried a small refugium in one of the back chambers, that turned out to largely be useless. After the rescape we decided to put everything on inch and a quarter frag discs and plugs, Securing them to the rock with a glue - epoxy - glue sandwich. This makes them easy to remove with bone cutters. Eventually you have a series of flat platforms of epoxy that you can just move the Frag discs between as you learn what corals like it where. This is mostly for the SPS so we can easily move them around without drilling the rock. Our set up is pretty dialled in at the moment. Input matches export, The ecosystem is stable to a large degree. Photos These are iPhone 14 Pro Max photos. We can’t find an orange filter that fits so any tips are gladly appreciated. These are largely from late October. Long View FG Grape Soda Limeade Nasuta Teal Echinata RRC Holy Grail RR Red Dragon (Daylight, before lights come on) More photos coming soon, questions welcome 😊. I use voice typing, so ignore anything too crazy, just point it out and I'll re-answer 😉
-
125 Gallon – Tunze Reefpack "all-in-one" (125 Gallons)
mcarroll posted a topic in Large Reef Journals
My 125 Gallon is already a so-called all-in-one system, as it lacks a sump. But it also lacks any extra filtration...no skimmer, no filter to run carbon, etc. So far it's been just live rock, LED lights and as much flow as I can give it. This 125 was an upgrade itself almost a year ago. I originally (11-ish years ago) had a 37 gallon+sump system for SPS...no fish. After a few years I added a second display (50 Gallon) to that system for more coral space. About a year ago all of the contents from both tanks were consolidated to the 125. I did have to add new lights to accommodate the increased tank length. The old sump and skimmer along with a little rock and the original sand bed were left behind. I'm upgrading now for a few reasons. I'd like to have the aeration from running a skimmer again. I have more algae growing that I have historically and I think corals are suffering from the day/night pH/oxygen swings. I'd like the tank to get a little better flow from a lot fewer pumps. Currently there's a mix of six smaller Tunze powerheads. I'm also upgrading the (still new) lights, but mostly for the superior form-factor. I like having excellent access to the tank for maintenance and the current lights are large for the space. OLD (all gear used at various times and listed roughly in order, ending with the most recent) Lights: Coralife 2x 150 watt halide Radium, Ecoxotic, DIY, Maxspect Razor, Ocean Revive Flow: Hydor Flo's, Hydor Korallia Gen 1 model 3 and 4, Seio Prop pump, Ecotech Vortech Gen 1 or 2, Tunze 6045 multiple generations Return Pump: Quiet One 2200 (Italian), Mag 7, Quiet One 4000 (Chinese) Skimmer: Oceanic "Plus Series" Model 6 (classic!!), AquaC EV-90, Tunze 9410 NEW Lights: Three Kessil A360x's Flow: Two Tunze 6105's Skimmer: Tunze 9012 Also gaining a Tunze Osmolator ATO and Multifilter in the upgrade. More info once I have the gear installed.- 50 replies
-
- 3
-
-
- large reef
- aio
- (and 4 more)
-
So about a year ago I had a 30g with a similar footprint running that I was trying to grow sps in. A combination of impatience, trying too many products all at once, and general lack of know how caused me to give up and shut the tank down. This will hopefully be a better attempt, applying what I've learned from reading/watching countless sps keeper's threads/videos as well as finally learning patience! Run down so far: Tank: Mr Aqua 22g drilled for eclipse prodigy Stand: Oceanvue 36x18 Sump: 20 long aga Filtration: Reef octo 110 int classic Heating: Brs titanium 200w + inkbird Flow: Jebao dcp4000, undecided on powerheads Light: 1x Quanta pro reef crest daylight, 1x Quanta pro tropic sun
-
~~FOR THE CURRENT BUILD SKIP TO PAGE 3~~ *Clears Throat* Hello. Never thought that I would be here with another build, but alas, here we are. Over the past few months I have all but gotten out of the hobby. Between renovating our living room, and then overhauling the yard I have had no time to take care of a tank, let alone think about them. I guess like a lot of things in life this hobby ebbs and flows for me and balancing reef tanks with a few other interests has proven difficult if not impossible recently. To add insult to injury I have had to sell off most of my hobby things to help fund the ever hungry academic adventure that I am apart of. With the end of summer on the horizon, though, things have started to slow down a little and it was my wife who mentioned that a particular bookshelf would look nice with a reef tank to fill the space. Haha I think she missed having a reef tank more than I did. Well, I have to admit I didn't sell ALL of my reefing stuff (come on now 😉), and I soon found myself pulling out a gently used Lifegard Aquatics 6 gallon bookshelf aquarium out of storage. It took some work with a razor to scrape off all of the old crusties from once upon a time when it was a planted aquarium, but it cleaned up pretty nice. In a perfect world I wouldn't mind hanging some high end lighting and really going to town on this little tank, wouldn't we all, but in the process of paying for school I had to sell my wallet as well, so I guess we're going for broke with this one. I did however have a few pieces here and there and a hardscape took shape. I usually use Aquamaxx's (RIP MarineDepot) reef welder to glue rocks together, but given the delicate nature of the scape I was trying to achieve it really looked tacky so I switched to just plain old superglue which worked well still. I decided to only add a minimal* layer of "standard grade" Caribsea sand (*all I had). I want to go pretty minimalistic on equipment as well as looks with this tank so between a light, a heater and small wavemaker that will be the only tech powering this tank. I placed an order for an inexpensive Nicrew LED. Since this tank is so shallow, I figured I can get away with a less powerful lighting setup (and save some coin too). Filtration will be taken care of by the rock and sand as well as water changes. I do expect some hiccups in trying to find a groove with this tank, given how low tech it will be, but it shouldn't be too hard to upkeep (<famous last words ha!). I have a few housekeeping things to do; wire management and hanging the light when it arrives. And as per tradition, a mixed reef seems proper here. We also had a friend open a new shop just a few blocks away so some perusing might occur soon. Thanks for stopping by and happy reefing! 😁 Equipment: Tank: Lifegard Aquatics 6 Gallon Long Lighting: Nicrew Marine LED Heater: Hitop 50w Wavemaker: Jebao SOW-3 Corals: Soft: Lilo & Stich Zoas Scrambled Egg Zoas Pink Zipper Zoas Deepwater Zoas Magician Palys GSP Golden Plume Gorgonian LPS: Duncan (×2) Rainbow Acan Misc. Orange Acan Watermelon Acan Purple Tipped Hammer Golden Hammer Green Purple Tentacle Fungia SPS: Purple Pocilloproa Neon Green Seriatopora Yellow Millepora Blue/Green Millepora Green/Pink Tenuis Purple/Yellow Tenuis Neon Green Tenuis Red Setosa Macro Algae: Codium Inverts: Blue Legged Hermit Crabs Fish: TBD FTS 8/07/2021: FTS 9/22/2021 FTS 10/21/2021 FTS 11/17/2021
- 103 replies
-
- 15
-
-
-
- lifegard
- lifegard aquatics
- (and 11 more)
-
Filled this with water and started the fishless cycle around June 1. Got some of the first inhabitants fragged in my other tank and built the controller and lights over the weekend! A perfect storm to get it started. Tank: Aqueon rimless 2.5 gallon Aquascape: Aquascape is 3D printed and was designed in blender. Lighting: Lights are diy with 5 independent channels and can hammer the surface with up to 800 PPFD of fairly white light, around 10000k from my guess, but need to get a submersible light meter to figure the bottom. To start, I am running it at about half power. Flow and Filtration: I have a 3D printed overflow box in the back corner with the pump out of the base around the back of the scape. The pump closer to the surface and front of the tank runs for 5ish seconds every 15ish seconds against the prevailing flow. Substrate: It is bare bottom (for now) and the aquascape is not anchored but appears to stay put. Livestock: Added a few corals once everything got set up including a garf bonsai and a green anacropora as well as some something I think is a psammocora (but I’m likely wrong). Other Toys: Custom ATO, dosing for All for Reef and Kalk at through the night.
-
Welcome to our small-boom-boom-sexy-time-kitchen-invertebrate-party tank! We're new to this and not entirely sure what we are doing, but by sheer luck and generous amounts of Buffalo Trace, Luxardo cherries, bitters, and ice it has somehow been somewhat and miraculously working. Basically, it's both happy and amateur hour over here. Living in an old house Uptown in the Big Easy, we were limited in both space and structural integrity, so we decided on a small Nuvo 10 that hangs out in the kitchen. Started up in late March 2017, we have been slowly adding both coral and livestock, with an overall aesthetic goal of making the tank look like the ill-advised and pom-pom crab infested underwater love child of Ashley Longshore & Lisa Frank (chew on that image). Lastly, I apologize for the less-than-profession nature of the pictures. Much like my reef keeping skills, my photography is still, very much, a work in progress. All advise and comments are welcomed and appreciated (except those critical of Blenwood, he's a sensitive soul). December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 Set-up: • Display: 10g Innovative Marine Fusion 10• Lighting: AI Prime HD (2x)• Filtration: Floss • UV Filter: IM 9W desktop UV• Heater: None• Circulation: IM MightyJet, IM Spin Stream, Jeboa Wavemaker• Skimmer: IM BioSkim • Dosing Pump: Jabao DP-4 • Salt: Aquaforest Reef Salt Dosing: • KZ Acroglow • KZ Coral Vitalizer • KZ Sponge Power • KZ LPS Amino Acids • KZ Pohl's Extra • Tropic Marin All-for-reef • Aquaforest NP Pro Fish: • Tail-spot Blenny (Blenwood aka "B-Wood Cash Money Dollar Dollar!") • Tanaka Possum Wrasse (Lorp) • Red rooster pygmy waspfish Inverts: • Pom-Pom Crab • Porcelain Crab (Whiskers III) • Scarlet-leg Hermit Crabs • Blue-leg Hermit Crabs • Cerith Snails • Nassarius Snails • Turbo Snails • Fire Shrimp • Gulf Oyster SPS: Acropora: • Highlighter (UC maybe? Idk) • Bonsai • Blue echinata • Yellow indo Mille • ARC fireworks • JF fire dragon • Red Mille (CF Booger Sugar) • Vivid confetti • OG OT • RMF Diablo • JKR Rainbow • SCOP • WD • Wild Pikachu • WWC Afterparty • UC peep show • ASD Rainbow Mille Seriatopora: • ORA Green Birdsnest Montipora: • ASD Grafted Cap • Setosa • RR CrazyT • Forest Fire Digi LPS • Various acans (x5) • Walking dendro • Indo trachy • Orange psammy • Orange lepto • Acan echinata • Ultron favia • Various Blastos (x4) • Meteor shower cyphastrea • WWC Peppermint cyphastrea NPS: • Dendrophyllia • Balanophyllia • Black Sun Coral • Pink/Yellow Sun Coral Softies: • Orange Mushroom • GSP Zoas: • Rastas • WWC Twizzlers • Vietnamese Wild • SunnyD's • Blondies • Utter Chaos • Blue Hornets • Pink Zippers • King Midas • Purple Monsters • WWC AOI • CB White Zombies • GB Buttkissers • Grim Reapers
- 1,302 replies
-
- 16
-
-
- new orleans
- im10
- (and 3 more)
-
I am starting this journal for my Innovative Marine 25 Gallon Lagoon Pro. I did not buy this new. In fact, I did not pay anything for it. I received it from a friend who wants to travel more. When I picked it up it was being ran as a FOWLR with a few inverts. The glass was heavy covered with coraline algae. I knew there would be a little work to get it looking like new again. A couple hours of vinegar in a spray bottle and a scraper and I could see some progress and potential. I removed the old sand and spent some time meticulously cleaning up the back chambers of this All In One. I did keep the liverock, it consisted of about a dozen smaller pieces. I used some Nyos reef cement to bond some of these pieces of liverock together into a small three branched structure. I added a Tunze magnetic frag rock holder to the back glass. I figured the rock holder would blend in better then traditional frag racks. My substrate is a mix of Carib Sea special reef and a small amount of Carib Sea Hawaiian black sand. The aquarium is filled and currently cycling. I plan to list equipment and livestock acquisitions in future posts.
-
Hey everyone! I am new to the forum and thought what better way to introduce myself than to start a journal for my nano! A little bit about me, I am a graduate student at the University of Michigan and will be graduating in 2019. I am originally from Chicago - hence the username! I have been in the hobby for about 10 years and have had tanks from FOWLRS to full blown reefs. I have always wanted to start a journal for one of my tanks but never really got around to it. As a graduate student this has made things a little more difficult. But I recently came across a deal I could not pass up that is perfect for my situation! The goal is to document everything in this thread. Let me introduce to you my new nano! It is an IM 10 gallon fusion with the following equipment: inTank Media basket (just made the switch from a custom IM media basket) MP10wes vortech Ghost Desktop skimmer Tunze nano ATO AI prime Cobalt heater with a finnex temp controller IM spin stream The tank currently has 2 clowns, a starry blenny and a mix of SPS and LPS. Here are a couple photos! Pardon my cell phone photos, I am working on getting a better camera.. Looking forward to meeting all of you! October 2019 - IM 25 gallon fusion: September 2018: May 2017:
- 155 replies
-
- 10
-
-
- innovative marine
- fusion
- (and 9 more)
-
© PJ
-
© PJ
-
© PJ
-
Fluval Evo 13.5 - Crazy SPS growth after lighting upgrade!
Aquacrazed posted a topic in Nano Reef Journals
4 month update after lighting upgrade to stock hood: May 13, 2018: SPS growing really nicely! Thicker & better coloration too! Compare these pictures to the older ones. Update: January 22, 2018: Upgrades: - Aquamai KPS Wavemaker - Current USA 12" Truelumen Pro LED bars (x2) and 10" LED strips (x2). This is in addition to the stock Fluval light. Total wattage 40.2 watts - Current USA Single, Dual and Dual Pro Ramp Timers - Smart ATO Micro Auto Top-off System - Aquatic Life 115 Protein Skimmer - inTank Chamber 2 Media Basket - Inkbird Aquarium Dual Stage Temperature Controller + NTC Sensor - Hydor Centrifugal Pump 300gph (it's not much stronger than stock pump, although smaller) - Green Killing Machine Mini 3W UV - Fluval Edge 25W heater (The room is fairly warm all year so don't really need much heating) Filter Media: Purigen, Matrix, inTank Poly Filter Floss --- March 4th, Day 1, tank goes live & cycling: April 5th, one month after: It's been a bit over a month since I setup this tank and it's my very first reef tank. I've been in the freshwater world for over a decade (currently have a 55g Discus tank) and decided to take the plunge and setup a reef. I'm running the stock lighting for now and it seems pretty decent. Even my SPS are starting to show new growth although the coloration isn't too good. Here are the additions/upgrades I've done so far: - Fluval P2 Protein Skimmer - Hydor Koralia Nano 425gph - Hydor Centrifugal Pump 300gph (it's not much stronger than stock pump, although smaller) - Green Killing Machine Mini 3W UV - Fluval Edge 25W heater (The room is fairly warm all year so don't really need much heating) Filter media: Purigen and Phosguard I got 17 different corals (mostly frags) right now including quite a few SPS. Cleanup crew consists of 5 snails, 3 hermit crabs, emerald crab and a blood red fire shrimp. And an acid rain bubble tip Anemone!- 86 replies
-
- 4
-
-
- fluval evo 13.5
- bubble tip anemone
- (and 10 more)
-
-
Hey all! Been meaning to start a thread on here but got busy with life. Anyway, I had an IM10 SPS tank in highschool and sold everything (idiot move) when I moved to Colorado for college, thinking that I wouldn't set up another tank until I had my own House. That lasted for about 3 years and here I am rebuying everything that I once had, at much higher prices, in order to set this reef up. It has been cycled and has its first first and a mushroom coral (mainly for the coralline on the frag disc, not a big softie guy), but I have not taken updated photos yet. I will take more photos when I get home from school and work tonight if I feel up to it. My plans for this tank are everchanging, and I am unsure if I want to commit to another SPS dominated nano yet, but I'm sure it will happen eventually. For now I am planning on picking up a birdsnest at a local swap this weekend to use as a canary SPS so to speak, as well as nice encrusting coral for my lower rocks and a few zoanthids for the edges of the tank. Equipment: - Tank: IM 25 Lagoon - Stand: custom built stand - Lighting: noopsyche k7 pro (the bigger one lol, unsure on name at them moment) - ATO: amazon cheapo and a 5 gallon home depot bucket resevoir - Skimmer: Leaning icecap. Despite their low build quality I hear that they are little skimmate monsters -Heaters: 2 75w heaters (take one out for water changes when needed), planning on getting an Inkbird shortly - RODI: ROBuddy 50GPD - FIltration: Running a filter sock on one side and a media caddy on the other. Have another media caddy in my closet that I may modify to run floss on top with chaeto in the bottom 2 chambers - Media: Running carbon and GFO when needed -Test Kits: using ATI (i know i know not great) for Nitrate and salifert for everything else - 2 Bio bricks -Return Pump: standard IM return pump - Powerhead: Sicce nano Fish Plans - one mocha misbar clownfish (current resident) - one wyoming white clownfish (current resident) - either a smaller blenny or a small goby (future) -Small wrasse (future) - Naso tang ;] Coral Plans Current: - Mushroom coral (got it for 5$ at LFS and mainly wanted the disc cause it has pink and purple coralline all over it) - 5 unknown zoa varieties -some weird blue encrusting coral from lfs, maybe psammocora - war coral favites - jack o lantern lepto - orange setosa - green acan - green birdsnest Future: - Red Dragon acro (have always loved the growth pattern) - 2 plating acros with complimentary colors -1 fuzzy milli (love fluffy sticks) - Acan garden along one side of my tank where there is less light (2-3 decent colonies for my size tank) - Zoa garden on base of rock - 1 large encrusting coral (leaning favites) -1 coral or anemone that provides decent movement in the water column on the peak of the smaller bommie I will post updated photos with the new coral additions later this week
-
9 to 5 Montipora Cube. For this tank I aim to keep it Montipora only (or at least close enough to it), being made up of different species and morphs of branching, plating and encrusting Montis. The plan is to try and keep as much of the equipment outside of the tank as possible, so that the corals are the main focus. To do this I have a have ordered some glass lily pipes to create the minimal equipment look Im going for and a fluval 205 canister filter with a hydor external heater I have lying around. Current Full Tank Shot: Contest Entry Picture: Equipment: Tank: 12” Cube. Stand: Ikea Eket. Lights: AI Prime 16HD. Heater: Hydor inline heater. Temperature Controller: Inkbird ITC-308-Wifi. Auto Top Off: DD H2Ocean compact ATO. Flow: Jebao SLW-5. Mechanical filtration: Fluval 205. Dosing: TBD. Livestock: Coral: Various Montipora species. Fish: TBD. CUC. Highlight Links: Reefin' 9 to 5, Brought to you by: &
-
I have a clownfish and he ate almost all the flesh off my Birdsnest, there is a little bit left on the bottom towards the frag plug, will the flesh grow back?
-
Hello, I want to try something and i can’t find much information on it or someone who tried this. Because i have not much space for a reef tank and i want to have sps again, i want to buy a waterbox peninsula 15 or 25 and put a ghl kh and ion director on it for stability. Would this be possible? Can’t find much info on someone using this equipment on small tank. Pro’s and cons? Best regards, Jens
-
Hello everyone, I am new to Nano Reef but not new to the hobby. I wanted to start a build thread to share my photos and track my progress over the years. I hope you enjoy and feel free to comment.
-
Jumped back into the hobby a few months ago with a 20 long. Didn't last long, ready for an upgrade. My name is Cory, I live on the Central Coast, Morro Bay. Things I enjoy are long walks on the beach with Penny (my dog), riding my 66' ironhead and spicy ramen Don't really have a specific direction I'm going for with this tank but mostly to just learn and enjoy the coral and fish that would make a good addition. Mixed reef with everything being carried over from the 20 gallon. I would love to grow some sps colonies down the line. EquipmentTank: Fiji Cube 48 Shallow 30" x 23" x 15"Sump: Fiji 20 Lighting: Aquaticlife 24" t5 hybrid w/ Hydra 32HD Flow: Nero 3 & Vortech MP10Skimmer: SC Aquariums SCA-301 (for now) Return: Ebay return pump (for now) Doser: Kamoer F4 pro
-
Hey there! Recently, I have reduced this hobby to just one tank in light of life changes and an intense schedule working at an observatory. Although never intending to set up another reef tank, this 9 to 5 contest twisted my arm into setting up this small reef tank 🙈 In all respects though, I think this is going to be my endgame reef and plan to have it running until in 30 years I finally get my 220 or get out of the hobby. Like the title says, my goal with this tank is to have it be a "jungle" of SPS corals, or rather, a dedicated SPS system (but only between the hours of 9 to 5... 😉) This tank will be plumbed into a sump and will have a display fuge if everything goes to plan. I still have to tack down a few items that are going to power this tank, but I look forward to creating a neat little tank to help me get through the work day. Join me on this small adventure for many moons to come! Me in the office waiting for things to arrive... Current Full Tank Shot: Contest Entry Picture: Equipment: Tank: UNS 45L Lighting: 2x Noopsyche K7 V3 75W LEDs Stand: Vasagle Lowell Cabinet Filtration: Penn Plax Cascade 700 Wave Maker: Hygger Mini Wave Maker Heater: Topfin 20w preset ATO: Auto Aqua Smart ATO Lite Livestock: Corals: So much SPS Fish: TBD Inverts: TBD
