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I figured it was time to put up or shut up. Welcome to my 12 Gallon long and dirty reef. Equipment: Display: Mr. Aqua 12 Gallon long Lighting: USA Marine Orbit Pro Heater: Tetra Flow: 2- Jaebo WP 10 Carib Sea Dry Base Rock Carib Sea Fiji Pink Sand This tank was started 2/4/2016 with a tank i found on craigslist. I am a long time freshwater fish keeper. I had thought of keeping a saltwater tank before but I didn't even know nano reefs were a thing.......maybe i should have kept it that way. Photo dump to follow.

In time for Christmas. 120G new build. Substrate came from 150G tank stored under the “old oak tree”. Now that I have added salt, the organics are bubbling up from the sandbed. With respect to the sandbed, I played copy cat with PaulB using a reverse flow undergravel sandbed composed of mixed grade aroggonite. It worked for him for 44 years and I know success when I see it. So, I already told Paul that I was going to take the credit but any “old school” cichlid keeper already knows this. Instead of gravity allowing detritus to settle into the depths of the bed, the reverse flow keeps everything aerobic and keeps detritus near the surface for the janitors to recycle. When Paul did his substrate, he used dolomite, because that is what was available then. I use aroggonite, which dissolves at a higher pH for alkalinity buffering and trace mineral addition. I have already added 20ml of ammonia to feed the bugs. As soon as salinity stabilizes, I will add https://www.tlc-products.com/startsmart-complete/