# Red Sea max 130 build. It will be slow :).



## 12273

Well, I recently acquired a RSM 130 and I plan on doing a small reef. I don't want the tank to be crammed with rock and coral bursting at the seems. This will be my first attempt at setting up a reef tank so bare with me. And please, if you have something to add let me know. I'm open to it all. 

I plan on doing about three stacks. Close to each other and drilling and mounting them on PVC tubing and making a PVC stand. Sort of H shape at the bottom for support and a centre pipe to mount rock. 

SALT: instant ocean reef crystal. Reviews seem good! 

CORAL: I'm not too sure as of yet. I am not to familiar with coral. I do know I want some Zoo's, paly's , hammer and mushrooms. Eventually I might get a BTA but only when I'm ready for the commitment. I'm not into experimenting at a creatures expense. 

FISH: I'm hoping for 2 clowns (ocellaris probably due to small size). A colourful goby (shrimp goby?) firefish and maybe a cardinal. 

CLEAN UP CREW: I'm open to peaceful coral safe creatures! Not too sure about these little guys. Turbo snail? True cleaner shrimp? 

RO/DI: looking at the 5 stage Maxwater. Looks to be a good price. Prob gonna order soon. Going to fill barrel in basement and have huge reservoir. Ill stock a heater, power head and prob have a salt mix ready for water changes (aging). Going to eventually get a jug for under the tank and have a ATO setup. I'm not too worried because I don't anticipate too much evap from RSM. 

OTHER EQUIP: I ordered the JBJ refractor, digital thermometer, seachem saltwater kit. Seachem reef master and API calcium kit. 

So far I placed the stand and that's about it LOL. I'm doing a system test and leak test with the tank in my garage. Will bring it in Monday. Everything seems to be working ok I suppose LOL. One thing I noticed is when the lid is opened water drips down the back of the tank. To remedy that and save my floor and stand I'm going to place a 2" foam strip along the back to catch the drips and splashes. 

Thanks for reading and hopefully you folks will be as patient as I have to be . Stay tuned


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## 12273

I got some awesome reef rock from "pcdoc"!

Thanks so much for the great deal.

This is a quick set up I did in about 5 minutes. I plan on making 3 towers. Close together with bridging. I want crevices for fish to swim through and my goal is to have the best flow possible without dead zones. I will place some coral I front of the little holes fish can swim through and leaves plenty for water movement to keep the coral fresh .

I might do a fourth tower depending in how this will look.


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## altcharacter

Glad to hear that you're getting into the saltie side of the hobby and good to see you drink beer!

The one concern I would have right off the bat is to say that any rocks that are stacked on top of each other will get knocked down and might possibly hit your glass. It's happened to me and now I know better 

When doing rockscapes it's better to lock in rocks naturally to each other so they don't wobble or look like they're ready to fall over. The existing rockscape I have in my tank is due to years of "learning" how to do it wrong. I'll try to take some pics tomorrow to show you what I mean.

If you're going to try to do towers, try to just stack them with a rod going thru them without having to rely on any other rocks leaning on them. 


Keep the pics coming!!!


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## 12273

Thanks! It's great to be here! 

I'm still keeping my planted tank lol. MTS got a hold of me. I swore to the wife this boulder happen . 

I forgot to mention in my post I am planning on drilling and mounting on 1/2 inch PVC. Building a H shape to stabilize the bottom and have a T connector with a rod for my rock. The little ones might be the only ones that I let sit without securing. However, I was thinking of making my stacks, gluing the little pieces to them and pushing them close together in the tank. Not sure if this will make life easier when it comes to mounting frags on them. 

What I was thinking was keeping little pieces dry so when I get coral I can epoxy pieces to dry rock and stick em in the tank that way as oppose to try to epoxy wet rock. I'm still a rookie in this salti stuff so..... If I plan on keeping my rock mounted and with a base it will protect the glass at the bottom and provide support. I'm also thinking if I leave the pvc tubing hollow and the parts in the sand will hopefully keep the sand flushed with fresh water . I also plan on getting epoxy at homedepot. Because I can't see my myself spending triple at LFS for "aquarium" safe stuff. On the same token I don't wanna crash my system. But the stuff I use won't be placed until it's fully cured. So many choices lol.

**** no drunk aquascape was conducted drunk*** lol.


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## altcharacter

Drinking while reefing is almost a requirement!


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## 12273

Hey I sent you a PM about the rock. Let me know. When and where. I'm good to swing by today.


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## 12273

Last night I decided to drill some rock and start the build on my supports. It turned out ok and I only broke one rock in the process so far that I will epoxy together.

I used 1/2" CPVC because it's safe for water and the diameter is smaller than PVC. I bought a bag of T connectors and it was $6.

Supplies to build the supports cost me about $20 and I got all my stuff at lowes except the JB water weld which I got at Canadian tire for $10.

I used a 1/2" masonry drill bit and I didn't use a pilot hole. Just slow and steady. Some rock I drilled in about 3 seconds and some rock was like drilling into a diamond LOL. The hard packed reef rock is tough to drill!!!!

Today I'm moving the tank inside and going to place my rocks and see what the aquascape will look like. Going to get some more white sand and maybe my reef crystals today as well.


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## altcharacter

Great to see this is working out well for you. This is an amazing start to what I think will be an awesome tank.

Instead of the epoxy, what you might want to do is check out the DIY section and look for the DIY reef rock that's made of cement and oyster shells. The epoxy will always show and won't really fit in but if you use some of the cement to bond the rocks together it should look much more natural and also it will literally become live rock eventually. Also it's much cheaper than epoxy 

So did you have a few beers while drilling?


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## 12273

Thanks for the kind words!

I can't lie in had beer! I had my wife's bud lime. That's all that's left .

Well I fitted my drip catcher for the back if the tank and brought the tank inside finally.

I used foam from walmart that is mildew resistant and I used Velcro dots from dollar store to stick it to the back. Makes for easy removal and washing the foam.

I've switched to coffee for the morning LOL.


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## altcharacter

Great start and I've always loved the look of that tank. This is going to be a good build!


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## 12273

On to the next thing.

I got more rock thanks to altcharacter who hooked me up huge!!!!!!

I got my sand and IORC 160 gallon bucket. Should hopefully last a while. $70! Yikes !


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## altcharacter

That rock on the right came from Fesso_clown and the ones from the bottom came from Explor3r. I'm just the middle man 

With the salt you should really only be doing a 4-5g WC a week so that bucket should last you a year or so.


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## 12273

Well ill have to send them a thank you as well!

Latest step was I'm pretty much done my rock towers. Well, I am done I just have to figure out what to do with the middle. Those rocks won't be secured so I can play around with that.

I purposely placed the rocks so that I can easily reach the glass with my scrubber and scraper should coraline algae take over. My goal is to keep the glass clear. After all it's a only a nano .

So far so good and placing these rocks is almost a hypnotizing relaxing activity. Not sure why LOL.


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## altcharacter

yeah man those rocks look soooo much better!! Alot of spaces for fish and CUC to hide if needed. I don't think you'll need to secure any of the smaller rocks since they look fairly secure as they are.

Just make sure to clean your aragonite really well before you put it in the tank.


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## 12273

altcharacter said:


> yeah man those rocks look soooo much better!! Alot of spaces for fish and CUC to hide if needed. I don't think you'll need to secure any of the smaller rocks since they look fairly secure as they are.
> 
> Just make sure to clean your aragonite really well before you put it in the tank.


Thanks man! Ha ha. Oooopppsss. I didn't wash it. I should have googled that I suppose. Ummmm..... So, now what? I'll just do water changes I suppose. I figured id wash away all the "good stuff" in this expensive sand


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## altcharacter

Use a gravel cleaner and just keep cleaning it to get the fine sand out.


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## fesso clown

not a huge big deal, it will be cloudy but it will settle out in a few days or a week....
Looking good.


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## 12273

Sand in place. Super excited


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## 12273

When I bought the tank It didn't have the power supply for the cooling fan. I found a 12v AC adapter in my garage and it fit the pin on cooling fan perfectly. Is this safe? Should be good right? I tried it and the fan didn't blow up. It was loud but I'm ok with that. Beats buying a chiller . 

Tank is almost full. I started yesterday at like 3 and still going . Stopped overnight of course.


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## 12273

She's full of water now!!!!

Got my power running to it and all seems well. Circulation sucks. Gonna buy a koralia or nano power head 

Got my thermometer installed. Got my seachem testing kits and refractor. Refractor has been calibrated with distilled water and seems ok I suppose. Waiting for water temperature to reach 78F so I can add my salts at the temp I'm gonna be at.

These test kits look like a mini lab!!!!! WTH did I get myself into. I thought API test kits were fun and made me feel like a mad scientist. Hopefully my wife can be my sexy assistant .


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## kamal

looking very nice cannot wait to see this thing stocked


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## 12273

I'm so mad. 

The water is so cloudy and I have to get it out. I don't know what to do. Once it settles it's fine. But once I get fish my tank will be cloudy 24/7. 

I'm gonna siphon it out but that am gonna take forever. 

Man oh man.


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## tom g

*cloudy*

throw a aquaclear hang on filter on there with filter floss or add filter floss to your sump should help with the cloudiness ....
famous last words here patience man u are doing a great job slow down and take deep breaths u are doing great 
cheers 
tom


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## altcharacter

What Tom said. I used a filter sock on my overflow going into the sump and it worked really well. Just make sure to keep stirring the substrate to get all the fine particles out and it should be ok in a few days. There should be nothing stopping you from starting the cycle though with it being cloudy.

The one word you'll hear every Reefer out there repeat is "*PATIENCE*"

I've tried the quick route on pretty much everything and it always ends up bad or worse. Just take your time, have a beer, and watch the tank come alive with color.

When you're ready to go coral shopping give me a shout and I'll show you around town. Since you're going to start with softies like mushrooms and such you can start fairly early with those types of corals.


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## george

Looking nice. Cant wait for the final result.


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## 12273

Latest update. 

She's empty . I had to drain it. I siphoned it out but ran out of water. I'll be filling it back up Friday and draining it again. Rookie mistake that ill never make again. I wAs stirring the sand but my filter floss would get clogged up fast and the chambers for the return pumps would run dry. So babysitting a fish tank for a week while I stir sand was not my idea of a good time. I'm hoping that a few fill ups and siphons will clear up for the most part. Not looking to tear completely down. 

If you're reading this and want to set up a tank rinse the sand first!!!!! 

What a waste of RO/DI water.


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## tom g

*water*

It would of cleared up man...


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## 12273

It was clear but I can see a film of crap sitting on the sand. 

I plan on sand sifting snails and a goby. The goby would have made a huge mess LOL. This way hopefully cut down on the cloudy water. 

I'm a bit anal and this is how I am . I'm working on it lol.


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## kamal

No offence but I hope this current lack of patience doesn't continue. As per what everyone said it would have cleared up so the draining was not required. I originally did the same thing and it cleared up within a week. Then over 3-4 weeks through my regular water changes anything left was cleared. 

Keeping a reef requires plenty of patience my friend


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## tom g

*lol*

A bit anal ...lmao....its ok its all a process..u will make other mistakes as well
Like we did.sometimes u can't go back after u make mistakes and u just 
Have to ride it out....all in all can't wait to see more updates.
Cheers


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## 12273

Thanks everyone for there advice and kind words of wisdom. 

It's not that I don't have patience it's excitement. I've wanted SW since a young lad and it's finally here. I just want this to be as perfect as possible and this little hick up bothered me. 

I'm trying to remedy it and hopefully Friday I'll be good to go and put my live rock in there and get things going.


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## kamal

as an added note some of us continue to make mistakes (ME ME ME) lol its a long learning curve but part of the addiction.


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## 12273

Tell me about it! Lol. 

I have a high tech planted tank set up and same thing with that. But now its all stable and running itself basically . The reef table just has a few more steps to follow that are new to me that's all. For instance, the planted tank didn't need to have the substrate rinsed. It was also $40 a bag!!! Lol. 

Next thing to tackle will be to find a permanent spot for my RO/DI when I get it Thursday. I'll have to give alrchatacter his unit back at some point .


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## altcharacter

You will find that a reef tank is pretty easy yo take care of once you have had it for a few years. Weekly water changes are really a standard and since you are going the softie route it should be fairly easy


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## 12273

Well, I added a 600GPH koralia power head. I'll see how the current is when I have fish. I can't really tell right now how it is


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## altcharacter

With a reef tank most of the time you'll want a few powerheads that are a little bit lower power. The 600gph is a good start but I would try to put another 425gph or something comparable on the other end or in the back. In my tank I am running a MP10wES and a Tunze [email protected] 740gph. I don't include the return in that flow but even the return is pumping at around 600gph. With the MP10 I would probably say it's running around 800gph so if you add all that up I'd say I'm around the 2000gph range for a 50g or so.


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## 12273

Those Mp's look nice with the wave maker thingy! But so so expensive lol. I will definitely prob add another power head in there to make it wavy in the tank.

That just seems like a lot of water movement how do the poor fishies sleep? Lol. Can some of them be turned off with a Timer during the night?


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## altcharacter

Yes I use a reefkeeper lite to control my lights, heater, and powerheads


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## 12273

Today I bought a used JBJ with aqualifter for $100. Not bad. It's in great shape. I set it all up and all that left is to fill my bucket for the reservoir and attach hoses to the lifter. 



So I read that there is a timer on the JBJ. So if the timer triggers the pump to **** off how long will the pump be off for? I plan on setting the timer to about half way. 3 too short I think and 14 minutes too long I would think. So how do I reset the pump if the timer shuts it off for me? 



And I also plan on using mode B with a minimum and maximum to be 100% sure that the system won't flood my tank with reservoir water. Include the timer and this should be fool proof. SHOULD, key work LOL

Thanks Tom G . Again another great member on here.


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## tom g

*hey*

hey man no probs hope it works out , look forward to seeing it set up as I didn't set it up , man u are fast 
talk about enthusiastic.
show me some pics or vids of what I had sitting in the bottom of my freshwater tank for over a year.


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## 12273

Hey lol. I am enthusiastic LOL. Or OCD.

Here is the placement of the sensors. One high one low. Also I zip tied my aqua lifter on the inside of the bucket. So if it springs a leak or malfunctions in any way it's on the inside of the bucket and not in the side of my tank.

Used the hanger for the JBJ and it seems ok there. I can slide my bucket out to easily fill it. I also plan on using another RSM pump to place on my bucket and have a hose attached to stick it in my reservoir bucket so no spilling or lifting.

I also use this pump to add my wAter from my bucket to the tank and will use this method for water changes.


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## 12273

Refill in progress.

Look at the crystal clear water!!!!


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## tom g

*wow*

wow good job man looks great and the water does look super clear 
good job and thanks for the update


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## tom g

*hey*

hey just looking at the pic of the unit tie strapped to the tub slice that end cut of the tie strap flush before u slice your self ,use a razor and cut it flush I have many war wounds from left over tie straps 
cheers 
tom


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## 12273

Lol. I live dangerously lol. I should fix that though. Could be a nasty cut.


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## kamal

Great progress

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk


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## 12273

Today I placed my RO/DI unit in a blue bin from Canadian tire. $7.

I placed the RO in there to keep it safe, tubing organized and as a added level of safety should a connection leak.

The bin handles have holes in them and I routed my hoses through there keeping it neat and organized. If you want you can even label the outside of the bin. Mine would be left side good side right side feed side. The tubing fits right into the holes without drilling and also adds more the water capacity should it flood in there.

I also installed a pressure gauge and inline dual TDS meter and the seem to work great so far. Took about 20 minutes to install taking my time and looking for best spots to mount stuff.


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## badmedicine

Hey nice looking tank !!
Have you started putting in salt in the water or is that just RO ?
When you start adding salt water (do not add salt directly into the tank)add a piece of live rock or DR. TIM'S Nutrifying Bacteria (i did both and it worked great).
And just so you know…. you are not going to like your tank during the cycling process- It will go brown for a period of time. THIS IS WHERE MOST PPL get anxious. Like everyone says….PATIENCE.

looking good. send pics


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## sig

I hope your rock structures are very stable and you will be able to attach corals (apply pressure, etc) without crashing it. I would also suggest to install bypass for pressure gauge o the RODI.

I did the same mistake with the crappy gauge from home depot and it did not last long being constantly under pressure.

I do not see properly on the image where gauge is attached, but I was thinking it should take measurements from the input to the unit (city line) and not in/out of the membrane. Just my opinion

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## tom g

*rockwork*

previous threads show OP has drilled rocks and ran thru with pvc and a base ...


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## 12273

Hey Tom. The JBJ is workin now . Somewhat lol. I needs fine tuning and adjusting with the comb/weir. 

Yeah my rock is stable and also off the glass and protected. No rock is touching the glass.

And the RO pressure gauge calls for it right before the membrane. The membrane has a certain PSI and temp it likes. So I crank my cold and hot to give me a good temp as stated in the manual and my psi is right at 40. I believe the manual says 40-60 psi. So for now in happy. I have a TDS reading of 164 in and 002 out which gives me about 98.7% rejection rate with my ills filters. 

I bought a 0.5 spectrapure sediment. 5.0 carbon followed by a 0.5 carbon and than a 100 GPD membrane. Than it goes to spectra pure DI resin. Hopefully those new filters will give me 000. But I'm ok with 002 for now . 

Shrimp in the tank and live rock seed in tomorrow hopefully


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## altcharacter

Shrimp should be one of the last things you put in the tank  They are very sensitive to changes. Good luck!!

As for the live rock I should be able to drop it off for you tomorrow.


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## 12273

Dead shrimp silly!!!! 

I wouldn't do that! LOL.

Don't come all the way for that. If you're in my area for something else than that's cool. If not ill head down there tomorrow. If you're available all day even better


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## altcharacter

oh gotcha!!! You mean cycling it 
All you really have to do is put a piece of shrimp in. You don't have to put the whole thing in.


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## 12273

Oh. Oops.

Well I have this netting stuff that I use for making roe sacks for fishing trout. It's perfect. It won't let loose junks fall off but still slow decomposition.


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## sig

aquaman1 said:


> And the RO pressure gauge calls for it right before the membrane. The membrane has a certain PSI and temp it likes. So I crank my cold and hot to give me a good temp as stated in the manual and my psi is right at 40. I believe the manual says 40-60 psi. So for now in happy. I have a TDS reading of 164 in and 002 out which gives me about 98.7% rejection rate with my ills filters.
> 
> Shrimp in the tank and live rock seed in tomorrow hopefully


you are right on it. I was never thinking about it, since I have very bad pressure in the house and my goal was to fix it.

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## 12273

Added a couple pieces of live rock and got some mini brittle stars and a mushroom ! Hopefully they make it. Coralline is beautiful purple and thick.

Params are:
Temp 80-81.5. Heater off. Fan on 
PH 8.0 
Alk 3.5 
Nitrite 0.5-1.0 
Nitrate 2 
Phos 0.2 
Calc 520+

I think that the ATI calcium test kit is so stupid. You have to add drops and shake. Can take up to 26 drops to figure calcium. Add drop, shake. And the one bottle states it dangerous so along with acid you're getting crap all over.

Getting rid of it and I'll invest in a decent test kit. Calcium at 520 seems high and prob not accurate LOL.

The other tests are all Seachem.


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## 12273

How come ammonia was undetectable today on day 9? That doesn't make sense


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## Steel_Wind

Loving the thread and gearing up to follow in your shoes in the next 2 months.

/me cheers you on.



______
.Robert


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## 12273

Thanks! I have another fan!!!!

This is by far the coolest thing ever. Marine life is so intriguing and diverse. Beautiful, dangerous in some cases and almost each thing is unique.

For instance. My lights went out 25 minutes ago. So I turned on my iphone light and immediately signs of life. Not sure if these are good but they look like little shrimp/fleas or something. Beige in colour and really small.

I also got a shot of some brittle star fish sticking his legs out .


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## 12273

Apparently they are amphipods and harmless . 


Yippie!


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## Kweli

Your at a pretty exciting stage when starting this hobby. 
Those little critters are great to have in your tank. You will notice more and more. 3 years into my tank I still find some weird things every once in a while.

My only advice would be to take it slow. Its very easy to go crazy, especially when corals are on sale. I quickly overfilled my tank, then had to spend some time selling stuff to get it back to a manageable state

I always liked the RSM, Actually wanted that more then my Solana but couldnt find anyone selling it


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## 12273

Ha ha ha. As you write in mine I wrote In your thread. That's funny

Yeah I'm taking it slow. It's hard as hell but I'm doing it. I've spent WAY too much money and time already that I wouldn't want to ruin my investments. The first intentional additions will be clean up crew. Trochus, cleaner shrimp and maybe a scarlet hermit. Nassarius snails if I can find some. 

Coral will prob be a Acan, frogspawn or some more shrooms. 

My first fish will be be a pair of False clowns. I love those little guys . They are the cutest thing. After my clowns prob yasha goby and shrimp pair. I'll look for a Randall shrimp for there small size and apparently peaceful temperament


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## Kweli

I would hold off on the nassarius snail until you have fish and you are putting food in the tank.

They are like the hobo of the tank, walking around looking for fallen food.... if you arent dropping food they will go hungry


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## 12273

Oh ok. Didn't know. Could I just drop some food here and there for the CUC or will it cause a mini cycle?


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## 12273

Also just got the reef tank pro app. It's a little confusing but with the graph hopefully I'll get a cool idea of my progress as the tank moves along. Multiple tanks can be added. App is customizable also which is nice


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## 50seven

Welcome to the dark side...

Good that you know what you ant for stocking the tank. Suggest to add the most timid fish first, then move to the more aggressive fish last.

Good luck with the tank!


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## 12273

Hey thanks it's nice to be here on the dark side  

I plan on the two clowns, goby and a dottyback or royal gramma. 4 fish should do it I think. Small light bio load and peaceful.


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## 12273

Today will be another project . 

I ordered 3 19w ecoxotic panorama pro and should be here today . I got 2 12000k/425nm blue and 1 425nm blue I'm hoping it will be more on the blue side of things. I am replacing the power compacts as I feel this is ancient lighting method and it's stupid expensive at $40 a bulb! Especially replacing every 6 months. Couldn't fathom doing that and they run hot too. 

I plan on mounting the lights inside the existing spot with the splash guard and having the fans running to help jeep the LED even cooler. I would love to be able to tap into the existing light control system of the Red Sea max and use the built in timer to control the LED lights and fans. However I don't think tho will be possible so I'll have to keep the stock timer and timer on LED's in sync to have the fans turn on and moonlights turn on when LED's go off. 

To mount the LED I'm still not sure but I do know that I will be using some sort of spacer to prevent heat build up and keep the LED as cool as possible. Either going to cut some cpvc spacers or using a grate style and bolt lights through that. 

I don't plan on high light corals and it's mostly going to be easy low light to moderate light. If I do get a nem he will be placed near the top and I have a spot in mind. The nem won't be happening until at least 6 months or more and I plan on testing the PAR to make sure of my light output. 

Stay tuned folks! Hopefully mail man shows up today


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## 12273

Yippie!!!!

LED lights are in. They are really really bright. On the picture only blue shows up. It's got a bit more white to than in the picture.

It was a nightmare of an install and there couldn't fit in the stock light compartment. Don't mounted a sacrificial light outside under the canopy. Apparently these are safe to dunk so it should be good to get a little condensation.

I took out all the guts for the T5's and put them aside. When I get a bigger tank in gonna use these LED lights.


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## kamal

Looks really nice great progress

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## 12273

Thanks . My wife just absolutely loves it! I'm being sarcastic by the way LOL.

I tested the heat and the compartment with the 2 LED is about 105F. When I had the T5's it was 150F. So about 45F cooler in the canopy! Tank temp also dropped about 1.5. And is now hovering around 79.1 ish . LED all the way!!!!!!

Now, if it turns out these aren't enough ill prob get another set of 3 with 1 12000k/445nm blue, 1 445nm blue and 1 magenta. And make my own pendant light and hang it from the ceiling.

I think 3 19W will do the trick though. According to ecoxotic it's good for SPS in a Red Sea max 130. I don't believe it but I'll say if they say it's good for SPS than I shouldn't have a problem with mushrooms, torch and hammer. I really like the paly's and zoas but the toxin freaks me right the hell out. Can't take the chance. Someone other than me could possibly stick there hand in and not know better.

It's weird. When I take a picture from far it turns white. When I get close. It's blue. So I took a pic from far .


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## SKurj

aquaman1 said:


> If I do get a nem he will be placed near the top and I have a spot in mind.


Looks great! 
Just have to say one thing though.. I'm not sure nem's give a damn where you think they should go 

But I have never kept one so ...

Looks great, as I am bailing on sw glad I never made the jump to LED just for the expense but I must say even my FW tanks look better under LED.

As far as paly/zoa toxins go, the number of times anyone even a complete stranger would ever touch em... and even if they did touch em in the tank you are fine.. now if they removed em and decided to scrub their face withem mebbe I would be concerned... If anyone does reach in and touch rocks etc and it isn't you mebbe insist they hit the sink and wash up.


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## 12273

Hey! I'm keeping my fingers crossed those scarlet hermits don't sell. I know it's selfish on my part . Look forward to getting some more Live rock from ya. I live the pieces I got. 

The LED's are expensive but replacing power compacts every six months at $90 shipped just can't get passed that. They ran hot. The light was ugly and it's expensive. Or LED cheaper long run and looks amazing. Keeps things cool.


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## SKurj

Got a big piece of LR I'd like to give you. The one Yuma may have just split and its something I have never seen. But arg its early and its one of the biggest rocks I Have. Curious if it is actually the Yuma splitting/creating a new one. The LR you already picked up should help speed up the cycle, and more will just do the same 

I'm guessing I will be stuck with the clowns for awhile yet so I'll have at least a few snails and probably a hermit or 2 left for abit yet.


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## 12273

What about setting up a quarantine tank out of a 10 gallon for the clowns. You have enough to establish the tank quick and sit on them for a while. No need to lose too much money on them. 

Plus, clowns have to be the cutest fish in the ocean. Tiny little playful fish that do some weird things lol. I love em! Keep em for now. That way you can sell other stuff and keep minimal equipment to have them happy and healthy.


----------



## 12273

Parameters today:

Free ammonia 0 
Total ammonia 0.03 ish. 30 minute mg/L 
PH 8.0 
Nitrate 0.1
Nitrite 0 
Salinity 36 PPT. Need to fix that.

I'm not sure if I'm not doing something right but I'm following the test instructions perfectly. I do have a hard time reading those colours and the numbers could be a little easier. If it's In between its hard to read the values.

What do these numbers mean. I don't get it. I have live rock. Rotting shrimp and fed yesterday with shrimp pellets. That prob explains slight increase in total ammonia. Shouldn't my numbers be higher? Not nitrate but the ammonia and nitrite are low. More shrimp rotting?

I'm adding more live rock tomorrow so maybe that will help. My ratio of dry rock to LR is sad LOL.

According to this I should be all over the place with levels. Bit I'm flat line. There is no way in near the end because I would have a high number of nitrate. Especially since no water changes since the start.


----------



## altcharacter

If your beneficial bacteria has kicked in then you wouldn't have any problems. Fix your salinity by adding RO/DI water or taking out some saltwater and replacing it with fresh water.

Start putting some snails in that tank already. It's been like over a week!!


----------



## 12273

LMAO! Alt I thought I had to wait for a month?!?! 

What would I add now? 

Hermit? I'm thinking the scarlet. Apparently small and pretty peaceful for a hermit. I'm also looking at the emerald grab now. Although I'll have to make sure he's fed or else he'll go on a killing spree. So I've heard. 

I have no algae or anything! I'm not sure what to do here folks. After 13 days these are weird results. Don't you think? 

Trochus snail? Hell ya! LOL.


----------



## altcharacter

I would refrain from putting any type of hermits in due to the "killing" factor. Any snails that you put in after the hermit will die due to the hermit wanting new shells. Even if you put in shells for the hermit, most of the time the hermit will kill the snail anyways because he's jealous or a punk.

I would put in a couple snails like possibly a trochus or even a turbo under the idea that they might not live but you need something in the tank. 

On my 20g tank I had quite a bit of algae by week 3 and added 25 turbo snails. You should be fine to add a few small snails to help keep the cycle going and to get ready to clean up the algae.


----------



## 12273

I have access to trochus (black foot) easily. A member near my area. He's bringing more live rock and maybe I'll buy some snails off him . 

My hitch hikers are doing great! My mushroom is doing great and seems to like the LED lights. It sits flatter on the rock and looks content. I'm hoping he makes it. I also noticed last night one of my brittle stars moved into one of my dry rock . Well, wet dead rock LOL. 

I use a head lamp that has a red light on it so it doesn't disturb the inhabitants but let me see inside there world. I don't actually mount it on my head though. Ok, maybe once I did.


----------



## 12273

Mushroom seems to be liking the tank!


----------



## 12273

Params today

Added live rock yesterday and dropped half a cube of mysis shrimp in. What the deuce?!?! I didn't get this. Maybe my tests are flawed.

Ammo 0 free and total. 
Nitrite 0.05 almost not there 
Nitrate 0.05 almost not there 
Alk 4.0 mg/L.








that's my nitrate. Nitrite looked the same








that's my ammonia. 0.

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----------



## 50seven

Glad you're happy with the LED's. I do find they are often hard to photograph under though. 

Good luck with the snails. Try a few of each kind maybe. Trochus, Astrea, Nassarius, Turbo, Cerith


----------



## 12273

Hey 50! 

I got 4 trochus, 2 Caribbean cerith, 2 nassarius vibex. I added an algae wafer to keep the trochus happy. 




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## 12273

Took out my eheim heater today and replaced with a a hydor. I thought my temps were high maybe because the heater was malfunctioning and this one is the same thing. I put in in 5 hours ago and my temp went up 2. 

I don't get that at all. I set the heater to 77 and it's still running despite the temp being more than that. Does anyone make a good thermometer and heater???!? This is getting silly now. 


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----------



## tom g

*heat*

how hot are your lights ...adjust back the heater see if u can stabalize it that way ,if lights are hot then try cracking the lid a bit on your top .used to do that with my bio cube.


----------



## 50seven

I also find that the numbers on the temp dial are not always very accurate, nor are they consistent from unit to unit, even within the same brand. That's why many of us use temperature controllers 

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----------



## 12273

Great another purchase LOL. I told the wife this tank was plug and play. I was lying a little but never though this much lying LOL.

Upon inspection I found this little dude.

From my research it's a form of anemone/mushroom? Apparently potent sting. Ill prob get a needle and inject it with some stuff. Not on it but in its flesh. 









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## 50seven

Haha! Famous last words 

Google apitasia and mojano. If its one of those then you definitely want to kill it ASAP. Inject it with boiling water, peroxide, or cover it over with a blob of epoxy. 

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----------



## WiseGuyPhil

Definately apitasia. I would suggest getting Zaptasia to remove it. Its very pasty and works great, just shut off your powerheads for about 15 minutes when you use it and it should be gone by then.


----------



## 12273

Last night I changed my RO/DI filters. Including the resin. And what a change! Water is faster. I have 000 TDS. Before i has 002 TDS and I was ok with that bit I'm showing some silicate in my tank and 0.2 phosphate. That's prob why. So next week I'm doing a 20% water change and replace with 0 TDS water  


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## 12273

I think it's a ball anemone. Look mostly like that.

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----------



## 12273

Got a needle. I will try boiling water and vinegar first to kill it. Hopefully it works. If not I will try peroxide. Although I'll have to look into that 

Do I do this inside the tank? Or take the rock out? 


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## liz

Do it in the tank and shoot right for the middle. You only need straight vinegar in a syringe.


----------



## sig

liz said:


> Do it in the tank and shoot right for the middle. You only need straight vinegar in a syringe.


I do not know how you youngsters are capable to "shoot right for the middle". 

I newer was able to do this with apthasia, since it always retracts in the rock and I see nothing. Probably it is because I am old and do not see properly 

The only thing that always worked fine for me is the plumbing torch. And it always was for sure 

Also be careful and do not spray a lot of vinegar in the tank. It will reduce PH

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----------



## 12273

Ok so straight vinegar and that should work? I have snails and a couple shrooms. Will the be fine? 

The rock will easily come out. And I can rinse with RO/DI water afterwards 


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----------



## liz

aquaman1 said:


> Ok so straight vinegar and that should work? I have snails and a couple shrooms. Will the be fine?
> 
> The rock will easily come out. And I can rinse with RO/DI water afterwards
> 
> Sent from my iPhone with auto correct. Can't you tell?


snails and mushrooms will be fine. If you take the rock out then the nem will retract and you will have a hard time finding it. JMTC


----------



## 12273

Ok so I only have the one from what I can see so about 3 ml in a needle and than jam the mouth or the base? Sorry folks 


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----------



## sig

You Only Get One Shot, So Shoot... 

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----------



## altcharacter

Hope you can kill it if it's aiptasia! 

As for the heaters there's only one real way to keep control of it without worrying and that's getting some type of controller. The temp settings on your heater aren't exact and also they aren't going to turn on and off when it gets to a certain temp. The heater will just stay on up to a certain point. Think about how a potentiometer works and then you'll understand. Most heaters don't care if your tank is 90 degrees. If you have it kranked up then it's going to keep heating.

This is what I was trying to say in 10G's post about killing your tank if it's small. Heaters are very non-functional when it comes to smaller marine tanks. Crank that heater back to 75 or even 74 since it really doesn't hurt your tank to go a bit lower. In general coral can last for days in cold water. They just usually "shy" up and save their energy as if a huge storm was coming thru. On the other hand if your tank gets up to 82 degrees I would say your tank could last a few hours if not a day then just blow up.

Good luck!! Good posting and questions so far, don't worry about feeling if the questions aren't relevant. That's what we're here for.


----------



## liz

You won't need 3 mls of vinegar - 1/2 to 1 ml is plenty.


----------



## 12273

Hey Alt! Glad to see you posting! Hope all is well . If you need anything let me know.

Well I've seen that heater a crap. To be honest though my inline hydor in my planted tank is awesome. Never fails (knock on wood). Keeps tank steady. With my plants steady is important with crypts . Anyways, enough about plants 

This is how I read my temps. 
1. Cheap thermo









2. Mater craft on sale for $30. Regular like $90 or something silly. 
















I use both and make a comparison. Apparently a good way to test thermometer is with a glass of ice. Add water. Stir and read the temp. It should be 32F. My digital was off by 2. And laser was bang on. I know the laser will read surface temp so I stick it to the glass and wait about 30 seconds till the temp caps out. The laser is an indicator of the approximate depths were reading. The best thing probably is a glass suction thermo. But they could fall and break and release mercury into the water. BAD! LOL. Plus they are an eye sore. I will get one to confirm my readings.

I basically ran for a week or more without any heater and it never dropped below 77. That's with lights off from 2300-1700 the next day!

As for the anemone friend I've collected it looks to me like a "strawberry anemone" or "ball anemone". Here is a better pic without LED glare.









Here is my method of injection  I got a diabetic needle because they have to be Very accurate. And don't forget your wife's turkey Baster. She won't mind if you pick up a dead nem. I promise.

















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## 50seven

Sure it's not a mojano?

And I forgot about the torch method. Definitely one of the most effective... 

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----------



## 12273

Well, I injected the thing with some white vinegar. It curled up and played chemical warfare I think with crap pouring out of it. Kind of like a white string of ummm.... You get it. 

I sucked it up with the Baster. Also, I'd like to mention the turkey Baster will not be used for food . 

It curled up like Phil kessel in a fight so hopefully it's dead or on its way out. If this doesn't work tomorrow in taking the rock out and putting some salt directly on it. Apparently that works. 


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----------



## sig

aquaman1 said:


> t and putting some salt directly on it. Apparently that works.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone with auto correct. Can't you tell?


I tried one time and aptasia survived 2 weeks in the freezer. 

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----------



## Steel_Wind

aquaman1 said:


> It curled up like Phil kessel in a fight so hopefully it's dead or on its way out.


Hey! He went toe-to-toe with Scott for 11 seconds, which is at least eight seconds more than anybody else here would have managed to do...

**grumble, grumble**

GO LEAFS GO!
__________________
.Robert


----------



## altcharacter

The leafs are dead as disco and afros


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## 12273

Well. My anemone is deader than all those things . Just a wee shot if vinegar and it's toast. 

It looks like there is maybe a few babies beside it so I'm gonna pour some straight salt and soak for 10-15 minutes and get rid of them. Rinse and good to go. 

However, will the mushroom be ok for that long outside water or should I dunk the shroom and expose area of concern? 

Either way these thing will not take over my tank  no way! 


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## 50seven

Mushroom will be fine out of the water for 10-15 minutes.


----------



## 12273

More testing parameters:

PH 8.0 + maybe a little. 
Ammonia free and total 0 
Nitrite 0 
Nitrate 0.5 ish 
Calcium 520 +. 26 drops=520 I added 27 
Nitrite 








Nitrate 








PH









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## altcharacter

I don't know if I've ever heard of anyone having their Ca up at 520 without dosing or tossing in rolaids!!! Holy Jeebus!!

Also what the hell test kits are you using?


----------



## 12273

Lmfao. 

I know right??? I haven't dosed a thing. Maybe my batch of reef crytals is over the top. Water has been in since November 10th and no water change. This is the second calcium test and both same results. Followed to every instruction. 

API so it's prob crap. But twice now same result. I might invest in salifert to compare. I figured rock would have sucked some up ?!?! 

My alkalinity is around 3.5-4.0 and that's a dKH of about 10. Either this reef crystal amps up calcium and whatever else chemicals. But I'm not worried about high calcium. Should I be? I have no heavy calcium eaters so maybe instant ocean adds a lot if calcium to sustain coral till next water change. 

I'll be honest here. I have zero intentions on dosing and all the crap. I plan on easy coral and want to keep this tank in the KISS category as much as possible. With mostly LPS and other shrooms etc I should be good with weekly or bi weekly water changes to maintain parameters and calcium in the appropriate range. I'll know marie when I add coral I suppose. Without SPS I'm not sure what kind of uptake to expect 

Apparently instant ocean reef crystal batch should test 420 calcium (he he he, 420!) anyways, and dKH should be 12. 


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## altcharacter

After a few calculations...if your calc was 520 then your dKh should be 22.5 or so...
So I think your testing kits might be bad.

If it matters I can bring my testing kits over to see where you stand. I only use salifert or red sea


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## 12273

Hey alt. 

If you're gonna come here might as well stay for a hockey game a have a couple beers! . And if you have anymore LR ill take a softball size live rock too . I'll pay of course. I'm using seachem which aren't that sucky right???? The only API kit I have is the calcium. The rest are all seachem. 

The alk test is easy and basically count drops and divide by two and that gives you alkalinity in mg/L. Which I than convert to DKH and it's about 10. It usually takes 8 drops of reagent to change. Divide by two and it's 4. 


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## altcharacter

Never used Seachem but I've heard good things about the kits. Although they state no expiry dates on the boxes so they could be bad. Only company I know of that states expiry for chemicals is Salifert. 

Yeah I can bring by some LR to seed. I'll see if the wife will let me out tomorrow night.


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## 12273

LOL. Ah the wife ! I'm off tomorrow and Thursday so those are two options. 

I just priced out a few salifert kits and it came to $110 in no time. Yikes!!! And that's not ammonia or nitrite either  

Shoot me a text or PM. 


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## 12273

Thanks Dave for the testing and great hospitality! I found myself a salifert calcium kit for an amazing price and I'll confirm it was same as yours. 

Looks like more money spending soon . It never ends does it LOL. 


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## altcharacter

Nope!! And the wives love us for it!!

Although I bought my test kits at a great price!

Glad to have you guys over and anytime you're in the area swing by


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## 12273

My wife loves when I spend money. Gives her an excuse to get a pair of shoes where proceeds go to charity. I should use the same line. 

I can't even walk in my closet it's all shoes. So I'm making it so she can't walk in the living room with all tanks . 


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----------



## 12273

For those of you reading and following you'll notice that I haven't done a water change yet. I did this for a certain reasons. One, I didn't really need to. Two, I wanted to give the bacteria a chance and didn't wanna remove anything from the water column. I did take out about 1 litre yesterday and replaced with straight RO/DI water to get my salinity at 1.026. Or 35PPT.

Next was mixing my batch. Fortunately for me a 15% water change is very close to 5 gallons of water and that makes life a lot easier for me. I added my RO/DI water, heater and circulation pump. In the picture you'll see I added a glass in the bucket so the heater won't touch the plastic. Paranoid but I'm extra safe . I attached the heater with suction cups and it's free of anything glass is extra precaution. Next was to add my salt. I read that 3 cups of instant ocean reef crystals in 5 gallons makes 1.026. And that is WRONG! Don't believe what you hear or read. Make sure you add accordingly and measure measure measure. I added 2 cups. I was almost there. Added 1/4 cup and it was too much don't had to take some out and replace with RO/DI water to balance it out. And than slowly add salt in table spoons till I reached my 1.026 reading. This is achieved using my JBJ ATC refractometer. I also made sure that my heater was set WAY lower than what I want it to be. This part is a pain the butt but important.

I left the bucket since last night circulating, heating and continuing to measure as the temperature rising or decreases it will affect the salinity. Waiting for the mix to "age" is prob the smartest thing I've done thus far. The water had stabilized now with salinity and temp but I'm planning on aging for about 20 hours or so to make sure no salt will dissolve after initially adding it. I have good circulation so i didn't add an air pump. Otherwise I would have to keep it oxygenated.

It's pretty simple. However, I had to compensate for the glass, pump, heater and salt in the bucket. Salt makes a crazy difference in water level. If filling a bucket to fill line you'll overflow when adding all that crap. So a 5 gallon water change turns into a 4.80 gallon probably or something like that. I'm no mathamagician or anything.
























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----------



## 12273

I found my first bubble algae!!! Yippie!  


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----------



## SKurj

Mix first heat later. I might start mixing a day or 2 ahead of time, and just put heat on night before I do the change. I used to mix in the bucket and would just hang the heater in the bucket no precautions. Don't know if that was silly or not..

I always pretty much started 2 cups per 5g and then added 1/4 cups til I got where I wanted it. I should have logged so I wouldn't have to repeat the process every time.


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## 12273

First ever SW water change was pretty easy! Turn all pumps off. Siphon and fill! 

I used a pump to push the fresh SW mix up to the tank. I'm lazy and it's mess free. No heavy lifting and the water doesn't make a huge mess of things in the tank. Nice and slow. 




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## altcharacter

It's actually easier and faster to mix your salt to around 1.030 or above then add fresh RO/DI water to get down to the desired salinity.


----------



## SKurj

altcharacter said:


> It's actually easier and faster to mix your salt to around 1.030 or above then add fresh RO/DI water to get down to the desired salinity.


Stop making sense...

Though for me I had limited RO (I bought it..) and wasn't thinkin..


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## SKurj

aquaman1 said:


> First ever SW water change was pretty easy! Turn all pumps off. Siphon and fill!
> 
> I used a pump to push the fresh SW mix up to the tank. I'm lazy and it's mess free. No heavy lifting and the water doesn't make a huge mess of things in the tank. Nice and slow.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone with auto correct. Can't you tell?


If you want it a little faster just put the pail on a barstool. I like using the pump too, I was using an mj900 power head but just a little too slow, a 1200would have probably been perfect for me.


----------



## 12273

Well, parameters seem better now. 

PH 7.4 lights on for an hour. 8.0 roughly lights on 5 hours. 
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10 
Magnesium 1200 
Calcium 425 
Alk 2.50 or 7 dKH 

So far seems pretty good. I'm not worried about the nitrates just yet. I've only done one water change so far and that was last Friday. I'm doing another this Friday. I don't wanna shock the system. Right now nitrates are my friend I suppose. But hopefully with religious weekly after changes it will get down to the 1-5 range . That's the theory anyways ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. 


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----------



## 12273

Couple updates. 

I have some diatom algae starting on my sand. My cerith snails seem to happy about it! And already noticed they are much more active. My trochus snails are now much much more active after spending a few days hiding and cleaning my power head. Seriously, it's cleaner than when I bough it! No joke LOL. 

And I've also noticed a healthy population of creepy crawlers in my tank at night. I'm assuming they are good and mainly consist of amphipods and Copepods. I stumbled upon a post on google that said amphipods are eating there zoas! Is that true? I did notice yesterday my little zoa colony is not as bright and this morning noticed some amphipods playing around in the closed up zoas. Are they actually eating the zoas? Maybe the zoas are acclimating? So many question and so little time LOL. 

Also, I'm not gonna lie. I noticed little green fibre looking things on my glass last night and spent an hour on google and on here only to figure out its green fuzz from my wife's dish towel I stole and use to wipe the glass down ha ha ha. Oh man! I'll be ok. I think. 


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----------



## 12273

Parameters today 

December 2 2013 

Lights 1600-2300
PH 7.4 1100 hours
Nitrate 10 ppm 
Calcium 415 
Alk 12.2 dKH 4.35 
Mag 1170
Salinity 1.026 
Temp 80.1


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----------



## Mikeylikes

aquaman1 said:


> Couple updates.
> 
> Also, I'm not gonna lie. I noticed little green fibre looking things on my glass last night and spent an hour on google and on here only to figure out its green fuzz from my wife's dish towel I stole and use to wipe the glass down ha ha ha. Oh man! I'll be ok. I think.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone with auto correct. Can't you tell?


lmao .. better safe than sorry I guess.


----------



## 12273

Darn!

It wasn't towel fluff . What the deuce is this? Baby hair algae? Look on the glass you can see it.

















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----------



## 12273

Gonna get 1 turbo and see how he does. I'm not into flipping snails over and babysitting them. I'll see how one does and see how he like that algae. Obviously my trochus and cerith aren't interested. And the diatoms I had are gone now LOL. The snails were hungry 


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----------



## 12273

Dave came by to say hi! Great guy and very informative! He had the pleasure of seeing my creation in person! And I didn't even make him pay. Free of charge! LOL. Just kidding . Includes free beer .

New additions to my tank. A little cleaner shrimp and turbo snail. Which my the way was able to right himself up. I dropped him on his shell to see and two minutes later he's sucking on my glass . He's huge! If he knocks stuff down he's out!

I drip acclimated them for about 3 hours! Partly because I forgot about them in conversation with Dave LOL.

Did I spell acclimation right without auto correct ?






































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----------



## 12273

Cleaner shrimp and turbo doing great! That shrimp is one active little critter. No cleaning station yet  LOL. But he's active, seems healthy and lunges at the glass when I put my finger up to it LOL. Did I get a little crazy shrimp? I heard they can drop dead easily so I'll keep an eye on it because I already had my rotting shrimp cycle I don't need another one
















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----------



## 12273

Tested my salt/water mix before a water change just to see what I was dumping in. 

Salinity 1.026 
Temp 80.0F 
Cal 430
Alk 10.9 dKH 3.88 
PH 8.0 
Mag 1200. 

Instant ocean claims 420 cal so it's fairly close. 


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----------



## liz

aquaman1 said:


> Tested my salt/water mix before a water change just to see what I was dumping in.
> 
> Salinity 1.026
> Temp 80.0F
> Cal 430
> Alk 10.9 dKH 3.88
> PH 8.0
> Mag 1200.
> 
> Instant ocean claims 420 cal so it's fairly close.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone with auto correct. Can't you tell?


Looks good - what are your nitrates at today? They should drop with a water change too.


----------



## 12273

I will test when I I do it. Mix is aging . 


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----------



## SKurj

Next time you swing by, I have a big packet of that dried seaweed stuff, the turbo will love it.


----------



## 12273

Day after water change parameter 

Salinity 1.025. ATO went crazy.
Temp 79.8
Nitrate 5!!!! Half! 
PH 7.7
DKH 6.7 or 2.39 meq/L
Cal 420 
Mag 1150. 

PH, mag and dKH have been in the slightly low side. Confused. But I guess those are still gonna need time to stabilize maybe? 


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----------



## 12273

Apparently my skin is sensitive to torch coral! Now I know why it gets the name. I was too busy enjoying my spa treatment by the cleaner shrimp I wasn't paying attention and my hand slipped into the torch coral. 

It burned and stung. Now my skin feel tight around the area. It's red but not that bad. Yet. Pretty weird feeling. Maybe I Gould stop feeding it so it's not a super torch LOL. 

It was my fault. Actually, it was the cleaner shrimps fault . I think I'll live through the night. If not, I want Dave to have my tank LOL. 


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----------



## Letigrama

aquaman1 said:


> Thanks for the kind words!
> 
> I can't lie in had beer! I had my wife's bud lime. That's all that's left .
> 
> Well I fitted my drip catcher for the back if the tank and brought the tank inside finally.
> 
> I used foam from walmart that is mildew resistant and I used Velcro dots from dollar store to stick it to the back. Makes for easy removal and washing the foam.
> 
> I've switched to coffee for the morning LOL.
> 
> Lol I just started to read your thread, one by one post.... what is the purpose of the foam in the back for? is this noise reducer?


----------



## Letigrama

aquaman1 said:


> Well ill have to send them a thank you as well!
> 
> Latest step was I'm pretty much done my rock towers. Well, I am done I just have to figure out what to do with the middle. Those rocks won't be secured so I can play around with that.
> 
> I purposely placed the rocks so that I can easily reach the glass with my scrubber and scraper should coraline algae take over. My goal is to keep the glass clear. After all it's a only a nano .
> 
> So far so good and placing these rocks is almost a hypnotizing relaxing activity. Not sure why LOL.


I just want to say my hubbie is ready for the next project thanks to you, a new middle tower built on PVC, hes not liking you right now


----------



## Letigrama

aquaman1 said:


> My wife loves when I spend money. Gives her an excuse to get a pair of shoes where proceeds go to charity. I should use the same line.
> 
> I can't even walk in my closet it's all shoes. So I'm making it so she can't walk in the living room with all tanks .
> 
> Sent from my iPhone with auto correct. Can't you tell?


My hubbie has it worse. I have fish and shoes, lots of them. He's the best. Unfortunately, I cant get him hooked up on the fish hobbie. He's interested, but only to look at them for a while ;(


----------



## Letigrama

aquaman1 said:


> Couple updates.
> 
> I have some diatom algae starting on my sand. My cerith snails seem to happy about it! And already noticed they are much more active. My trochus snails are now much much more active after spending a few days hiding and cleaning my power head. Seriously, it's cleaner than when I bough it! No joke LOL.
> 
> And I've also noticed a healthy population of creepy crawlers in my tank at night. I'm assuming they are good and mainly consist of amphipods and Copepods. I stumbled upon a post on google that said amphipods are eating there zoas! Is that true? I did notice yesterday my little zoa colony is not as bright and this morning noticed some amphipods playing around in the closed up zoas. Are they actually eating the zoas? Maybe the zoas are acclimating? So many question and so little time LOL.
> 
> Also, I'm not gonna lie. I noticed little green fibre looking things on my glass last night and spent an hour on google and on here only to figure out its green fuzz from my wife's dish towel I stole and use to wipe the glass down ha ha ha. Oh man! I'll be ok. I think.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone with auto correct. Can't you tell?


awww man youre so funny. I never heard of pods eating zoas, but thye will hide everywhere. at night, they come out to try to get some food, and then as soon as you turn on the lights they will hide inside rocks. 
Let me know when the wife kicks you out so you can get re-married to that tank and I can try to convince her re-consider.


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## Letigrama

aquaman1 said:


> Apparently my skin is sensitive to torch coral! Now I know why it gets the name. I was too busy enjoying my spa treatment by the cleaner shrimp I wasn't paying attention and my hand slipped into the torch coral.
> 
> It burned and stung. Now my skin feel tight around the area. It's red but not that bad. Yet. Pretty weird feeling. Maybe I Gould stop feeding it so it's not a super torch LOL.
> 
> It was my fault. Actually, it was the cleaner shrimps fault . I think I'll live through the night. If not, I want Dave to have my tank LOL.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone with auto correct. Can't you tell?


Wait a second. last post you only had a cleaner shrimp and snails. now you have a torch>>>>>???? isnt a bit soon? how is it doing?

dude, I have one word for you: GLOVES

Go to Walmart and get a box of 100 latex gloves - POWDER FREE. I know im a chick and i need to protect my delicate hands, lol, but is not only for your protection, but to make sure you introduce as little contaminants as possible, and yes, avoid getting sting, bump, bitten, etc


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## 12273

Ha ha ha LOL. 

It's worth the work. With a big drill but slow is the key. Slow and steady. That what she said! Sorry, I had to. 




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## 12273

Torch and all inhabitants doing great! Water great! The torch has a ferocious appetite ! Eats everything and seems to get more puffy as the days go by. My skin still feels tight where it got me . Cleaner shrimp is amazin! So much fun to watch it and still waiting to see the cleaning station he sets up . He seems to hang out with the clowns mostly and hangs upside on rocks LOL. 

I live watching this thing progress. Testing every other day is a pain but will continue on that path for another month. The only thing I notice is the mag, alk and calcium slowly drop in a weeks time. 


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## 12273

Folks. I'm thinking I'm color blind and need your help .

What color is this? And divide by 10. That's my nitrate. I'm aiming more towards the 50 mark which means 5. 









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## 12273

More critters found! This time it's on my glass. Covered in em! Really really small white bugs.

Clownfish are picking them off the glass. Pretty funny to watch  
I'm thinking Copepods????
















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## 12273

Got another piece of live rock, dry rock and some premixed water . Also, a couple more mushroom hitch hikers! Got 4 more trochus, 2 nassarius and 2 cerith! 

Arsenal of 8 trochus, 4 nassarius, 4 cerith Caribbean and a turbo snail! That should be perfect for my size tank and leave them with enough food! Good CUC! 


Thank you skurj for everything. All the great deals and helpful advice! Got me off on the right track  


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## SKurj

Time you posted a full tank shot!


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## liz

SKurj said:


> Time you posted a full tank shot!


+1 - I agree lets see this box of glass!


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## 12273

Well folks.

My tank is almost complete. Thanks to fellow members for there advice, guidance, live rock, clean up crew and my beloved clownfish that are the cutest fish ever! I'm pretty much where I will be for a while and will not be adding new inhabitants for a while. If I ever do. I plan on doing some thorough research to ensure proper compatibility of species and coral etc....

Thanks to TomG for the JBJ and a good deal and great product. Not quite for my tank but that is 100% my fault for not doing enough research. It's setup and working which is the important part!

Fesso, the clownfish are doing great and I'm trying my hardest to provide them with the best home ever! Tell your wife because I know she was fond of them. They are fed cobalt flakes, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp and blood worms. They are also eating my Copepods off the glass and it's fun to watch .

Altcharacter, thanks so much for hooking me up with the dry rock and letting me use your RO/DI system to set it up. If it wasn't for you I would be at this stage in my setup. Also, I love the history behind the rock  . Shhhhh, it's our little secret! Thanks for your advice and help!

Pcdoc, thanks so much for the dry rock and the amazing deal! I love them and will provide this tank and future tank with many years of enjoyment. I'm sentimental so I hang on to stuff like this.

Skurj, thanks so much for my live rock that has excelled my tanks progress 100%!!!! Great live rock and cool hitch hikers. Without that I wouldn't be where I am today in the progress. Thanks for the freebies, great rocks and great hitch hikers . Thanks for the great test kits at a even better price! Your stuff will not go to waste or unappreciated. Thank you for the great clean up crew they are doing a great job and always busy.

James32, thanks for the great coral and it's doing great! Great price and great quality. You should open a store you have so much stuff LOL.

Majaxx, thanks for the tank and a great deal on it! It's like its brand new and people think I paid way more . Thanks for the hook up and getting me started on this expensive, fun and very rewarding hobby!

Cheers to all the great members that have helped thus far and couldn't have done without you guys!

I know most of you are picture whores so I'll post my most recent pics!













































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## SKurj

you have to get that blue light thing figured!

Everything is looking good though


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## altcharacter

I would tell you how to fix that pic but you own a iPhone 
I call dibs on a frag of that torch


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## sig

aquaman1 said:


> Well folks.
> 
> My tank is almost complete.


very nice. hard work always will pay off, but you you are very wrong about tank completion. 
SW tanks are never complete. Always more corals and something else will be required

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## 12273

Hey sig. 

Wishful thinking I suppose . I plan on taking all my shrooms and placing on one rock to control them better. That will take some time and I don't want the shrooms to grow where they came out. So I'll have to figured that out. I'll need to put them in a dish to get them to attach and glue that into a rock. 

I am so so so tempted to get the apex controller and set up all my stuff to tags. Makes feeding and lighting cycles so easy. Plus I can use my iphone  


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## Fish_Man

In time you will upgrade to a bigger tank.

The work will never end.....


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## SKurj

Well even without the apex, label every plug... it helps.

I'm definitely going controller with the next tank, ya spend so much money and time on the livestock I think its worth it.


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## sig

aquaman1 said:


> Hey sig.
> 
> Wishful thinking I suppose . I plan on taking all my shrooms and placing on one rock to control them better. That will take some time and I don't want the shrooms to grow where they came out. So I'll have to figured that out. I'll need to put them in a dish to get them to attach and glue that into a rock.
> 
> I am so so so tempted to get the apex controller and set up all my stuff to tags. Makes feeding and lighting cycles so easy. Plus I can use my iphone
> 
> Sent from my iPhone with auto correct. Can't you tell?


you can always deal with excessive mushrooms the same way as you did with aphtasia

Try to avoid hardware purchases, which you will not be able to use on the another tank.

Looking on your enthusiasm and seeing that the wife did not send you yet to the dog hose, I assume this tank will not last long and 72x27x18 with eurobrace in forecast 

*100% free webcam site! | Awesome chicks and it is absolutely free! | Watch free live sex cam - easy as 1-2-3*


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## 12273

Oh yeah! Wife already said she wants a bigger tank! Only catch is it's going in the basement. But I plan on building around it. So I will have a fish room with sump and all equipment in the room. Kind of like a really mini version if that one you posted a link about. Fish room with all the stuff in there. I was thinking cube but those dimensions make me weak in the knees LOL. 

Maybe a peninsula style attacked to the fish room so it blends in. Basement is not Finished so I can plan around this easily. So excited! 


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## altcharacter

I suggest talking to Flexin5, Sweet Ride, 50Seven, and Explor3r to get some amazing ideas for your next tank. They all have amazing tanks and will tell you stories of what to do and what not to do...and you'll probably come home with frags from their houses


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## 12273

Oh Dave LOL. When the time comes I'm sure ill post a million questions. Stand by .

Today I decided that the mushroom will be placed in one area that will be easier for me to control them. To facilitate the process I purchased a few things. Gloves, dental pick, long curved tweezers, goggles, curved haemostat and a set of spatula to dig and scrape.

I will be placing frags in a container with mesh top. See how it goes? Wish me luck!




















































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## altcharacter

cut a few large holes in the top to get better flow. Also you can put this on your sandbed and push it in so it doesn't go anywhere. The holes on the top should be about the size of a quarter or so.

I do the same thing with my softies like xenia and shrooms when i'm trying to attach them.


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## DamFish

Princess Auto. The goto Reefer's supply store 

Also have great prices on hoses and water lines


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## sig

you must get this one to be protected

http://www.radshield.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4&products_id=8

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## 12273

Oh sig. Great recommendation! Plus, it's great for the zombie apocalypse. 

Actually glad I had the eye wear. A coupe mushrooms squirted 


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## 12273

Parameters today

Nitrate 4 
DKH 6.7 
Cal 415
Mag 1185
PH 7.7 ish. Hard to see colour maybe you can help me out.










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## majaxx

Thanks for the shout out!

Im glad you are enjoying that tank. I always loved that tank and took real good care of it. Im happy to pass it on to you because I can see how happy you are with it! have fun with it! followoing your build, great start start!

Just like other people say,

It never ends. ever. everrrrr. lol


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## sig

aquaman1 said:


> Parameters today
> 
> Hard to see colour maybe you can help me out.
> 
> this color shows negative PH
> 
> *100% free webcam site! | Awesome chicks and it is absolutely free! | Watch free live sex cam - easy as 1-2-3*


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## 12273

Well, an update for anyone that cares

I now have two beautiful torches. One green and growing like crazy! One pink tip purple torch also growing like crazy!Blue tip green frogspawn growing like crazy And a purple green tip frog also growling like crazy.

I have to hand it to this little Red Sea max and the ecoxotic lights. Coral doing fantastic and coralline algae starting all over the rocks and power head. The amount of growth I'm getting is amazing and all I'm really doing is keeping up with weekly water changes and using reef crystals . No dosing or feeding coral anymore.

Either lucky or setting up a half decent system actually paid off . I don't use any bio filter or chemical. Just skimmer and lots of rock. I prob have 40-50 pounds of rock if not more and I'm sure it's helping a lot. I am limited with space but a good rock based bio filter was more important to me for sustaining healthy coral and fish. I was planning on softies but I love LPS and especially euphyllia family corals.

My clowns wanna host the big frogspawn but they must be getting stung. The swim next to it ALL the time but don't actually go in. And when they accidentally touch they take off like a bat outta hell LOL.

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## 12273

It's been a while since I updated this.

Today I got a couple peppermint shrimp, 8 more trochus and a feather duster!

Peppermint thinks his home is a frogspwan right now .

Peppermint shrimps will be named trident and dentyne. Not sure how I'll tell them apart but who cares LOL.

















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