270 gallon reef tank
- Thread starter JB NY
- Start date
coraltastic
New member
very nice love the rock work. could u show a pic of the rockwork befor the frags grew out so big, i would love to mimic it.
Znut Reefer
Premium Member
Looking good as usual JB.
Moonstream
New member
beautiful tank; doesnt look unnatural like so many of those overly colorful SPS reefs!
JB NY
Active member
Thanks for all the kind words guys!!
It took a little over two years to grow out the tank, I actually had no fish or corals in the tank for the first 4 months. Personally I find a mature tank a little boring, with my previous tank after about 5 years the corals were so large that the fun was missing, all I was doing was constantly fragging. Watching the corals grow is the fun part for me. So I am in no rush to have my frags grow to full colonies.
Here you go, just a bunch of sticks at this point.
I am using (3) 250-watt MH and (4) 80-watt T5's. MH are Aquaconnect 14K, and the T5 are Giesemann 1/2 Actinic Plus 1/2 Pure Actinic. The pendant over the tank is a Giesemann Spectra.
It took a little over two years to grow out the tank, I actually had no fish or corals in the tank for the first 4 months. Personally I find a mature tank a little boring, with my previous tank after about 5 years the corals were so large that the fun was missing, all I was doing was constantly fragging. Watching the corals grow is the fun part for me. So I am in no rush to have my frags grow to full colonies.
Here you go, just a bunch of sticks at this point.
I am using (3) 250-watt MH and (4) 80-watt T5's. MH are Aquaconnect 14K, and the T5 are Giesemann 1/2 Actinic Plus 1/2 Pure Actinic. The pendant over the tank is a Giesemann Spectra.
JB NY
Active member
Thanks for the votes of confidence guys!
JAustin Here are my water parameters and such.
OK so I will throw this disclaimer on, do as I say not as I do.
I rarely test my water parameter unless I see something wrong. And most times I only test the thing I think is wrong.
I do keep a log book of every time I test so I can refer to it when needed.
Alk is 7-8 dKH tested two weeks ago
CA ~450 tested in February - March
NO3 I don't test, last time it was 0 using Salifert probably a year ago.
PO4 0.03-0.01 using a Hanna meter, last tested about a month ago
All makeup water is RO/DI, carbon and sediment filters changed out every 6 weeks, DI filter every 3 months.
I do carbon dosing 3:1 vinegar to vodka. about 38ml a day using a doser.
I run carbon and GFO in a deltec reverse flow canister, I change out the media once a month.
Once a week 25ml of Seachem strontium, 80ml of Salifert Amino Acids, and 100ml of Special Blend. All dumped in the tank before I go to bed Sunday night.
I use a calcium reactor and a Kalk reactor for calcium. Then I do a 10% water change using Oceanic salt once a week, during the water change I siphon out all detritus in the sump and frag tank..
All in all this a very low maintenance tank. I really enjoy SPS and spent a considerable about on time designing the system to be as hands off as possible. So other than cleaning the glass once or twice a week. I try to do all my maintenance on Saturday mornings, most times it is less than an hour to do a water change and clean out the skimmer. That is pretty much it, other than things like swapping out carbon and filters every month or so, but that really on takes maybe ten minutes.
Lighting: Main lights (MH) are on from 12PM to 9 PM. T5 from 7:30AM to 9 PM
JAustin Here are my water parameters and such.
OK so I will throw this disclaimer on, do as I say not as I do.
I rarely test my water parameter unless I see something wrong. And most times I only test the thing I think is wrong.
I do keep a log book of every time I test so I can refer to it when needed.
Alk is 7-8 dKH tested two weeks ago
CA ~450 tested in February - March
NO3 I don't test, last time it was 0 using Salifert probably a year ago.
PO4 0.03-0.01 using a Hanna meter, last tested about a month ago
All makeup water is RO/DI, carbon and sediment filters changed out every 6 weeks, DI filter every 3 months.
I do carbon dosing 3:1 vinegar to vodka. about 38ml a day using a doser.
I run carbon and GFO in a deltec reverse flow canister, I change out the media once a month.
Once a week 25ml of Seachem strontium, 80ml of Salifert Amino Acids, and 100ml of Special Blend. All dumped in the tank before I go to bed Sunday night.
I use a calcium reactor and a Kalk reactor for calcium. Then I do a 10% water change using Oceanic salt once a week, during the water change I siphon out all detritus in the sump and frag tank..
All in all this a very low maintenance tank. I really enjoy SPS and spent a considerable about on time designing the system to be as hands off as possible. So other than cleaning the glass once or twice a week. I try to do all my maintenance on Saturday mornings, most times it is less than an hour to do a water change and clean out the skimmer. That is pretty much it, other than things like swapping out carbon and filters every month or so, but that really on takes maybe ten minutes.
Lighting: Main lights (MH) are on from 12PM to 9 PM. T5 from 7:30AM to 9 PM
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