Frogmanx82
New member
Well, I'm not a mixed reef yet. I want to get a handle on the chemistry before adding LPS and if I have good success hopefully some SPS. I've had a fish only salt for 17 years and been keeping african cichlids for 35 years
Here is what I have so far. I set this tank up October 3 after tearing down my old scratched up 75. So some of the sand was old and tank decorations and the fluval canister has been running since 1992.
In the left corner is a tunze nano reef pack which is a nano doc skimmer and an in tank filter. The in tank filter is 240 gph and is loaded with 5 oz high capacity GFO and 5 oz ROX carbon from bulkreefsupply. The right corner is another nano doc skimmer. Under the skimmer on the right is a Koralia 3 powerhead. You see its a tight fit behind the light for the skimmers or anything else. I barely have room to drop a power cord.
The Fluval 403 canister is configured a bit different. The bottom is loaded with 5 inches of sand, the center section is cut out to divert the flow around some live rocks which are full of bristle worms. The top is floss, chemipure and half a sponge. I may move carbon to the canister and double up the GFO in the intank filter.
The water return comes through these jets which are piped under the sand. There are 4 in this picture
The light is Aquactinics TX5 with two ATI blueplus, UVL actinic white, GE 6500 and ATI aquablue HO T5 bulbs. Here is a shot a few weeks ago that shows the setting of the tank.
I have xenia, kenya tree, cabbage and finger leathers, zoas and one candy cane.
For fish I have 4 clowns that I understand may not be compatible long term. So far its 2 months. The bangaii cardinals are a breeding pair. The scissortail goby replaced a purple firefish that mysteriously died. The hector's goby is pretty cool. He feasts on hair algae which I have a bit of and pods. I must have a thousand amphipods crawling all over the tank.
I also have a blood shrimp, lots of red leg hermits, 1 ruby and one emerald crab, nassarius, astrea, stomatella and collinista snails.
The water is doing pretty well. With the GFO in for a week now my phosphates are near zero but I need a better low level test. Nitrates are also low, hard to say but less than 5 for sure. Calcium is 380, Mag 1300, alk very high for some reason at 12 kH. pH is 8.2
I think I am ready for more lps, looking at duncans, frogs or hammers, or some acans. I really would like to get some color in there, especially some reds or blues.
I could add a couple more fish. I was thinking of some blue reef chromis but saw they can get pretty good size. Maybe just one or do they need a small group of 3. I'm more inclined to just go with one.
I also have coming in some biopellets. I am toying with the idea of stuffing them in the skimmers. Flow is low, I think they would stay in there. I could compare the skimmate in one vs the other to see what difference they make. If your not familiar with biopellets, they replace carbon dosing with liquids and there is a good thread if you do a search. i could also load them in the canister but before i put them anywhere. I'd like to get some better baseline numbers on my nitrate and phosphate before I put them in. I would be curious to see if they could maintain a low phosphate number without GFO in the system.
That's my tank, any comments would be appreciated.
Here's a shot of my 150 gallon african tank
Here is what I have so far. I set this tank up October 3 after tearing down my old scratched up 75. So some of the sand was old and tank decorations and the fluval canister has been running since 1992.
In the left corner is a tunze nano reef pack which is a nano doc skimmer and an in tank filter. The in tank filter is 240 gph and is loaded with 5 oz high capacity GFO and 5 oz ROX carbon from bulkreefsupply. The right corner is another nano doc skimmer. Under the skimmer on the right is a Koralia 3 powerhead. You see its a tight fit behind the light for the skimmers or anything else. I barely have room to drop a power cord.
The Fluval 403 canister is configured a bit different. The bottom is loaded with 5 inches of sand, the center section is cut out to divert the flow around some live rocks which are full of bristle worms. The top is floss, chemipure and half a sponge. I may move carbon to the canister and double up the GFO in the intank filter.
The water return comes through these jets which are piped under the sand. There are 4 in this picture
The light is Aquactinics TX5 with two ATI blueplus, UVL actinic white, GE 6500 and ATI aquablue HO T5 bulbs. Here is a shot a few weeks ago that shows the setting of the tank.
I have xenia, kenya tree, cabbage and finger leathers, zoas and one candy cane.
For fish I have 4 clowns that I understand may not be compatible long term. So far its 2 months. The bangaii cardinals are a breeding pair. The scissortail goby replaced a purple firefish that mysteriously died. The hector's goby is pretty cool. He feasts on hair algae which I have a bit of and pods. I must have a thousand amphipods crawling all over the tank.
I also have a blood shrimp, lots of red leg hermits, 1 ruby and one emerald crab, nassarius, astrea, stomatella and collinista snails.
The water is doing pretty well. With the GFO in for a week now my phosphates are near zero but I need a better low level test. Nitrates are also low, hard to say but less than 5 for sure. Calcium is 380, Mag 1300, alk very high for some reason at 12 kH. pH is 8.2
I think I am ready for more lps, looking at duncans, frogs or hammers, or some acans. I really would like to get some color in there, especially some reds or blues.
I could add a couple more fish. I was thinking of some blue reef chromis but saw they can get pretty good size. Maybe just one or do they need a small group of 3. I'm more inclined to just go with one.
I also have coming in some biopellets. I am toying with the idea of stuffing them in the skimmers. Flow is low, I think they would stay in there. I could compare the skimmate in one vs the other to see what difference they make. If your not familiar with biopellets, they replace carbon dosing with liquids and there is a good thread if you do a search. i could also load them in the canister but before i put them anywhere. I'd like to get some better baseline numbers on my nitrate and phosphate before I put them in. I would be curious to see if they could maintain a low phosphate number without GFO in the system.
That's my tank, any comments would be appreciated.
Here's a shot of my 150 gallon african tank
Last edited:
Recently I had a Frogspawn did a bailout of its branch. Now the heads are walking around my aquarium. 3 of them died but 1 is hanging on. How deep is your Sand Bed ?
