My 65 Gallon Mixed Reef

Looking really good Biggles! The colors of the corals are looking superb, you make even the greens look good ;)

Love the full tank shot, if this is 6 months cant wait to see it progress
 
Fine.... I admit it..... I like green corals!!!! So there :p....Not really a fan of chromis though :lol:

The flames got a swelling below the lip, possibly lymphocystis. So far, he's eating normally, and that includes NOT touching the Acros. I really wanna help it out, its always difficult to get a model citizen angel :p

BTW, despite the recent cyano outbreak, I'm moving towards a more natural system too :)...Yea yea don't say that I'm plagiarising your work :p
 
Green chromis are the fish equivalent of green acros, you'd never have to worry about me pinching frags from your tank if you stocked that crud Bello lol. What's up with the flame angel mate, sounds like you gave him the 'slap' treatment..........:p I'll chase up how your systems are going in your reef journal as i see you have some cool growth shots up :)

Hey Troub, your suggestions are always welcomed mate and i want to put some non photosynthetic life on the dark rock under hangs. I found a nice orange sponge growing on the back of the chalice that i dumped in the sump so too bad for the chalice as he's going to get chopped up and stuck face first on the rocks soon lol - he's taking one for the SPS team so to speak (he's green btw)..........:lmao:

Thanks for the nice words Quintis :) We have all types of SPS systems covered here, i do mixed colors, Bello loves green crap and Troub is still tweaking his dry invisible SPS system.........:dance:

I've had a healthy population of pods from day one as i used good live rock at the start. Since about the second month i've also had a thriving mysis population in the display and all over the sump. As you know i have the frag/coral dump section and it makes life very easy when fiddling with the display as it's a great place to temporarily place stuff and acclimate things to temp and water conditions.
I rely on feeding the corals more directly rather than keeping the water a bit dirty like most so i feel strongly that all these critters are breeding and putting food into the water column continually - i've always had fuge life in the sump and don't know that i could keep the colors i do if i ran zero measurable nitrates and phos without so much natural life and food in the system.
If you put a 120W full spectrum LED over your fuge rather than the blue white one i have you could use that section to grow corals or algae or anything you want just by adjusting the spectrum so i think you should go for it if you can. That red macro algae at the front of my display has been pruned back to nothing 3 times so far and is a colorful water pollution sponge just like others keep in the sump.
As you know i rely on the natural processes to keep my tank healthy rather than mechanical intervention so anything that adds to the micro diversity in my system is a good thing for the corals :thumbsup:
Have you got a journal going yet (one involving water) as i'd like to follow your tank and help out with advice if you need it ever, Troub will handle air related queries and Bello can show you how to create a bloody lettuce garden in your tank.........:p


Thank you for the very informative reply! I will for sure have a fuge section in my sump then (as large as I can make it). I also have a 120w full spectrum Reefbreeder LED fixture I can put down there for the lighting like you suggested. I don't have a tank thread yet as I haven't set up the tank yet, but I may start it soon as I have done a couple cool projects to get me on path to my new tank. I currently have a 16g nano tank and am upgrading to a 112g system, so I had to beef up my RO/DI system and I put a water-mixing station in the garage since my water changes will be much more than 5 gallons, lol. I also am almost finished building my stand for the tank, so I would have some things for the thread.
 
Looking really good Biggles! The colors of the corals are looking superb, you make even the greens look good ;)

Love the full tank shot, if this is 6 months cant wait to see it progress

Thanks mate, i should see some good growth over the next six months if i keep it simple and don't mess with things :)

Fine.... I admit it..... I like green corals!!!! So there....Not really a fan of chromis though :lol:

The flames got a swelling below the lip, possibly lymphocystis. So far, he's eating normally, and that includes NOT touching the Acros. I really wanna help it out, its always difficult to get a model citizen angel

BTW, despite the recent cyano outbreak, I'm moving towards a more natural system too ...Yea yea don't say that I'm plagiarising your work :p

I'm glad you came out about the green coral 'thing' you have going on Bello, hopefully you haven't passed your affliction onto the little guy.........
Your angel will probably repay your kindness in repairing his lip by using it to eat your acros......... you're well aware how stuff goes down in our reefs Bello so let's not kid ourselves that you and i aren't going to be cursing the day we added angles at some point in the near future. Even knowing this i'm still going to do it because i'm an SPS reefer and that's the weird way we roll........:dance:
Natural is good :)

Wow, your tank is truly spectacular!

Thanks very much FlyinggFish, i'm happy with how most things are looking but it's still very 'young' looking and should look a lot better at the 1 year mark.

Thank you for the very informative reply! I will for sure have a fuge section in my sump then (as large as I can make it). I also have a 120w full spectrum Reefbreeder LED fixture I can put down there for the lighting like you suggested. I don't have a tank thread yet as I haven't set up the tank yet, but I may start it soon as I have done a couple cool projects to get me on path to my new tank. I currently have a 16g nano tank and am upgrading to a 112g system, so I had to beef up my RO/DI system and I put a water-mixing station in the garage since my water changes will be much more than 5 gallons, lol. I also am almost finished building my stand for the tank, so I would have some things for the thread.

Glad to hear you've made a start with the setup Quinits, that fixture sounds perfect for your fuge area and being full spectrum you'll have the option of growing anything down there including frags :thumbsup:
What are the actual tank dimensions of your new 112g display mate, have you decided on your display lighting yet. I have to warn you mate that now we know you have a reef in the works you're going to cop some flack if you try to pull a 'Troub' on us.........:mixed:

Need to do something about the frag/dump section as it looks pretty ordinary when i look at the display and then down to that, just gotta decide what to do exactly :hmm2: I gave all the pumps a vinegar bath and cleaned the black back panel and weir up a bit. I've always let coralline grow in previous tanks but keeping it clean certainly adds to the visual impact of your display imo but it does make the display look younger than it really is.
I've upped the temp a degree to 27 C now to speed things up a bit and i'm feeding the corals 5 times a day now along with the mysis pulp every second night. Alk draw is 2.5 dKh every 24 hours now so the corals are starting to get hungry for bricks and mortar which is always a good thing.


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Really nice set up , bravo mate.:thumbsup:

How come you don't seem to have any coraline algae issues, you clean often?
 
Thanks mate, i should see some good growth over the next six months if i keep it simple and don't mess with things :)



I'm glad you came out about the green coral 'thing' you have going on Bello, hopefully you haven't passed your affliction onto the little guy.........
Your angel will probably repay your kindness in repairing his lip by using it to eat your acros......... you're well aware how stuff goes down in our reefs Bello so let's not kid ourselves that you and i aren't going to be cursing the day we added angles at some point in the near future. Even knowing this i'm still going to do it because i'm an SPS reefer and that's the weird way we roll........:dance:
Natural is good :)



Thanks very much FlyinggFish, i'm happy with how most things are looking but it's still very 'young' looking and should look a lot better at the 1 year mark.



Glad to hear you've made a start with the setup Quinits, that fixture sounds perfect for your fuge area and being full spectrum you'll have the option of growing anything down there including frags :thumbsup:
What are the actual tank dimensions of your new 112g display mate, have you decided on your display lighting yet. I have to warn you mate that now we know you have a reef in the works you're going to cop some flack if you try to pull a 'Troub' on us.........:mixed:

Need to do something about the frag/dump section as it looks pretty ordinary when i look at the display and then down to that, just gotta decide what to do exactly :hmm2: I gave all the pumps a vinegar bath and cleaned the black back panel and weir up a bit. I've always let coralline grow in previous tanks but keeping it clean certainly adds to the visual impact of your display imo but it does make the display look younger than it really is.
I've upped the temp a degree to 27 C now to speed things up a bit and i'm feeding the corals 5 times a day now along with the mysis pulp every second night. Alk draw is 2.5 dKh every 24 hours now so the corals are starting to get hungry for bricks and mortar which is always a good thing.


My dims are going to be 50"x 26"x 20". I went around and around with lighting options and finally decided on T5. I was going to use a 6-bulb Sunpower and add two LED strips to the fixture, but my favorite LFS has a 8-bulb Power module in like new condition with new bulbs in it that someone traded in to him (to go LED) that he is giving me a great deal on. So the 8 bulb PM will be my lighting. I have a question about running the fuge for you. The fuge section in the sump will be a nice size, 19" long and 22" wide. Should I stuff that section full with macros and some sand/miracle mud, or use it for a frag type section as you have? With the size I could maybe do both, like have the macro in the back and some frags up front. I will start my thread soon, I have my skimmer coming in this week. :dance:
 
Really nice set up , bravo mate.:thumbsup:

How come you don't seem to have any coraline algae issues, you clean often?

Thanks for the kind words mate :) I have nearly no coralline growth in the display which is kind of annoying as i use white putty and even after 3-4 months it's still white where the corals haven't encrusted it. I'm pretty sure it's due to a lack of something in the water as i've only changed 50 litres of salt water since starting the tank so i might try a few 10% water changes with NSW and see if i can get a bit more coralline to cover up my stark white putty blobs lol.

My dims are going to be 50"x 26"x 20". I went around and around with lighting options and finally decided on T5. I was going to use a 6-bulb Sunpower and add two LED strips to the fixture, but my favorite LFS has a 8-bulb Power module in like new condition with new bulbs in it that someone traded in to him (to go LED) that he is giving me a great deal on. So the 8 bulb PM will be my lighting. I have a question about running the fuge for you. The fuge section in the sump will be a nice size, 19" long and 22" wide. Should I stuff that section full with macros and some sand/miracle mud, or use it for a frag type section as you have? With the size I could maybe do both, like have the macro in the back and some frags up front. I will start my thread soon, I have my skimmer coming in this week. :dance:

Your dimensions are very similar to mine. That 8 bulb ATI unit will cover your lighting needs perfectly and give you great results - you're on my side in the tank battles with the Travolta light boys unless you start shoving lots of green acros in your display at which time i'll boot you off the team............:lol2:
My frag section is 20x20" and is 14" deep so basically the same as yours. Early days i'd be inclined to just run macro algae in there as you'll be tinkering with your display lots and having a spot to dump stuff temporarily will make setting up the display a lot easier for you. Once you're past the worst of the algae cycles you can then start devoting more space in there to a frag section or whatever takes your fancy :)
I'd be inclined to not add sand to the display and the sump at the start as it just adds to your headaches in the early stages and you can put some in there at any time once you have a good grip on things. :)

Here's how you know it's time to chop your macro algae back - woke to this crap in all the bloody pumps this morning :rolleyes:

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The tank is looking mighty good to Biggles! Although if it's wet, it looks good to me :facepalm: :lmao: I like that recent shot with the tank and frag grave yard down below.

I saw you mention that you haven't done many water changes at all. Is that mostly because you're dosing supplements so you don't need the water changes to replace spent trace minerals and such for all that sps reef building?

When you do change out some water, is it only NSW for you? Or do you use any salt mix / artificial seawater ever? If you do use a salt mix, which is your preference? If you can't tell, I'm ordering up a couple 175 gal buckets of salt mix :-D So I'm all curious about these things right now.

Would you be willing to share your target levels of "the big 3"? I'm pretty solid in my understanding of CA and MG... but what is your choice levels on Alk? That seems to be the biggest differences in salt mixes that I have available to me (what the final mix settles in Alk levels) and I'm still trying to wrap my head around maintaining whatever level of Alk.

Anyway, thanks for all the good info and pictures. One day, I'll have water and critters in my system that I can more actively contribute to the conversation. . . One day. . .:strooper:
 
Your reef is turning into a real beauty Biggles, with some gorgeous corals. Surprised how similar your setup is to my own.

Good luck with the Multibar if you manage to get hold of one, I kept one for 25 months before he/she went belly up, a beautiful little fish and they can develop a great personality. Keep up the good work :thumbsup:
 
The tank is looking mighty good to Biggles! Although if it's wet, it looks good to me :facepalm: :lmao: I like that recent shot with the tank and frag grave yard down below.

I saw you mention that you haven't done many water changes at all. Is that mostly because you're dosing supplements so you don't need the water changes to replace spent trace minerals and such for all that sps reef building?

When you do change out some water, is it only NSW for you? Or do you use any salt mix / artificial seawater ever? If you do use a salt mix, which is your preference? If you can't tell, I'm ordering up a couple 175 gal buckets of salt mix :-D So I'm all curious about these things right now.

Would you be willing to share your target levels of "the big 3"? I'm pretty solid in my understanding of CA and MG... but what is your choice levels on Alk? That seems to be the biggest differences in salt mixes that I have available to me (what the final mix settles in Alk levels) and I'm still trying to wrap my head around maintaining whatever level of Alk.

Anyway, thanks for all the good info and pictures. One day, I'll have water and critters in my system that I can more actively contribute to the conversation. . . One day. . .:strooper:

Thanks Troub, thought i'd show you the whole setup so you can see where everything is in relation to each other. Water enters behind the skimmer and then goes over a baffle to the return section. Before the return pump is a smaller Eheim pump that i feed the coral dump with. If i run carbon or GFO i just drop a mesh bag of either in the baffle area so water is forced through it.
I've added 50 litres over about 5 months through removing water for frag operations etc. I throw out the fouled water the frags etc dirty up and replace with clean water so that's how i went through that. I recently did a 125 L change due to the crap that went on with the tank when i was sick but that wasn't scheduled. I've never done many water changes but then i've always had stuff all corraline algae growth as well so i'm thinking i need to do some regularly until i get my putty covered as i might be missing trace elements the coralline needs. If it works i'll stop them again as soon as i'm happy with the coverage as i want to keep the black background spotless rather than letting it mess up with coralline as i've had on previous tanks.
I've always used NSW simply because it has always been readily available and is a lot cheaper than buying artificial salt mix. When i live 20 yds from the beach years ago i collected my own but i'm 47 now so stuff that for a joke..........
If i had to use a salt mix i choose the one that most of the better SPS keepers on RC use, you can't go wrong doing that mate :thumbsup:
As you know i always strive to keep undetectable nitrate and phos so i'ts a very ULNS that relies on direct SPS targeted food rather than the byproducts from food consumed by fish etc to feed the corals. I think either way works just fine and you should do what is easiest for you, i'm sure your going to have quite a few fish so using them as coral food machines would make sense to me. :)
I keep calcium at 420 same as the ocean and have never seen any benefit in running it higher or lower - i've tried different numbers and didn't see any observable differences.
I have alk at 8.2 even though it was fine at 7.5 i prefer to have more of a buffer against dropping to a dangerous low. Anything around 6 or lower causes serious issues for me so i prefer to keep it a bit higher for that reason alone. Up to 9.0 is ok for me, if i lifted alk to 10 or higher i can guarantee i'd see burnt tips on those acros in the highest halide light because i've accidentally done it a few times over the years. If you ever spike your alk Troub turn off all the lights for a day or two until you get the alk down as high light and very high alk in a ULNS spells disaster every time mate, things get by a lot better in the dark when you overdose alk. (remember this young SPS jedi.......) :D
I keep Mg between 1320-1350 which is a bit higher than NSW and also gives me a buffer against it dropping low enough to cause calcification problems. I just squirt a 60ml syringe full in every 2-3 days and check it once a week and adjust if needed.

I know you see it written everywhere on RC but when it comes to keeping colorful growing SPS there is nothing as important as keeping your alk under tight control. Very low is way worse than very high in my experience as the lights off makes no difference when it bottoms out.

All this is just my viewpoint so don't take it as gospel - although i can cite at least 7 papers written by respected non existent coral experts to back up my claims at any time i so deem it appropriate not to produce said evidence.......

Your reef is turning into a real beauty Biggles, with some gorgeous corals. Surprised how similar your setup is to my own.

Good luck with the Multibar if you manage to get hold of one, I kept one for 25 months before he/she went belly up, a beautiful little fish and they can develop a great personality. Keep up the good work :thumbsup:

Thanks Baros :) I'm glad to hear someone else has a similar setup as mine, simple has always worked well for me. Thanks for the info on your Multibar mate, hopefully i can order one in soon as i'm really looking forward to keeping the little guy. :thumbsup:

During the red macro algae prune Potatohead managed to get into the fishnet i was catching all the clippings with and the ensuing drama resulted in 4-5 smashed acro tips and red algae everywhere. I am seriously pee'd off with that shrimp atm. I saw him pounce on the mandarin from above the other day and the mandarin took off like a shot lol. I'm quite certain that there's something seriously wrong with that shrimp..........:wildone:
 

Thanks my friend :)

No real changes or new stuff added lately. I did get myself an RO unit so i'm self sufficient at last - no more lugging 25L drums of RO from the LFS :dance:
So i thought i'd get a nice top down of one of the ice blue horrida pieces which is settling in nicely and i think this series of shots will confirm what i've been saying about Potatohead and his photo bombing........


Wassup ? What ya doin with the iphone.....

I'm not doing anything....... just go back to sleep.

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Hey, top downs - cool, where do ya want me ?

I don't want you anywhere i'm trying to get a pic of the coral !

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Ah so it's this one we're shooting today, just gimme a minute to get into position.....

Look for the 100th time i don't want you in every bloody top down shot and 'we're' not shooting the pics - i am ok !

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Yeah right, as if any top down will look ok without me in it. Nearly there don't shoot my bad side, you know i look best with my red stripe showing.

Arrghh ! I don't care what side's bloody showing just go away for $@#%$ sake !

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Andddd i'm ready - shoot away !

I wanna do bad things to you sometimes Potatohead..........:debi:

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Wow biggles!!! Looks fantastic!!

I've really busy, with some of the messier things in life.... will report back in a few days..

But looks like your tank's doing great :thumbsup: Thanks for the updates :)
 
Howdy Biggles!

Sorry it's been a lttle while. Life got in the way for a bit :headwally:

But thanks a TON for all that info on the Ca, Mg, and Alk levels... especially the Alk! I appreciate you taking the time to give me thorough run through on all of that. Consider your pearls of wisdom recorded in my tank research documents (a.k.a. field survival manual) for battle field reference later on. :strooper: Right now it's just good reading from the bunker :headwalls: :spin2:

And you don't need to beat around the bush anymore. I think it's fairly obvious to everyone that the only reason you work so hard at keeping all these BEAUTIFUL corals is just so you have a pretty background for your pictures of Potatohead! :facepalm: hahahaha

As always, Potatohead and the rest of the reef are looking top-notch. Until next time :beer:
 
Hey guys, tank is plodding along nicely without me messing around too much - i did have to stick another acro frag on top of a monti (as i'm prone to doing) but i'll show you that creation another time lol.
I was looking at what i have in my lounge room now compared to not too long ago and thought i'd remind everyone that we all go through the painful cycling stages and we all come out the other side so long as we stick to the basics and use the fantastic knowledge base we have here on RC :thumbsup:
Btw i don't encourage adding SPS at such an early stage unless you have no fish, used LR and have experience with SPS previously.

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That was back in February not long before i ripped the sand out and broke the algae cycle's back once and for all. I rinsed the sand in bleach and washed it over and over before returning it. As you know it still blows all over the place but i don't really care anymore lol. I will be credited with the lagoon pool sand bed look for years to come........
You can see the green monster and the SCC branch not long after i got them at the back far left and the orange pav before i chopped it up.
 
Hey don't worry Biggles; your tank is great we all go through these time no tank stays looking pretty all the time there good cycle and bad you know that.We cultiva life in a vacuum here since when is it always peachee, lol. i like your thread and peak once and a while , i don't say much in it a rather learn, by reading in it. When i'll need help with my system ( if it gets ever built) still waiting for the manufacturer to move his "A" i know where to turn too . I was at Ayer's Rock last January, 47oC a bit warm for a Canadian, we do get it hot here but not that . By the way have you consider replacing these frag racks with an aquamag rock, i just found that on the net. That rock is magnetic and can be hooked on the side of your tank, to hold your frag or new coral for acclimation. Check my " rock work thread; there's a video on it Cheers!http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2311241
 
I'm looking forward to following your build Mudbeaver so i hope things go speedily for you mate :thumbsup:
That algae shot was from months back when the system was well and truly going through the algae cycles, that all finished a few months back and i now have the very fine brown algae which lets me know how my nutrient levels are going - your corals behavior, colors PE etc and the algae growth in your system are just as good as test kits once you have an experienced eye for it, unfortunately i subjected my corals to quite a bit of abuse over the learning years gaining this 'experience eye' lol.
Ayer's Rock - 47oC i still remember my mom sending me off to school when i was 10 or 11 saying ' now it's going to be 45 today so keep cool and dont run around a lot ' :rolleyes: I've been in 50oC once and have no idea why you went to climb on top of a big fry pan in the middle of a desert in 47oC temps - i'd need a gun at my back to make me go and be cooked on a big red rock and i live here lol.
I don't have any racks in the tank at all now and i'm working on removing the frags that are strewn all over the bottom. I enjoy your rock work thread a lot and use my bonsai experience when working on the design aspects of my reef as the two compliment each other well :thumbsup:

Tank just before ni ni's tonight, if you squint you can see some more stuff stuck on the raft - no new stuff just tweaking things and using frags up lol.

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I'm looking forward to following your build Mudbeaver so i hope things go speedily for you mate :thumbsup:
That algae shot was from months back when the system was well and truly going through the algae cycles, that all finished a few months back and i now have the very fine brown algae which lets me know how my nutrient levels are going - your corals behavior, colors PE etc and the algae growth in your system are just as good as test kits once you have an experienced eye for it, unfortunately i subjected my corals to quite a bit of abuse over the learning years gaining this 'experience eye' lol.
Ayer's Rock - 47oC i still remember my mom sending me off to school when i was 10 or 11 saying ' now it's going to be 45 today so keep cool and dont run around a lot ' :rolleyes: I've been in 50oC once and have no idea why you went to climb on top of a big fry pan in the middle of a desert in 47oC temps - i'd need a gun at my back to make me go and be cooked on a big red rock and i live here lol.
I don't have any racks in the tank at all now and i'm working on removing the frags that are strewn all over the bottom. I enjoy your rock work thread a lot and use my bonsai experience when working on the design aspects of my reef as the two compliment each other well :thumbsup:

Tank just before ni ni's tonight, if you squint you can see some more stuff stuck on the raft - no new stuff just tweaking things and using frags up lol.

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Thanks for the compliment. Rock scape is one aspect i really enjoy. Its my years as a landscaper and horticulter that creeps back up , plus my other talent; chef cook on star ships lol.I never met a Captain who doesn't think he's not a star.....By the way i didn't climb the Rock out of respect for the indigenous population and their beliefs. It was close enough and like you i was wondering why would you.....

Right now i'm still waiting on those tanks october is suppose to be now back order. I'm so anxious to get started so in the mean time i read all kind of stuff and post all sort of questions because i've forgot a few things in my years of exile from the craft lol. I got time now, i'm on sick leave; burn out! I got all summer and more to recoop.So i plan to start my pre retirement business. My brother thinks it a great move and so do my friends, they all say i got a great idea, plus i get to stay home. One reason i'm giving myself this pre retirement gif, a kick "A" set up for me to tinker with while i'll be home working, home work for me now, lol. Me , my fishes, and my two new cats lol. Spent the last 27 years cruising the world is enough, no more. time to put some roots and stay put! So i'll be bothering you a bit from time to time lol. :beer:
 
Umm biggles.... could you send me your LFS's numbers??? I'm gonna call them, and pay them, to BAN YOU!!! :)....The tank looks like its gonna burst!!!

Everything looks fantastic biggles, dunno where to even begin, and whether you admit it or not, you NEED those greens that you've got there.... Makes for a fantastic contrast :thumbsup:

BTW, I'm pretty much following your methods for getting my tank back in shape :thumbsup:
 
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