Nick's Miracle Build

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Nick - stunning tank. I'm getting ready to start a much smaller build and this tank is an inspiration for me!
 
Nick, really like you tank! Just got a 450 gal from Miracles this week and will be using some of your aquascape ideas as inspiration.

What do you dose in terms of supplements? Nitrate reduction, etc?

Can you describe in a bit more detail how you cycled your tank so quickly? I will be using dry rock and will also be transferring livestock from another tank.
 
Nick, really like you tank! Just got a 450 gal from Miracles this week and will be using some of your aquascape ideas as inspiration.

What do you dose in terms of supplements? Nitrate reduction, etc?

Can you describe in a bit more detail how you cycled your tank so quickly? I will be using dry rock and will also be transferring livestock from another tank.

Thanks!
What dimension is your 450? That must be a sweet tank!
I don't run anything special other than carbon and GFO and a refugium. I actually have not tested nitrate in this tank. For phosphate, I tried to keep it under 0.06ppm. Most of the time, it's between 0.01-0.04ppm.

For this tank transfer, I did not use any of the rocks from the previous tank because they had some aiptasias on them and I wanted to keep the existed tank running as the new tank was being brought up online.
I got a bunch of rocks and I threw them in a large rubbermaid bin and ran it with a power head for almost a year. I think this really helps with the cycle. I also did not use the old sand and went with all new sand. I did use a cup just to seed the new sand.
To be honest with you, I went with the most simple set up and maintenance and it works for me. I use the cheapest salt as possible(IO) and change 10% of water
every week. Clean my skimmer every week. And change out the carbon and GFO every two months. This is probably the most easy tank I've ran despite being the largest tank.
 
Thanks!
What dimension is your 450? That must be a sweet tank!
I don't run anything special other than carbon and GFO and a refugium. I actually have not tested nitrate in this tank. For phosphate, I tried to keep it under 0.06ppm. Most of the time, it's between 0.01-0.04ppm.

For this tank transfer, I did not use any of the rocks from the previous tank because they had some aiptasias on them and I wanted to keep the existed tank running as the new tank was being brought up online.
I got a bunch of rocks and I threw them in a large rubbermaid bin and ran it with a power head for almost a year. I think this really helps with the cycle. I also did not use the old sand and went with all new sand. I did use a cup just to seed the new sand.
To be honest with you, I went with the most simple set up and maintenance and it works for me. I use the cheapest salt as possible(IO) and change 10% of water
every week. Clean my skimmer every week. And change out the carbon and GFO every two months. This is probably the most easy tank I've ran despite being the largest tank.

that is insanely encouraging that your tank looks this good off of the very basic routines. KUDOS...i too was wondering if you dosed. very pleased to see you havent. and i wouldnt knock IO so fast lol, ive read many a threads on successful SPS tanks using that salt...

but i did have a question about your lighting... your running the 4xt5s and the 3x250 halides? did you ever switch it to HQI settings?
 
Thananks for sharing, Nick. My new tank is 96x36x30. Lots of work to do on it.

That was smart to cycle the rock that long. I just got through bleaching my rock..
 
that is insanely encouraging that your tank looks this good off of the very basic routines. KUDOS...i too was wondering if you dosed. very pleased to see you havent. and i wouldnt knock IO so fast lol, ive read many a threads on successful SPS tanks using that salt...

but i did have a question about your lighting... your running the 4xt5s and the 3x250 halides? did you ever switch it to HQI settings?

I have'nt had any issue with IO. Yes, their Calcium is a little low at around 360ppm. I just add a little of BRS calcium chloride. And since I'm doing it routinely, I know the ball park amount for the calcium I need. But I'm also doing only a 10% water change so the parameters is not going to be significantly affected if I'm a little off. IO alk is around 8dKH the last time I tested my batch.
I do dose BRS ALK and Calcium via dosing pumps in conjunction with my Schuran reactor. My PH would be too low if I turn up the CO2 in the reactor and the dosing system also acts a a back up if the CaRX stop running. There's so many components in the CaRx that could failed or forgotten. The Masterflex pump is easy to be noticed if it stop running(The loudest part of my entire system). The recirculation pump could fail(harder to identify). And the CO2 tank could be empty(This actually happened before where the tank was empty and I did not know about it). My point is, it's good to have dual system to do one of the most important thing in the system.

I'm using a single 72" Geismann Spectra with 3x250W Radiums and 2x80ATI Blue plus T5 and 2x80W Geismann Super Actinic T5. I started with running the Radiums at 250W with the Luxcore ballast. Then I cranked it up to 300W(HQI) for 3 months. Didn't really notice anything so I turned it back down to 250W. Getting what is acceptable colors to me on the SPS is all I care about.
I also wanted to add some additional T5s on the sides but that is kind of a low priority lol.
 
Amazing tank! This is what I want to achieve one day down the road, fat happy fish, beautifully colored corals, and the aquascape is perfect for that tank. I will be following along
 
sandbed

sandbed

What is your routine for keeping the sandbed clean? I've been debating barebottom due to the sandbed issues and required work associated with them but would still prefer sand.

Thanks looks great.
 
What is your routine for keeping the sandbed clean? I've been debating barebottom due to the sandbed issues and required work associated with them but would still prefer sand.

Thanks looks great.

I have about 6 fighting conch that patrol the sandbed. For the most part, they do a great job. If I see some patches that need attention, I just take my algae scraping stick(which I don't use to clean the glass), and go back and forth in the area and get the flow carry the detritus away.
Bare bottom has it own challenges. The one thing I can get used to bare bottom is that it does not look natural.
 
Nick,
Back in Feb, you had a total fish loss because of the ich or some sort of disease. Then you go fishless for 8 weeks. Since then, when you add fish, do you QT them first? How and how long do you QT new fish?
 
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