teleportinghere
Community Member
Goal: To see if I could run a reef from an old FOWLR setup. Running with 10-15% weekly water changes and little/no dosing. LPS/Softie tank with a torch island as the main highlight of the tank. Growing mature coral is the main goal in this tank!
Background: I have worked as a graphic designer, a florist and a succulent seller/grower. I fell in love with the reefing world for its endless aesthetic beauty. I could see how well studied coral growth could be turned into amazing works of living art under the right care. Learning the totally different growth processes was exactly like my journey with farming succulents; specific nutrient ratios, light intensity, watering amounts, fragging choices, substrate choice, pest avoidance, shading from growth and container dimensions all change your outcomes. This new learning curve pushed me over the edge into obsession. I researched on R2R and watched reefers from various philosophical points of view on youtube for years before I felt ready to take on such a task. Then for months I tried to score a deal on someone's live or dry rock before I ran across one of the options that I really wanted: wet live rock. In the form of a 90 Gallon FOWLR with 30+ pounds of Fiji live rock that had been running continuously ~20 years. I knew that phosphates, pests and a build up of toxic chemicals may come with it. However, I also knew that a slice of wild ocean bacteria and ecology was in there as well. So I risked it and decided to make this an experiment. For $40USD I picked up 90 gallons of matured material for my fresh 29 gallon tank.
Breakdown/Cleaning Process:
-ROCKS: Took all the excess tank water I could into buckets/coolers and then transferred all rocks and any large rubble I could find among the sand into a saltwater bin. Scrubbed the outside of each rock, rinsed in separate buckets of tank water and then used a powerhead to blast out each one before entering into the 29 gallon. Did that first rinse work effectively? Not at all, as I would continue to pull each one out to blast with a powerhead weekly to flush them in a clean saltwater bucket. This process took at least 4 rounds to not produce visible amounts of nori/dead algae/amphipod molts flying out. The rock was clean overall and had coralline lightly peppered across it throughout the dark part of the journey.
-SAND: I tried my best to take the top layer of sand when removing. However, the whole sandbed was fairly thin and the previous owner seemed to have done a pretty good job keeping it clear with weekly siphoning of the sandbed. I wouldn't do this again. Getting new sand for cheap and skip the potential toxic pitfalls that I seemed to have skated by (for now, fingers crossed). I used a CPR bakpak protein skimmer and would stir the hell out of the sand and then let the skimmer clean away. Then come back and do it over and over until it finally would cloud up for only a moment before settling again. This process took probably a month of stirring to get to what I considered acceptable. Acceptable in this circumstance meaning; no wild ammonia spiking and settling of sand debris quickly with no major lingering water clouding. When I swap tanks one day in the future, I will use new sand or do a rip clean flush of the whole sand bed.
Curing Process: After a month of flushing to this experiments acceptable standard, I began my dark cure. So now with the sand in and the rock loosely assembled for optimum flow, I ran the tank in the dark for 4 months. I blasted the rocks with the powerhead every week and let the skimmer clean up anything that arose. I would do 50% water changes throughout and dose ammonia once a week to just keep the bacteria rocking. After 4 months in the dark, I finally put a light over the tank. I ran it very low and just slowly ramped it up until it ran low LPS par levels. No serious battle with the classic ugly problems. I was shocked. I expected massive algae blooms to start taking off in the light, but so far it's just been light layers of diatom/green algae. The live rock's total ecology seems to be working! Coralline started to lightly pepper the surface after a few weeks introduction to light.
^Sponge growth in the shade!
Amphipods were still jumping around the sand and rocks after all the cleaning abuse. A small sponge began to grow underneath the overhang of a large rock and it felt like time to start making moves. Got a phosphate testing kit and it was 1+. Oops, I shudder at the levels it reached when I was stirring things up! Ran GFO for a week and managed to get it down to .5. Then ran it a week more and got it to reading between .25 and .5 for 3 more weeks in a row without a water change to confirm that it wasn't dramatically leaching from the rocks/sand.
^Ceramic media seeding for quarantine tank, now removed.
The running tank: I moved the 29 gallon tank setup from my garage to my house. I once again used this opportunity to separately blast the rocks before placing in a clean saltwater brute can for wet transport. Setup the sand, placed the rocks and filled it up. I let it sit running idle for a month before doing anything different besides adding a tiny amount of ammonia and started doing 15% weekly water changes for my future routine's sake. I added an Indo Gold Branching Hammer as my first tester coral after nearly 7 months of maturation under my care. Over the first month of it's introduction the two heads are showing 5 separate distinct rosettes and cleaving! It looks much puffier and has the same color intensity as when I picked it up.
With that success, I went crazy and picked up one of my dream corals! I picked up an Indo Dragon Soul torch and last week it has matched the polyp extension length and color that it had when I picked it up from the farm. Time will tell, but so far, it seems happy in my conditions.
^Hammer day 1-3
^(Torch Intro day)
^(Torch later that same day)
^(Moved to the top of the rock for more consistent random flow)
The future: Will be adding some softies in the form of Ricordea mushrooms in the near future. A malaysian Elegance coral will probably be added in the future as well. Will be adding at least 2 more hammers and 2 more torches to make a separate hammer and torch island on each side of the tank. Will remove some center rockwork for ease of separating coral aggression. Future upgrade to a 65 gallon 36" tank with more wiggle room for coral growth when things start filling out over the next years. I don't intend on adding a lot of coral. I love mature colonies and am totally willing to patiently get there. If slow growing succulent farming teaches you anything, it's patience. In that same thought, I can see how rewarding it is when that patience pays off after 2-7 years of dedication.
Clean up crew:
-Bristle Worms
-Peanut Worms
-Astrea Snail x1
-Cerith Snail x1
Coral:
-Indo Gold Branching Hammer
-Dragon's Soul Torch
Equipment:
-29 Gallon Tank
-Jebao SLW-20
-100 watt heater
-Instant Ocean Salt + RODI
-CPR Bakpak (for beginning cleaning stage only)
Background: I have worked as a graphic designer, a florist and a succulent seller/grower. I fell in love with the reefing world for its endless aesthetic beauty. I could see how well studied coral growth could be turned into amazing works of living art under the right care. Learning the totally different growth processes was exactly like my journey with farming succulents; specific nutrient ratios, light intensity, watering amounts, fragging choices, substrate choice, pest avoidance, shading from growth and container dimensions all change your outcomes. This new learning curve pushed me over the edge into obsession. I researched on R2R and watched reefers from various philosophical points of view on youtube for years before I felt ready to take on such a task. Then for months I tried to score a deal on someone's live or dry rock before I ran across one of the options that I really wanted: wet live rock. In the form of a 90 Gallon FOWLR with 30+ pounds of Fiji live rock that had been running continuously ~20 years. I knew that phosphates, pests and a build up of toxic chemicals may come with it. However, I also knew that a slice of wild ocean bacteria and ecology was in there as well. So I risked it and decided to make this an experiment. For $40USD I picked up 90 gallons of matured material for my fresh 29 gallon tank.
Breakdown/Cleaning Process:
-ROCKS: Took all the excess tank water I could into buckets/coolers and then transferred all rocks and any large rubble I could find among the sand into a saltwater bin. Scrubbed the outside of each rock, rinsed in separate buckets of tank water and then used a powerhead to blast out each one before entering into the 29 gallon. Did that first rinse work effectively? Not at all, as I would continue to pull each one out to blast with a powerhead weekly to flush them in a clean saltwater bucket. This process took at least 4 rounds to not produce visible amounts of nori/dead algae/amphipod molts flying out. The rock was clean overall and had coralline lightly peppered across it throughout the dark part of the journey.
-SAND: I tried my best to take the top layer of sand when removing. However, the whole sandbed was fairly thin and the previous owner seemed to have done a pretty good job keeping it clear with weekly siphoning of the sandbed. I wouldn't do this again. Getting new sand for cheap and skip the potential toxic pitfalls that I seemed to have skated by (for now, fingers crossed). I used a CPR bakpak protein skimmer and would stir the hell out of the sand and then let the skimmer clean away. Then come back and do it over and over until it finally would cloud up for only a moment before settling again. This process took probably a month of stirring to get to what I considered acceptable. Acceptable in this circumstance meaning; no wild ammonia spiking and settling of sand debris quickly with no major lingering water clouding. When I swap tanks one day in the future, I will use new sand or do a rip clean flush of the whole sand bed.
Curing Process: After a month of flushing to this experiments acceptable standard, I began my dark cure. So now with the sand in and the rock loosely assembled for optimum flow, I ran the tank in the dark for 4 months. I blasted the rocks with the powerhead every week and let the skimmer clean up anything that arose. I would do 50% water changes throughout and dose ammonia once a week to just keep the bacteria rocking. After 4 months in the dark, I finally put a light over the tank. I ran it very low and just slowly ramped it up until it ran low LPS par levels. No serious battle with the classic ugly problems. I was shocked. I expected massive algae blooms to start taking off in the light, but so far it's just been light layers of diatom/green algae. The live rock's total ecology seems to be working! Coralline started to lightly pepper the surface after a few weeks introduction to light.
^Sponge growth in the shade!
Amphipods were still jumping around the sand and rocks after all the cleaning abuse. A small sponge began to grow underneath the overhang of a large rock and it felt like time to start making moves. Got a phosphate testing kit and it was 1+. Oops, I shudder at the levels it reached when I was stirring things up! Ran GFO for a week and managed to get it down to .5. Then ran it a week more and got it to reading between .25 and .5 for 3 more weeks in a row without a water change to confirm that it wasn't dramatically leaching from the rocks/sand.
^Ceramic media seeding for quarantine tank, now removed.
The running tank: I moved the 29 gallon tank setup from my garage to my house. I once again used this opportunity to separately blast the rocks before placing in a clean saltwater brute can for wet transport. Setup the sand, placed the rocks and filled it up. I let it sit running idle for a month before doing anything different besides adding a tiny amount of ammonia and started doing 15% weekly water changes for my future routine's sake. I added an Indo Gold Branching Hammer as my first tester coral after nearly 7 months of maturation under my care. Over the first month of it's introduction the two heads are showing 5 separate distinct rosettes and cleaving! It looks much puffier and has the same color intensity as when I picked it up.
With that success, I went crazy and picked up one of my dream corals! I picked up an Indo Dragon Soul torch and last week it has matched the polyp extension length and color that it had when I picked it up from the farm. Time will tell, but so far, it seems happy in my conditions.
^Hammer day 1-3
^(Torch Intro day)
^(Torch later that same day)
^(Moved to the top of the rock for more consistent random flow)
The future: Will be adding some softies in the form of Ricordea mushrooms in the near future. A malaysian Elegance coral will probably be added in the future as well. Will be adding at least 2 more hammers and 2 more torches to make a separate hammer and torch island on each side of the tank. Will remove some center rockwork for ease of separating coral aggression. Future upgrade to a 65 gallon 36" tank with more wiggle room for coral growth when things start filling out over the next years. I don't intend on adding a lot of coral. I love mature colonies and am totally willing to patiently get there. If slow growing succulent farming teaches you anything, it's patience. In that same thought, I can see how rewarding it is when that patience pays off after 2-7 years of dedication.
Clean up crew:
-Bristle Worms
-Peanut Worms
-Astrea Snail x1
-Cerith Snail x1
Coral:
-Indo Gold Branching Hammer
-Dragon's Soul Torch
Equipment:
-29 Gallon Tank
-Jebao SLW-20
-100 watt heater
-Instant Ocean Salt + RODI
-CPR Bakpak (for beginning cleaning stage only)
Proud parent over here 
