Ado's Reef (IM 200 EXT)

[Ado]

Update:

Sand rinsed and going in. Making it even across the bottom. Sand bed is around 3 inches.

Saltwater going in. This was a long process with my RODI system on overdrive.

Lights up, messing with settings. Gyres placed on either side for now. Will adjust with other powerheads if needed.

Controller board finished for now. Left space for add-ons as tank grows.

Skimmer, heater, and probes placed. Tank is officially up and running.

 

[Ado]

More wire management to do.

Attached power supply for lights on the back for best airflow. Really happy with this turnout.

 

[Ado]

Tank Pics!

 

[fishybizzness]

Looking great! Can't wait for mine to ship!

 

[tritonpower]

Tank Pics!

looking good.

 

[fishybizzness]

Another question. How did you route the wires going into the aquarium? Is there space around the screen top?

 

[Ado]

Another question. How did you route the wires going into the aquarium? Is there space around the screen top?

I have not gotten around to making it neat yet. I'm probably going to drill spaces for the cords. I only plan on having 4 cords going though so should be ok.

 

[Ado]

Tank transfer complete! All fish made it, woo. The LPS look great; however, not sure the SPS will make it. Only a few small frags and we're not doing great prior to transfer.

 

[Ado]

Week 2 Update:

Temp: 77.5
Salinity: 35
Nitrates: 5
PO4: 0.04
Alk: 8.6
Ph: 8.1
Cal: 460
Mg: 1320


Lights are still on slow ramp up to SPS Mode, 21 days left.

Added 3 bottles of ecopods, 1 in sump, 2 in display.

Corals are all opening and feeding. Red Monti is showing noticeable growth onto rock. Added an echinata and space invader chalice from other tank today.

Fish have all claimed their spots in the tank. Goby and pistol shrimp found their old rock and made new tunnels.

Added a Juvenile Austrailian Harlequin Tuskfish. This was a dream fish for me and could not pass this one up.

 

[alpenreef]

Beautiful. Woah tusk. Will the pistol be safe?

 

[Ado]

Beautiful. Woah tusk. Will the pistol be safe?

For now, the tusk is a little over an inch. The shrimp is about 3 years old, not sure how long they live to be honest. Once he is bigger I will move the goby/shrimp to my 40 cube.

 

[ShoreReefer]

I did end up going with Hydros so that setup will be documented next week as well. For now, I am going with (2) XF350 Gyres mounted to the back connected through a waveengine. I plan to add Octo Pulses later to pair with them, once I see how much flow I still need.

How are you liking the Gyres, I was looking at them for my build and see that BRS has them on sale now, thinking about pulling the trigger.

 

[Ado]

How are you liking the Gyres, I was looking at them for my build and see that BRS has them on sale now, thinking about pulling the trigger.

They are really strong. I run them at 50 percent and get great flow throughout the 6 foot length and silent. They each have 4 separate outlets that you can rotate to really change the spread. Anything above 75 percent however they do have some noise. Gyre cleaning is a hassle, so we shall see soon how that goes haha

 

[Ado]

Week 3 Update:

Temp: 77.6
Salinity: 35
Nitrates: 0
PO4: 0.07
Alk: 8.9
Ph: 8.1
Cal: 390
Mg: 1320

Started growing a light brown algae on glass rocks, possibly diatoms. Daily glass cleans remove it easily, no issues there. I'm guessing my skimmer is bottoming out my Nitrates, will adjust times. It is just doing such a good job.

Pods have really taken off and are seen all over the glass, especially the back wall..which I don't plan on cleaning for now.

All fish are doing well! Tusk has really taken off and hunts the rocks all day. Foxface is an algae eating machine.

Shoutout to Tampa Bay Saltwater, ordered 8 lbs of base rubble rock a few weeks back. The plan was to add it to the filter sock holders for added filtration and increase biodiversity. The rock was great, sponges and life all over. Added the duller rocks to my sock holders and had plenty left over. Added the best ones to the display for possible isolation corals later. A few have cup coral and feather dusters attached. I even had some to add to my 40 AIO tanks filtration. All extra was tossed into my sump. They even threw in a Freebie Red Mithrax Crab! He immediately started picking off rocks after a quick acclimation.

LPS corals are thriving, new head growing on black panther torch. Red Monti has white growth edges all around outer rim. Tester acros are not doing much, just browned out and still showing PE.

Made an order with Dr. Reef to add a few more fish, more details to come.

 

[fishybizzness]

Morning. Another question. I was wondering how far from the wall the tank is? Did you have any issues installing the plumbing? I'm trying to figure out how far I will need to place mine to allow space to plumb the tank without it being too far off the wall. Thanks

 

[Ado]

I kept it about 4 inches off the overflow. I had to physically go in the tank to attach drain bulkheads etc would not recommend. If I was to do it again, I would plan and complete as much of the plumbing as possible prior to tank going up. Once it is on the stand, good luck moving it.

 

[Ado]

Quick Update: I'm officially a Dad! My daughter decided she wanted to meet us a little earlier than expected.

Been a long week, had a friend care for the animals. Nutrients bottomed out at some point in the 200 EXT, came back to a full dino outbreak.

Started to dose Nitrates and phosphates, took a few days to dial it in. Test today showed 0.08 phosphate and 3.6 Nitrates. I believe with the added feedings, dosing, and reduced skimmer schedule, we are back in business.

 

[fishybizzness]

Congrats on your new daughter!

 

[tritonpower]

Quick Update: I'm officially a Dad! My daughter decided she wanted to meet us a little earlier than expected.

Been a long week, had a friend care for the animals. Nutrients bottomed out at some point in the 200 EXT, came back to a full dino outbreak.

Started to dose Nitrates and phosphates, took a few days to dial it in. Test today showed 0.08 phosphate and 3.6 Nitrates. I believe with the added feedings, dosing, and reduced skimmer schedule, we are back in business.

congrats papa. change lots of diapers, makes the lady happy.

 

[Ado]

Alright, quick update. It's been over a month since the dinos outbreak. UV directly in display fixed this in about 4 days. My nutrients stayed around no3 8-10 and no4 around .1 during this time; however, gha took over completely.



You can see little man here sleeping in a nest of gha.

I added a plethora of snails, a pincushion urchin, black spine urchin, and pencil urchin. The urchins do massive damage to the algae but was not enough.

My fish order came in from Dr. Reef, just in time. I added a Purple Tang, Desjardin Sailfin Tang, and a Convict Tang. I asked for all 3 to be about the same size; however, the purple was about 2 inches, the Convict was 4 inches, and the sailfin was pushing 6 inches. The Convict came in spinning in circles in the bag and did not make it through the night. Dr. Reef has already refunded the tang and the wrasse that did not ship. YMMV with fish sizes. The sailfin is now king of the tank.

I have been manually removing gha every other day, changing filter floss daily, reduced lighting, reduced feeding, and began dosing microbacter clean. I'm prepared for a long battle ahead. It is starting to slow up, but it just comes back so fast.