Back in it after 6 years!!

[Seansea]

So a little history. Started with a 20g hex in 1998 then moved to a 55g around 2000 then went to 150g display on mainfloor with a 90g sump in basemment pumped up by a mag 18 to main floor and had that tank until 2014 when i moved. It was heavily stocked with fish but my corals were all super easy to keep softies that could florish in pretty sloppy water to be honest. Had 25 fish in the tank and fed twice a day to lots of nutrients. My sailfin tang was over 16 years old and my rusty angel and purple psuedocromis was over 10 yrs old then a bunch around the 4-6 mark as i didnt add any fish for around 4 years due to ill advised addtition of a lunar wrasse that killed every fish that entered the tank including a 250 dollar emporer angel. gggrrrrr!!

Anyhow on black friday of 2022 i bought red sea reefer 350 and a bunch of stuff and started back up. I use to be on reef central but doesnt appear that exists anymore so just started jumping over here onreef2reef. Not sure if this was even a thing back then but seems like a great site. But i need you guys help on keeping pretty corals. My local lfs has a pretty good selection and is pretty helpful and i have been getting stuff from them.

Heres what i got so far at the roughly 6 week mark.

I ran the algae scrubber from day 1 and have had no cyano or diatomos or nuisance stuff in main tank which has been really nice.

Parameters are

salinity 1.024
ph 8.1
temp 79
nitrate 10
phos .25
calc 460
dkh 10.9

WHat kind of montipora is this? Think its a sunset but not sure. Got him high in the tank in heavy flow

Its a orange and green color.

ok ill be seeing you guys around on here now that im back into it. THe prices have gone thru the roof on this stuff. Use to be a heck of alot cheaper.
Ill also try to dig up a pick of my old 150g .

 

[shakacuz]

the monti, does it have an orange base and green polyps? difficult to tell in the picture

 

[Seansea]

yes

 

[Seansea]

Here is my old tank circa 2012

The lunar wrasse was the last fish i added for about 2 years cuz i couldnt add anything or he would kill it. I dont even know what the brown thing is all over my rocks but it came on some live rock and grew like crazy over 7 years. Unfortunatly those ricordea were 7 years old and thats all they grew from 2 polyps. green star poyps were all over everything too. Almost all the fish were about 2" when i got them and grew but very slowly even tho i fed twice a day and algae sheet everyday.

 

[LeannaBanana]

Looking great so far! Welcome back to the hobby. I'm just now starting to set up the 350 G2. And by "just now," I mean, building the cabinet haha.

 

[Seansea]

Awesome. Good luck with it. So far i love it. What return pump you using? I got the currnet usa eflux and it has some serious fluctuation which is annoying. My last one i drilled it, plumbed it , wired it and did the whole thing my self. Was pain in the ****. Love how this comes with whole package ready to go. One big pallet.

 

[LeannaBanana]

I grabbed a Sicce Syncra Pro 1000 for the return pump and adding in a gyre (maxspect jump 2k) for randomized flow in the tank. I'm going to try out one gyre, for now, to see how it goes, but open to adding a second if needed. I don't want to blast everything in the tank, but also want good movement.

 

[vetteguy53081]

So a little history. Started with a 20g hex in 1998 then moved to a 55g around 2000 then went to 150g display on mainfloor with a 90g sump in basemment pumped up by a mag 18 to main floor and had that tank until 2014 when i moved. It was heavily stocked with fish but my corals were all super easy to keep softies that could florish in pretty sloppy water to be honest. Had 25 fish in the tank and fed twice a day to lots of nutrients. My sailfin tang was over 16 years old and my rusty angel and purple psuedocromis was over 10 yrs old then a bunch around the 4-6 mark as i didnt add any fish for around 4 years due to ill advised addtition of a lunar wrasse that killed every fish that entered the tank including a 250 dollar emporer angel. gggrrrrr!!

Anyhow on black friday of 2022 i bought red sea reefer 350 and a bunch of stuff and started back up. I use to be on reef central but doesnt appear that exists anymore so just started jumping over here onreef2reef. Not sure if this was even a thing back then but seems like a great site. But i need you guys help on keeping pretty corals. My local lfs has a pretty good selection and is pretty helpful and i have been getting stuff from them.

Heres what i got so far at the roughly 6 week mark.

I ran the algae scrubber from day 1 and have had no cyano or diatomos or nuisance stuff in main tank which has been really nice.

Parameters are

salinity 1.024
ph 8.1
temp 79
nitrate 10
phos .25
calc 460
dkh 10.9

WHat kind of montipora is this? Think its a sunset but not sure. Got him high in the tank in heavy flow

Its a orange and green color.

ok ill be seeing you guys around on here now that im back into it. THe prices have gone thru the roof on this stuff. Use to be a heck of alot cheaper.
Ill also try to dig up a pick of my old 150g .

 

[Screwgunner]

Are you running biopellets if not I would start it will help keep nitrates down. +++++ ON THE ATS I will not run a reef with out one! I have a 120 gallon system. And run 2 cups of boipellets it keeps my nitrate even but they go down with water change.

 

[Seansea]

grabbed a Sicce Syncra Pro 1000 for the return pump and adding in a gyre (maxspect jump 2k) for randomized flow in the tank


Thinkin that sicce is a better pump. I had a mag 18 (electricity hog) on my old 150 pumpin from basement and never had any fluctuation. This stupid thing pumping from just under cabinet and always fluctuating.

I got the jebao wavemaker and its ok. really blasts one side of tank and other just a little. Old school power heads colliding seem to be better i think but ill have to give it time.

Screwgunner does that algae scrubber not eat your nitrates? Seems like it should take out most of all the nitrates and phosphates. My nitrates have been steady 10 and phosphate still a little high at .25 but tank is only a month and half old.

 

[Screwgunner]

grabbed a Sicce Syncra Pro 1000 for the return pump and adding in a gyre (maxspect jump 2k) for randomized flow in the tank


Thinkin that sicce is a better pump. I had a mag 18 (electricity hog) on my old 150 pumpin from basement and never had any fluctuation. This stupid thing pumping from just under cabinet and always fluctuating.

I got the jebao wavemaker and its ok. really blasts one side of tank and other just a little. Old school power heads colliding seem to be better i think but ill have to give it time.

Screwgunner does that algae scrubber not eat your nitrates? Seems like it should take out most of all the nitrates and phosphates. My nitrates have been steady 10 and phosphate still a little high at .25 but tank is only a month and half old.

My nitrates stay at 10 but my phosphates do bottom out but I started feeding flake food with pellet two times a week with my 4 frozen cubes a day and it stays in the .03 to .06 area. I would say I am over stocked with 14 fish. Seems like it take phosphates down faster than nitrates. My nitrates gradually climbed over time then I put the pellet reactor on and it stays perfectly even now.

 

[Seansea]

wow 4 frozen cubes a day!! Heavy feeding. Its impressive your numbers are that low with that feeding schedule. The power of the ATS is real.

 

[Screwgunner]

Oh yes, !!!! Never run without one. I could of turned the light cycle down or dimmed the light but my fish are happy . I wouldn't say fat but.

 

[Seansea]

Ya man they look great. Fat and colorful

 

[Seansea]

What is that purple and green coral at the top in the first pic with the clowns? Thats pretty sweet

 

[Screwgunner]

Purple and green eyed dipoastrea
Closed brain coral

 

[Seansea]

Updated tank shot. Been 2 months since first tank shot. Sitll not alot happening but coralline growth and my sunset montipora that i thought was dying is growing pretty good. So far lost a naso tang yellow watchman and rbta. But everything else is doing pretty good. So that kind of sucks.

Going to florida in 2 weeks for 10 days so not gonna add anything until i get back.

 

[Screwgunner]

I lost a chromis and a nasso when I started mine.

 

[Seansea]

Ya naso just wouldnt eat. Tried everything but just wouldnt take to it. Watchman got sucked into powerhead.

 

[Seansea]

Tank at a year. Been mostly good. Lost some stuff along the way. 2 gonis at exactly the 6 month mark. A naso tang and a skunk clown pair that my phsycho path percs killed.

Just added 6 mollys 2 watchman gobys a royal gramma and a blue dot. They all have tore up fins from the stupid clowns. Thought with this many the attacks would be diluted but they are having at all of em. Terrible. Got a mirror o. The way for the tank so gonna put it in their corner and hopefully draw them to that.