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Dec 22. Blaxun's Abyss: Year-End Review, Part II - Gear
Aside from adding another EcoTech Radion XR15 G5 Blue to the tank (which seems to have improved overall PAR levels), the three main things I added this year were a Innovative Marine Helio heating system, a Red Sea ReefMat 500 fleece roller (since upgraded to a ReefMat 200) and a OzoTech Poseidon 200 ozone system.
..........

Innovative Marine Helio Heating System
The heating system wasn't something I'd planned on even touching this year, but Innovative Marine was kind of enough to send me one of their new Helio systems this Spring (controller plus 2x 350-watt heaters). After testing it for just 48 hours I found it to be far superior to my current Inkbird/titanium heater setup and swapped out the old system completely. Instead of the wild 1.0-1.5°F temperature swings, the Helio was consistently maintaining 78.0°F within 0.25-0.5°F of all the independent temperature probes/readings. Having the heaters and temperature probes on magnets instead of suction cups has been a huge bonus!

The Helio didn't need any calibration out-of-the-box and has been consistent since day one. While it doesn't have WiFi connectivity, it's rock solid and the one minor alarm it generated this summer was easy to troubleshoot/resolve. I really like the dependability and the fact that if for any reason one of the heaters should fail there's less than zero chance of it impacting the tank. IM has recently released a new version of their controller that let's you use non-IM heaters as well (but the real benefit is with the Helio heaters themselves).
..........

Red Sea ReefMat 500/1200 Fleece Roller
Overall - an extremely worthwhile upgrade, with the bonus that I can monitor it through the ReefBeat app. If you hate cleaning filter socks - this is definitely the upgrade for you! Ease of installation was not quite as easy the video would lead you to believe. Trying to retrofit an existing (active) sump without nicking anything (and potentially causing a leak), working in reduced lighting and space constraints and trying to ensure all the teeny tiny bits of black silicone don't end up everywhere required a second set of hands, a some nets and a few choice colorful metaphors.

The ReefMat 500 fits a lot easier into the sump (you have to remove the motor from the ReefMat 1200, flip it sideways, insert and then rotate down to get in-place). The 1200 also makes it harder to access anything you have in the rear chamber - so it's a bit more juggling to get things in and out when required. If you have a really light bio load the 500 will probably work fine on a 625 or 750, but if you love fish and have a lot of them - you'll want the larger 1200 to avoid having to chance fleece rolls out every 1-2 weeks (right now with the 1200 I'm averaging 25-28 days between fleece rolls).

Unlike what a lot of people have reported, my nitrate levels didn't really chance. The rationale for this is that the fleece is 200-micron whereas the filter socks I was using were 100-micron. So I gain some nitrates for the 200-micron fleece but lose some nitrates by not having it submerged in the water. The sump is probably a little dirtier overall with the addition of the ReefMat compared to filter socks.

While a neat addition, use of the included media tray isn't recommended. Even with bio media it tends to accumulate detritus (etc.) which restricts flow and raises the water level prematurely (leading to anywhere from 50-100% more fleece use - because it hardly gets dirty).

None of the other fleece rollers offer the ease-of-use, performance and functionality of the ReefMats - which is why there were extremely hard to get for the longest time. If you have or are thinking of getting a Red Sea tank - this is a "must have" upgrade that you should budget for (and ideally a G2 tank with the improvements and ReefMat-ready sump).
..........

OzoTech Poseidon 200 Ozone System
This is something I got on a whim, and I largely have @Sean Clark to thank for this! I've only been running it since the summer, but I've already noticed quite a few benefits:

• The water is definitely clearer (I also run a AquaUV 57-watt and carbon in a Nyos Torq reactor)
• There seems to be less coral chemical warfare going on (or at least it's taken care of)
• My oxygen levels have stabilized (within ±20 ORP during a 24-hour period)
• It seems to be destroying a lot of crap in the skimmer as I've gone from having to empty it every 2-3 days to typically 7-8 days (I'd even purchased a second collection container because I was emptying it so frequently).

I have the Poseiden pull in air from the bottom of the tank through the ozone unit and into the top of the silencer on my Nyos Quantum 160 skimmer (I originally had this on the bottom ozone connection port but I inadvertently broke it trying to remove the tubing for cleaning, so I've now retrofitted a much more "idiot-proof" setup where it pulls ozone in through the top and air in through the bottom. The only caveat with running an ozone setup like this is that your skimmer needs to be ozone-compatible with respect to the plastics and construction. You will also need to replace the nylon screw with a titanium one as this will degrade over time.

Some additional benefits from an ozone system:
• Preserves, brightens vibrant coral colors
• Improves water quality for fish
• Returns saltwater to a NSW state, reducing or eliminating the need for water changes

I've been running the Poseiden 200 between 0.1 (max) and 0.4 (max), with a current setting of around 0.35. I may try experimenting next year by running it for a few weeks at higher settings. I have not detected any ozone odor of any kind - either in the fish room or sump itself (I'm hyper sensitive to any smells, so this was always something I was going to immediately sense).
..........

Other minor additions (in no particular order):
• A second Tunze Strong+ magnet scraper (the one with the floating handle; much easier on the hands)
• A second Neptune AFS feeding system so I can dispense pellets on either side of the tank, both with the Printed Reef AFS Feeder Rings (highly recommended).
• A flow aerator from GrowGreenie (this worked exactly as advertised, but created too much mist in my sump and I wasn't happy with the additional condensation around some of the electronics). If you have a sealed tank or area where this isn't an issue, this is definitely a cost-effective upgrade (since it works on any kind of outlet or return pump).
 
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Dec 22. Blaxun's Abyss: Year-End Review, Part III - Food/Supplements
Full disclaimer: I'm a Nyos pimp (there's really no other way to put it). Having tried the products on a whim a few years ago, I've now fully transitioned from the Red Sea supplements (I still use one or two Red Sea supplements). Brightwell and Polyp Lab are also two brands as well. I have a mini-fridge nearby so anything that needed refrigeration (and a few I wasn't 100% on) - were. I also decided to amend this section to include fish food and related supplements as well (since there are some similarities). Due to the sheer number of supplements I've tried in the past year or so, I'm only including a brief summary and my personal "rating".
..........

Nyos
I use Nyos Zero, BAC and Bio Booster (the latter two can be hard to source) on a daily basis with Nyos Active Elements, Strontium and Iodine being dosed weekly. I use the powdered 4kg containers of Nyos Alkalinity, Calcium and Magnesium to mix with ROD (I recently worked out my costs at around ~$10 CAD a month to dose those 3 elements!) For corals I use Nyos Coral Nectar, Instant Plankton and LPS Power 2 times a week. AAA+

Red Sea

I've used the whole Red Sea spectrum of products and they performed admirably. I find that Nyos does yield better results (at least for me) and the costs were considerably less overall (as Red Sea only recently introduced the powdered versions of their supplements). I still use Reef Energy AB+ and NOPOX, but I think I'm going to phase both out next year as Nyos Zero provides a similar benefit (and I get a huge -pH hit whenever I use NOPOX) and I'm not sure there's any real benefit with AB+ long-term - but it's probably something I'll test/monitor further. A-

AquaForest

My LFS carries the full line of AquaForest products so I did try a few this year. AF Vitality is (I believe) similar to Red Sea Reef Energy AB+, so I'm on the fence whether I'll continue it or not. I also tried AF Build and was disappointed (the vial easily clogged, solidified and I ended up throwing the remaining 25% out that had hardened). B

SeaChem

I've phased out all my SeaChem products by either using up or giving away. C
..........

Brightwell | American Marine
For food supplements, I switched from Seachem products to Brightwell GarlicPower and AminOmega and have never looked back. A+. I also use American Marine Selcon concentrate. If you're not using Selcon, you should start! AA+

New Life Spectrum | Nyos

For pellet feedings (6-8x daily), I've been using a mix of NLS Marine Fish, NLS AlgaeMax and a rotation of Nyos Goji Berry, Sweet Aloe and True Algae foods. The fish go absolutely nuts for this. AA+

Piscine Energetics | Hikari | Larry's Reef

For frozen feedings (2x daily), I use PE Mysis (usually the flat pack, but I've also tried there new Special Grade and the smaller fish really love that!), PE Calanus (awesome for filter feeders and corals), Hikari Brine Shrimp and LRS Reef Frenzy (which true to legend, the fish gobble up!) AA+
 
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Dec 22. Blaxun's Abyss: Year-End Review, Part IV - Corals
I tried a few different types of corals this year - being very cautious as I do have a few known nibblers (Emperor and dwarf angelfish). Here are some that I had reasonably good success with (the fish took zero interest in) and some that didn't fare as well in my system.
..........

Anemones
2022 was an utter failure with bubbletip anemones. I started the year with a really nice Colorado Sunshine and four Rose tip bubble anemones and a pair of Condy anemones. Either the anemones crawled into a crevice starving themselves of light or the two clownfish I had harassed them to death (forcing them to retreat under the rocks), but all four of the bubble tip anemones perished one by one.

bubbletip-anemone.jpg


One of the Condy anemones has thrived (finding a premier spot to the detriment of several corals which had to be relocated) and the other spent 2 weeks roaming around the tank to ultimately perish (not entirely sure why or why it suddenly became so active). The surviving Condy anemone ate at least one fish that I know of (a stupid Clown tang), but as the two clownfish have now taken up residence (!) in the Condy anemone - they tend to ward any fish off long before they even come close.

condy.jpg


I lost three Caribbean rockflower anemones this year; a really awesome orange, a nice yellow and green and a rainbow which I noticed has dissolved. I'm unsure of all the causes as they just detached, turned translucent and fell into the substrate - but the rainbow was kind of driven out by both the Condy anemone and some encroaching GSP.

orange-rockflower.jpg

..........

Soft
I made the mistake of introducing a small Pulsing xenia frag into my tank which ended up being nothing short of the black plague. After about 6 months of trying to contain it I made a concerted effort to purge my tank and was finally successful. I have a half dozen GSP colonies that have grown in leaps and bounds - to the point they'll need to be rehomed or fragged at some point. I made the mistake of leaving a small outcropping of GSP on the side of a rock and it completely took over the rock - spreading over and killing off a rather nice blueberry zoanthid colony, duncan colony and favia. The only thing keeping it currently in-check is the Condy anemone.

BB98A77E-2183-43A8-AF3A-B760294188D9.JPG


Zoanthids and palythoas have been hit and miss this year. Some colonies did extremely well - some just withered up and died. Most of these were nuisance/undesirable palythoas - but there were some really nice vividly colorful colonies that perished as well. I suspect the Emperor angelfish has expanded his palette beyond the nuisance palythoas - but he's really hard to catch in the act. So for this reason, I only added a few cheap frags here and there.

zoanthid-colony.jpg


orange-zoanthids.jpg


I added a few finger leathers which detached from their base and I'd written off. I found one at the back of a rock several months later and transplanted a pair of small pieces to the front of a rock shelf where they took hold and have enthusiastically grown. I also added a hairy mushroom which has grown in leaps and bounds - even depositing a new colony which I found lying in the substrate and transplanted to a new home.

toadstool.jpg


I added more ricordea mushrooms this year, and some of the existing rhodactis mushrooms morphed into these monster variants. A single grenadine ricordea colony ended up expanding into about 6-8 separate mushrooms, so that turned out to be a very worthwhile investment. I had a really gorgeous orange/red Florida ricordea - but it just up and separated one day and I found it dissolving in the substrate (very weird). I've tried several Blue Oxide ricordeas (which I really like) - but they don't survive very long at either my LFS or in my tank - leading us to believe that the local supplier grows them in very unusual conditions.

bounce-mushrooms.jpg


ricordea-garden.jpg

..........

LPS
I introduced two symphyllia this year on a lark - a red and rainbow - and they've both been fish resilient. The rainbow suffered a bit of death on one side when one of the inverts knocked it upside down into the substrate and I didn't catch it right away. It's recovering, but slowly.

I've struggled all year with a Fat Tentacle fungia plate. It also got picked on by the Condy anemone and I tried moving it several times (with mixed success) to try and remedy this. It got stung pretty bad with about 25% of it turning white. I'm cautiously optimistic that I can return it to some of its former glory...

fungia-tentacle.jpg


I had two awesome duncan colonies but one was overgrown by GSP and is probably toast and the other, while still green, is far from happy. If these get replaced next year I'll probably have to opt for large colony.

Flowerpots have always done great in my tank, and I added a neon green and pink powder gonioporas this year. An alveopora which was brutally and repeatedly stung by a nearby torch has somehow managed to survived by spreading out lower (so the top is still dead but it's twice the original size now by having expanded along the rocks). One of the coolest corals I added this year was a crimson red bernardpora (think really, really teeny gonioporas - almost like moss).

blue-goniopora.jpg


red-goniopora.jpg


Euphyllia
Kind of a mixed bag of snakes with eupyllia this year. We lost all our hammers to some sort of unknown bacterial infection, which thankfully spared our torches (the small Dragon Soul frag we purchased is easily sporting 12+ heads now).

dragon-soul.jpg

..........

SPS
In general, all my SPS has done well this year. I have three montipora plates which have all easily tripled in size over the past year (red, green and a orange/yellow). My hydnophora and Meteor Shower cyphastrea both got picked on by the Condy anemone all year, so I finally found both a new home where I'm somewhat optimistic they'll recover given enough time (and where they won't get knocked off by impatient fish and inverts).

meteor-cyphastrea.jpg


I only have two acroporas - a Tri-color Bonsai and a Chip's - but both are doing phenomenally. The Tri-color has probably doubled in size but the Chip's (which was originally purchased as an XL colony) - has easily grown by 5-6x in the past year. Some of the center branches are 3/4" thick! I don't consider myself an SPS expert by any means, so I'm very pleased with how well my SPS has done this year.

chips-acropora.jpg


I purchased a small lithophyllum frag and it's survived - but I wouldn't necessarily say it thrived (victim of the Condy anemone). A Pumpkin Patch psammacora that we'd also almost entirely written off (same assailant) was relocated a few months back and has now almost completely recovered. There's a recurring theme here with Condy anemones...

green-hydnophora.jpg
 
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Dec 22. Blaxun's Abyss: Year-End Review, Part V - Livestock
So I obviously added many new fish and inverts this year. As I've previously mentioned, I don't quarantine any of my fish - and I lost zero fish to disease or sickness this year. The ones I did lose were primarily due to misadventure - or they just disappeared without a trace.
..........

Angelfish
We decided to augment the pair of dwarf angelfish with an Emperor and female Lamarck's angelfish. All of the angelfish quickly took to their new fishy friends, although the Emperor has proven to be a bit of a jerk and has kind of established dominance. The Lamarck's angelfish is bar none one of the most peaceful and laidback fish in our tank.

emperor-angel.jpg


sway.jpg

..........

Anthias/Chromis/Damelfish
We started the year with 5 anthias; one Lyretail just disappeared and we found one of the Marcia's had jumped out behind the tank a few weeks ago (we think we ended up with two male Marcia's anthias and the one spooked the other; the survivor has since calmed down). The anthias - like the chromis - get fed often (like 6-8x daily).

marcias-anthias.jpg


We started the year with 6 Blue-Green chromis and added two Bicolor, two Black Bar and four Lyretail. One Blue-Green chromis jumped out of the tank and one small Black Bar was killed off by the female clownfish for constantly venturing near their anemone. Contrary to the popular view - none of the chromis actually killed each other (could be a first!) We found that the Bicolor chromis can actually bite - which was surprising as we always thought chromis to be very timid. The most exciting addition has been the Lyretail chromis. They swim in a pack and are constantly exploring the tank - not just confined to the top like the other types of chromis.

And finally, we added three small Blue Devil/Sapphire damesfish to join the one Azure damselfish we already had. All four get along great and have divided the tank up into four "patrol" zones, where they act as "reef shepherds".

bluedevil-damsel.jpg

..........

Basslet/Dottyback
It's been hit and miss with dottybacks this year. We introduced three (two Neon, one Striped) and only the Striped (whom we named "Carl") has survived - the others just disappearing. We also added a Royal Gramma named "Roy" who has bucked the trend of spending 24/7 in the rocks and is actually out free-swimming with the other reef inhabitants. We found that "Carl" likes digging tunnels/caves and is actually fairly adept at this.
..........

Blennies
We started the year with a Midas blenny that decided to spontaneously change color from the typical orange-pink to a beautiful dark blue-purple. We're not entirely sure why this happened - but he seems no worse the wear for it.

blenny-same.jpg


Despite having zero luck keeping Lawnmower blennies for more than a few months, we finally caved and tried with "Rigel IV". He immediately took to the tank - making it his personal mission to rid it of algae.

lawnmower-blenny.jpg


We tried adding a starry blenny but it disappeared into the depths - never to be seen again.
..........

Cardinalfish
We only had a single Pajama cardinalfish going into this year, but added a small pair of Banngai cardinals and a Blue Eye Striped cardinalfish later in the year. The Banggai are easily one of our favorite fish - they just kind of drift around together. The Pajama and Blue Eye Striped cardinalfish don't really move around much - they just kind of float and hang-out in one corner of the tank (but the Pajama seems to enjoy having company).
..........

Grouper
While only loosely related to the grouper family, our Marine Betta continues to be one of the most enjoyable (albeit reclusive) fish in our tank. Extremely shy to the point of preferring to be hand-fed.

betta.jpg

..........

Rabbitfish
We decided to add one extremely tiny One Spot Foxface rabbitfish this year, who we named "Roger Rabbitfish". He's been an absolute joy to watch (especially when he was younger, as he slept in a gorgonian) and gets along well with the other fish.

onespot-foxface.jpg

..........

Tangs
We started the year with a single Sailfin tang ("Finn"). We introduced a small Naso tang (which promptly nosedived into an elegance coral) and a small Clown tang (which promptly nosedived into the condy anemone). Based on this we'd kind of written more tangs off, but after the clownfish took up residence in the Condy anemone we decided to add a Whitetail Bristletooth, Powder Brown and Half Black Mimic tang. All have been doing incredibly well - and making a concerted dent in algae growth on the back of the tank. We had to relocate a few corals as the Whitetail Bristletooth established a new den and kept tumbling various corals off the rocks.

circus-tang.jpg

..........

Wrasses
Wrasses have been somewhat hit and miss with me - at least certain types. The flasher/fairy wrasses always seem to perish within 12 months (usually disappearing without a trace). I recently lost our favorite Blue Star leopard wrasse (just stopped showing up for dinner and we haven't seen him in well over a week). Surprisingly enough - we're not losing wrasses to jumping out of the tank (we've maybe lost one this way in the past year) - they just disappear.

We currently have the Quoy's parrotfish, Melanarus, Christmas/Red-Line, Sixline, Green and Cleaner wrasses - all which continue to do well. We learned this year that Cleaner wrasses have an innate hatred of pufferfish - and a small Valentini pufferfish was killed by the Cleaner wrasse. The Cleaner wrasse is great for parasite/fish maintenance, so it's a double-edge sword.

christmas-wrasse.jpg


bluestar-wrasse.jpg

..........

Invertebrates
We constantly "refresh" our invertebrates by adding new snails and crabs along the odd invert that shows up at our LFS. Here are a few that have been hit and miss for us:

• Sea Hares - love these, but they don't seem to be able to survive in our high nitrate system
• Abalones - these are really awesome and have proven very hardy (mostly nocturnal)
• Sea Squirts - first time my LFS has seen these filter feeders in a while so we got a cluster of 4
• Hermit Crabs - in addition to the standard Blue Leg and Scarlet, I collect any miscellaneous (unknown) hermit crab. Right now I've got a half dozen unknown variants - including this one we named "Nigel" (who's turned out to be a really effective scavenger). The Algae Eating hermit crabs are the boldest - and can be found climbing cables (etc.) during nighttime.
• Crabs - we added a Sally Lightfoot crab named "Gordon Lightfoot" that seems to be preoccupied with eating algae off the back of the tank. He's very excitable, friendly and will actually allow us to hand-feed him. We added a large decorator crab which is still doing well - but only comes out at night to find things to adorn himself.
• Sea Cucumbers - we still have 4 (possibly 5) black sea cucumbers in the tank that pull sand sifting duty. Two of them are just massive (easily 10-12" in length) and are literally like a Hoover for our sand bed.
• Flame Scallops - we've tried these a few times but they don't seem to last more than a few months. There's a guy on R2R who's successfully kept them for over a year but he's doing a lot of very unique things in his tank.
• Brittle Starfish - we've had no luck with run-of-the-mill starfish, but found that several species (banded and black) do fairly well in our tank. You'll never see them except for the odd tentacle dangling out from a rock during feeding.



 
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Dec 23. "When that Shark Bites..."
Did you know chromis bite? I didn't! Anytime I've stuck my hands in the tank they've always fled and hid like the timid fish they've always seemed to be. But not this particular bicolor chromis, oh no. I was apparently "rearranging" things near his den not to his liking, so he came out and made a half dozen "attacks" on my hand (these were more like finger flicks than anything else, but he was bound and determined!) Not anywhere near what clownfish are capable of (unless he was sporting another set of teeth he was holding back)... I actually stopped what I was doing and watched him repeatedly dart back and forth until removing the offending hand.

jaws.jpg
Future a**hat? (not the actual fish in question - he's off sulking...)
 
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Dec 24. Xmas Eve Misadventures: When Santa Misses the Chimney
This morning I couldn't find one of my Marcia's anthias and started the customary search. I didn't have to look far - a quick glance down the back ledge of the wall found a good-sized pink corpse. On closer inspection (and removal), it was the missing anthias (rather crispy, so it definitely happened sometime yesterday when I was sick in bed not making my rounds). I had two, and one of them was noticeably larger than the other (and kind of a bully towards the other anthias, if we're to be honest) - and I think this was the the one. It had a tendency to rocket towards the surface and them immediately dive down again - and I think it miscalculated on its ascent because the look of sheer horror was captured on its face.

I also cannot (sadly) find "Neo" our neon dottyback. A very friendly and playful little fellow - I haven't seen him in a few days. He's normally out and about, so unless he's found a new cave to hang out in I don't think I'll be ringing in the New Year with his charming antics. For now, he's still MIA - but with the CUC I have, they would make short work of a small fish like this.

1F44B093-F40F-448C-9CF7-0A1CB61CC686.JPG
That moment when you realize being an a**hat wasn't a great career choice...
 
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Dec 25. Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas R2R's (and to those that occasionally follow this build thread). Today I got up early, then went back to bed and slept until early afternoon. To quote an infamous line from Office Space:
"I did nothing. I did absolutely nothing, and it was everything that I thought it could be."
 
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Dec 26. Post-Turkey PSA
It's always a good idea to check your probe mounts if they're not fixed in place (magnetically-held ones can occasionally get bumped during cleaning and maintenance). Turns out my Apex temperature probe wasn't low enough in the water and my salinity probe must've had some air bubbles or something, because it's now reading a lot lower (closer to the refractometer reading). Time to make a short list of "to-do" things next week as well (like checking on my RODI filters).

72A4C85B-6B27-4CDD-AAED-14FD6C52CAC9.JPG
 

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I just recently filled a 750 G2, your attention to detail was helpful, than you. if you don’t mind I have a few questions that I didn’t see in the previos 21 pages.

Your UV, is it plumbed off a return pump?

How did you light the dry cabinet?

I think I noticed an adaptive reef panel, did you put that in your cabinet?

What‘s saltwater mix station configuration?
 
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I just recently filled a 750 G2, your attention to detail was helpful, than you. if you don’t mind I have a few questions that I didn’t see in the previos 21 pages.

Your UV, is it plumbed off a return pump?

How did you light the dry cabinet?

I think I noticed an adaptive reef panel, did you put that in your cabinet?

What‘s saltwater mix station configuration?
No problem at all.

* I run a separate pump (Sicce SDC 6.0) for the AquaUV adjacent to the ReefMat 1200 and pump it to the back of the rear chamber with my skimmer and reactors. I run it at 60% which gives me a sterilization rate of around 135,000-150,000 µw/cm2. The flow rate is somewhere around 650-750Gph so I'm getting a 4-5x cycle rate per hour. I also now run a OzoTech Poseidon 200 ozone system as well.

* I picked up a few of these magnetic lights on Amazon that charge up via USB.
Amazon product


* Yes, I have an Adaptive Reef cabinet in black that hides the mess of wires and power bricks. I got the cutout panels for the DOS and Trident. I plan to add the Red Sea pull-out panel with basket and add a ReefDose4 for my Nyos dosing.

* I use Tropic Marine Pro Reef salt (German), but I don't actually do water changes - so I just have a 5-gallon pail of saltwater pre-mixed for topping up salinity (whenever I acclimate something I use up a bit of saltwater).
 

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theabyss-fts 2.jpg

Abyss v1.0, circa 2021.

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Abyss v2.0, circa 2022.

Red Sea Reefer 750 XXL v3 | System: 200 gallons | Display: 160 gallons | Sump: 40 gallons | ATO: 15+7 gallons
Mixed Reef: Anemone, Soft, LPS, SPS | Anemones: 10 | Corals: 60+ | Fish: 50 (current) | Cleanup Crew: 250+

Return Pump: Sicce SDC 9.0 (»45%) | UV Sterilizer: AquaUltraviolet 57-watt | UV Pump: Sicce SDC 6.0 (»60%)
Controller: Neptune Apex, Trident, DOS, DDR, PMK, FMM, ATK, 2x AFS, 2x EB832 energy bar, 2x Temperature, Salinity, pH, ORP
Ozone: Ozotech Poseidon 200 (currently »25-40%), integrated into Nyos Quantum 160

Skimmer: Nyos Quantum 160 | Reactors: Nyos Torq 1.0 G2 (Carbon/Phosi-Ex) / Torq 2.0 G1 (Zeo) | BioMedia: MarinePure Blocks/Spheres, Polyp Lab Genesis | Filtration: Reef Mat 1200 (~50" daily consumption)
Wavemakers: 2x Red Sea ReefWave45 (20-60% random; »8min/«2min) | 2x Maxspect XF330 x2 (30% »fixed, IceCap battery backup)

Heating: Inkbird 306A | 2x Schego 300-watt Titanium (primary/secdonary) | Hygger 500-watt Titanium (tertiary)
Lighting: EcoTech Radion 2x XR30 G5 Blue, 2x XR15 G5 Blue (all w/diffusers) | Schedule: Custom 'Radiance'
Remote Monitoring: Neptune Apex Fusion, Little Elf 1080p WiFi Infrared Camera
ATO: Innovative Marine Hydrofill (15 gallons, external), Red Sea (7 gallons, internal) | Neptune ATK

Primary Testing: Neptune Trident | Temperature, Salinity, pH, ORP, KH, Ca, Mg | Seachem Ammonia Alert
Secondary Testing: Hanna, Nyos, Red Sea | Salinity, pH, KH, Ca, Mg, NO3, PO4, I, Fe, K

Target Parameters: 8.25-8.4 dKH, 450ppm Ca, 1450ppm Mg, 0.10-0.15ppm PO4, 10-15ppm NO3
77.8-78.2°F, 35.2-35.5ppt Salinity, 7.95-8.2 pH, 275-325 ORP, 150-275 PAR (sand bed to middle)

Dosing (daily): Nyos Alkalinity (90-110ml) | Nyos Calcium (6-10ml) | Nyos Magnesium (2-4ml)
Trace Elements (weekly): Nyos Active Elements (25ml), Nyos Strontium (12.5ml) | Trace Elements (bi-monthly): Nyos Iodine (12.5ml)

Supplements (daily): Nyos Zero (2ml), Nyos Bio Booster (2.5ml), Red Sea ReefEnergy AB+ (12.5ml)
Treatments (daily): Red Sea NOPOX (12.5ml)

Automated (daily): 8x Pellet (~1g/per) | New Life Spectrum Marine Fish/AlgaeMax and Nyos Goji Berries | Nyos GoldPods (2.5ml)
Manual (daily): 2x PE Mysis, 1x PE Calanus, 2x LRS Reef Frenzy, 1x Hikari Brine (cubes) | Vitamins: Brightwell GarlicPower, AminOmega
Coral Supplements (bi-weekly): Polyp Lab Reef Roids (1/2 tbsp), Polyp Booster (2 squirts), Nyos Instant Plankton (0.25ml), Nyos LPS Power (0.5ml), Aquaforest Vitality (8 drops), Build (8 drops)

Medications: Polyp Lab Medic (emergency) | Dipping: Coral RX (primary), Polyp Lab Reef-Primer (as needed for emergencies)​
What's your favorite of your 10 anemones?
 

Cthulukelele

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I'm actually now down to 9 (lost a rainbow Caribbean rockflower this weekend), but either the Caribbean rockflowers or the two neon tube anemones that have been zero maintenance.
I am always tempted by tube anemones. Do you have to spot feed, or do they get enough to eat from your broadcast feedings? I always worry with nps coral/nems
 
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blaxsun

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I am always tempted by tube anemones. Do you have to spot feed, or do they get enough to eat from your broadcast feedings? I always worry with nps coral/nems
They are quite literally bulletproof. They bury themselves, always seem to find enough to eat and constantly dig/shake themselves off whenever they get buried (which happens frequently with the parrotfish!)

Despite having a reputation for eating/stinging fish, in 3+ years I only saw a garden eel startled once when he unknowingly drifted into one!
 

Cthulukelele

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They are quite literally bulletproof. They bury themselves, always seem to find enough to eat and constantly dig/shake themselves off whenever they get buries (which happens frequently with the parrotfish!)
Looks like I'll have to keep my eyes open for one then. Thanks!
 
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Jan 1. Happy New Year!
Happy New Year my fellow R2R's! Over the holidays the whole family has been getting over this nasty respiratory/flu thing that's been going around. I can finally breathe without hacking up a lung again, so while I was incapacitated I took the time to finish up my year-end tank reviews, from all the gear I tried, supplements that worked and fish, corals and inverts that were hit and miss.

360_F_59061543_R1k5GhSdk2PrdeMQxfgvIIu9Ylsj94zQ.jpg


Part I starts here (scroll up to the top for Parts II-V).
 

pshootr

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Happy New Year and I'm glad you guys are feeling better now. Fortunately I never get the flu.. I'm 51 years old and occasionally I get a couple of days of congestion maybe I sneeze. But that's it. My parents have told me oh you should get the flu shot but it's kind of like filling your gas tank because your brakes are squeaking. Or like treating fish you've had for years that aren't sick.
 
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pshootr

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If your fish are not scratching on the rocks and do not show any spots, why would you subject them to copper. That is my philosophy.

More on topic, your posts are always so articulate. And I really appreciate your detailed information. The tank looks great, sorry for your fish loss.
 
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blaxsun

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Happy New Year and I'm glad you guys are feeling better now. Fortunately I never get the flu.. I'm 51 years old and occasionally I get a couple of days of congestion maybe I sneeze. But that's it. My parents have told me oh you should get the flu shot but it's kind of like filling your gas tank because your brakes are squeaking. Or like treating fish you've had for years that aren't sick.
I'm envious! It's either this RSV thing that's been going around with all the kids or we picked up one of the new COVID variants (this would make 3 times for me, having got both Delta and Omicron previously).

It's been brutally cold as well (-40C), so I'm sure that hasn't helped, either.
 
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blaxsun

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If your fish are not scratching on the rocks and do not show any spots, why would you subject them to copper. That is my philosophy.

More on topic, your posts are always so articulate. And I really appreciate your detailed information. The tank looks great, sorry for your fish loss.
That's kind of how I feel as well. The half black mimic tang we picked up from our LFS had already gone through a freshwater dip to remove flukes, but my wife noticed he was scratching (but otherwise perfectly healthy) so we gave him another dip at our LFS and sure enough - another 2-3 flukes came off.

He's been perfectly fine in our tank, so even if we missed a fluke or two the cleaner wrasse just lives for cleaning fish. I actually feel bad for the cleaner wrasse, because the fish are generally so healthy and parasite-free that he really doesn't have a "full time gig".

Thanks. I probably should've rehomed one of those Marcia's anthias a lot earlier. Wish I knew what happened to the leopard wrasse and dottyback (a lot of times it's just a mystery)...
 
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