Bringing back the 130.4

jimfish98 · Jul 31, 2023

About 3 years ago I tried my first reef set up with a 130.4 and between bad advice, health issues, and general stupidity...it failed and was converted to FW. I got the itch again a year ago and picked up a WB 25g and did it my way. The system was a complete success thus far and it has me itching to bring back the big tank. The plan is to scape it, cycle it, and move all but my GSP and Anemone over from the small tank to the large tank. Will eventually fill out the big tank and adjust the small tank to an anemone system.

Successful system is a bare bottom 25g with a fleece roller, a box of Marine Pure Spheres, small bag of carbon, drop in UV, Caribsea Life Rock, a single Hydra 32HD with diffuser, and an IM mini jet pump. I have a Nero5 in there turned down as when I was setting it up the Nero 3 was out of stock everywhere for months on end. Will remove two rocks and the Nero when it moves to Anemone/Clown only.

The 130.4 will run on a pair of Klir DI-4, drop in UV, Reef Octopus S-130 Protein Skimmer, 2 large blocks of Marine Pure, and more Life Rock. Will keep this system bare bottom as well and plan to keep a light fish stock and likely all nano fish for scale. Running a pair of Nero 5 and a pair of Hydra 32HD's with diffusers. Mid way on the change now. Removed the goldfish and added them to my pond and then cleaned the sump out. I set it back up for the reef and then added water. A mini pump in there is circulating water as I have added bacteria and some ammonia to start the cycle while I wait for rock. Rock shows up this week and will clean the main display when that comes in.

blaxsun · Jul 31, 2023

Good luck with the resurrection!

Gumbies R Us · Jul 31, 2023

jimfish98 said:
About 3 years ago I tried my first reef set up with a 130.4 and between bad advice, health issues, and general stupidity...it failed and was converted to FW. I got the itch again a year ago and picked up a WB 25g and did it my way. The system was a complete success thus far and it has me itching to bring back the big tank. The plan is to scape it, cycle it, and move all but my GSP and Anemone over from the small tank to the large tank. Will eventually fill out the big tank and adjust the small tank to an anemone system.

Successful system is a bare bottom 25g with a fleece roller, a box of Marine Pure Spheres, small bag of carbon, drop in UV, Caribsea Life Rock, a single Hydra 32HD with diffuser, and an IM mini jet pump. I have a Nero5 in there turned down as when I was setting it up the Nero 3 was out of stock everywhere for months on end. Will remove two rocks and the Nero when it moves to Anemone/Clown only.

The 130.4 will run on a pair of Klir DI-4, drop in UV, Reef Octopus S-130 Protein Skimmer, 2 large blocks of Marine Pure, and more Life Rock. Will keep this system bare bottom as well and plan to keep a light fish stock and likely all nano fish for scale. Running a pair of Nero 5 and a pair of Hydra 32HD's with diffusers. Mid way on the change now. Removed the goldfish and added them to my pond and then cleaned the sump out. I set it back up for the reef and then added water. A mini pump in there is circulating water as I have added bacteria and some ammonia to start the cycle while I wait for rock. Rock shows up this week and will clean the main display when that comes in.

Tank looks great! Best of luck!

jimfish98 · Aug 6, 2023

Rock showed up this week and I got to work setting up some structures and making water. It's been forever since the first time I filled this tank up with saltwater that I forgot how long it takes to make it all when running a 75gpd filter. Kept the rock structure low as I like the open swim space. Took a few small pieces so I can isolate some coral like galaxea where it won't hurt its neighbors. Eventually started to fill the tank and got some nem guards added to the Nero 5. System has been cycling as a whole now for a few days and the protien skimmer continues to break in. Now it is just a waiting game for the cycle to complete. Once I start seeing a shift away from ammonia I will order pods and phyto to feed them. Lights should add some algae for them to.