Cubed Reefer's Custom Crystal Dynamics 183g

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Cubed Reefer

Cubed Reefer

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Hey guys! I keep saying it but life has been at full force as of late with work and preparing for me and my lady's wedding next month ( A lot more planning than you could ever think!). I ended up getting rid of the UV because I believe that I had inadvertently killed all my bacteria and pods. I believed that I was essentially starving the corals I had put in previously which resulted in a lot of white skeletons. Moving forward past the UV I let the bacteria reseed for a couple months moving all of my surviving coral to a buddy's system where they are currently thriving. I started adding some frags two weeks ago at first only one or two to see how the corals reacted. My beliefs were confirmed as polyps are always out and color is always improving. At night I now see pods, rock life, etc when I did not before. The calcium reactor is on point and keeping me around 9 dkh and 420 calcium, and 1380 magnesium. I had also got the deal of a lifetime on a Deltec SC2060 which is what I have always wanted and skims the tank very well however there was still a problem in Wrasseville, Nitrates! As pretty as all these wrasses and other fish are I feed heavy and as a result waste is the same. I decided to go with a Sulfur Denitrator after growing tired of adding N03Pox every day. Nitrates would surge if I did not add N03Pox everyday but now I can sit on 10-15 nitrates as this reactor keeps it in that range without a second thought. After the experience with this I do not think i'll have another large tank with out one. So at the end of the day I have been trying to keep up with this and learn from earlier mistakes that occurred when I tried to add too many things. The result is now a tank full of life and plenty of food for corals. The color improvements I have seen in a week have been pretty crazy, although some pieces are further alone than others you can see where they are going! Have a great rest of the week everyone and as always if you have questions ask!

EDIT: Also I have a clam problem as you can see! I have 1x Small Crocea, 1x Large 6"Maxima, 3x Large 6" Hippopus (Not known for colors but just so cool looking), 1x Large 7" Derasa, 1x Large 8" Squamosa

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Daniel@R2R

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Looking great!
 

Daniel@R2R

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Ya was hoping to have colonies by now but life and silly mistakes are always in the way but definitely in a great place with it right now
I hear ya, but nothing happens as fast as we'd like...especially in this hobby. LOL
 
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So it has been a long while! Life finally took over for a little bit and the tank suffered and then built it back up again. My calcium reactor and now Nitrate reactor are finely tuned and the results show. I also added a bunch of Avast equipment including their ATO pump which is an aqua lifter on steroids that does 6+ gals an hr to keep the ATO on for shorter periods. Also did a Swabbie for the neck cleaner and a small spyglass just for GFO which works incredibly well. I just got em in the mail today the Gyre 150 is getting taken out and replaced with two new 250's with the advanced controller. I think I will be running the Ocean Gyre program. I lost a bunch of clams for unknown reason all within a within a week, looking for pyramids and others but nothing. However my large Derasa clam remains. Everything is on cruise control now after adopting a water change every two weeks with vacuuming of gravel. I switched salts to Fritz and ever since then the change was noticeable, the salt is the real deal and I will never use anything else, it is that good.

Current Parameters
  • Salinity at 1.025-1.026
  • Alkalinity at 10ish
  • Calcium at 520 (Little high but corals are starting to really take off and sure it will be used.)
  • Nitrates steady at 5, nitrate reactor probably best buy I have ever made.
  • Phosphates from Hanna ULR .01 or below.
  • Magnesium at 1420
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Did some maintenance this weekend. A nice Fritz water change with some vacuuming and glass scraping. The dual Gyre 250's are pretty amazing. The controller is amazing also with what seems like endless combos of flow. I am running Pulse Anti-Sync currently from 30% to -10% then back up. Corals seem to be reacting quite well!

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Since last update I have had a few hiccups that are exclusively my fault. I decided to go from normal 250w setting on the ballasts to the super lumens. As the color looked amazing I soon realized the true power of that setting as some bleaching set in as well as a lot of burnt tips. I combined this with adding a lot of mariculture colonies as well as frags. I should have known better as alk started fluctuating. Setting me back a little. Been testing every day and trying to let it settle out as well as moving back the halides to the normal setting. Living and learning I guess, I need to have more control adding pieces instead of binge buying, so hard to say no sometimes! I also added/traded out some more fish! Here is an updated list.


FISH
  • FoxFace Lo
  • Purple Tang
  • Flame HawkFish
  • Blue Reef Chromis
  • Social Fairy Wrasse
  • Temmincki Fairy Wrasse
  • Australian Scott's Fairy Wrasse
  • Hawaiian Flame Wrasse
  • Sailfin Hybrid Fairy Wrasse
  • PinTail Fairy Wrasse
  • Lunate Fairy Wrasse
  • Dusky Fairy Wrasse AKA C. Brunneus
  • Yellow Coris Wrasse
For those interested these are all male wrasses. Looking to add a Lineatus here soon. I try not to overcrowd as I want everyone to have their space one or two more fish, have 13 now max of 15 seems ideal if not the 14 with the Lineatus.
 

revhtree

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Great tank!
 
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