After a short break of leaving the hobby, I couldn’t resist the itch and started back up with a waterbox 20 and an AI Prime. Long story short, I overcame many nuisances and after a year had a solid nano that could easily grow LPS and Softies.
That waterbox survived a short move up the road after I got out of the Marine Corps. Now that I’m only a full time student, I have so much more time on my hands. I was able to upgrade a lot of equipment to include a new Neptune Apex, DOS, and Trident. It was game over after I got the controlled dosing locked in… now I want to give some SPS a try. I upgraded to a used XR15 G5 with two reef brites attached. I needed more room for coral… and I wasn’t willing to let any go… so obviously, it’s time for a bigger tank. I justified it to my wife with how much I’ve been into it these past two years.
On Christmas I upgraded to the IM 50 Lagoon AIO. I always love the easy idea of an AIO… and I absolutely love the dimensions of the tank.
I had an extra 25-30lb of rock that I seeded a few weeks prior in a brute trash can. So happy I took the time to do that…
The tank came in on the 2nd and was set up the next day. I transferred all of the live tock, added the new rock, used as much of my previous water and mixed fresh saltwater (Fritz Blue) to fill the rest. Everything made the move perfectly fine!
The final rock scape is exactly what I had in mind. I understand NSAs are what’s in and the benefits- I just want a natural looking scape. I have a few caves and tunnels and some ledges.
I’m keeping Alk at 8.5, Ca 420, Mg 1350. PO4 .2ppm testing twice a day, not worried about it. Afraid of dealing with Dino’s again so I prefer it stay around .06-.1. I have a protein skimmer coming in to help with the PO4 but most importantly I added a CO2 scrubber as my first plan of attack to help bring my average pH above the current 7.8.
Trying to keep it as simple as possible. My goals are to make sure I have enough flow for the SPS as well as light. I’m thinking about replacing the XR15 with an XR30 for better spread. I have it programmed with blues 100%, cyan 20, R&G 15, White 50. Peaking at a point intensity of 65%. I’m going to find a PAR meter here soon…
For Flow I have a Nero 3 and a small Jebao I’m making do with in the meantime. The mightjet return that came with the tank isn’t bad at all.
For fish I have:
1 clown
1 very small bristle tooth tang (tang police where you at)
1 royal gramma
2 pajama cardinals
Goby and tiger pistol shrimp pair
Dumped 2 big bags of XL copepods yeaterday
Will probably add more to the clean up crew here soon as I’m starting to see a diatom bloom.
If you’ve made it this far, feel free to ask anything or even throw me some advice! I’m open to anything. I think I’ll do better documenting this build vs. my previous now that I have more time.
Happy Reefing!
Here are some pics of where I was after moving when the waterbox was a year old and where I am now. Look forward to this new build!!!
That waterbox survived a short move up the road after I got out of the Marine Corps. Now that I’m only a full time student, I have so much more time on my hands. I was able to upgrade a lot of equipment to include a new Neptune Apex, DOS, and Trident. It was game over after I got the controlled dosing locked in… now I want to give some SPS a try. I upgraded to a used XR15 G5 with two reef brites attached. I needed more room for coral… and I wasn’t willing to let any go… so obviously, it’s time for a bigger tank. I justified it to my wife with how much I’ve been into it these past two years.
On Christmas I upgraded to the IM 50 Lagoon AIO. I always love the easy idea of an AIO… and I absolutely love the dimensions of the tank.
I had an extra 25-30lb of rock that I seeded a few weeks prior in a brute trash can. So happy I took the time to do that…
The tank came in on the 2nd and was set up the next day. I transferred all of the live tock, added the new rock, used as much of my previous water and mixed fresh saltwater (Fritz Blue) to fill the rest. Everything made the move perfectly fine!
The final rock scape is exactly what I had in mind. I understand NSAs are what’s in and the benefits- I just want a natural looking scape. I have a few caves and tunnels and some ledges.
I’m keeping Alk at 8.5, Ca 420, Mg 1350. PO4 .2ppm testing twice a day, not worried about it. Afraid of dealing with Dino’s again so I prefer it stay around .06-.1. I have a protein skimmer coming in to help with the PO4 but most importantly I added a CO2 scrubber as my first plan of attack to help bring my average pH above the current 7.8.
Trying to keep it as simple as possible. My goals are to make sure I have enough flow for the SPS as well as light. I’m thinking about replacing the XR15 with an XR30 for better spread. I have it programmed with blues 100%, cyan 20, R&G 15, White 50. Peaking at a point intensity of 65%. I’m going to find a PAR meter here soon…
For Flow I have a Nero 3 and a small Jebao I’m making do with in the meantime. The mightjet return that came with the tank isn’t bad at all.
For fish I have:
1 clown
1 very small bristle tooth tang (tang police where you at)
1 royal gramma
2 pajama cardinals
Goby and tiger pistol shrimp pair
Dumped 2 big bags of XL copepods yeaterday
Will probably add more to the clean up crew here soon as I’m starting to see a diatom bloom.
If you’ve made it this far, feel free to ask anything or even throw me some advice! I’m open to anything. I think I’ll do better documenting this build vs. my previous now that I have more time.
Happy Reefing!
Here are some pics of where I was after moving when the waterbox was a year old and where I am now. Look forward to this new build!!!
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