rdirtytwo
Active Member
Hey everyone!
I started my journey with reef keeping and cycled my first saltwater tank approximately one year ago. In hindsight, I probably should have started this thread then, but it's not too late to start now.
Like most people who have this tank, it began as a planted freshwater setup with cherry shrimp and co2 injection. I also had a 40B that I broke down the same time I converted this Flex 9 to saltwater.
Anyway, back to why we are here today.
I thought I would post every single thing that has happened with the tank over the past year but it would be a bombardment of information and photos. I'll post highlights and discuss important changes (good and bad) that I've experienced and learned from.
Background information and current equipment:
•10lbs of CaribSea AragAlive Live Sand (I forgot which bag, probably fiji pink)
•Seeded with 3lbs live base rock from established tank.
•Set up with 5-8lbs CaribSea dry rock. (I've probably added another 5lbs in the last few months).
•IceCap K1 Neo Protein Skimmer
•IceCap Nano Co2 Scrubber
•AquaNeat 160gph return pump
•XKSJ 530gph nano wavemaker
•Coralife 5w UV sterilizer
•Aquaclear 70 HOB refugium conversion (overkill and unnecessary, too much flow even with AC50 impeller)
•Hipargero A029 2nd Gen 30W LEDs
When I first got these lights, I had no idea whether it would be good or not. I had it blasting my tank (rookie mistake) and I dealt with hair algae and bleaching corals during the early months. For my tank dimensions (14x13x13) it works great. For larger tanks, you'd have to crank up the whites to get the par you need(which can make it or break it if you want a heavy blue spectrum with high par), and raise it high to get the spread you need. I'll be honest and say I haven't used a real par meter, but I've used Photone and PPFD to get a ballpark reading at the waterline. I've calibrated my settings to a full spectrum light bar that I have a par chart for, so they should be kind of close (I hope).
•Dosing 1.5ml All-For-Reef currently
•Vinegar carbon dosing 3ml daily
•Alternating frozen mysis, reef prime cubes, pellets 3x weekly, reef roids once per week.
•1.5g water change every Sunday
•Fzone ATO
April 2023 I completed a fishless cycle using ammonia and beneficial bacteria.
June 2023 I don't know what I'm doing.
I bought some frags from a local reefer over a couple of weeks. I have all but 1 coral from this photo. One is still recovering from my mess ups, which we will get into shortly.
Cont.
I started my journey with reef keeping and cycled my first saltwater tank approximately one year ago. In hindsight, I probably should have started this thread then, but it's not too late to start now.
Like most people who have this tank, it began as a planted freshwater setup with cherry shrimp and co2 injection. I also had a 40B that I broke down the same time I converted this Flex 9 to saltwater.
Anyway, back to why we are here today.
I thought I would post every single thing that has happened with the tank over the past year but it would be a bombardment of information and photos. I'll post highlights and discuss important changes (good and bad) that I've experienced and learned from.
Background information and current equipment:
•10lbs of CaribSea AragAlive Live Sand (I forgot which bag, probably fiji pink)
•Seeded with 3lbs live base rock from established tank.
•Set up with 5-8lbs CaribSea dry rock. (I've probably added another 5lbs in the last few months).
•IceCap K1 Neo Protein Skimmer
•IceCap Nano Co2 Scrubber
•AquaNeat 160gph return pump
•XKSJ 530gph nano wavemaker
•Coralife 5w UV sterilizer
•Hipargero A029 2nd Gen 30W LEDs
When I first got these lights, I had no idea whether it would be good or not. I had it blasting my tank (rookie mistake) and I dealt with hair algae and bleaching corals during the early months. For my tank dimensions (14x13x13) it works great. For larger tanks, you'd have to crank up the whites to get the par you need(which can make it or break it if you want a heavy blue spectrum with high par), and raise it high to get the spread you need. I'll be honest and say I haven't used a real par meter, but I've used Photone and PPFD to get a ballpark reading at the waterline. I've calibrated my settings to a full spectrum light bar that I have a par chart for, so they should be kind of close (I hope).
•Dosing 1.5ml All-For-Reef currently
•Vinegar carbon dosing 3ml daily
•Alternating frozen mysis, reef prime cubes, pellets 3x weekly, reef roids once per week.
•1.5g water change every Sunday
•Fzone ATO
April 2023 I completed a fishless cycle using ammonia and beneficial bacteria.
June 2023 I don't know what I'm doing.
I bought some frags from a local reefer over a couple of weeks. I have all but 1 coral from this photo. One is still recovering from my mess ups, which we will get into shortly.
Cont.
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