Hello all!
New to the forum. I’ve been out of the hobby for around 6 years, took down my last tank which was a 75 gallon display with a 29 gallon sump for an up coming move. House projects and starting a family came first for a while but this year I finally felt like I had the time and resources to get back after it. I picked up a used Red Sea reefer that was in perfect condition. it was the right size for where I wanted to put it and large enough to enjoy without being intrusive enough to have objections from my wife lol.
First two photos are the sump running with ro water to test everything out. After this I cycled the tank with dr tims and slowly added live stock and some corals.
Next photos of the sump the system is cycled and running, only difference is the addition of my dosing pump and container. I’m currently dosing all for reef at 5ml a day.
next three are the display tank over the last few days.
so far everything has been running very smooth with my only hiccup being a dinoflagellate outbreak that did get me a little nervous but I was able to get it under control rather quickly.
At first I thought it was diatoms but i quickly realized I was dealing with Dinos. When the lights were off they disappeared so I knew uv would help. I used a cheap exposed bulb uv from amazon temporarily. In addition to that I dosed dr tims waste away, refresh as well as microbacter. I also raised my temp to 82 and physically removed as many Dino’s as possible by siphoning through a 5 micron filter sock back to my sump. I also introduced copepods from algae barn and dose phytoplankton. The combination had the Dino’s all but eliminated within a week. I believe I caused the outbreak by running GFO without having phosphate levels that warranted it.
The hardware on my tank:
Jebao (DCW-3500) return pump
MP 10 power head
Hydra 26
Two AquaMaxx Fr-s reactors (only one in use running BRS rox .8 carbon)
Small jebao power head running in sump
X1 pro 2 dosing pump
AutoAqua Smart ATO
Two Kasa smart power strips
Inexpensive Wi-Fi enabled temperature probe
Mag tool dc n100 protein skimmer
And a 50w led grow light for my refugium
My refugium is the ato that comes with the reefer170 drilled and plumbed into my return pump.
I’m also running marine pure bio balls under my filter floss cup and an additional brick of marine pure that elevates my skimmer.
aside from my corals the stocking list is
1 fighting conch
1 blood red shrimp
3 nassarius snails
3 hermit crabs
5 turbo snails
1 royal grammar
2 ocellaris clown fish
Male and female Randall’s Anthias
Yellow watchman goby and pistol shrimp
Two baby chromis
Right now my only concern is my ph, I usually test near the end of my photo period and I have yet to get a reading above 8. Usually around 7.8.
any input or advice is welcome!
New to the forum. I’ve been out of the hobby for around 6 years, took down my last tank which was a 75 gallon display with a 29 gallon sump for an up coming move. House projects and starting a family came first for a while but this year I finally felt like I had the time and resources to get back after it. I picked up a used Red Sea reefer that was in perfect condition. it was the right size for where I wanted to put it and large enough to enjoy without being intrusive enough to have objections from my wife lol.
First two photos are the sump running with ro water to test everything out. After this I cycled the tank with dr tims and slowly added live stock and some corals.
Next photos of the sump the system is cycled and running, only difference is the addition of my dosing pump and container. I’m currently dosing all for reef at 5ml a day.
next three are the display tank over the last few days.
so far everything has been running very smooth with my only hiccup being a dinoflagellate outbreak that did get me a little nervous but I was able to get it under control rather quickly.
At first I thought it was diatoms but i quickly realized I was dealing with Dinos. When the lights were off they disappeared so I knew uv would help. I used a cheap exposed bulb uv from amazon temporarily. In addition to that I dosed dr tims waste away, refresh as well as microbacter. I also raised my temp to 82 and physically removed as many Dino’s as possible by siphoning through a 5 micron filter sock back to my sump. I also introduced copepods from algae barn and dose phytoplankton. The combination had the Dino’s all but eliminated within a week. I believe I caused the outbreak by running GFO without having phosphate levels that warranted it.
The hardware on my tank:
Jebao (DCW-3500) return pump
MP 10 power head
Hydra 26
Two AquaMaxx Fr-s reactors (only one in use running BRS rox .8 carbon)
Small jebao power head running in sump
X1 pro 2 dosing pump
AutoAqua Smart ATO
Two Kasa smart power strips
Inexpensive Wi-Fi enabled temperature probe
Mag tool dc n100 protein skimmer
And a 50w led grow light for my refugium
My refugium is the ato that comes with the reefer170 drilled and plumbed into my return pump.
I’m also running marine pure bio balls under my filter floss cup and an additional brick of marine pure that elevates my skimmer.
aside from my corals the stocking list is
1 fighting conch
1 blood red shrimp
3 nassarius snails
3 hermit crabs
5 turbo snails
1 royal grammar
2 ocellaris clown fish
Male and female Randall’s Anthias
Yellow watchman goby and pistol shrimp
Two baby chromis
Right now my only concern is my ph, I usually test near the end of my photo period and I have yet to get a reading above 8. Usually around 7.8.
any input or advice is welcome!
