Hi, here's my journey with this tiny tank. It will be used as a 1st stage frag receival tank/ sps show tank 
Little bit about myself... I've been in the hobby 4years now and i have a 525xl as the main Sps display(going through an acro fallow due to AEFW- 4 weeks in, out of the 9 ill be keeping it without acros) reason I'm building this tank
Equipment being used on this tank:
UV sterilizer- Aqua shield uv 9w(here to keep dinos away if ever nutrients fall to zero)
RODI- mega maxcap spectrapure 100gpd/w 99% reject membrane
Lighting- g5 xr15 blue(will switch out in future to the kessil a500x)
Powerhead- Jebao ow 10- running around 60%. Just want to see a medium/high whipping of the corals polyps
Ato- Tunze nano
Rock- Established rock from display and 2LF stax drilled with frag sized holes using a diamond tip bit
Bacteria- fritz turbo 900(swear by this product)
Salt- Fauna marin pro(best value for a cheaply priced but quality pharma grade salt)
Heater- Cobalt 50w Heater
Return pump- standard with aquarium(will switch in future to a Sicce pump)
Dip- Potassium Chloride(1 tblsp per 1gallon tank water for 7mins, per SBB's rec)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Thoughts/How ill achieve the results I want:
Using live rock will greatly increase success, due to the bacterial diversity and has turned my display tank around from the coral graveyard it once was
Nutrient export/trace element replenishment will be achieved through 98% water changes every week. For a tank this small, 10 gallon changes will help to stop nutrients building and replenish all critical params. This can be mirrored to bigger systems aswell with stability(not so much with trace element replenishment) through auto water changes and avoiding negative bacterial issues aswell as changing out 100% of the water over time from AWC.
Lighting is a subjective topic as you can achieve results with any light. I will say though that the more simpler the light in all aspects of it the better success rate. For me the kessil follows that principle and why I chose that light as my endgame. It's spectrum scales with intensity and I'm not touching any colour channels.
Nutrients are easy, just keep an eye on the corals colour. If it's pale feed more, if not feed as you have been but watching for algae. When you're packed with coral such as sps, overfeeding won't be an issue as the corals will soak up the nutrients but the time you'll face issues is when there are no high demand coral in the tank as algae will have no competition aswell lack of CUC and nutrient export method
Using live rock will greatly increase success, due to the bacterial diversity and has turned my display tank around from the coral graveyard it once was
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Parameters:
SG- 1.026
ALK- 8-8.5
Cal- 410-440
Mag- 1250-1340
I want to keep my alk above 8 for this new tank because nutrients are going to be low and usually issues happen when nutrients are low, alk is low and par is high. Pertaining to sps.
Note, I've put all the params in ranges because I'm not chasing numbers. Chasing numbers is more detrimental to any coral than chasing ranges, also I like the swing within the range. Won't hurt the coral nor be an issue with the fluctuation.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skip cycling:
I'll be skip cycling this little guy, my established rock will be more than perfect to hold this AIO's bioload aswell with the addition of fritz, also corals don't perceive ammonia the way fish do, no fish will be added in for the 1st week anyways.
@brandon429 thread on this:
www.reef2reef.com
And Reef builders article on not needing a cycle for coral.
Anyways that's all for now with this but I'm gonna get this thing setup today and update in 2 days when the first sps goes in
Thanks for looking and reading!
Little bit about myself... I've been in the hobby 4years now and i have a 525xl as the main Sps display(going through an acro fallow due to AEFW- 4 weeks in, out of the 9 ill be keeping it without acros) reason I'm building this tank
Equipment being used on this tank:
UV sterilizer- Aqua shield uv 9w(here to keep dinos away if ever nutrients fall to zero)
RODI- mega maxcap spectrapure 100gpd/w 99% reject membrane
Lighting- g5 xr15 blue(will switch out in future to the kessil a500x)
Powerhead- Jebao ow 10- running around 60%. Just want to see a medium/high whipping of the corals polyps
Ato- Tunze nano
Rock- Established rock from display and 2LF stax drilled with frag sized holes using a diamond tip bit
Bacteria- fritz turbo 900(swear by this product)
Salt- Fauna marin pro(best value for a cheaply priced but quality pharma grade salt)
Heater- Cobalt 50w Heater
Return pump- standard with aquarium(will switch in future to a Sicce pump)
Dip- Potassium Chloride(1 tblsp per 1gallon tank water for 7mins, per SBB's rec)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Thoughts/How ill achieve the results I want:
Using live rock will greatly increase success, due to the bacterial diversity and has turned my display tank around from the coral graveyard it once was
Nutrient export/trace element replenishment will be achieved through 98% water changes every week. For a tank this small, 10 gallon changes will help to stop nutrients building and replenish all critical params. This can be mirrored to bigger systems aswell with stability(not so much with trace element replenishment) through auto water changes and avoiding negative bacterial issues aswell as changing out 100% of the water over time from AWC.
Lighting is a subjective topic as you can achieve results with any light. I will say though that the more simpler the light in all aspects of it the better success rate. For me the kessil follows that principle and why I chose that light as my endgame. It's spectrum scales with intensity and I'm not touching any colour channels.
Nutrients are easy, just keep an eye on the corals colour. If it's pale feed more, if not feed as you have been but watching for algae. When you're packed with coral such as sps, overfeeding won't be an issue as the corals will soak up the nutrients but the time you'll face issues is when there are no high demand coral in the tank as algae will have no competition aswell lack of CUC and nutrient export method
Using live rock will greatly increase success, due to the bacterial diversity and has turned my display tank around from the coral graveyard it once was
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Parameters:
SG- 1.026
ALK- 8-8.5
Cal- 410-440
Mag- 1250-1340
I want to keep my alk above 8 for this new tank because nutrients are going to be low and usually issues happen when nutrients are low, alk is low and par is high. Pertaining to sps.
Note, I've put all the params in ranges because I'm not chasing numbers. Chasing numbers is more detrimental to any coral than chasing ranges, also I like the swing within the range. Won't hurt the coral nor be an issue with the fluctuation.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skip cycling:
I'll be skip cycling this little guy, my established rock will be more than perfect to hold this AIO's bioload aswell with the addition of fritz, also corals don't perceive ammonia the way fish do, no fish will be added in for the 1st week anyways.
@brandon429 thread on this:
The microbiology of reef tank cycling.
You can skip your cycle. Ive been reefing online for twenty years and have never waited one second for a tank to cycle, because I buy rocks that are already cycled and move them home. Here's two: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/octo-high-end-sps-skip-cycle-build.713256/...
www.reef2reef.com
And Reef builders article on not needing a cycle for coral.
Ask Reef Builders #3: How Long Should I Cycle A Reef Tank Before Putting Corals In? | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog
You don’t. The short answer is that technically, there is no evidence that you need to cycle an aquarium before putting corals in. Now before you start pulling out your proverbial pitchforks and burn…
reefbuilders.com
Anyways that's all for now with this but I'm gonna get this thing setup today and update in 2 days when the first sps goes in
Thanks for looking and reading!
Last edited:
