Red Sea E170 max AIO mixed reef build - first reef tank

[kiswanson]

Ammonia and nitrite 0, nitrate between 12 and 25, phosphate zero in standard Hanna checker, salinity 35, dKh 8.1

Added first fish and invertebrate and some additional corals

• Mocha storm ocellaris clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) x 2, $180
• Royal gramma (Gramma loreto) $24
• Scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis) $30
• Green hammer coral, 1 head, $40
• Trachyphyllia, metallic green, $40
• Acanthophyllia frags x 2, $60

 

[Minnesota Reefer]

Awesome updates and photos, keep them coming!!

 

[kiswanson]

Got a filter to get rid of the excess blue in the photos. Happy with the start so far.

 

[Minnesota Reefer]

How are you liking your BRS heater and Finnex controller so far?? Trying to figure out which way to go with heater/controller. Do you have one or two heaters?

Thanks!!

 

[kiswanson]

How are you liking your BRS heater and Finnex controller so far?? Trying to figure out which way to go with heater/controller. Do you have one or two heaters?

Thanks!!

Seems to work well. I actually did get a second heater for back up, but I haven’t set it up yet.

 

[kiswanson]

Saturday reef tank update pictures

 

[Minnesota Reefer]

Saturday reef tank update pictures

You have been busy !!! Looking good. I assume parameters have remained in check? Are you doing any dosing or special feeding for the corals?

 

[kiswanson]

You have been busy !!! Looking good. I assume parameters have remained in check? Are you doing any dosing or special feeding for the corals?

Parameters have been good so far. I started dosing all for reef, but dKh is sitting at 9 so I put a pause on that until I see it start to dip. I’m doing 3x a week reef chili, added copepods from algae barn, and I’m also dosing live phytoplankton, also from algae barn. I introduced a fair amount of creatures, but I want enough good actors to outcompete the bad actors. I’m focusing on getting a diverse biome and hoping that will help prevent the ugly phase. We’ll see!

 

[kiswanson]

 

[kiswanson]

This battle station is about to be fully operational

 

[revhtree]

Saturday reef tank update pictures

WOW when this fills in it's going to be epic!

 

[omar91]

Loving how everything is looking. My Max e-170 is coming next week, can’t wait.

 

[kiswanson]

Loving how everything is looking. My Max e-170 is coming next week, can’t wait.

It’s a great tank, happy reefing!

 

[kiswanson]

Added Neptune apex, will be adding Neptune triton and dosing pump. PH continues to be lower than I would like with good dKh (9), so I just ordered a CO2 scrubber. Decided to slowly switch to Tropic Marin salt to go with the All for Reef that I will be dosing.

 

[omar91]

How often are you doing water changes and how much?
Btw, how is the skimmer working? Is it quiet?

 

[kiswanson]

How often are you doing water changes and how much?
Btw, how is the skimmer working? Is it quiet?

I am currently averaging 10% change a week (~ 4 gallons) for water change. That’s easy to do as it is one 5 gallon bucket filled as high as I’m comfortable transporting it with.
The skimmer seems to be working all right, though it has taken some fiddling to keep it working optimally, likely because I’ve been adding more creatures over the past few weeks. I haven’t noticed any significant noise. At set up I did put black sponge in between the over flow and the skimmer and also where the skimmer drains into the back chamber to minimize the noise of running water and as additional mechanical filtration. It’s easy enough to take that out and rinse it off every so often.

 

[kiswanson]

How often are you doing water changes and how much?

Btw, how is the skimmer working? Is it quiet?

My eventual plan is to do water change once every two weeks.

the skimmer is very easy to adjust and easily accessible, so I have been happy with it so far.

 

[omar91]

I am currently averaging 10% change a week (~ 4 gallons) for water change. That’s easy to do as it is one 5 gallon bucket filled as high as I’m comfortable transporting it with.
The skimmer seems to be working all right, though it has taken some fiddling to keep it working optimally, likely because I’ve been adding more creatures over the past few weeks. I haven’t noticed any significant noise. At set up I did put black sponge in between the over flow and the skimmer and also where the skimmer drains into the back chamber to minimize the noise of running water and as additional mechanical filtration. It’s easy enough to take that out and rinse it off every so often.

I'll probably do something similar. Thank you!

 

[omar91]

I got my tank last Tuesday and I have being working on it since then. I moved must of all the rock from my previous tank and moved all fish.

I have being playing with the skimmer as I'm getting a lot of microbubbles on the main display when the skimmer is on. I didn't use the black foam that was provided as I didn't have space for it on the return session. However, I did put a piece of the black foam in the bottom of my InTank Media Basket and some additional between the skimmer and the media basket. I also tried putting some filter floss between the overflow and the skimmer but I noticed that if I do that, the water leven in the display tank increases too much.

Did you had a lot of microbubbles produced by the skimmer when you were setting it up for the first time?

 

[omar91]

I got my tank last Tuesday and I have being working on it since then. I moved must of all the rock from my previous tank and moved all fish.

I have being playing with the skimmer as I'm getting a lot of microbubbles on the main display when the skimmer is on. I didn't use the black foam that was provided as I didn't have space for it on the return session. However, I did put a piece of the black foam in the bottom of my InTank Media Basket and some additional between the skimmer and the media basket. I also tried putting some filter floss between the overflow and the skimmer but I noticed that if I do that, the water leven in the display tank increases too much.

Did you had a lot of microbubbles produced by the skimmer when you were setting it up for the first time?

I think I spoke too soon. Today the microbubles have reduced greatly, I still have but is much better now. Hopefully they all will disappear soon.