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

[kiswanson]

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.

Yeah, it takes a little time to get the skimmer settled down. I do use black sponge around the protein skimmer to decrease the bubbles and noise.

 

[kiswanson]

Dealing with some brown/reddish brown growth on my sand and on the glass. I think it’s a diatom bloom. Phos and nitrates are a little high (0.11 and 18), so I did a water change and today I’m going to add some phosban in a media bag to the back. I’m hoping it will lower phosphates and absorb silicates. I also started dosing vibrant today. I’m also having to scrub the glass daily to keep the film off. I really recommend the flipper float, so you don’t have to go fishing for the in water part if they get separated.

My ph has been on the lower side (7.85-7.95) so I started dosing aquavitro balance (a naOH/KOH blend) and ordered a CO2 scrubber to attach to the protein skimmer intake line. I also have the macro algae growing in the tank (Pom Pom) and have a bunch of snails, though I think I may get some more astrea snails.

the apex has been very helpful for keeping track of pH and automating things, like turning off pumps, etc for feeding. I haven’t finished setting up the trident and dosing pump, but alkalinity has been stable, so I don’t think I need that just yet.

i do really like the Hanna checkers for alkalinity, phosphate (low range) and I just got the high range nitrate checker, which is really easy to use. The Hanna salinity/temperature tester is awesome and well worth the investment. Makes salinity checking and salt mixing super fast and easy.

 

[kiswanson]

Added some more clean up crew - a pin cushion urchin, strawberry conch, an emerald crab and some more astrea snails. I did also add a red finger sponge, in part because it looks cool, and also in the hope it will outcompete the dusting of diatoms on the sand bed for silicates.

At some point I’ll have to make a list of the different corals I have added. I really like the WWC monthly subscription club.

Finally, I added a yellow watchman goby and a blue legged pistol shrimp. I’m hoping they will pair up and hang out in the central cave under the arch.

 

[kiswanson]

Here’s a picture of what I think are diatoms. It’s really not too bad and it seems to be clearing up some already. I did start dosing vibrant and did some water change.

 

[kiswanson]

The emerald crab got rid of the little blob of what I was concerned was bubble algae…well worth the $8.
Here’s a picture of the strawberry conch

 

[kiswanson]

The sponge started to turn white and I decided to remove it. I didn’t want it to fall apart. I added some pulsing Xenia in a separate rock island. The watchman goby hasn’t been seen for awhile, so he may be gone for good. The pistol shrimp is living under the Pom Pom algae. I did have to trim the macro algae. Still dealing with the diatoms. I think I’ll get another conch. The urchin is awesome.

I also lost one of the banggai Cardinals. All the rest of the fish look great, so I don’t know that happened to him. I did have to take it away from my cleaner shrimp who had started to feast.

Interestingly most of my hammer/frogspawn corals are doing great, but one with two heads has one head doing great and the other retracted and dubbing off. I don’t know what the cause is. The macro algae was near it, so I trimmed it back, but otherwise the conditions should be the same.

i am still doing phytoplankton and I did add another jar of eco pods to try to outcompete nuisance algae and I started dosing microbacter7 again.

still loving the way the tank looks and the Red Sea e170 max tank. The protein skimmer is now working great.

 

[Minnesota Reefer]

I appreciate your updates. Life has gotten busy recently but still planning to get my tank up and running this fall. This thread has been super helpful!!!

 

[kiswanson]

Tank Thursday

 

[kiswanson]

Check out the reef tank looking good

 

[kiswanson]

Apex saved my tank. The probe for my HC-810M Digital Heater Controller from Finnex got pulled out of the water and was reading the air temp as the water temp. Thinking the water was 72, it turned the heater on continuously. I have one heater on the Finnex controller as a back up and the main one controlled by the Apex. The apex alerted me to the problem. By the time I got it figured out, the tank was up to 85. My aquarium would have been cooked if I didn’t have the apex system set up and sending me alerts. Time to plug the other heater into the apex. It paid for itself today!

 

[kiswanson]

After the diatoms I had a round of cyanobacteria about 1.5 weeks ago. When it started covering some of my corals and they were looking unhappy I decided to treat with chemiclean. I treated on a Saturday and added a powerful air bubbler to the tank to ensure no drop in O2. On Sunday I didn't notice a big change so I dosed a 1/2 dose of additional chemiclean. I also used a turkey baster to remove any cyano on the corals. While treating with the chemiclean I removed the carbon and. Purigen. I gave it a full 72 hours then did a 25% water change on Tuesday and used the siphon to vacuum the substrate. Everything looked great after that.

I have since added another conch (fighting conch) as they are great for turning over the sand. I also added a lawnmower blenny to try to ward off more algae blooms. I continue to dose Vibrant once a week. On Tuesday I replaced the carbon and the purigen. Throughout I continue to dose 15 ml a day of Live phyto plankton from algae barn.

My nitrates were 2 and according to the hanna phosphate checker my phos was 0, so I added some extra feeding (and the additional fish), this time with frozen food, since I think my problem with the banggai cardinal was they were not eating the flashes and pellets. The fish now get a Xtreme krill flakes and new spectrum probiotix pellets in the morning and a frozen cube of an ominvore food with my mysis, brine shrimp, spirulina, etc in the evening.

This week the tank has looked really good.

 

[Mjl714]

The tank is looking great, good job on the rock structure, very nice selection of corals and fish. As far as your initial fish selections, at this point I’m not sure i would risk a six line wrasse, might be a trouble maker. I have a yellow coris wrasse that really adds some nice color and is peaceful. Just a thought. Again, great job.

 

[kiswanson]

The tank is looking great, good job on the rock structure, very nice selection of corals and fish. As far as your initial fish selections, at this point I’m not sure i would risk a six line wrasse, might be a trouble maker. I have a yellow coris wrasse that really adds some nice color and is peaceful. Just a thought. Again, great job.

Agreed, I ended up getting a social fairy wrasse instead of the six line wrasse for exactly that reason. I also decided against getting a tang given the size of the tank

 

[Mjl714]

Great choices.

 

[kiswanson]

Wisconsin Reef - Tank Thursday
Looking good - check out the video

 

[rishma]

Wow! Insta-tank. Well done.

 

[kiswanson]

Wisconsin Reef after dark
Video:

 

[kiswanson]

Added my first torch coral and some more Zoas for the garden

 

[kiswanson]

PH has been stubbornly around 7.8-7.9, so I added a CO2 scrubber today. Nitrates a little high at 20 and phos around 0.08. Going to start carbon dosing with NO3PO4X. Tank otherwise don’t quite well. There was one tiny aiptasia looking thing so I coated that with AiptasiaX.

 

[kiswanson]

Also made my first adjustment to the Reef LED90 and decreased max white down to 75% and the white light turns on 30 minutes later and turns off 30 minutes earlier so I get some time with just blue light to enjoy the fluorescent coral colors. The blue light still turns on at 8, ramps up to 100% over an hour, then ramps down over an hour and off at 1900. I realized I didn’t need full white during the day. Finally, I extended the the moonlight period to almost 4 hours.