Welcome to my (near) Zero Maintenance Reef!

[VintageReefer]

Cheato couldn’t keep up. I was growing cheato so fast, I was able to start selling it to forum members and on eBay. But, it seemed like cheato was just growing in the sump, and hair algae in the display. My rocks became bound with phosphates. I needed something stronger than cheato.

After hooking up the scrubber all my cheato, which I healthily grew for months and months without issue…it all died out. The scrubber outcompeted the cheato and hair algae in my display simultaneously

It will literally suck the phosphates out of rock. New users - algae will get worse before it gets better. That’s a phase that’s normal and passes. Time needed depends on his bad your rocks are bound up.

 

[vancouverredsea350]

I also run a scrubber and dose all for reef and hadn’t done a water change in 8 months until an “accident” last month led to a few wcs. I love my scrubber and wish I had known about them sooner. You tank looks awesome! Love the vibrant Color’s!

 

[VintageReefer]

it’s the secret recipe to success hahah
I remember seeing it work when nothing else did and thinking geez I wish I just used one of these from the start.

 

[VintageReefer]

Came out of actinic mode to get some daylight pics. Yellow mouth Cynarina, war paint scoly, holy grail torch, “knicks” torch, various zoas, dragon soul favia, and my super camera shy filefish in front of my palythoa grandis colony

 

[I never finish anythi]

Looks amazing

 

[VintageReefer]

Nobody can see me
But I can see you!

Hardest worker in the tank I swear. Definitely helped with sand bed issues

 

[Hot2na]

What else can I share

sand bed - what is it comprised of ? brand ?grade and depth ?

 

[VintageReefer]

The sand is (or was) unique. I don’t know if it’s sold anymore. I got it from a supplier on eBay. It’s very fine very white sand

Now it has a layer on top of who knows what. But when I stir it, it returns to the super bright white color. It’s super soft when you stir it and feel below the surface

I’ll see if I can find out what it is

 

[VintageReefer]

2015 ORDER: $.99/lb 90 lbs PURE WHITE ARAGONITE CRYSTAL REEF AQUARIUM LIVE REEF SAND

I have approx 2” in my display and 3” in the middle section of my sump

 

[Hot2na]

It’s very fine very white sand

probably helps DE-NITRIFY ...

 

[VintageReefer]

This is it

 

[VintageReefer]

Appears it was possibly falsely advertised as aragonite, which makes sense to me because I have bought caribsea aragonite and I can definitely tell a difference.

Seems people claim this product is truly calcite/dolomite, but the manufacturer persistently insisted it is aragonite

Crystal Reef Sand is NOT Aragonite...see the video - Reef Central Online Community

Crystal Reef Sand is NOT Aragonite...see the video Reef Discussion

www.reefcentral.com

 

[Stang67]

Im sorry if I missed it but how large is this tank?

 

[VintageReefer]

75g with a trigger systems ruby 30” sump

 

[VintageReefer]

I typically run actinic only for 12-14 hours a day, but for those that are fans of a daylight look, here’s some pics with the whites on

My gold hammer colony on the sandbed never photographs gold for me everything else is true to real life color

 

[VintageReefer]

Updated pics under evening lighting! Rainbow acans, Cynarina, Scolymia, torches, zoa close ups, new baby skittles torch starting to extend more, and if you look close you’ll see some scattered holy grail aptasia!

 

[VintageReefer]

Thank you all for the kind comments.

I have a new coral coming next week that has me both very excited and a little nervous…I am looking forward to its arrival and hoping it’s journey is safe

 

[VintageReefer]

Weird blue sponge that just kinda growing out of nowhere one day.

 

[Seansea]

Nice tank. Big fan of algae scrubbers myself. Had my first one on tank in 2002. Wouldnt run a tank without one.

Why such a light fish load? Just for the no waterchange? I have a 75gal with 14 fish in the reef. I do have to do water changes tho with such a high bioload. If i dont tank suffers. Keep sps and lps. Just cant imagine a reef tank with hardly any fish.

 

[VintageReefer]

Few reasons
I need the tank to be low maintenance due to my life

I’ve been limited in coral selection in the past due to fish becoming coral nippers/eaters/annoyers

I’ve had fish coexist then decide to fight and pick each other off

I don’t have another reef to rehome a fish if needed

This keeps my coral fed and my stress low

When I started the redesign of this tank I wasn’t going to have any fish and was thinking it would just be a coral display/grow out tank…but I caved and got the cardinal fish to give a nitrate source, then I caved and got the fire fish

In 20+ years of reefing I’ve had sunburst anthias and other varieties, clownfish, filefish, wrasses, angelfish, chromis, tang, dottybacks, gobies, blennies etc you name it. I can tell you something about each one that would prevent me from getting another.

Cardinal fish have caused no issues for me, and they shoal instead of fight, so I got 3. Fire fish are very nice to look at and peaceful but are jumpers. Since I have a solid lid and a solid top overflow (it has its own removable lid/cover) I rescued this purple fire fish from Petco and brought him into my reef.

I might consider another fish but the way things are going right now the tank is in autopilot and fits my life