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My 7 month old 120 gal mix reef (1 Viewer)

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Alex77619

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Hi fellows, I’m new to the hobby and build my tank up December 2017. I lived in Victoria,TX but stop by Houston quite often since there’s not much reef resource around.

Learned so much and got a lot of support from here. So wanna share with you all my tank and ask for advice on it.

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Tank Spec:

4ft 120 gal DT
EShopps R-200 sump with Refugium
2 Galon Marinepure sphere
Chaeto, Ogo, red mangrove
2 Radion Gen3 Pro running AB+ 63% intensity
Calcium reactor
Mag24 return pump 2400GPH
700L/H red devil sp3 Protein skimmer
APEX classic
Tunze ATO

Livestock:

Powder blue tang, blue hippo tang, yellow tang, Clarkii clownfish pair(spawning), cleaner wrasse, six line wrasse, ocellaris clownfish, cardinalfish, green chromis, valentini Puffer, dragonet mandarin, lawnmower blenny, diamond watchman goby paired(spawning), peppermint shrimp, banded coral shrimp, cleaner shrimp, sea cucumber, Pom Pom crab.

Zoas, Acro, purple tip anemone, RBTA, GBTA, acan, sea whip, red and orange gorgonian, organ pipe coarl, mushrooms, montipora, gsp, blasto, paintedwar coral, sun coral, cabbage leather coral.

Video of tank:
https://www.facebook.com/631253578/posts/10155963946588579/

I did run into some problems of ultra low nutrient during last month due to my tank have 0 po4 and 0 no3. But after I let the skimmer overflow and feeding harder and even dosing amino acid and KNO3(stump remover) things are getting better.

Hope to keep learning and make more friends here too!! My plan is to keep adding more sps to that main branch. And waiting for the back glass to grow full of gsp.


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Looking good bro! That simi deep sand bed is gonna help that tank. I’m fixing to kick start mine.

Kick start it here:

http://www.ipsf.com/livesand.html


http://www.ipsf.com/ministars.html


http://www.ipsf.com/reefworms.html
 
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Alex77619

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Looking good bro! That simi deep sand bed is gonna help that tank. I’m fixing to kick start mine.

Kick start it here:

http://www.ipsf.com/livesand.html


http://www.ipsf.com/ministars.html


http://www.ipsf.com/reefworms.html

Once that semi deep sand bed mature, it did a super great job on lowering my Nitrate. My Nitrate was so low that month ago my refugium die off and all the GHA and bubble algae. But a big problem is my diamond goby are a pain in the butt digging in my sand bed so much!! They even build tunnels under it.
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This is when I started:


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I put a fine screen between the two different layer. At the bottle is some egg crate thing so that the whole bottom is free space for bacteria.



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My advice to you would be to take that pulsing Xenia out of your tank, throw it on your driveway in the barren sun for one hour, put it back in your tank, and see that it will fully recover. That's the only way that you will grasp what you have in your tank, and understand why it doesn't need to be there. Keep in mind that it can take out your other corals by restricting their growth and potentially blocking sunlight, depending on the coral.
 
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Alex77619

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My advice to you would be to take that pulsing Xenia out of your tank, throw it on your driveway in the barren sun for one hour, put it back in your tank, and see that it will fully recover. That's the only way that you will grasp what you have in your tank, and understand why it doesn't need to be there.

Ha thanks I know they are like weed and I actually started with only 4 but now almost all over the top overflow. I will control them there no doubt ha


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Yeah it will process waste almost as well and in some cases better than a skimmer. Be careful with the sand sifting diamond goby’s, they’ll deplete your DSB and cause it to die. I’d remove anything that’s sifting sand or anything that’s hunting your sandbed critters.

Check this out:






Once that semi deep sand bed mature, it did a super great job on lowering my Nitrate. My Nitrate was so low that month ago my refugium die off and all the GHA and bubble algae. But a big problem is my diamond goby are a pain in the butt digging in my sand bed so much!! They even build tunnels under it.
4862a50d53640ebe916372cbc2056e25.jpg


This is when I started:


a50936d0ba1c7088686328cff7cf2c00.jpg

a48d6538ea7e387c329125f9552b0c0a.jpg

5ce4abd05a222f72485123e5bd4ccbb6.jpg

ec68e347fc14b4733e9d4a4eba93fd3a.jpg


I put a fine screen between the two different layer. At the bottle is some egg crate thing so that the whole bottom is free space for bacteria.



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Alex77619

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I do let them shift through the top fine sand layer. That’s why the top layer are really clean but some how they dig through my protection layer recently so I gotta find a way to seal that entrance ha


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Alex77619

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aafa68bf1c1c8c35e0f85fdef5dbafe2.jpg

My dsb do process a lot of waste and bubble like urs too.


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aafa68bf1c1c8c35e0f85fdef5dbafe2.jpg

My dsb do process a lot of waste and bubble like urs too.


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It’s better to have the fine layer on bottom. :) I know you probably didn’t realize that when you set it up though.

I have a coarser sand in my tank right now. I think since the tank is small I’ll siphon it out and put a bag of sugar fine sand on the bottom and then add it back in. :)
 
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Alex77619

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I arrange that for a reason. I don’t want anaerobic to form in the bottom. I actually have three layer in my deep sand bed.
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The reason behind this is that Nitrate consumer bacteria are micro-aerobic. They do best at minimum oxygen concentration. But if you put fine sand at the bottom you will create an anaerobic area which will cause anaerobic bacteria to start producing H2S which will be deadly for you tank.


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I arrange that for a reason. I don’t want anaerobic to form in the bottom. I actually have three layer in my deep sand bed.
b146760c72f9cc8301cdc775691375b2.jpg

The reason behind this is that Nitrate consumer bacteria are micro-aerobic. They do best at minimum oxygen concentration. But if you put fine sand at the bottom you will create an anaerobic area which will cause anaerobic bacteria to start producing H2S which will be deadly for you tank.


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True, but if you have the right animals it won’t be deadly. People set up DSB’s and fail to put the right animals in there. :)


Ron Shimek was a DSB master, but NewYorkSteelo was too IMO. That guy has some great videos on DSB’s. I learned a lot from both of them.

Check out this video:

[youtube]d0mN3W_CZ9Y[/youtube]

Note this established DSB and the bottom of the tank about mid way through the video. We you add the proper animals in the right numbers- the DSB will never die or become toxic IMO.
 
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Alex77619

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I see. Thanks I’ll check it out and keep learning ha.


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Alex77619

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Yea ha ha. I do still have a lot of critters in my lower section bed. It was just those goby somehow found a away to that bottom area. I have seal their entrance and hopefully they can still be happily keeping the top layer clean. They are actually breeding and I had been trying to raise their fry. Hopping to get those baby goby alive ha.


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Alex77619

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Some update of my little sea. Added more sps and they are growing!
Upgrade to a MP60w and mp40 getting more flow going. RBTA splits into 4 so now I got total of 6 anemone lol

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Also culturing my own nano zooplankton feeding this helps my sps a lot.
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Alex77619

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[youtube]dMjqNtzn6K4[/youtube]

Ten months now!! Growing strong and added more sps.
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Also my new Red Sea ha
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