66 Gallon SCA PNP build

Bob Escher · Feb 13, 2018

Ftrain576 said:
Just what I did... It worked out pretty well. I just got finished loading up

with a few rocks and live sand. I'll let it settle overnight then transfer most of the other stuff from my leaky 28 gallon jelly bean jar ( JBJ ).

What is the gray pipe going into your return area

Subbedout · Feb 13, 2018

Here's my tank at 8 months today... have SPS, LPS, softies, and a couple sponges.

Ftrain576 · Feb 16, 2018

Bob Escher said:
What is the gray pipe going into your return area

That's another drain from my herbie setup. I found this setup better for sump maintenance.

Ftrain576 · Feb 16, 2018

Looking good Subbedout...Quick question..Did you experience any diatom issues, and if so how bad for how long?

Subbedout · Feb 16, 2018

Ftrain576 said:
Looking good Subbedout...Quick question..Did you experience any diatom issues, and if so how bad for how long?

Yes I did. For first few months. Seems to have cleared up on its own.

Reefaddict305 · Feb 25, 2018

Any new updates on your tank bud?

Subbedout · Feb 25, 2018

Reefaddict305 said:
Any new updates on your tank bud?

Had an alk spike that killed a bunch of my sps this past week. I'm bummed. Here are some shots before things went south...

Reefaddict305 · Feb 25, 2018

Oh man sorry to hear that, did you find out what was the cause? Tank looks amazing.

Subbedout · Feb 25, 2018

Reefaddict305 said:
Oh man sorry to hear that, did you find out what was the cause? Tank looks amazing.

Thanks. Everything was going well and this happened.

I think it was too much top off water with kalk that was pumped into tank. I guess I need to keep the tank water level high before connecting the ATO. [emoji848]

Ftrain576 · Feb 25, 2018

Yea there will always be something..with kalk in the top off you have to always stay on top of your water level, and even with 2 part you have to stay on top of your salinity. Alkalinity and salinity out of whack will stress your sps corals. This hobby is just like a full time job.

Subbedout · Feb 25, 2018

Ftrain576 said:
Yea there will always be something..with kalk in the top off you have to always stay on top of your water level, and even with 2 part you have to stay on top of your salinity. Alkalinity and salinity out of whack will stress your sps corals. This hobby is just like a full time job.

Glad to know it's not just me. Seems like SPS is much more delicate compared to LPS...

Ftrain576 · Feb 25, 2018

Without a doubt...very little margin for any kind of error.

Subbedout · May 12, 2018

Update: It's been almost a year after I first set up my tank. I've lost lots of coral over the months, but I am learning this hobby as I go.

Ftrain576 · May 13, 2018

Yeah...there is definitely a learning curve to this hobby. What type of coral did you loose the most of. There is a lot of info out there, sometimes too much. If you are trying to keep sps, I find that they do better if they are totally isolated in a mixed reef tank with lots of flow in their direction, whereas if you have an sps dominated tank, you need lots of random flow throughout th entire tank. I also find that tank stability is also important. If I have to adjust anything in the tank I will wait until it's time for scheduled maintenance, and do everything that day so that the corals can settle down and no be disturbed until the next scheduled maintenance. Your tank is still looking great. Is that a yellow coris I see back there. I got one 3 weeks ago, still haven't seen him since I put him in the tank. Beautiful fish though.

Subbedout · May 13, 2018

I lost a bunch of SPS frags. My stupid self forgot to disconnect the ATO during s water change and it dumped a gallon of kalk water into trank and spiked alk. I'm just now trying to get back into SPS, though a couple frags survived.

Yes for coris wrasse two weeks ago. He hid for a week, came out for an hour, and disappeared since. I just saw him this morning surprisingly. They are shy apparently.

Thanks for the guidance and input!

Ftrain576 said:
Yeah...there is definitely a learning curve to this hobby. What type of coral did you loose the most of. There is a lot of info out there, sometimes too much. If you are trying to keep sps, I find that they do better if they are totally isolated in a mixed reef tank with lots of flow in their direction, whereas if you have an sps dominated tank, you need lots of random flow throughout th entire tank. I also find that tank stability is also important. If I have to adjust anything in the tank I will wait until it's time for scheduled maintenance, and do everything that day so that the corals can settle down and no be disturbed until the next scheduled maintenance. Your tank is still looking great. Is that a yellow coris I see back there. I got one 3 weeks ago, still haven't seen him since I put him in the tank. Beautiful fish though.

Ftrain576 · May 13, 2018

Been there, done that....Is your ato electronic or gravity fed? If its electronic the Reefkeeper or Apex can let you set them to shut off the ato when your ph goes crazy due to the excess kalk. A cheaper route would be a ph controller that can be used to shut down your ato when ph rises above a set point. I run the jbj ato with kalk on my other tank, and the pump on that thing will let me know when it's on if I accidentally leave it plugged in during a water change.