Cadlights 165 build

[TangingOut]

Tony, looking pretty good these days! I’m surprised you put your frags in prior to getting through your major algae bloom phase. Pearlberry colony is sweet.

You should swing by and see my tank. It’s looking fair these days.

In a few months we should trade a pearlberry frag for a piece of my bubblegum milli. What do you say?

Steve

Steve, I would be down for a trade and I do still need to come check out your tank. I'll text you this coming week to see if we can arrange a time.

 

[TangingOut]

Meant to do an update last week as I'm trying to make it a monthly thing. Took pictures and everything, but just got too busy to post.

Tank parameters as of 1/28
Temp 78
Salinity 1.025
Alk 8.0
Cal 440
Mag 1400
Nitrate 0.0
Phosphate 0.04

So I successfully added a small yellow and small purple tang to the community after a little trial, some jail time, and some self reflection to the established purple. I'm hoping these guys will help bring my nitrates up.

Speaking of nitrates which I still can't get a reading above 0.0 even though I'm only running the skimmer 12 hrs/day. My ponape birdsnest which I use as my canary SPS is very pale, almost bleached. I've lowered my LED intensity from 80% blue 20% white to 50% blue and 10% white. I've also reduce the T5 lighting by 2 hrs. Most SPS just weren't growing or barely grown.

I replaced the 2 gyres with 2 Tunze 6095s. I just wanted better aiming capabilities to create more chaotic flow. I think these tunzes are really underrated or other pumps are too optimistic about their flow numbers.

FTS

Happy blasto

 

[TangingOut]

Fish list:
Purple tang x2
Yellow tang
Convict tang
Melanurus wrasse
Yellow coris wrasse
Blue star leopard wrasse
Six line wrasse
Cleaner wrasse
Flame hawkfish
Lantern basslet
Rainford goby
Redhead goby
Neon goby
Red firefish
Helfrichi firefish
Black and white clownfish x2

 

[Mike@Kona]

Been following your build Tony, looks top notch. Lost your number with my last phone. Hit me up some time. -Mike

 

[TangingOut]

Monthly update. Everything still chugging along. Most SPS that were pale have gotten better coloring.

Finally was able to register a nitrate reading!!!! Currently sitting at 0.2

Ponape birdsnest that I consider my canary SPS coral has had some die off. I fragged half the colony to put in a shaded area. Hopefully with the increased nutrients it can make a recovery.

Pearlberry. Decent growth. Next step, better colors.

Mini maxi nem

Scolymia

ASD rainbow phoenix

Fuge/frag tank keeps getting over run with algae. Re-done again.

FTS

 

[itisjp]

Nice, glad to here that nitrogen is possible to have. Your tank is a little older than mine by three or four months and similar size. I hope to have readable nitrogen as well, some day!!!

 

[TangingOut]

Forgot to mention the yellow tang didn't make. It ate from the very beginning, but never seemed to gain weight. Wasn't harassed, acted normal, and didn't show any viable signs of disease. Just found dead one morning after being fine for 2 weeks. I'm guessing internal parasite.

 

[915MANG]

Great Build, Really like the T5 and Scape

 

[TangingOut]

Frag pack from Big e

 

[lilchris_357]

Nice frag pack. Nice update as well.

 

[TangingOut]

More SPS corals!!!


New fish!!!

 

[TangingOut]

Monthly update. I got hit with dinos, but currently beating them slowly with double dose of hydrogen peroxide twice a day and increased nitrate dosing. I blow as much as I can off the rocks before dosing. This is after I manually removed as much as possible weekly the the two previous weeks. I turned to the hydrogen peroxide after I saw manual removal wasn't doing the job. Also getting some diatoms and cyano. Really frustrating, but I'm hanging in there.

Some better news. I think for the most part I'm fully stocked now. Fish and corals. Now just to watch them grow out. Colors are getting better as nutrient levels have increased. I probably went a little overboard with nitrate dosing. Biggest news is that I got a Colorado sunburst anemone!

Current tank parameters:
Temp 78
Salinity 1.025
Alk 8.2
Cal 430
Mag 1480
Nitrate 15-20
Phosphate 0.05

Colorado sunburst anemone

Here's a fleshy chalice

Flavia

FTS

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Looking great.

 

[TangingOut]

Sorry, been busy and didn't remember to post my monthly update.

So I have a little bit of a tank mystery. I've lost my rainford goby and neon goby in the past two months. Also, it seems every 2-3 weeks a different fish ends up with a nipped tail and/or fins. Usually by the time they heal and grow back a different fish gets it. 6-8 months ago I added a tiny pistol shrimp and have never seen it again. I figured it dead since I don't hear any snapping, but maybe it's hunting fish while they sleep? All fishes(4-5) with nipped tail/fins have been on the smaller side.

As for corals, LPS and softies have really taken off. SPS, specifically acros are just doing OK. Some have been great, but a lot have browned a little. I blame this on my continued nitrate dosing after all nuisance algae and dinos were eradicated. No longer dosing nitrate. Might have to start dosing DIY nopox.

Current tank parameters:
Temp 79.5 (I'm letting it creep up to 80.5 for the summer)
Salinity 1.025
Alk 8.1
Cal 450
Mag 1500
Nitrate 20-25
Phosphate 0.05

Mushrooms are loving the increased nutrients. Almost lost the bounce, but now coming back nicely.

ASD rainbow Phoenix

WWC full tilt favia X2

FTS

 

[TangingOut]

CSB anemone is getting BIG, but under the hydras it's not as yellow. Still very bright though.

 

[Trev]

You can borrow my clown trigger and harlequin tusk; they will hunt and eat that shrimp for you.

 

[TangingOut]

So the tank is basically 1 year old now and it was picked as a 365 featured tank. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/reef-tank-365-featured-tank-by-tangingout.413272/#post-4866417 Very humbled and honored so I just have to do an update.

There has been no more fishes getting their fins ripped. Maybe there's a truce in the community now. I added another yellow tang a few months back after my yellow coris jumped and turned himself into jerky. Needed a yellow fish. Well this yellow tang looked like it was going to suffer the same fate as my last one. Eats everything but continued to lose weight and had a weird bulge in it's belly. Thinking it has a parasite, I decided to dose the whole tank with Prazipro. Some of my mushrooms didn't like that, but everything else seemed fine. That was a week ago and the bulge is gone. Fingers crossed.

Being a lazy reefer is hard with a newish tank. Parameters will swing wildly and you won't even notice. Well, it's been a month or more since my last round of testing. Alkalinity and calcium were drifting low. No surprise as coral growth has been noticable. Big surprise is nutrients almost bottoming out. Starting dosing DIY nopox last month to bring it down from 20ish. Now cutting the already small dose in half and starting to dose seachem flourish phosphate. Tested at 1 on the hanna phosphorus meter which equates to 0.003 phosphates.

So what have I learned in 1 year with this setup? Should've gotten a bigger ATO reservoir. Not sure if I would start with mostly dry rock again. Some pests still got in and I had big battles with algae. Seems to take the tank a long time to mature and allow good coral growth as well.

Current tank parameters:
Temp 79.9-80.4
Salinity 1.025
Alk 8.2 (was 7.5 before correction)
Cal 440 (was 400)
Mag 1440
Nitrate 0.2
Phosphate 0.003

CSB anemone split!!!!

ASD rainbow mille. Whole left side is all new growth and growing fast. Coloring up too.

Pink floyd and SC orange passion showing some growth and color.

Lots of new branches on this aussie wolverine and WD

Oregon tort chugging along

 

[TangingOut]

ASD rainbow Phoenix monti about to touchdown onto a bigger 3" disc.

Couple of classic chalices. Watermelon and miami hurricane

Some shrooms on the frag rack.

FTS

 

[Lylelovett]

Sump and ATO reservoir is in. Not sure if I'm keeping the right section for frags and new corals or using it for a refugium. Going to spend the next couple days plumbing it. Wish me luck.

I love the precisely organized layout of the electronics. Do you have any issues with condensation/evaporation/moisture issues being so close to and closed up with the sump?

 

[TangingOut]

I love the precisely organized layout of the electronics. Do you have any issues with condensation/evaporation/moisture issues being so close to and closed up with the sump?

I leave all the cabinet doors slightly open during the summer. There are also vents in the back that I think helps.