easeypeaseyreef

Phillyd1990 · Oct 24, 2020

So I started a new build about 5 months ago..it took me a while to post it only because ive had such up and down successs since ive started the reefing hobby 4 years ago. along the way ive had tremendous help from this forum on so many things (you can look at my previous posts), but the one thing ive learned is patience. Yes, patience is always preached and is always important, but there is one thing that is overlooked. SIMPLICITY. Ive gone from a 55 long to a 100g to a 60 cube down to a 25 lagoon. Along the way i have gotten rid of more gadgets and equipment that i care to account for. That doesnt mean i dont use some fancy stuff now, but most of it is for testing and monitoring. I have finally learned to take a step back and do things slowly. I dont have many pictures as of yet ( not good at taking them but i am learning) but there will be more to come.

I had a few ups and downs but the one thing i have noticed is that nutrients are not scary and should be welcomed. I tried low nutrients from the time i began this hobby and the more I focused on them being low..the worse it was. From my expirience..the more nitrate and phos the better..Obviously there is boundaries but dont be scared to have 10 ppm nitrate and .1 phos. Its not a horrible thing. Ive noticed all my corals including EASY sps (not acros yet) have responded very well. One day i will do a full sps tank and maybe then i will lower nutrients but until then i am a firm believer of a (dirtier) system.

This goes to say that you should have a good method of nutrient export. Overfeeding and too many fish can cause a great deal of problems that are very time consuming and frustrating..but lack of nurtients can do the same thing.

ok..off my rant. This is my Nuvo 25 lagoon.
I keep my params very stable for the most part..Alk has been a little weird..i think its due to my rock leaching.

n03-5
p04-.08-.1
alk-8.3-8.8
cal-430-450
mag-1340-1350
ph-7.8-8.1
temp 78-79
sal-1.026

Sebastiancrab · Oct 24, 2020

Phillyd1990 said:
So I started a new build about 5 months ago..it took me a while to post it only because ive had such up and down successs since ive started the reefing hobby 4 years ago. along the way ive had tremendous help from this forum on so many things (you can look at my previous posts), but the one thing ive learned is patience. Yes, patience is always preached and is always important, but there is one thing that is overlooked. SIMPLICITY. Ive gone from a 55 long to a 100g to a 60 cube down to a 25 lagoon. Along the way i have gotten rid of more gadgets and equipment that i care to account for. That doesnt mean i dont use some fancy stuff now, but most of it is for testing and monitoring. I have finally learned to take a step back and do things slowly. I dont have many pictures as of yet ( not good at taking them but i am learning) but there will be more to come.

I had a few ups and downs but the one thing i have noticed is that nutrients are not scary and should be welcomed. I tried low nutrients from the time i began this hobby and the more I focused on them being low..the worse it was. From my expirience..the more nitrate and phos the better..Obviously there is boundaries but dont be scared to have 10 ppm nitrate and .1 phos. Its not a horrible thing. Ive noticed all my corals including EASY sps (not acros yet) have responded very well. One day i will do a full sps tank and maybe then i will lower nutrients but until then i am a firm believer of a (dirtier) system.

This goes to say that you should have a good method of nutrient export. Overfeeding and too many fish can cause a great deal of problems that are very time consuming and frustrating..but lack of nurtients can do the same thing.

ok..off my rant. This is my Nuvo 25 lagoon.
I keep my params very stable for the most part..Alk has been a little weird..i think its due to my rock leaching.

n03-5
p04-.08-.1
alk-8.3-8.8
cal-430-450
mag-1340-1350
ph-7.8-8.1
temp 78-79
sal-1.026

So I am curious to know what led to going up then down in tank sizes?

Phillyd1990 · Oct 24, 2020

so I didnt include much about my equipment or maintenace in my first post.

I run 1 Hydra 36hd. So far i have loved it. Ive used hydras before with t5 but this one by itself has covered the tank just fine. I have not rent a par meter yet so im not sure how much the tank is getting exactly but it is based off of the numbers from BRS investigating the Hydra.

In the back chambers (from left to right) i have filter floss with a bag of chemipure. after that a nuvo desktop skimmer. on the other side i have filter floss and a small refugium with a IM chaeto grow light. in the chamber after that i run a bag of seachem pond matrix. the return is a stock maxijet.

I have additional flow with a MP10 that i run on lagoon mode

i monitor everything using trident. may seem overkill on a small tank but honestly with all the swings that can happen in a smaller system i love it and it gives me piece of mind. I dont have to worry about a doser yet but recently my alk has been dropping every day and ive been hand dosing 3ml alk to keep up with the demand.