Evan's 120 gallon
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Daniel@R2R
Living the Reef Life
Awesome! Can't wait! Did the tank arrive as expected?
evan127
Community Member
It did! It took the guys from the reef shop 10 minutes to move my old aquarium and put the 120 on the stand. The tank is filling up as we speak. I used a couple of shims to make the stand more level.
I have to figure out how to do the plumbing now. The Aqueon bulkheads have barb fittings on the end. I've never seen them before. I might do all flexible tubing for the drain lines and returns instead of rigid PVC.
I have to figure out how to do the plumbing now. The Aqueon bulkheads have barb fittings on the end. I've never seen them before. I might do all flexible tubing for the drain lines and returns instead of rigid PVC.
evan127
Community Member
Day 16
Things are growing well, colors aren't so great. Also going through a little bit of a bacterial bloom. I'm hoping it won't last too long. I am thinking its all of the new dry rock with the established rock.
Things are growing well, colors aren't so great. Also going through a little bit of a bacterial bloom. I'm hoping it won't last too long. I am thinking its all of the new dry rock with the established rock.
evan127
Community Member
Pictures! Finally!!
Please ignore the frag rack and really cheap ATI hanging kit
I made this shot more blue in post. My tank is very white during the day. Kind of like the blue look.
December Update
Settling in:
The rocks have colored up nicely. I am seeing coralline algae popping up literally everywhere. The eggcrate I put down as the protective base for my rocks is getting very purple.
Lighting:
I tweaked the bulb combination and duration. I am running four Blue Plus bulbs and two Coral Plus bulbs now. Getting great color and growth with that combination.
Chemistry:
I took the refugium offline as it was absorbing nitrates too quickly. I am nitrate dosing with potassium nitrate. Last test result was about 3ppm. My goal is 15ppm. After I hit 15ppm, I will test daily to see what the daily consumption will be.
Feeding:
I am feeding a ton too. Lots of Reef Frenzy, Reef Chili, Pohl's Coral Vitalizer, Marine Snow and of course flakes. Mornings are flakes, evenings are Reef Frenzy and Reef Chili, nights alternate PCV and Marine Snow.
Fish:
All of the fish are doing great. One of my clownfish has disappeared without a trace. Not in the sump, rock work, overflows, etc. I think it jumped and a certain fuzzy four legged 11 pound hunter got to it. A single chromis has been outcast. It hangs out in my bunch of montipora digitata. At first I thought it was going to strip some tissue off the coral in preparation for laying eggs. That's not the case. It's just been rejected from the school.
Coral:
All of my corals are doing great. I have two that are taking a lot longer to acclimate to the light or the change in spectrum. My blue milli is bleaching and my acropora caroliniana is browning. Other than those two, everything else is doing spectacular. I added some ORA frags that are so bright! Great Christmas present
Please ignore the frag rack and really cheap ATI hanging kit
I made this shot more blue in post. My tank is very white during the day. Kind of like the blue look.
December Update
Settling in:
The rocks have colored up nicely. I am seeing coralline algae popping up literally everywhere. The eggcrate I put down as the protective base for my rocks is getting very purple.
Lighting:
I tweaked the bulb combination and duration. I am running four Blue Plus bulbs and two Coral Plus bulbs now. Getting great color and growth with that combination.
Chemistry:
I took the refugium offline as it was absorbing nitrates too quickly. I am nitrate dosing with potassium nitrate. Last test result was about 3ppm. My goal is 15ppm. After I hit 15ppm, I will test daily to see what the daily consumption will be.
Feeding:
I am feeding a ton too. Lots of Reef Frenzy, Reef Chili, Pohl's Coral Vitalizer, Marine Snow and of course flakes. Mornings are flakes, evenings are Reef Frenzy and Reef Chili, nights alternate PCV and Marine Snow.
Fish:
All of the fish are doing great. One of my clownfish has disappeared without a trace. Not in the sump, rock work, overflows, etc. I think it jumped and a certain fuzzy four legged 11 pound hunter got to it. A single chromis has been outcast. It hangs out in my bunch of montipora digitata. At first I thought it was going to strip some tissue off the coral in preparation for laying eggs. That's not the case. It's just been rejected from the school.
Coral:
All of my corals are doing great. I have two that are taking a lot longer to acclimate to the light or the change in spectrum. My blue milli is bleaching and my acropora caroliniana is browning. Other than those two, everything else is doing spectacular. I added some ORA frags that are so bright! Great Christmas present
Last edited:
evan127
Community Member
Well, woke up this morning to my ATI fixture having two bulb channels not working. I switched the bulbs out with ones that work and I think its those two bulb slots that aren't working properly. Literally happened overnight. Last night they were illuminating just fine. I have my fan setting at 9 too. Not the best way to start the new year. Any trouble shooting ideas that wont void my warranty?
evan127
Community Member
I thought I would make a small update.
Lighting: I have decided that I need to reduce my photoperiod a bit. Lights are on from 12:00 to 19:00, full spectrum on from 13:00 to 18:00. I was seeing some corals brown and some bleach a tad. I think it was just too much light for too long, even with my high nutrients.
Nutrients: Things are tough when you don't have a ton of fish in your system.
With such a low bioload, I am pouring in gallons of potassium nitrate. No, not really gallons, but upwards of 25ml per day erherm... Phosphorus is literally not showing up on each test result. I guess it might be time to look into phosphate dosing.
Flow: To be honest, either its user error or I made a bad choice based on technical information, I don't care for the Gyre by itself. Thus why I am looking to trade it away. For whatever reason, in my system, the flow is just not great. I have tried positioning it high, low, to the left a bit, angle the cages up, down, left, right, tilted opposite, everything. I can not get a gyre to circulate in my tank well. Even with my shallow aquascape.
Filtration: I am trying to keep a dirty tank. Its more difficult than I thought. I have always had issues with keeping my inevitable ULNS in the past. One of my new years goals regarding reef keeping was to keep a nutrient rich system. Besides dumping in buckets of potassium nitrate every day and feeding fish 3 to 4 times a day and corals once a day, I am struggling to keep nutrients high. Which brings me to my next point.
Fish: What anthias should I add? I am thinking of adding 2 groups of anthias. One group of 2 females, one male of lyretail. The second group would be maybe 4 female and 1 male of bartlett's. I have thought about adding 8 to 9 more blue green chromis. But that seems kind of boring.
Lighting: I have decided that I need to reduce my photoperiod a bit. Lights are on from 12:00 to 19:00, full spectrum on from 13:00 to 18:00. I was seeing some corals brown and some bleach a tad. I think it was just too much light for too long, even with my high nutrients.
Nutrients: Things are tough when you don't have a ton of fish in your system.
Flow: To be honest, either its user error or I made a bad choice based on technical information, I don't care for the Gyre by itself. Thus why I am looking to trade it away. For whatever reason, in my system, the flow is just not great. I have tried positioning it high, low, to the left a bit, angle the cages up, down, left, right, tilted opposite, everything. I can not get a gyre to circulate in my tank well. Even with my shallow aquascape.
Filtration: I am trying to keep a dirty tank. Its more difficult than I thought. I have always had issues with keeping my inevitable ULNS in the past. One of my new years goals regarding reef keeping was to keep a nutrient rich system. Besides dumping in buckets of potassium nitrate every day and feeding fish 3 to 4 times a day and corals once a day, I am struggling to keep nutrients high. Which brings me to my next point.
Fish: What anthias should I add? I am thinking of adding 2 groups of anthias. One group of 2 females, one male of lyretail. The second group would be maybe 4 female and 1 male of bartlett's. I have thought about adding 8 to 9 more blue green chromis. But that seems kind of boring.
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My Tank Thread
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How are the chromis doing?
evan127
Community Member
The chromis are fine. Some are a little slender actually. Don't know why. When I increased my flow, the singled out chromis started swimming in the top of the tank again. He will sometimes be in the group without being chased too much. I guess its more food and flow that has made them more happy I guess.
reefaddict82
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Nice looking tank you have there!
