gcarroll's 260g SPS reef

[siggy]

Currently, I have about 3 frag racks with a total of 40 frag‘s in the frag rack for evaluation. I have them separated by how they look. If they start looking really good they get moved up onto the reef. Problem is, more Frags keep showing up. Haven’t figured out a way to solve that problem. #reeferproblems

Any Favorites ?

 

[Kopka]

Did you seed with any live rock, bacteria, etc? Did you have any issues starting this tank with only dry rock? I’m a bit perplexed at how it looks so great . I’ve had nothing but issues with my dry rock tank and I’m coming up on 1 year.

 

[Abhishek]

Can't believe I missed the updates @gcarroll ! Looking awesome !
Where are those people who claims it won't work with dry rocks :lol !!!

if you have 3 racks full, why don't you send me some and reduce your load . BTW did you upgrade to G5 radions ?

 

[gcarroll]

Can't believe I missed the updates @gcarroll ! Looking awesome !
Where are those people who claims it won't work with dry rocks :lol !!!

if you have 3 racks full, why don't you send me some and reduce your load . BTW did you upgrade to G5 radions ?

yeah this tank just confirms that they were doing it wrong!

I moved many of the frags to the rockscape. So I’m almost down to 2 frag racks!

 

[gcarroll]

Did you seed with any live rock, bacteria, etc? Did you have any issues starting this tank with only dry rock? I’m a bit perplexed at how it looks so great . I’ve had nothing but issues with my dry rock tank and I’m coming up on 1 year.

Tank was seeded with Brightwell Microbacter Start XLM Using their fishless cycle ammonia. I also stayed on top of water parameters, seeded with coralline algae added a large clean up crew proactively. I have nearly 200 trochus snails in the tank.

 

[ryshark]

Tank was seeded with Brightwell Microbacter Start XLM Using their fishless cycle ammonia. I also stayed on top of water parameters, seeded with coralline algae added a large clean up crew proactively. I have nearly 200 trochus snails in the tank.

200 trochus! So the real ocean bacteria in the tank was seeded by snail shells. Looking really good!

 

[mattgsa]

Great tank, I'm loving all the corals.

 

[speedstar]

Looks great. It is hard to tell with perspective, but do you have a average spacing for corals. How much rock real-estate do you give between them.

 

[JayPnoy12]

@gcarroll Wow that really look awesome. I have question. Since your tank set-up is new how were you able to add a lot of stick coral and fish. I read several article that you should slowly add coral especially if a new set-up. I also read that you would normally be able to add at least closer to 1 year before you should even add coral especially bear bottom. Also a lot of article said patience is key to successfully reef tank, but then I see other people are able to add a lot of coral within 3 to 5 months old. Do you mind sharing your approach as I'm starting my Reef tank soon.

Always,

Jay

 

[gcarroll]

Looks great. It is hard to tell with perspective, but do you have a average spacing for corals. How much rock real-estate do you give between them.

Most of the corals are about 5 inches apart. In the end, I’m sure I will be removing some. I pretty much expected that to be the case so some of the corals are not mounted to the actual rock

 

[gcarroll]

@gcarroll Wow that really look awesome. I have question. Since your tank set-up is new how were you able to add a lot of stick coral and fish. I read several article that you should slowly add coral especially if a new set-up. I also read that you would normally be able to add at least closer to 1 year before you should even add coral especially bear bottom. Also a lot of article said patience is key to successfully reef tank, but then I see other people are able to add a lot of coral within 3 to 5 months old. Do you mind sharing your approach as I'm starting my Reef tank soon.

Always,

Jay

Jay I didn’t add corals until the coralline algae took off. Once that happened I knew it was perfect conditions for calcification. One of the things that I did different than others is that I brought in a large clean up crew prior to having algae problems. In almost every week when I went to the fish store I picked up a few more. This, coupled with consistent weekly doses of Microbacter Clean and Bio Fuel allowed me to completely skip the ugly phase. After six months I switched over to Microbacter 7 and Bio Fuel.

 

[JayPnoy12]

Jay I didn’t add corals until the coralline algae took off. Once that happened I knew it was perfect conditions for calcification. One of the things that I did different than others is that I brought in a large clean up crew prior to having algae problems. In almost every week when I went to the fish store I picked up a few more. This, coupled with consistent weekly doses of Microbacter Clean and Bio Fuel allowed me to completely skip the ugly phase. After six months I switched over to Microbacter 7 and Bio Fuel.

@gcarroll, thanks for the info. I have a few question. How long did it take to grow the coralline algae or the conditions calcification. What type or brand did you use for the Microbacter clean Bio Fuel are those brightwell brand. and the Microbacter 7 and the Bio Fuel? or is those are different brands. I appreciate your advice and knowledge to share. The reason I asked cause I'm doing my research so that I have different option to start my reef tank soon. I hope soon enough. LOL!!!!!

Always,

Jay

 

[steveweast]

Hey Greg, good to see that you are back in the hobby. I too...took a long absence and finally returned just a couple of months ago with a 400gal warm reef tank (my old coldwater tank). It's kind of plain and ugly right now....but is coming along. I realize now how much I miss Reefermadness and the old days of stock availability. My tank completed its cycle this last December. I don't know if you remember....but we met a few times over the years at various events.

It would be nice to meet up again with you. I get down to LA quite a bit....or at least I used to before Covid.....and hope to again after vaccinations this year. Perhaps we could meet up again and get caught up ? Good luck with the new tank. I do like the aquascaping.

 

[Bleigh]

Hey Greg! Was telling someone in CRC who you were and googled you to send to them and saw you had a build thread! Happy I found this!!!

 

[VegetaD]

He posts at lot of updates on Instagram had has a lot of impromptu lives at 7 am pst

 

[Bj’s Reef]

I try to catch his live IG shows during the week as well.

 

[Kopka]

Tank was seeded with Brightwell Microbacter Start XLM Using their fishless cycle ammonia. I also stayed on top of water parameters, seeded with coralline algae added a large clean up crew proactively. I have nearly 200 trochus snails in the tank.

Thanks Greg. Revisiting this because I saw you mention to someone else that you started with weekly additions of BioFuel. Do you still dose BioFuel weekly? I am starting to see a trend with those that have successful SPS tanks and dry rock without having to wait years. BioFuel is basically a carbon source so it sounds like what you did is not so different from something like Zeovit that starts dosing carbon and bacteria from day 1. Am I correct in my thinking?