DH1
New Member
Hi Everyone,
I ran a reef tank (55 gal, upgraded to a 180) from about 1991 until 2009 or so. Had to take it down do to selling of the home. I just recently moved down to Florida and started one up again. Since early April I have been running a Red Sea 525. I used all dry marco rock as a base, and it was doing ok, but a bit boring, so a couple of weeks ago I added about 6 lbs of Fiji live rock and kicked the lights on. I am now happy to report that I am in the "brown uglies" stage and will wait it out. I have been much more patient with the new setup and I am pleased with the progress. I've added a few (sacrificial) fish and corals to gauge development and so far everyone seems to be happy and healthy. Running at 78-79 degrees, 8.1 ph, 470 calcium and DKh of only 6.8, working on getting it up slowly.
I probably went overboard with the Flow bringing in four Maxspect Gyre 350s, and adding 3 radion xr15s for lighting. Now that I have some nutrients in the tank I am in the process of spinning up a refugium.
As far as starting up and making mistakes I find things much easier this time around (Thanks to the internet and you tube!) Although I am sure I will misstep a time or two.
I ran a reef tank (55 gal, upgraded to a 180) from about 1991 until 2009 or so. Had to take it down do to selling of the home. I just recently moved down to Florida and started one up again. Since early April I have been running a Red Sea 525. I used all dry marco rock as a base, and it was doing ok, but a bit boring, so a couple of weeks ago I added about 6 lbs of Fiji live rock and kicked the lights on. I am now happy to report that I am in the "brown uglies" stage and will wait it out. I have been much more patient with the new setup and I am pleased with the progress. I've added a few (sacrificial) fish and corals to gauge development and so far everyone seems to be happy and healthy. Running at 78-79 degrees, 8.1 ph, 470 calcium and DKh of only 6.8, working on getting it up slowly.
I probably went overboard with the Flow bringing in four Maxspect Gyre 350s, and adding 3 radion xr15s for lighting. Now that I have some nutrients in the tank I am in the process of spinning up a refugium.
As far as starting up and making mistakes I find things much easier this time around (Thanks to the internet and you tube!) Although I am sure I will misstep a time or two.
