Macro Algae & Corals 25 Gallon Peninsula

[OldRed1]

Hard to say. I still get "kicked in the balls" by the hobby quite often after 1 year. But I think something many people told be when I started and I understood only with time was that patience is key. The tank goes through many ugly phases and crisis and sometimes the best thing to do it's just waiting. The tank needs time to build some balance and every time you perturbate the balance (e.g disturb the sediments or change lights) you end up with some mess.

I really like this advice. Reminds of a professor I had in B School who said “There will be times when the best thing you can do is nothing.” Glad to know this holds true in reefing, too!

 

[ilyad]

Going to be following this one. Looks nice and tidy so far, which I am a big fan of.

That stand is screaming that it needs a sump and for the tank to be plumbed out. Might be an upgrade project down the line for you.

 

[kingoftheHiLLpeople]

Have you considered the source of your fish? Recommend @Dr. Reef!

 

[OldRed1]

Going to be following this one. Looks nice and tidy so far, which I am a big fan of.

That stand is screaming that it needs a sump and for the tank to be plumbed out. Might be an upgrade project down the line for you.

You’re not wrong! The promise I made to myself (and my partner) was that I’d keep this build “small.” If I love the hobby and stay with it for the long term, I would love to design a larger tank that’s plumbed into a sump. In that case, this 25g would become a QT tank for the larger system.

 

[OldRed1]

Have you considered the source of your fish? Recommend @Dr. Reef!

Read my mind, actually! Here's my fish/invert plan along with where I plan to acquire them. What do you think of this list?

Type	Source	Name	Number	Resides	Diet
Fish	Dr. Reef's Quarantined Fish	Ocellaris Clownfish (Quarantined)	2	Middle Water Column	Omnivore
Fish	Dr. Reef's Quarantined Fish	Red Firefish	2	Low/Mid Water Column	Carnivore
Fish	Dr. Reef's Quarantined Fish	Yellow Watchman Goby (Quarantined)	1	Sand, Rocks	Carnivore
Invert	Dr. Reef's Quarantined Fish	Red Banded Pistol Shrimp	1	Sand, Substrate	Carnivore
Invert	Dr. Reef's Quarantined Fish	Halloween Urchin	1	Rocks, Glass	Algae
Invert	Dr. Reef's Quarantined Fish	Fighting Conch	1	Sand	Algae, Diatoms, Detritus
Invert	Reef Cleaners	Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp	1	Sand, Rocks	Scavenger
Clean Up Crew	Reef Cleaners	Dwarf Cerith Snail	20	Sand, Rocks, Glass	Algae, Diatoms, Detritus
Clean Up Crew	Reef Cleaners	Florida Cerith Snail	10	Sand, Rocks, Glass	Algae, Diatoms, Detritus
Clean Up Crew	Reef Cleaners	Nassarius Vibex	3	Sand, Substrate	Algae, Diatoms, Detritus
Clean Up Crew	Reef Cleaners	Trochus Snail	3	Rocks, Glass	Algae, Diatoms

 

[robo_reef]

Thank you for sharing your experience with the Inkbird, definitely something I will keep in mind. As far as electrical goes, I have a power strip mounted along the inside wall of the stand. If needed, I can switch the whole unit off or unplug whatever piece of equipment is causing the issue.

I’m making sure to leave enough slack on all the chords coming from the tank allow for drips just in case.

If I go the route of adding dosing pumps, then I would like to invest in a controller so that I have mobile control over everything. What equipment do you have running through your controller?

If you pick a doser with its own app (e.g., the Kamoer X1), then you don't need a controller.

I can think of a few things that a controller can add to your setup -

1) monitoring of temperature, salinity, ORP, pH, leak detection, water level, and power usage (if you add automated testing, then water parameters too).

2) the ability to "act" based on the monitored parameters (shut down heaters if overheat, stop ATO if leak, abnormal power usage for anomalies.

3) basic control - turn off return pump / wave maker / ATO / etc for feeding, maintenance, etc. What if I turned the pump off and forgot to turn it back on in 15 min? Things like that.

When I got started, I basically only had 2) to make life easier - if I want to turn something off, I don't want to open the cabinet and unplug stuff, or go through 5 different apps to shut them off. Everything was plugged into a smart power strip and I can open 1 app (whether it's Google Assistant, Alexa, or Siri HomeKit) and push buttons.

As my tank got more mature and added more valuable livestock, I realized that what I had was only "open loop" - meaning there was no automated feedback to tell me if the heaters malfunctioned, or the water parameters out of wack. The ability for the controller to measure something, then act on that information by controlling equipments (or at least alerting me) was a valuable "insurance plan". It's also nice to get everything in one app (instead of checking Inkbird for temperature, Eve for power, etc).

Of course that insurance comes at a cost - $1000-ish for a full fledged Apex setup. Maybe less for Hydros.

 

[kingoftheHiLLpeople]

Read my mind, actually! Here's my fish/invert plan along with where I plan to acquire them. What do you think of this list?

Type	Source	Name	Number	Resides	Diet
Fish	Dr. Reef's Quarantined Fish	Ocellaris Clownfish (Quarantined)	2	Middle Water Column	Omnivore
Fish	Dr. Reef's Quarantined Fish	Red Firefish	2	Low/Mid Water Column	Carnivore
Fish	Dr. Reef's Quarantined Fish	Yellow Watchman Goby (Quarantined)	1	Sand, Rocks	Carnivore
Invert	Dr. Reef's Quarantined Fish	Red Banded Pistol Shrimp	1	Sand, Substrate	Carnivore
Invert	Dr. Reef's Quarantined Fish	Halloween Urchin	1	Rocks, Glass	Algae
Invert	Dr. Reef's Quarantined Fish	Fighting Conch	1	Sand	Algae, Diatoms, Detritus
Invert	Reef Cleaners	Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp	1	Sand, Rocks	Scavenger
Clean Up Crew	Reef Cleaners	Dwarf Cerith Snail	20	Sand, Rocks, Glass	Algae, Diatoms, Detritus
Clean Up Crew	Reef Cleaners	Florida Cerith Snail	10	Sand, Rocks, Glass	Algae, Diatoms, Detritus
Clean Up Crew	Reef Cleaners	Nassarius Vibex	3	Sand, Substrate	Algae, Diatoms, Detritus
Clean Up Crew	Reef Cleaners	Trochus Snail	3	Rocks, Glass	Algae, Diatoms

I would suggest a single firefish. And replace the other w/ another fish or two

 

[OldRed1]

If you pick a doser with its own app (e.g., the Kamoer X1), then you don't need a controller.

I can think of a few things that a controller can add to your setup -

1) monitoring of temperature, salinity, ORP, pH, leak detection, water level, and power usage (if you add automated testing, then water parameters too).

2) the ability to "act" based on the monitored parameters (shut down heaters if overheat, stop ATO if leak, abnormal power usage for anomalies.

3) basic control - turn off return pump / wave maker / ATO / etc for feeding, maintenance, etc. What if I turned the pump off and forgot to turn it back on in 15 min? Things like that.

When I got started, I basically only had 2) to make life easier - if I want to turn something off, I don't want to open the cabinet and unplug stuff, or go through 5 different apps to shut them off. Everything was plugged into a smart power strip and I can open 1 app (whether it's Google Assistant, Alexa, or Siri HomeKit) and push buttons.

As my tank got more mature and added more valuable livestock, I realized that what I had was only "open loop" - meaning there was no automated feedback to tell me if the heaters malfunctioned, or the water parameters out of wack. The ability for the controller to measure something, then act on that information by controlling equipments (or at least alerting me) was a valuable "insurance plan". It's also nice to get everything in one app (instead of checking Inkbird for temperature, Eve for power, etc).

Of course that insurance comes at a cost - $1000-ish for a full fledged Apex setup. Maybe less for Hydros.

Thank you for such a detailed write up! This definitely sounds like something I'd explore down the road. I do appreciate the more 'hands on' control at this point, if only because it gives me a chance to understand how each aspect of my tank ties together. Does your controller output the data of your tank (water parameters, temperature, etc.) to a graph for you to monitor? I could see something like that being incredibly helpful, too.

 

[OldRed1]

I would suggest a single firefish. And replace the other w/ another fish or two

For some reason I thought they preferred to come in pairs. Good to know! If all goes well with these initial fish, then I would like to add a Midas Blenny to the tank.

 

[OldRed1]

When you have a moment, would you be willing to share your lighting schedule? I just got my Prime 16HD installed, and I am curious what kind of schedules you have found to be effective.

 

[robo_reef]

Thank you for such a detailed write up! This definitely sounds like something I'd explore down the road. I do appreciate the more 'hands on' control at this point, if only because it gives me a chance to understand how each aspect of my tank ties together. Does your controller output the data of your tank (water parameters, temperature, etc.) to a graph for you to monitor? I could see something like that being incredibly helpful, too.

The basic Apex will give you temperature and pH. The "Pro" version will add ORP and Salinity. A separate device called Trident will give you calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium. All time series data (real time for the basic ones, and a couple of data points per day for Trident)

 

[OldRed1]

The basic Apex will give you temperature and pH. The "Pro" version will add ORP and Salinity. A separate device called Trident will give you calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium. All time series data (real time for the basic ones, and a couple of data points per day for Trident)

Very cool! I can see these controllers appearing on a holiday wishlist soon enough…

 

[ABQ_CHRIS]

I appreciate the level of your planning. I am looking forward to following along.

 

[OldRed1]

I appreciate the level of your planning. I am looking forward to following along.

Thanks so much! We all know what they say about plans though haha.

Although it doesn’t look like it, we made some good progress today on getting equipment set up. In addition to the Inkbird, I was able to get the ATO installed along with the AI Prime light. If you have any recommendations on light schedules and settings, I am all ears!

 

[kingoftheHiLLpeople]

Supposedly you can upload or download or something preprogrammed schedules thru your app i believe. I was not able to do that so i had to make my own. Then i traded the ai in for a radion and havent looked back. There are far more intelligent ppl on here than i - one of them will chime in!

 

[Jonny Walker]

I love my PM25 I will definitely be following along!
My camera is terrible on my phone so don’t mind the bad pic lol

 

[OldRed1]

I love my PM25 I will definitely be following along!
My camera is terrible on my phone so don’t mind the bad pic lol

Wow! That is a clean looking cabinet and tank. Do you mind sharing what equipment you have plugged into your controller? That looks intense!

 

[Jonny Walker]

Wow! That is a clean looking cabinet and tank. Do you mind sharing what equipment you have plugged into your controller? That looks intense!

Thank you!
For equipment on the EB832 in order
- Ai Prime
- Kamoer ATOone
- Mighty jet return pump
- BRS titanium heater
- MP10
- Kamoer x1 dosing pump
- Bubble magus QQ2
In connection with the Apex controller I have a Neptune DOS and I recently installed the Trident

 

[KK's Reef]

Question for other Reefers with AIO systems: Where do you place your temperature probes for an Inkbird temperature controller?

Right in the AIO sump area... where the return pump chamber is.

 

[KK's Reef]

Nice build list, well organized. Satisfies my OCD nature lol.

The Red Sea Coral Pro is a great salt. Mixes clean. That's also what I first started out with. But you might find that keeping the high Alk stable will be a challenge. I ended up switching to the blue bucket once the Pro ran out. With the blue bucket, keeping Alk stable at 7.90 - 8.1 is MUCH easier.