Minimalist Mixed Reef: Sumpless & Skimmerless

[arnel0387]

Just sharing our six month-old mixed reef tank!

Info:
Tank-Standard 20-long aquarium
Lighting- 24" ATI Powermodule (Blue+ x3 and Coral+) with two 24" Reefbrite XHOs
Controller- Neptune Apex
Flow- MP10qd & Jebao RW4
ATO- Tunze Nano Osmolator
Rocks- 10lbs of caribsea and real reef live rock
Fish- clownfish pair and flame wrasse pair
Inverts- cleaner shrimp and banded trochus snails x10

Other Info:
BRS Kalkwasser on ATO water
1TBSP each of BRS Rox carbon and high-capacity GFO (on mesh bag Aquaclear 30) changed every two weeks
5 gallon water change using Tropic Marin Pro Reef salt mix every Saturday

Parameters:
SG- 1.025-1.026 (Milwaukee Digital)
Alkalinity- 7.7-8.0 (tested 2-3 times/week Hanna)
Calcium- 420-440ppm (Salifert)
Magnesium- 1250 (Salifert)
Nitrate- 5ppm (Salifert)
Phosphate- 0.03 (Hanna)

 

[arnel0387]

I originally used one Radion xr15 but later upgraded to an ATI/Reefbrite combo due to shading

 

[shayna123]

Sounds cool...looking forward to pics!

 

[arnel0387]

 

[arnel0387]

A few more LPS! These are my wife's favorite corals in our tank!

 

[jdpeters]

beautiful!

 

[arnel0387]

beautiful!

Thank you jdpeters!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Nice!

 

[arnel0387]

Thank you rev!

 

[dh350twin]

Very simple yet very stunning. Any reason you went the simple route? Have you had long term success in the past?

 

[OGFrenchHorn]

Nice zoa garden!

 

[Retro Reefer]

Looking good!

 

[arnel0387]

Very simple yet very stunning. Any reason you went the simple route? Have you had long term success in the past?

Thank you dh350twin!

Actually, I had a tank crash with my 100G shallow system after a back-to-back-to-back trip and a bout with velvet and AEFW!

I lost all of my collector and old school SPS including my favorites: Purple monster, RR pink Floyd, original ice fire echinata, superman table, ASD rainbow milli, Oregon tort, red dragon etc. so I sold everything except for the Neptune Apex!

However, life without a reef tank is boring so I setup the 20-long aquarium that I had laying around a week later. The original plan was to keep Zoas, ricordeas, and LPS but the SPS bug bit me again hehe

I've been reefing since 2010 and I've always had simple setups with consistent husbandry (e.g. weekly water changes, weekly testing, 3-part dosing, heavy feeding and skimming, etc.) This is the first time, however, that I'm going sumpless, skimmerless, and without dosing 3-part. I'm monitoring everything on a consistent basis and if my parameters drop drastically, then I'll start dosing 3-part again.

In a year or so, I'll be upgrading to a 30x30x20 cube since I've never had a cube tank. It will also be lit using a Giesemann Spectra fixture with my two Reefbrite xhos since I've never used metal halides before!

 

[arnel0387]

Looking good!

Nice zoa garden!

Thanks guys!

 

[dh350twin]

Thank you dh350twin!

Actually, I had a tank crash with my 100G shallow system after a back-to-back-to-back trip and a bout with velvet and AEFW!

I lost all of my collector and old school SPS including my favorites: Purple monster, RR pink Floyd, original ice fire echinata, superman table, ASD rainbow milli, Oregon tort, red dragon etc. so I sold everything except for the Neptune Apex!

However, life without a reef tank is boring so I setup the 20-long aquarium that I had laying around a week later. The original plan was to keep Zoas, ricordeas, and LPS but the SPS bug bit me again hehe

I've been reefing since 2010 and I've always had simple setups with consistent husbandry (e.g. weekly water changes, weekly testing, 3-part dosing, heavy feeding and skimming, etc.) This is the first time, however, that I'm going sumpless, skimmerless, and without dosing 3-part. I'm monitoring everything on a consistent basis and if my parameters drop drastically, then I'll start dosing 3-part again.

In a year or so, I'll be upgrading to a 30x30x20 cube since I've never had a cube tank. It will also be lit using a Giesemann Spectra fixture with my two Reefbrite xhos since I've never used metal halides before!

That is great! So what are you using for filtration? And any way of hiding the heater and filter so as not to stand out? Would love to see more pics

 

[dh350twin]

By the way I to also lost thousands of dollars worth of Fish! Yes Fish to velvet. And now I'm dealing with AEFW! And have lost almost all my beloved SPS. So I completely understand. I still have a nice set up and will start buying SPS again in a few weeks

 

[arnel0387]

That is great! So what are you using for filtration? And any way of hiding the heater and filter so as not to stand out? Would love to see more pics

I'll upload more pics later this week!

Currently, I'm using an AquaClear30 HOB filter using two sponges and a gfo/carbon mesh bag, fully cleaned in vinegar and replaced every two weeks.

 

[arnel0387]

By the way I to also lost thousands of dollars worth of Fish! Yes Fish to velvet. And now I'm dealing with AEFW! And have lost almost all my beloved SPS. So I completely understand. I still have a nice set up and will start buying SPS again in a few weeks

Wow, lovely tank!! Peninsula tanks are my favorite!
Sorry to hear about your losses

How are you battling the AEFW infestation?

 

[dh350twin]

Wow, lovely tank!! Peninsula tanks are my favorite!
Sorry to hear about your losses

How are you battling the AEFW infestation?

Thank you, I don't want to jack the OP thread, the short story is took all acros out put in Qt and have been dipping them but lost 80% of the larger colonies. They were the ones with the eggs.

 

[arnel0387]

Here you can see the heater, temp probe, pH probe, and pumps on the back corner