My new reef tank

[Reefnsail123]

Starting my new reef after 10 year hiatus. Going from previous 180gal to 55gal. Divorce is a terrible thing. That being said, and I'm not bitter, I'm so excited about having life in my house again.

 

[BarSnackz]

Divorce is a scary thing. Glad that you are looking to the future, thought and setting up a new tank! Looking forward to plenty of pics and updates on your 55gal!

 

[Reefnsail123]

Ah, I'd forgotten I'd posted my sad actinic blue box of water. Since then, after a month of waiting, I got my live sand and rock from TBS. It's been over a month and all the life from the sea is really starting to emerge. I know the trend is strongly toward dead live rock(seems like an oxymoron) but I love the daily discovery of things that I hadn't seen the day before. Yes, there's the risk of finding things I don't want but net net I find this a fascinating adventure. Case in point I just removed a gorilla crab yesterday evening. Couldn't kill him so I put him in sump. I just added Kalk reactor yesterday because my pH, alk and Ca were persistently lowish. After 24 hours all three are better. I know nothing fast in a reef is good but I was pleased to see some positive feedback. Waiting for my second shipment of clean up crew and 'finishing' rock but I have so much life in my tank now it is distracting me from my other household duties staring into an 'empty' tank

 

[Reefnsail123]

So a few weeks in and have made several additions. First fish were 2 Banggai Cardinals from LFS. Only one survived the night but is still doing well. Added a little purple tang(yes I know my tank is too small) but he will be the dominant fish and would be able to offload him if he gets too big or mean. Have 5 Zoa frags, a couple cyphastreas, a green star polyp, and a plug that had pink clove polyps and some type of SPS on a mixed plug. Had a favia come off its plug and has been lost somewhere in the reef. Having a partial ugly stage but not too bad. Still waiting for my second shipment from TBS which will have CUC included.

 

[Reefnsail123]

Progress report for this week. Added some more frags from “My reef to yours” a zoa, palyo, Duncan, Blasto, cyphastrea, pocillapora and a Montipora. All of them look great. Purple tang has completely eliminated ugly tank phase mowing down all algae. I’m so excited I just spend hours staring into tank. Live rock constantly fascinating. New barnacles opening. Hairy crab, decorator crab and some red crab emerged recently

 

[Reefnsail123]

First week in a month I haven't added anything new. Last week I added a hippo tang-getting along well with Purple tang. A six line wrasse that had some white spots on his gills that terrified me but they are gone and he seems well now. A yellow watchman goby that has taken up residence on the back side of a rock in the back of the tank so 'occasionally' I can see his reflection in the glass. Lastly a purple dottyback. New corals included a favites, a favia, lobophyton, singularia, pulsing xenia and waving hand anthelia.

Finally got kalk reactor issues sorted out by putting one way valve between RO/DI reservoir and reactor so stopped back flow of Kalk into pure water. Chemistry not SPS quality but fairly stable with no NH3, NO3~6, PO4-0.6, Ca 410 and alk~9.0, pH 8.1. Kalk is entirely ATO and is about 4-4.5 gallons per week in a 55 gal tank. I'd really rather not dose 2 part so I'm going to stick with those lowish parameters in hopes of stable simplicity outperforms inconsistent complexity

I've switched to a split day lighting routine to maximize lighting when I'm actually home to 6-11 in the morning and 6-11 in the evening. Using Orphek Atlantik Gen4 Compact. Using ratios derived from BRS review but not as high as intensity since just softy/LPS with exception of Montipora and pocillapora and they are on the top of the top rock. Working on lighting to allow filter free photography.

Finally my second shipment from Tampa Bay Saltwater coming next week so will have some decorator rock and shrimp, starfish and cucumber and CUC to watch incessantly.

 

[Reefnsail123]

So it's been a month since I've posted. Hasn't been the best month. Rock from Tampa Bay Saltwater was overwhelming. More in volume than my first delivery. Didn't know what to do with it all. Plus there had been such a delay between shipments I had added several fish and coral and couldn't afford a full cycle in my display tank so I cycled them in a rubbermaid box. Thankfully since ammonia levels persisted for a couple weeks. Then added some of the pieces to my display tank. I'm not sure I like the aesthetics and it took away a lot of swimming room for my fish and allows too much hiding place for others-haven't seen watchman goby since. My NO4/PO4 have been high the last few weeks with expected contracture of some of my favorite corals-duncan, favites and favia. My zoas are budding new polyps and my montipora and pocillapora seem to be doing okay. Alk has been a little high but this week was down to 10.8 so backing off on Kalk some. New tank instability. Have stopped adding any new fish or coral until things stabilize some. Will try to crank up skimmer to see if that will remove some of the nutrient load and have tried to cut back on feeding.

 

[Reefnsail123]

things fairly stable. Glued all frags today. Not happy with all the visible tunze epoxy but at least it is purple. there is starting to be a good bit of coralline algae starting to grow on rock and even on back glass. I thought I saw a hint of my Yellow Watchman goby back in a corner but might have just been light flickering. 6 line wrasse seems to be gone for sure. Many corals just kind of languishing, some are growing. Only a couple receding