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Upon re-entering the hobby exactly two years ago I snowballed with nano tanks. This biome, that critter, mushrooms, clams, aggressive clowns (ask me if I even like clowns). I ended up with 15 or 16 tanks between 2g and 40g. I can't begin to explain the expense or the maintenance of up keeping 15 nano tanks. @ReeferMan convinced me to buy a 90g cube that he had in his garage. My wife agreed to it on one condition...I had to get rid of 4 nano tanks. The build: Chris sold me the tank with a stand (still unfinished like most things in my life). I starting piecing together other components, drilled some (more) holes, had an overflow box built, picked up a sump, etc, etc. Once my wife got tired of the tank and stand sitting on the front porch I move it inside and filled it with water. This was roughly in September 2025. I'd been cooking/bleaching/acid bathing some live rock that was ready for aqua scaping, and I had about ten pounds of ceramic media that I'd been housing in my school sump for the past year. That system was started with rock from TBS in addition to a stupid amount of PNS probio and copepod addition that I'd cultured. So I expect/hope that the bacterial load is fairly substantial and will help me long term. We did the uglies, and eventually I added a neon green sinularia brassica. I did install a dedicated 20amp gfci breaker to run all of the electrical for the tank. The system: 90g cube 30"x 30" x 24" drilled for a bean animal overflow with two returns. Sump: Trigger Systems Emerald 39 Mechanical Filtration: Bubble King 180 mini VS12 - being my first ever large(ish) tank, I knew I was going to overstock so I wanted a substantial skimmer. No filter roller. I use a fair amount of filter floss and change it out every week or two. Biological filtration: the sump has a refugium section which I've added chaeto to. It's lit by a grow light opposite photoperiod from the main tank. I feed heavily and can throw out a gallon or two of dense chaeto whenever I think about it. No caulerpa for me. I've got it in my school tanks from the TBS rock and I hate it. Probably 50lbs of lr and the 10lbs of ceramic media. Lighting: AI hydra 64HD with two 24" Quanta Helix bars for supplementation. The AI are neat in that you can find presets on their homepage to utilize with images included. I'm using David Saxby's programming for the AI. The light cycle basically runs from 8am - 8pm. Circulation: two returns. One for each return hole in the tank. One is a DC Hygger that is rated at 56w and about 1600gph. The other is a DC AQQA rated at 25w and 800gph. I opted for redundancy and a healthy amount of water through the sump. I wanted to keep debris and detritus in suspension and down into the sump so the mechanic filtration could do its thing. Two hygger power heads and one hygger gyre for additional circulation. I also have an additional power head in the skimmer section of the sump to keep detritus in circulation. This does a good job of keeping the sump clean. Top off: tunze osmomolator tapped into a 14 gallon tote that is housed in an adjacent cabinet. Heating: inkbird temp controller with an 800w hygger heater. I've got another heater on order that should be here today or tomorrow. Again, for redundancy sake. Monitoring: I've got a little kactoily that gives me some basic readings and I've added an Aquawiz alk monitor that I will run kalkwasser though once my alk/calcium consumption picks up. I've got an avast K1 reactor to use for the kalk. I'll feed it directly from my ATO reservoir. Stocking: oh boy. Never had a big tank. I got my first aquarium in 1993, my first SW in 1996. I've never owned a tang. Well, we are going to change that. Fish were either purchased qt'ed (thanks Reef Escape) or qt'ed by me using TTM. Fish in order of addition: Scopas tang (zebrasoma scopas) from ReefEscapes - scopas have always been my favorite tang CB marine Betta (calloplesiops altivelis)from Biota. Tiny little baby was probably 1" upon arrival and has doubled in size in 4 months. I never see it. Never. I have to come out at night with a flashlight if I want to sneak a peak. Magnificent Foxface (Siganus magnificus) - immediately paired up with the scopas. Of all my fish, he seems the least settled upon later additions. Flame hawk fish (Neocirrhites armatus) was added at the same time as the mag. Fun little guy. I ended up adding another, smaller, one about a month or so later so now there are a pair of them. Not going to say they've paired up, but there's no aggression either. Whitetail bristetooth tang (Ctenochaetus flavicauda) the prettiest (and largest at 3.5-4") fish in the tank. Wow are they stunning. Pair of ocellaris from one of my school tanks. Clowns aren't my favorite (other than maroons...love gsms, but that kinda bully I just don't need here), but I'm also a believer that every tank should have clowns. Goldrim/powder black tang/white cheek (Acanthurus nigricans) - pretty fish. Dynamics didn't change much when I added him. Copperband butterfly (Chelmon rostratus) who doesn't love a copperband? I definitely took my time with this guy, and he's only been in the tank for two weeks now. Eating, right? Ugg. We did the gammut in qt. BBS, black worms (started a culture), white worms (grindal...another culture started), blood worms, and yes clams. Clams he was happy to eat. But long term that still wasn't a solution. I would take an opened clam and jam some masstick in there. Then I would take some masstick and mysis and coat it inside a clam shell. Eventually he started picking at it. I had to release him into the tank shortly after as I thought I was going to need my qt system for another fish. He's gone into the display and still loves his daily clam (he and everybody else), but he's also eating mysis out of the water column. So that's a win. Along with the assorted cleanup crew, there's a cleaner shrimp (presumably the hawks and betta haven't devoured him), a sand sitting starfish and a spider conch. And whatever assortment of hermits and snails I've added. Corals: I've never kept much sps. I plan on it this time. In time. In no particular order I've got 3 elegances (including @YHSublime's beauty that I picked up when he was downsizing systems), a nice acanthophyllia, some frogspawn, a fairly large duncan, hg micromussa, favias, goniopora, a scolymia, rfa's, pectinia, an assortment of softies - mushrooms and toadstools and Koji wada. And some other stuff. Elegance HGM with the mag in the background Some rfa's, and maxi mini carpets Koji wada - blue here. I'll get a pic under daylighting. Very nice, dark pink Isaac's elegance in a cove. Inflated it's close to 12" long I'd say A few shrooms and another rfa. Scoly off to the side. Torches with a maxi mini I think I've got 7 different toadstools in here. For the most part I don't know the cute little names for stuff. Copperband, goni in the background and acantho upset with all the flow. Love this rock flower. My photography sucks. This guy is a stunner in person. I feed pretty heavily. Everytime I walk by the tank I throw something in. Freeze dried pe mysis or tdo. I probably feed a cube or two of mysis each day. Some mermaid's delight on occasion. Pinch off some nori once a day. They like green. They tolerate purple. They don't like the red macro. I also throw in one clam per day. The clams are purchased live, scrubbed, and frozen. Rinsed and dropped in.

SCA ordered!

I will say you can order fish at ReefeScape if they don't have what you are looking for or it isn't common. They also have a fair amount of fish that should be graduating quarantine within the next week or so.

I drip kalk 24/7 and still need to supplement with about 50ml of AFR a day in my system.

As far as the size of your heater I would say that it's undersized. I prefer to run two heaters in my bigger systems for redundancy, and just in case one goes out. I'd probably shoot for 300w total in that size tank. A 200 and a 100 or two 150s. Something like that. I might even jump up to a 250 and a 100, with the larger acting as the primary.

Hi Matt, Some photos and info like what type of fish, tank size, how much rock etc, you have, would help. Some initial thoughts would be some sort of trap (plenty out there) Nyos for one. Otherwise enticing with feeding can be helpful and a few nets. Too much obstruction from rocks, etc of course will make it a bit harder. I'm certain plenty more folks here can help. jim

I went through a ton more glue. I’m calling it done.

I basically setup the stock tank next to stand and ran the dosers/pumps/heaters right into stock tank. Everything is doing well. If you click images below it should take you to more of my Flickr photos. I just can’t use my weight bench for the time being. one thing. My nitrates are 16 now. They were under 3-4 before. I think no skimmer hurting. Depending when this new tank comes I may do a water change.

Not super difficult, you'll want to isolate the male before he releases the babies so you can grab them before other tankmates/the current does, then you'll want an isolated, low flow place to raise them early on, and ideally, you have a live food available when he spits them out. Artemia nauplii are easy to hatch, cheap, and are readily accepted, so I'd go with those. Then after a week or two, small prepared foods will be fine (maybe feed that first because they will prefer the live if you still offer it), though unless the tankmates are gentle and small, I'd keep them in their own space for a couple of months. Also worth keeping a top on where they're kept while growing up is good - there will be some casual sibling aggression and you don't want jumpers (it seems to be easier for the small ones.)

Fantasea also QT's fish

If I wanted a fully qt'ed local fish, I'd go to reefescape.

I think Reef eScape is the only one with true quarantine. There are other good shops (like Blue Ribbon Koi and Marine, Supreme Reefs, Rick's Fish and Pets, Fintastic, and Tropical Exotics), but they don't do a full quarantine.

Sorry to hear. Even when you think you're prepared, something unexpected can still strike. Hope things turn around. I would perform a big water change and also run activated carbon ASAP. The focus should be to get the fish and livestock into clean water. I would even consider setting up a temp small tank with a piece of live rock, and essential equipment. Just a thought. Just be careful of over heating the water and ammonia build up. You definitely want some aeration.

Add 47 more coats? Lol

YouTube has a lot of tutorials on creating aquascape using Marco rocks and thin superglue. It is amazingly fast and really solid. I just did my first attempt and amazed how the glue fused the rocks together. I included my attempt.

@gastone you’re welcome, I think 🤣

If you haven't been to Reef Escape lately, you should go check it out. The folks working it are super friendly and seem to be expert reefers and the store looks great. I hung out with the big display tank for quite a while on today's trip there for food and inverts.

It's possible you need a bigger heater. I prefer to use 2 heaters in case one goes out. Maybe add a second heater instead of a bigger one? Make sure your probe isn't in the same compartment as your heater and you have good flow through those areas. I just program the outlet as a heater and use the probe for notifications (too cold/hot). Here's the outlet and probe settings I use and where they get programmed. Probe Outlet set as Heater

One tip would be do an icp test on brand new mixed saltwater. It will give you a good baseline. I was having issues and turned out the salt I was using at the time was the culprit.

I have a trap you can borrow. Just let me know.

I like my sliding door trap personally - the door is on a string so you can ease it shut slowly while they eat inside the box, and with the door shut it also works as an acclimation box

I used egg crate and chase them in a corner and then use a net. With alot of rock it will make it hard if they just go in the rocks though

I'm in Woodbridge VA if you want to borrow my trap

Where are you located? There's folks here (myself included) with traps we can lend

It varies a lot, as said traps are a pretty reliable option, but honestly, if your fish recognize you and you don't go chasing them around when working in the tank, a lot of fish can be herded into an area where you can net them against the glass with a couple of smaller nets to block holes and something to slowly move them along. Of course there are fish that dart under a rock and don't particularly care about most foods, so that won't work with everything.

What type of fish is it. If possible, a fish trap is the best way to go about it. The type of fish will determine the type of tap needed. Thanks, Mike

So I did my first ICP test last year. I wasn't unhappy with how things were, but knew they could be better. I took it as proof I needed to change things. At the time the only things I was doing was WC with reef crystals, alkalinity (and sometimes some calc) from red sea, live phyto and red sea AB+. I changed to aquaforest reef salt and started aquaforest Micro E. I was and still am scared of trace elements. Putting stuff in you can't test for at home is worrying. I did a slow transition to AF salt and started the trace element supplement very slowly. I'm still only at 75% of the rec dose. I actually plan to do a follow-up test any week now. To see the changes in terms of numbers. But the tank is much happier. Gonis are thriving, pretty much everything is better. (Always going to be some outliers to just make your life difficult.) Some of this depends how deep you wanna dive both in terms of money and time. I will say I am considering the Triton supplement where you send in a test every month and they make you a custom mix of elements every month. It's a bit pricey, but may be worth it. I need to see what my follow up test shows.

Date: April 19, 2026 (Sunday) Time: 11:00 - 3:00 pm Where: Tysons Corner Marriott 8028 Leesburg Pike Tysons, VA 22182 $5 Admission Door prize drawing @ 1:00 pm (free prizes) * Some NEW vendors added to lineup this spring! WAMAS has been assisting with the Reefing USA for the past number of events. If you are interested in volunteering to help work the show, this could include helping at the door to take tickets and pass out gift bags, or helping promote WAMAS at the event, please let us know. And even if you are unable to participate, come by and check it out. There are always nice vendors with beautiful corals https://facebook.com/events/s/reefing-usa-washington-dc-cora/4309510539282886/

I am so there.

Is it pre-drilled for your ghost overflow or do we get to try drilling it?

Looking good, thanks for the update!

I’ve purchased glass from LGM Glass Designs (formally Laurel Glass & Mirror) multiple times. Recently purchased glass to eurobrace a used Redsea reefer 250. Very friendly people and the measurements are always dead on.

Tank is looking great. Both times I've started with TBS rock I've eventually gotten pretty hellacious caulerpa outbreaks that I've had to attempt to reign in. Still love it for the diversity.

Sounds quite strange…. You could try mixing up a new batch of ESV and try dosing that…. Other ideas I have are take a sample to your LFS for a full range of tests and/or send out an ICP test.

Could it be that it's overrange? Could it be that there's some asterisk that different parameters can throw it off (I think Mg test kits usually only work well in a specific calcium range, for example.) Definitely seems like an odd one. A way to check would be to dilute your water with new saltwater and see what direction it changes.

Absolutely! I’m going for an LPS Dominated tank but final stage will be mixed reef with a few Acros. It’s the Red Sea Max Nano G2 glass 20 Cube AIO. Dimensions are 17.7 inches cubed. I got the tank wet on June 17, 2025 and I’m using the A3 Apex Aquarium Controller System - Neptune Systems with no protein skimmer. I turned the back sump area where the protein skimmer was supposed to go as a fuge. I got 100% TBS live rock and sand to kickstart it since it’s a nano and my first tank ever and wanted to give it the best chance of success. I’m dosing carbon constantly as a means of mechanical filtration between the chaeto and my return chamber along with sponges in between the fuge and then return chamber. My flow is the standard Red Sea pump that came with the tank and I’m using one VorTech MP10mQD. The lighting is one Radion XR15 G6 Blue LED Light Fixture for the DT and the Tunze light bar for my fuge. I’m running my XR15 on the program from WWC’s website that is Leah’s 20. So it’s mostly blues and very little white light on a 12 hour cycle with my fuge back light on 14 hours on the opposite schedule. I’m using the BRS 2 Part Doser to dose All For Reef at 3.2mL per day right now spaced out over 8 periods. And I’m using the Tunze Osmolator 3 Auto Top Off with a 5-gallon jug below my tank. My parameters are: pH Level: Range has been mostly 8.1-8.25 over the last few weeks as it’s starting to stabilize out. Salinity: 1.025 NO3:1ppm PO4: I’m aiming for between 0.03-0.1. This has been a roller-coaster for me. When I first got the tank setup it was as high as 0.3. Finally, I have it under control with the time and a bit of GFO in a sock which is only as needed. And it’s been in my range. Calcium: 450 Alkalinity: Aiming for between 8.2-9. Currently at 8.2. Magnesium: I haven’t tested this yet. Salt Brand: Tropic Marin Stocking list: 1 x Snowflake Clown 1 x Helfrichi Firefish 1 x Neon Blue Cleaner Fish 1 x Possum Wrasse 1 x Yellow Watchmen Goby and Tiger Pistol Shrimp 1 x Urchin 6 x Blue Leg Hermits 2 x Trochus 1 x Nassarius Snail 2 x Porcelain Crabs (hitchhikers on the rock) 1 x Peach tipped torch 1 x Gold torch 1 x Future ex-girlfriend splattering hammer 1 x Candy cane 1 x Hail Hydra Goni 1 x Jewel Thief Goni 1 x Florida squeeze clove 1 x AOI zoa 1 x Golden eye zoa 1 x Magician zoa 1 x Zoa I forget the name of haha 1 x Fruit loops zoa 1 x Superman blasto And I’ve got the Rainbow hammer and headless horsemen mushroom that will be here next week! I feed once daily with either TDO pellets or Mysis shrimp.

Went away for a day vacation. Came back to all my fish white as a ghost and the tang swimming upside down. It looks like my 2 engineering Gobies buried my leather coral and it melted. I've been trying to be tolerant of them, as its just their nature.

I’m tapped out. The acrylic paint I bought was NOT working well. Now I’m waiting on some vinyl to arrive. Hoping 3rd times the charm.