BowieReefer84

Good feedback. I do keep telling myself 2-3 years. Just after 6 months feels like it will be way longer.

These are tooooo small to cut. I did get a foxface as a way to keep my hands out of the tank. haha I just want to let them grow and grow. I guess the fact they aren't dying is always a positive.

These three corals growth is shown when I got frags in late July 2023, and current photos are today. They are growing, and color is good. This was a newly establish tank, and now parameters are very stable. From this point forward, what is a reasonable amount of time for these to actually turn into colonies assuming stable parameters (alk 8, nitrate 6, phos 0.06, ph 8.2). I am dosing acropower, and all for reef (via a dosing pump) at this time Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr

That’s freaking amazing.

My Ph was only capping at about 8.0 during the day on this tank. I ran the skimmer line outside, and that resulted in about 8.2. I hooked up the outside airline through a C02 scrubber and I am now achieving a high Ph of 8.4 and low is only around 8.2/8.3. Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr Hoping the corals really take off now. I have another order of monitpora coming from Top Shelf in early January. Here is my fav coral and one of my fav fish: Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr I also was fighting nitrates at 0.0 on hannah checker despite phosphate reading 0.04 on hannah checker. I have started slowly dosing neonitro and also dosing aminos like acropower. I have them around 5 now which is good for me. I have added a foxface as well as a royal gramma. Very happy with how the tank is doing. Corraline algae is really taking off now.

Nice plans. Building it in wall I would recommend not painting sides of tank black. It will make aquascaping and working in the tank doing anything at all very hard. Also, with water you’ll get 100% mirror reflection off the sides not being able to see through the sides from the viewing room at all. I did my recent build in wall and even with the sides clear I was walking back and forth a lot. Look at the avast auto feeder. It makes it nice not to walk back and forth to feed all the time. It’s a great product. consider putting your sump on its own stand for ease of maintenance. I wish I would have done this. You can also avoid needing as large a return pump bc you won’t have the head pressure. look forward to progress.

I have never tracked Ph, but am going to do so on my new tank. I now have a Milwaukee MC122 controller. My plan is to pull outside air through a c02 scrubber into my skimmer air intake. I want to set the controller plug on the MC122 with my skimmer to "Off above 8.4" so that skimmer will run and pull the c02 media through the air intake when Ph is below 8.4, but if Ph gets higher than 8.4 it will shut the skimmer off. I imagine my skimmer will still run 75% of the time most likely. Right now I am pulling outside air into the skimmer and with lights on the Ph is 8.2. I am going to track during different periods of the day. Has anyone done something like this? Any critiques are welcome.

Yes, get a tank. Not too many HOCO members! I am tired of driving to Virginia.

TSA Bali Blue Slimer progress: Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr

As the title says, what is the best Ph tester or monitor you like to use? Is there a specific model Milwaukee or Hannah you recommend?

Growth is starting to come as well: Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr

I find nano tanks are a pita. You can’t get fish to help with algae bc the fish that eat algae are too big. Also maintaining parameters is a pain. If I got busy I would simply go fish only in a larger tank, and focus on algae eating fish. I could never keep my hands out of the nanos I’ve had in the past. I find it easier to keep my hands out of larger tanks. Either way, best of luck. It’s just been my experience smaller isn’t always less time consuming.

Right now I have 3 anthias, 2 small clowns, 1 orange back wrasse, and 1 bristletooth tang. I just ordered a royal gramma and foxface lo that I’m going to put through QT. I’ll be at 9 fish after this latest addition. I also have snails and 3 small ORA tuxedo urchins. I want more fish but not sure what will get along. Also, with fish prices right now the cheaper the better. Anyone have thoughts on 1 vs multiple with blue green chromis or bangai cardinals? Other things to consider? I like the sailfin algae blennies. My main goal is not messing up the peaceful tank and keeping everyone healthy. Wondering what I can ultimately end up regarding total number of fish.

It’s ok. We’ll let it slide. Haha

Nice build. An Eheim 600 is really quiet for an AC pump. Sounds like the sicce 6.0 is coming though. I put my sump on some thin foam and put my return pump on a silicone pad and have the first 8” of the return silicone hose before switching to PVC. It helps greatly with stopping vibration/noise. the braided hose you used is much stiffer than silicone. Not sure it gives the same effect. stand is very nice looking. good call redoing the bean animal. that rimless tank looks really nice. Is this a newer tank brand? I don’t remember seeing these before.

The brightwells razor did an amazing job. I finally just got around to plumbing the UV sterilizer. Having the inwall setup makes it nice because I can put things where they are convenient with plenty of space. I am not sure the Eheim 600 will be enough of a return pump now with the added angles and UV. I will see how it goes. Hoping it's enough flow. I picked up a 1.1ml BRS pump and will use that for the all for reef. IMG_6478 by mteske1, on Flickr IMG_6479 by mteske1, on Flickr IMG_6477 by mteske1, on Flickr

I’m dosing all for reef in my new tank. Was thinking about kalk but the all for reef seems easier.

Awesome pair of fish. They remind me of Dr. Seuss. Very cool. That hawkfish would be banished to the sump.

Faced a pretty bad turf algae issue. That stuff is impossible to remove by hand. I added a large clean up crew and a few urchins that barely dented it and were making no real progress. Ultimately, I dosed Brightwells Razor (and clean), and it's now all turned white. No real ill effects on corals from what I can tell, and the fish have been doing great this whole time. Nitrates continue to read zero (the algae throwing off my stats), but once the algae decays I am prepared to do some large water changes to prevent a nitrate spike. I will wait a bit longer than stock more fish, and probably let it ride for a while. I did decide to go with all-for-reef for dosing, as it's super simple and I am not stocking much corals. I picked up a 25w UV, but still haven't plumbed it into the system. I need to make time for that, with my main goal water clarity. Lastly, I have a avast marine auto feeder. I was able to leave the tank for over a week this summer while on vacation and it ran like a top. That feeder is really great for freeze dried foods, and running it 1min at a time a few times a day is perfect for me. Keeps me from constantly having to walk to the back side of the tank to feed.

Skimmer is rocking, and corals are doing great at the almost 30 day mark. I am getting some hair algae and planning to add a couple tuxedo urchins in the near future. TSA Bali Blue Slimer Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr

I am just going with a UV sterilizer to try to slow some algae and seeing how that goes. I don't want to add inverts without a proper QT, and this summer I don't have the time.

I see some coralline spots growing, so the waiting ended. I have begun adding corals (going for mostly monochromatic corals): - Setosa - PC Rainbow - TSA Blue Slimer - Green Slimer - Red Dragon - Hawkins Echinata - Tyree Toxic Green Cap - TSA Purple Cap - ASD Millipora - Bubblegum Millipora Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr I have a couple more corals I want to add including a couple digitatas, then it's a waiting game.

Yea. That’s my fear. I don’t have any inverts but I’m getting algae now. I may just QT them.

Where is everyone picking up clean up crews these days? debating between reefcleaners or reeftopia. Or others? thanks

Diatoms are 100% gone. I am adding corals soon... I put a couple power strips on wall for some organization, and put a ring camera on the sump... Even added a mini fridge. Avast auto feeder added, and setting up using amazon plug with schedules. Not done that yet. It looks like I should be able to leave the tank for a week with no issues. Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr