national_reefing's Saltwater Aquarium -

Saltwater Aquarium - Mixed Reef Tank

East Coast USA
Age 10 years, 5 months
Volume 105 Gallons
Dimensions 48'' x 18'' x 20''
Make 75 Gallon Deep Blue Edge
Model Rimless Starfire Glass 3 sides with Center Overflow
Timeline
External links
Saltwater Aquarium - Mixed Reef Tank Thumbnail

For Sale

Introduction

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Background

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Videos See all Videos

Flower Pot Corals added 4 years
My video added 4 years
My video added 6 years
My video added 6 years

Filtration

All 3 main types of filtration are utilized:

biological
mechanical
chemical

ran several marine pure blocks in the past but now removed, heavy 1:1 ratio of Fiji rocks to water volume
skimmer & carbon 2/3 cup (considered so/so mechanical )

n/a for ammonia | NH3 - Aquaforest® ZeoMix Zeolite Blend 2L in Zeovit reactor

for Nitrates - water change, n/aNopox or n/a1/8 tsp sugar + 5-25ml no longer add vinegar into kalkwasser solution

for Phosopates - n/aSeachem Phosguard, occasional n/aGFO Seachem PhosNet or Rowaphos
added refugium then ween the system off of GFO and similar purpose medias
run 2x refugium 6500k LEDs 24/7 or reverse light schedule; currently running 24/7
I tend to feed heavier in the winter time.

Lighting

running 4 Kessil a360we... just recently added a 4th

Time Color Intensity
13:00 10% 50%
17:00 40% 50%
18:00 60% 55%
19:30 70% 55%
20:25 50% 50%
22:00 0% 0%

Lighting System has been one of my fixed variables like using the same salt mix from the beginning I've only changed the lighting schedule handful of times

The most recent change was reducing the intensity while increasing the color percentage.

The first change was decreasing the photoperiod from 12hours down to 10 hours then 9hours now back up to 10.5 hours

The lights are 7-8 inches above the surface and spaced 11-12 inches apart.

All three are daisy chained into Kessil's Spectral Controller. Depending on Kessil's future controller updates considering a switch to Neptune Systems Apex Variable Speed/Dimming Module (VDM) for lighting control.

Flow

Tunze Storm Mode

2x 6095s
2x 6055s

Tunze 1073.050 DC return pump

Measurements

9.0
Alkalinity
35.4
Salinity
26.5
Temperature
8.2
pH
404
Potassium
1320
Magnesium
420
Calcium
0.50
Nitrate
0.04
Phosphate
0.01
Ammonia
0.00
Nitrite

Inhabitants

Some of the outstanding inhabitants I was unsuccesfully but I'm about half to my Goal of obtaining the following 21 fish on this stocking list either for current reef tank or an upgrade:
n/a2x Banggai Cardinalfish
1x Coral Beauty Angelfish
1x Flame Angelfish
1x Flameback Angelfish
wishlist1x Fourline wrasse
wishlist1x Lemonpeel Angelfish
wishlist 1x Multibar Angelfish
1x Ocellaris Clown Fish
1x Purple Dottyback
wishlist1x Purple Stripe Dottyback
n/a Red Spot Glass Cardinalfish
1x Royal Gramma Basslet
2x Snowflake Clown Fish

9x Cerith Snails
0xNassarius Snails
2x Astraea Turbo Snails
5x Banded Trochus Snails
n/aTiger Fighting Conchs
2-3x Fighting Conch

15x Blue Legged Hermit Crabs

n/aGreen Finger Algae
n/aSmooth Leaf Kelp

Red Sea Star
Fan Worms
2x Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimps
n/aRose Bulb Anemone
Arrow Crab
Emerald Crab
Goby with Red Banded Pistol Shrimp
n/aDerasa Clam
n/aMandarin

17 Fish

Azure Damselfish Chrysiptera hemicyanea
Coral Beauty Angelfish Centropyge bispinosa
Flame Angelfish Centropyge loriculus
Flameback Angelfish African Centropyge acanthops
Hoeven's Wrasse Halichoeres melanurus
Ocellaris Clown Fish Amphiprion ocellaris
Purple Dottyback Pseudochromis porphyreus
Royal Gramma Basslet Gramma loreto
2 Snowflake Clown Fish Amphiprion ocellaris
Whishlist - Mandarin Goby Synchiropus splendidus
2 Wish List - Banggai Cardinalfish Pterapogon kauderni
Wish List - Lemonpeel Angelfish Centropyge flavissima
Wish List - MultiBar Angel Paracentropyge multifasciata
Wish List - Purple Stripe Dottyback Pseudochromis diadema
Yellow Tang Zebrasoma flavescens

Equipment

Accessory
Barr Aquatic Systems Pod Chest
DD Jumpguard DIY Aquarium Cover
HyperCoral CG Liquid Coral Food
Polyp Lab Coral View Lens
Tunze 5000020 Replacement Pump
Additive
Hanna Plus pH tester
Red Sea KH Alkalinity Foundation B
2 Red Sea Mg
Red Sea Reef Colors A|B|C|D
Aquarium
AutoTopOff
10 gallon Aqueon Aquarium Container
CalciumReactor
Tunze Calcium Reactor 3171
Cleaning
Controller
Hydros Control 4
Tunze 7000 Controller
2 Tunze 7092
Tunze 7096 <waveboxes only>
Dosing
3 Bulk Reef Supply 1.1ml Doser
Food
Easy Reefs | Masstick
Heater
KalkReactor
Trigger Systems 5gal ATO
Trigger Systems Crystal ATO 5 gallon
Lighting
Kessil H160 Tuna Flora
Media
2 MarinePure 8" x 8" x1" Plate <no longer use>
Red Sea REEF SPEC Carbon 2000ml
Red Sea REEF-SPEC Carbon
Red Sea REEFSPEC Coconut Carbon
Seachem PhosNet GFO
Medication
Probe
BRS D-J ORP Probe
Tunze glass pH Electrode 707011
Powerhead
Pump
Tunze Controllable Return pump 1073.05 Electronic
Tunze DualReactor Pump Silence 1073.008
Tunze Universal Pump Mini 5024.04
Tunze Utility Pump 1073.020
Reactor
FSZ Zeolite Magnet Floating Reactor
Tunze MAR
Tunze MAR 3181
Refractometer
Red Sea
Refugium
15 gallon Aqueon Aquarium Container
RODI
Salt
Red Sea Blue Bucket
Skimmer
Tunze 9415
Sump
Trigger Systems Crystal CRYS36S
TestKit
Other
Clarisea filter roller
Duracell Ultra 12v Rechargeable SLA Battery
Santa Monica Algae Scrubber
Sea Side Aquatics SSASM01
Tunze Safety Connector
lean towards enhanced coloration parameters with moderate growth as a backseat driver

Temp range 78.5 to 78.9F
salinity 35.5 ppt 1.026 S.G.
pH = above 8.0 but less than 8.41ph DT

Mg -1310 to 1350 ppm (sometimes as high as 1400)
dKH target 8ish but less than 9dKH with a baseline from Red Sea Salt blue bucket 7.7-8.2dKH
Ca 420 to 450

NH3 0.02ppm

maintain NO3 greater than PO4

NO3 between 5ppm to 10ppm
PO4 0.25 to 0.50 ppm

K 380 to 450

Dosing See more

Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 495 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 495 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 495 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 495 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 495 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 462 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 462 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 462 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 462 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 462 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 462 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 462 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 462 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 462 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 462 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 462 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 627 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 627 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 627 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 627 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 627 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 627 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 627 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 627 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 561 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 561 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 561 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 561 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 561 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 1,000 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 1,000 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 1,000 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 1,000 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 1,000 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 1,000 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 1,000 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 1,000 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 1,000 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 1,000 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 1,000 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 1,000 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 1,000 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 1,000 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 1,000 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 1,000 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 1,000 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 1,000 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 1,000 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 1,000 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml · Fully Saturated Kalk Solution 792 ml

Auto Dosing

528 ml
Seachem Kalkwasser
33 ml every 1.5 hours
16 ml
Seachem Reef Fusion
2 ml every 3 hours
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Feeding See more

Fed San Fran Bay Brand - Brine Shrimp 1.5 oz · Fed San Fran Bay Brand - Brine Shrimp 1.5 oz · Fed NLS Sm Pellet .5mm 0.1 oz · Fed Red Sea Coral Colors ABCD 2 ml · Fed Red Sea Reef Energy B 4 ml · Fed Red Sea Reef Energy A 4 ml · Fed Red Sea Reef Energy B 2 ml · Fed Red Sea Reef Energy A 2 ml · Fed San Fran Bay Brand - Mysis Shrimp 0.8 oz · Fed San Fran Bay Brand - Brine Shrimp 1.5 oz · Fed San Fran Bay Brand - Mysis Shrimp 0.8 oz · Fed Red Sea Coral Colors ABCD 2 ml · Fed NLS Sm Pellet .5mm 0.1 oz · Fed Red Sea Reef Energy B 6 ml · Fed Red Sea Reef Energy A 6 ml · Fed Freezed Dried Bloodworms 0.1 tsp · Fed Red Sea Reef Energy B 18 ml · Fed Red Sea Reef Energy A 18 ml · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Mysis Shrimp 0.8 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Brine Shrimp 1.5 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Mysis Shrimp 0.8 oz · Fed Red Sea Reef Energy B 6 ml · Fed Red Sea Reef Energy A 6 ml · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Brine Shrimp 1.5 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Mysis Shrimp 0.8 oz · Fed Red Sea Reef Energy B 6 ml · Fed Red Sea Reef Energy A 6 ml · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Mysis Shrimp 0.8 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Brine Shrimp 1.5 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Brine Shrimp 1.5 oz · Fed New Life Spectrum & Selcon 1 drop · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Brine Shrimp 1.5 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Brine Shrimp 1.5 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Mysis Shrimp 0.8 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Mysis Shrimp 0.8 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Brine Shrimp 1.5 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Brine Shrimp 1.5 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Mysis Shrimp 0.8 oz · Fed New Life Spectrum & Selcon 1 drop · Fed New Life Spectrum & Selcon 1 drop · Fed New Life Spectrum & Selcon 1 drop · Fed Skip Feeding Day 0 ml · Fed Skip Feeding Day 0 ml · Fed Skip Feeding Day 0 ml · Fed Skip Feeding Day 0 ml · Fed New Life Spectrum & Selcon 1 drop · Fed New Life Spectrum & Selcon 1 drop · Fed New Life Spectrum & Selcon 1 drop · Fed Skip Feeding Day 0 ml · Fed Skip Feeding Day 0 ml · Fed spirulina fish food 1 drop · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Mysis Shrimp 0.8 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Mysis Shrimp 0.8 oz · Fed Skip Feeding Day 0 ml · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Brine Shrimp 1.5 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Brine Shrimp 1.5 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Mysis Shrimp 0.8 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Brine Shrimp 1.5 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Mysis Shrimp 0.8 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Brine Shrimp 1.5 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Mysis Shrimp 0.8 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Brine Shrimp 1.5 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Mysis Shrimp 0.8 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Mysis Shrimp 0.8 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Brine Shrimp 1.5 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Mysis Shrimp 0.8 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Brine Shrimp 1.5 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Brine Shrimp 3 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Brine Shrimp 3 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Brine Shrimp 3 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Mysis Shrimp 0.8 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Mysis Shrimp 0.4 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Mysis Shrimp 0.8 oz · Fed Polyp Lab's Reef-Roids 0.2 tsp · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Brine Shrimp 7 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Mysis Shrimp 0.8 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Brine Shrimp 7 oz · Fed New Life Spectrum 0.1 tsp · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Brine Shrimp 7 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Brine Shrimp 7 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Spirulina 7 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Mysis Shrimp 0.8 oz · Fed POLYPLAB Polyp-Booster 1.5 ml · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Spirulina 7 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Brine Shrimp 7 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Mysis Shrimp 1.8 oz · Fed San Francisco Bay Brand - Spirulina 7 oz
3 to 4 SFBB.com frozen cubes per day soaked in Selcon for the current 9 to 11 reef safe fish

Spot feed via a Turkey baster the n/aOrange Plate Coral and smaller Duncan's corals when I notice the n/aSun Coral decided to open usually with Mysis or Brine Shrimp thawed/soaked in the latest magical potion

Broadcast feed with return pump/skimmer off at least once sometimes twice every 10 days or so

Pump the n/aZeovit reactor once on alternating days in the evenings before lights out

Maintenance

water change every 30 to 45 days or so

Spring cleaning of Sump once a year

Clean skimmer quarterly or bi-annual

Clean pumps at least annual or more often

On average you perform a 22.2% water change every 143 days.

0% total water change in 2024-11-28T07:41:44.267794Z[GMT].

0 activities in the last year

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Inspiration & Goals

venture into SPS easy and intermediate Acroporas corals while still maintaining the tightrope dance of a mixed reef biotope

Words of Wisdom

Measure twice order once.

I personally would never order every single piece of equipment all at once in one massive order even if I know I could and although it feels awesome when the delivery folks roll up... it the quickest way to lose the upper hand as a consumer.

Patience | Patience | Patience

Disasters & Regrets

Wishing I had gone with the next size up but glad I did choose a rimless tank.

No matter what your budget this hobby will grab/demand more either due to a mistake or equipment issues or like in my case adding too many fish too fast.

I seen folks literally build their house around aquarium with all the latest and greatest equipment begin to stock it with corals and fish then proceed drive the system of a cliff.

I read about folks thinking surely 10K is plenty for a really nice system with above average equipment then wonder how there's only 1K remaining in the budget and they still have to fill the glass box up with RO/DI water.

This hobby is crazy like that but sooooooo much more enjoyable if you can hang in there for the long-run.

I already had patience before entering this hobby so I mostly developed my timing which connects back to patience and the understanding of the integration and isolating of variables as there are multi-layers to running a marine aquarium.

Similar to playing three dimensional chess game where chess pieces can move up and down from level to level, as well as, make traditional chess moves. Reef-keeping is a challenging hobby; however, it can be as complex or simple as you want it to be. There are multi ways of getting to similar outcomes of keeping a beautiful reef tank that 's you're unique expression of the hobby.

Acknowledgements

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