75 gallon reef
 

Hey all, starting up a tank journal for my second? Third? Attempt at the 75 gallon reef.

The first attempt ended when a powerhead melted in the tank and killed everything. Second attempt ended after a long battle with dinos when I had to take the tank down to move in oct 2019.

During the move, actually 2 moves. First to Vernon then a few months later to our place in Winfield the stand took some damage and was compromised.

This meant new stand! Unfortunately due to covid the stand took quite awhile to complete. I was building it with my grandfather so for a few months we couldn't see them. Build started march 2020 and ended Sept 2020.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...cf75bda4f8.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...b030a12811.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...53fd9a4836.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...26a9a6b9be.jpg

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Once the stand was complete I was able to get the plumbing done. Unfortunately I had to redo all of it from the last build in order to fit with the trigger systems sump. Luckily my first attempt at plumbing was a success and there were no leaks!

For equipment I have the 2 SB reef lights I got with the tank originally, 2 octo pulse 2, Vario 4 return pump, tunze ato, wave engine and an apex. I had the atk, but when I set it up it wouldn't turn on. I have had a lot of issues with the atk so I decided to switch to the tunze.

The wave engine has been pretty good so far. I got it to get rid of all the power bricks. After a few hiccups on setting it up it's been pretty solid. The apex on the other had has been a bit hit and miss. The salinity probe seems to be way off even after calibration and it just hasn't felt like it was worth the money yet. But maybe I'm not using it to the full capabilities yet.

For the refugium section I added the tunze 8831 submersible refugium light. So far it's been great. Been growing gha like crazy. Haven't tried chaeto yet though.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...9109d4061c.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...0635c5c271.jpg

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The tank started cycling in April 2021 and was done cycling by May.

The original plan for this tank was to be a SPS dominant tank, but my wife seems to be drawn to moving corals so it will probably turn into a mixed reef.

I tried adding a few SPS frags. Seen some growth in one of them nothing in 3 of them and I lost 2. :(

I recently added a lobophyllia that didn't seem to be thriving in my 25 gallon so I'll see how it does in here.

Tank as of todayhttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...ca28993d40.jpg

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Right now, the tank seems to be going through a bit of the ugly stages. Getting tons of gha growth in the sump. Pulled a cup of gha out last night. And now there is some in the sand and on the rocks. The sand comes out fine, but it's anchored pretty good to the rocks.


For CUC I have:
3 trochus
25 ish cerith
1 fighting conch

The only fish in the tank is a yellow tang which was moved from the 25 gallon I had to put it in when I moved.


For stocking I am looking at:
yellow tang
2 clowns as my wife is a big fan of them
lawnmower blenny - hopefully it will help with the gha I always seem to get
coral beauty

I would like to add a one spot fox face, but that might be pushing it stocking wise.


Since I had recently lost a few corals and all my params were well within the normal reef tank params I figured I would look into my lights.


I got the sb reef lights with the tank in 2018 so I have no idea when the original owner bought them.


I'm using the seneye reef for a par meter so I realize this is not the most accurate readings, but with the light set to 60% blue and 20% white which is the setting I was told the former owner used and was able to grow SPS. I had the following par readings toping out at 230 ish on the rocks. Overall they seemed much lower than expected. I bumped them up to 70% blue and 50% white and got in the 300's for par on the rocks, but still seems low for that setting when compared to other videos on the lights at the same settings. I am wondering if I need to look into some new lights?

Glad to see you’re starting up again.
I ran the SB lights for a couple of years and it grew everything. However I had the blues cranked up to about 90% and I think the whites were at about 60 ish

I'm happy it's back up and running as well. Not as easy to get coral and fish here unfortunately.

I seem to remember your lights were hung quite a bit higher up. Mine are 10" above the water. From other people who run the sb reef lights at a similar height they were running them at 60% blue and 20% white and growing everything fine. But I may just have to bump up the settings more.

Why did you switch lights and what did you switch too?

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Picked up a forest fire Digi frag yesterday.

Hoping the clown fish I ordered get shipped this week. I got an acclimation box to put them in just in case the yellow Tang is a jerk!https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...d044be2f84.jpg

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The SB lights had some malfunctions and the company was a nightmare to deal with. Then Covid hit and I gave up chasing them. I bought Reef Breeder Photon V2 lights. So far I really like them.
I hang these at about the same height - about a foot from water surface

Ok good to know. I guess I shouldn't expect to hear back on the email I sent them.

The guy I picked up frags from this weekend had the photon v2. He quite liked it as well and it seemed to be able to grow all types of corals. I'll definitely have to look into them.

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The clown fish I ordered finally arrived! It took 2 weeks for them to ship for some reason... I had to email about my order a few times. When it finally shipped they didn't include the unit number in the address... Lucky for me the FedEx guy called instead of just leaving. But they are here and alive. Plus I got one free astrea snail for my trouble.

Overall nice fish, but I wouldn't order from there again.

The clowns are an extreme Picasso and a blacker ice.

I also added another piece of dry rock to the tank to add some more hiding spots for future inhabitants.
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