180G Office Reef Tank

[JDigital]

Thanks Catherine.. The picture does it NO justice. I'm actually quite happy with how things are looking right now. I got lots of space to fill in with corals though. They've got $30 frags (large) of Pulsing Xenia at Big Al's right now, so may have to snag one of those this weekend (or tonight after work).

No dosing for Sponges... My sponge population is getting big in my overflows and sump though. I should start dosing a few things though. (Amino acids, coral snow, etc)

[JDigital]

Originally Posted by kien

great 'nem shot! Tank is coming along nicely. There's nothing wrong with wanting to limit ones SPS headaches.

I need to get my hands back on a decent camera. It drives me nuts having such crappy photos. :P

We'll see how the headaches go at home.. I just picked the Forest Fire Digitata and Branching Hydnophora last night at Concepts for my home tank.

[michika]

Originally Posted by JDigital

I just picked the Forest Fire Digitata and Branching Hydnophora last night at Concepts for my home tank.

Sweet! I think you got the two that I was eyeballing, but couldn't bring myself to buy.

[JDigital]

Test Results for July 10, 2013:

Mag: 1350
CA: 540
ALK: 7.056 dKH
Phos: 0.32
Temp: 26C
SG: 1.024
NH3/4: 0
NO2: 0
NO3: 5-10ppm

Phosphate reading seems high, but I have no algae issues except for the typical film on the glass every few days. Nitrates seem a bit high too but it is an older test kit so I'm not super confident in the result. I also have a 30G batch of fresh Saltwater for a water-change this week.

I gotta get my CA down too.

[lastlight]

We need a new fts I think. Glad things are going well with the tank. How the heck did your calcium get that high? Even reef crystals shouldn't drive it up like that.

[JDigital]

Originally Posted by lastlight

We need a new fts I think. Glad things are going well with the tank. How the heck did your calcium get that high? Even reef crystals shouldn't drive it up like that.

Manual dosing without testing.

Hoping that after my WC it brings it down a bit and then I'll stop dosing for a bit and work on bringing UP my ALK.

Still though the inability to keep even the easiest SPS is bugging me. I thought this was due to poor Mag/CA/Alk levels, but they really aren't that bad right now so my next guess would be the 0.32 Phosphate reading even if I lack any algae could be the issue. I've also had a few different zoos melt away on me recently.

10months old this week.


Current stocking on this tank for fish is:

- One-Spot Foxface
- Sailfin Tang
- Orange Shoulder Tang
- Flame Angel
- Axilspot Hogfish
- Pair of Occelaris Clown
- Longnose Hawkfish
- Mated Pair of Diamond Gobies
- Blue Chromis
- 2 Large Cleaner Shrimp (not fish obviously)

Corals:

- 4x Various Maxi-Mini Nems
- Toadstool Leather
- various Zoa frags/mini colonie
- Large Green Sinularia
- GSP Rock
- Red Mushroom colony
- Pink Zoo Colony
- Green Open Brain
- Acan Colony (I had to save it from my home tank)
- Candy Cane Colony (thought it had died for sure, but a few of the mouths seem to be coming back)
- 1 Head of Purple Mushroom
- Clove Polyp

[fishytime]

Just a thought.... SPS and leathers don't mix very well.... Could be that the chemicals that the leathers release are causing you some issues.... Are you running carbon?.... I'm sure the phosphate numbers aren't helping either ....

[JDigital]

Originally Posted by fishytime

Just a thought.... SPS and leathers don't mix very well.... Could be that the chemicals that the leathers release are causing you some issues.... Are you running carbon?.... I'm sure the phosphate numbers aren't helping either ....

Hmmm.. No carbon, although it's been something I've wanted to add. Good point though, although I was trying SPS before the Leather went it, but that was at a time when I wasn't 100% sure what my M/Ca/Alk levels were at. The phosphate numbers are quite surprising to be honest, considering the utter lack of algae.

[lastlight]

Dosing without testing? Josh!

I'm a big believer in carbon. You should totally slap some in there. Best of all you CAN use it without testing lol.

Nice work on hitting 10 months! Can't say I've done that many times myself.

[JDigital]

Originally Posted by lastlight

Dosing without testing? Josh!

I'm a big believer in carbon. You should totally slap some in there. Best of all you CAN use it without testing lol.

Nice work on hitting 10 months! Can't say I've done that many times myself.

I know, I know!

I have ran it on most of my other tanks, just means I need to spend more money on hardware (or bring in my Vertex Rx from home). Speaking of equipment, there may be a Neptune Apex in the near future being added.

Thanks Brett.. I can't say I've hit 10months on many of my past tanks either actually. I usually upgraded before reaching this point (and not because I was running out of room, but because I wanted a bigger tank).


@fishytime - Just to clarify, I am by no means looking to make this a SPS tank. Most of the office likes the soft stuff that blows around in the current and provides a lot of motion. While sps polyps do provide motion it's never quite to the same extent as softies. That being said, if I could keep 2-4 colonies of SPS (Montipora Plate, A. Stag, etc) just to mix things up a bit I'd be happy. So I will keep trying, once i get my Phosphates down.