The Newbie's JBJ 12 Gal

[Janeallisonn]

So I finally decided last January that fresh water just wasn't enough fun. In Feb 2014 I purchased a used JBJ Nano 12, put some new 50/50 bulbs in it, read every imaginable forum, and started my first reef tank.

The Tank:
JbJ 12 Gal Nano
Live Sand
14 lbs Live Rock
Upgraded to Maxijet 900 pump
Was stock 50/50's with 3 Truelumen strips until just this week when I upgraded to Radion XR15W Pro
Filter Chamber 1 is filter floss and carbon
Removed black backing to the 2nd filter chamber for Chaeto/Refugium with 3 Truelumen LED strips (2 50/50 and 1 white)
Filter chamber 3 is pump & heater
Keep water temp around 75F

Livestock:
1 True Perc
1 Catalina Goby
1 Azure Damsel
And yes, I know, bad stocking choices for such a small/warm tank

CUC:
2 Scarlet Hermits
2 Red tip Hermits
2 Dwarf Zebra Hermits
1 Halloween Hermit
3 Turbo snails + a ton of babies
1 Nassarius Snail
1 Astraea turbo Snail

Corals:
Pink Birds Nest
Highlighter and blue acro
Zoas
Acans
Palys
Hammer
Golden Torch
GSP
Candy Canes
Maze coral
Blasto
Xenia

Maint:
I've been doing weekly 2gal water changes with distilled water, using Fluval Alkalynity and Calcium and using a pH buffer
I run the lights about 6-7 hours per day with the actinic on an hour before and after

I stocked up my tank fairly quickly off the start and, as a result, I've had ongoing hair algae problems for months.

Just this week I swapped out the carbon in my 1st chamber for Purgen and Chemi Pure Elite and I also replaced the stock lighting (which was supplemented with Truelumen strips) with one Radion XR15W Pro which fit nicely inside the tank's hood once I gutted it (although it may be a little too close to the water surface). Hoping that these upgrades (as well as the additional lighting added to the chaeto) will help with my algae problem and start to color up my SPS.

All pictures so far are with the old/stock lighting. Will update in a few weeks once the tank acclimates to the Radion.

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[Slyguy00]

Looks good!