Vince's HNSA 120gal Reef

[Vincelovesfish]

I've finally gotten enough free time to setup my 120gal! I got this tank used for a great price from the nicest guy when I was purchasing dry rock. It took a long time to get the funds to purchase equipment and time looking out for used gear. In the meantime I set up a 15gal to get my feet wet. I spent the last 6 months delving into reefing content from forums, YouTube, podcasts and books. I am determined to he successful and ready to learn from mistakes.

Aquascape:
I used glue and Marco mortar to create a habitat focused aquascape wi the help of my lovely girlfriend. The left is mine in which I focused a lot on smaller fish habitat and my girlfriend focused on large swim throughs for large fish.

Equipment:
Icecap 2k gyre pump
Reef octopus 150ext (used) with a used utility pump for feed pump
2 AI Hydra 52s
CPR HOB siphon overflow 800gph with a maxijet pump to maintain siphon
2x 200w eheim Jager connected to an inkbird controller
Another used utility pump from a friend for the return pump 1200 gph
Kessil A80 refugium light
BRS carbon and GFO reactor

Equipment thoughts: current state is in a temporary setup as I'm working on repainting the fish room behind the tank. The return pump was free but oversized and thus I have a plan to use a gate valve to bleed off flow incorporated into a manifold for the reactors. This is subject to change as I'd rather have a properly sized return and run the reactors off their own pump but we'll see. The lights have some issues either driver and/or leds burned out. I don't think this will be detrimental to growing corals but I will want to upgrade in a years time. Additionally, I'd like to add either T5 or LED fill lights. I'm also lacking in the flow department but this will suffice for now. I intend to have a mixed reef and I've slowly drifted towards sps. I am tempering my expectations and going slow with corals. The tank is all tempered so I had to go with a siphon overflow unless I got a different tank. Not a huge fan and would've drilled it had it not been tempered

Fish:
Currently, I have two clowns one being a common and the other a picasso alongside a Lawnnower Blenny in my 15gal. They've passed the black Molly test so I feel comfortable transferring them over. I also have two engineer gobies and a royal gramma in QT.


I will continue to update and flesh out my post with pictures and information as I have the time.

I'm excited to be apart of this amazing hobby!

 

[OZ_SPS]

Very cool build, following!

 

[Vincelovesfish]

Fish are doing well been busy cleaning up the adjacent room to start painting and building the fish room. I've realized that it is preferable to put the sump on a stand to raise it off the ground...except I drilled holes already! I also have the challenge to protect the electrical socket that'll be behind and below the sump. I'm thinking some sort of waterproof housing with a cable channel should suffice leading up to a shelf above the sump. I'll just put the sump on cinder blocks or bricks to raise it up.

I've decided to try and have lights on at a lower level and add in coralline algae starter. I've got some purple helix on the way to try our and I'll get some scrapings from a reefing buddy. My idea is that adding corraline algae early will hopefully our compete undesirables. I'll also have my refugium running to help. Keep nutrients low and see what happens. I'll be able to help seed my tank with the addition of my buddy's live rock.

Nitrates are at 1ppm but phosphates were at .23ppm so I dosed 3ml of lanthanum which is a half dose . I also have my skimmer running and man is it louder than I want. Fish room can't be finished soon enough. Still have to sand the walls with a palm sander while my girlfriend is awake(she sleeps all day hah). I still need to setup my reactors; my wet side underneath the tank is crowded. It's functional and isn't pretty but fish room(hopefully) will be finished in a week or two.

 

[Vincelovesfish]

A lot of woes but a lot of learning.

Tank has been afflicted with some species of suspected Chrysophyta. I've done a few things and I have a plan for more.

Sterile tank is a happy place for photosynthetic protists. In the beginning my phosphate was at .25ppm and nitrates at 2ppm. I decided to run a small amount of gfo to balance my nutrients. I also wanted to raise nitrates up. My skimmer doesn't skim much in the first place so I've left it running. Turned off my refugium and started to feed more. Added in tisbee pods. Dosed phyto up until I accidentally shoved it in the freezer with my frozen food oops. Turns out it wasn't live and thus no wonder my culture wasn't growing.

I also added a piece of live rock from a mature tank and a couple pieces from my not as mature 15gal. It has some CCA and i also added some purple helix that I got on a discount. Additionally, I siphoned the sandbed and blew off the rocks with a baster until it cramped my hand up. My hopes is that cleaning and removing the protists gives the bacteria a better chance at moving in.

Currently my phosphate is down at .10ppm and nitrates at 4ppm. Also it seems that the Chrysophyta aren't growing on the sandbed around the pieces of live rock.

Notice the out of place three rocks. I have these clumps but they aren't blanketing the sand.

Compared to over here with no added pieces. Blues hide how it looks.

I would surmise this is the result of competitor microbiome that's colonizing from the rocks. So success!

I plan to buy some larger pods and live phyto to culture. I also want to but some Florida keys live mud and sand. I found a post by aquabiomics that demonstrate an improvement to biodiversity that of mature tanks adding it to a few tanks. I also need to add CuC but the price on shipping qtd CuC is fairly high. I may purchase a small package and then qt the rest myself. Microbiome also comes on the shells off inverts I would assume.

I guess my nitrates are being consumed at a higher rate than I am putting in. I'm not sure if it's super critical to raise them as it is to keep them in a good ratio to phosphates.

Lastly, my sailfin tang in qt is eating like a pig but I noticed what I think is fungus or a bacterial tuft on his sail. Fairly shy tang so I don't have any pictures. Possible damage caused by store owner netting him which later fungused. I intend to methlyne blue dip to treat.

That's it for now! Happy reefing

 

[Humblefish]

Following!

 

[Vincelovesfish]

Met a local basement coral farmer that hooked me up!
2 birdsnests
Green branching psammacora
Orange digi
Starburst monti
Leng sy monti

Leng sy is my favorite so far love the colors. I feel myself becoming a plating coral lover.

Tank is doing well I've had two rounds of sand siphoning and rock blasting and due for another one. The protists seem to be receding in some places and not growing as much. My mud and live sand is on the way.

I was considering doing a blackout in conjunction with the addition of the mud and a good siphoning beforehand. I have my 15gal I could keep the corals in temporarily. I'm seeing good results so far so I don't think its necessary. Manual removal seems to be sufficient but I'll consider it. I also have some silicate booster that I'll keep handy in case I want to induce a diatom bloom.

I read that's a possible treatment for dinos and the like. However, I'm exercising restraint in adding and trying treatments. Why change up what's working.

Fish room is almost done being painted and I'm stoked to finally start working on fleshing it out.

 

[Vincelovesfish]

Found an awesome LFS Wet Dream Aquatics and found out they prophylactic qt their fish! On top of that they dont charge for their qt so fish are at regular retail price . Owner said he has very little overhead and sees it as a service to hobbyists.

Scribbled rabbitfish

Purple firefish

Also finally broke out my alk and calcium test kit and I have to decide what to start dosing with.
Alk 8.6 dkh
Calcium 370ppm

For now, I'm manually going to dose seachem fusion. I've had that on a shelf and haven't gotten to use it till now. Dosed 20ml that should raise it by 4ppm according to the instructions and is the starting dose recommendation.

I have one kamoer dosing pump I won in a contest. I'm considering all for reef to start out with as I'm not gonna have a lot of corals. Gonna do some research to see what problems people have had. I've also looked into kalkwasser a lot but I'm not sure that's the best first time dosing solution. Id either use a diy dripper or my dosing pump. Any thoughts are appreciated. Especially if the powdered all for reef is still economical early on.

Bacterial tuft on sailfin in qt. I performed a methlyne blue dip but that hasn't affected it. Reading in bacterial tufts here it should fall off after a week. If after a week or so it still there or worsens I'll start a thread for insight.

Also....is there any way to change the title of a journal/build thread? Want a better title

 

[Dierks]

I agree Kalkwasser isn't ideal for a tank that isn't uptalking a bunch of alk or calc. I would start with the doing pump with two part.

@Jessican can help you with your Title!

 

[35ppt]

Also finally broke out my alk and calcium test kit and I have to decide what to start dosing with.
Alk 8.6 dkh
Calcium 370ppm

For now, I'm manually going to dose seachem fusion. I've had that on a shelf and haven't gotten to use it till now. Dosed 20ml that should raise it by 4ppm according to the instructions and is the starting dose recommendation.

I have one kamoer dosing pump I won in a contest. I'm considering all for reef to start out with as I'm not gonna have a lot of corals. Gonna do some research to see what problems people have had. I've also looked into kalkwasser a lot but I'm not sure that's the best first time dosing solution. Id either use a diy dripper or my dosing pump. Any thoughts are appreciated. Especially if the powdered all for reef is still economical early on.

The original Kamoer X1 or one of the Pro models? The way I like to start dosing on a new tank is to first start with kalkwasser. I used to add it to the ATO but now I like to have it on a dosing pump. Then as consumption increased I add a couple more dosing pumps for two part. I've never been able to run kalk on a drip without it clogging the tube and reducing the drip over time.

I can also change your title if you tell me what you want it to be.

 

[Dierks]

@35ppt I never understood how you can balance both of those in one solution. Like in my tank, the uptake of ALK is much higher than the uptake of Calc, so how do you adjust for something like that when you are running Kalk?

 

[35ppt]

@35ppt I never understood how you can balance both of those in one solution. Like in my tank, the uptake of ALK is much higher than the uptake of Calc, so how do you adjust for something like that when you are running Kalk?

You can't. IME it's usually alk that ends up needing more so if or when that happens you add the dosing pump for alk and once the kalk can't keep up with the calcium uptake you add the calcium dosing pump.

 

[Jessican]

Follow the instructions here to get your build thread badge and you should be able to change the title yourself: How To - Get your Build Thread Contributor badge

To change the title, click the … at the top of the thread and then click “Edit thread”:

 

[Vincelovesfish]

The original Kamoer X1 or one of the Pro models? The way I like to start dosing on a new tank is to first start with kalkwasser. I used to add it to the ATO but now I like to have it on a dosing pump. Then as consumption increased I add a couple more dosing pumps for two part. I've never been able to run kalk on a drip without it clogging the tube and reducing the drip over time.

I can also change your title if you tell me what you want it to be.

It's a kamoer x1 pro 2
I found that others also liked to start with kalk first. Would those pump be adequate to use with kalk? I'm not planning on adding any more corals for a couple months unless gifted. Which helps since I need time to buy a 2nd pump for 2 part(broke for a little while). Hence, looking for a one part solution to tie me over for a short time.

Follow the instructions here to get your build thread badge and you should be able to change the title yourself: How To - Get your Build Thread Contributor badge

To change the title, click the … at the top of the thread and then click “Edit thread”:
View attachment 50885

Thank you I will work on that

 

[35ppt]

It's a kamoer x1 pro 2
I found that others also liked to start with kalk first. Would those pump be adequate to use with kalk? I'm not planning on adding any more corals for a couple months unless gifted. Which helps since I need time to buy a 2nd pump for 2 part(broke for a little while). Hence, looking for a one part solution to tie me over for a short time.

Yep that one works fine for kalk.

 

[smsreef]

Nice build!

I started by dosing Kalk overnight. Then Kalk and 2 part when Kalk could no longer keep up. Now I just dose all for reef.

I was very happy with Kalk until I had to add 2 more dosers.

I love AFR. I like that only a single dosing pump is required and it has some trace elements in it. The powder makes it an affordable solution (at least until your consumption gets crazy).

 

[Vincelovesfish]

Nice build!

I started by dosing Kalk overnight. Then Kalk and 2 part when Kalk could no longer keep up. Now I just dose all for reef.

I was very happy with Kalk until I had to add 2 more dosers.

I love AFR. I like that only a single dosing pump is required and it has some trace elements in it. The powder makes it an affordable solution (at least until your consumption gets crazy).

Have you ever run into issues where you were high in one level but not the others with AFR? How much are you dosing per day? You have a beautiful tank

 

[OZ_SPS]

Cool build thread. Following

 

[smsreef]

Have you ever run into issues where you were high in one level but not the others with AFR? How much are you dosing per day? You have a beautiful tank

Thank you!

When I started my macroalgae tank, it used different amount of Alk and calcium. I used 2 part to get the tank where I need and after a month it was dialed in and using it in a balanced way. That tank now uses same amount Alk and calcium so I only dose AFR.

My 60 cube always is in normal range for calcium when I send an ICP. But I do water changes every 2 weeks. That tank is using 20ml/day.

I don’t really test calcium anymore other than when I send an ICP. I do have 2 part on hand if I need to correct fast or only one.

Early on I think it’s helps to test Alk and calcium though. I’m not sure what causes Alk and calcium to be used at different rate on a new tank.

 

[Humblefish]

Found an awesome LFS Wet Dream Aquatics and found out they prophylactic qt their fish! On top of that they dont charge for their qt so fish are at regular retail price . Owner said he has very little overhead and sees it as a service to hobbyists.

I would ask for more details on what “prophylactic QT” means to them: Actual vs. Half-baked Quarantine

 

[Vincelovesfish]

I would ask for more details on what “prophylactic QT” means to them: Actual vs. Half-baked Quarantine

IIRC, Formalin bath copper qt 2 weeks at 2ppm copper power. Transfer into another tank into prazi. Separate rooms for tanks.