2022
SCR Member: lazycouch
First Name: CHRISTIAN
Years in Hobby: ~6 YEARS
Age of Featured Reef: ~6 YEARS
INTRODUCTION
I'm a passionate reefer who joined the hobby after co-owning freshwater tanks with my sister as a kid. I remember walking into Age of Aquariums in Signal Hill and seeing a fire shrimp. Funny enough, the vibrant red color of that fire shrimp in white light had 8 year old me astonished; It was unlike anything we could ever keep in in our freshwater tank at home. It was at that moment that I knew I had to own a saltwater tank one day. At 10 years old, I had saved up 80 dollars to finally start my tank.... I grabbed my skateboard and took myself to the nearest fish store. I told them what I wanted to do with that money, they laughed and I went home not feeling so rich anymore. I was told it wasn't nearly enough to get started and they warned me of monthly purchases like salt to keep everything running. Fast forward to early 2019 and I finally pulled the trigger. I researched all things reefkeeping day and night and made it my goal to curate a tank with the best color combinations. These colors were to be organized in a way to complement each other and pop for anyone who sees the tank to be as astonished as I was by that shrimp at the store. To do this, I planned to put all of my new knowledge to use with the upmost patience.
SYSTEM PROFILE
Display tank: 30G , 22G counting displacement
Dimensions: ~27" x 17" X 17"
Stand: Petsmart reptile stand, to keep my display and frag tank side by side
Sump: aio
Protein skimmer: Eshopps nano skimmer
Return Pump: Jebao DC pump
Water circulations: Icecap Gyre 1k and 2k
Lighting: Kessil AP700, 2 AI prime 16HD
Doser: Simplicity 4H doser
Heater: Helio titanium heater by IM (worth the price)
Chiller: No chiller
Controller: Christian + inkbird temp monitor
UV: No UV
Reactor: No reactor, activated carbon in passive flow
ATO: Useek ATO
WATER PARAMETERS & DOSING
ALK: 10.5 dkh
CA: 450 ppm
MAG: 1350 ppm
PHOSPHATE: 0.08-0.12 ppm
NITRATE: 10-15 ppm
TEMP: 77.4 F
SALINITY: 1.026 sg
Currently dosing 25ML of Tropic Marin All for Reef daily along with Brightwell nitrate and phosphate. I've had the best results testing all parameters twice a week (just 25 minutes out of my day). Using Salifert for A, M, C testing and Hana for N and P.
LIGHTING
I keep my Kessil at 50% max, from 11:00am-9:30PM with 4 hours of white light at the beginning of my schedule. I have 2 AI primes mostly for shade reduction and to add that extra punch of blue that the Kessil can't supply during blue hours. The prime above my Acroporas sits at 106% and my shade reducing prime at 30%.
WATER FLOW
My tank has (2) Icecap Gyres (1k and 2k models) sitting on opposite ends from each other. I've found it important that all corals have some type of flow hitting them no matter where they're located in order to keep them healthy and free from detritus build up. Each pump is programmed to alternate every 15 seconds, providing random turbulent flow rather than a constant sheet of flow.
One thing I stand by is putting the pumps to work at night, with janitorial purposes. They are set to turn on every hour on the hour between 12am-6am to make a full power sweep through the entire tank for 10 minutes. The return pump I am using also allows me to have bursts of flow coming into the tank versus constant flow 24/7.
FILTRATION AND MAINTENANCE
For filtration, I am mostly dependent on my corals, macro algae, and other biological filtration to take care of nutrient levels. The mini protein skimmer is mostly there to keep my ph balanced at night and to catch any other gunk in the water column. I have an easy routine water exchange schedule of 5g a week to keep things leveled, and a water change of 5g every 2-3 weeks depending on how the sand bed is looking.
CORALS AND FISH
Fish list: Banggai Cardinal, Pajama Cardinal, a weird "Red stoplight" cardinal (not a flame cardinal), 2 Clownfish that made a home of my space invader pectinia, Sixline Wrasse, Pygmy Rooster Waspfish, Blue striped pipefish.
Corals, Top 5 in no order: TCK Insane plate, Pastel Rainbow Chalice, Vivids Insanity Acro, Doughboy Ricordea, and my extra long tentacle Glitter Goni.
FINAL THOUGHT AND RECOMMENDATION
Fun Facts:
I've had to break down and move my tank 4 times within 6 months.
In the first couple of years having my tank, my sand bed was covered in Prorocentrum Dinoflagellates. After an entire year of battle I decided to strip my tank and replace the entire sand bed with dry Aragonite. I've had no Dinos ever since, some times you just have to start over.
Advice:
My biggest pieces of advice would be to NEVER take advice from ANYONE before seeing their tanks first. Be patient and avoid moving your corals around as much as possible, especially Gonis. Make your own RODI water/ salt water.
My tank is a true mixed reef and it was difficult keeping every coral happy in a cube given their individual requirements in such a confined space but it was well worth the necessary adjustments.
-The key to success is patience and being very observant of your corals.
Side note:
I use Redsea Coral Pro salt but recommend Redsea blue bucket if keeping less corals.
Salts I didn't have long term success with for a thriving mixed reef:
-All Instant ocean salts
-Fritz RPM
-Premixed saltwater from fish stores
Feel Free to ask any questions, thank you SCR for the opportunity!!!
A quick video for you:
https://youtube.com/shorts/QdyBmkI_C-g?si=Hvc0oaajqHKfuCD8
Please help me congratulate @lazycouch on this informative writeup for the SoCaliReef's community.
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