Hex's Reef 2.0
Harrisburg PA
Introduction
When I moved to my new house I had an opportunity to rebuild my reef. I planed on building a new stronger and taller stand with a bigger enclosed canopy. I used a 55 gallon custom sump with a refugium section. Im currenty growing chaeto and caulerpa algae. The 125 gallon tank has a low profile overflow box and two returns along with two manifolds to assist with powering the reactors and dosing the tank. Everything is powered with a Jabeo DC6000 return pump. I'm using my existing skimmer, apex, lights, heater, reactors and dosing pump. I use a drilled mini fridge for dosing cold foods.
Videos See all Videos
Filtration
I will be using 2/3 of a 55 gallon sump to hold chaeto, caulerpa. The MDT will have approx 150 pounds of rock. I'm using a curve 7 skimmer and biopellet reactor.
Lighting
The MDT will have three AquaMars 165 watt Led lights along side 4 T5 HO 10k and Actinic bulbs. I will be powering the Refugium with two 100 watt Led spot light bulbs.
Flow
My flow will consist of one 1200 gph powerhead, wave maker and return pump.
pH
Salinity
Temperature
Calcium
Alkalinity
Magnesium
Potassium
Phosphate
Nitrate
Iodine
Iron
I currently have one sailfin tang, yellow tang, lion fish, Maroon clown, two damsels, snowflake eel, cleaner shrimp and a scooter blenny.
I plan on adding a hippo tang and a powder brown tang at some point. Im really focusing on filling the reef with all types of coral.
I plan on adding a hippo tang and a powder brown tang at some point. Im really focusing on filling the reef with all types of coral.
18 Fish
83 Corals
Forest Fire Montipora Digitata
Jason Fox Appleberry Acropora
Purple Sponge
Starry Night Rhodactis Mushroom
195 Invertebrate
Amphipods
Copepods
Res leg hermit crab
Starfish
17 Plants
Equipment
Additive
Bulk Reef Supply Soda Ash
Kent Strontium & Molybdenum
Kent super chelated iron and manganese
Korallen-Zucht Coral System 1
Korallen-Zucht Coral System 2
Korallen-Zucht Coral System 3
Korallen-Zucht Coral System 4
Aquarium
125 Gallon Tank
AutoTopOff
Bulb
Controller
Dosing
1/4 in polyurethane tube
Food
Brine Shrimp
Bulk Reef Supply Reef Chili
Silversides fish
Heater
250 Watt Heater
300 Watt Heater
Lighting
2
100 Watt LED Refugium Light
Dual Light Bulb holder for Refugium
Red Blue Veg Flower Plant Grow Light Bulb 6 LED 3W
3
SB Reef Light PCB Board
2
T5 Light figure 2 bulbs HO
Media
One Cartridge Refill (1.25 lbs.) DI Resin - Color Changing
Medication
Kent Garlic Xtreme
Parts
1/2 Reactor pvc Tubing 6 feet
1/4 RO/DI Tubing 30 feet
Pump
Reactor
Custom BipPellet
Refractometer
RODI
35 Gallon ATO Refill Container
400 mL Flow Membrane Flush Valve
6 Stage RO/DI System
2
Airline Tubing Suction Cups
Glycerin Filled Pressure Gauge 1-100 PSI
RO Buddie DI refillable cartridge
Second DI Filter
RODIMedia
Bulk Reef Supply DI Resin Color Changing
Salt
Skimmer
Stand
Custom Stand 36" Tall
Sump
TestKit
50
Disposable Plastic Injector Syringe 10ml
100
Disposable Plastic Injector Syringe 1ml
Other
1200 GPH Low Profile Overflow Box
1200GPH Overflow Box
24 slot frag rack/clear
5 Cup Measuring Cup
2
8 inch Fan
Baby Bottle Cleaner
3
Ball Valve 3/4 inch
2
Bulk Head 1/2 inch
5
Bulk Heads 3/4 inch
Bulk Reef Supply Reef Saver Dry Aquarium Live Rock
Check valve
Custom Canopy
D-Link DCS-932L Sump Camera
Frag Rack 40 Plug
Frag plugs
5
King Domes
Mag Rock
Mangrove Holder
Measuring Cup Set
Ocean Direct Caribbean Live Sand 20lbs
PVC Pipe 3/4
14
Pvc 90 degree elbows 3/4 in
Sea Side Aquatics Probe Holder
50
Wood Feeding Sticks
My goals as always is to keep the tank balanced and water parameters constant. I will be keeping Calcium between 420-450, Alk between 7-10dkh, Magnesium between 1320-1380, Salinity between 1.025-1.026 and Temperature between 78.8-79.5
Additives
I believe that consistent dosing is the key to keeping stable levels. I use an auto dosing pump for calcium, alkalinity, magnesium and strontium. I dose reef vitamin, zoo and phytoplankton by hand. I plan on adding another pump in the future.
Feeding See more
Eels Silversides · Brine Shrmp · Eel Silversides · Brine Shrimp · Dried Nori · San Francisco Bay Frozen Mysis Shrimp · San Francisco Frozen Brine Shrimp · San Francisco Frozen Mysis Shrimp · San Francisco Freeze Dried Plankton · Seachem Garlic Guard · Seachem Zoo Plankton · San Francisco Bay Frozen Krill · Two Little Fishies MarineSnow · Tang Heaven From Sump · Kent Marine MicroVert · San Francisco Bay Frozen Marine Cuisine · BRS Reef Chili · LRS Herbivore Frenzy · Nori Seaweed · LRS Reef Herbivore Frenzy · Live Phytoplankton · ZEOfood7 · zeovit Coral Vitalizer · Snowflake Eel · ZEOvit ZEOfood 7 · Seachem Microvert · Pohl's Coral Vitalizer
I feed zooplankton, phytoplankton, marine snow, nori, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, krill and silversides. I like to mix up what i feed during the week.
Maintenance
My maintenance will be conducted on a daily, weekly and monthly basis depending on the needs of the tank. Daily glass and skimmer cup cleaning. Weekly or by weekly water changes depending on bio load and monthly equipment cleaning. I will be conducting water test weekly as i did before.
On average you perform a 14.3% water change every 8 days.
0% total water change in August.
Diary Entries View all Diary Entries
With all the cutting of the reef I need to now adjust my alk/cal daily dosing. I had a small alk spike over the last couple days.
Time Cal/ml Alk/ml
0100, 10 10
020…
Time Cal/ml Alk/ml
0100, 10 10
020…
Just did my first water change with the HW Marinemix salt. I tested a fresh batch at 1.025 and got 9 dkh, 410 cal and 1230 mag. So glad i made the switch already, im done getting 2k ppm of mag in reef…
Lost one of my three cleaner shrimp yesterday, tanked had a bacteria bloom. Changing filter socks twice a day and cleaning skimmer cup every day. Will do a 20% water change tomorrow morning. All coral…
Mag was a little low dosed 1000ml and will dose the other 1000ml tomorrow.
Inspiration & Goals
My overall goal for this tank is to build a sps dominant tank with only a handful of fish. I want to provide high quality and stable water conditions to promote rapid coral growth.
Words of Wisdom
The more you know the more you grow. Put the time and research into what it really takes to be successful and get facts from multiple sources. You can't possibly know everything but it doesn't hurt to try.
Disasters & Regrets
Not doing saltwater 10 years ago because I thought it was to hard.
