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.
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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
Blue Spined Unicorn Tang
sp sp
Yellow Tail Black Chromis
sp sp
83 Corals
Blue Tip Staghorn Acropora
sp sp
Blue eyed Long Hair Red Headed Girl Zoo
sp sp
Forest Fire Montipora Digitata
sp sp
Jason Fox Appleberry Acropora
sp sp
ORA Script Staghorn Acropora
sp sp
Purple Sponge
sp sp
Starry Night Rhodactis Mushroom
sp sp
195 Invertebrate
Amphipods
Red Emerald Crab
sp sp
Res leg hermit crab
sp sp
17 Plants
Ulva Lettuce Algae
sp sp
Equipment
Additive
Aquarium
Controller
Dosing
1/4 in polyurethane tube
Food
Heater
250 Watt Heater
300 Watt Heater
Lighting
Media
Medication
Powerhead
Pump
Reactor
Refractometer
RODI
RODIMedia
Salt
Stand
Custom Stand 36" Tall
TestKit
Other
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 September.
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.
