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 Hippo Tang
Blue Spined Unicorn Tang
sp sp
Yellow Tail Black Chromis
sp sp
83 Corals
Blue eyed Long Hair Red Headed Girl Zoo
sp sp
Jason Fox Appleberry Acropora
sp sp
Purple Sponge
sp sp
Starry Night Rhodactis Mushroom
sp sp
195 Invertebrate
Amphipods
Astrea Snail
Res leg hermit crab
sp sp
Starfish
sp sp
17 Plants
Equipment
Additive
Bulk Reef Supply Calcium Chloride
Bulk Reef Supply Magnesium Chloride
Bulk Reef Supply Soda Ash
Kent MicroVert
Kent Strontium and Molybdenum
Kent Tech I
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
Red Sea Color Program A Halogens
Red Sea Color Program B Potassium & Boron
Red Sea Color Program C Fe & 7 Complementary Metals
Red Sea Color Program D 18 Bioactive Trace Elements
Aquarium
125 Gallon Tank
AutoTopOff
5 gallon auto top off bucket
Bulb
2
Coralife 39 watt 10k T5 bulb
2
Coralife 39 watt Actinic T5 bulb
Controller
2
Apex Salinity Calibration Fluid 53000
Jebao to Apex VSP Adapter
Lunar Simulator 3-String LED
Neptune Apex I/O Breakout Box
Neptune Apex Power Bar 8
Neptune Apex Salinity Probe
Dosing
1/4 in polyurethane tube
Food
Brine Shrimp
Bulk Reef Supply Reef Chili
Larry's Reef Services Herbivore Frenzy
Seachem Garlic Guard
Silversides fish
Two little Fishies Marine Snow
Heater
Lighting
2
100 Watt LED Refugium Light
3
Aqua Mars LED
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
Bulk Reef Supply Bulk Premium ROX 0.8 Aquarium Carbon
Bulk Reef Supply Granular Ferric Oxide
NPX Bioplastics Bio Pellet Plastic Media Beads Two Little Fishies
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
Powerhead
2nd WP40
2
Jebao PP-8
2
Jebao RW-8///PP8
Jebao WP40
Pump
Jebao DC-6000
Jebao/Jecod DCS-12000 Return
2
Maxi-Jet 1200 (Reactors)
Reactor
Custom BipPellet
Two Little Fishies Reactor 550 (BioPellet Mod)
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
Bubble Magus Curve 7 Protein Skimmer
Stand
Custom Stand 36" Tall
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
Check valve
Custom Breakout Box
Custom Canopy
D-Link DCS-932L Sump Camera
Frag Rack 40 Plug
Frag plugs
Instant Ocean Holdfast Epoxy
5
King Domes
Mag Rock
Mangrove Holder
Measuring Cup Set
Neptune Apex Custom Breakout Box
2
Neptune Apex VDM Module
Ocean Direct Caribbean Live Sand 20lbs
PVC Pipe 3/4
14
Pvc 90 degree elbows 3/4 in
Sea Side Aquatics Probe Holder
Two Little Fishies Julians Thing
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 June.
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.
