<p>I'm very happy to be part of this forum. I had mentioned in my welcome thread that I was an avid saltwater and freshwater aquarist. I thought I would share a bit about my 90 gallon reef tank as I'm getting my feet wet in the world of CP</p><p>*</p><p>I started in the hobby not long ago back in 2007 with a betta bowl. *Having never been interested in fish before, but being an avid forum junkie for other hobbies, I discovered there were teeming online communities of aquarists which ultimately introduced me to planted tanks. *Always wanting a reef tank, but being too intimidated at the cost and the science of it, I tried my hand for years at low tech planted tanks, with moderate success. * *Eventually I purchased a 55 gallon FOWLR tank in summer 2012*from a wife's photography client for very cheap which got my foot in the door</p><p>*</p><p>I had done much reading on the subject of reef keeping and thought I was in good shape to get my tank going, but I learned more in the first week of mistakes than I had in the previous year of reading. I started like most reefers wanting a softy tank with lots of movement but it didn't take long before I started hording reef gear, obsessively researching chemistry and marine biology, and basically just living reef tanks. *</p><p>What i ended up with after about 2 years was a wonderful learning experience tank. It was filled with both pests and some very nice stuff. *I did ultimately get fairly overrun with halimeda macro algae, valonia*bubble algae, as well as aiptasia. * Alongside the garbage though I had what most would call a pretty respectable collection of very nice acropora, the largest of which were about volleyball sized. *The FOWLR had turned into a apex controlled, carbon dosed, sps dominant reef I was largely happy with. *Due to the narrow front to back nature of a 55 gallon, I lost all room to work or even run the mag float because acropora were touching all 4 panes of glass. *It was time for an upgrade. **</p><p><a rel="external nofollow" href="http://s1374.photobucket.com/user/Rshackelford1215/media/imagejpg1_zps2fef5ad9.jpg.html"><img class="ipsImage" alt="imagejpg1_zps2fef5ad9.jpg" src="http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/ag426/Rshackelford1215/imagejpg1_zps2fef5ad9.jpg"></a></p><p>this was the tank in its final state in April 2014 immediately before tear down. *Knowing how sensitive acropora are, and with an impending upgrade, I fragged and sold off all hard corals prior to switching over to my current tank.*</p><p>*</p><p>This brings us to my current tank. *I wish I had gone with a 120 gallon for even more front to back space, and no equipment upgrade needs, but space in the home is limited and my current tank pushes it as it is so I settled on a 90 gallon. *Keeping a mixed reef is truly a challenge. Most new hobbyists want a mixed reef because they like to have it all, but I would honestly not recommend it. *There are far too many varying requirements for different coral species to flourish and achieve best color, it's easier to specialize in certain types. *I'm hard headed though and have carried on with the mixed reef, but focus is heavy on the sps. **</p><p>*</p><p>Tank profile:</p><p>Tank: 90 gallon standard Aqueon Reef Ready*</p><p>Sump: PM RS 36 gallon acrylic</p><p>Lighting: 2x250 watt Radium metal halide with m80 ballasts. *Lumenmax 2 reflectors</p><p>additional lighting: *BuildmyLED super actinic reef spectrum*</p><p>Skimmer: Bubble Magus Curve 5</p><p>Return Pump: Eheim 1262</p><p>Flow: Jaebo WP40, Ecotech Vortech MP40W</p><p>Auto topoff: JBJ ATO</p><p>Apex controller</p><p>Eheim Jäger 300 watt heater</p><p>Spectrapure RODI filter</p><p>Water Parameters:</p><p>The big three things I try to not ignore are water parameters, light, and flow. RODI is a must. *I know several people who do well with filtered water from the store, or even tap water, but I find it pivotal to have control of the water and know exactly what goes into the tank. It just makes it easier to nail down natural seawater parameters and diagnose problems if they arise. * My tests stay fairly stable and at the time of writing this,are the*following :</p><p>Salinity: 1.026 (Veegee Refractometer)</p><p>Alk: 8.4 dKH (Red Sea pro)</p><p>Ca: 450 ppm (Red Sea pro)</p><p>Mg: 1450 ppm (Red Sea pro)</p><p>NO3: undetectable (Red Sea Pro)</p><p>PO4: 0.03ppm (Hanna)</p><p>Temp: 78-80 (apex)</p><p>PH: 7.9-8.3 (apex)</p><p>Alk stability has been my top priority for acropora happiness. Any time I find it fluctuating or getting above 9 dKH, bad things tend to happen. *That doesn't necessarily follow what should happen on paper, but it has been my observation for the past few years*</p><p>*</p><p>Husbandry:</p><p>I keep this tank fairly simple without a lot of complex filtration and reactors currently. * I use the center chamber of the sump to harbor lots of invertebrates and macro algae, and have rock in all 3 chambers as well as a rock heavy scape. *I do have some red turf algae in the display but otherwise no real nuisance algae to speak of and my inorganic waste stays at a respectable level. **</p><p>I try to test regularly and water change 5-10% weekly. **</p><p>Feedings are are usually fairly heavy handed and consist of Red Sea Reef Energy part A & B, Reef Chili,*Cyclopeeze, PE mysis, and NLS pellets.*</p><p>Lighting: **</p><p>What a hotly debated topic. *People swearing LEDs don't work. People swearing MH is obsolete and should have been phased out yesterday, T5HO users quietly saying "excuse me while I change my bulbs every 5 minutes but have better color and growth than either of you." * I think all forms of light can work if other matters of husbandry are in order. *I chose to go with MH primarily,*as the Radium bulb on m80 ballasts in large reflectors is just flat out the gold standard. * No matter what, if you're having tank problems, and use this particular lighting setup, you can guarantee the problem ISNT the lights. *The track record goes on for over a decade of spectacular and unparalleled growth and color, I wanted that level of security, even if it is expensive. * I use the buildmyled primarily as a dawn dusk effect. *</p><p>Flow:</p><p>i could probably stand to go a bit heavier on flow, but I am mostly happy with where I am at. *My powerheads are whisper quiet and they do well. *My only complaint is the jaebo tends to get dirty and if not cleaned well every couple months, it all but loses flow entirely. * I run the jaebo on low with a 1" standing wave, and the vortech on about 30% peak power reef crest mode. *</p><p>Dosing:</p><p>i maintain calcium and alkalinity through bulk reef supply dosers and chemicals. *I also have an avast marine kalkwasser reactor I can and will use when necessary, but I am not quite at the point to where my 2 part dosing would equal fully saturated Kalk dosing. *Almost there. * I wish I had just set up a calcium reactor from the start, but I won't change such a major aspect of the tank this far into it, so I will keep that in mind for future builds. *</p><p>Fish:</p><p>Clarkii Clownfish</p><p>Pajama cardinal</p><p>Azure Damsel</p><p>Ora Target Mandarin</p><p>Royal Gramma Basslet</p><p>Tomini Tang</p><p>Foxface Rabbitfish</p><p>*</p><p>Inverts:*</p><p>Tuxedo urchin*</p><p>Peppermint shrimp</p><p>Emerald crab</p><p>Nerite snails</p><p>Nassarius snails</p><p>Stomatella snails*</p><p>Collinista snails</p><p>Cerith Snails</p><p>Mini brittle stars</p><p>Bristleworms</p><p>Asterina stars</p><p>Misc pods, sponges, feather dusters, ect. * *</p><p>*</p><p>Here are some progression shots through the tanks setup. *I'll provide detail pics in future posts but update the full tank shots every 6 months to track overall growth. *</p><p>6/16/2014</p><p><a rel="external nofollow" href="http://s1374.photobucket.com/user/Rshackelford1215/media/imagejpg1_zpsa99b1712.jpg.html"><img class="ipsImage" alt="imagejpg1_zpsa99b1712.jpg" src="http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/ag426/Rshackelford1215/imagejpg1_zpsa99b1712.jpg"></a></p><p>1/1/2015 - lights changed briefly to XM10k bulbs</p><p><a rel="external nofollow" href="http://s1374.photobucket.com/user/Rshackelford1215/media/Jan%201%202015/imagejpg42_zps86d008f6.jpg.html"><img class="ipsImage" alt="imagejpg42_zps86d008f6.jpg" src="http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/ag426/Rshackelford1215/Jan%201%202015/imagejpg42_zps86d008f6.jpg"></a></p><p>6/17/2015 - 1 year old mark</p><p><a href="http://s1374.photobucket.com/user/Rshackelford1215/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpshl7g6g8k.jpg.html" rel="external nofollow"><img class="ipsImage" alt="image_zpshl7g6g8k.jpg" src="http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/ag426/Rshackelford1215/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpshl7g6g8k.jpg"></a></p><p>next updated FTS will come in a few weeks just to stay with the whole 6 month chronology. *I'll browse my other build threads and photobucket and add some of my better pics over the year</p>
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If I could do it all over again, I would remove the sand from the bottom of my tank, and put a 3-inch or so layer in the sump. I just dont think my biological filtration was enough to sustain the number of fish I was trying to keep alongside the corals (which were far too many for an SPS reef). Too bad. My most favorite coral by far is Acropora 'Red Planet' ... sigh...
