Evan's 120
Printed From: Utah Reefs
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Forum Name: Tank Threads
Forum Description: A place to show off your tank build.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=81189
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Topic: Evan's 120
Posted By: evan127
Subject: Evan's 120
Date Posted: October 27 2016 at 9:27pm
October 2017
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Replies:
Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: November 14 2016 at 6:18pm
| Things are already encrusting and growing pretty well. Water chemistry has been rock solid. I have no complaints about anything. |
Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: November 16 2016 at 3:45pm
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Things are going pretty well so far. I have a bit of a bacteria bloom right now. This is my view from my spot on the couch. 
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Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: December 30 2016 at 8:31pm
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December Update Settling in: The rocks have colored up nicely. I am seeing coralline algae popping up literally everywhere. The eggcrate I put down as the protective base for my rocks is getting very purple. Lighting: I tweaked the bulb combination and duration. I am running four Blue Plus bulbs and two Coral Plus bulbs now. Getting great color and growth with that combination. Chemistry: I took the refugium offline as it was absorbing nitrates too quickly. I am nitrate dosing with potassium nitrate. Last test result was about 3ppm. My goal is 15ppm. After I hit 15ppm, I will test daily to see what the daily consumption will be. Feeding: I am feeding a ton too. Lots of Reef Frenzy, Reef Chili, Pohl's Coral Vitalizer, Marine Snow and of course flakes. Mornings are flakes, evenings are Reef Frenzy and Reef Chili, nights alternate PCV and Marine Snow. Fish: All of the fish are doing great. One of my clownfish has disappeared without a trace. Not in the sump, rock work, overflows, etc. I think it jumped and a certain fuzzy four legged 11 pound hunter got to it. A single chromis has been outcast. It hangs out in my bunch of montipora digitata. At first I thought it was going to strip some tissue off the coral in preparation for laying eggs. That's not the case. It's just been rejected from the school. Coral: All of my corals are doing great. I have two that are taking a lot longer to acclimate to the light or the change in spectrum. My blue milli is bleaching and my acropora caroliniana is browning. Other than those two, everything else is doing spectacular. I added some ORA frags that are so bright! Great Christmas present :) 
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Posted By: bstuver
Date Posted: December 31 2016 at 12:35pm
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Awesome update! ------------- Jackie Stuver "wait these aren't the happy Hawaiians oompa doompa godly heaven on your face zoas? I dont want them then. lol!" Ksmart |
Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: December 31 2016 at 9:38pm
| Thanks Jackie! Happy New Year! |
Posted By: phys
Date Posted: January 01 2017 at 3:36am
| Cool! The chromis look nice in there with all the space. |
Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: January 01 2017 at 10:42am
| Thanks! I think they love all the swimming space. They'll still have room when all the corals start to fill in too |
Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: January 19 2017 at 8:38pm
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I thought I would make a small update. Lighting: I have decided that I need to reduce my photoperiod a bit. Lights are on from 12:00 to 19:00, full spectrum on from 13:00 to 18:00. I was seeing some corals brown and some bleach a tad. I think it was just too much light for too long, even with my high nutrients. Nutrients: Things are tough when you don't have a ton of fish in your system. :closedeyes: With such a low bioload, I am pouring in gallons of potassium nitrate. No, not really gallons, but upwards of 25ml per day erherm... Phosphorus is literally not showing up on each test result. I guess it might be time to look into phosphate dosing. Flow: To be honest, either its user error or I made a bad choice based on technical information, I don't care for the Gyre by itself. Thus why I am looking to trade it away. For whatever reason, in my system, the flow is just not great. I have tried positioning it high, low, to the left a bit, angle the cages up, down, left, right, tilted opposite, everything. I can not get a gyre to circulate in my tank well. Even with my shallow aquascape. Filtration: I am trying to keep a dirty tank. Its more difficult than I thought. I have always had issues with keeping my inevitable ULNS in the past. One of my new years goals regarding reef keeping was to keep a nutrient rich system. Besides dumping in buckets of potassium nitrate every day and feeding fish 3 to 4 times a day and corals once a day, I am struggling to keep nutrients high. Which brings me to my next point. Fish: What anthias should I add? I am thinking of adding 2 groups of anthias. One group of 2 females, one male of lyretail. The second group would be maybe 4 female and 1 male of bartlett's. I have thought about adding 8 to 9 more blue green chromis. But that seems kind of boring. |
Posted By: kevin.st
Date Posted: January 20 2017 at 8:29am
| ^^Lyretails and carberrys. I have a school of 5 in my tank and they have quickly become my favorite. Bartletts have a bad reputation and I think justifiably so. |
Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: January 20 2017 at 9:00am
| I'm leaning towards just they lyretails right now. Why do you think the bartletts have a bad reputation? |
Posted By: WaitForIt...
Date Posted: January 20 2017 at 9:10am
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i have lyretails, dispar and sunset anthias. The sunset are my favorite and i love how they keep to the top of the water column. Hopefully in the near future, i want to add a few sunburst to the mix. They all get along great! I too have a hard time with running higher nutrients in my tank. I've started thinking about dosing potassium nitrate. There's a lot of differing information on dosing to keep the tank dirty. I'd like to dirty the water by feeding more, but that's easier said than done for my situation. ------------- It is possible that longing for something is actually better than having it. Satisfaction is the death of desire. |
Posted By: kevin.st
Date Posted: January 20 2017 at 9:37am
| Bartletts can be little jerks. |
Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: January 20 2017 at 9:48am
I've had the sunsets and dispars on my list too. Nutrients are difficult in my reef. Potassium nitrate helps a ton. I am looking into dosing potassium chloride to elevate phosphorus. Feeding alone couldn't, and hasn't in the past, keep my nutrients at a level I want. |
WaitForIt... wrote:Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: January 20 2017 at 9:48am
Little jerks. I don't want jerks in my reef! |
Posted By: bur01014
Date Posted: January 20 2017 at 1:30pm
Keep up with the nitrate testing when dosing potassium nitrate. I would maybe even suggest using a lab grade sodium nitrate instead, to take the need out of testing for potassium, but you're probably fine. Eventually, your tank will stop being able to consume so much and you will find a maintenance dose. Further, you will find that the maintenance dose will not be needed no longer either as you feed consistently. It can be hard to get a nutrient rich tank, as inevitably as you dose nitrate, your phosphate will drop...make sure you have a little of both :) and be careful not to over dose nitrate all in one setting as I did and my phosphate dropped so quickly it produced the same effect as running to much GFO... Regardless, of whether you have many fish or not, you can always just "feed" the tank a lot. Fish food breaks down into the same forms of nutrients eventually, regardless of whether it has been consumed by a fish or not. I know it may seem difficult throwing food in a tank with no fish to consume, so I have used liquid foods like oyster feast, etc. so my mentality doesn't suffer too much. |
Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: January 20 2017 at 3:47pm
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Thanks for the response. I need to make another batch of potassium nitrate and this time I will make it more potent so I'm not putting in a ton of fresh water each dose. Instead of 2 cups or RODI water per tablespoon of potassium nitrate, I might halve the RODI. As far as potassium, that's something I am also trying to dose. But even with the amount of KNO3 I am dosing, K hasn't increased noticeably whatsoever. That is an excellent point about KNO3 driving down PO4. I've supplemented my fish foods to compensate for that already. I've been adding lots of pellet food (which none of my fish like). So there is a nutrient rich breakdown there. I also feed phytoplankton, Pohls Coral Vitalizer, Reef Chili, and soon Acropower at night when the lights are off. I alternate each night with a different food for the corals. Someone asked me privately what I use to test my water chemistry. I have used the Red Sea Pro kits for many years. Its very cost effective and each refill of the reagents are spot on, batch to batch. I use the Red Sea kit for alkalinity, calcium, magnesium, nitrate, potassium, iron, and iodine. I rarely test for iron or iodine. For phosphate I use a Hanna checker, which I have been happy with. |
Posted By: bur01014
Date Posted: January 20 2017 at 4:02pm
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do you mind sharing where you are getting your source of potassium nitrate? I know some use brightwell, flourish nitrogen, and stump remover - just curious what specific product you are having success with. |
Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: January 20 2017 at 7:23pm
| I am using good ole Spectracide. I called the company 3 times and talked to 3 different people who all said it was 100% pure potassium nitrate. I was super nervous starting to dose dissolved tree stump remover in September. |
Posted By: tileman
Date Posted: January 20 2017 at 7:57pm
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I guess I'm out of the loop. I spend all of my time reducing nitrates and you are adding nitrates. What have I missed? ------------- 335G Reef TOTM. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2015/2/aquarium ReefKeepers TOTM Feb. 2012 http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index....k-of-the-month & |
Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: January 20 2017 at 8:30pm
| I don't have enough nutrients in my system that are allowing my SPS to grow and thrive. Without a steady and constant food source in the water column, the corals can't thrive for long solely relying on photosynthesis. My corals would slowly starve due to lack of nitrogen and phosphorus, which is abosuletly needed in the process of photosynthesis. All my coral are under very intense T5s and with ultra clean water the light would fry the zooxanthellae. So, with the addition of nitrogen the coral would have a steady food source which help with colors and allow a lot of the light to be diffused naturally in the water column. Even on top of feeding various coral foods and fish foods, my nutrients (NO3 and PO4) are very low. Instead of adding a supplement program like Zeovit, Aquaforest, etc to make up for those lacking nutrients or adding loads of fish (which I will be adding more slowly), it seemed like dosing nitrogen was the logical route to go with. |
Posted By: Bryce
Date Posted: January 20 2017 at 10:24pm
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In my opinion you need 3 times the rock you have in there, your chromis are going to slowly kill each other, your sps corals are not starving, where is Mark Peterson or Adam Blundel when you need them? Im with Tileman on this one. ------------- 65g Reef |
Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: January 21 2017 at 3:14pm
| What would more rock do as far as nutrients are concerned, or are you suggesting I need more live rock for my chromis? Why would the chromis kill each other in my current aquascape? If my SPS aren't starving, why would they be paling? |
Posted By: Bryce
Date Posted: January 21 2017 at 4:38pm
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Hi Evan, I'm not on the forum much and I didnt mean to hijack your thread or speak in such absolutes or without any explanation. Each tank is different and can be successful run many different ways. Based on only looking on your pictures it looks like you have very little rock for 120 gal tank and no sand (I could be wrong and you may have sand) but if you don't that little amount of rock is going to struggle to keep your tanks cycle balanced (only my opinion). The Chromis in my experience just end up killing each other until their is 2 or 3 tops and it can take a year plus for it to happen. It looks like your tank is only a few months old and again in my opinion and experience (and yes its just that, nothing more) your going to struggle to keep sps colored up in a tank so young and in so little time. It looks like you put some larger frags /colonies in there which can easily lose color if not in a mature self balanced and stable tank and if they havent laid down a base. My tank is 5 years old and new frags of sps usually loose a lot of color until 4 to 8 months pass and they lay a base down and then finally start to regrow upward and new branches. To me assuming your corals are starving isnt correct. If you feed your fish and your fish poo and with all the other stuff u mentioned your dosing its more the fact that the sps are in a "lay down base" or new environment shock mode. Also IMO and experience if your truly ultra low nutrient your gonna want your alk a little lower at 6-8 dkh with 7 the sweat spot. Again these are all just my opinion and I wish you the best with your tank, it looks really nice. ------------- 65g Reef |
Posted By: badfinger
Date Posted: January 21 2017 at 4:41pm
| Your light may be too close. I had that problem with my ATI light (not sure if yours are dimmable). Mine is believe is 12-14" off the water Ling and I still have SPS growing on my sand bed and coloring |
Posted By: LakeCityReefs
Date Posted: January 21 2017 at 5:34pm
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How old is the tank Evan? How many pounds of rock are you using? I agree with your comments regarding the spectracide dosing and adding more fish to dirty up the water. Keep those nitrates between 5 & 10. You are also spot on with trying to adjust your photo period and intensity. It's a balance of light, nutrients, and Alk (along with the other required stable water parameters),IMO your heading down the right path. I've been dosing Flourish for nitrates for about 6 months now and my colors have improved greatly. I have never added phosphates by dosing. Keep us posted. ------------- Here we go again |
Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: January 21 2017 at 6:08pm
No worries. Thanks for clarifying, I appreciate it. I have a MarinePure block and two other large chuncks of live rock in my sump. I'm not worried about bacteria populations with that MarinePure block. My reef is young, thus why I am feeding a lot (nitrogen, coral food, fish food), keeping the water clear and doing regular water changes. So far so good :) |
Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: January 21 2017 at 6:13pm
I have no idea about the amount of rock per pound. I just put in what I had from my old 48 reef and new rock from BRS. With the MarinePure block I shouldn't have to worry too much about surface area. High nitrogen levels seems to be working great. I altered the order my bulbs are in and that seems to have helped the bleaching a little bit. |
Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: January 21 2017 at 6:14pm
Not dimmable. My SPS is about 24" under the light |
Posted By: phys
Date Posted: January 21 2017 at 11:14pm
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Careful with those phosphates... anything above 1, I start seeing my acros suffer. When they're above 2, I usually start seeing fish get sick. Have you tried things like seachem fuel or brightwell supplements instead of throwing in the n03 stuffs? Be sure you're not accumulating too much detritus around in the sump, if you do, you may eventually start seeing negatives like your phosphate and nitrates go tooooo high. You're light is probably fine but what bulbs are you running in it? Tileman, don't change a thing!!!!!! lol
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Posted By: bur01014
Date Posted: January 21 2017 at 11:23pm
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Sanjay Joshi just revealed he runs a phosphate level of .4 and nitrate of 50ppm+....some of the best colored sps I've ever seen. He mentions it here - its a decent watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHffyLs0cFo" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHffyLs0cFo Many of the "leading" reefers are choosing to no longer chase low nutrients, or even test for that matter. I am testing this approach out, cautiously. |
Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: January 22 2017 at 10:05am
Anything about 0.10ppm or 0.01ppm? I have used Seachem Fuel before. I am adding amino acids and trace elements in other ways. What is too high, regarding nitrates and phosphates in your opinion? |
Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: January 22 2017 at 10:05am
I watched that video like 5 times haha |
Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: January 25 2017 at 7:19pm
New baby :) 
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Posted By: shaggydoo
Date Posted: January 26 2017 at 11:19am
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Cute new guy. How is he doing? ------------- 60g LPS Cube |
Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: January 26 2017 at 12:13pm
Doing well! Already eating everything I'm putting in the tank. Except free floating nori for whatever reason. Already grazing though. She's so small and the flow in my tank wears her out so she has to take swimming breaks every so often. 
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Posted By: theresawhite
Date Posted: January 26 2017 at 12:57pm
| How cute! |
Posted By: Hogie
Date Posted: January 26 2017 at 12:59pm
| Sweet! Keep in mind, when they're that small, they need to be fed several times a day. |
Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: January 26 2017 at 1:00pm
Right?? Super cute! |
Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: January 26 2017 at 1:01pm
Between the algae from my skimmer overflow and the 4 to 5 feedings per day she should be full grown by the end of the month ;) |
Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: March 08 2017 at 8:12pm
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I thought I'd make a small update. Things are going alright. I've learned a lot from some experimental mistakes in the last few months. My new philosophy is this: 1. Stop chasing numbers 2. Feed a lot. Coral and fish food. Maybe more than is needed 3. Skim only 12 hours a day 4. Change filter socks only when they overflow (I am only keeping them to prevent micro bubbles. Otherwise, they'd be out of the sump totally) 5. Don't test for nitrogen or phosphorus. Period. Unless **** hits the fan, don't test for it. 6. Stop water changes completely. |
Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: March 10 2017 at 10:29am
| I need to get pictures of my little blue tang today. I think she has easily doubled in size since I got her. She eats so much food. She struggles with figuring out any sort of veggie clip or nori tied to a rock. I'm really trying to break her of that habit as she only eats free floating algae right now. |
Posted By: Hogie
Date Posted: March 10 2017 at 1:09pm
| Why stop water changes completely? |
Posted By: Zack801
Date Posted: March 10 2017 at 1:16pm
| Are you going to put your skimmer on a timer? Maybe something I'll try with my newer tank |
Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: March 10 2017 at 3:36pm
I don't really see a huge benefit. I might just reduce it to just 5 gallons per week |
Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: March 10 2017 at 3:36pm
Yes. My skimmer is only running at night now for 12 hours |
Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: March 10 2017 at 4:25pm
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Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: October 20 2017 at 8:44am
| 2.0 is underway. Coming soon! |
Posted By: shaggydoo
Date Posted: October 20 2017 at 9:15am
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What is the new plan? ------------- 60g LPS Cube |
Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: October 20 2017 at 1:58pm
Its super top secret classified 
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Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: October 28 2017 at 11:54am
 Pink Milli  Reef Raft Orange Passion |
Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: October 28 2017 at 11:58am
| I have finally found the sweet spot for alkalinity over the past 3 months. 7 to 7.5 is great for my reef. |
Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: October 28 2017 at 12:16pm
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Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: October 29 2017 at 12:44pm
I like the long sides the best. I've created a lot of little valleys and nooks for fish to hide in.
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Posted By: evan127
Date Posted: November 02 2017 at 10:35am
| The reef is a year old! |