DKoKoMan's 150g Reef Tank

[Myka]

I like Tuxedo urchins, but if you don't glue down frags they will carry them around and usually drop them behind rocks (of course).

My fav CUC are:

Tiger Cukes
Black brittle seastars (other types may catch sm fish)
Scarlet Hermits
Ring cowries
Trochus snails
Tuxedo urchin
Cerith snails
Strawberry/fighting/orange lip conchs

I have all of these in my tank.

I like the new Anthias! Looks healthy. How many did you buy?

Btw, the anemone hosts the Clownfish, not the other way around.

[tang daddy]

Looks good man, this set up came together quickly!

[DKoKoMan]

Originally Posted by tang daddy

Looks good man, this set up came together quickly!

Thanks! No where near your tank lol. But I look at some of the mature systems and hope mine gets there at some point.

[amberc12]

Lookin awesome! I love lyretails!! Hooray your clown has a buddy! I think I am going to have to get rid of my clarki in the other tank, she is evil!!! Yes Mindy I'm talking about Debbie (tho I call her satan) Can't wait to see more pics!!

[DKoKoMan]

Thanks Amber! Ya I am so happy I was able to replace the mate and that my female accepted the onyx. I was worried because she is so big and has had her previous mate for 3 years. All seems to be well. I will definitely take more photographs as things progress.

[DKoKoMan]

I finally got a hold of a blue Maxima Clam and took the plunge buying it. It has only been in the tank for less then a week. This is the best photo I could take of it at the moment.

[DKoKoMan]

Ok so yesterday I did water tests for Alk / Cal / Mag / PO4. I had received my new Hanna Alk and PO4 checkers. I also received a Salifert Calcium test kit. The following results came back:

ALK: 12dKH (Hanna)
CAL: 500ppm (Salifert)
MAG: 1350ppm (Red Sea)
PO4: 0.16ppm (Hanna)

I had been previously using the Red Sea Reef Test kits which indicated the following:

ALK: 11.5dKH
CAL: 460ppm
MAG: 1380ppm

PO4: 0.25ppm (API)

My doser is set to deliver 15ml - ALK (twice a day), 15ml - CAL (twice a day) a total of 30ml each. I have a bunch of frags, LPS, clam etc. So I didn't think I was dosing too much. I have since reduced my dosing to a total of 10ml of both ALK and CAL delivered twice. Hopefully the levels drop a bit as this is way higher the. I expected.

My ideal parameters are:

ALK: 8.5-9dKH
CAL: 420-450ppm
MAG: 1350ppm

PO4: 0.03ppm or slightly higher.

I am currently using IO - Reef Crystals and have been at the beginning of my 75g. Is it unrealistic to get the ALK / CAL levels down with this salt? Any recommendations on moving forward. I feel like these new parameters are pushing the high end of the limits, although my sps haven't had any STN or RTN. I don't want to have large fluctuations in water parameters.

I currently do biweekly water changes (30g which is about 25%). Even without dosing anything I think the RC will push me outside my desired parameters. Looking forward to some responses from the seasoned reefers here on Canreef.

Thanks!

[DKoKoMan]

Originally Posted by Myka

I like Tuxedo urchins, but if you don't glue down frags they will carry them around and usually drop them behind rocks (of course).

My fav CUC are:

Tiger Cukes
Black brittle seastars (other types may catch sm fish)
Scarlet Hermits
Ring cowries
Trochus snails
Tuxedo urchin
Cerith snails
Strawberry/fighting/orange lip conchs

I have all of these in my tank.

I like the new Anthias! Looks healthy. How many did you buy?

Btw, the anemone hosts the Clownfish, not the other way around.

Thanks for sharing Myka. I love the look of the tuxedo urchin but it is definitely a concern to me to have frags knocked over. Unfortunately I only have small frags at the moment and I finally have them secured with epoxy. I still find the odd one knocked off (large fish) or maybe my powder blue does it to annoy me .

I have the rear glass filmed black (my previous 75g was transparent) so it makes it much harder to find the frags lol. If I start with a smaller truce do do you think it will be a wrecking ball? Or am I just going to run the risk of corals here and there being knocked over. As for the rest of your list o am using much the same minus the tigers.

I ended up just getting a single Anthias as I wasn't sure how it would fair in my system. So far so good with her, she seems happy and eating like crazy. Not too sure about my leopard wrasse as she has been AWOL for 3 days now... your right! My anemone is hosting my clowns however I am just happy that my big female accepted the tiny onyx.