120g Reef (in the making)

[Jon91zX]

Here is my tank / specifications so far.

120 Gallon 4'x2'x2' 1/2" thick acrylic tank with 4x return lines and built in overflow
Matching Stained/finsihed oak stand/canopy
20G Rubbermaid sump
2x 17 HF 1080 GPH RIO return pumps
EV-120 Skimmer run by RIO 2100
2x 250W MH 10,000K Ushio, 2x 110 W VHO Super Actinic Retrofit
2x 4" cooling fans

120 Lbs Aragonite Sand - 80lbs of it is live
170 Lbs Premium Fiji LR

RO/DI 75 GPD Purely H20 Optima Vision
SG- 1.025
pH- 8.3
Alk- Broken Test Kit
NH4- 0ppm
NO2- 0ppm
NO3- 20ppm
Calcium- 450ppm

Here are the pics as promised

 

[Jon91zX]

added 3 chalk basslets, a blue tang, a cleaner shrimp, a branching hammer coral, and pretty large colony of zoos yesterday... all seem fine and the fish ate well today. at first they all hid in the live rock and couldnt be seen at all, today all 3 chalk basslets were out playing and the blue tang popped out once in a while. ill post some pics tommorow.

heres my parameters:
dKH- 9.0
SG- 1.025-1.026
Temp- 73-75F
Ammonia- 0ppm
Nitrite- 0ppm
Nitrate- 10-20ppm
pH- 8.2
Phosphate- .1ppm *i used a phosphate removal media recently so i think this reading might be incorrect*
Ca- 425 ppm

*edit* On the 27th im going to buy 2 oscellaris clowns, 3 more chalk basslets, more corals, and some more inverts.

 

[Jon91zX]

Blue Tang, 3 Chalk Basslets, Branching Hammer Coral, Brown/Pink Zoos, Cleaner Shrimp added 12/22.
2 True Percula Clownfish, 1 LTA, 1 Arrow Crab added 12/27.

Everything is doing well and eating a lot. Anemone is still looking for a spot and hasnt planted his foot yet but he is not shriveled and seems to be doing fine other than roaming around. The perculas are hosting in the LTA and the hammer coral and one of the perculas does something very odd, he sucks on the tentacles of the LTA. It is wierd it looks like a baby sucking on a bottle, I'm not sure if this is normal at all but the anemone doesn't seem to care.

Here's the pics:

Finding Nemo 8)

Tank Shot

 

[mr_X]

looks nice. how old is the tank now?

 

[trido]

Looks real nice.

Food for thought. When I first started my reef I set my temp at 76F. A few people suggested I try to use 78 as a target temp. My temp now runs from 78-81 depending on the season. Some reefers runs their tanks at near 82-83 all year. I have never heard of anyone running long term at 73 though. They actually cant grow at less than 68F. Corals metabolized quicker a higher temps meaning better growth. The downside is that parasites also reproduce more quickly at those temps.

 

[Jon91zX]

thanks for the info!

the tank is now running around 76ish for the most part... gets up to 77 though... it is cold and below freezing outside so when it heats up im sure the tank will be higher still.

I have since added a yellow tang, a colony of purple star polyps on a branchy rock, a pretty good sized green open brain coral, 12 mexican turbo snails, and 12 nassassarius snails.

Everything seems to be doing great and the rocks are getting much more colorful. The anemone seems to have found a spot it likes poking out of a cave in the sand. My NO3 are now down to zero. The tank has been running since november so not too long but im gettin some good purples on the rocks.

I'll try to get some more pics up of the new additions soon and I will probably be adding some more things soon too.

 

[dnorton1978]

Any luck on getting more pics?? Also, how long has your tank been running?
Looking good.