My 45 gallon reef rebuild

mosdojaf

Active Member
1. Stage one was improved lighting.

2. Stage 2 removing old sand bed.

3. Stage 3 1/2 the new sand bed and 20% water change

4. Cleaning out all filters and put them back together.

5. Adding the rest of the sand bed.

6. Minor clean up grunge left over from sand being added.

7. Monitor chemistry and decide how to aquascape the tank.
 

mosdojaf

Active Member
Only Nitrates seem to be showing up in the water tests now. They are around 30/40ppm. My tank did not seem to do a large cycle when I rebuild it. A small ammonia and nitrite jump but nothing major. So I am just monitoring it atm seeing if any thing spikes.
 

mosdojaf

Active Member
I have already had a small diatom bloom, now a bit of green algae, but nothing crazy. Going to do a 15-20 gallon water change friday night or Saturday morning. To knock those nitrates down and practice cleaing the sand without making a mess.


If everything stays in balance the next week, I should have part of a cleanup crew nextweek end.

I will add a few picks of my hang on refugium when I get home tonight.
 

mosdojaf

Active Member
I also have a few pieces of LR to rearange, but nothing major. Moving a larger pices to the bottom. Then taking a few other to mkae some arches.
 

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
I have already had a small diatom bloom, now a bit of green algae, but nothing crazy. Going to do a 15-20 gallon water change friday night or Saturday morning. To knock those nitrates down and practice cleaing the sand without making a mess.


If everything stays in balance the next week, I should have part of a cleanup crew nextweek end.

I will add a few picks of my hang on refugium when I get home tonight.

Sounds like a good plan!
 

mosdojaf

Active Member
Ok,I did an 18 gallon water change. I also rearranged the LR a bit. Tomorrow after everything is settled I will have to take a turkey baster around the rocks and sand near rocks to get the crud out of the water. I also put the sponge into my aquaclear for a day or 2 to grab the junk that was floating around. I am trying to decide if i want to place a filter pad to be changed out every week or cut a sponge in 1/3's and change it out every couple of days, so I can rotate them through and give them a good cleaning in between use.

I am not sure about the LR set up yet. I like the look of the rock coming out from one corner and leaving a good area of sand. Th other thought is to come in from each corner and leave the center open for frags.

Since I have no bio load, no ammonia, or nitrites, I am guessing the bit of Nitrates I am seeing is possible small amounts of LR die off. I will do a nitrate test in the morning or afternoon. I will give the tank some time to settle after the massive shake up.
 

mosdojaf

Active Member
I think my skimmer pump needs to be replaced. I will have to check my LFS tomorrow. I think the maxi jet is about 8 years old and not creating enough bubbles.
 

mosdojaf

Active Member
I had to take the old reflector from my 18 watt coralife cf light i had on my refugium and place it behind the LED light. The LED was lighting up part of the main tank. Now just a sliver of extra light hits the top center of the tank. This actually makes the LED moon lights pop.
 

mosdojaf

Active Member
added another 20 blue leg this weekend.
I also added 2 orange mushroom frags, they are between the size of a dime and nickel.
 

Wrangy

Acropora Nut
RS STAFF
PREMIUM
Your off to a good start :) Sounds like you're well on your way to a reef tank :)

Unfortunately though, as you're now a part of RS the demand for pictures is going to be a hard and tough burden you will have to carry :p
Would love to see some new pics though ;)
 

mosdojaf

Active Member
This week I added a small yellow tail damsel
another 20 blue legs
1 single mushroom frag
and a small Candy Cane coral frag
 
Top