Srsevy's 120gal Reef Tank

[srsevy]

Hello All, I have been working on my tank for the last 7 months. My original $500 upgrade from fresh water to salt water was to just have a few fish. My family got involved and it quickly turned into a full reef tank with dedicated DI water line for easy water changes. I really like taking pictures and documenting all of the changes, so here are a few! Let me know what you think/ any suggestions? I am thinking of adding some coral soon!
(I will add captions to the photos soon)

 

[Hiker4twenty]

Looks like you've got yourself a nice setup. It also seems that you have a bit of a hair algae problem. Is that still the case? What kind of lighting do you have and how many watts? That will help to determine what corals you can keep.

 

[BL1]

Looks great! I love your sump setup too

 

[Smitty]

You have a great set-up...good job!

 

[srsevy]

Looks like you've got yourself a nice setup. It also seems that you have a bit of a hair algae problem. Is that still the case? What kind of lighting do you have and how many watts? That will help to determine what corals you can keep.

I can not seem to figure out how to edit my original post to add captions, but the pictures are sort of a progression of the tank from start to present. The tank no longer has a hair algae problem.

The light system I have is 8 T5 bulbs. 4 HO bulbs and 4 Dawn/Dusk. There are also 8 moon LED lights all tied into a timer system.

 

[Joeysmissy]

the tank looks awesome

 

[Leslee]

You have quite the set up! The tank looks great!

 

[Bifferwine]

It does look really nice! Congrats!

 

[ggNoRe]

It's really nice to see the progression of your rocks throughout the cycle. What means did you use to "seed" your cycle?

 

[coolhandgoose]

Great looking tank. It's amazing to see the hair algae bloom and then seeing it under control.

 

[srsevy]

It's really nice to see the progression of your rocks throughout the cycle. What means did you use to "seed" your cycle?

I just ordered cultured rock from FL, I know it is risky using ocean rock, but I saved a ton of money! All of the LFS were charging about $9-12 a lb. and I have over 200lbs..

With the stuff I got, there was a lot of dead growth. Plus I did not use DI water at first, so that slowed the process down. After a few weeks the tank began to cycle and just under two months I was able to add a cleaner crew of large snails and hermit crabs to take care of the hair algae.

 

[BL1]

It's not really that risky, as a matter of fact many people on this site have gotten cultured rock from FL (TampaBaySaltwater) including myself. It's great live rock.

 

[reeffreak]

Congrats,it looks great.

Are you going to add more corals?

 

[srsevy]

Now that my Mantis Shrimp situation is solved,
https://www.livingreefs.com/loch-ness-t26416.html

I am planning on getting two coral frags tomorrow. Any suggestions?

 

[BL1]

Congrats on catching the mantis. As far as corals, I'm a big fan of anything I can watch flowing with the current

 

[Bifferwine]

Please remind me what kind of lights you have?

 

[cageburn]

looks great! excellent progress keep it up!

 

[srsevy]

Please remind me what kind of lights you have?

The light system I use are 8 t5 bulbs, (4x daylight HO and 4x Blue dawn/dusk) plus 8 night blue LED moon lights. They are connected to three digital timers to keep lighting consistent.

 

[Bifferwine]

In that case, you could get whatever corals you want. You aren't restricted by light.