Neptune Aquatics

My 200 gallon mixed reef tank

Did I miss the post that had the dimensions, brands, equipment and livestock? Inquiring minds....

My brand is the red sea reefer 750xxl deluxe.
Its 71” by 26” by 24 or something close to that. For return pump, I got the ecotech Vectra L1 3100gph, nyos 160 for skimmer, two mp 40 wav makers with the apex controller, tunze strong+, and 3 300W titanium heaters. 43ish pounds of liverock (plan on adding a lot more) and 120 pounds of fiji pink live sand. (Need to add more of that too) I added some chaeto to my refugium as well as a huge bioblock for beneficial bacteria surface area. Going to add a reactor and dosing unit soon.

Livestock I got around 25 fish but do not plan on adding much more until later. Too many beautiful corals everywhere and I want them all... Spending a lot of money on torches... and eyeing all the designer nems.


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For anemone, if they have sand on them, do I need to brush it off or will they be fine? And is target feeding necessary? I want mine to grow big and fat [emoji51]


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For anemone, if they have sand on them, do I need to brush it off or will they be fine? And is target feeding necessary? I want mine to grow big and fat [emoji51]


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will probably be fine but if you want to blow it off you can
I target feed mine every once in a while with shrimp, they are also in a position in the current where they get fed every day from fish feeding. I think its generally accepted that feeding = increased growth
 
will probably be fine but if you want to blow it off you can
I target feed mine every once in a while with shrimp, they are also in a position in the current where they get fed every day from fish feeding. I think its generally accepted that feeding = increased growth

Mysis shrimp fine for nems <1”? Or would phytoplankton work too.


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So, as a precautionary note, slow your roll. I see a lot of stuff going into a very new tank and with very limited experience on your part. There's a lot of space to fill up, but do so knowing what you're adding into the tank and what's happening.

In this case, with the clams (Tridacna maxima), I would be monitoring your alkalinity every day or every other day to see what they're eating up. Clams consume quite a bit of alk as they're growing, moreso than even some of the sps. On my 87G tank, with no clams and a limited amount of corals, I'm seeing approximately 0.3 dKH of consumption daily. That's going to go up as I add more sticks to the tank. If you're considering only getting dosing/calcium reactor up in a month's time, you're gonna be in for a surprise.
 
So, as a precautionary note, slow your roll. I see a lot of stuff going into a very new tank and with very limited experience on your part. There's a lot of space to fill up, but do so knowing what you're adding into the tank and what's happening.

In this case, with the clams (Tridacna maxima), I would be monitoring your alkalinity every day or every other day to see what they're eating up. Clams consume quite a bit of alk as they're growing, moreso than even some of the sps. On my 87G tank, with no clams and a limited amount of corals, I'm seeing approximately 0.3 dKH of consumption daily. That's going to go up as I add more sticks to the tank. If you're considering only getting dosing/calcium reactor up in a month's time, you're gonna be in for a surprise.

Its just so fun adding stuff! Haha. My alk was pretty high for some reason so knowing the clams take it out makes me happy. I have all the dosing equipment already. Anyone want to help me set it up this weekend? [emoji4]


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Hey @NelsonCh , I would be curious to know your current water parameters?
Cheers! Mark

Just did a water change but will test again right now.
Last settings were:
Alk was pretty high. Over 14
Calcium 400
Magnesium 900
Ph 7.7-7.9
Salinity 1.025
Temp 77
Ammonia untraceable



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I'd suspect a bad mag test, expired or user error or both, it happens. 900 is way low.
Alk over 14? When was the last time you checked it and what was it at?
And you haven't been dosing anything to raise it? What are you using for water change? Mixing your own salt I assume? what brand? Rodi water?
 
Just did a water change but will test again right now.
Last settings were:
Alk was pretty high. Over 14
Calcium 400
Magnesium 900
Ph 7.7-7.9
Salinity 1.025
Temp 77
Ammonia untraceable
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Be careful of a snowstorm. (Calcium precipitation)
High Alk + Low Mag.
 
Be careful of a snowstorm. (Calcium precipitation)
High Alk + Low Mag.
Yeah something seems wrong with those two values. @Coral reefer is on it. I don’t know of any salt mixes that have alk that high, so if you’re not dosing anything then there must have been an error with the testing of it. Which test kits are you using (for everything)?
 
Yeah my alk tester previously was the reef foundation pro from red sea. Im using the marine care test kit since the red sea reef foundation pro test kit has been +14 both times.


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Last edited:
So far my alk is 8, magnesium is 1120, ca is 350.

I used red sea coral pro salt. Using instant ocean salt now.

Is nitrate 10?

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Tilt the card on the side, place your vial up to the color chart and view it. It's hard to tell what color it is, but it looks like somewhere between 5 and 10.
 
I'd suspect a bad mag test, expired or user error or both, it happens. 900 is way low.
Alk over 14? When was the last time you checked it and what was it at?
And you haven't been dosing anything to raise it? What are you using for water change? Mixing your own salt I assume? what brand? Rodi water?

I use the 5 stage 150gpd I got from BRS. So many comments its hard to reply to all lol. I mix salt that gets me 1.025 before adding it into my tank.


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So as others have stated if mag is too low, calcium can precipitate out. Mag should be about 3x calcium. I try to keep calcium between 400-450, mag at 1250-1400 personally. I’m still trying to get alk down, seems like it gets consumed quick. I wanna say 8-9 dkh is good. Main thing is getting numbers to be consistent, I’m still working on that lol
 
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