Dan's RSR-S 850 Mixed Reef

[dandemeyere]

Anyway, as you can tell we are not very supportive of your switch as we do want to lose such a successful SPS grower, so hopefully this will only be short lived until you get tired of those beginner corals and get back to the big boys stuff.

This slayed me I needed that laugh!

I appreciate you recognizing the effort you put into the success you have. I often see folks downplaying this, mostly for odd reasons, sometimes just misremembering all the small things, refering to easy reefkeeping while there are no shortcuts to success unless it aims for short term success < 5 years.

I know exactly what you mean. You hear a lot of people on YouTube and podcasts talk about the whole “keep it simple” approach, and while it’s true that you can absolutely do more harm than good by overtinkering or obsessively chasing specific numbers, I don’t think I was able to truly “keep it simple” until I was really in tune with my tank.

Figuring out how much to feed to maintain healthy nutrient levels didn’t happen by accident, it came from testing weekly, adjusting feeding up and down, tweaking skimmer settings, and experimenting with more or fewer water changes. Now it feels simple, but it took hundreds of tests and a lot of data to get there. Sometimes I think the phrase “keep it simple” can actually be a disservice to some reefers. Some interpret it as “do the bare minimum, relax, and success will follow,” but that hasn’t been my experience. For me, simplicity came after putting in the work to understand how my system responds.

The same goes for recognizing when something is off with my corals such as subtle changes in polyp extension, coloration, or shifts in alkalinity demand. Those early warning signs are only obvious once you’ve spent enough time paying close attention. And when to check for rusted magnets, when to run carbon, what tests to run, when it's time just for a big WC or when it's time to send in an ICP -> all came after trial & error -> reflection -> iterate.

I wonder though if you will save a ton of time with your switch to LPS. I guess milleporas and tenuis are particularly unforgiving re mistakes or fluctuations

We will see I've always had a hot and cold relationship with tenuis and they're definitely something I've started to steer away from, but milleporas (for some reason not clear to me) have always thrived in my tanks. Super fast and great coloration. I did buy some really high end milles a few months ago so I'll probably hold onto those for now.

Your algae growth seems to be a large contributor to your rather intense pump maintance schedule.

Definitely. It grows quickly for me. I have to clean my glass every other day, which is a pain, and my MP40s get covered really fast, which is also a pain. Part of that is (I think) always have a steady source of nutrients based on where I keep my phosphates (0.05-0.12) and nitrates (5-15ppm), but I think a bigger part is yea I have a ton of light in my tank. 600-700+ at the top, 400-500 in the middle, 250-300 at the bottom and I have a lot of spread so the whole tank is showered with that PAR. I personally find cleaning the glass and especially cleaning MP40s to be annoying, but not as annoying as cleaning a gyre lol.

But we'll see! Maybe I do it, I like it, get bored of it, and do a reset back to SPS I do plan on keeping a subset of my SPS collection that I'm not ready to let go over yet so you never know...

 

[dandemeyere]

Tank Update
I finally found new homes for some of my biggest colonies including a massive blue staghorn (too big for a 55g brute!), a 16"+ BC Shag Priority table, my TGC Orange Creamsicle colony, WWC Yellow Tip colony, and a huge Jason Fox Aquaman Monti that had completely encrusted the back pane.

Not gonna lie, it’s tough letting go of corals you’ve grown from tiny 1" frags into full colonies. But at the same time, the tank feels totally refreshed. Flow is so much better now without having to position the MP40s around those big colonies and it’s honestly reignited some excitement for the system. I’m planning to rework one of the rock structures into more of a bonsai style aquascape to open things up even more for flow and future growth.

One thing that really surprised me was just how much alkalinity those colonies were consuming. Before removing them, to hold ~8 dKH I was dosing the following daily:

• 5L fully saturated kalkwasser
• 50 mL All For Reef
• 100 mL ESV 2-part (A & B)

Now, with those colonies gone:

• Still 5L kalkwasser
• All For Reef is completely off
• Only 20 mL ESV of A & B

Pretty wild to see how a handful of large colonies were responsible for what feels like half the tank’s alk demand.

 

[Alexander1312]

Tank Update
I finally found new homes for some of my biggest colonies including a massive blue staghorn (too big for a 55g brute!), a 16"+ BC Shag Priority table, my TGC Orange Creamsicle colony, WWC Yellow Tip colony, and a huge Jason Fox Aquaman Monti that had completely encrusted the back pane.

Not gonna lie, it’s tough letting go of corals you’ve grown from tiny 1" frags into full colonies. But at the same time, the tank feels totally refreshed. Flow is so much better now without having to position the MP40s around those big colonies and it’s honestly reignited some excitement for the system. I’m planning to rework one of the rock structures into more of a bonsai style aquascape to open things up even more for flow and future growth.

One thing that really surprised me was just how much alkalinity those colonies were consuming. Before removing them, to hold ~8 dKH I was dosing the following daily:

• 5L fully saturated kalkwasser
• 50 mL All For Reef
• 100 mL ESV 2-part (A & B)

Now, with those colonies gone:

• Still 5L kalkwasser
• All For Reef is completely off
• Only 20 mL ESV of A & B

Pretty wild to see how a handful of large colonies were responsible for what feels like half the tank’s alk demand.

Now only need to turn off that ancient Kalkwasser and add a couple of gyres (plus two replacements). Dosing three different things for alk and CA seems very complicated. A good 2 part should be all you need, even with a strong consumption.