5g reef

snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
I'm going to try to keep my coral selections local to support a local business. I'll just have to be a little selective there. I wish I could find a tiny little piece of nepthea. I also want some pulsing xenia in this tank. I think it would look great if it could spread and fill the tank up some.

Surprisingly, the stock lighting I think will be enough to keep the softies alive for a long time. I want a more blue light soon though. I'm really eyeballing the lesson a80, but I'm looking into other cheaper options.

I saw Kessils the for the first time at MACNA and I was highly impressed with them. I love their color.
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
I also like pulsing X BUT just my own .02 it grows like wild fire. IT will literally take over your tank in a short time. you need to be ready to remove it as soon as you see it start to spread to areas of your tank that you don't want covered with it.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
That's the plan. My LFS buys it for $5/stalk. I'll cut off what I want to frag. A buddy of mine has a frag tank I can put it in to recover before selling it.

All's good. :)
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Yeah, I would rather them go to someone with a tank, but I don't know a lot of people who are willing to take what some people believe are weeds.

I'm not big into my local frag swaps. There aren't many people in my area.

Anyways, I am going to order a kessil a80 this afternoon from Amazon.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Oh, I also just bought a desktop computer for my home. So if I have anything long to post, I can do it. I may even get back in to writing articles again. Who knows.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member


I made a mini surface skimmer. I didn't like the proteins building up on the surface. I'll put filter floss or a small bag of chemipure blue in it.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member


It worked really well today, cleaning the oil and protein off the surface of the water.

Thinking about buying a nepthea this weekend.

Also, my new kessil a80 light is coming in about ten days.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Yep. That's a tiny pump that came with the tank. I replaced the stock pump with a larger one and I'm using this one as a power head.

It's putting out a decent amount of flow for a 5g tank.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
I adjusted the flow and the surface skimmer cup and it sucked the protein and oil of the top in a matter of a minute. The whole tank still has great flow.

I'm going to the fish store today to get a few more soft corals and possibly a shrimp. Oh, and pick up a small bottle of searched fuel.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
I added 1mL of seachem fuel to the tank on Saturday. I have only been lighting the tank for six or so hours in the evening. So far, the algae has actually kind of abated. The montipora is having a hard time sticking to anything with super glue. I'll have to figure something out.

I'm working extra hours this week and then three weeks between the break, so I'll have plenty of money for extra coral frags. I hope to fill the thing up pretty well over the break.

My new kessil a80 light should be coming in the mail in the next three to five days. I'm super excited about that. Anyone know how low the intensity should be for now? I can't find any information on it because it's a new light on the market.
 
lmforbis

lmforbis

Well-Known Member
If it is anything like the other Kessils they are more intense than they look. I'd start low and increase slowly. I've been running Kessils for about a year and a half and love the way they look. They are a bit different than other LEDs. The intensity adjustment does exactly that adjusts intensity. It has the necessary wavelengths for coral including true UV. The color adjustment is just to make it look good to you.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Sounds good. I guess I'll keep them at about 25% or so at first just to be on the safe side.

I'm thinking about using Brightwell Aquatics two part (calcium and alkalinity) liquid bottles. Since it's such a small tank, I'm not going the DIY route unless I absolutely have to.

The medicine syringes for my kids range from 1mL dose all the way up to 5mL, so I confiscated one to use for my tank. We have like fifty of them anyways. Lol. Going to use the syringes to administer CA, alk, an reef fuel Products to the tank.

A monthly 1g water change in a 4g tank is 25% which I think is plenty for this sized reef. I have one scheduled around the week of Christmas.
 
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