Sabella's 450L mixed reef build thread

Sabellafella

7500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 8, 2015
Messages
7,545
Reaction score
11,868
Rating - 100%
5   0   0
Hello all, sorry it took a little while to get a build thread but its finally here!! Ill tell you a little bit about myself before i get started. I came into the hobby when i was 11 as i started on saltwater (20long)with 99% of the help from my older cousin. Got The grip on it and was ready to start a large mixed reef when i was 16, got a 90gallon with 2 oldschool ehiem canister filters(that i still have by the way) for free so who wouldnt? At the time i kept regular softys and lps along with angels. Around 2010 bought a nonrimless elos 200 and started to keep sps. Through ups and downs with my father passing came hurricane sandy that took everything from me - i mean everything but my friends and family. By the time i sold everything off, i then again started an old biocube29 in 2014 and ben back being active in the reefing community.


Tank - Red sea reefer450. 59" 22" 20"
Frag tank - seapora 80 frag tank
Lights- Ati 48inch dimmable 6bulb with 4 reefbrite actinicblues... Fixture 11" off waterline
Bulb combo - 4blue plus, 1 purpleplus, 1 coralplus
Return - jecod dct12000 and vectra l2
Flow - 1 gyre 350 each system, multiple amp40s
Heaters - probably every brand at this point. Have 2 redundant backups. All titanium.
Skimmer- vertex omega 180
Reactors - vertex calcium reactor
Controller - apex
Dosing - apex dos
Kalk
Sand - carib sea fiji 80 pounds
Rock - real reef and caribsea liferock 140 pounds, also have marinepure brick and spheres


I do use socks but mesh quick rinse and their good to go. Also stuff floss in bubbletrap from time to time. I do 20 gallon waterchanges every sunday. Ive switched back to regular IO as before i used esv and redsea but have had some trouble with them. I use a cup of vertex r0x carbon, dose potassium chloride/sulfate and esv bionic 2 part. I test alk everyday after adding new corals untill i feel my dosings tuned in and test everything else twice a week Thats it, along with feeding the best fishfoods i try getting my hands.

I still do this 7 years later.

Parameters as followed

Sg - 34.2
Ph - 8.10 in morning 8.30 at the peak of the day
Temp - apex holds 78 steady
Alk - first 3 years I kept it around 170ppm as most petstores keep it around there so if i add sps they dont get shocked much. Tried the 7 dkh, worked out great so pretty much will be staying at this point moving forward
Calc - 440-480
Mag - 1300 - 1400
N03 - 5 to 25 i dont do the whole refugium uln thing
P04 - for the last 3 months was having issues with it being 0ppb and 0 reading on everything else but have finally got it steady at 0.03
K - 390 salifert test kit

This thread will be photo heavy as i like to track growth, at the moment using a galaxy s21 ultra, upgrade every year to the newer phone. Any questions feel free to ask, also any suggestions please feel free to let me know as im always trying to figure out something new enjoy!!

Members, sorry for all the pages! If you want up to date, start from the last few pages. Came a long way. thank you!
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
Sabellafella

Sabellafella

7500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 8, 2015
Messages
7,545
Reaction score
11,868
Rating - 100%
5   0   0
20150829_135223.jpg
This is when i first picked it up, hadda take this bad boy over the verrazano bridge lol
 
OP
OP
Sabellafella

Sabellafella

7500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 8, 2015
Messages
7,545
Reaction score
11,868
Rating - 100%
5   0   0
Thanks everyone, yes kshweer bulb combo is the best combo for growth on sps imo, when i was a chalice freak i ran 7 blue+ and 1 purple... my bulb change comes up soon so i might switch one out for a coral plus as i like the white look
 
OP
OP
Sabellafella

Sabellafella

7500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 8, 2015
Messages
7,545
Reaction score
11,868
Rating - 100%
5   0   0
I have a nikkon d3300 that i took some pics with but never uploaded a photo in my life, hopefully soon i can get the hang of it. I need help using one so please help n bare with me
 
OP
OP
Sabellafella

Sabellafella

7500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 8, 2015
Messages
7,545
Reaction score
11,868
Rating - 100%
5   0   0
Oh snap, this is highly requested and long awaited thread. I vote they make this a stickie!
Took me madd long man, also tanks still a baby(8 months), it was my first time tryin to like vision the tank and take my aquascape serious instead of a pile of rocks with me rushing everything
 
Last edited:

joshkirkland83

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 13, 2015
Messages
1,646
Reaction score
1,748
Location
Savannah,GA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Took me madd long man, also tanks still a baby, it was my first time tryin to like vision the tank and take my aquascape serious instead of a pile of rocks with me rushing everything
All good bro, looks good. You know me well enough to know im just messin with ya..
 
OP
OP
Sabellafella

Sabellafella

7500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 8, 2015
Messages
7,545
Reaction score
11,868
Rating - 100%
5   0   0
I take rocks out, remove algae, pour 3% peroxide over rock then rinse with rodi IF you can
Thats basically what i do on a weekly basis, none of my hermits or snails eat it and i was going to try getting an emerald crab but i feel its going to gwt murdered the second he goes in their
 
Back
Top