What does the "average" reef tank look like?

[slayerhellfire]

I think mine is average. I am very proud of it and love it but in the reef scene as a whole I'd say Average.

holy heck thats nice, love the colors

 

[Luis Figueroa]

Hob filter, and air pump driven skimmer. Below average but let's see what happens

 

[dmh]

. My average tank. A mix tank of SPS, LPS and softies

 

[Porter]

I'm below average

 

[Paul87]

My one of a kind 40 breeder. I would say average for the reef scene, but one of a kind just like everyone elses! [emoji1]

 

[coralosity351]

Bad pic but average tank been up for a year. Hopefully upgrading to a 125 in a year or so

 

[Daniel@R2R]

This is worth bumping again.

 

[penguin_free]

I'd put mine at 'average'. I love it, but it certainly has room for improvement...

Tank: 120 gallon (48x24x24in)

- Lighting: 8 48” T5 HO (6 ATI Blue Plus, 2 ATI Coral Plus)

- 2 Hydor 600 circ pumps in tank (AC, running constantly)

- Dual Eshopps PF800 overflows


Sump: 40 breeder

- 300W Visitherm submersible heater on Aqua Logic Digital Temperature Controller

- Two return pumps – Rio 18HF’s

- BRS jumbo reactor, rox 0.8 & GFO

- Bubble Magus 8in DC skimmer

- Currently dosing 2 part alk / Ca and vinegar daily

NO3: 0 (API kit) – PO4: 0 (salifert kit) – Ca 380 (Red Sea kit) – kH 9dkh (API kit) - Temp 80F

Currently cutting back vinegar dose to let nitrate rise a little
Considering only running GFO off and on


Tank residents: various Softies & LPS, yellow tang, hippo tang, scopus tang, yellowfin tang, red coris wrasse, purple pseudochromis, mandarin goby, flame angel, coral beauty


Feeding: Nori sheets daily, marine flake, frozen brine, phyto weekly


Tank has been running since mid 2014



Ongoing issues:

- A little persistent GHA

- Algae formation in siphon tubes
- Lobo coral receeded somewhat, seems to have stabilized (it was after a fall though, and was damaged a little hitting rocks, that's where the recession occurred)
- Brown spots on goniopora, and a little less polyp extension lately

- Smaller goniopora receeding lately
- A couple xenia died off, other xenia less happy lately
- Cespitularia seems less happy lately
But I can’t really put my finger on anything in particular that’s changed lately…

Ambitions / Ideas:

- Reduce rockwork and aquascape better

- Place corals in a more appealing arrangement
- Try a few sps corals and see how they do
- Algae scrubber ?
- Rearrange sump to fit a refugium ?

 

[bif24701]

Wow! If all these systems are average mine is certainly below average.

 

[dede]

Id say average. Still working on fine tuning things and for most of the sps to really grow in. I've had super great growth this last month though! Some of the clams and corals like the elegance I've had for quite a while..

This is not average!!! Love it.

 

[dede]

Peaks and Valleys... I rated mine as average too.

This is one of my favorites!!

 

[K. Steven]

My tank is average because I have algae, but I don't care. Natural reefs have algae and that's why there are herbivores. I like feeding my fish and they like being fed. Life's too short to stress about algae.

 

[beardown]

I'm loving all these tanks. Here's my 2 cents.... all tanks are average to the reefer.

New reefers don't know how to properly maintain their water, making their tanks "look worse" than experienced reefers. In all reality, it's all about experience. In my experience, there's no such thing as getting lucky in this hobby. Experience+work= successful reef.

One last thing, don't emulate someone else's tank. If you like your tank, or have a vision for it... it's your slice of the ocean! Have fun reefing!

 

[Reefbuds]

I voted average. Not sure really tho. 17 months old,

 

[GoPitt88]

Mine is a 2 year running 55 gallon mixed reef, sumpless, using a Fluval 70 HOB and 305 canister filter with an AquaMaxx Hob protein skimmer. Just started dosing and trying to dial it in. My pair of snowflake clowns just started spawning about a month ago [emoji16]

 

[Leishman]

Crazy that over 80% of you consider your reef to be average or less than average.

I think the average reef of an active reef forum hobbyist is far superior to the true average home reef. I know that my reef was reborn after meeting Copps at the LFS and being introduced to WAMAS, RC and the old Club Zoa (AKA R2R)

 

[Arif]

Peaks and Valleys... I rated mine as average too.

I think it's safe to say your way above average

 

[DeniseAndy]

Mine is a 2 year running 55 gallon mixed reef, sumpless, using a Fluval 70 HOB and 305 canister filter with an AquaMaxx Hob protein skimmer. Just started dosing and trying to dial it in. My pair of snowflake clowns just started spawning about a month ago [emoji16]

Beautiful. Love your tank!
Just watch those gorgs. They are small now and okay, but if they begin to grow, you will notice nearby corals suffering a bit. If you can, keep them far away from others (lps especially) and keep them down flow. JME

 

[Susan Edwards]

I'm going to go with edging toward average at nearly 10 months. No fish right now as they are in a separate tank after being treated and qt'd for marine velvet. They can return to MT in a couple more weeks. My reasons:
-most all of the corals showing great growth. Duncan from 8 heads to close to 16, Ricordia split, Rhrodactis split into 3, rbta doing well (as opposed to newbie mistake with first one which didn't survive), others doing very well and even spreading onto rockwork.
-trochus snails breeding--saw more than a dozen new babies no bigger than a quilters pin head last night
-Algae gone (bryopsis was awful), coraline algae everywhere
-pods everywhere (Next month I get my mandarin)
-owner learned lesson about qt'ing after losing 9/13 fish to marine velvet
-rockscape fish and coral friendly now after a redo
-have an auto doser I'm learning and ready to add. Feel like a grown up now in this hobby
I think most tanks after 6 - 9 months fall into low to high average range
My tank, Red Sea Max C250 at 9.5 months

 

[Animal Chin]

I feel like mine is a bit above average but not one of those crazy mind blowing ones...

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