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Blaine's 100-Gallon Soft Coral Reef

Blaine's 100-Gallon Soft Coral Reef

by Blaine
Volume
91 gal
Dimensions
47" x 22" x 23.6"
Tank type
Mixed Reef, Soft Coral Dominant
Runs a soft-coral-dominant tank at a premier SPS retailer, deliberately ignoring the SPS hype to keep what he actually enjoys.

Blaine's personal Red Sea Reefer 425 G2 Plus XL is a nearly 2-year-old soft coral dominant mixed reef with a wide range of toadstools, leathers, and bounce mushrooms plus a few LPS and one SPS. Many corals were gifted after he lost most of his livestock moving from California, giving each piece a personal story. He runs it simply and nutrient-rich, embracing a 'reef your way' soft-coral philosophy despite working at an SPS-focused shop.

View original source
Source: YouTube · Top Shelf Aquatics
What sets this tank apart
Reef your way philosophy
Runs a soft-coral-dominant tank at a premier SPS retailer, deliberately ignoring the SPS hype to keep what he actually enjoys.
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Nutrient-elevated soft coral tuning
Intentionally runs higher nitrate (10-20) and phosphate (0.1-0.12), backing off the skimmer, because bounce mushrooms color up better with more nutrients.
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Tangs as working algae crew
Withholds nori so his yellow and naso tangs actively graze nuisance algae off the rock and scraper.
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Mobile jawbreaker transport
Kept gifted jawbreaker mushrooms alive in a bucket for 4 days across California, swapping water and carbon at each shop stop to fly them home.
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Equipment Breakdown

Shop this build · 1 of 7 items priced
Blaine's 100-Gallon Soft Coral Reef — Full Equipment List
$400
est. build cost
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Filtration
Regal INT 150
Regal
INT 150
Protein skimmer
Deliberately throttled back — nitrate stays at 10-20 on purpose because the bounce mushrooms color up better with food in the water.
Lighting
EcoTech Marine Gen 5 XR30 Pro
EcoTech Marine
Gen 5 XR30 Pro
Display lights ×2
Runs a whiter, more natural spectrum instead of heavy blues — a deliberate anti-fluorescence choice for a softy display.
Modern equivalent: EcoTech Radion XR30 G6 →
Flow & Circulation
EcoTech Marine Vectra M2
EcoTech Marine
Vectra M2
Return pump
EcoTech Marine MP40
EcoTech Marine
MP40
Wavemakers ×2
⭐ Premium pick
Acid-bathed every 3-4 weeks so they run like new — coralline creep is the quiet killer of powerhead output.
In our catalog →
Monitoring & Control
Neptune Systems Apex
Neptune Systems
Apex
Controller
$399.95 Buy → ⚠ Out at Bulk Reef Supply Details →
Red Sea ATO
Red Sea
ATO
Auto top-off
Fed from a 10-gallon Simplicity reservoir — enough headroom for long hands-off stretches of top-off.
Dosing
Two Little Fishies Trace elements
Two Little Fishies
Trace elements
Trace dosing
Traces plus phytoplankton are the entire dosing program — soft corals pull so little calcium there's no two-part or reactor on this tank.

Husbandry & Notes

  • Water change 10-20% every 2-3 weeks with Tropic Marin Pro Reef salt
  • Runs carbon heavily, replacing carbon bag every 2-3 weeks
  • Runs nutrients higher (nitrate 10-20, phosphate 0.1-0.12) for soft coral tank
  • Skims lightly and keeps skimmer minimal to preserve nutrients
  • Snail-focused cleanup crew, avoids crabs that kill snails
  • Acid-bathes MP40 pumps every 3-4 weeks; scrapes glass every couple days
  • Feeds minimal nori to make tangs work at nuisance algae
  • Keeps equipment out of display, wants no cords visible
Reported parameters
Salinity
1.026 sg
Alk (dKH)
8
Calcium
450
Magnesium
1300
Nitrate
10-15 ppm, sometimes 15-20
Phosphate
0.1-0.12 ppm
I love soft corals. I have a really wide range of selection when it comes to toadstools.
A lot of these corals were gifted to me by people. And I have to thank every single one of you guys.
I want to make my tangs work. You're my working fish. Work for me.
My piece of advice that I would give to any brand new reefkeeper is reef your way.
I may be the guy talking to you all on the YouTube channel, but I'm a reef keeper at heart.