Tank 01
Josh's main mixed reef display
mixed reef
Style
12
Months Old
A roughly one-year-old mixed reef in a client's forever home, built by New Wave, blending fluffy LPS on the bottom with SPS/acro sticks up top and a colorful, diverse fish list. It is maintained with heavy weekly 60-90 gallon water changes, two-part plus magnesium dosing, and deliberate nitrate/phosphate dosing to keep nutrients stable in the young system.
Dosing
two-part
Filtration
refugium
Water Changes
Weekly water changes, 60 to 90 gallons per week; smaller change if phosphates/nitrates dip too low
Feeding
Mass coral feeding during water changes; owner feeds fish heavily ('heavy in, heavy out')
Husbandry & Practices
8
- Weekly water changes of 60-90 gallons, scaled down if nitrate/phosphate dips too low
- Dose alkalinity, calcium and magnesium to the tank
- Dose nitrate (and phosphate) to keep nutrients up in the newer tank
- Mass coral feeding done during each weekly water change
- Aquaculture most corals in-house ('fragging forward' / homegrown project)
- Add wrasses last, since tank is only about a year old
- Monitor phosphates and nitrates closely to avoid bottoming out at zero
- Added lighting blades to main display for depth as corals grow
Target Parameters
NO₃
kept above zero (avoid bottoming out)
PO₄
monitored, kept above zero
Corals
5
rainbow chalicesnems (anemones)Common Leathersfluffy LPS coralsacros / SPS sticks
Fish
9
desertini (Sailfin/Desjardini tang)cleaner wrassegem tangblack tangsquareback anthiaskoi parrot (parrotfish)Hawaiian dwarf yellow moray eelblack storm clownfish (OG female, 5-6 yrs)Swissguard basslet