20 Gallon Mixed Reef

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Bummer! Sad way to lose a fish, and I know the pain of trying to catch any fish in a reef. Good luck. Your tank is beautiful though! I am upgrading from a 12 gallon display and am torn between a 20 long and a 29 right now...thanks for the small tank inspiration!
 
What coral is the top pictures that is really cool.

Coral list:
Frogspawn - Euphyllia divisia
Hammer - Euphyllia fimbriata
Flower Pot - Alveopora sp.
Yellow polyps - Parazoanthus gracilis
Pulsing Xenia - Xenia sp.
Devil's Hand Leather - Lobophyton sp.
Colt - Cladiella sp.
Acan Lord - Acanthastrea lordhowensis
Sun coral - Tubastraea sp.
Green star polyps - Pachyclavularia sp.
Favia - Favia sp.
Zoas - Zoanthid sp.
Palys - Palythoa sp.

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I have been battling some gelidium algae for the last little while. I have raised the magnesium levels and that seemed to at least slow it down a bit but it is very stubborn. So I purchased a bio-pellet reactor. I got the SWC UR-80 Bio-Pellet Reactor and it is being powered by a King 400 (by Resun) water pump. The media I am using is the SWC Xtreme NP Reduction Bio media. They recommend 250 ml of pellets so I started off the 125 ml. Here is a video of it in action.

 
I'd love to know how it works. My nitrates are stubbornly higher than I want. Just started some macro algae in my fuge, but if that doesn't work I may be in for a reactor.
 
Crash

Some bad news...
I was out of town on business last week and had a fairly major tank crash. For some unknown reason, the return pump decided to quit. Because I have the heaters in the sump, this means that if there is no water movement between sump and the DT, then there is no heat in the DT. Unfortunately, the temp probe from the Apex was also situated in the sump. This caused two problems: 1)the return pump still had power so no warning message from the apex and 2)the sump remained heated so the temp probe showed normal temp range.
Best guess is DT was without heat for 24-36 hrs. Temp in DT was 68F.
I have now put the temp probe in the weir of the DT so that if the return fails again then I will be notified by the apex of a temp drop.
All SPS corals died as well as devils club leather, colt coral and hammer coral.
On the good side of all this, I was able to take out the chunk of rock that had some algae on it and replace it with a nice new chunk of dead rock I had laying around.
And I put in an order for 11 new SPS frags to fill in the now empty looking tank. Frags have all opened up and look healthy...pics to follow.
 
Thats just a real bummer. Sorry for you loss'. It gives you the opportunity to do it a little differently now though. Did you get some pieces that you didn't have before that you really wanted?
 
Thats just a real bummer. Sorry for you loss'. It gives you the opportunity to do it a little differently now though. Did you get some pieces that you didn't have before that you really wanted?

+1. Although a devastation you now have the opportunity to take a new direction with the tank. Look forward to seeing those SPS.
 
Thats just a real bummer. Sorry for you loss'. It gives you the opportunity to do it a little differently now though. Did you get some pieces that you didn't have before that you really wanted?

+1. Although a devastation you now have the opportunity to take a new direction with the tank. Look forward to seeing those SPS.

Thanks for the comments. I was able to get the types of corals I wanted, increasing the amount of SPS in the tank by quite a bit. Some milli's, acros and montis as well as a chalice.
 
Well, you have got to share some pics with us too! :D

OH...you didn't loose those two beautiful colonies of zoas, did you?
 
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Well, you have got to share some pics with us too! :D

OH...you didn't loose those two beautiful colonies of zoas, did you?

Lost one small colony of blue/yellow zoas, but the big colony has survived...albeit slightly bleached. I'm sure the color will return to them soon.
I'l take some pics tonight after I get home from work. :)
 

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