250 Gallon DECKED OUT Saltwater Aquarium! Keys to Keeping a Mixed Reef!

All right, reapfers. We're kicking off with our trip up in New York. I'm here with John. John, thank you for letting us stop by. Midnight Reef on Instagram. If you guys have not seen his page before, beautiful system. We're going to get right into it though, John. Let's start talking about the size of the tank, how old the tank is, and how this came about. Yeah. No, thanks first of all coming. Really appreciate you. Uh I know it's been a journey. Um this has been the tank is up for three and a half years now. It's about 250 gals total volume about a little over 200 in the display. 6 feet long, 28, 28 [music] wide, and two foot just so I could reach the sand, you know. Um, but yeah, it's just it's a life uh scape, you know, everything. Sort of trying to mimic the nature as much as possible. Yeah, absolutely. And how long have you been reefing at this point? Um, so in the hobby since 2010. I had freshwater tanks all my life and then when we moved in with my wife, I said, "You know, I really want a tank." And she's like, "Well, it's got to have corals." I knew nothing about corals. And I said, "Well, let's go see what uh we can learn about it." And she bought me a tank. She bought me a 90gallon tank, you know, the OG. And we tried [music] for about a year getting corals and fish in there. No coral survived, but the fish stayed with us for a little while. And yeah, I ended up being a fish only with live rock for about 10 years until co hit and then like many stories we hear, you know, during the lockdowns, I had a a time to spend a little more on on YouTube learning about everything here and sort of learned just enough to get a little dangerous, I guess. [laughter] Um, and and yeah, then we moved from from an apartment to uh to this house and and I said, you know, we could let's try something bigger. And this is when the transfer from the 90 to this tank uh came about and that was like three and yeah three and a half years ago. So in reefing in in in this sort of uh situation space since 2020 March of 2020 really is when when the coral started taking off and I started understanding of what what it really takes. Gotcha. And then we talked about it a little bit off camera. Peninsula style. Love that there's three different angles. You get completely different views. there. Was that the idea all along you wanted to go with a peninsula? Yeah. Yeah. It's it's that's that's I've been admiring folks for so so long, you know, kind of again learning through the process. I have my favorites reefers who I learned from, you know, and and I always tell folks this is how you go, you know, you have to just choose a handful who you trust and you watch them, you know, sort of best practices and few of them had peninsulas and I was like, if I get a chance to do it my way, it's going to be a peninsula because you literally have, you know, three separate canvases, you know, that seamlessly kind of grow into each other, you know, but you could admire from different angles and and and truly kind of get the the breadth of of what's possible. So many stars to the show here, but let's talk about your corals. It looks like a mixed reef completely, right? We have a huge selection of different corals. Was the mixed reef always the plan or were you hoping to go a different direction or was it always mixed reefs? No, you know, it it really was. I I as as much as I admire, you know, all of the living species here, um I my favorite of course are the torches. I think, you know, just the nature of how they sway and and the colors of them. And I tell people sometimes those who have come over the house sometimes and never seen anything like this, I'm like, "This is not from this planet." [laughter] Uh they get a kick out of that. But but you know, the SPS [music] is is just a challenge more than anything, I think, and and filling it in and having this mixed reef um kind of vibe going on. But but yeah, I I knew I was going to just throw different things in here and see what happens. You know it it's it's big experiment. Yeah, there's beauty in the chaos, right? You have a completely You said it, welcome to the jungle. It is definitely in that form where you have now had so many corals that have started to in a way grow into each other. Are you constantly seeing kind of some coral warfare that's occurring at times as well with how many different species you have packed in here? Yeah. Yeah. So, so absolutely, you know, kind of I say victims of our own success in a way, right? Um, and and I guess to to PSA for folks, you know, think ahead. You know, once once you get a feel and you're successful, you have to understand how you mount stuff and and the proximity of of corals, right? The fast growing guys, guys that don't get along. Uh, make sure you know, it's a constant situation here now. And again, you know, for me, because it's sort of this first still, I think first iteration of of what we think might be possible in the future, you know, just watching it's a learning curve, kind continuous learning curve to see how things are interacting with each other, you know, what's possible, pushing a little bit of the boundaries, you know, I I I think that's that's a bit of an idea here as well to see, you know, where we could sort of segue into spaces that maybe have been untapped and see how it goes. It's at the point now where so many corals are starting to intertwine with each other. We have the SPS up top that are mixing amongst each other. There's zoas living in the middle of those. Let's also talk about, you know, some of your favorite pieces in the tank. I know it's hard to pick. You said you really like the euphilia. Let's talk about some of the others you really enjoy. Yeah, the euphilia is definitely has my heart. Um I I I love the hammers and and of course the the torches. Um [music] I love the gunnies. I mean the they're my also two OGs. So I have the highlighter which is kind of struggling a bit now. Um [music] and this pingani u that really just opening up you guys still early. It's [laughter] huge but it's starting to touch an acroppora there uh and sway through the tank. Um I did think of an idea of having sort of this Ghana Island which like you have no real estate John take it easy you know. Um, but yeah, no, I I I I think there's a bit of a future in the SPS for us also because there's [music] nothing fancy in the tank today. And I I will say, you know, we we've had a setback. I think I I told you off camera. Uh really man-made disaster, right, as I as I call it, where I lost a little bit of a control of the salinity and another PSA, right? Plug for folks who are going to watch this. You got to watch your equipment. You got to watch your equipment. you know, as much as we rely and want to trust it, uh you got to stay on top of your stuff. And sadly, you know, I I always preach this, but I I got caught uh myself just a few weeks ago with things started going sideways on me. Uh and and hopefully they'll rebound, but I caught my probes not being calibrated properly and not giving proper readings, and it was just a perfect storm, perfect disaster. Uh it's it's visible now. [music] Um, we're kind of trying to bring it back, but we'll see how it goes. It's one of those things, right? The tank probably spoke to you at one point and you realized something's off. I got to check start looking through and trying to How did you narrow it down to exactly that? Did you slowly kind of work your way through? Yeah, because, you know, because I have again so much faith on on on the equipment and and controller, you know, we use uh Neptune Apex. [music] Uh, I tell people I I just I wouldn't do it without it, right? It it's truly it's like you driving blindfolded, you know, how far can you get? So, you have your constant readings, right? You you you know, you're calibrating it maybe once a month or so. uh [music] and and give those parameters, you know, the most crucial ones intact. Your salinity uh could be a culprit, you know, that's quietly kind of whispering like, "Hey, there's something going on here, which is a again such a critical piece of all of this, but [music] incremental, these little margins that could really kind of, you know, nail you down." And and and sadly, you know, I I looked at it and I said, "There something is off here." and and I spoke with Apex folks who actually actually helped reboot the Apex because there was something with the reading that we that we realized um and then I changed the probe and finally yes it was deter determined that that was the problem [music] even with those fluctuations. Amazing to see the hardiness and how resilient these corals are though, right? They can adapt to so many different situations. No, that was a stunning part to me. You know, I I I I often joke around that torches are your sensors, [music] right? There's nothing more sensory than these guys. You know, you get for almost full reading of how your tank is doing by just quick glance. And surprisingly, they were so more resilient to what was happening than the millies on the SPS side, which I saw the fuzziness go away, right? The little hairs, they're not as as as perky and little by little, the coloration started, you know, disappearing [music] almost in front of my eyes. Uh so yeah, I mean things will get resilient, you know, with with your upper coach and will adapt almost, right? As long as you don't have big swings, right? Stay consistent and again we already know, right? The range is just so much and you play within that range, you're going to be okay. I think you made a great point, too, that [music] it's nice to have one of those certain species or corals in your tank that you treat as like a canary in a coal mine. You kind of look out for it. If you see those changes, [music] then it's maybe time to go back, recalibrate some things, take a closer look. We've talked about the corals. Now, let's talk about some of my favorite parts of reef tanks. Let's talk about these fish. You have a large selection of fish in this tank, but as [music] I mentioned to you, I have not seen much aggression. I've seen a lot of really happy fish. Let's talk about the group of fish we have. We have a ton of fish in here. Yeah. Yeah. No, thanks. Uh and [music] and also kind of, you know, very intentioned selection. Um, most of these guys are workers, you know, they they take care of this environment and and [music] this is, you know, you can get away with a little candy here and there, you know, but for the most part, these guys, they they take care of of things that we don't get to. Uh, all the tanks, [music] um, most of them went in here together. Why? We don't see uh any kind of, you know, friction between them. [music] Uh, rasses. I love the rasses. You know, they have to take care of of of their jobs. [music] Um there may be room for more. [laughter] Um and and you know I I I like the idea of schooling u [music] which we haven't had a really great success but then I had one pyramid butterfly pyramid in here and I went to my local and he had just uh a recent delivery and he had a couple more and I looked at him I was like you know I've seen pyramids actually school and I was like let me try but now two of them gotten so large that I I I somewhat a little regret. Although, I got to tell you, one of the most graceful species here fish. How how [music] incredible, you know, their behavior is and and really how they get along with everyone else. It it's it's [music] truly stunning to me. But yeah, I mean, it looks like it's a lot to folks, but here here I'll tell you something that's going to stun people. You see this here? There's so much activity going on. When the lights go down, there's not a fish in sight. Wow. Okay. So, I want trun people who are going to watch this to suck this in. This is what saves and prolongs the life of your fish. They need the place to be out of sight. Okay. When when so they think that's the dangerous time. That's when the predators come out. When the lights go out, predators come out, right? We don't have predators here, but but nature tells them to hide. And [music] and this is what this canvas is. Some people ask me always, "Oh, what's the atmosphere?" There was you don't see it now, but there's a lot of tunnels. There's a lot of places for them to just disappear and it's remarkable. Hopefully one day I'll catch there's a moonlight that comes in. Uh and I don't stay up that late but but but few times that I did see it is it's quite something. It it takes your breath away because you don't see a living species [music] in here. Well, fish uh and and that's that's what it is. That's that's [music] what I would suggest to people when you build your tanks. Think about it because these things have to hide. Yeah. It's hard to believe, you know, with the bustle of the reef tank going on right now. There's so many moving pieces going on and then well like you said when lights go off everything kind of finds a way to hide away. I saw a couple of particular fish that I was kind of interested to hear from you. Saw a copper band and also saw an aptasia eaten file fish. Are we using those for certain reasons? Absolutely. Make no mistake about it. Theasia um filefish, you know, they they they change on you. So I had one uh some years ago did his job of course turned to euphilia right [music] and the guy had to go thankfully I I I I I I got him and brought him to the store donated and then he went to do other [laughter] people's bidding. Uh so then of course I had another explosion and as you know it's it's it's not easy with the copper bands. Uh, I've tried years ago a few times and I said, you know, you just got to at some point you just got to stop, right? You have to stop if it's not truly happening. And luckily for me, I think maybe about a year ago, I stumbled on this guy and I saw his posture, his action, you know, his how he was behaving in the tank in the yoga fest. I was like, I think this is guy is talking to me. I brought him home and both are doing the job. Nice. No option in sight. not, you know, not not of that past uh Aasia relatives. Uh they they're incredible. Truly remarkable. It's a blessing. So, I hope they're here for the long haul. You've got some older fish in here, too. You've been, like you said, reefing for a bit of time. Yeah. How old are some of the fish in the tank? Obviously, there's some newcomers that have come into the system, but what about some of the oldest fish? Yeah, I I I am mostly proud, of course, the yellow tank is my OG. [music] The yellow tank um is going to be actually 16 years [music] old in April. So, it's it's it's one of the first fish that I ever acquired. He came in here 1 in. Uh and the poor guy, I mean, he went through it all with with nitrates probably going like 200 uh and more when I went to the LF and I said, "Can you test my water?" And like, "You should have nothing living in your system." I was like, "Well, I do have a handful of fish." And they're like, "Oh my god, they mutated now." Uh so, he's still with us thankfully. Uh, you know, I think I just pointed out I think he's Hawaiian [music] uh guy. Yeah. The rest of them about 6 five years old I think average fish here except you know a few additions here and there but we don't we don't really acquire much fish. Uh there have been few tries and fails unfortunately recently um you know which which I've learned my own. You know, [music] sometimes the excitement needs to be tampered, you know, about the ambition, you know, as as ambitious as you get. Um, you know, you have to understand and feel the reality and connection to the system uh and respect it, right? Because it's going to bite you back. Absolutely. People tend to forget how long some of these fish can live. I mean, they live longer than our dogs can kind of, right? So, it's they are truly like you had said part of the family. What are we feeding the fish? It's it's that's the other that's the other happiness to the fish I'll tell you. One of course is to have them, you know, place to hide when the time comes and food. In order to have your happy fish, you got to feed heavy. And I know people have kind of be because how they deal with nutrient expert, but I feed heavy, you know, we give them uh three sheets of nori every day. They they have to graze especially the tanks, you know, they but everybody actually everybody here they graze on a on a nori and whatever, you know, flies around. Everybody's little little guys picking it up on that as well. So that's every day it's a must. Um and in the evening we give them frozen frozen food. Uh few times a week I throw some pellets down. You know good mix of different different types of pellets. U shout out to benefits. Incredible incredibly clean food. Truly truly uh you know after so many years actually having fish for just 10 years and now in in a reef um if you think about what it is you're adding to your tank, you have to be very intentional about it, but you have to feed your stock. You don't feed them, you'll see problems, you know. So feed heavily um to make sure that they're happy, that there's no aggression and that they do what needs to be done, you know. Cleanup crew, what are we doing for cleanup crew? I know some of the fish, right? They're part of that cleanup crew. You yourself are part of that cleanup crew. But what are we doing for some of the inverts in the tank? So, so there's not a whole lot. There's there's few crabs in there. Uh, you know, snails, the usual go-to guys. Again, had a big army. Little by little, you know, you see things dino off and some popping up, of course, also, you know, from from little tubos to to becoming a little larger. Um there's there's there's two uh starfish starfish. Uh the red serpent is in there which I think just scavenges everything. You know I had few little fish disappear. You don't see even a remnant. You don't see you don't see any remains coming [laughter] out. You know occasionally I you know wake up in the morning and you see somebody stuck in a wave maker. That hasn't been the case in years. I don't remember last time I've seen someone. Yeah. So even if we got we got somebody you know disappearing on us they they never resurface. Uh so that's that's the extent not nothing ever really. The fish do most of the cleaning here. I [music] think that is great great great workers. You're talking a little bit about nutrient export. Let's get to some people's favorite part of the whole show. What's underneath the hood? Let's talk a little bit about what we got underneath the tank. What's making this whole system tick? Yeah, it's it's it's quite about it's quite a bit. It's it's elaborate. I I'll say this right there this there's people again on many sides of this you know some simple is better they like simplicity I happen to be on the other side you know I think the more elaborate because of again it's your sort of track rates your experience right and what I have learned is the more sort of elaborate uh system nutrient expert life support as I call it you have the better success upstairs you know So, we have a very large uh skimmer, right? I'm team Bashi. Love Bash C. Steve, shout out. Amazing. You know, it's it it does its job. It's it's just a monster, you know, sucking all this stuff out. Um there's there's number of um roller mat, a must. People, you know, kind of iffy a little about it. It's it's it's something that we we absolutely feel it has to be in the system no matter how fast you have to run through them. Uh we have something called biopace reactor uh ra not not particularly new but I think in a reefing system like you know people remember the old biopellets something a little different. It's not pellets per se but it's it's you're creating this this space really for tumbling uh bacteria that eats away at the stuff you don't want in your system. Um and and we're still in that a little bit of a trial I think with with Steve with Bashi. Uh but it's I think it's doing the job, you know, because again, you know, it's a heavily heavily stock system and you know, we do run up nutrients, you know, 40 uh 40 ppm, you know, and and fast run up to 0.1. Uh so we we see that we're tinkering right maybe there where where you could get into a danger zone, right? So we know when to roll back on on on certain things. Um but but otherwise it's it's it's it's a lot really that I think is is is necessary. It's truly necessary. So a lot of investment went into it. And then you also have a refugeium down there. One of my favorite things in the world. Some red mangroves. I really like seeing that. Probably not, you know, with their size. People kind of get the misconception that they put a little small red mangrove down there. It's going to suck out all this nutrients. I am interested to hear from you though. Are you constantly running that light on your refugeium 24/7 or is it the same schedule as the tank itself? How are we kind of doing that? Yeah. No. So, so you're right. Uh and and we'll show we'll show the mangroves and they've been in the system now for about coming up on 6 years. So, I read up, you know, that they do supposed to suck out some of it. Hopefully, they're doing the job. Uh and maybe the sul sulfur denaturator is helping them. Uh but so the light is on now. It alternates, right? alternates from the light uh above here. This light goes out, that light comes on. I again I'm having some, you know, mixed uh reaction with KO, you know, it's melting that it's not melting. So, there's something going on a little bit around that and and and yeah, no, it's I I think I think it's another piece that that's necessary. People if about refugeiums, you know, but you you put your pods in there, right? And and it's so so critical actually people underappreciate what what that little life system also creates for you. How how much of a laborous workforce that is. It's marginal, you know, investment. If you stay consistent with it, you're going to start seeing results. And that's what my copas live. You know, I I try to add them once or tw or every two months. Um, but I attribute a lot of sort of great uh results and outcomes because of that refugeium. So, aside from the refugeium, right, I did a [music] DIY DIY reactor, you know. Oh, yeah. Just throw ice around, put some cater in there and try it. I used to I used to run two CO2 scrubbers and I was like, I think one is good enough. Let me readapt this and try. You know what? And I saw little marginal truck, you know. Um, that's about the UV sterilizer, too. Are you running UV consistently? Two of them. Two UVs. One I run is Aqua, uh, you know, 57 watt. And the other one is Vectin. I don't know if you you heard of Vectton, right? This is the larger one. And I got to tell you, it's it's a promising piece of equipment. I recently stumbled. This this thing is about a year old only on this tank. Uh, but you know what? have noticed my the Achilles the spottings drop tremendously. Wow. And and I attribute it I think to this to this piece of equipment. Sure. You know u they're so I mean the carers are so susceptible to them. My the one I had for a while you know I told you for about 5 years he he would go 3 months with [music] the spotting two weeks without it. Three months with it two weeks without it. Then I was like, I wish I could just, you know, kind of get them to stabilize. [music] Um, and and yeah, and sulfur react, you know, sulfur denaturator. I think people people are afraid of them, but they it's such an easy and reliable machine, you know, that that does the job. You know, the little drip drip drip. Uh, and [music] and you know, if you do calcium reactor, there's no reason for you not to be able to do that, right? Right. I do the cal uh calcium, magnesium, uh and I do the cal reactant and I do the calcs. Gotcha. Okay. So, [music] there's there's a lot that goes into actually feed feed the needs of the system because there's a lot of consumption. You are a man of many reactors at this point. I think this is the most reactors we've probably seen on the channel at this point. The other thing too is these tanks have gotten so smart, right? You know, I think a lot of time people get a little overwhelmed. You know, they see everything that's going on. You talked about the controller. How has that been super important for you? You know, the apex itself and I see you're utilizing the doses as well. You know, how has the automation been a big change for you in your reef keeping journey? Oh, it's it's it's incredible. It's hard to even, you know, fully synthesize and put into words because again I I I say this and and maybe it sounds funny to people, but it's like, you know, think about your car. Think about, you know, sort of how much progress we have made from the car that was on the road 20 years ago and where we are today, you know. So, not to say that you need to be in a Tesla with autopilot, but you know, even your other regular car, your Toyota Camry with all the technology, you know, with the with the lane assist, you know. So, here, same thing. It just creates this additional layer of support that's going to allow you to lean back somewhat, right? Not be so sure yourself because yeah, it is it's still a very expensive hobby and we want we want it to be more affordable for folks, right? [music] Uh and one way to protect all of this investment is for you to actually invest a little more upfront, right? And and have a controller. You know, the controller does everything everything. You know, I said water change, but also write all the additives, uh measuring or the par the critical parameters for you. You know, [music] it's it's something, you know, that I glance on few times a day, you know, at my app to make sure things are in order. You know, if things are in order, you know, I have a peace of mind. Yeah. Right. like you're traveling this week coming up and it's the ability to kind of sit back and not be exactly super hyperfocused thinking like what's going on with the tank. I saw you also had cameras underneath as well. Exactly. Yeah. You have your cameras. You you you know you a little peekaboo. Make sure that you know everything isn't there, the right water levels and all that good stuff. Uh and and you [music] just you you let it go, you know, just make sure the somebody is feeding your fish. Um, I'm I'm still not fully on the frozen autofrozen stuff. Although I'm I'm I'm I've tried I did my own uh kind of autofrozen attempt with with with the doors and that's why that's there actually. I put a little fridge there and I put stuff in there. Uh I did I did it for about 10 days and it it was pretty good but u what I realized is the fridge wasn't cold enough. So I have to question people about it. [music] Um, the new AF4, which one one of the newest products that's hit the market. I recently put one on my tank. Did you? It's intrigued. I'm intrigued. I love it. I might have to go. It's honestly one of, you know, there's so many things I feel like in reef keeping that we constantly run into that are, you know, new hot items. Like the roller mat, I feel like for a lot of us, was this like groundbreaking technology. We don't have to use socks anymore. This is amazing. I love it. The AF4 was honestly one of those that really struck me the right way because the ability to feed your fish frozen food throughout the course of the day is something that's tough to do, right? Like you tried to set up your own system and a lot of people are able to do it, but the one thing that always got me was the fact that there would be some food left in the line. You can't flush it. The nice thing with the AF4 is it's a parastoaltic pump that runs backwards and forwards and flushes it every single time. So, something for you to look at. Absolutely. Definitely check that out. Yeah, they're they're great. But I've seen a lot of Brightwell products littered throughout this area. Let's talk a little bit about what we're dosing for the tank and why you leaned into Brightwell. And it seems like Brightwell everything, right? Yeah. Yeah. No, you're right. Great pickup. Uh Brightwell, I'll tell you what it was. 15 years ago, almost 16 years ago, when I got my first tank, [music] knew nothing about the products, you know, who's what, but you know, we were in in the local store where where the tank came from. And the folks there, good folks, just gave me [music] some brighter products. Said, "This is what you're going to use." And when I looked on the shelf, I didn't see much else quite frankly there. [music] Uh, and and what what I share with people is I stuck around with it. You know, it it did the job. Uh and to me [music] it's it's a trusted source you know of longevity, sustainability, continuity everything sort of that we pursue. Uh so Brightwell uh products uh you know they just stand out because of that longevity uh and really experience that they have uh in the space that that they trust the partner. I forgot to ask you too the lights. What are we running for lights up top and then what's the schedule on them? Yeah, the lights uh it's it's it's a combo of things going on here. Uh I I started off, you know, from [music] the transfer on the 90galon, we had the hydras. We had two hydras and 160 the prime. Uh so when things came over here, I added two more hydras first uh with the reef bright. So I only had the blue xho reef brights and [music] I said, you know, we're going to start growing things. seemed a little bit sp wasn't, you know, too diluted, right? Uh so we started intensifying [music] and my philosophy has become has been for a little while now is you have to blanket the corals, not torch them, right? So it's not about just increasing your intensity of your lights and hitting them straight down. It's creating this sort of big envelope, a shield almost around them. So the next phase for me [music] was to add castles. So I added four more castles 360s and [music] you know felt sort of like people they they're famous for the shimmer. Wasn't the shimmer. It was really that soft [music] blanket of light. Uh and I I mean I immediately started seeing things like just like perking up and just like expanding rapidly, you know, starting growing into each other. Um, and the last edition was the uh XHO 50/50 because I'm a big fan of [music] white uh color in the in the midst of all the blue with LED, you know, kind of again getting a little bit more natural. Although, you know, naturally they all everything is brown, right? Uh but but you know, don't really love the a lot of blue LEDs. So, that was the idea behind that. So, it gave create a little bit of a good balance. I'm the same way. I know a lot of people love their Gucci mode, you know, ramping up and ramping down at the end of the day. The blues is really nice, but the way you have set up your schedule personally to me kind of, you know, tickles me fancy because I love the coloring that gets showcased on the fish and the corals. And then let's talk about the numbers. Y we've got a tank that in my opinion is extremely packed full. What are the numbers that are making this thing work? Yeah, it's Yeah, the standard your standard barrier, you know, [music] the the out we run between eight to nine. Uh I say anywhere in that range, you're good. Yeah. Um the calcium about 450 most of the time. Uh and mag usually around 1,400, you know, again kind of sweet [music] spot uh there. Um and I' I've been neglected to tell you you asked about Brightwell and sort of stuff we [music] run. um restore and replenish you know because all of this eats up so so much element you know so much little basic [music] elements that you have to maintain you know restore replenish has been tremendous here [music] uh so I I use that a lot uh ko grow you know that's just a must because I'm melting [laughter] quite a bit here [music] uh and and the what's that one yeah I'm terrible a little sometimes with the name microbacttor 7, you know, it it's just constant. [music] I I have them on autopilot uh including the three gallon water change every night automatically and this way I don't have to really touch other things, you know. Um [music] but I do of course once a month I I do a uh ICP test and the very little you know elements those I I I get from uh ATI you know I go with ATI. One other thing I was curious to ask you too is feeding the corals. You're obviously doing a lot of different things to make sure that everybody is fed in here. There's a lot of mouths to feed. Is there any specific foods that you really like to use for your corals themselves? Yeah, I so no spot feeding. Uh I I I like benefits, you know, again because I think the corals get some of it, whatever the fish doesn't consume. Uh I think the fish really are the biggest feeders once in a while. Uh of course, you know, I do the OG pal pipe reefs. [music] Um and of course, you know, from Bright, they just actually came out with incredible u what is it? Coral Coral Inertia. M coral inertia, you know, it's the new AB+ stuff here and and it's I think the reaction is incredible, you know, but I'm I'm I'm very slow, you know, I don't I don't I don't I don't thrust myself too much into that. Again, just sort of allowing the nature dictate, [music] you know, I correct the course, right? So, I I try not to over over, you know, emphasize myself in in any way. You know, for me it's of course correction mostly and not I'm not the driving force of how the system comes together. Okay. Now, let's talk about the maintenance for this tank. You know, obviously you got to maintain this beautiful system. Let's talk a little bit about the salt you use, water changes and everything kind of in between. Yeah. Um the salt is similar bright. Um again, just just steady consistency, steady, you know, trusted [music] um trusted source and and can't go wrong. um on the you know so the water change I mentioned but I'll say it again you know three gallons in every [music] night three gallons out um I think it gives me about 10% a week or so um but it's it's I haven't had to really you know occasionally I I'll sift some sand uh manually uh the diamond goi does that quite quite well um and really you know it just it's on autopilot for the most part which in part I'll tell you what caused my trouble with saloon to begin with. Uh I was I was just you know a little bit [music] negligible in that regard which you know I was personally also so consistent with it. So just checking making sure your equipment works uh you know on the weekends and and and just adding stuff that needs to be added. But otherwise as far as maintenance I tell you because of you know how system is set up it's largely on autopilot now. And then we're talking a little off camera. This tank is super full. We've got some big fish. We've got a little bit more space here in the house and we've thought about doing a bigger system. If you had an idea in mind, you did say too, and I think it's important for everyone to hear it as well. Even with a big tank. Yeah. As soon as a reefer gets their system, it almost feels like all of us say the same thing. Man, I could have gone bigger. Yeah. Man, I could go bigger. So, let's talk a little bit about the idea of what you would want to do and also the potential idea of, you know, putting a sum space down below. Yeah. Um, you know, as much as I love this this space here, again, like I told you, I I I let it go because it was an experiment, right? for me uh you know this is still sort of a bachelor's degree and I feel like I'm about to graduate and and I want to enter maybe a graduate school for my masters and that would entail uh maybe going slightly bigger than this although we don't have very huge space in this house I think I'm might be allowing myself uh a little bit space to the side a little bit in the front uh just again just to [music] have other exploration ideas you know how this uh system can flourish, you know, in in its form now and what else is conceivably [music] possible. Uh so that that's something that I'm contemplating now, but we'll see. I don't want to let let out too much. We got to keep people interested. And you know, and I'll tell you also, I I like to inspire folks, you know, uh I am I'm an amateur and and I say it proud, [music] you know, that everyone can do this here. You had a great video actually you put up a couple of days ago, you know, where you go from standard to stunning. That's right. Standard to stunning, you know, and it kind of it kind of caught me, you know, because this is what we all can do, you know. Everybody can do it. I said there's nothing special about me. I learned this with process. I learned watching other [music] folks who were pretty good at this stuff, you know. So that's that's what's uh intrigues you about what else [music] can you do, you know, you challenge yourself. Uh but yeah, like I told you, uh as much of an elaborate life support is here underneath this tank. [music] The idea is uh for to free up a little bit of the maintenance [laughter] uh is to drop [music] it potentially downstairs. So maybe I'll have you back, guys, and you'll see what the next iteration of all this uh might be. It's amazing to see a tank like this coming from someone you're you're humble in my opinion when you're talking about your tank cuz I think you've done an amazing job. And if this is just the bachelor's degree, I'm very excited to see what comes next with the masters and all of that. I ask every single person, it was one of my favorite things that Jake Adams did whenever he would come into a home and do a tank tour. He would always ask them, if you give a piece of advice for someone getting into reef keeping, you know, someone that's starting out, someone that just walked into a local fish store and they're starting to get ready to set up a saltwater tank, what would that piece of advice be? Yeah. [music] And and I tell you I I I share it widely quite often and that is and that is pick your guide. Pick your guide. Right? Think about when you walk into this hobby is like the my analogy is like you walk into a forest. Okay? And if you don't have someone to help you navigate the terrain, uh you're bound to get lost. Okay? That's [music] just the nature of it. It's not very complicated but it becomes so much easier when you can actually you know watch somebody who you believe and trust [music] right um and look look at what they have done that's the other thing right look at their system not just the bubble heads you know respectfully this people you know they talk all kinds of games and the truth is look at their canvas you know if you like what they've done if you see the track record if you see that [music] big runway you know that they've invested themselves into it and they Ultimate it's a big commitment you know but it's a good commitment. It's it's that life balance, [music] you know, then at night when everyone goes to bed and you sit here for a half hour and you just like completely decompress, you know, you just dive you almost you diving in your, you know, in your coral reef somewhere, you know, on a great barrier reef, who knows? I mean, whatever. You close your eyes and you open them and you're sitting in front of it. There's no better feeling, you know, all all the problems going to go away. [music] So, but yeah, I I say choose your guide and choose them wisely and stick with them and and listen to them and try things. Don't be afraid, you know, don't be afraid to try uh different things because there is a little bit of, you know, there's there's good, you know, range of things that that [music] it will permit you. But do not go out of those bounds. You know, if you if you start disrespecting the the the b, you know, the lanes, the balance of them, and then you you're going to get in trouble. For sure. I think we really do take these tanks for granted at times. What we're able to create in our homes. I I challenge you for everyone that's listening at home. If you have your reef tank [music] tonight, like John just said, take a minute, sit down, and really just soak it in, really enjoy it, cuz I feel like at times I don't do the exact same thing. I sometimes take it all for granted. But John, I just want to say thank you again. This has been awesome to be able to stop in, check out your system, learn from you, and there's always something new to learn. If you guys want to see more of this tank, you can do a couple things. You can either rewind this video, watch it all over again, or you can head over to his Instagram page, Midnight Reef, and you can see all kinds of amazing videos. You can send him a message. You can talk with him. But if you guys have any other questions, too, about this system. Feel free to drop them down in the comments below. This has been an awesome one. 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