What I've Learned From All My Tanks (Successes And Failures)

Today I show you around all of my previous saltwater tanks and tell you about what I got right and what I got wrong.
Buy 3D printed aquarium accessories from my Etsy store: reefdork.etsy....
A select few great reef buys:
RO filter - amzn.to/2Xsq0KQ
Tunze algae magnet - amzn.to/2YydNku
Tunze frag rack - amzn.to/2XrW4d0
Tunze auto top off - amzn.to/2XrEryR
ATM colony - amzn.to/2YDlMwQ
Digital thermometer - amzn.to/2xy145i
Heating controller - amzn.to/2LDhmlB
Activated cardon - amzn.to/2YtLZO6
Coral glue - amzn.to/2XparDP
ICP test - amzn.to/2XsrZ1M
Rowaphos - amzn.to/2Xqx8m6
Red Sea salt - amzn.to/2XqGxub
Some of these links have an affiliate code - so if you make a purchase, I get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you!
For any commercial enquiries, please send me a PM, email me at [e-mail], contact me via Instagram or leave a comment below.

[@cowabungareefer7094]

I actually really like the look of tank2. Bare bottom is always enticing but one I did it in one I hated it and wanted sand lol

[@opethmike]

I will always laugh at 'zoa cock'

[@squidyspecifications7709]

I'm starting my first saltwater tank soon and your videos have been very helpful thank you for making this great reef content! Your tank is lovely and I hope I can have a tank that's just as amazing as yours!

[@kevinw7044]

That trio of pyramid butterflies were very nice.

[@TheSaltyLife]

Great video! I really enjoyed watching your reef journey! It's great seeing where people start! Glad you didnt go bare bottom! Theres no bare bottoms in the sea so why would we have it in our systems. Tank looks great now! Beautiful fish and stunning corals! 😍

[@kernpierre5103]

Awesome... thanks for the tips..I'm still struggling ..."moving the tank not again "😅

[@christemple6311]

Ever thinking of making a discord server?

[@ReefDork]

Never heard of one! Googled it - sounds like a forum? I've recently had to abandon Facebook and Twitter partly because they were too much work. It's a great idea and I'd do it if I had the time. Maybe one day...

[@ZoidbergMustache]

discord.gg/FQt8tS

[@ZoidbergMustache]

This is a nice example of one.

[@christemple6311]

Reef Dork Sorry for the super late reply. It is a very simple forum. You can get some mods to run the server so it will be no work for you. It’s a great way for us subs to get to chat with you and get to chat with each other. I would love to see a Reef Dork Server run by some of your own subs. Just a suggestion tho :)

[@animetronic6689]

If you went bare bottom, then like 40% of your fish stock would be totally different. No wrasses, gobies, or Jawfish!

[@asparagustax9296]

Dont change the background mate, the wallpaper suites the aquarium.

[@LightSearch]

It's the main reason I watch the videos.

[@MrBrohoward71]

I like your tank a lot I just can't deal with looking at the wallpaper behind it just detracts to much from the illusion. If you don't want black why not go opaque

[@tubefeetmackay3693]

well reef dork i think all your tanks were and are fab wish i could do as well in my DD cube its newly setup from the last cube that went wrong with algae in a big way. i think i fed too much and the tank design was bad, with no filtering out the of the crap as the outflow pipes to the sump were flush with the glass so no filter socks roller mat ect. the new tank has a dd clarisea fitted so im hoping onwards and upwards and happy new year to you.

[@robertfrancis2778]

I like the wallpaper. I like a white sand bottom over bare

[@noyn9142]

"Hello fish friends" Me: *cries in human*

[@el_guapo1318]

I actually like that you don't have a black background on the back of your current tank. The wallpaper looks nice. Gives a bit of tropical feel to the background.

[@senthilkumarp3347]

Excellent video, me too had the same experience , but I have not shifted my home rather I upgrade from 15 gallon to 25 gallon then to 60 gallon at present, mine is fish only system ..

[@anupaminthetube]

Great. Thank you.

[@ifger]

Thanks Alex! got a scoop 150 for a 50gal, 20 gal acrylic sectioned sump. old vertex skimmer and a return pump! even got some reefbrites possibly for 50 a strip! lucky kickstart for my QT~!

[@LeeGrill]

I have an oversized skimmer as well. After watching a couple comments from BRS I'm curious if I would have done better with a smaller one.

[@t.regnerus301]

Sigh... par isn't everything.

[@ReefDork]

No, but coverage is 🙂

[@dennisvanopstal7360]

You dont need a black background. You need a plain white wall 😉 I have aquatic turtles and fresh water planted fish tanks. Very VERY interested in getting a reef tank. So i am going through all your videos for information. Thanks for all this valuable information !

[@alexhopkinson7180]

Hi,what's the name of the wrasse at 2.13 please,keep up the great videos

[@ReefDork]

Naoko wrasse

[@blcaldeira]

I actually like it because it doesn't have a background...now I'm gonna set mine up without one..nice wallpaper by the way

[@d1nternal]

Thanks for the par check on the a360!

[@fellowreefer]

Good information and love to learn from your success and mistakes. Thank you for sharing 🙏👏👏

[@11NinjaFish11]

I bet after the BRS Investigates on black vs clear backgrounds, you're glad you didn't paint it black! Love the channel BTW (nice to have some UK Reef-tubers!)

[@ReefDork]

😅

[@fostee1]

Thanks for the vid Reef Dork! Great info within

[@emmanuelV37]

Awesome video and great learnings!! Recently getting into the hobby and so thanks for the advise on rockwork and sheer cliffs!

[@lodgelakes]

Great advice once again..

[@svenpflug1679]

What age is consider a good aged tank as you said a two year old is still new!!

[@ReefDork]

🤣 I mean relative to its journey - it's definitely established at this point but it's got a lot of growing to do.

[@ReefandDive]

Love your tanks!

[@gbj6581]

👍👍👍

[@someone6reefs]

Tank looks sweet great vid 👍🏽😁

[@outworld1075]

How did you get rid of the ulva in your nano?

[@ReefDork]

I didn't! I had to constantly remove it by hand but it kept coming back. A tang would have done the job. I ended up just throwing the rock away

[@ProducerReef]

Nice updates, love from beginning to end....I've been hearing about Siporax, Is it really that good of a Nitrate reducer and build up of bacteria colonies?

[@ReefDork]

It's incredibly effective! I had 10 litres in my eareef 1200s - I had to keep removing some to bring nutrients up

[@NunoHortaa]

Nice video! When you were trying to figure out the aqua scape, on any of these tanks, did you do it before adding fish or have ever done bigger changes with fish and coral in?

[@ReefDork]

On my current tank, I took my time and mapped out the rocks in my LFS, then did the same at home before they went in the tank. Best way to do it by far!

[@Val_Halla777]

👍🙏

[@Theminventur]

first comment gang gang

[@erich8756]

Love the clips 👍 Tanks 2 looked awesome as well. How did you like the Pyramide butterflies or why do you not have them now? Keep it up!

[@ReefDork]

They were cool, but I got bored of them after a while - they're quite bland in the flesh (compared to other butterflies)

[@erich8756]

@@ReefDork OK, didn't expect that. They always look nice on video.

[@88cloudsin1]

Great video, im just curious of why the move was so hard? It's much easier to take everything out of a tank and put it in buckets. I've moved 3 saltwater tanks like that, the biggest was 125 gallons.

[@FlyRenegade_]

tit hehe

[@sunnygoold9449]

That was awesome - really great vid mate

[@AhmedAli88]

I actually love the background in the back at 7:20 ,,, I

[@atfinthehouse8631]

Nice job!

[@tanlony7532]

Ok Alex, I get most algae is bad, but everytime you show that three tier with the macro I just think it's pretty.

[@MaccaWelland36]

Is that the tunze eco chic refugium light?

[@ReefDork]

Yep, 2nd one arrived today

[@MaccaWelland36]

Reef Dork just ordered one for my Fluval evo nano. I couldnt find much info on it so it gives me piece of mind that you are using one, well two 😂

[@ReefDork]

I'll do a review when I've had it a bit longer. My initial impression is that it's great but quite low powered for a tank like mine.

[@athulsonyy]

this is quite late but I saw yellow clown goby in one of the tanks but don't they eat SPS corals?

[@ReefDork]

Yeah, they nibble away at some polyps to make a nest. Happened to me ages ago and I couldn't catch him! Didn't do too much damage but I haven't bought another one since...

[@athulsonyy]

@@ReefDork lol ye they nibbled at my expensive acros 😭

[@karennation3580]

Very interesting to watch, you have come a long way and your current tank is aweome. BUT why havnt you painted the background, since you brought it up? I think the pattern is distracting and black would make it all pop, or even blue would be nice!

[@ReefDork]

I tried a background but didn't like it - I don't even see the wallpaper any more. I'm doing a video about it soon...

[@sasco9608]

in the second tank what where the 3 yellow white and black fish?

[@ReefDork]

Pyramid butterflies?

[@sasco9608]

@@ReefDork thank you they are stunning going to have to get some for my tank did you have any problems with them

[@ReefDork]

@@sasco9608 No, didn't touch any corals. I found them a little boring after 6 months though - they have brown faces, not black so they don't look as cool as they do in the video. In my opinion anyway!

[@pavitanand8223]

What are the blue fish with the yellow fins.?

[@ReefDork]

Got a time stamp?

[@pavitanand8223]

@@ReefDork there are 3 of them in the tank at the 3m10s mark.

[@ReefDork]

@@pavitanand8223 pyramid butterflyfish - supposedly reef safe (they were in my experience)

[@pavitanand8223]

@@ReefDork awesome. i see how i confused things since they are actually white and yellow. the lights made them look light blue and yellow. Similar to that dress gold/blue meme few years ago. Great channel. I will keep watching!

[@marbles351]

2nd comment!

[@marbles351]

I forgot to say great video AGAIN! I didn’t realise you had other big tanks

[@pauldeacon8764]

Hi Alex! I think you're doing really well with it! Apart from the first tank I think all you're tanks looked good!obviously it was all a learning process & your present day tank looks absolutely amazing! well done Alex!! 😀👍