Uptown Reef

04/29/2024

Not surprised that saltwater fish keepers are as small a proportion as shown here.

Surprised to see saltwater fish keepers equal to horses, though!

I wonder how many saltwater reef keepers with coral there are amongst the 2 million saltwater fish number?

Visualization from

08/01/2023

Long overdue tank update. Everything is looking great. Our clam withered away a few weeks ago. Letting the shell be overtaken by zoas now. Making trace element corrections over the next couple weeks. Worked through a pH probe calibration issue recently as well. I highly recommend the Apera pen off Amazon. Even after calibrating 2 Milwaukee probes and they matching perfectly in their readings, they are still reading .15 low. I slowly adjusted pH over the past couple months while picking up the Apera probe. Once calibrated, the Apera confirmed that my adjustments to pH by way of coral response characteristics got me pretty darn close to my target of 8.3. I had to further adjust the Apex to compensate for the poor probe readings but now everything has been looking 🍒 the past 2 weeks of stability.

06/22/2023

This yellow tip has started growing it’s 🎆 tips and is looking delicious!

06/18/2023

What tool do you trust when it comes to salinity? I use this glass hydrometer made by Tropic Marin every couple months to make sure my electronic testing tools are measuring accurately.

06/17/2023

How long is too long?
How long do you let your skimmer run between cleanings?
Me, too long, this time.

02/07/2023

Tony keeps watch on the parameters and air quality while we’re away.

01/30/2023

Changed over the first of 2 return pumps to a SDC today. Finally following the whale after dealing with constant pump stoppage ever couple months. I’ll change the other pump the next time it quits or when I have another maintenance day planned.

10/23/2022

We installed the ERV air exchanger today. Indoor air quality for the family and the pets.

09/03/2022

👀😂

08/23/2022

One of our favorite pieces in the tank. This chalice is a stunner!

08/22/2022

08/20/2022

Upgraded the kalkwasser reservoir today. Hopefully able to go a couple weeks between refills now.

08/20/2022

Long over due tank update. Everything looks as good as it’s ever been. Visible growth of everything week after week. Holding steady with simple kalkwasser with pH pinned at 8.3 24/7.

08/04/2022

Chris Meckley from has been flipping the script in terms of primary parameters to stabilize and target in our reef tanks. We’ve started to focus on stable 8.3 pH rather than focusing on alkalinity stability and Uptown Reef has never thrived like it is now. We’re using our Apex to controller the DOS heads that are dosing primarily kalkwasser to maintain pH. Due to the volume of kalkwasser required to accomplish 8.3 pH 24/7, we also supplement the dosing using a small amount of sodium hydroxide. This relieves the duty of the kalkwasser since our daily evaporation rate is less than the volume of dosing. If we didn’t do this, our system would overflow everyday all over the floor. Our corals have amazing coloration, polyp extension, and noticeable growth week over week. Our montipora seem to be growing at 2x the rate they were, our SPS are branching more every week and the bases are puddling with a sense of urgency. Meanwhile, our alkalinity has fluctuated since starting this pH focus. As we began to control dosing using only pH we saw alkalinity spike over 13 dkh! We trusted in what Chris’ method teaches and maintained patience. The alkalinity has been slowly coming down as the carbonic acid in our system is converted to carbonates via the hydroxide reactions. The alkalinity is cruising in the high 10’s as of today. As we approach the mid-8’s we’ll likely add a bicarbonate dosing head to stabilize alkalinity. If you have any questions about this method of reef tank stability, send us a message.

07/22/2022

Changing flavors this weekend.

06/09/2022

Excited to polish the water with the new .aquatics ReefMat.

05/26/2022

Gorgeous, big, bright piece of chalice that is fitting right in down on Uptown Reef. **er

05/26/2022

What’s your favorite section of your reef? Are there certain fish that like to hangout there?

05/26/2022

Some digitata, some setosa, and a chunky bimac anthias. It’s great to have a reef again.

05/25/2022

Just finished planting the entire Uptown Reef in one trip to - insane store you must stop by if/when you’re in OKC. We recently moved and the current build has culminated to the beginning of the grow out. Follow us to see how the next iteration of Uptown Reef develops! **er

05/04/2022

The ugly phase in in full effect down on Uptown Reef these days. Going to do a chemiclean treatment this weekend. First fish should be added in the next week or two along with an assorted cleanup crew.

04/17/2022

Progress continues.

Figured I’d make Jake proud and ditch all the cliche hard plumbing for the supple and less restrictive spa plumbing. It looks sleek, if you ask me. And a change to the typical look you see these days.

This morning I added the rock scape to the tank, filled it up half way to keep the rock alive while I plumbed the rest of the system, hung the light hood, hung the lights, dry fitted the exterior plumbing, and pulled the wires for the circuits, lights, and switch for the fishroom power and lighting.

04/17/2022

We’ve been making progress on the Uptown Reef build lately. Tentative plumbing is roughed in, walls are up, dry walled, primed, and painted. Next step is to move some electrical, finish the plumbing, fill it up, run the fresh air line from outside for the skimmers, and build a platform for the DSB/refugium. Hope to have water in and the system running in the next week or two. The filtration rock and scape have been cycling for several weeks now. Looking forward to having it all in view soon!

04/01/2022

We’re getting closer! The filtration room is framed in and the floating canopy is hung.

03/19/2022

The beast is in place. The build continues…

03/19/2022

Moving day today. Excited. Nerve wracking.

03/16/2022

Took delivery of Uptown Reef’s new glass box from the epic team at Big shoutout to and his team for a premium build and delivery experience. Class act there in Tennessee.

03/14/2022

The floor for the filtration and beneath the tank is coated and the rocks are cycling. Let the build continue!

03/12/2022

Expecting delivery soon!

03/06/2022

The future home of Uptown Reef. Should have the rock wet and the cycle begun by the end of the week.