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Matt's 20L College Reef (Retired)


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Nice steal that mille! It looks beautiful, I'm sure even better in person

 

Indeed it is! My girlfriend noted that I forgot to mention SHE was the one who bought it for me. Whoops :blush:

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dallasprstn
The more pictures the better! I'm actually trying to type less and post more pictures lately. Everyone likes pictures! To answer your question, I've ordered from them twice now. I've had one good experience, and one bad (aiptasia, which I thankfully took care of before they spread). They have a great reputation, so I'm going to chalk that first bad experience as a fluke. They also have a truly amazing selection of corals. I'll order from them again sometime this summer. The only thing is, most websites have a minimum order total you need to reach before they'll ship to you. For Vivid Aquariums, it's $150 before taxes and shipping. If you order less than $150, the shipping rate goes way up, depending on where you live. If you order at least $150, it's $20 flate rate overnight shipping.

 

Sweet! thanks, i'm gonna go check out their sps and maybe order a few frags for my new tank in a month or two. :happy:

 

btw, that millepora looks suhweet! any sps colonies in my area(even the ugly brown ones) are like $60-$80. So, i always get the $19.99 frags, only cool thing is that they are buy three get one free!

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Sweet! thanks, i'm gonna go check out their sps and maybe order a few frags for my new tank in a month or two. :happy:

 

btw, that millepora looks suhweet! any sps colonies in my area(even the ugly brown ones) are like $60-$80. So, i always get the $19.99 frags, only cool thing is that they are buy three get one free!

 

Colonies normally go for that much where I live as well. I have no idea why the Mille was that cheap. I'm not complaining though! :happy: I normally just buy frags too, since I prefer watching stuff grow into big colonies rather than starting out with big colonies, but I couldn't pass up that deal.

 

That's also a pretty sweet deal for the buy 3 get 1 free. My tank would be fully stocked in a heart beat if my lfs did that :P

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Well after thinking about for a couple weeks, I think I've decided to go back to T5s. I love the LEDs I have, and I am getting good growth, but some of the colors aren't really coming out that well (blues, pinks, purples). I'm pretty sure it's because I don't have enough blue light in my setup. I have no idea how many more stunner strips it would take before they started having more of an effect in providing the proper color spectrum, so instead of playing a guessing game and potentially wasting a bunch of money, I decided to make the switch back to a tried and true setup.

 

I ordered a 24" 4x24W Sunlight Supply Tek fixture, along with 1 Purple+, 1 Coral+, and 2 Blue+ bulbs. The good thing is, if I don't like the light these will put out, I can always try a different combination. I hope they'll get here by this week. Marindepot usually gets stuff to me in 2 days even with ground shipping, but I put in a big order for a bunch of other stuff too so we'll see.

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Playing around with a borrowed DSLR camera. Still haven't figured it out, but I think I'm getting better. More pictures later B)

 

Acans

IMG_5104.jpg

 

Clownfish in Torch Coral

IMG_5136.jpg

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I got my lights today! I had to make a couple trips to Home Depot to get the fixture situation sorted out. The conduit I used to hold up the LEDs wouldn't hold up the T5 fixture. It was way bigger than I thought it would be. I picked up some mounting brackets and with the help of my girlfriend, got it all set up. I love the light it's putting out. The corals look good, and I'm sure they'll look even better in a couple of weeks.

 

FTS with the lights

IMG_5227.jpg

 

More torch pictures! These seem to be the only pictures coming out nicely with the borrowed DSLR camera I'm using.

IMG_5216.jpg

 

IMG_5233.jpg

 

Birdsnest

IMG_5231.jpg

 

Acans looking good after a couple weeks

IMG_5226.jpg

 

This acan has been in my tank for over a month now and hasn't shown any signs of splitting. :tears:

IMG_5225.jpg

 

Blue mille... still can't figure out the settings for this

IMG_5223.jpg

 

Cerith snail

IMG_5221.jpg

 

Here's a cool pic I managed to take with my phone. Whammin Watermelons. I think they're morphing to a more yellow skirt than a green one.

IMG_0445.jpg

 

Just saw one of my acans eating an unlucky dwarf cerith.

IMG_5238.jpg

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Nice lights! How are you liking that colour combo? I need new bulbs but don't know which ones I want. The ones I have now are 2 x 10000k and 2 violet bulbs, and when the white turns on it is SO white. I don't like it, but they were free so hey.

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Nice lights! How are you liking that colour combo? I need new bulbs but don't know which ones I want. The ones I have now are 2 x 10000k and 2 violet bulbs, and when the white turns on it is SO white. I don't like it, but they were free so hey.

 

I love the color combo. It has a nice blue tint to it, but not so blue that it looks completely unnatural. The colors really pop. I'm sure in a few weeks everything will look even better. What kind of look are you going for? More white or more blue?

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I can finally see pink on my pink millepora. Bout time! I didn't think the new lights would have such a dramatic effect so soon after setting them up. No complaints here though! I wish I could get a picture but as is usually the case, I have camera issues.

 

Also, I think I'm going to pick up a Skunk Cleaner Shrimp next week sometime after I take my MCAT.

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Glad you're having good results with the new gear :) I'm aiming for a blue look, similar to what I have with my LEDs... Probably about a 14/15k look? Is that what you would say you have? I'd say what I have now is like... 10/11k and I'm not a fan.

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Glad you're having good results with the new gear :) I'm aiming for a blue look, similar to what I have with my LEDs... Probably about a 14/15k look? Is that what you would say you have? I'd say what I have now is like... 10/11k and I'm not a fan.

 

I'd say mine is a little more blue than that. Probably around 17,000K.

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coachfraley

Tank is looking sweet Matt. You have a lot of nice pieces in there.

 

Have you been cleaning the back wall? Or is just that clean?

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Tank is looking sweet Matt. You have a lot of nice pieces in there.

 

Have you been cleaning the back wall? Or is just that clean?

 

Thanks! It has come a long way in 4 months. I'm looking forward to just watching things grow out for a while now before adding anything else.

 

The walls stay pretty clean. I used to have to scrape every day, but as the tank has become more established, I have found that algae buildup only becomes noticeable after 4-5 days. The back wall isn't spotless though like the picture makes it look--that's just the camera losing some detail on the dark surface.

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Hmm I'm getting a little frustrated with the lack of coralline growth I'm seeing so far. I figured around the 4 month mark it would be growing like crazy but I still only have a few patches here and there. Anyone have some suggestions? I don't know what else I can do. I have just switched to T5s after trying out LEDs for a little over a month--maybe they weren't getting the job done? All parameters seem like they would support coralline growth:

 

NO3/PO4: 0 / 0

Ca: 470ppm

Alk: ~8.3dKH

Mg: ~1420 (although I haven't checked this for a few weeks--will update tomorrow morning)

 

Anyways, more pictures! Everyone loves pictures.

 

Figured I'd try some new angles, so here's a side tank shot. Bubbles on the wall are from a recent water change--whoops.

IMG_0470.jpg

 

MP10 point of view. Hard to tell from that picture but the pink mille is actually really pink now. The purple humilis on the far left has browned out a bit since I got it two weeks ago, but I'm sure it will settle in after a month or two like the other sps seem to be doing. Everything else is doing very well!

IMG_0477.jpg

 

Orange montipora cap. I don't think I'm happy with my cap placement just yet. I'm going to move them up more on this big rock but I've just been to lazy to do so.

IMG_0461.jpg

 

Purple cap looking GREAT under the T5s. These pics are all unedited btw! Also notice the slimer encrusting nicely after a month in the tank.

IMG_0462.jpg

 

Comparison

4-20slimer.jpg

 

The last zoanthid frag came out of quarantine last week, and it's just now starting to open up. I left it in a peroxide dip and forgot about it. It was not happy for a while. I ordered it as a radioactive zoanthid frag but it had some more whammin watermelons on it.

IMG_0460.jpg

 

And here's a random picture I took of the eclipse today. It was a trippy shadow effect on the side of our apartment building

IMG_0457.jpg

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Trying out some new settings on the camera tonight. Any tips from camera pros out there would be much appreciated.

 

Slimer. Looks photoshopped but I only lowered exposure and shadows

IMG_5290-1.jpg

 

IMG_5290-Copy-1.jpg

 

Blue millepora

IMG_5299.jpg

 

Tri-color acan

IMG_5302.jpg

 

Orange acan under actinics. Didn't even have to edit this one

IMG_5278.jpg

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Thank you both. That colony along with the torch coral seem to be the only corals that consistently turn out well when I take pictures.

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Just thought I'd share a quick update since I haven't posted in a few days.

 

I haven't really done much with the tank in the last couple of weeks. I just wanted to let things settle in and start growing. Everything really seems to be taking off! This is good and bad. The good is pretty obvious: I'm getting solid, noticeable growth on most of my corals. My SPS are really taking off, and my acans all of a sudden started growing tons of babies. The bad news is that this new growth is really taking a toll on my parameters--well one parameter, which is alkalinity. I posted a few weeks ago about it being low (~6.5dKH). I started dosing, but apparently not enough. It's still around 7ish, which is acceptable, but I know I'm losing some growth on my stony corals while it's that low. I've bumped up the dosing even more, so that's just something I'll have to keep an eye on.

 

Also, as ridiculous as it sounds, I've been trying for weeks to find somewhere nearby with skunk cleaners or fire shrimp. I have a really good LFS about 30 minutes north--they have all kinds of exotic fish, coral, clams, even a sea apple, but no shrimp! I guess I'll just have to be patient, but it seems weird that I haven't been able to find one of our most common reef tank inhabitants for sale locally in several weeks.

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Just thought I'd share a quick update since I haven't posted in a few days.

 

I haven't really done much with the tank in the last couple of weeks. I just wanted to let things settle in and start growing. Everything really seems to be taking off! This is good and bad. The good is pretty obvious: I'm getting solid, noticeable growth on most of my corals. My SPS are really taking off, and my acans all of a sudden started growing tons of babies. The bad news is that this new growth is really taking a toll on my parameters--well one parameter, which is alkalinity. I posted a few weeks ago about it being low (~6.5dKH). I started dosing, but apparently not enough. It's still around 7ish, which is acceptable, but I know I'm losing some growth on my stony corals while it's that low. I've bumped up the dosing even more, so that's just something I'll have to keep an eye on.

 

Also, as ridiculous as it sounds, I've been trying for weeks to find somewhere nearby with skunk cleaners or fire shrimp. I have a really good LFS about 30 minutes north--they have all kinds of exotic fish, coral, clams, even a sea apple, but no shrimp! I guess I'll just have to be patient, but it seems weird that I haven't been able to find one of our most common reef tank inhabitants for sale locally in several weeks.

 

Good to hear that youve seen a ton of growth!! That's awesome. I'm sure once you figure out exactly how much alk you lose, you'll get the dosing right to keep it at a good level :)

 

Strange that you can't find those shrimp too... I was at my lfs tonight and they had about 30 fire shrimp :P

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6/1/12 update!

 

Alright so it's been a while since I've had any big updates, so I thought I'd start off the month with a new FTS and a random photo dump. Some of these pictures were taken by my iPhone, and some were taken by a DSLR. Most of these photos are untouched, and the others only edited minimally if I felt the original wasn't a true representation of whatever was being photographed. Enjoy!

 

June FTS

IMG_0518.jpg

 

FTS at an angle

IMG_0520.jpg

 

STS

IMG_0522.jpg

 

ORA green birdnest 5 weeks ago...

IMG_0249.jpg

 

...and today

IMG_5446.jpg

 

more of a close up

IMG_5389.jpg

 

Purple & green acans

IMG_5405.jpg

 

Red & blue striped acans

IMG_5383.jpg

 

close up of the red & blue acans

IMG_5385.jpg

 

blue acans with red/orange centers 6 weeks ago...

IMG_0216.jpg

 

...and today

IMG_5377.jpg

 

tri-color acan finally growing babies (you can see one near the bottom of the picture)

IMG_5381.jpg

 

Probably the best picture of the blue mille I've been able to take. It's difficult to photograph blues in an aquarium because of the strong blue lighting

IMG_5395.jpg

 

Pink (brown) millepora 6 weeks ago...

IMG_0228.jpg

 

...and today

IMG_5398.jpg

 

Acropora humilis that arrived bright purple before browning out, but has since regained much of the lost color.

IMG_5400.jpg

 

Future zoanthid garden with...

IMG_0531.jpg

 

...whammin watermelon zoanthids

IMG_5409.jpg

 

...lunar eclipse palythoa (that haven't done much growing at all yet)

IMG_5404.jpg

 

...Lord of the Rings zoanthids that don't really look like the stock picture on the website where I bought them. These are really hard to take a picture of and I feel like this doesn't do them justice. They are a chalky purple color with bright pink circles around the centers

IMG_5402.jpg

 

...radioactive dragon eye zoanthids

IMG_5401.jpg

 

...limeberry & tic-tac zoanthids

IMG_5394.jpg

 

The lone tic-tac zoanthid that has made quite a comeback since I fragged it 2 months ago

IMG_0225.jpg

 

Frogspawn still looking great!

IMG_5418.jpg

 

Monti cap rock. If you check out page 6 you'll see some growth pictures of that green slimer. Since I posted that a week and a half ago it's already grown noticeably more like you see in this picture.

IMG_0533.jpg

 

Ending with another torch/clownfish picture because, for me at least, they never get old

IMG_0524.jpg

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Deleted User 3
6/1/12 update!

 

Alright so it's been a while since I've had any big updates, so I thought I'd start off the month with a new FTS and a random photo dump. Some of these pictures were taken by my iPhone, and some were taken by a DSLR. Most of these photos are untouched, and the others only edited minimally if I felt the original wasn't a true representation of whatever was being photographed. Enjoy!

 

June FTS

IMG_0518.jpg

 

FTS at an angle

IMG_0520.jpg

 

STS

IMG_0522.jpg

 

ORA green birdnest 5 weeks ago...

IMG_0249.jpg

 

...and today

IMG_5446.jpg

 

more of a close up

IMG_5389.jpg

 

Purple & green acans

IMG_5405.jpg

 

Red & blue striped acans

IMG_5383.jpg

 

close up of the red & blue acans

IMG_5385.jpg

 

blue acans with red/orange centers 6 weeks ago...

IMG_0216.jpg

 

...and today

IMG_5377.jpg

 

tri-color acan finally growing babies (you can see one near the bottom of the picture)

IMG_5381.jpg

 

Probably the best picture of the blue mille I've been able to take. It's difficult to photograph blues in an aquarium because of the strong blue lighting

IMG_5395.jpg

 

Pink (brown) millepora 6 weeks ago...

IMG_0228.jpg

 

...and today

IMG_5398.jpg

 

Acropora humilis that arrived bright purple before browning out, but has since regained much of the lost color.

IMG_5400.jpg

 

Future zoanthid garden with...

IMG_0531.jpg

 

...whammin watermelon zoanthids

IMG_5409.jpg

 

...lunar eclipse palythoa (that haven't done much growing at all yet)

IMG_5404.jpg

 

...Lord of the Rings zoanthids that don't really look like the stock picture on the website where I bought them. These are really hard to take a picture of and I feel like this doesn't do them justice. They are a chalky purple color with bright pink circles around the centers

IMG_5402.jpg

 

...radioactive dragon eye zoanthids

IMG_5401.jpg

 

...limeberry & tic-tac zoanthids

IMG_5394.jpg

 

The lone tic-tac zoanthid that has made quite a comeback since I fragged it 2 months ago

IMG_0225.jpg

 

Frogspawn still looking great!

IMG_5418.jpg

 

Monti cap rock. If you check out page 6 you'll see some growth pictures of that green slimer. Since I posted that a week and a half ago it's already grown noticeably more like you see in this picture.

IMG_0533.jpg

 

Ending with another torch/clownfish picture because, for me at least, they never get old

IMG_0524.jpg

 

i loooooooove that birdsnest... omg. SOOO pretty under those lights!

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