New Coral


Took a trip down about an hour and a half south of here to a guys house that sells coral from his house. Picked up a few new frags.



2nd Green Slimer SPS frag:






Nuclear Green Palys:





Orange Crush Acan frag:






Stylophora SPS:





Neon Kryptonite Candy Canes:

New Salt Mix:



I have been using SeaChem Reef Salt since I started my 75g about 7 months ago, and have been decently pleased with it. However it did have elevated calcium levels (over 500), and left a white film and buildup on everything I mixed with and in. And I just decided that I wanted to try something else. After scouring pages and threads on the internet, I found that everyone had a differing opinion on every salt out there and there was no perfect salt.

A friend and I decided to buy a bucket of Instant Ocean and a bucket of Oceanic and mix the two. It was not going to be an exact 50/50 mix, as the IO was about a 160g bucket and the Oceanic was a 200g bucket.

We poured a little out of each into a big Rubbermaid tub and mixed that little bit up, then repeated over and over again till both buckets were mixed up in the tub. Then we put our hands in the tub and turned it over and over until it was thoroughly mixed again.

I just got through yesterday mixing up a batch for a water change and just thought I would post my numbers for anyone interested.


Used RO/DI water tested at 0 TDS.
Tested with Refractometer calibrated with 35ppt solution.
Mixed for about 30 hours in a closed container, (pump circulating water, but not aerating it)

Temp - 79*

SG - 1.026 - 35 ppt

Ca - between 450 and 475 (Elos test kit)

Alk - 10.75dkh/192ppm/3.84 meq/l (LaMotte test kit)

Mg - 1350 (elos test kit)

pH - 7.9 (Pinpoint pH meter w/ probe)

Numbers look good to me, the pH was a little low but the water might not have been aerated well, as it has a small maxijet pump in a large tub with a covered lid, just circulating and not aerating)


Totally unscientific with many variables, but just a FYI for those interested in such things...

nice new corals!

did you mix up a bucket of saltwater with just insant ocean salt and a bucket of oceanic salt to compare readings to the mixed salt??

No, we just went ahead and mixed them both up together from the start. Now that you mention it, that would have been a good idea to compare the 3 different salts. (IO, Oceanic, and the mixed batch)

New corals are SWEET!!

NEW Aquascape:



I did a re-aquascape awhile back, and at the time, I thought it was going to be a good idea to move the rocks up some off the back wall, so that I could get a Mag-float back there and keep that wall clean. It worked well, but after awhile, I felt that I had wasted some real estate by doing that. If I moved everything all the way to the back wall, I could have some more room on the sand. Also, I felt that my aquascape was starting to look like that 'rock wall' that I was trying to avoid. I wanted to go back to a 2-island type 'scape.

So, I prepared for the big task of doing another re-'scape. I mixed up a Rubbermaid tub of fresh saltwater to put my coral in while I moved the rocks. I laid down a mat to catch water dripping and got some epoxy, etc., then I went at creating my new 'scape.



Old Aquascape:






Space that I had left behind the rocks last time:





Old scape with corals removed:





Corals on shelf that I built in storage tub:





New Aquascape:






Front from Angle:




Right Side:






Left Side:





Center:





The transition went well and everything survived. I used epoxy to mount the corals back up, and could not turn my skimmer on for a few days due to the excess foaming, but that gave me time to clean the skimmer and pump really well, so now it is skimming better than ever. I also read in the Euro-Reef manual that optimal water level for the RS80 skimmer was in 6.5" of water, and I had it in about 8.5". So I built a little eggcrate shelf/stand for it to sit on, to get it to 6.5". I believe that it part of the reason it is skimming better now too.

wow that looks awesome

Agreed! Beautiful bro... I LOVE THE NEW LOOK!
This tank right here makes me want to go bigger!!!

haha ya me too...

(too bad i have no money(almost but next stop at the lfs and i will be))

awesome new scape, im really diggin it!

wow..sorry it took me this long to find this thread..impressive to say the least...very nice ...

{My New Toy}



I got tired of dosing for Calcium and alkalinity with 2-part, so I started to learn about dosing with a Kalkwasser Reactor. I also had been having trouble keeping my pH up too, so from what I gathered in my research, the Reactor would help me keep all of these levels up. I decided on a GEO Kalk Reactor, as from what I heard and read, it seemed to be the best and most reliable. Basically, I pump my topoff water into the Reactor, and it pushes the same amount of Kalkwasser water out of the Reactor and into my sump, in the form of topoff water, replacing my evaporation. I still use my JBJ ATO topoff with the Aqualifter pump to push water into the reactor, then into the sump. I have the Kalk Reactor stirring pump hooked up to my ReefKeeper 2, and I have it set to come on and stir the Kalk powder in the Reactor a few times a day. It has been working well so far, my pH is now up around 8.3, and when I tested my alk a few minutes ago, it was a little over 9 dkh. That is good, as in the past, it had been falling down to around 7 a day or so after dosing with 2-part, meaning I used to have to do daily dosing. Hopefully those days are over......



The GEO:






Under my stand, starting to look like a mad scientists lab... :

sweet....

H2O,
The new aquascaping looks sweet. Not too crowded. Plenty of room for the fish to swim. Very nice set up overall. Great job.

Jason

Man, your 75 is wayyyy more awesome than mine!!! But mine's a coldwater...

Is there anything in your tank that requires special attention??? And your tank looks a lot more roomier than it was! I bet those fish are a lot more happy!

-Kenny

H20, just a beautiful tank. The new aquascape looks great. You've done a super job on this tank. Kudos!

- geoff

Snail eggs:



I am sure that many of you have seen this in your tanks before, but I just thought I would post a picture as I have these patterns in several places in my tank right now. On my Koralia powerhead and a few places on the back glass wall. I am not sure which snail type it is, but if I had to guess, I would say my Cerith snails.

wow1 it looks amazing! I'm so jealous and you're making me want to go bigger.

Thanks. Nothing in my tank really requires special attention. The only thing that I have to watch closer now is my alk/Ca/Mg levels, as I am trying to get my SPS to keep their color and to continually grow and look better. I am hoping my Kalk Reactor will help keep my levels more constant, with less fluctuation. I would really like to start getting into some ultra colored Acans and Chalices. I have seen some beautiful ones lately and they are making me want to go more towards an LPS tank.

OMG.

Coral Update:



We had a local frag swap here not long ago, and I picked up some new pieces. I also have picked up a couple of these pieces here and there. Thought I would add a few pics. Just have not done an update in awhile, so it seems like alot of new stuff here... I have some other updates on equipment changes and whatnot, but will post them a little later.



ORA Red Planet:




ORA Oregon blue Tort:




Tyree Watermelon Chalice:




Kryptonite Candy Canes:




Acan:




Three Orange Crush Acans:






Acan:





Acan:





Acan:





Purple/Green Acan:






New Orange Zoa Rock:





Orange Zoas that I have had awhile but filling in nicely on the rock:






Frogspawn (not fully opened when I took the pic):






More to come soon!

Hey bro... Have I told you I hate you???

... Amazing stuff bro! Can't wait to see more!!!

:cough:....FTS.....:cough:

Here is the latest FTS. The tank looks bluer in person, as I have 20K halides on it, but I adjusted the white balance on my camera to take out the blue. I think my corals look better in person under the bluer lights. I am pretty happy with the tank, but the little frag plugs and discs annoy me. I am thinking of snapping the corals off of some of them and gluing them down right onto the rocks. I guess my original thinking was that if I ever wanted to reaquascape or move to a bigger tank, it would be easier to move the plugs or discs around. But I am happy with my 'scape now, so I am thinking of gluing them right on to the rocks. The sandbed is cluttered with frags right now, but I hope to remedy that soon.

I am looking forward to all these 'twigs' growing into some of the nice SPS forests that I see on the 'net.

wow absolutely amazing

Nice, Your tank will be TOTM in a year or so. Is you MH 20K?

Wow, nice tank man. Looks great right now, even if it is full of "twigs"..

Niceeee 75G Tank!

Hows the Growth on the new corals?? I cant wait to see what the Red Planet is looking like

NEW ORA frags:



I thought I would post a few pics of some ORA frags that I picked up from my LFS a couple of weeks ago. The pictures turned out decent, but I hope to soon learn more about getting my white balance correct in the pics.


Purple Plasma: This one has a really purple base, with green/yellow polyps. You don't see alot of the purple on it until the polyps retract.




Phils Granulosa:




Plum Crazy:




Pearl Berry:




Roscoes Blue: This one ended up being one of my favorites. The pics don't do it justice, as in my tank it glows even more blue on the tips with some nice green to it to.






The group:





I now have them all mounted up on my rockwork and they look really nice. Will have to post a new FTS later.

They are showing some growth, but SPS growth can be slow at times. I am trying to feed better, using Reef-Nutritions Rotifers and Oyster Feast. They seem to like it so I will continue it.

Damn you!!!! You have all the sps i want!! Just send me all your ORA frags and the watermelon chalice. o.k? But man H2O, the tank is looking great, have fun watching the sps frags grow out, I just started with sps myself.

A New Fish:


I added a new fish this past week. It is a Blue Reef Chromis. Similar to the commonly found Blue-Green Chromis, but this species is bright solid blue. Just wanted to add a splash of color to my tank. He fits in nicely and gets along with everyone, seems to be a very peaceful guy, and is always swimming out in the open.

I thought you might be someone that i could possibly trade frags with in the future.....but you have all the good ones!!!!! Great tank btw i love all the ORA SPS. How much do they run per frag where u get them?

Wow, I have not been around here in awhile. I have had alot of changes to my tank over the past few months, and need to do some updates. Will post an update and some new pics in the next couple of days!

frag me some of those orange zoas

GREAT.. Just Great...
I came to NR.Com. saw H20's tank thread which convinced me to go buy a nano tank. THEN he just poof.. dissapears.. ha..

glad to see that you are back.. hope you will update us all on the tank.

Glad to see you back around here....can't wait to see how all of your incredible SPS are doing now that it's been a while.

Glad to see you are back. I cant wait to see the updates

Update (finally):


I have not been on the boards in a awhile. Kinda got in a rut where I wasn't in the 'enthusiastic mode' about my tank for a couple of months. I was doing my regular water changes, but that was about it. Didn't add much in the way of fish or coral, rather just kept my tank maintained.

With that being said, I have a renewed interest in my tank, and have made quite a few changes over the past month. First I should say that a few months ago, I had been using XM 20K bulbs on my 250w DE HQI setup. I wanted faster growth, and I had heard good things about the Phoenix 14K, so I decided to change to them. Big mistake on my part, in that I did not acclimate my coral to the new stronger lighting. Everything starting getting pale, kinda losing color like they were bleaching. Not white, but paling a bit. The new style IceCap ballasts seemed to be overdriving the bulbs, as I was not getting the pretty blue color with them that alot of people talk about, but mine were really bright white, which led me to the overdriving statement. I think I was getting almost 300w per bulb being overdriven, giving me almost 600w over a normal 75g. I am not sure if this is exactly what was happening, but that is my best guess. I ran those bulbs for a couple of months, but did not have the color that I wanted and was not happy with things. I began to think that my 250w DE HQI's over a tank only 18" deep with a few inches of sand, basically making the tank about 15", was too much light for the tank. My LPS, zoas, and even some SPS didn't seem to like my lighting.

So, at that point, I decided that I was going to go predominantly SPS. I sold just about all of my zoanthids and some LPS. Kept all my acans, my frogspawn and a couple of other things. Was going to try mostly SPS. After some time of this, I was getting really tired of trying to keep my alkalinity stable, trying to keep the water perfect for all SPS, etc. At this point, I did a 180*, and made a decision to get rid of most of my SPS, downgrade my lighting, and go with mostly zoanthids, LPS, and just a few SPS. I figured it would be less babysitting of the tank.

So at this point, I sold my whole halide unit (electronic Icecaps, with Hamilton Reefstar Double Pendant with 2x250w DE HQI), and replaced them with Coralvue electronic ballasts with 175w retro-fit mogul based SE halides with XM 20K bulbs. I have been happy with the intensity and color of this setup for what I am wanting to do.

I have now restocked a few zoanthids, bought a couple of new coral and fish, and kept a few of my old SPS pieces. The tank looked a little bare there for a couple of weeks, but it is starting to come back together.

I will post some pics shortly of some of my new coral and fish.

Im guessing you sold most of the nice SPS that you had then?

Wow, big changes.
Looking forward to new updates and pics.

TEASE!!!
Tell us.. then not show us..

HMMM...

Twiddling thumbs....wait for it............wait for it.................................

Yes, many of the nice ORA frags that I had were given to me by a LFS. The deal was that I was kinda the 'bank'. When the frags grew out enough for fragging, that I gave him back some frags of it, and I kept the mother colony. A nice deal, but alot of pressure that I didn't kill/'brown out' these coral that I was responsible for...ha. I ended up taking those out and giving them back to him.

All I have right now SPS wise is: purple monti cap, green monti cap, 2 Cali Blue torts, PokerStar Monti and a nice little colony of yellow Acro. Some friends of mine have alot of my SPS, and will give me back frags of it in the future if I wish.

Some of my new Corals:


I will post a good front tank shot later when the lights come on and I can take a picture. But for now, I thought I might post some of the pics of my recent additions since the 'sell off'.




Red Eagle Eyes:




Blue/Green Zoas:







Armor of Gods:






Cats Eyes:





Green Monti Cap:






Colored Zoas:






New Acan:





My old Randalls Pistol and HiFin Banded Goby:





New One-Spot Foxface:





PokerStar Monti:

Excellent shots. The new additions are amazing. The orange zoas will color up nicely to become sweet orange bam bams.

New Equipment:


I cannot remember if I posted this back when, but I got a new sump awhile back with a built in refugium. I also changed my Protein Skimmer, as I went from the Euro-Reef RS-80 to a larger Reef Octopus Extreme 160.




Sump:




Skimmer in action:





New lighting:

Great new Zoanthids. very colorful.

That pokerstar is a DARN nice piece!

Sea Swirl:



I added a 3/4" Sea Swirl today. Bought it on RC. Got it in the mail today, and hooked it right up. It works great, and gives my tank more random flow.