NirvanaandTool's Mixed Reef Solana

[NirvanaandTool]

My turn to make a picture thread on here. I'll document the life of my 34G Current Solana Reef Project on here.

But before I do that, I'll backtrack through the previous months of it real fast.

 

EDIT: Tank has been broken down. 4/18/11. Final pic on page 3.

 

Equipment: (Updated 9/25/10)

150W HQI running 14K Phoenix bulb (Disco Ball)

27W CF light on back of tank for Chaeto

1 Vortech MP10ES

1 Koralia Nano

Reef Keeper Lite V3 for control

Azoo 2-Fan model Cooling fan (controlled via RKL)

Aqua Lifter pump for ATO (controlled via RKL)

Tunze 9002 skimmer w/ inTank upgraded skimmer cup

Maxi-Jet 900 return pump

DIY Mesh Lid w/ 1/4" clear mesh

 

34lbs Live Rock

30lbs Live Sand

 

Had a 55 reef set up at my parents house. Decided to move out and wanted to go smaller after my brother spent an arm and a leg upgrading the 55 to a 90g with a ridiculous sump setup in the basement.

 

Started the tank in early August of this year. Mixed fresh SW and added LR from a friend's Sump.

Initial Aquascape

Added sand

Mesh Top made (spray painted the aluminum frame pieces with Krylon Fusion to prevent oxidation)

 

Added my first fish in September - Purple Firefish. Now you see why I needed the top haha

Also got my first coral frags. Some mushrooms 'donated' by my brother. Aka forced on me so he could get them out of his tank before they took over.

 

Got some new frags from a friend in October

 

2 weeks ago I picked up 2 more fish and some more frags.

2 ORA Ocellaris Clowns in QT right now

 

Thats all the pics I have for now. I'll work on taking up-to-date ones tonight or tomorrow

 

Livestock: (Updated 9/25/10)

2 ORA Ocellaris clowns

1 Tail Spot Blenny

Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp

Bunch of assorted snails/hermits

1 Tiger Conch

Green Star Polyps

Purple and Purple Striped Mushrooms

Angel Zoas

Fire & Ice Zoas

Whammin Watermelon Zoas

Blue Palys

False Tub Blue Palys

Purple Digi

Orange Digi

Green Digi

ORA German Blue Digi

Idaho Grape Purple Cap

Orange Cap

Green Cap w/Purple Polyps

Blue Milli

Acro Austera

Random Acros

Fire Garden Acro

Yellow/Green Birdnest w/Purple Polyps

ORA Orange Tipped Birdsnest

Green Pocillopora

Frogspawn

Hammer

Duncans

Tyree Sarco

Probably other corals that I'm forgetting

 

Tank has seen a lot of changes over a year - went from a mixed reef to more of a SPS heavy reef. Still like the softies and LPS but I'm a sucker for the furry sticks.

 

Future plans?

Ditch the boring SPS for more fun colorful stuff.

 

Thanks for looking guys and gals. I'll post more pics tonight or tomorrow of all the new coral additions.

 

-Ralph

[d'Espresso]

Nice Setup bro! Welcome to the club. That is some nice additions you have there. keep us updated! can't wait to see this over stocked

[burnofvengeance]

hey your tank is looking great.

 

how'd you manage to get the aqua lifter to pump water high enough to get to your tank? I had one on my nc and it barely dripped into the tank.

[imcosmokramer]

love firefish.

[NirvanaandTool]

Nice Setup bro! Welcome to the club. That is some nice additions you have there. keep us updated! can't wait to see this over stocked

 

Thanks man!

Yea will do. I'll post some new pics after Turkey Day. Not going to have time to take some pics today. Just doing a quick water change.

I cant wait to see it stocked more too - its kinda boring with just a cleaner shrimp and a firefish. Need to get the clowns in there to get some movement in there.

 

hey your tank is looking great.

 

how'd you manage to get the aqua lifter to pump water high enough to get to your tank? I had one on my nc and it barely dripped into the tank.

 

Thanks Burn.

It does a slow dribble into the tank. Pumps up about 4' from the top of my water bucket to the third chamber. I just allow the pump to run for a decent amount of time to overcome the amount of head loss.

Still keeps the tank topped off so it works for me.

I run it on a timer controlled by my RKL for about 20 mins every hour when the lights are on. I have an alarm set to go off if the water level rises above my DA float switch to turn off the aqualifter.

 

 

love firefish.

 

Thanks.

[NirvanaandTool]

Took some updated pics this weekend with the clowns and all the new corals. Not my best but the DSLR wasnt cooperating - didnt seem to want to autofocus for me. But at least I got some updated pics. Now I just need Christmas to be over so I can get some moar coral!

 

[ximmortaldeathx]

Everything looks great..

 

with that much sand you could put a cool jawfish if you wanted to.

[NirvanaandTool]

Everything looks great..

 

with that much sand you could put a cool jawfish if you wanted to.

 

Thanks a bunch

 

Yea I thought about that. Originally put that much sand for a shrimp goby and pistol shrimp pair but now Im torn between them and a jawfish.

Thanks to the way the powerheads are pointed. the sides of the tank have tons of sand. Perfect for a burrow for a jawfish or goby/pistol. Decisions decisions.

[DAHNIC561]

lookin' good Nirvana...

[NirvanaandTool]

lookin' good Nirvana...

 

Thanks man. Appreciate it.

 

Tank has had some recent changes so I need to get around to posting pics. Mostly more coral frags. I'll try to get new pictures up this weekend.

[dmarkham]

Yes more pics.

[davidr2340]

Yes more pics.

THIS!!!

 

Tank looks amazing bro!!!

 

[bird]

Looks great.

What are the dimensions of the tank?

[Pudge957]

Tank looks good Nirvana. Its a 20x20x20 Solana

 

 

Looks great.

What are the dimensions of the tank?

[NirvanaandTool]

Yes more pics.

 

THIS!!!

 

Tank looks amazing bro!!!

 

 

Haha thanks guys.

 

Dont worry - doing a water change tonight so I'll try to snap a few quick pics after I'm done.

 

Looks great.

What are the dimensions of the tank?

 

Thanks. As Pudge said, its 20x20x20.

 

Tank looks good Nirvana. Its a 20x20x20 Solana

 

Thanks Pudge. Its coming along. Need a few months for my SPS to start filling in under my new phoenix 14k bulb.

 

Thanks for the comments guys.

-Ralph

[NirvanaandTool]

Ok guys so as promised I took some more pics.... First pics I've taken with the 14k Phoenix bulb. More blue than the stock Current 14k.

Also did some changes over the past month - replaced the stock return pump with a MaxiJet 900, took out one of the modded Tunze 6025s and added a bunch of new frags. My frogspawn is much happier with the single powerhead now. You can tell in the pics that its much more full than it looks in previous pics. The rest of my non-SPS coral enjoy the reduced flow too and my SPS still seem to be doing fine in the reduced flow too.

They arent the best pics though - the tank isnt quite ready for pictures IMO but they will do for now until I get things settled. Still have chaeto and kenya tree/anthelia frags in my suction cup soap dish fuge/frag rack. Its ghetto but it gets the job done for now. I've been lazy this past month and used it just to get some nutrient export.

 

Need to move the chaeto into the 2nd chamber, take the anthelia/kenya trees out and give them to my brother for his tank and put some zoa frags in the 'frag rack.'

Also need to glue down the rest of my frags one of these days. Should get to them soon as soon as I stop being as lazy.

 

Anyway onto pics...

 

 

New Tail Spot Blenny in QT

 

 

New Green Cap w/Purple Polyps (Cant make out Polyps in the pic)

 

Frag Corner

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frogspawn/Tyree Sarco Leather/Trimmed yet still overgrown Anthelia

 

 

Orange Digi/Blue Milli/Yellow and Green Birdsnest with Purple Polyps

 

That should suffice for now. I'll get better pictures when I clear out the unwanted coral and move the chaeto into the back chamber.

[dmarkham]

looks good. I was wanting to change out stock bulb also. The bulb is just still too new. I have other mods that need to be done first.

[NirvanaandTool]

looks good. I was wanting to change out stock bulb also. The bulb is just still too new. I have other mods that need to be done first.

 

I know what you mean. It took me 5-6 months to finally break down and replace the stock bulb and that was only because I was starting to get some unwanted algae.

But now that I've changed it I realized I should have done it months ago. Felt like I wasnt seeing good coral growth with the stock bulb, especially out of my SPS. Now I'm seeing some noticeable new growth on most of my SPS after only a month of using the Phoenix bulb.

[DAHNIC561]

looks good and bulb color is poppin'...i think i'm going to switch back to the phoenix...

[NirvanaandTool]

looks good and bulb color is poppin'...i think i'm going to switch back to the phoenix...

 

Thanks. Appreciate it.

Yea I love the bulb's color. My roommate doesnt though - he thinks its too bright haha.

Nice. Cant go wrong with the Phoenix. You could always go for broke and get a Radium 20K bulb instead of the Phoenix though. I was leaning towards that but went Phoenix instead due to the price. Radium has more color and better PAR than the Phoenix but is a little more expensive.

[DAHNIC561]

Thanks. Appreciate it.

Yea I love the bulb's color. My roommate doesnt though - he thinks its too bright haha.

Nice. Cant go wrong with the Phoenix. You could always go for broke and get a Radium 20K bulb instead of the Phoenix though. I was leaning towards that but went Phoenix instead due to the price. Radium has more color and better PAR than the Phoenix but is a little more expensive.

 

I also think the Radium bulb is the best but they do not make a 250w 20k DE...sucks...i'm using the XM 20k but it kinda leaves me wanting as far as growth...

[NirvanaandTool]

I also think the Radium bulb is the best but they do not make a 250w 20k DE...sucks...i'm using the XM 20k but it kinda leaves me wanting as far as growth...

 

Ah that sucks. Didnt realize that the Radium 20K wasnt made in a 250DE version. That majorly sucks.

Well I guess a Phoenix 14k will be a nice upgrade over the XM then.

[davidr2340]

I run a Ushio 20K... I like it!

 

[DAHNIC561]

I run a Ushio 20K... I like it!

 

 

ohh shut up dav we are talking about real bulbs here....J/K...lol...

[NirvanaandTool]

Time for my monthly update.... Went through some minimal changes- put the tail-spot blenny in the Solana, got rid of the anthelia and kenya tree frags and a few other frags got donated to my brother's tank as well. Also set up a 27W CF light on the back of the tank for chaeto in chamber 2.

Took some new pics of the tank. Pics were taken with the tunze powerhead off.

Not my best pics - tank wasnt crazy clean but its ok.

Just took a bunch of the tank and fish - some at feeding too. Didnt take any of the new fuge light though. The chaeto in the display is still there for now- still waiting to see how the chaeto in chamber 2 does.

 

Onto the pics!

 

Rockwork

 

Right Side. These zoas/palys/whatever they are have taken over the rockwork. Need to relocate the frogspawn before chemical warfare breaks out.

 

The Purple Firefish

 

FTS

 

Moar of the Firefish

 

Crazy Pic of one of the ORA clowns - Who needs a Macro Lens?

 

Close-up of the Cleaner Shrimp

 

Tail-Spot Blen's Hiding Spot

 

Clown & Shrimp @ Feeding Time ... Yes the shrimp is upside down. Happens every feeding time.

 

Blenny @ Feeding Time. Out of his hole

 

Another quick FTS. At feeding time.

 

One last one of the blenny. Best picture of the session. Took forever but finally got a good shot of him.

 

Thats it for now. What do you guys think?

 

Hoping for some changes in the next month or so. Cant wait....