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Cultivated Reef

Disaster's 80gal + 15gal SPS Reef Tank


disaster999

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small update on the tang. it still eating like a pig, nori, pellets, shrimp eggs (got my hands on these frozen new zealand shrimps which some of them still have clutches of eggs on them) gone within a few hours. one thing i do noticed is that he has this "blister" or "hole" in his dorsal fin and a few dots of ick. i guess i will have to keep monitoring it to see how its doing.

 

another update is, remember the sump drawing i had a few months back? well after sitting on it for a few months, collecting funds and finding someone to make it, i finally ordered the tank and should be here in 2 weeks.

 

last update, went to a reef gathering this past weekend to check out a fellow reefer's tank. it was truely amazing how well kept and clean his tank is. i took his advice and scraped off all the coralline algae from my back wall the best i can. giving it a more clean look. it looks pretty good, and i think ill clean it more regularly. he also fragged a bunch of stuff for everyone that went so i snagged 2 frags from

 

FTS

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new coral pic

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that is the tunze 6100. i broke the shroud while i was cleaning it, its a pretty old pump and i guess the plastic deteriorated. looking to find a replacement shroud for it if they have any. so far non of the fish is smart enough to swim near it so i think im good for now.

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nrobinson1014

disaster, I just read through the entire thread for the first time. It was great to see the failures and success you have experienced. It must be hard to lose coral and tangs like that but your perseverance has paid off as the tank is great. How is the new tank doing since you noticed the ick and dorsal spot? I hope it makes it. btw your frogspawn is amazing. Sorry for my ignorance but what is the super bright coral on the substrate front right of the tank? You may have mentioned earlier, but I missed it.

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hey nrobinson1014, thanks, glad you liked the tank. this sure was a great experience for me. and im glad it turned out the way it did. the tank is doing good. ick is a constant battle which you cant really 100% get rid of. you just have to live with it and do every preventive measures to ensure the chances of catching ick is as low as possible. im still dealing with some algae problems and killing the rocks and cooking them for a few weeks didnt really do the trick, its probably because the frags that i have still have algae on them, so when i remount them back on the rock they just start growing again. i have biopellets running and trying to keep my tangs alive so hopefully they can minimize my algae problem

 

that super bright coral your talking about is GSP. most people dont believe it but they are this bright in person

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disaster999

another update.

 

its been a little more than a year since this tank was set, and its time to change my bulbs now. the color combo before was good, but i wanted to try something new so i went and bought 2 KZ's superblue and 1 coral color. didnt want to shock the corals with new bulbs so buying some now and some later. also these KZ bulbs are EXPENSIVE.

 

i cant really make a comparison between the ati bulbs and kz bulbs since the ati are a year old where as the KZ are new bulbs. gotta wait a month before i can get the rest of the new bulbs, but i can say that the coral color is less yellow than the ati blue special and the superblue is more blue than the blue +. it goes without saying that they are brighter since they are new bulbs. my tank now has a more bluish tint to it and the corals have more florescent colors.

 

i also added a new fish to my tank, flameback angelfish. a local reefer bought another one thinking 2 angel fish in the same tank was a good idea, but he was wrong so had to let it go. the fish is around 1.5" long and its pretty small. havent started eating pellets which im trying to get it to eat. loving the color on the fish esp the blue ring on its eyes.

 

i will get some pictures of the tank later

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disaster999

finally got some pictures.

heres the before and after shots. both these pictures have the exact setting. same color temp, same tint, same blackness, same exposure. you can see its less yellow/purple and more blue

 

before

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after

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also here is the new flameback angelfish. its starting to eat pellets. sorry for the crappy blurry pictures. its kind of hard to take pictures when your lying on your belly trying to take pictures of a fish that wont stay still and react to your EVERY MOVE

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finally took some pics of the tang. its doing very good in my tank. i see him pick at rocks once in a while at the algae, eats lots of pellets. very active in the tank

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That tang looks great. Wow!

You've had both of the powders now, anything you can say about them in comparison.

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disaster999

i did have the blue powder before but i didnt have it long enough to remember if it had any differences between the brown other than the color.

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I was afraid that you hadn't had the blue long enough to really have anything. Again that sucked & I'm sorry.

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disaster999

Got the new sump today. started the swapping process right away as i couldnt wait any longer for that old sump to be gone.

 

the new sump

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took all the equipment out of the old sump

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everything out of the sump and into my old 20 gal tank

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the mess in the living room

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old sump out

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new sump ready to go in

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DONE

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filled up

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a header off the drain pipe to run my biopellet reactor. i hope this runs well. also found a globe valve instead of the gate valve. gives me far better control on how much to close the drain.

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the process went a lot smoother as i thought. but i do need a new return pump as the shaft and the bearings in the impeller is worn out. there is so much play in the shaft. just waiting on more LEDs from my friend and i can overhaul the frag light as well.

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disaster999

decided to take better pictures of my new sump since the ones i took before were quick snap shots with crappy lighting. was tired enough from moving 12 bucks worth of water, didnt have any patients of setting up a good shot

 

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new light hanger

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my solution to reducing pumps for reactor

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disaster999

bitts, yeah it came out better than expected

 

justin: i probably wont put the clam in the display. theres too much algae growing on it and nothing will eat it.

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disaster999

with a little DIY skill and a little planning, you can have your very own sump as well.

 

it does help that glass and labor cost in china is still cheap. this sump cost me under 85 to have made. i went to a local glass shop in hong kong to have the same exactly sump made and they quoted me more than twice that

 

just finish this last night, heres a craptastic phone pic. will take more tonight

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disaster999

that sucks, there enough room for multiple sumps in the stand? it is a 125gal. should have space in the sump

 

more pics of my frag light

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also the flameback angelfish. its ready to go into the tank soon. started eating pellets

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trying hard to get that stuck pellet

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if you look at its dorsal fin, it seems theres a chunk missing...the wrasse that i banished him to my sump months ago is picking on the flame angel. usually the the wrasse swims around in the return section but when i turned off the pumps, water level rose and he was able to go to different compartments. started chasing the flameback. probably took a bite of the fish.

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