Drilled and sumped 8 gallon

[Lowkeycoral]

Nice job! small tank with all the big tank features! Love it

[Dnanoreefer]

Thanks

[Dnanoreefer]

Rearranged the sump.. I switched the return pump and the lr/chaeto so the light wasn't on the return lines.

Also my Monti is showing good pe

All frags look settled in. Hope they stay that way..!

[Reefkid88]

The sump looks 10 times better !!! Do you have any better shots of the monti ? After a few days if try to slowly move it up onto the rock work and see how it does. Just a suggestion though.

[Dnanoreefer]

Yeah I cooked one of the really cool sps frags I have.. It was under a razr light at Lfs.. Didn't think it would be too much light but yeah it was.. The coral isn't a loss it's coming back I believe.. I should have put it in the sand bed..

The pictures do not come out good.. Way too blue. In person it's a crisp color.

I think the Monti is a superman but they said it was fire and ice.. I don't know

[Reefkid88]

No doubt,halides are a power source of light. Even coming from led's I'd imagine it was a huge change for it. You figure most fish stores I've been too,keep their lights almost 18-24" off the top of the water,compared to your light which I think you said is what,8-10" ? That's a HUGE difference.

 

I wasn't referring to making such a sudden change,but more as of slowly acclimating it higher on to the rocks. But honestly,it's a monti it should be fine where it's at for awhile.

[Dnanoreefer]

Thinking about a 20k bulb. Might be my next purchase.

[Dnanoreefer]

Not to mention most Lfs just run the blue so the oooo ahhhh effect is in action.. Yeah it was a bit of a mistake on my part.. Not happening anymore tho..

Here is a pic of it.. I'm mad at myself cuz I knew better and this frag was soo cool!

[Dnanoreefer]

What brand 20k bulb? Giesemann megachrome comes In a 175000k, interests me possibly. I will not buy a bulb until the led fixture gets here.

[Reefkid88]

What about a Phoenix 20k ? What leds did you finally order ?

 

They really do. I was messing with the lights at a lfs near me and the coral looked so much different with light other than the blue spectrum.

 

I really think it'll bounce back,just give it a week or two and it'll be good to go.

[Megaherz]

This is a very clean set up, as a tradesman i have a lot of respect for the time and attention to detail you put into this build. Incredible job man.

[Dnanoreefer]

I am not sure if Phoenix makes a 20k 150. I was thinking xm or giesemann. I bought a buildmyled purple wave 12". No dimmer but it may be on order soon. I placed the coral under an overhang to heal. At my Lfs every led only has the blues on.. I'm sure earlier in the day the whites are on but when they r open it's all blues.. I adjust all the lights also and see what the coral looks like under both whites and blues. All the new corals are doing really good. I did a coral dip before putting them in the tank, I think that really helped. The clown goby is doing really awesome also. He likes to hang out on the coral on top of the polyps..

[Dnanoreefer]

This is a very clean set up, as a tradesman i have a lot of respect for the time and attention to detail you put into this build. Incredible job man.

Thank you! I tried to do this tank up right. I did a lot of reading on here for lots of ideas. It took me a lot longer to get this thing running than it should have but I am really happy with the outcome. I wanted this tank to be mostly sps, but be able to have many other types of coral. My water chemistry has been really really good so far. We will see how this thing fills in. I am liking the water flow with the dual returns.. There are not many dead spots, only behind the rocks where Gilbert hangs out upside down on the glass. The corals all get really good flow and are all puffy and open, when I had powerheads in other tanks some coral really liked it but others didn't, not saying other people are not having extreme success with using them, but with the dual returns everything is really happy.. So I'm happy.

[BigBlueReef]

Very clean setup! Nice!

[Megaherz]

Thank you! I tried to do this tank up right. I did a lot of reading on here for lots of ideas. It took me a lot longer to get this thing running than it should have but I am really happy with the outcome. I wanted this tank to be mostly sps, but be able to have many other types of coral. My water chemistry has been really really good so far. We will see how this thing fills in. I am liking the water flow with the dual returns.. There are not many dead spots, only behind the rocks where Gilbert hangs out upside down on the glass. The corals all get really good flow and are all puffy and open, when I had powerheads in other tanks some coral really liked it but others didn't, not saying other people are not having extreme success with using them, but with the dual returns everything is really happy.. So I'm happy.

Yeah the dual returns was a nice touch, It even looks great from the back with the way you j-hooked the pex.

[Dnanoreefer]

Yeah the dual returns was a nice touch, It even looks great from the back with the way you j-hooked the pex.

Thanks. I had asked a few questions about the dual returns on the equipment forum. The common answer was to not do it and use a powerhead.. I'm glad I went with it. It works well.

[Travis]

Nice scape! Cute little fish too.

 

How do you like the skimmer? My tunze won't skim all the time without me having to mess with it.

[Dnanoreefer]

I really like the skimmer. I messed around with it for about 2 hrs the first day I set it up. An it's been running very good since.. The skimmAte is real green and nasty.

 

The little damsels are unfortunately gone, one disaapeared completely, and the other died.. I have a new citrinis clown goby. He is super cool and enjoys hanging out on coral.

[Travis]

Might want to find out why your losing animals before you add anymore livestock. Damsels are normally hard to kill.

[Dnanoreefer]

One died first day in the tank. And the second jumped out. The clown goby is doing great. It stays away from the top of the tank. Hangs out on the bottom and the back glass under te overflow. My parameters are perfect so I'm not worried about losing it, just hope he does not jump out. Lfs said it was a good choice for an open top tank.

 

What are people using to glue frags to rock? I usually use superglue. Is there superglue that can be used in the tank or does the rock need to come out in all reef glue applications? I have tried te reef putty stuff and it's ok for rocks but not for frags.

[Dnanoreefer]

My buildmyled light is shipped. It should be here Monday. I think my next purchase is a 20k giesemann bulb also.. The 14k is nice but I want the colors to pop more.

[treedog5]

Liking your setup, will follow along to see progress.

[Dnanoreefer]

Thanks! I hope the progress is good! ? the next change that's going to happen will be the addition of the led, moonlight and 20k bulb. I want the corals to really pop, the 14 k is good and powerful but not blue enough. A lot of people like the giesemann megachrome 20k say it's the best halide 20k bulb there is. We shall see. Here are a couple pictures of things yesterday. The chalice is showing good growth for sure. About 6 new eyes forming on one side.

Fts

Zoa/paly frag. Colors suck in the pic. This frag is happy!

Right side view. The zoas will stay on the bottom I think.

My makeshift frag rack to acclimate corals to higher lighting. It's not pretty but it works.

[Travis]

Looking great! Every thing looks happy happy happy.

[Dnanoreefer]

There is a lot of white sponge looking stuff growing on the fuge rocks. The chaeto also had become dark green and thick looking.. It was really light green when I got it. I hope that means it's doing good. My pod population in the sump is rediculous also. Thousands are crawling around. I think I might add a crab to the sump maybe thinking about some other critters. Any suggestions.