DaveFason Posted November 9, 2017 Share Posted November 9, 2017 I am going to need more FTS shots with the light. The thick stag coral on the right, what is that? -Dave Quote Link to comment
tmc1313 Posted November 10, 2017 Author Share Posted November 10, 2017 16 hours ago, DaveFason said: I am going to need more FTS shots with the light. The thick stag coral on the right, what is that? -Dave Hi Dave, I'm not sure what kind of stag it is. I bought it about 6 years ago as a browned out "terd" to put into my new setup at the time. After a few months in the tank it turned that amazing blue color. As for the current setup, I'll start by saying the new light is fantastic. Right now, that's about the only thing that it is. It's always tough moving an established tank into a new setup and I'm experiencing that now. The once huge beautiful blue stag has basically been reduced to a couple sticks and the base. It keeps RTN'ing on me from branch to branch. I'm trying to stay ahead of it by cutting it back below the tissue loss, but it's been a struggle and I'm almost down to nothing. We'll see if I can save what's left. All I need is a tiny piece to survive and grow back. All parameters I've checked indicate stability, but SPS tanks can be fickle. I'm just chalking it up to the tank being so new (new lighting, 1/4 of the rock work, new sand bed etc....). I'm confident things will be fine, might just take a while. I'll take a new FTS to show you what things look like. Despite all the losses I think things still look decent. I also think if I didn't have the trouble in the very beginning with that cracked stand leg, the coral wouldn't have been so stressed to begin with. Anyway, I will never give up!! These sticks will be great again, EVENTUALLY. 1 Quote Link to comment
silvertoe Posted November 12, 2017 Share Posted November 12, 2017 Oh man, these tanks make me tingle in all the right places. Bravo! Quote Link to comment
tmc1313 Posted November 13, 2017 Author Share Posted November 13, 2017 On 11/12/2017 at 10:17 AM, silvertoe said: Oh man, these tanks make me tingle in all the right places. Bravo! I agree, I have no regrets about spending the extra money plus having it shipped cross country. The craftsmanship is top notch on these tanks. The seams are flawless and the glass is as clear as can be with a nice beveled edge. I've had some of the less expensive tanks in this category and although they are nice I still think ADA is a step above. It's everything I have read about and so far has met my expectations. I only wish they made even larger ones, although my bank account is happy they don't. 1 Quote Link to comment
pompeyjohn Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 This is my favorite rank right now. Absolutely inspirational. Quote Link to comment
Justind823 Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 Really wonderful looking tank. Following along, looking forward to some updates! Quote Link to comment
tmc1313 Posted January 15, 2018 Author Share Posted January 15, 2018 On 1/11/2018 at 1:21 PM, pompeyjohn said: This is my favorite rank right now. Absolutely inspirational. On 1/11/2018 at 2:31 PM, Justind823 said: Really wonderful looking tank. Following along, looking forward to some updates! Thanks for the compliments, I have a few things I need to update and document about this new setup, but overall, all is well. I hope to get some new pics up later this week. Thanks again Quote Link to comment
tmc1313 Posted February 2, 2018 Author Share Posted February 2, 2018 Time for a quick update for documentation purposes. So needless to say my tank transfer was a total disaster from the beginning. I saved a total of 3 corals (so sad), but that's just how it goes sometimes. So at the moment I've restocked and all is happy, but my little reef is not much to look at at the moment. I still have high hopes for this tank, so let's start the humble photo beginnings. Small frags and white putty everywhere. I had just cleaned the glass so the couple of pics I'm posting are not so clear, my apologies. Thanks for looking 1 1 Quote Link to comment
samnaz Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 Dang, what went wrong with the transfer? Just wondering so I can make sure it doesn't happen to me when I transfer soon. Tank still looks great though, I think. Quote Link to comment
tmc1313 Posted February 2, 2018 Author Share Posted February 2, 2018 I've done transfers before with no issues, but this time things went differently. I didn't notice the new stand had a broken leg until I had the old tank completely disassembled. It took two days to get a new leg and the corals sat in buckets and coolers the whole time (without heat, a couple had flow). As you can imagine, they were severely stressed. Then I changed out all of the sand, which I've never done before. I think it made the new tank go through a cycle that just wiped out everything that was already stressed out. Sooooo, back to the drawing board. Quote Link to comment
tmc1313 Posted March 7, 2018 Author Share Posted March 7, 2018 I have a small update on the ADA reef. I recently purchased and installed a diffuser on my 36" ATI hybrid. It was a gamble because I wasn't sure if it would work or not. The tank is positioned in the dining room, but can be seen from the family room where we sit and watch TV. The LED glare was noticeable and bothered me quite a bit when sitting down. Even positioning the light at an angle I couldn't fully take the glare away. I contacted Dave (Nanobox) about a diffuser, but he doesn't sell anything for the larger units that he builds. So I did some research and found a company that sells among other things lighting diffusers. It wasn't cheap because I had to purchase and entire 8 foot sheet, but I had it cut down to size and have a lot of extra material. I installed it last night and took some par numbers. To my surprise I only had a drop off in par of about 14%. Being that I wasn't running the lights at 100% this is not an issue and I just cranked them up a bit until I got back that 14% I had lost. Time will tell, but I think I am really going to like having this installed. I think it looks pretty good and maybe I'm crazy, but it also seems to smooth out the shimmer lines making it look more natural. Here are a couple quick pics I took last night. I will try and take more tonight and post later. 3 Quote Link to comment
DaveFason Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 It really looks nice! Are you running the T5s at all? Quote Link to comment
tmc1313 Posted March 7, 2018 Author Share Posted March 7, 2018 5 minutes ago, DaveFason said: It really looks nice! Are you running the T5s at all? Dave, I am running two ATI true actinic T5's. So, overall I don't think they do too much except maybe act as a "filler" so to speak. In that photo they had turned off already. The whole plan all along is to see what I can accomplish and grow with these V3 array's. No complaints so far. I like Quote Link to comment
tmc1313 Posted March 7, 2018 Author Share Posted March 7, 2018 I also wanted to point out that in the photo above of just the diffuser on the chair, that it is much more transparent than that. In that picture it still has the protective white film on it before removal. Quote Link to comment
tmc1313 Posted June 12, 2018 Author Share Posted June 12, 2018 Update time. So in the last few months I've added a bunch of new pieces. Some have done really well, others have not. I will post some FTS later this week. The only other thing that's new is I've transferred my 12 array ATI retro into a new housing that is longer, but 6" smaller in width from front to back. I had a new/old coralife HQI fixture that was sitting around, so I gutted it, painted it and transferred all the guts of the nanobox over into the new fixture. It actually worked out really nice and I'm happy with it. Here are a few photos. 1 1 Quote Link to comment
tmc13 Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 Hi fellow reefers✋ Time for some updated photos of some of my corals and a FTS as well. Things have settled down and the corals are finally starting to encrust and color up. Still a very long way to go, but that's part of the fun, watching something grow and fill in from nothing. Hopefully in time, frags will turn to colonies and it will look like a full blown tiny reef. All pics were taken with my cell. Not the best quality, but they are mainly to represent growth progress, so please forgive. Photography is not my strong suit. Maybe, in time I'll get better. Thanks for looking and I'll update again in a few months. 2 Quote Link to comment
TatorTaco Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 Tank looks great. I really like the purple stylo/pocci in the back right. Quote Link to comment
tmc13 Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 Most recent FTS pic for a quick update: 3 Quote Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted March 23, 2019 Share Posted March 23, 2019 Somehow I missed your latest FTS @tmc13 / @tmc1313! Do you have any more photos you can share? I see a lot of growth in those frags that you placed last summer and lots of new additions too. How has the maxima clam been doing? Quote Link to comment
tmc13 Posted March 24, 2019 Share Posted March 24, 2019 Hi Chris, I dont have any new photos right now. The last pic was a quick FTS for documentation. As soon as I get some free time, the plan is to take a lot more pics of individual corals with a new FTS. You're right, I've added a bunch more pieces and (knocking on wood), everything has been doing really well. The Maxima is also doing great and gaining in size . Hopefully, updates will be coming soon. Thanks for looking. 1 Quote Link to comment
tmc13 Posted April 16, 2019 Share Posted April 16, 2019 I was just messing around snapping a few shots and wanted to try and capture an end to end pic showing the tank lengthwise. I thought this one came out OK. Unfortunately, it was right after I fed the tank some yummy flake food so I captured that as well. That's what all those floaties are in case you were wondering. Quote Link to comment
DaveFason Posted April 17, 2019 Share Posted April 17, 2019 Looks like things are starting to take off. Thanks for the update Todd! Quote Link to comment
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