IAShane Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 FTS 3/14/18 Hi, long time lurker here. I have reincarnated my reef as an SPS tank. I've had a reef for 15 years, and this is the 4th glass box it's been in. I was previously LPS dominated, but I had a salinity incident about a year and a half ago that wiped most of my tank. I let my tank go for a while out of discouragement, but I've been cleaning it up, overhauling it, and getting it going again in a new direction. Four months ago you couldn't see a single square inch of rock for the GHA. I've been kicking algae to the curb and have finally started adding SPS. I moved most of my remaining softies to a different tank. This tank will be acro dominated. Equipment: 90 gallon IM tank 2x Tunze 6095 with Tunze Multicontroller 7096 Ecotech MP40 Sun Systems Tek Light- T5s 4x ATI Blue Plus 1x ATI Coral Plus 1x ATI Purple Plus Reef Octopus NWB-150 Eheim 1262 Return pump 302 Aquatics turf scrubber 2x Cobalt heaters 150W Apex Lite Custom stand built by me Fish: Pink Spotted Goby Falco Hawkfish King Demoiselle Yellow Chromis Six line wrasse Lightning maroon clownfish Coral: PC Rainbow Acro Tubbs stellata monti Hawkins echinata Montipora Setosa Green Poccilipora Unknown blue acro bonsai acro purple tort Pink/green tipped birdsnest Frogspawn GSP Goochers Zoas Sunny D's Fatty green palys Scrambled eggs zoas Grandis Paly 3/4/18 This video is from a few years back, and is pretty much what my tank looked like before the salinity incident. 2 Quote Link to comment
IAShane Posted March 5, 2018 Author Share Posted March 5, 2018 Pics of recent additions for posterity's sake PC Rainbow Browned out bonsai (Hey, it was on sale!) Pink Mille Hawkins echinata unknown blue acro 2 Quote Link to comment
xiaoxiy Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 Oh shit! You mounted the frags. Quote Link to comment
IAShane Posted March 5, 2018 Author Share Posted March 5, 2018 53 minutes ago, xiaoxiy said: Oh shit! You mounted the frags. I did! Now that I'm done meddling, they can settle into their new spots. You found my thread My only concern though is the bonsai.. It's quite a bit higher up than it has been previously. Hopefully it will be encouraged to color up with some stronger light. Quote Link to comment
xiaoxiy Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 14 minutes ago, IAShane said: I did! Now that I'm done meddling, they can settle into their new spots. You found my thread My only concern though is the bonsai.. It's quite a bit higher up than it has been previously. Hopefully it will be encouraged to color up with some stronger light. "Stronger light". I don't know what you mean by stronger light, the bottom of your tank was reading at 240+ Par lmao. Quote Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 Nice system design @IAShane, super tidy layout down below too! Seeing it sitting on that stand is making me nostalgic for my old 90 gallon reef... 5 hours ago, xiaoxiy said: "Stronger light". I don't know what you mean by stronger light, the bottom of your tank was reading at 240+ Par lmao. Quote Link to comment
IAShane Posted March 6, 2018 Author Share Posted March 6, 2018 Thank you @Christopher Marks! I appreciate it. 11 hours ago, xiaoxiy said: "Stronger light". I don't know what you mean by stronger light, the bottom of your tank was reading at 240+ Par lmao. Quote Link to comment
IAShane Posted March 6, 2018 Author Share Posted March 6, 2018 It looks like I'll be running over to Des Moines on Thursday. There is a moving sale on a mixed reef and I'm vying for the SPS. There are a couple of real treats in there, and the prices are so so cheap. I'm hoping that the trip is fruitful and that I come home with some serious frags. Quote Link to comment
xiaoxiy Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 1 hour ago, IAShane said: It looks like I'll be running over to Des Moines on Thursday. There is a moving sale on a mixed reef and I'm vying for the SPS. There are a couple of real treats in there, and the prices are so so cheap. I'm hoping that the trip is fruitful and that I come home with some serious frags. Oh shit, there's an ASD milli for sale! And a bubblegum Milli colony as well! Quote Link to comment
IAShane Posted March 6, 2018 Author Share Posted March 6, 2018 2 hours ago, xiaoxiy said: Oh shit, there's an ASD milli for sale! And a bubblegum Milli colony as well! I definitely have dibs on the WD and the ASD rainbow. If the bubblegum is still there I'll take it too. I go over there on Thursday Quote Link to comment
IAShane Posted March 8, 2018 Author Share Posted March 8, 2018 I ran out of super glue while mounting frags the other day, and I went out and got what I swear was the only tube of super glue gel in town. Anyway, I got my green pocci mounted. It's a classic, and overlooked coral IMO. I like it. Can't wait to go get those frags tomorrow. 1 Quote Link to comment
IAShane Posted March 8, 2018 Author Share Posted March 8, 2018 PAR readings for the new aquascape. left side pillar: middle: right side: 1 Quote Link to comment
IAShane Posted March 8, 2018 Author Share Posted March 8, 2018 I’m beginning to wonder if I may have too much light. Looking at my Zoas and the pocci, I think I may. i was running 10 hours of all six bulbs with one hour of only two blues before and after “day”. I shortened the day photoperiod by a half hour on either end of the day and left the blues the same. 1 Quote Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 Awesome to see the PAR readings mapped out, those are rather intense What tool do you use to measure? Quote Link to comment
IAShane Posted March 8, 2018 Author Share Posted March 8, 2018 7 hours ago, Christopher Marks said: Awesome to see the PAR readings mapped out, those are rather intense What tool do you use to measure? Our local club has a regional PAR meter for members. It’s an Apogee MQ-500 1 Quote Link to comment
xiaoxiy Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 8 hours ago, Christopher Marks said: Awesome to see the PAR readings mapped out, those are rather intense What tool do you use to measure? Like Shane mentioned, our club meter is an Apogee MQ-500, which is quite nice. It's a full spectrum PAR meter and has a <5% error for LEDS overall, with a <3% error for blue Leds! 1 Quote Link to comment
IAShane Posted March 9, 2018 Author Share Posted March 9, 2018 I have the frags Pics tomorrow when the lights are on and they're settled in. Got a Walt Disney acro, ASD rainbow milli, WWC bubblegum milli, UC cotton candy, some Gilgamesh thing, and three others he couldn't remember the name for. Quote Link to comment
IAShane Posted March 9, 2018 Author Share Posted March 9, 2018 So I've discovered that pocillopora can be quite invasive. I've removed that colony and have transferred it to my other tank. I like it, but do not want something that potentially can sow polyps all over my tank in random places. I'm going to go ahead and assume that it dropped polyps since I've had it for about a month now. I'll stave off the invasion by staying vigilant to remove any new colonies that pop up. Quote Link to comment
IAShane Posted March 9, 2018 Author Share Posted March 9, 2018 I'm starting to think about mixing a light pickling lime solution and dripping it. I don't have to dose much, just 10ml a day of 2 part to maintain alk, but I'm wanting to start "automating" that. I've considered a Jebao doser, but honestly I'm not sure if I completely trust it. Two BRS dosers would cost more than I'd be willing to spend on dosing at the moment. Anyone have any input on the Jebao? Quote Link to comment
IAShane Posted March 9, 2018 Author Share Posted March 9, 2018 I'm excited for the potential of these, but they aren't as colorful as I know they could be. They are a bit better than this video shows. I was using my amber lens aviators as the filter. Quote Link to comment
IAShane Posted March 10, 2018 Author Share Posted March 10, 2018 I was playing with the Aquarium Cam app and this is so worth the $3. This is a very close representation of the in-person coloration of the frags. Quote Link to comment
IAShane Posted March 15, 2018 Author Share Posted March 15, 2018 Updated FTS. I decided I didn't like the middle section of tank, so I changed it. I removed four or five decent chunks of rock, but in this case less is better I think. Also mounted all the frags, so all coral is in its place and the 'scape won't be changing anytime soon. I hope they all settle in and get happy. Quote Link to comment
IAShane Posted March 15, 2018 Author Share Posted March 15, 2018 I got my BRS order in today. I got some rigid air line and I'm going to rig up a DIY drip system for kalk. Really basic plastic bottle with air line and a valve to control drip. However, I'm almost out of alk reagent for my Hanna checker, so I had to place a second order from Marine Depot since BRS was out of stock. I'm not going to start dripping until I have a good supply of reagent on hand. I currently have enough for just a few more tests and then I'm out. The new bottles of reagent should be here in a few days. Quote Link to comment
xiaoxiy Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 7 hours ago, IAShane said: I got my BRS order in today. I got some rigid air line and I'm going to rig up a DIY drip system for kalk. Really basic plastic bottle with air line and a valve to control drip. However, I'm almost out of alk reagent for my Hanna checker, so I had to place a second order from Marine Depot since BRS was out of stock. I'm not going to start dripping until I have a good supply of reagent on hand. I currently have enough for just a few more tests and then I'm out. The new bottles of reagent should be here in a few days. I had to go MD for the alk reagents too! How much alk is your tank consuming daily? EDIT: Just checked BRS, apparently their alk reagent is back in stock! Quote Link to comment
IAShane Posted March 15, 2018 Author Share Posted March 15, 2018 Approximately 10ml of 2 Part daily to maintain about 9 dKH. Im going to start with a light Kalk solution and monitor. I’d like to get away from manual 2 Part dosing. Quote Link to comment
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