Ratvan's Old School Pico - Rockwall Pico v2

[Ratvan]

So have been thinking about this a lot lately and I think that the stocking plans for this reef will most likely be "Classic Corals", been speaking to people who have been reefing 20+ years and should be able to get a small frag of the following here and there

 

Acropora's

• Tyree Longhorn 
• Purple Monster 
• Banana Lokani
• Ari's Avalanche
• Pink Panthers
• Red Granulosa
• Rainbow Nasuta 

Anyone have anything else that they could throw into the ring? Classic or Old School corals please?

[Ratvan]

So got the bulk of the "structural" eggcrate in, cut and fit. Hardware in place and eggcrate cut to fit and allow for pump, heater and HOB

 

The tank will receive the Janky Black Rim once this part of the build is complete.

 

Next stage will be creating the "boxes" to affix the stone work too, found a few cement frag plugs that I could include into the backwall build. 

[A.m.P]

Red planet tabling acro is hella oldshcool and crazy pretty, could also go the more durable route and just get some nice milli's too.

[Ratvan]

2 minutes ago, Amphrites said:

Red planet tabling acro is hella oldshcool and crazy pretty, could also go the more durable route and just get some nice milli's too.

Well I figured since I am going Old School with the Surge Tank and a reverse under gravel filter (on order) I might as well go all out with the corals.

Sadly I think that most of these have left the trade or at least are not popular enough for sale but would love to have a frag of a couple of them (Banana Lokani is my favourite) 

I am not familiar with Millipora's, will have to read up on those

[debbeach13]

Great progress!

[Ratvan]

13 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Great progress!

Thank you, lessons have been learned and not getting this wet until I am happy with the set up. 

 

Definitely going barebottom with this as well, hence pump installed at bottom in an attempt to get the detritus up into the HOB, thinking about changing the HOB intake somehow as well, its very close to the output and I am concerned about recycling the same water through the HOB. The Surface Skimmer also needs some work to make the damn thing float! Might just move the whole thing, need to figure out a couple of elbows or even a U pipe....

 

Still in hardware mode at the minute but would love to track down some examples of the corals listed above

[A.m.P]

Few of my fav's, pink milli is classic - rainbow too, red-robin although I think this is a stag and the color-morph is actually bubblegum, crayola plana (not sure if this is a milli but it's known to be quite-fuzzy), JF terra de fuego.

[Ratvan]

Waiting on some expanding pond foam to arrive, simply gluing rock onto Eggcrate is not working 

Seems I have ordered it from China again 

[A.m.P]

You gotta' check that estimated-delivery date man XD Also genuinely-surprised, have you tried epoxy putty?

[Ratvan]

1 minute ago, Amphrites said:

You gotta' check that estimated-delivery date man XD Also genuinely-surprised, have you tried epoxy putty?

Yeah I know, keep forgetting. It doesn't help that I order presents at the same time 😄

I have tried it and it sticks well, but the foam expands so I need to put in less work....also it smells SO bad

 

Is anything on Amazon.co.uk actually in the UK?

[A.m.P]

No, I don't think so XD 

Can't argue with you there epoxy putty reeks something fierce, I'm not sure if spray-foam is reef safe though, I've heard of folks carving out normal closed-cell polystyrene and coating it with concrete for rockwork.

Not certain on the spray-foam.

[Ratvan]

Just now, Amphrites said:

No, I don't think so XD 

Can't argue with you there epoxy putty reeks something fierce, I'm not sure if spray-foam is reef safe though, I've heard of folks carving out normal closed-cell polystyrene and coating it with concrete for rockwork.

Not certain on the spray-foam.

It should be reef safe, i tend to use pond and waterfall expanding sealant. Takes the best part of a week to dry but I can get out more air bubbles and include more things in teh sealant itself that way 

[Proxo]

8 hours ago, Ratvan said:

Yeah I know, keep forgetting. It doesn't help that I order presents at the same time 😄

I have tried it and it sticks well, but the foam expands so I need to put in less work....also it smells SO bad

 

Is anything on Amazon.co.uk actually in the UK?

No mate, it's not - my bulkheads just came from china.......
Was wondering what took so long and that was only half of them 😄

Also do you even work or just on the tank in the office? 😄

[Ratvan]

8 hours ago, Proxo said:

Also do you even work or just on the tank in the office? 😄

I'd say 80% tanks, 15% cigerette breaks and 5% work

[Ratvan]

Anyways I did actually have a reason that i was on here, I think that I may have stumbled upon a plan for the SPS Pico. I am absolutely loving having SPS Corals in the Home 5.5G tank, there is something really satisfying to know that I can keep these corals alive for a decent duration. However I do need to tidy up the tank itself and finally go bare bottom removing the crushed coral. As a result of this I do now have quite a large amount of media that I can attempt to affix to the eggcrate backwall as well as some "cycled" media that I can use to kick start the smaller Pico. Also gives me enough media that I can also do this to the Fluval Spec 3 if I wanted. 

 

So now I am thinking of restricting this tank still further, having this as a Genus Montipora Tank as I can still get a huge  variety of sub types as well as colour morphs. 

M. Capitata

M. Capricornis

M. Confusa

M. Danae

M. Digitat

M. Setosa

M. Stellata

M. Undata

 

Have I missed any? Surely I have?

[Ratvan]

Aquarium sealant, working much better. Also cheaper than two part epoxy or expanding foam

 

Going to build out the ledge into an overhang, I plan on keeping a area free of rock for the powerhead and water flow so the bottom section wont get much more attention after i finish the row

[seabass]

5 hours ago, Ratvan said:

So now I am thinking of restricting this tank still further, having this as a Genus Montipora Tank

I like that idea.  But in the long run, you may have some eventual issues with competition in a pico.  Sorry, I can't help you with which species will out compete others; I just don't know.

[Ratvan]

1 minute ago, seabass said:

I like that idea.  But in the long run, you may have some eventual issues with competition in a pico.  Sorry, I can't help you with which species will out compete others; I just don't know.

Thank you, it is an idea based on @GraniteReefer Drop Off with all the Leptastrea corals, plus I really like all the different growth types, rates and patterns that you can get with Montipora. Also helps that Frags of these corals seem to be cheaper by far than anything else that I can get locally or posted. 

 

I'm aware that this may become quite cramped quite quickly if I am not careful with placement of the Frags. I'm likely to only go with a couple of these different types initially. 

 

I have a few different Montipora Danae already, these seem to do the best in the Soft Coral Tank so I shouldn't have too many issues in this smaller system (I hope), Want to try something with an interesting growth pattern so the Undata and Hirsuta (forgot that one) would be good additions as well as a Setosa.... 

 

Lots of options, now to decide if I want to limit choice to a single colour.....

[seabass]

9 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

it is an idea based on @GraniteReefer Drop Off

Well, yes...

 

I also have a 100 gallon Montipora heavy tank, as well as my Montipora Fields of Bikini Bottom pico.  Maybe a subliminal influence, IDK; I'd like to think so.

[Ratvan]

Just now, seabass said:

Well, yes...

 

I also have a 100 gallon Montipora heavy tank, as well as my Montipora Fields of Bikini Bottom pico.  Maybe a subliminal influence, IDK; I'd like to think so.

Well yeah, you persuaded me to try SPS back in May, June as part of the Pico contest? Wasn't ready at the time but starting to see the interest now. Do you have a thread for the 100G Monti Heavy Tank?

 

Monti Fields is bookmarked 

[WV Reefer]

5 hours ago, Ratvan said:

Anyways I did actually have a reason that i was on here, I think that I may have stumbled upon a plan for the SPS Pico. I am absolutely loving having SPS Corals in the Home 5.5G tank, there is something really satisfying to know that I can keep these corals alive for a decent duration. However I do need to tidy up the tank itself and finally go bare bottom removing the crushed coral. As a result of this I do now have quite a large amount of media that I can attempt to affix to the eggcrate backwall as well as some "cycled" media that I can use to kick start the smaller Pico. Also gives me enough media that I can also do this to the Fluval Spec 3 if I wanted. 

 

So now I am thinking of restricting this tank still further, having this as a Genus Montipora Tank as I can still get a huge  variety of sub types as well as colour morphs. 

M. Capitata

M. Capricornis

M. Confusa

M. Danae

M. Digitat

M. Setosa

M. Stellata

M. Undata

 

Have I missed any? Surely I have?

what about M. Spongodes?

[seabass]

4 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

Do you have a thread for the 100G Monti Heavy Tank?

I haven't updated the tread lately (which lately has focused more on the breading fish than the corals; I'll change that in 2020).  It has more Montiporas than anything else, but it's far from packed.  Anyway, here's the link: https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/301861-seabasss-in-wall-100-gallon/

[Proxo]

Hey honey did you have a good day at work?
"Yeah i glued rocks together" 😄

Looking good though mate, gave me some idea's for the new tank too.

[Ratvan]

5 minutes ago, Proxo said:

Hey honey did you have a good day at work?
"Yeah i glued rocks together" 😄

Whenever I'm asked about work, it is always talk about the tank!

 

You forget also gluing fingers to rock, and rock to table, and fingers and rock to table 

Been chipping off sealant and super glue since lunch lol

[Ratvan]

Stand Ordered, this one should work. 

Maybe a bit overkill 🤷‍♂️

 

Should give me the height to use either the PAR38, Chinese Black Box or Kesil A80 lights over the SPS section of the tank, also since it is steel which has been polyester coated I can pretty much choose whatever I want as skimming materials