Coral Kingdom Of Thras ~ Waterbox 130.4 💦 ~ SPS Filling In

[Thrassian Atoll]

I really need to map out my corals.  It’s getting hard to remember what’s where.  😅  My frag tank will be easy to remember though.  I have a letter/number system on the racks.  Speaking of which, I am really hoping that tank is running this weekend.  I have been slacking on getting it up and running.  
 

[Elizabeth94]

Wow thats a sweet looking frag rack! Excited to see what you keep in there. 

[Thrassian Atoll]

Me too!  Haha.  The plan is definitely to have 1 of everything that’s in the main display.  In case something happens to any of the corals or I run into tank issues I have a duplicate of everything.  The frag tank will be stand alone.  Depending on how well The frag tank goes I’ll probably swap out more high end stuff down the road into the main display or just have some nice pieces in there.  

[Thrassian Atoll]

Well, I lost the JF Fox Flame acro.  After a couple days it had some stn.  I dipped it in some coral rx.  Think I made it too strong.  It was toast.  I don’t know if it would of survived either way.  It was a pretty fresh cut though.  It happens.  The big loss I had recently was my Big R Candyland. I had a nub of it for like half a year and this thing would not do anything.  I have saved a couple nubs of stuff but this guy wasn’t having it.  I don’t think it’s anything I did or didn’t do.  It just was never happy.  I’ve only had 1 other loss in this tank since it’s been running, so that’s pretty good.  I can’t really complain.  

[Thrassian Atoll]

On a positive note, my frag tank is finally ready for water!!  I have been so slow putting this tank together, but it’s finally done.  
 

50 gallon Low Boy

Trigger Systems Sapphire 34 Sump

Trigger Systems 10 Gallon Reservoir

Exotic Marine Systems Overflow

Tunze 3155 ATO

Ecotech S2 Return Pump

Reef Octopus Classic 150 Skimmer

Icecap 4K Gyre

ReefBreeders Photon V2+ Light

Aquatic Life T5 Hybrid System

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Thrassian Atoll]

The plan is for no rock in the tank but using media blocks in the sump instead.  I am starting with 1 Brightwell a block for now.  See how it goes.  I am planning on keeping the fish bioload light. It really depends on how the nutrients do.  I really want a wartskin frog fish or something like that.  I can use my 5 gallon evo for some ghost shrimp or feeder fish for it.

[Elizabeth94]

Stinks about your acro, sad nature of this hobby. But in the bright side, your frag system looks perfect. Interested on how you like your ReefBreeders light. I did some research into the a fee months back but has to stop before I impulsively bought one without another tank to use it on lol. You even have the skimmer I was looking into last week. Geesh! Haha! 

[Thrassian Atoll]

36 minutes ago, Elizabeth94 said:

Stinks about your acro, sad nature of this hobby. But in the bright side, your frag system looks perfect. Interested on how you like your ReefBreeders light. I did some research into the a fee months back but has to stop before I impulsively bought one without another tank to use it on lol. You even have the skimmer I was looking into last week. Geesh! Haha! 

I am interested to see how this light does!  The T5s too.  I am going to check the par and get it programed this week I think.  The only issue so far that I have encountered is that it makes a buz when the fans come on.  It’s not the fans though. I took it apart checked all of the fans.  No clue what it is.  I bought the whole light setup used though from my local Facebook reef page.  I couldn’t pass up the deal.  The only new lights I would of bought are Radion G5’s and swapped my G4’s over to the frag tank.  My wife shot that down though.  😂

 

Ill just have to pick up another Fox flame and other stuff down the road.  I just saw somebody in the city closish by have some frags.  I am definitely going to add stuff to the frag tank I don’t have to once that’s stable and doing well.  Maybe swap out some stuff in the main display.

[A.m.P]

Could always go for a Cleanup and Coral-Care stocking;
Saltwater Molly or two for algae
Possum wrasse for amphipods and pests
Springer/ Azure Damsel for Flatworms and smaller bug-pests
Maybe a rainfords for even more grazing

Capacitor/coil/other component whine is a possibility in the reefbreeder, could mean something, might mean nothing. The biggest issue is when it comes from vibrations which can absolutely reduce lifespan on the affected part (but the light may function perfectly even if said part dies). Electronics are something else...

Honestly if the acro didn't make it in your system it was probably just not healthy, meanwhile I literally tore the skin of my little tricolor frag right off with glue I didn't notice on my glove lol... 

[Thrassian Atoll]

54 minutes ago, Amphrites said:

Could always go for a Cleanup and Coral-Care stocking;
Saltwater Molly or two for algae
Possum wrasse for amphipods and pests
Springer/ Azure Damsel for Flatworms and smaller bug-pests
Maybe a rainfords for even more grazing

Capacitor/coil/other component whine is a possibility in the reefbreeder, could mean something, might mean nothing. The biggest issue is when it comes from vibrations which can absolutely reduce lifespan on the affected part (but the light may function perfectly even if said part dies). Electronics are something else...

Honestly if the acro didn't make it in your system it was probably just not healthy, meanwhile I literally tore the skin of my little tricolor frag right off with glue I didn't notice on my glove lol... 

 

I havent had any bad luck with glue yet.  Haha.  I’ll definitely keep an eye on the light.  The whine I won’t mind as it’s in the utility room.  I am not the best with electronics though.  
 

I will definitely keep an open mind for fish.  I really like anglers though.  Never had one.  
 

My starburst monti is losing to my Jedi mind trick...going to have to trim it back.  
 

[Thrassian Atoll]

My frag tank is wet and cycling.  I did the par readings tonight with my apex par meter.  Lights are 48” and hanging 13” from the top of the tank and measured on top of my frag rack 1” from the bottom.  The frag tank is 10” tall.  The T5 Aquatic Life Hybrid 4 bulbs run 125-150 par.  The bulbs are approximately 6 months old is what I was told.  It’s a used setup.

Reefbreeder Photon V2+ using the AB+ method / red-24% green-24% royal blue-100% Cool white-24% Cool Blue-100% Violet-100% I am getting a par between 475-500.  That’s pretty good.  That’s more than enough without the T5s.  
 

I decided to chop those percents in half and added the T5 to the output.  With the leds and T5 running at the same time I am achieving a par between 350-400.  Exactly where I want to be.  That’s the measurement in the middle of the tank and of course it lowers the farther out you get.  
 

[Thrassian Atoll]

Photo of the Waterbox tonight.

 

[Thrassian Atoll]

My Dinoflagellates issue seems to be subsiding.  A while back I added 3 tiger conchs and a sand sifting starfish.  I know the starfish won’t last very long but I needed to see if it would help keep the sand bed stirred.  Well, something is working because the Dino’s are cornered to one small spot in the back of the tank.  It’s the only place they have been appearing for a few weeks I would say.  I am hoping they are completely gone in the near future.

 

[Thrassian Atoll]

My Hawkfish is like a dog by the way.  I swear he gets in front of every photo.

[Elizabeth94]

12 hours ago, Thrassian Atoll said:

My Hawkfish is like a dog by the way.  I swear he gets in front of every photo.

Same. Such a character! Mine was the first to my tank and he definitely owns it. In fact, he was a petco fish that I quarantined. Hardy fish! 

[Thrassian Atoll]

7 minutes ago, Elizabeth94 said:

Same. Such a character! Mine was the first to my tank and he definitely owns it. In fact, he was a petco fish that I quarantined. Hardy fish! 

Yup, mine try’s to be a bully to some of the smaller fish but he’s so slow.  The biggest antagonist in my tank is the anthias.

[Thrassian Atoll]

I bought a Jason Fox Altered Ego monti, along with a few others, a few months ago.  I didn’t know if it was the real deal because it was a blue color and just didn’t look very good at the time.  Well, it is definitely growing and coloring up very nicely.  
 

How it looked when I bought it.  Hard to see in the photo, but it was pretty bland.  Top left corner. 

 

Here it is today. 

 

[Thrassian Atoll]

I have been running my light schedule for 10 hours a day with a 5 hour peak time since I set the tank up pretty much.  I have been seeing a lot that people will run them for 12 hours and do a 6 hour peak at least.  A lot looks like they just ramp up and down for an hour.  I am going to go with 12 hours total and 6 hour peak time and see how that effects coral growth and algae growth.  I don’t have any algae on the rocks so I don’t think it will do much in that department, but have to wait and see.  I work nights right now, so the schedule will look funky to most people.

[Thrassian Atoll]

I probably should of listened about not adding a mystic sunset monti to my tank.  This thing is getting big and starting to encroach on some other stuff.   I’ll probably try and chip some of it off but it’s such a crappy spot to get to.  Here’s a photo from May 19 and today.  3 months of growth.  
 

 

[Murphs_Reef]

Looks amazing mate

[Thrassian Atoll]

1 hour ago, Grimes said:

Looks amazing mate

Thank you!

[Thrassian Atoll]

Starting to be able to see the montis in the back.  These guys are getting big.

 

Top down of the WWC Sunfire grafted monti.  Turning into a beauty. 

Another shot of JF Altered Ego monti.  Colors are incredible.

 

[debbeach13]

Every thing looks great.

[Thrassian Atoll]

7 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

Every thing looks great.

Thanks!

[Elizabeth94]

Wow absolutely love the mix of colors you got going on with those montis. And the grafted one is ridiculous! No, I’m not jealous 😉 The sunset monti is pretty big. I have been staying away from encrusting montis because of this type of situation. But there are some varieties that are so beautiful I almost give in. I have one on a frag rack that I need to give to someone. Its starting to grow off the plug.