50 Cube SPS Zeo Reef

[Wrangy]

Well because of my exams and study and life, I wasn't able to do my weekly water change last week so in the end it was a two week no water change for the tank. Which makes me feel uncomfortable lol but the tank didn't care! So while everything was looking happy and fresh I decided to take a few happy snaps as always haha.
The Good:
- Colours are going strong, growth seems to be picking up.
- Partial sandbed removal is nearly done and things have responded well. It was looking a little shitty and was starting to solidify as well.
- Kole is settled in nicely, eating and playing with everyone nicely.
- My zoa's seem to finally be growing again, when I changed the lights over they all pretty much just stopped. Didn't look unhealthy or closed up but they just weren't growing to nearly the same rate I was getting under the Illumagics.

The Bad:
- Algae still seems to be growing without any indications of slowing I'm hoping with sandbed removal and a few other techniques that I can lessen it a little bit and eventually kill it off. Not lessening the amount of food I feed though haha
- The blasted aquaknead-it has come unstuck in a few places! Half the scape is loose and a few corals are no longer stuck down but I've been saved by a particularly awesome acro, that's turning into a really interesting piece as well!
- I'm looking at starting a small zoa and invert nano/pico, well it's only bad because it's an expensive addition haha and it's at my partner's house so I have to play by some rules!
- Bubble algae is still growing really well, bastard stuff. I'm just ignoring it unless it bothers something though.
- Not sure why but a few acro's have a little less PE than normal and a couple have stalled growth but colours are still strong so I'm not overly worried yet.

Now that all that boring writing is out of the way onto the pictures!
First lot was a bunch of tank shots from various angles because the trusty old FTS can get a little repetitive.
FTS:


Left-hand side:


Left-hand angle:


Right-hand angle:
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Zoa's, as you can tell compared to a few pics ago, they really haven't done anything lol but I am starting to see some new growth!

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I still love this thing! Doesn't extend much more than this but it is steadily growing and keeping some bloody awesome colours! Candy apple goni:



More to come so hold onto your horses!

 

[Wrangy]

And finally we move onto the real reason I'm here lol the acro's. It doesn't matter whether it's a good acro day or a bad one, I love them either way. They're just such fascinating critters, consuming sugars from a photosynthetic algae they shack up with for energy and pooping out a calcium carbonate structure! And beside, the polyps themselves are soo cool
My plating efflo frag is encrusting like a mofo but not plating haha hopefully the plating isn't too far away!


This acro is my favourite as it's supporting part of the scape haha it's turning into a really awesome piece though and I'm digging the colours on it, they're basic but they contrast fantastically!




This piece was poo brown for many months but I'm starting to get the green, purple and blue back along with the polyps going green again. If I moved it up a little more I'm sure it would go crazy in no time!


This milli was a lovely light pink when I bought it but it seems to be developing a much deeper, less pastel pink. Which I'm totally cool with:


Some SSC because who doesn't love these things! Both growing well with some cool growth spurts coming directly up, two different species too.


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[Wrangy]

I bought this piece as the most amazing baby blue, really light but saturated colour not a pastel blue and as I expected it browned out pretty quickly but it's coming back again so I'm happy! I think with a little more potassium we might get some better blue


An artist shot


Frags from Rob


A really bad acro city shot!


Of course the firetruck, the base is starting to develop the metallic green I used to get and it's starting to put on a little bulk now that I've got it getting a little more protection and a bit of a healthier environment.


My red, gold and blue tipped spathulata, I just adore this thing. It's just soooooo cooooolll lol



Well that's all folks, hope y'all enjoy and looking forward to any questions

 

[slin1977]

I took my D7100 out with nikon macro 100mm this arvo....
Took some photos of my tank/sps and thought you know what - bugger it!!! I'll leave photography to the pro's.
First up I realise my mistake in making my current tank stand that little bit too high compared to the last - can't quite get that top down shot happening. Second I give up ... With such offerings , clearly we have a winner- fantastic photography mate!!!! You are light years ahead of my skills.

 

[sahin]

SPS colours look great matey. :beer: Get an assortment of snails to help with the algae situation. Or go round to Andrew's place and grab some snails out of his tank...while you're there you might as well grab Kevin too. I'm sure Kevin does a bit of cleaning around Andrew's tank. :lol:

 

[glaukos]

SPS colours look great matey. :beer: Get an assortment of snails to help with the algae situation. Or go round to Andrew's place and grab some snails out of his tank...while you're there you might as well grab Kevin too. I'm sure Kevin does a bit of cleaning around Andrew's tank. :lol:

:lmao::lmao:

Dom tank looks nice and you have some amazing pieces in there:beer:
I love SSC's,can't wait to get one in my tank.

Have you ever tried aglgeafix,regarding the algea problem?
When i had a bad GHA trouble it helped me a lot buddy.
Plus,i had some bubble too which after the use of AF,they disappeared :rollface:

 

[markalot]

Wow .. the Firetruck ... wow. :eek2:

Things look good to me!

 

[jroovers]

Things look great. That spathulata and candy apple goni have unreal colours

 

[pstank1]

The tank is still going strong. What is that light bluish-green acro next to the firetruck. Whatever you end up doing for a tank, I'm sure it will look nice. Just don't let Andrew know that you're setting up a flubber tank. He may send Kevin over to sabotage your efforts.

 

[jroovers]

Is the Bellus Anglefish a known SPS nipper? Is it good at combating algae (obviously doesn't have much of an appetite for BA )

 

[reefmutt]

Dom! Awesome photos of stunning corals!
That one that is holding up your scape is reeeeeeeeealy nice... Jealous, jealous, jealous..
Nice update!
I've kept Bellus Angels in my reef for years and never seen one nip an sps.. Nor algae, for that matter..

 

[Wrangy]

I took my D7100 out with nikon macro 100mm this arvo....
Took some photos of my tank/sps and thought you know what - bugger it!!! I'll leave photography to the pro's.
First up I realise my mistake in making my current tank stand that little bit too high compared to the last - can't quite get that top down shot happening. Second I give up ... With such offerings , clearly we have a winner- fantastic photography mate!!!! You are light years ahead of my skills.

I wouldn't say I'm light years ahead, I still think I have some way to go yet lol I must admit though I'm really happy with how they've come along over the last year, having the halide/t5's makes taking pics so much easier though!
I would absolutely love to have a macro lens though, it kills me that I can't get anywhere near as close as I want to to take pics!

SPS colours look great matey. :beer: Get an assortment of snails to help with the algae situation. Or go round to Andrew's place and grab some snails out of his tank...while you're there you might as well grab Kevin too. I'm sure Kevin does a bit of cleaning around Andrew's tank. :lol:

Thanks mate, not quite on the same level as you and the "other" friend we have :lolspin: but I'm definitely taking notes from both of you!
I've already stolen a bunch of them from Andrew haha they go around doing their own thing but because most of the problem spots are among the zoa's it's a little hard for them to work their magic, the rest of the scape is actually pretty much clean though. I think I have some snorkels and flippers I can strap Kevin into

:lmao::lmao:

Dom tank looks nice and you have some amazing pieces in there:beer:
I love SSC's,can't wait to get one in my tank.

Have you ever tried aglgeafix,regarding the algea problem?
When i had a bad GHA trouble it helped me a lot buddy.
Plus,i had some bubble too which after the use of AF,they disappeared :rollface:

Cheers Mike, I appreciate it The SSC's are definitely an awesome piece and I have a problem just like the lovely Andrew as there are already three bits in the tank :lmao:

I haven't but since you mentioned it I'll have a look and a read into it as I would enjoy something to get a step up on the algae just so I can leach out the rocks a little quicker as I'm assuming that's where it's coming from lol it would be amazing if it killed the BA too

 

[Wrangy]

Wow .. the Firetruck ... wow. :eek2:

Things look good to me!

haha thanks Mark, it's finally finally picking up again. I'm in the tank with glue anytime I even see what I think might be vermitid strands lol have to make sure this beauty grows!

Things look great. That spathulata and candy apple goni have unreal colours

Thanks mate! Yeah they're two of my favourites but that doesn't really mean too much as everything is pretty much my favourite

The tank is still going strong. What is that light bluish-green acro next to the firetruck. Whatever you end up doing for a tank, I'm sure it will look nice. Just don't let Andrew know that you're setting up a flubber tank. He may send Kevin over to sabotage your efforts.

Yep and I'm really happy with it too, aside from the algae lol The larger round one or the taller double pronged one? Not sure on the species of either though lol the double pronged one is meant to be a much much deeper blue though.
Haha if I do a flubber tank I'll tap some sps tank pics to it to make it look like an acro tank, that being said, I'd definitely be taking my goldrush and rainbow monti into the small tank along with the firetruck because I simply couldn't leave those pieces behind!

Is the Bellus Anglefish a known SPS nipper? Is it good at combating algae (obviously doesn't have much of an appetite for BA )

The whole of the genicanthus genus are all plankton based column feeders, which means that pretty much anything floating in the water column they will eat! They're not sps or coral munchers so they're one of the few angelfish genus that are completely reef safe That and they're a on the smaller size of angelfish which is why I'll always have one/some

Dom! Awesome photos of stunning corals!
That one that is holding up your scape is reeeeeeeeealy nice... Jealous, jealous, jealous..
Nice update!
I've kept Bellus Angels in my reef for years and never seen one nip an sps.. Nor algae, for that matter..

Thanks Matt
Yeah, it was showing some really nice signs a couple of weeks ago but when I was looking at it during the water change I though "holy ****, that is way better than I was hoping" haha it's looking better than when I bought it and it looked sweet then, little less white in the store but I though it was cool lol. It's one of the few acro's I've placed and not moved, I put it in a hole in the scape sticking up while I contemplated what I was going to do with such a bloody long piece and the next week when it came time to move it, it turned out that the base that I'd stuck in the hole had already encrusted around the hole haha in complete shade to so it's been there since and no it's just something else
They're amazing fish even if they have no practical purpose, mine prefers to eat from my hand. She'll actually wait until I get her a little pinch that she can eat from my fingers and generally ignore most the other food haha

 

[joshky]

Have I told you how badly I want a wrasse like yours? Great looking acros as well! I like that candy apple goni too, you think it might just be an encrusting variety which is why it doesn't extend?

 

[Wrangy]

Have I told you how badly I want a wrasse like yours? Great looking acros as well! I like that candy apple goni too, you think it might just be an encrusting variety which is why it doesn't extend?

haha I would imagine lots? :lmao: she's such a cool and happy fish though! Has become good buddies with the Kole because they both feed at the same level in the tank she's always been such a gem of a fish and even though she's going to get big 12" I'll just keep the tanks growing around her haha
Thanks Josh Yeah I love the goni and I'm 90% sure you're spot on in that it is encrusting, well, because, it does encrust as it's grown haha I was worried orginially because it wouldn't extend much but it's growing so I guess it's not all bad haha

 

[Wrangy]

So I was looking at the tank a little earlier on and thinking about the flow in the tank and that it was only being run by two powerheads, an RW-4 and an RW-8. Given they both put out some great flow and controllability but I was just looking and it simply felt like it wasn't enough to be blasting the acro's with some happy tank flow. Well that got me thinking and I decided to raid the boxes I had in search of some other powerhead options and I think I've found a nice mix! The polyp extension reaction seems to have agreed as well lol
I now have 2 RW-4's to get some mixed action and a little bit of back and forth movement, still playing with that to find the right "wave motion" but to really give the flow some OOMPH, I decided to place my 2 Tunze 6045's back in the tank lol. That puts me at 4 powerheads and 5000LPH+ in flow haha as both RW-4's are on max setting as well lol.
Just a few different angles of flow as well:


I'm definitely going to keep the powerheads but placement and motions may change as I tweak to avoid exam study

 

[Wrangy]

Looks like the upgrade may become a downgrade :uhoh3: moving plans have changed and I may move in with my lovely reef friendly girlfriend but I can't exactly ask her to put up a 250L saltwater tank in her rental haha and I don't think the old school wire fuses will handle a tank that big either :blown: so my thinking is go a bit smaller and keep all my favourite acro's and just run a killer little tank or something, looking at the Nuvo 16 at the moment.

 

[glaukos]

Size doesn't matter(at least in the hobby) buddy:thumbsup:
I'm sure you create a small paradise!

 

[Wrangy]

Size doesn't matter(at least in the hobby) buddy:thumbsup:
I'm sure you create a small paradise!

Well it turns out as long as the landlord is okay with a tank and I pay the power bill my partner doesn't care how big the tank I bring is :dance: as it is her place I'm looking to go to so we might not have to downsize!

 

[glaukos]

ok....upgrade is on the table again