50b Sumpless Mixed Reef Build!

[BigJohnny]

Current Live Stock:

Blue Ricordea
Purple Green Tip Torch
Purple Tipped Frogspawn
Duncan
Teal/Purple Chalice
Jack-O-Lantern Leptoseris
Malibu Favia

Hulk Acan
Blood Diamond Acan
Inferno Acan
Ultra Acan
Rainbow 7-Up Acan
Blue Rainbow Acan

Ethereal Dream Montipora Undata
Tequila Sunrise Montipora
Superman Montipora
Jedi Mind Trick Montipora Undata
Starburst Montipora Cap
Tubbs Stellata Montipora

Blue Green Tenuis Acropora
Green Millepora Acropora
Blue Tenuis Acropora
Teal Echinata Acropora
Emerald Echinata Acropora
Strawberry Shortcake Acropora
Pink Prostrata Acropora

Inverts
Skunk Cleaner Shrimp Pair
3 Banded Trochus Snails
5 Nassarius Snails
6 Cerith Snails
2 Blue Hermits
5 Red Hermits

 

[BigJohnny]

QT Tank Livestock:

Orange/Purple Ricordea
Green/Yellow Ricordea
Kryptonite Candy Cane
Green Star Polyps
Unknown Orange Zoas
Purple/Pink/Yellow Aussie Zoas
Pinwheel Zoas

Inverts
2 Red Hermits
4 Cerith Snails
2 Micro Snails (unknown)

Some of these corals I've had from the beginning and just don't want in my tank anymore, others are just chilling or prefer the weaker light/dirtier water.

The orange zoas actually killed two of my montis (mystic sunset and violet orange), so they are in permanent exile.[emoji48]

 

[BigJohnny]

Ah crap! Cherry Corals had a Halloween live sale on ********* and I went a little overboard. The deals were just tooooo good and I kept beating everyone to checkout.

Aussie Orange Hammer - $30
Chili Pepper Monti- $20
Tyree Pink Lemonade Acro- $20
Hella Yella Tenius Acro- $40
Fuzzy Rainbow Acro- $50
Black Hornet Acro- $13! (These retail for $100-$250 depending on size)

Delivery is Tuesday

 

[cprice]

BigJohnny, you said you were an east coast guy? Where about?

 

[BigJohnny]

BigJohnny, you said you were an east coast guy? Where about?

Yep, I live in Richmond currently. I occasionally do business in D.C. and have a place there as well. My tank is in Richmond though.

 

[BigJohnny]

Got all my frags safe and sound today from the cherry corals halloween live sale. They were all dipped in bayer and are now on fresh plugs in the tank! Had good polyp extension/color on most of them but 3 of the acros showed minimal PE and we're slightly stressed from shipping. I will post pics tomorrow once they are settled in. So far very pleased!

 

[MJV0103]

I think your unknown orange zoas might by Bam Bams. I've got some and they look identical. Subscribing, but if you dont stop with the coral frenzy, you won't have room for fishys!!!

 

[BigJohnny]

I think your unknown orange zoas might by Bam Bams. I've got some and they look identical. Subscribing, but if you dont stop with the coral frenzy, you won't have room for fishys!!!

Yea I agree, I think they were Bam Bams as well. I got them from Than from Tidal Gardens at MACNA. He just called them "orange zoas" though haha.

As far as the corals, I know bro I can't stop! It's like crack. I'm trading my Pink Prostrata for a Screaming Mentos Sarmentosa Acro with a local reefer, buying a bumble bee millepora and a pc superman acro from another, and buying a meteor shower cyphastrea frag from a third, all this weekend. Then I am 100% gonna chill out for a bit haha. I just keep finding sick deals.

Plus I'm upgrading to a 90-120 Reef Savvy when I buy a house in a year, so I'll have the room when they all grow out[emoji3]

Here's the screaming mentos frag, sky blue with blue tips (almost a mini colony, sick deal)

Bumblebee milli (blue with yellow rims)

Pc superman acro (this is the mother, he's fragging it fresh)

 

[BigJohnny]

Speaking of fish, I'm finally getting my first fish here shortly. I work from home 100% now (as of today) so I have the freedom I need to do TTM.

First fish will be a pair of clowns. I'm already talking with a few local breeders.

 

[BigJohnny]

Special delivery, my 2nd MP40WQD!

Can't wait to fire er up. I can't decide if I'm going to do master/slave reef crest or alternating short pulse/gyre (whatever does 5-10 sec pulses). Anyone have experience with both and had more success with one over the other?

 

[MJV0103]

Lol, wish I could have made it to Macna, esp since I live 20 minutes from where it held this year. 10 year anniversary that weekend, the the wife doesn't quite understand that I'm an addict. So no Macna for me. But she's all about walking by and saying, that's pretty I want that until she sees the price and says yea right dream on, this is my first salt tank so I'm taking corals slow, Softies and I plan on doing a hammer and torch with one or two acans around the new year

 

[BigJohnny]

Lol, wish I could have made it to Macna, esp since I live 20 minutes from where it held this year. 10 year anniversary that weekend, the the wife doesn't quite understand that I'm an addict. So no Macna for me. But she's all about walking by and saying, that's pretty I want that until she sees the price and says yea right dream on, this is my first salt tank so I'm taking corals slow, Softies and I plan on doing a hammer and torch with one or two acans around the new year

It was absurdly awesome. I wish I had a bigger tank so I could have bought everything in there[emoji3] . Congrats on starting a new tank! Do you have a build thread?

 

[MJV0103]

No, do not have a build thread. I inherited my tank from my Dad who was tired of taking care of it. But I'm not really sure if you could call what he did with the tank taking care of it. He would let cyano grow huge, like 3" thick before he would break it and suck it out, it was fish only. So when he brought it up from NC to MD, i read everything I could read, gave away the fish he had with the tank, and let it cycle and do its thing, got a QT and started right. I did a DIY sump made out of 2 10g tanks bulkheaded together. I picked up some Hydor Powerheads, a new light, skimmer, and some other tidbits. It's basically one piece at a time when we get the funds, i already passed out my xmas list to family and its 95% items for the tank, never would have thought i'd enjoy it as much as i do

 

[BigJohnny]

No, do not have a build thread. I inherited my tank from my Dad who was tired of taking care of it. But I'm not really sure if you could call what he did with the tank taking care of it. He would let cyano grow huge, like 3" thick before he would break it and suck it out, it was fish only. So when he brought it up from NC to MD, i read everything I could read, gave away the fish he had with the tank, and let it cycle and do its thing, got a QT and started right. I did a DIY sump made out of 2 10g tanks bulkheaded together. I picked up some Hydor Powerheads, a new light, skimmer, and some other tidbits. It's basically one piece at a time when we get the funds, i already passed out my xmas list to family and its 95% items for the tank, never would have thought i'd enjoy it as much as i do

Cool man good work, you should do a build thread, especially for your first tank. People love to give advice n help you out. Sometimes it makes all the difference! There is a lot of bad and conflicting information out there. Plus I wanna see it, especially your bulkheaded
sump.

 

[BigJohnny]

Been playing with the wife's dslr, still getting the hang of it.

Here's my CC Hella Yella Tenius, neon yellow with a tint of green. The pic makes it look more green than it is. Still a little stressed from shipping as well but good PE

A shot of my favorite acan, the Rainbow 7-up. I've posted many pics of this one but have never been able to capture its true colors until now. The colors are also more pronounced when it's partially closed up.

I look forward to taking a ton of nice pics this weekend.

 

[Swope2bc]

Looks awesome! Wish I could figure out how to take half decent pics...

 

[BigJohnny]

Looks awesome! Wish I could figure out how to take half decent pics...

It can be very hard, especially if you have LEDs. Pics just don't look right.

 

[Isaacs55]

Hey I just looked back at your first few posts and seen your mini brs reactor. Are you using that for gfo or carbon? And is it working for you all that great? I was thinking about getting the regular dual reactor from brs do I can run both

 

[sporazoa]

Have you run a sump in the past? How do you compare life with a reef in sump-less mode?

You are saving a bunch on not needing a sump & pumping water back up

 

[BigJohnny]

Hey I just looked back at your first few posts and seen your mini brs reactor. Are you using that for gfo or carbon? And is it working for you all that great? I was thinking about getting the regular dual reactor from brs do I can run both

I actually run both in the mini, a mix of 2:1 carbon:gfo. Perfect for up to 50g tank, and mine is no where near fully stocked. You def don't need a full reactor, or a dual full reactor, unless you want one.

If you use a mix you have to pack it tight so that it doesn't tumble. If you tumble a mix of gfo and carbon, the gfo grinds up the carbon(or the other way around I forget). The only reason you tumble gfo is so it lasts longer, it doesn't actually improve the efficiency of the gfo. I personally prefer to use less and switch it out more frequently anyway, so the levels stay more consistent. If you use it a long time and then switch it out, there can be a sudden drop in phosphate with the new media.

The only downside is that gfo lasts longer than carbon, so if you switch them both out at the same time (which I do since they are mixed obviously), your not getting full bang for your buck on the gfo. Since I prefer to switch the gfo out before it runs out anyway, and I enjoy having everything in a small reactor together for easy use and maintenance, the difference is negligible to me.

I am very happy with the results and my phosphate level stays consistent. Watch these 2 vids:

https://youtu.be/jNH-ldTMVso

https://youtu.be/ezQfrJeVZXQ