Jackson's 115 Gallon Custom Cube 32x32x26
- Thread starter jackson6745
- Start date
Mr.Fishtank
New member
Are you still running the same photo period with the ATI? 10hrs 2 bulbs and 6 all bulbs.
jackson6745
Yeah Yeah
Thanks for check in guys, unfortunately the tank took a major hit. I simply didn't have time for it and parameters were all over the place. I lost almost all of my big colonies, but luckily I was able to save frags of most in friends systems.
2 weeks ago I decided to reboot the entire system, things just weren't like they were for the first 2 years regardless of how many water changes and other maintenance that I performed. I ordered 50lbs of monando rock from Premium Aquatics, which I must add that I was extremely disappointed with for the first time in 12 years. One cool rock, and the rest looked like base rock. Very disappointed for $8lb but since I was in a rush, I was in no position to challenge the order.
Anyway, I setup holding talks for fish and among corals. I changed out entire sandbed and added new rock. I used some of my old branch to create more high light areas. I have 30lbs of LR rubble in my sump, added some old sand to the new sandbed, and used a bunch of bottled bacteria. The tank avoided a cycle completely and SPS responded positively from the first day.
I'm still adding a few SPS and getting things together, but here it is today. Back to the beginning but I think she'll grow in fast again. Running the 400w radium, T5 + reefbrite for the winter months. I'll probably switch back to my 10 bulb ATI T5 for the summer months.
IMG_0453 by rich colombo, on Flickr
2 weeks ago I decided to reboot the entire system, things just weren't like they were for the first 2 years regardless of how many water changes and other maintenance that I performed. I ordered 50lbs of monando rock from Premium Aquatics, which I must add that I was extremely disappointed with for the first time in 12 years. One cool rock, and the rest looked like base rock. Very disappointed for $8lb but since I was in a rush, I was in no position to challenge the order.
Anyway, I setup holding talks for fish and among corals. I changed out entire sandbed and added new rock. I used some of my old branch to create more high light areas. I have 30lbs of LR rubble in my sump, added some old sand to the new sandbed, and used a bunch of bottled bacteria. The tank avoided a cycle completely and SPS responded positively from the first day.
I'm still adding a few SPS and getting things together, but here it is today. Back to the beginning but I think she'll grow in fast again. Running the 400w radium, T5 + reefbrite for the winter months. I'll probably switch back to my 10 bulb ATI T5 for the summer months.
IMG_0453 by rich colombo, on Flickr
jackson6745
Yeah Yeah
The tank is made from 1/2" starfire. I'm not sure if the bottom panel is thicker. Can't really measure now that it sits recessed on the stand. The builder is a local company to me called Reefomania. I'm sure if you contact them you'll get some advice,
jackson6745
Yeah Yeah
Thanks Wazzel, hard to tell from the pic but the frags are doing well coloring up more each day. More importantly all STN has stopped and mostly regrown in the 2 weeks being in the new system. Good sign, hopefully I can keep it steady :roll eyes:
IMG_0442 by rich colombo, on Flickr
IMG_0448 by rich colombo, on Flickr
IMG_0447 by rich colombo, on Flickr
IMG_0443 by rich colombo, on FlickrAnd here's 50b's the $8 per lb monando rock from premium Aquatics What a waste :roll eyes:
IMG_0275 by rich colombo, on Flickr
afernandez
Never Quit!!
i would had been pi**ed too :angryfire:
those rocks have 0 artistic vibes
corals are looking good! looking forward to the Re-Birth!
those rocks have 0 artistic vibes
corals are looking good! looking forward to the Re-Birth!
DM and the Boys
Member
Rich corals look great...
That rock does suck though...
That rock does suck though...
codydemmel4
Active member
Corals are looking great. That PE is insane on some of those pieces. Hope you can get everything stable and growing again
Thanks Wazzel, hard to tell from the pic but the frags are doing well coloring up more each day. More importantly all STN has stopped and mostly regrown in the 2 weeks being in the new system. Good sign, hopefully I can keep it steady :roll eyes:
And here's 50b's the $8 per lb monando rock from premium Aquatics What a waste :roll eyes:
Wooooow what's the first guy?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
jackson6745
Yeah Yeah
Yup I was very surprised about the rock. I had a friend order 25lbs (I ordered 50lbs) and his rock had more volume. The large piece was actually nice, the next 2 largest pieces are like dense heavy base rocks. For $8 per pound I expected better. At least it was very clean and there was no cycle, but I would never recommend buying monando rock from PA after my experience.
Thanks, still have a few more corals to add from friends. Everything is stable and SPS have been going and color more each day. This has been only been running for 2 weeks
Actually not sure. A milli frag that I was growing from a local reefer. The color and PE is really nice.
Rich, I'm so sorry to hear that the tank had a meltdown. Hopefully at least your wife and new baby are doing well and you've been enjoying family life.
I don't recall which frags I got from you, I think the Tubbs Purple Hulk, a purple montipora with green polyps, and a Spongodes, but I'd be more than happy to send frags back your way as you're rebuilding. No luck on the pearlberry though, it just didn't grow as fast as it's tankmates and was overrun. That Tubbs Purple Hulk though has grown to be my centerpiece colony in my nano and is huge (though not especially purple). Let me know if you'd like any of those and I'll try to make it out to Rockaway again.
I don't recall which frags I got from you, I think the Tubbs Purple Hulk, a purple montipora with green polyps, and a Spongodes, but I'd be more than happy to send frags back your way as you're rebuilding. No luck on the pearlberry though, it just didn't grow as fast as it's tankmates and was overrun. That Tubbs Purple Hulk though has grown to be my centerpiece colony in my nano and is huge (though not especially purple). Let me know if you'd like any of those and I'll try to make it out to Rockaway again.
jackson6745
Yeah Yeah
Thanks brother family is doing well, and it's a lot of fun, but a big change in lifestyle as it be expected. When my tank started going downhill I put a bunch of frags in a few buddies tanks so I have enough to start growing this out. Still a few more frags to add but I am definitely going to limit the amount of stylos and montis in the tank, especially encrusting montis. They do grow much faster than delicate acros and space becomes an issue. I'd rather see big acro colonies with space between them. I'm not sure which one is the tubs purple hulk? You mean Tubs montipora stellata? Its the green and purple one.
Thanks guys. Many of these corals came from my tank while it was doing poorly, so they were very messed up with recession and poor color. This reboot is responding like when I first started this talk in the first place. SPS have shown instant rebound, no more recession. PE and color keeps improving so I have good expectations. We'll see.
The scape looks a lot better in person than in the pic. It's hard to tell with a 32" depth, but there's a lot of breaks and open structure in the scape. From a head on angle it looks like a pile of rock. I think the coral growth will bring the 3D view in eventually.
So, I made a few changes to this system. While the tank was running previously not doing well, in despair, I removed the marine pure media in my sump, all the aluminum leeching jargon had me worried. Well that didn't fix anything but my nitrates did shoot up, so I can tell you that the 4x8 block definitely denitrates well. I replaced the media with rock rubble from Premium Aquatics (that was at least good quality :lmao
In the move I left the old sump rock rubble and replaced display rock + sandbed. I have also switched carbon schemes. I am dosing ESV Transitions Plus daily 6ml. This is a pretty new ESV product. It's Holding nitrates at 5ppm and definitely seeing that increased kind of PE that I only see on carbon dosed tanks. I believe it's carbon source is vitamin C. When I dose the 6ml it brings my PH down a whole point, so I guess that's why the specify to dose when light come on.
I am also dosing vibrant bacteria 10ml per week. These additives are super cheap in comparison to prodibio or other schemes. We'll see how it work out long term, so far so good. No cyano, or even diatom since transferring. Usually I get an outbreak of both when I start new systems, especially since I had a lot of fish that I transferred into a new system. Bio-load is on the heavy side. I think I have like 17 fish.
I'll post an update pic in a month or two, hopefully with some colorful, larger corals :thumbsup:
Reefer40b
New member
jackson6745
Yeah Yeah
What is this coral by chance? Thanks[/QUOTE]
No particular name, just a cool milli from a local reefer.
rhinonm
New member
Thats what she said...
