Ludnix's tropical 120!

[ludnix]

Well I've been back from vacation for a while and thought I'd update. I did pick up a test kit soon after getting back and started dosing Baked baking soda (sodium carbonate) and got my dKH up to 8, which is great. Tomorrow I'll take some photos and do a full array of testing to see where everything is at.

Today however I did some fragging and thought I'd share the results.

The specimen in need of fragging is this large plate of Montipora Cap. As of this photo you could not get the mag-float by without smashing a little bit of the daily new growth.

Using some tin-snips I cut away at the frag until I cut off a good 2" to leave it some room to grow, it won't be very long before I have to do this again but I'll be easily able to control how I want it to grow now.

Here's a picture of the frags and tool I used. My LFS can just break away their montipora using their hands but for some reason mine is extremely thick and cannot be broken off using my hands without pulling the whole shelf off. I use these tin snips because they can be completely disassembled and cleaned to prevent saltwater corrosion.

I traded the frags in for this guy:

Supposedly he can brighten up to be comparable to a green slimer (only in this case he will be yellow).

Tomorrow I'll post some new pictures, there has been a lot of growth since my last update.

 

[ludnix]

I hope you like pictures.

I hope you like pictures.

I got around to taking some photos today. I was using the standard kit lens (18-55mm) with a few magnifying filters on my Rebel XT for my macro shots. I haven't tested the water yet but the corals look pretty happy so there's no rush.

Click any of the images to see a larger version.

February 15th, 2009, Peak lighting MH + T5 supplemental.











The anemone just keeps getting bigger.


The hammer coral has really done well since being put in this tank. He started with 7 heads and now has 16.




You can now clearly see the second head that was a small bump in my last update.

 

[ludnix]

I hope you like pictures, Continued.

I hope you like pictures, Continued.


This was the colony that was originally attacked by the pyramid snail, it's now thriving again.


These guys changed color drastically since we had bought them.






This is a frag of the montipora I'm saving for someone, you can really see the polyps well in this photo..


An asterina starfish on the back of the koralia.



Thanks all for now, thanks for looking!

 

[Jerm77]

how is your bubble tower working out? are you still running without a filtersock?

 

[ludnix]

Still no socks, the bubble towers seems to be working great. I can't see any microbubbles in the display and I don't see any ditritus building up in the rocks inside the tower so I've been very pleased with them.

I definitely recommend them for anyone who has a microbubble problem and is sick of using socks.

 

[Jerm77]

do you notice any detritus build up in the other chambers in the sump?

 

[ludnix]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14409487#post14409487 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jerm77
do you notice any detritus build up in the other chambers in the sump?

I see some detritus settling on the bottom of the skimmer section and the return, I'm pretty sure this a common thing for people though. I just try and siphon it out when I do my water changes.

 

[footbagger311]

Man, I am so jealous. Your tank is gorgeous.

 

[ludnix]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14418762#post14418762 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by footbagger311
Man, I am so jealous. Your tank is gorgeous.

Thanks a ton!

I'm hoping I can get a new video soon, hopefully one that can really show what's it's like looking into the tank.

 

[jejton]

Thats a really great job you did. Can I ask why the canopy sides are open though?

 

[ludnix]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14419333#post14419333 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jejton
Thats a really great job you did. Can I ask why the canopy sides are open though?

Those are the holes for the canopy doors. They are open because I haven't actually made the doors yet. :lol:

I'll definitely update on how those are made when I finish.

 

[ludnix]

A new LFS opened up in my area, they are the first to focus primarily on saltwater which is nice.

They have an awesome 1500g shark tank. It is at least a 15' long, this picture really doesn't do it justice.

They had two little sharks in it. I think one of them is a bamboo but I'm not sure what the other is.

We picked up two frags there, a purple montipora cap. and purple rim green montipora cap.

Once those guys take off we can try and strategically place them with the existing orange so it orange monti doesn't seem like it's taking over so much.

 

[RobbyVonAwesome]

Great looking tank, man! I like the aquascaping.


Jeez, that tank at your lfs is a monster!

 

[TikiDan]

my brother lives 1/4 mile to that new shop in McKinleyville! He said it is awesome!!! I'm going to have to swing by next time I'm up there. My brother is housing all of my coral until i get a new tank set up, next time your in the market for some zoos let me know and I can have him frag some.

 

[ludnix]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14450777#post14450777 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TikiDan
my brother lives 1/4 mile to that new shop in McKinleyville! He said it is awesome!!! I'm going to have to swing by next time I'm up there. My brother is housing all of my coral until i get a new tank set up, next time your in the market for some zoos let me know and I can have him frag some.

I think we are always in the market for new varieties of zoos, my dad loves them!

The new LFS sounds like they have some very ambitious plans, I'm sure they will be even cooler by the time you get up here!

 

[IridescentLily]

Wow, love the tank, love the detail of your documentation, lopve the photos. Your creativity is impressive and it's so cool that the build was a family inputthing.
You make everything look so easy.

I would say you're a natural at this.
Thanks for the thread.

 

[ludnix]

Thanks, IridescentLily!

I did a couple tests on the tank today, I only test the Ca, Mg, and Alk as late, the pH, nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia are only tested when something seems off.

Ca: 410ppm
Mg: 1400ppm
Alk: 7dKH

All the tests look good, I'm still trying to find what my schedule for dosing alk needs to be but I think I'm zeroing in on it. Right now baked baking soda is the only thing I'm dosing aside from the kalkwasser in the top off.

I was feeding some brine shrimp in my pico tank and decided to throw the rest in my 120. This apparently over excited one of the chromis as he knocked off a good branch of my montipora digita. I glued it to a new rock and have it sitting somewhere but I can see I really don't have a lot of room for loose frags. A frag is definitely looking attractive now.

 

[vetdog]

really nice tank and set up! I think I may try to make a bubble tower too....

 

[michellejy]

I've looked at this thread before and admired the tank and never put it together with who owned it. I'm so clueless sometimes. :lol:

Beautiful job!

 

[ludnix]

The doors are on now, it is a lot nicer not to be blinded by the metal halides. After experiencing a tank without the doors for so long I don't think I could ever have tank with a pendant light.

The doors attach using cabinet magnets. I'll take some pictures to show this in more detail later. The handles are the same style wooden turtles as are glued on the doors of the stand.

Here's a full tank shot for this month. I recently removed the hydnopora and replaced it with a few other SPS corals.

Here's the side view. I readjusted a few of the corals as there's been some decent growth and we wanted to make sure the corals had room to grow out without attacking each other.

The whisker coral definitely has some decent heads on it now. I haven't been feeding it so I'm a little surprised by it's growth.

I got some new frags as well. This purple encrusing coral (montipora?) has been growing pretty fast for having only been in the tank a week or two.

I think this is a montipora confusa, but I admit to being a little confusa about it.

I have been noticing these little scallops popping up around the tank, I didn't think they were alive until I saw them snap closed when a snail crashed into them.