Newbie Build : 55gal mixed reef

Thanks Brett. Ideally you wouldn't even be able to see the rock once the corals take over. I'm still learning the ropes as far as that goes. The frags all seem content but I think I am lacking a little in growth, color, and polyp extension... A little of each but not quite where I want to be. I think I need to start dosing 2-part. My Calcium is at 420ppm and my Alk is at 9.8 dkh. Do you think these could be a little higher? I'm not running GFO or Carbon yet either. Could my lights be too close? The fixture is like 4" off the water and most of the Acropora are 10"-15" below the light. I have been doing 10gal WC every weekend with the Catalina seawater from FB.
 
420 and 9.8 is actually perfect man. You gotta be really patient when it comes to SPS,they can take a long time to take off. I have some that are over a year old that have barely done anything.
 
Thanks smtank.

Brett, cool thanks I probably needed to hear that so I don't meddle too much. I mean they seem happy I just might be staring them down too much pondering on what they could need.
 
Your patience is paying off. That rock scape is awesome! Growth will come in time you're doing it right. You're avoiding alot of commom setbacks that casue discouragement by being patient. Keep up the awesome work!
 
Newsalth2o said:
Your patience is paying off. That rock scape is awesome! Growth will come in time you're doing it right. You're avoiding alot of commom setbacks that casue discouragement by being patient. Keep up the awesome work!
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Thanks
I have noticed some of the first frags I glued to the rock have started encrusting over the glue and there are quite a few small new polyps. My girlfriend won't let me upgrade till this tank is full grown. I'm definitely going to try and just be super patient everything is actually going pretty well. I'm allready wanting to pick up a couple more frags. :)
 
danfeig said:
Looking great Wade! You do know that Favia came from my tank!
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Thanks Dan! I did not know that. That is awesome! Makes that Favia even cooler knowing it came from your tank. 14 of 15 of my corals/frags all came from tanks here in Tucson... Pretty cool. The odd one I got at FB and I'm not really sure what it is, I will probably post an I.D. thread to see what people think.
 
Update

Update

Got my bangaii and wrasse in the DT. Neither of them were shy for very long, both are eating feverishly and seem happy. I did spot the Melenurus flipping some snails and hermits... I dot think he killed them though.

Sun night I lost a Pocillipora frag overnight I think RTN.
Mon night I lost a Stylophora frag overnight I think RTN.

I had done a 10gal W.C. on Sun with Catalina Water
My parameters measured this am:

Temp: 78deg F
Salinity: 1.025
NH4: 0.0ppm
NO2: 0.0ppm
NO3: 0.0ppm
CAL: 420ppm
ALK: 3.2meq/l - 9.0dkh
MAG: ran out of time, running late for work...
PH: have never tested...
Phosphate: have never tested...

All my Acros look fine...
Whith the exception being there aren't enough!

hmmm...

I am probably going to start running a carbon reactor in the not so distant future.

Two of the mangrove pods are showing some evidence of sprouting.
 
Hmm. How are you managing you Alk & Ca? Testing gives you a good snap shot, but how things going up & down throughout the day can have an impact as well. IDK, ALK would be my first thought, then PO4.
But I would think the pocillipora and stylopohora are on the hardier end of things.

If you're going to start running GAC, I'd look at GFO as well. I ran my GAC and my GFO in the same BRS reactor. Not ideal, but it worked.
 
My Alk and Cal are just managed with weekly 10% water changes at this point. I don't see much change in a week. My coral load is still pretty low. 13 1"-2" frags and a 2" maxima clam. I was looking at either running GFO and GAC together in a Phosban Reactor since my system is only about 65gallons of water column total I don't think seperate reactors would be necessary. I do need to start testing for phosphate and PH though for sure...
 
Update:Mangroves & RBTA

Update:Mangroves & RBTA

So every single mangrove pod I received has sprouted leaves! or is getting close to. I have had the pods for 2months and 11 days.

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And yesterday I scored this awesome RBTA for a great price from FB! Beat internet prices even without counting shipping I am really pleased with this newish LFS.

Very healthy and happy. Nice tight mouth, sticky. It latched right onto the rock after 1hr drip acclimation.

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Wandered around the scape for a couple hours without running over any frags and this morning I found it here. Put a nice hunk of a random meaty delicacy from Rod's Original near it and it stuck right to the tentacles and gobbled it right up.

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Cool anemone - Wade !!! If they don't take to the anemone try taping a picture of a clownfish hosting in an anemone outside of the aquarium and then the clownfish will look at that and try to host in the anemone... Give this trick a try, its work for me in the past ...
 
Wade, your tank looks phenomenal. Could you share your opinion (aside from the wait time) on the vidarock? Do you feel that it is getting encrusted with marine growth, i.e. coralline algae at the same rate that regular dry rock or live rock would have? Do your corals seem to be attaching to it willingly? I am thinking about ordering a few pieces to add to an existing system and they seem to be the best option.
 
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