Perry's 120 Gallon Reef

[plyle02]

So things are steady in the right direction, the algae is slowly breaking in the display, as the RO/DI and fresh salt are mixing in the frag tank. I still have plumbing and 40 more gallons of water to go. Corals in the display are looking great as far as color and PE go. I still want to move forward on re-booting the display. Here are a few pics from this AM.

Maricultured Tenuis I think, love those pink polyps

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ORA Chips Acro, love the fuzzy polyps!

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RP, quite red, showing whitish growth tips and green in the base

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Green with blue tip acro, no name

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Ponape, standard BN but glows in my tank for whatever reason

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Finally, combo coral, Green Slimer with Red Robin, almost grafting on one another, growing symbiotically together without warfare

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[markalot]

Ooohhh, look at the Red Robin. Mine is finally showing red, just at the tips, but finally. Looks fantastic, and super healthy.

 

[naterealbig]

Hi Perry,

I'm excited to hear about the new frag tank, sad to hear about the job. I know I haven't checked in in a while, and I'm glad to see you're still going strong. There are some great additions, and I will be checking back frequently!

 

[reefmutt]

solid growth, nice pe..
looking good!

 

[shih87]

...

....

Love it!!!

 

[plyle02]

Update for today:

Frag tank has been complete for a few days now, had a small leak, but after further inspection and more teflon tape, I am now good The display is also now 100% BB, the final stage were completed today. Also, I pulled every acro today and dipped, they are now all freshly dipped and housed in the display, I also did a slight change in aquascape, nothing really too major, just moved some rocks and corals to make more open flow design. The corals in the frag tank have showed no adverse signs, other than the usual slime, but I suspect that will clear in time. I did not find any AEFW, I did chop the colonies anywhere I saw tissue necrosis on under side of colonies, but did not find any worms. This is good news, but I have decided to run all my corals in quarantine, for at least a couple of months before I add back to the display, my hopes are to be 100% certain that I have none of the buggers. I will be using epoxy to cover any acro tissue left behind in the display. After I feel the corals look good, and have no signs of pests, they will eventually be placed back into the display. When things calm down in the display, I will likely add a sandbed to the frag tank but continue to run BB in the display. I will probably make a frag rack for 1/2 the frag tank, the other 1/2 will be most of my softies and lps corals, this way I have more room for sps in the display. I have had a lot of time on my hands, which is actually a good thing, in the past I would do these sort of projects in one swoop. This time around I can do a small project, wait a few days allowing for things to return to normal, then repeat the process Cheers everyone!

 

[markalot]

Good news Perry, sounds like a lot of work. How's the Red Robin doing?

 

[plyle02]

Good news Perry, sounds like a lot of work. How's the Red Robin doing?

Mark,
I would imagine that it will probably fade out a bit, I have only 4 bulbs on the frag tank running, but the tank only 12", so it is more than enough light. I did not encounter any losses yet, still to early to tell about color though The display was becoming over ridden with hair algae, but now that I have siphoned all the remaining sand and detritus out, everything should hopefully come into balance. I also siphoned out 6o% of the hair algae, it and the remaining sand caught in a filter sock that was removed after the project. Hopefully this effort, and 60 fresh gallons of mixed saltwater will help with the remaining. I am only running 2 actinic bulbs over the display until the algae breaks, so my remaining sps, lps, and softies will be lowly lit for a spell. Hopefully my skimmer and the chaeto will help too. I am also running a touch of gfo and gac.

 

[glaukos]

thanks for sharing your action plan perry:beer:
really happy that things are going smooth!
are you running gac and gfo in the same reactor?
mark is right,that's a lot of work and have only respect for you going this way

 

[reefmutt]

Man, I HATE tearing down a reef..
It does sound like a lot of work.. You have more energy than me!
It'll be great when you come out the other side, though.

 

[plyle02]

thanks for sharing your action plan perry:beer:
really happy that things are going smooth!
are you running gac and gfo in the same reactor?
mark is right,that's a lot of work and have only respect for you going this way

Mike, thanks for the kind sentiments, I really did not WANT to do this, but I have to make sure the display is right, again the redundancy of having the same footprint as the display in the frag tank makes it a LOT easier All colonies are off the glass on pvc pieces, the flow is strong, and polyps are out on 90% of the dipped acros. Both the main tank and the frag tank return into a sock. My hopes are to keep my sump clean and free of settling debris. Thankfully I already pulled everything out of the sump and cleaned all the equipment weeks ago, still detritus free, the filter sock really helps!

Man, I HATE tearing down a reef..
It does sound like a lot of work.. You have more energy than me!
It'll be great when you come out the other side, though.

I hear you Matt, not exactly what I wanted to do, but I think like you said, hopefully it will be better down the line Having the extra tank made this much better, lol...

 

[cugly]

Merry Christmas and Happy new year bud

 

[plyle02]

Merry Christmas and Happy new year bud

Awe Thanks Bud!
Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones!!!

Santa was good to me this year, I am getting all stoked on what my new reef budget is going to allow, thinking probiotic system, and really wanting to get some products from the aquaforest lineup We will have to see, for now going to sit patient and allow for the system to return to normal, but the Polish tanks have me chomping at the bit, lol....

 

[cugly]

Cool that's awesome always good to have extra money for the reef.

 

[markalot]

Merry Christmas Perry, glad to hear Santa had the goods.

 

[plyle02]

Cool that's awesome always good to have extra money for the reef.

Merry Christmas Perry, glad to hear Santa had the goods.

Thanks Fellas!!!
I am pretty much leaning on the use of Aquaforest lineup. I was considering zeovit too, but after reading the POF on AF, I think I may have more success, and it will be less expensive to run the system. From my understanding, the zeolites do not have to be in use, siporax can be used also in conjunction with the system. The system seems less aggressive compared to that of zeovit, which can be intimidating. Also, it seems too many products have been created down the line to address issues that may or may not be caused by use of zeovit products. To me, I like that each of the AF products are listed and easy to understand purpose. I plan on doing an order for the probiotic salts first, I will likely add siporax into sump area. I will use the C-source system, then will employ the coral supplement products. For now, I will use what is left of my 3 part dosing, as well as K, B, I, as well as the Salifert Hard Trace for trace mineral supp. Once I exhaust all my supps, I will likely convert to AF for the mineral and trace mineral supplementation. My LFS has an account with DSA so I will likely be placing the initial order today.
Cheers!!!

 

[SCReefer13]

love the colors in your tank

 

[reefmutt]

Perry, looking forward to watching your transition to AF!
It'll be very interesting, no doubt!

 

[plyle02]

Thanks guys, Matt, I have ordered 2000L of siporax, I plan to add that to the sump and insert in stacking method in baffles after the skimmer, before the return. As far as AF goes, I will be placing that order on Monday or Tuesday, so I should have all that I need to get going before next weekend. The initial plan is to use the probiotic part of the system for nutrient control, as well as the coral foods. In regards to minerals and trace, that will be converted at a later date when my stock is depleted. Fortunately the I will get the supps below retail, this made my decision much easier

 

[reefmutt]

Nice plan. I kind of want to go the same route.. Try the salt, the pro bio s and np pro along with the coral food.. And see what happens..
Well, I have to salt.. So it's a start.
I'll be watching..