DLANDINO
D.L. Heritage Rings
Ok, it has been a few months since my tear down and I am slowly rebuilding my reef. So far I have removed about 1/2 of my "sandbed" and replaced it with new, oolitic sand from carib-sea. I have the word sand bed in quotes because about 3 inches of my top layer of sand was solid stone. I'm pretty sure that this was one of the things that led to my nutrient issues and eventual downfall of my previous reef. If I had to name the culprit for this I would say that it was careless addition of kalk in my top off over a period of a few months. Live and learn.
Aside form the new sand bed I have been hard at work building a new scape using the "golden rule" a term used in works of art in regard to placement and sizes of objects and a bunch of pvc, fiberglass support rods, epoxy, superglue and fiji and pukani dry rock from bulk reef supply. So far I have built a pretty cool pillar for the left side of the tank and am moving on to a lower standing bridge/cliff overhang structure for the right side of the tank. I am thinking of leaving the middle of the tank with a channel free of rock for swimming space as well as a large portion of realestate for visible sand bed. This will be a far cry from my last aquascape where there was so much rock I quickly ran out of space, had flow issues and couldn't do the most simple reef maintenance on the glass.
This weekend I will add a new black background to the rear wall and will be striving to keep that wall free and clean of coralline. I had my previous reef's rear wall free of coralline for the longest time but it became too difficult to scrape as my predominantly SPS coral grew in.
My plan this time out is to stick with colorful soft coral and MAYBE some LPS if the bug bites me for hard coral. I would like not to have to worry too much about target feeding and all of the pitfalls that go along with that (detritus, nutrients, algae, headaches, heartaches, sleepless nights etc etc).
I am not going to post an official build thread because what I am doing will not be all that interesting to most. Those that know me know that I have a VERY SIMPLE set up. No sump, no refugium, controllers gizmos or high tech gadgets. While there is a place for simplicity in this hobby I know most are into the bells and whistles.
I wil however post pics as I progress possibly this weekend.
Thanks for reading my update. I will probably be more active on the board now after a few months of relative inactivity. Look forward to talking to some of the new folks.
Happy reefing...
Aside form the new sand bed I have been hard at work building a new scape using the "golden rule" a term used in works of art in regard to placement and sizes of objects and a bunch of pvc, fiberglass support rods, epoxy, superglue and fiji and pukani dry rock from bulk reef supply. So far I have built a pretty cool pillar for the left side of the tank and am moving on to a lower standing bridge/cliff overhang structure for the right side of the tank. I am thinking of leaving the middle of the tank with a channel free of rock for swimming space as well as a large portion of realestate for visible sand bed. This will be a far cry from my last aquascape where there was so much rock I quickly ran out of space, had flow issues and couldn't do the most simple reef maintenance on the glass.
This weekend I will add a new black background to the rear wall and will be striving to keep that wall free and clean of coralline. I had my previous reef's rear wall free of coralline for the longest time but it became too difficult to scrape as my predominantly SPS coral grew in.
My plan this time out is to stick with colorful soft coral and MAYBE some LPS if the bug bites me for hard coral. I would like not to have to worry too much about target feeding and all of the pitfalls that go along with that (detritus, nutrients, algae, headaches, heartaches, sleepless nights etc etc).
I am not going to post an official build thread because what I am doing will not be all that interesting to most. Those that know me know that I have a VERY SIMPLE set up. No sump, no refugium, controllers gizmos or high tech gadgets. While there is a place for simplicity in this hobby I know most are into the bells and whistles.
I wil however post pics as I progress possibly this weekend. Thanks for reading my update. I will probably be more active on the board now after a few months of relative inactivity. Look forward to talking to some of the new folks.
Happy reefing...
