ReefWreak's 29g SPS Biocube Adventure!
- Thread starter ReefWreak
- Start date
Then I'll very likely be at RAP. MACNA not too sure, but that's out in September (usually) so there's time to think about it.
I'll plan to be out west visiting you before RAP. Next few weekends are booked up with visitors and trips (I'm so popular!), but I'll definitely come out and visit before the tank is up in full swing.
And for what it's worth, even if my corals color up and go crazy in my tank, they'll be totally different in yours. That's one thing I've definitely seen, is how different even named, aquacultured for generations, lineage corals with strict expectations can have such dramatic differences in ultimate color depending on tank conditions. I just posted in Jackson6745's thread about how the ORA Pearlberry I got from him is very traditional coloration, however as everyone in the thread noted, his is almost green/turqouse bodied with purple polyps, which is very non-traditional, and it shifted from his color to everyone else's color as it got used to my tank.
I'll plan to be out west visiting you before RAP. Next few weekends are booked up with visitors and trips (I'm so popular!), but I'll definitely come out and visit before the tank is up in full swing.
And for what it's worth, even if my corals color up and go crazy in my tank, they'll be totally different in yours. That's one thing I've definitely seen, is how different even named, aquacultured for generations, lineage corals with strict expectations can have such dramatic differences in ultimate color depending on tank conditions. I just posted in Jackson6745's thread about how the ORA Pearlberry I got from him is very traditional coloration, however as everyone in the thread noted, his is almost green/turqouse bodied with purple polyps, which is very non-traditional, and it shifted from his color to everyone else's color as it got used to my tank.
soulpatch
New member
I have some finishing touches to do to the basement and put it back together as the tank construction slows. We will be redoing our kitchen as well this Winter/Spring. All in though I am planning to try to have a get together at my house in the Spring. There are enough of us in the area or close enough to make the trip in. You, Tim, Cabo (Lee), Muchumatt, MrTan, ect. Do some dogs and burgers on the grill and hang out talking shop and whatnot.
That sounds great. I'll come from NYC and bring the... bagels...?... and ... bad attitude...?
Though everyone loves something from Brookyln these days, so maybe I'll just buy something from there for everyone to fawn over lol.
Yea it would be great to have a saltwater get together at your place in the spring. I'll bring plenty of frags for everyone.
Though everyone loves something from Brookyln these days, so maybe I'll just buy something from there for everyone to fawn over lol.
Yea it would be great to have a saltwater get together at your place in the spring. I'll bring plenty of frags for everyone.
Hope_L
New member
Thanks!
Just for your feedback, I'll share some more!
Also, some pics of the new lighting setup. I swapped out the Green cree LED for a Lime LED, and swapped out one of the cool whites in the back of the tank for a Cyan. The tank looks very white now without needing as much white LEDs. I actually like the look. I even liked running an XM 10K when I had it, because it looked like the ocean when you were snorkeling.
Hump day. 6 month growth comparison. Not bad. Wish I had more room for the corals to grow without growing into each other. I'm still trying to sell some frags on a local site, but it's tough to get anyone to come by unless you're giving it away for free, and even then, most of the time people flake. Oh well. I'm happy with tank growth!
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So I might have made a mistake (or 5) and bought some new corals at a Cherry Corals live auction last night... So I need more room for corals. I'm not sure anyone will be able to help me much with this, but does anyone have any thoughts on whether it would be okay to move my right MP10 further up closer to the glass similar to the left MP10?
The right one has been there since the first MP10, right after I started the tank, and I thought a more central location would get more flow circulating through the tank. But now that I have two, I think that if I moved the right one to line up with the left one I would benefit in a few ways:
1. it would increase "clashing" and mixing of the flow from the two pumps, which would cause more "random flow" which is how we used to have to create good flow back in the day before controllable pumps, by just having 2 powerful pumps blow into eachother or the glass. This would potentially be good for coral growth as well as mixing of dead areas and the water column in general.
2. I would be able to plant some of these new corals on the front right hand side, where I haven't been able to before because the flow would shear the flesh off of the coral if I put them in front of the pump (ask me how I know....).
I'm just nervous that I may lose flow in the back of the rocks/tank and it would be a deadzone back there.
For reference, the pumps have been on "Reef Crest" mode now the last 2 months, at about 65% power. I moved it over from their eco-flow setting, because I can see that any of the acros that grew into the flow have started losing flesh only on the side that the MP10 is on, so it must have been too much laminar flow versus when I ran the old pump at reef crest mode, because I didn't used to have that problem. Or maybe when I cleaned the newer MP10 its first time, I replaced it further back than it was before and all of this would be restoring it to it's original location?
Pic for reference:
The right one has been there since the first MP10, right after I started the tank, and I thought a more central location would get more flow circulating through the tank. But now that I have two, I think that if I moved the right one to line up with the left one I would benefit in a few ways:
1. it would increase "clashing" and mixing of the flow from the two pumps, which would cause more "random flow" which is how we used to have to create good flow back in the day before controllable pumps, by just having 2 powerful pumps blow into eachother or the glass. This would potentially be good for coral growth as well as mixing of dead areas and the water column in general.
2. I would be able to plant some of these new corals on the front right hand side, where I haven't been able to before because the flow would shear the flesh off of the coral if I put them in front of the pump (ask me how I know....).
I'm just nervous that I may lose flow in the back of the rocks/tank and it would be a deadzone back there.
For reference, the pumps have been on "Reef Crest" mode now the last 2 months, at about 65% power. I moved it over from their eco-flow setting, because I can see that any of the acros that grew into the flow have started losing flesh only on the side that the MP10 is on, so it must have been too much laminar flow versus when I ran the old pump at reef crest mode, because I didn't used to have that problem. Or maybe when I cleaned the newer MP10 its first time, I replaced it further back than it was before and all of this would be restoring it to it's original location?
Pic for reference:
Also, I just looked back at pictures from a long time ago, and the MP10 on the right has always been in the same spot. I wonder why corals are starting to shear flesh though since adding a second pump. Maybe they've grown into it, maybe they're stressed, maybe it's from changing the flow pattern. I still wonder if I should move it forwards though.
Well, I had to get the big tongs dirty anyway to clean some zoanthids off of a frag anyway, so I went and raised and moved the MP10 forward, so that they are exactly parallel.
I'll watch longer-term and see how flow is going in the back. Already it looks like the corals towards the back of the tank are getting less flow, the polyps are blowing around less, but we'll see how they do over time.
What is neat is that the fungia plate coral in the front is definitely now responding to the flow blowing each way. Before it kinda just blew one way, then stayed steady, then blew the same way again, even when the powerheads were reverse of each other and cycling. Now that they are parallel, it's definitly blowing one way, then the other way. Maybe I'll do a video.
I'm also not sure how much room it opened up, but some room is better than no more room!
I'll watch longer-term and see how flow is going in the back. Already it looks like the corals towards the back of the tank are getting less flow, the polyps are blowing around less, but we'll see how they do over time.
What is neat is that the fungia plate coral in the front is definitely now responding to the flow blowing each way. Before it kinda just blew one way, then stayed steady, then blew the same way again, even when the powerheads were reverse of each other and cycling. Now that they are parallel, it's definitly blowing one way, then the other way. Maybe I'll do a video.
I'm also not sure how much room it opened up, but some room is better than no more room!
It looks okay so far. I sit and stare at the back of the tank acros to make sure their polyps are still getting a blast every now and then. I'd prefer there to be more flow, but I think it'll be a tradeoff of having a ton of coral growth, having to deal with lower flow in the back.
Thank you! I spent a LOT of time on ReefCentral in those days and was learning a mile a minute and reading every reefing book I could find used on Amazon for cheap. It was a lot of fun, but it was tough and eventually crashed because I wasn't even in town but once every 2 weeks while that tank was up.
I still think a key thing that made the tank better was leaving it the heck alone though. Get it stable, then make it so that the only maintenance to be done is something your parents can do for you, even if you are there every minute of every day to take care of it. That tank in it's prime only needed daily top offs, feeding 3x a week, and occasional glass cleanings. Every 2 weeks or every month I would do the maintenance of replacing the GFO, cleaning out the giant skimmer, adjusting the calcium reactor (though I think I only adjusted it when setting it up and then when I ran out of CO2 or media and had to re-dial it in again).
I still think a key thing that made the tank better was leaving it the heck alone though. Get it stable, then make it so that the only maintenance to be done is something your parents can do for you, even if you are there every minute of every day to take care of it. That tank in it's prime only needed daily top offs, feeding 3x a week, and occasional glass cleanings. Every 2 weeks or every month I would do the maintenance of replacing the GFO, cleaning out the giant skimmer, adjusting the calcium reactor (though I think I only adjusted it when setting it up and then when I ran out of CO2 or media and had to re-dial it in again).
homer1475
New member
I'm finding this to be more and more true the more mature my tank gets. If I just leave it alone and quit playing with it, everything looks much happier and healthier. A simple 5G WC every week, every other week change out the media in the reactor, and once a month I clean all the equipment. Other then that, I leave it alone.
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