Smite's Stout CDA- 205g acro dominant system

Do you need to re-enforce the flooring/subfloor due to shear weight of the tank?


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I'm thinking this may be the combo I stick with. I did pick up some used XHO actinics today but not sure I'll install them.

Kessil Pros:
I can control the spectrum and ramp up down in whichever spectrum I choose. The blue is nice and crisp and looks like it'll be pretty nice paired with the true actinic lamps for all blue pop. Spread is nice and I can position them to keep all the light inside the bracing.
Cons: Blue isn't as full as XHO. Look isn't as sleek. Cable management might be hard to hide above tank, more wires.

XHO pros
Looks more sleek overall. Hard to beat the all out blue of XHO.
Cons: 2" longer than the fixture, so lighting more bracing and overspill onto couch. I'll have to drill/alter the fixture itself or come up with a bracket.

Anyways, here is how they are mocked up for now. The high strength velcro is nice and super strong. It isn't doing much but keeping the kessil from sliding front to back since it's all pretty well balanced. I'm not sure how to get a brushed look on the aluminum stock, maybe some wd40 and steel wool?


The white of the kessil is very nice with the t5, but I probably wouldn't run them together for day:
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2mJcQei]

The actinic lamps with the kessils all blue looks great and blends well
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2mJ8Gr3]


If I stick with this, I'll be adding another pair for 4 total.
 
I was able to get another kessil 360we in good shape. I added that in and will transfer the 4th over after the swap since it runs my frag section currently. I repaired the fan on the Powermodule and got all the wiring management done for the light down to the display. I left a nice long service/drip loop so I can raise the light 2-3' when I really need to get in there and for the day I transfer. I'm using my controller and current UV so I'm really as far as I can go until the transfer.



I added 120-140lbs of special grade and that gave me about 1.5" deep sand bed. Some dry and rinsed but the majority "live" sand. I don't trust that for the day of transfer so I'm adding it early. I had about a 1L left of MB7 so I added that to the sand, a few drops of ammonia and about 50g of fresh mixed NeoMarine. Basically making sure the sand is seeded, truly living and ready to rock come transfer day. I've also got an airstone in there to help out the bacteria.


[url=https://flic.kr/p/2mJSN6p]

I've got another 55g of salt mixing right now and I'll be adding that tomorrow. That should get me enough water height to add my rock from the bin in the garage. I picked up some 3" ABS PVC in case I want to cut some shims to lift my scape up.



My plan is to get the tank filled with the sand and rock all in place. I need to test, but I'm assuming after all this time of adding ammonia to the bin in the garage the nitrates are for sure high and possibly with phosphates as well. I wont be using that water, I want 100% fresh neomarine in the new tank. So once the rock is in it'll just be a waiting game for nutrients to rise close to that of the 75g. I'll manipulate the major parameters to match the 75g, then I'll be swapping everything over.



I have some fish that have been looking decent in QT/Observation. They've made it through both general cure treatments and are eating. No signs of internal parasites so far. They'll be going in while I wait/get everything dialed into the new tank. They are the newbies so that will give them time to acclimate before all the other fish make the jump.

Ornate Leopard Wrasse. Slept for the first 48 hours. Caught him waking. Not to stoked on the new place.



Copperband Butterfly - eating live only, so I may hold him back. Also twitching even after two full rounds of GC and is flashing occasionally. I've had him a few weeks so that seems pretty odd to me. Hard to make out ich on a white fish but no other fish have signs of anything?



Yellowtail Fang Blenny. I'm so stoked on this fish. Hard to beat the blue and yellow combo with that black slash through the eye.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2mJW1AR]
And I may regret it but a Yellow Watchman Goby. Not sure if I'll be adding a pistol or not. I really like that relationship and don't plan to keep much on the sand but it could get annoying I'm sure.



I'd really like to get another blenny of some type, scopas or purple tang and possibly an angel of some type.
 
Here is a quick video to show the shimmer of the kessils with all t5s on. Looks great IMO. I pan over to my current 75g at the end, that is the livestock that will be transferred over. The center of the 205g rock work will hopefully fit the main structure from my 75g, thats towards the overflow wall. The rest will be chopped up and mounted throughout the tank.
https://youtu.be/HAOJuFAcmuc
 
I vote to keep both tanks!

Ha! Thanks but I don't know how people do multiple reefs 1 has my full attention. Of course I once said that about having kids too :hmm5:

Can't beat that kessil shimmer!


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That's true, they shimmer like crazy. It's actually dead on for me with t5s, look great on their own too. I think the true actinic lamps with full white on the kessils is going to be my sunrise setting. So nice. I'll probably do the actinics plus blue at night. They really compliment each other well.
 
All fish survived my week vacation but only due to my sister coming by 2x a day. Twice during the trip the dedicated GFCI circuit tripped and I had to walk her through resetting it. I know it isn't load related but I'm pretty sure it has to do with either :me putting a ground probe in the system and the GFCI breaker just being that sensitive; or has to do with some of the DC powered equipment I'm running. I had a similar issue with my 100g at my last house with radions during ramp up.
With no ground probe I've got about 30v water to ground (that was prior to dedicated circuit but I'm sure it's the same). As I unplugged equipment that number dropped fairly evenly with each item so I think it's just bleed off. It even comes from the lights that have no contact with the water. Maybe that's enough to effect that GFCI breaker? Sucks if that's the case @ $50 a pop x 2.

I'm still watching my fish closely, they just don't seem comfortable. I see no signs of parasites or flashing. They made it through my partial QT for flukes / General Cure treatment. They just tend to pace the glass if the lights are on, I'm not sure if this is a reflection issue or a lack of rock and other fish to keep them occupied or made to feel secure?

I see a dusting of algae on the sand and glass I added a bunch of snails from my sump frag section before leaving and all survived the week and are going to work on it.

On a super positive note, my 75g looks just as good if not better than when I left. I measured out thawed frozen food and live phyto for the week in small dixie cups to be feed each day. I think that consistency turned out to be better for the tank overall. Lots of film algae but the corals are looking really good and growth was great.

And a while after I cleaned the glass

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2mMQv5Q]


Absolutely love this piece, PC Superman. I plan to leave it a lot of room in the next tank



EDIT: Forgot the right side, my favorite with that blue smoothie
 
Looks great! Yeah, it's funny when you're away and don't look at your tank for a few days, how you can notice the changes much easier. You may have to stick with that feeding regime?


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I added some fish to QT today.

Katherine fairy wrasse
Naoko fairy wrasse
Lubbocks fairy wrasse
exquisite fairy wrasse
african leopard wrasse
twin spot goby
 
Any updates?


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Whoa boy, I got some catching up to do. It's harder to post pictures here so I've fallen behind. Surprisingly I couldn't fit everything from my UNS tank and ended up selling a few colonies off.


I ended up transferring the whole system over with everything matched up. It all went fine for a week or so but then I started losing pieces to TN issues, that was around the second week of December. With all my parameters being in line for what I could test I needed to get an ICP out. ATI didn't get back from holiday until 1/3.

Long story not so short, I got my results back with elevated Tin, 40ug/l. A buddy mentioned he had a similar issue when he set up a new tank and didnt flush it out a few times. Well I didn't flush it out so I suspect that was my issue.

All in all I ended up losing roughly a dozen pieces but I've still got a lot of acros hanging in there! Now that I know what I'm battling I've got a little peace of mind. I was somewhat worried my ICP would come back showing nothing and I'd have to chalk it up to tank maturity or something bacterial.

My plan of attack going forward is to do daily water changes in the 20g range. I have about 200g of NeomMarine, once that's done I'll wait a week and send off an ICP to see where I'm at and make sure everything has dropped off. ​I've added a polyfilter and have cuprisorb on the way. I did have a small amount of copper I still need to find the source for.


Here is a FTS from last week. The top CB maleficent was going up in smoke, it's toast now. I've also had a patch of bryopsis rear it's ugly head. The front is basically a graveyard of the pieces I lost. I cleaned all that up yesterday, I'll have to get a decent picture of the tank as it sits now.
 
Sunset anthias. I had three females at time of transfer. They all stayed on their own for the most part in the UNS. In this tank with the added open water one claimed dominance and they are out in the open for the most part. Very cool to see! Here is the transitional male
New honcho by Matthew Schueneman, on Flickr

Clown pair. I can't believe how quickly these guys have grown. They are also exhibiting spawning behavior already. male clown-4 by Matthew Schueneman, on Flickr
Female Clown by Matthew Schueneman, on Flickr

Possibly the most underrated fairy wrasse in the whole hobby: Lubbocks Fairy, best bang for your buck in the color department. Super docile as well.
Lubbocks by Matthew Schueneman, on Flickr

CBB: Still only accepting live worms but man this guy wrecked my aiptasia population so I don't mind the weekly trip to grab him some special food.
CBB-3 by Matthew Schueneman, on Flickr

Once sworn enemies, now playing nice for the time being. Tomini and Starry blenny
Blenny Tomini by Matthew Schueneman, on Flickr

CSB bubble tip anemone. Super hardy but the clowns don't recognize it and are still beating up the tiny gigantea. I've been feeding the gig lately though and keeping the female away until it's completed it's meal and have seen good improvement.
CSB by Matthew Schueneman, on Flickr
 
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