The Electric Reef Project v2

[overexposed]

Oooh good calls! I'll have to keep my eyes peeled. We have our annual local frag swap coming up in April, "Fragfest," I may get lucky .

What you see listed above is my current "haves" list... my wanted list still has a few more on it . 500$ Efflo is another big want, as are RR Wolverine and Palmers Blue Mille.

 

[overexposed]

I did some aquascaping this evening. Not entirely sure if I am done or not... going to sit on it for a week or so and see if any ideas come to me. With things as they are I managed to create something similar to what I was imagining, and all my corals are displayed in places that are relatively close to being ideal in terms of their light and flow requirements.... so I'll probably leave it as is. I was just imagining the left island to be a bit bigger and longer, and toying with the idea of getting some more liverock to accomplish that.

 

[sahin]

Looks a lot more tidy and nicer. :beer: I'd purposely grow stag type corals on one island to break up the symmetry a little.

 

[overexposed]

Yes I was thinking that as well . I've got a handful of stags on the right, and a couple of tablers. Montis and bushies on the left.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to get some more liverock to add to the left side and make that island more oblong.

 

[d-man]

Great job. Looks nice. It'll be beautiful when they start to grow up

 

[justinky]

With a little bit of smooth talking, I convinced my lady that if I had to drain the tank anyways, it only made sense to upgrade to a bigger tank - and build that tank into the wall of our new living room!

And so started the never ending, no compromise project. More details to come soon, I'm getting yelled at for not working....

Smart move Your new tank is coming along great.

 

[jroovers]

I'm really excited about the potential of this tank, with all that MH lighting I think you're going to have a ton of mature SPS colonies sooner rather than later

 

[coral102]

Amazing!!!

 

[overexposed]

Amazing!!!

I'm really excited about the potential of this tank, with all that MH lighting I think you're going to have a ton of mature SPS colonies sooner rather than later

Smart move Your new tank is coming along great.

Great job. Looks nice. It'll be beautiful when they start to grow up

Thank you everyone! Corals have already begun growing more since I added them two weeks ago. I did a full battery of tests on the tank the other day and diacovered that my ca and alk were sorely depleted, so I have upped my dosing. I also would like to publicly note that my nitrates are between 20-40 using the API test kit. PO4 is down at 0 according to my Hanna checker. But the sulphur denitrator has now been pumping out 0ppm NO3 effluent for about a week so the nitrate problem shouldn't last long.... then I expect things to truly start taking off.

I will have to bust out the DSLR camera this week and get a good photo on record for each coral so I can do before and after comparisons in six months' time.

 

[jroovers]

Thank you everyone! Corals have already begun growing more since I added them two weeks ago. I did a full battery of tests on the tank the other day and diacovered that my ca and alk were sorely depleted, so I have upped my dosing. I also would like to publicly note that my nitrates are between 20-40 using the API test kit. PO4 is down at 0 according to my Hanna checker. But the sulphur denitrator has now been pumping out 0ppm NO3 effluent for about a week so the nitrate problem shouldn't last long.... then I expect things to truly start taking off.

I will have to bust out the DSLR camera this week and get a good photo on record for each coral so I can do before and after comparisons in six months' time.

Interesting that your nitrates are up in the 20 to 40 range also. Tyler's tank was basically the same when we tested on the weekend. The major difference in the two systems is that you used older fully cured rock from an existing system, and he used newer rock (but he has been cycling for a while now). Why do you think your nitrates are so high? Just from the movement and stirring up of the rock and what not? Lack of dinitrfying bacteria in the system as well, that have yet to establish?

 

[overexposed]

I brought over most of my substrate from the 90 gallon becuase I wanted to try and keep as many of my snails, worms, mini brittle stars, and pods as possible. It would have been impossible to selectively find and pick out all of my snails. So that's probably what did most of the damage.... I didn't vacuum the substrate near enough before the move. And then combine that with the fact that I've never managed to achieve an NO3 reading under 10. Man PO4 is easy but I've always struggled with trates for some reason. Hoping that this sulfur reactor is my golden ticket.

Oh - and I'm still trying to figure out the best method for feeding my fish instead of the overflow.... this coast to coast system is just pulling the food right out of my display!!!

 

[overexposed]

Picked up this fella today, hopefully he does well and also puts a dent in my aiptasia population:

I started killing off some of the bigger aips one by one last weekend, experimenting with a 2N lye solution after I read an article about it. It seems to be a highly effective killing method - still no sign of them 5 days later! And the best part is that the lye becomes totally benign after the initial chemical reaction.

This is the article if anyone is interested:
http://www.reefscapes.net/articles/breefcase/aiptasia_control.html

And a thread about the method that I found on another reefing forum:
http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=36190

 

[overexposed]

Well, my poor little copperband lasted less than four days [emoji22]. Came home from work and anxiously looked all over the tank for him, then my fiancée pointed out that he was stuck to one of the Tunzes....

He was picking at the sand over the last few days, and on Sunday evening he started venturing into the rocks, but I could see that he had lost weight. I hoped he would turn around after deciding to explore the rocks, but sadly no... I may try again if the LFS gets a shipment of bigger specimens in the future.

 

[cleverbs]

they are tough. You need lots of pods and feather dusters in the tank for them or they can be almost impossible to keep. I am going to get one soon but my tank has been set up for a few years and has a great pod population. I will also probably get mine from Divers den because they are always eating brine when you get them from them. Years ago I bought one from them and it was very healthy. Ended up selling him when I moved because I couldnt keep him.

 

[overexposed]

Yeah I had heard that they are hard. Apparently the rumours are true. My mandarin seems to have no trouble finding enough pods to survive - never touches the frozen food I add - so I thought I would be ok

 

[justinky]

Yeah I had heard that they are hard. Apparently the rumours are true. My mandarin seems to have no trouble finding enough pods to survive - never touches the frozen food I add - so I thought I would be ok

Sorry to hear you lost it They are awesome if you can keep alive.

I'm no expert but it may have been the point in which you added him to your stock list, all of the other large tangs might have frightened him at first to where he didn't want to eat. Again, I'm not an expert on CBBs.

 

[overexposed]

Sorry to hear you lost it They are awesome if you can keep alive.

I'm no expert but it may have been the point in which you added him to your stock list, all of the other large tangs might have frightened him at first to where he didn't want to eat. Again, I'm not an expert on CBBs.

I think you are correct. They relegated him to the upper corners of the tank when he badly needed to feed and build his strength.

 

[sahin]

Sorry about the fish loss. CB's are beautiful fish...but currently we are not even close to being reasonably successful with this fish. I read all over the forums and the story is very similar in most cases.

 

[ThorEffex]

I'm liking the dimensions of your tank. Can't wait to see progression pictures.

 

[overexposed]

I'm liking the dimensions of your tank. Can't wait to see progression pictures.

Here's one for you that I just found last night :

That's 11 months growth according to the date of the first photo.