A New Dawn

[madweazl]

Added 12 frags yesterday:

2 GARF bansai
Unknown pink/white
SCA orange passion
WWC Yellow tip austera
Unknown blue/green
Strawberry shortcake
2 Tyree's pink lemonade
ORA Hawkin's blue echinata
Cali tort
Vivid rainbow delight

I have space for about three or four more and would like to add some peach/orange. I was a little more selective on placement with this tank; purple is next to yellow and pinks are next to greens to provide more contrast. I'm going to remove the turbinaria and the rock with the green mushrooms that I used to seed the tank.

 

[madweazl]

So far, I've lost the pink lemonades (both), the unknown pink/white, and the blue echinata (the others look like they'll make it). The pink lemonades RTN'd over night and the blue echinata died off over the course of a week (I'm pretty sure that one was getting too much light). I think everything else is still doing alright, though the cali tort is loosing a lot of color. I need to get the lights hooked up to the controller so I can get them close to the program running on the 75g tank but I've been fighting some illness the past week that I just cant seem to shake (no energy and constantly hot).

The tank gobbled up .5 dKh in eight days and while the frags arent doing anything, the coralline is likely responsible for all of that. With some manual dosing, I was able to determine the total water volume is as close as I can measure to 150g on the button.

 

[madweazl]

Gonna need bigger heaters. Think I'll give the BRS/Shego heaters a try.

On another note, most of the acroporas have died. I've been playing with the lights trying to get something close to the 75g in regard to intensity and I'm pretty that was the largest factor (other than being a young tank). I help mitigate the difference, I changed the slope of the Kessils in the 75g; they were originally on a constant ramp but not sit at peak intensity for three hours (adding an hour today). This actually created a positive response and alkalinity consumption has gone up quite a bit so that is cool. I'll give it another week and frag some more.

We also added a diamond goby, hi-fin goby/tiger pistol pair, and a fire shrimp. Oh, a pair of turbo snails were added too (little bit of fuzz on the rocks I want them to take care of).

 

[Reefpuck]

Any updates? Also do you have any updated photos of your tank? I'm looking into the same lighting setup you have on my new build.

 

[madweazl]

Nothing going on yet but our 75g is basically the same setup if you're curious about Kessils and T5s.

 

[southerntnreefer]

Love your builds! Went through your 75 build, as im likely going with Reef Angel for the 72 bow build upcoming, and love the false wall idea, so ill likely steal that once i figure out an ATO container to use.

 

[madweazl]

Love your builds! Went through your 75 build, as im likely going with Reef Angel for the 72 bow build upcoming, and love the false wall idea, so ill likely steal that once i figure out an ATO container to use.

The Reef Angel has been super reliable. The lights have frozen in the off position once or twice but everything else worked properly; not sure if it was an issue with the internal clock freezing (didnt know what time it was so it didnt turn the lights on) or what but a reset cured it (hasnt happened in at least a year and half now.

 

[southerntnreefer]

The Reef Angel has been super reliable. The lights have frozen in the off position once or twice but everything else worked properly; not sure if it was an issue with the internal clock freezing (didnt know what time it was so it didnt turn the lights on) or what but a reset cured it (hasnt happened in at least a year and half now.

I actually wont be using it for light control, past on and off. The SB reef i got is the Extreme wifi ramping, so ill be using that APP for that. Reliable is what im after!

 

[madweazl]

I took a pretty big leap of faith today and moved most of the corals from the 75g into the 150g. I fragged a few but for many of them, the parent was moved. I also replaced quite a bit of the rock that was in the 150g with pieces from the 75g. I moved three acroporas over last week as test mules and they still looked great (eight days of observation). I also moved the fish out of the 75g and dropped them in the 150g (all except the six line wrasse). That brings the fish count up to 15 for the time being. The tank is still fairly cloudy but I snapped a quick picture.

 

[Reefpuck]

Looking good!

 

[Flippers4pups]

Nice!

 

[southerntnreefer]

Looks great! What's the plans for the 75 long term?

 

[madweazl]

Looks great! What's the plans for the 75 long term?

The original plan was to tear it down when the 150g was up and running and replace it with a 120-150g in-wall behind its current location but I'm not sure if I want to deal with the additional maintenance now (I've already gutted the room behind it in preparation though). I'll be tearing it down and selling off what I can in the next month.

 

[southerntnreefer]

The original plan was to tear it down when the 150g was up and running and replace it with a 120-150g in-wall behind its current location but I'm not sure if I want to deal with the additional maintenance now (I've already gutted the room behind it in preparation though). I'll be tearing it down and selling off what I can in the next month.

If that Reef Angel needs a home, i might be interested.

 

[madweazl]

Against my better judgement but I just couldn't resist this nice bubble tip anemone at the LFS. It hasnt wandered far, yet...

 

[madweazl]

McCosker's doesn't want to play nice for a picture but he's still a beauty!

 

[southerntnreefer]

McCosker's doesn't want to play nice for a picture but he's still a beauty!

I'm a huge lover of wrasses. Beautiful fish!

 

[madweazl]

I've never given aminos much consideration but I'm going to give Brightwell Coral Amino a shot since the tank shows 0 nitrate/phosphates on my kits. With 17 fish in the tank, I'm pretty sure there is plenty of nutrients for the fish regardless of test results but I don't have anything to lose either I suppose. I'm just broadcasting it at 3ml a day per the instructions (too lazy to target feed anything).

I also ordered Tropic Marin's Balling 3 part to test out for a bit. I'll submit an ICP and N-Doc just prior to starting the 3-part and then submit another in about three months to see how things look (I'll probably skip the N-Doc for that one and wait another year to see what that looks like).

 

[southerntnreefer]

I've never given aminos much consideration but I'm going to give Brightwell Coral Amino a shot since the tank shows 0 nitrate/phosphates on my kits. With 17 fish in the tank, I'm pretty sure there is plenty of nutrients for the fish regardless of test results but I don't have anything to lose either I suppose. I'm just broadcasting it at 3ml a day per the instructions (too lazy to target feed anything).

I also ordered Tropic Marin's Balling 3 part to test out for a bit. I'll submit an ICP and N-Doc just prior to starting the 3-part and then submit another in about three months to see how things look (I'll probably skip the N-Doc for that one and wait another year to see what that looks like).

Still trying to pick out a 3 part method for the new build. Let me know your thoughts. was considering 1+2+3 or triton.

 

[madweazl]

Tropic Marin Balling components came in today but the Part B (alkalinity) was a major pain in the butt. Was mostly a solid brick that I had to beat and kneed for about 15 minutes before I could use it. Took a good 40+ minutes to completely dissolve the 16 spoons in a gallon of RO/DI (had to re-heat the water four times). The Part A was a breeze and the Part C was easy as well. I'll order one more round but if it remains that difficult to dissolve, I'll be going back to BRS Pharma.