Bubba's SPS Journey

[bwomac44]

Wow. 236 pages was a marathon. Took a week!
Really getting into acros now though so some of the info was invaluable.

One of the biggest take aways is to feed a lot.
More food = more fish poo = more coral food. That’s how I think about it now anyway.

Very valuable info all the way through bubba.

Pic of my baby acros. Some of your favs like Maleficent and SC OP! Hope to attain your level of success in time

 

[bubbaque]

Wow. 236 pages was a marathon. Took a week!
Really getting into acros now though so some of the info was invaluable.

One of the biggest take aways is to feed a lot.
More food = more fish poo = more coral food. That’s how I think about it now anyway.

Very valuable info all the way through bubba.

Pic of my baby acros. Some of your favs like Maleficent and SC OP! Hope to attain your level of success in time

Thanks for taking the time to read through the thread.

Your corals look like they are off to a good start and you picked some really nice ones.

 

[Caravanshaka]

Hey @bubbaque, want to come pick me up at the Port Orleans Disney resort and take me to see WWCs new place? Lol

 

[SkiCatTX]

I’m not sure if I have a post of equipment but what I use is:

4 x mp40’s
1 x mp60
10 x Radion xr15 pro
4 rows of t5’s (2 behind the radions and 2 in front)
Reef octopus 5000 skimmer with auto neck cleaner
Two Jeabo return pumps
Calcium reactor

I have posted a couple full tank pics since the upgrade but it’s not much to look at yet.

What are the 4 T5s you are currently running? Are there any you plan to change going forward?

 

[bubbaque]

What are the 4 T5s you are currently running? Are there any you plan to change going forward?

I use two blue+ and two actinic. No I don’t plan to change to anything else. If I used t5 as my main lighting I would not run that combo though. Since corals like the deep blue spectrum I figured it would be a good combo for supplemental lights.

 

[justingraham]

Bubba did u use ur old water water when you started the new tank?

 

[bubbaque]

Bubba did u use ur old water water when you started the new tank?

No I did not.

 

[justingraham]

No I did not.

Anything from the old tank?

 

[bubbaque]

Anything from the old tank?

Other than fish and snails I didn’t use anything at all from my old tanks. All new rock, pumps, powerheads, glass cleaner and skimmer.

 

[User]

Great thread, and beautiful tank. Some really nice specimens in there.

I've been looking, and got as far as p109- can you share how you plumbed in your lowboy 50's? Overflow box, or just bulkheads and pvc? Gravity fed or pump fed?

Appreciate any info!

 

[bubbaque]

Great thread, and beautiful tank. Some really nice specimens in there.

I've been looking, and got as far as p109- can you share how you plumbed in your lowboy 50's? Overflow box, or just bulkheads and pvc? Gravity fed or pump fed?

Appreciate any info!

one of the drains from my display drained into the lowboys and then from the lowboys to my sump.

 

[User]

one of the drains from my display drained into the lowboys and then from the lowboys to my sump.

Making gravity do the work- nice!

Did you use overflow boxes? I'm thinking of just doing a couple bulkheads and pvc 90's as overflow. No weir or boxes. I'm only looking to put 2-3x volume through it, then hit it with a couple ow25 powerheads for circulation

Thanks!

 

[bubbaque]

Making gravity do the work- nice!

Did you use overflow boxes? I'm thinking of just doing a couple bulkheads and pvc 90's as overflow. No weir or boxes. I'm only looking to put 2-3x volume through it, then hit it with a couple ow25 powerheads for circulation

Thanks!

one of the low boys had an overflow and the other I drilled the bottom and put a bulkhead with a pvc sticking straight up. That one is a little bit louder but worked fine.

 

[bubbaque]

Well I am officially bare bottom again. I couldn’t stand the look of dirty sand any longer. About a month ago I slowly started to remove it to see if I kept smaller amounts would it be any better but it never did so about a week ago I sucked it all out.

Other news is I purchased a sulfur denitrator during the Black Friday sales to control nitrates after seeing the success @SeaDweller had with his.

It has been a total pain to get the media though. BRS has been sold out and marine depot had two in stock but it was almost 4x the price of brs so I hesitated to buy. By time I found out it was near impossible to find the media, marine depot sold the last two in stock. Seadweller showed me where I can find it on eBay so I ordered some but they ended up sending me sulfur powder instead of granules. The company is resending it so hopefully I can have this up and running this weekend.

 

[SeaDweller]

Well I am officially bare bottom again. I couldn’t stand the look of dirty sand any longer. About a month ago I slowly started to remove it to see if I kept smaller amounts would it be any better but it never did so about a week ago I sucked it all out.

Other news is I purchased a sulfur denitrator during the Black Friday sales to control nitrates after seeing the success @SeaDweller had with his.

It has been a total pain to get the media though. BRS has been sold out and marine depot had two in stock but it was almost 4x the price of brs so I hesitated to buy. By time I found out it was near impossible to find the media, marine depot sold the last two in stock. Seadweller showed me where I can find it on eBay so I ordered some but they ended up sending me sulfur powder instead of granules. The company is resending it so hopefully I can have this up and running this weekend.

Word is out! 90s tech revolution is on the rise! Soon, we will be back to using AOL and 28,8k fax modems again!


yeah, when BRS stocks the correct media again, I’m buying a few!

 

[bubbaque]

Word is out! 90s tech revolution is on the rise! Soon, we will be back to using AOL and 28,8k fax modems again!


yeah, when BRS stocks the correct media again, I’m buying a few!

I am pulling out my box full of AOL 3 month free trial disks as we speak!

 

[bubbaque]

I had someone a week or two ago for a colony pic of the TSA Bill Murray. I tried to get the whole thing in frame but with the lens I used it wouldn't fit.

TSA Bill F'n Murray by Bubba Rivas, on Flickr

 

[MrWheelock]

I had someone a week or two ago for a colony pic of the TSA Bill Murray. I tried to get the whole thing in frame but with the lens I used it wouldn't fit.

TSA Bill F'n Murray by Bubba Rivas, on Flickr

I need this in my life some day

 

[myzislow]

Well I am officially bare bottom again. I couldn’t stand the look of dirty sand any longer. About a month ago I slowly started to remove it to see if I kept smaller amounts would it be any better but it never did so about a week ago I sucked it all out.

Other news is I purchased a sulfur denitrator during the Black Friday sales to control nitrates after seeing the success @SeaDweller had with his.

It has been a total pain to get the media though. BRS has been sold out and marine depot had two in stock but it was almost 4x the price of brs so I hesitated to buy. By time I found out it was near impossible to find the media, marine depot sold the last two in stock. Seadweller showed me where I can find it on eBay so I ordered some but they ended up sending me sulfur powder instead of granules. The company is resending it so hopefully I can have this up and running this weekend.

Have you ever thought of employing an algae scrubber for nitrate control? I've always battled high nitrates and with the addition of my santa Monica turf scrubber it dropped them to 3-5ppm and maintains them pretty easily. At their peak they were as high as 35ppm or more some tests. I'm really happy and impressed with the job it does. Definitely a piece of equipment that I feel was a game changer for my tank.

Corals look amazing as always!

 

[bubbaque]

I need this in my life some day

Since you are in FL I could send you one pretty cheap whenever you decide you would like one.

Have you ever thought of employing an algae scrubber for nitrate control? I've always battled high nitrates and with the addition of my santa Monica turf scrubber it dropped them to 3-5ppm and maintains them pretty easily. At their peak they were as high as 35ppm or more some tests. I'm really happy and impressed with the job it does. Definitely a piece of equipment that I feel was a game changer for my tank.

Corals look amazing as always!

I thought about a scrubber but cleaning the screen often is more work than I am willing to do. Plus I seen some people have issues trying to grow algae and grew slime.