Dana Riddle's Laboratory/Tank Build

zachxlutz · Feb 12, 2018

Dana Riddle said:
There are several good shops near by - for corals, hands down, it's Reef Shac on Powder Springs Road in Marietta. For selection, Premium Aquatics is great. Optimum Aquarium is good as is Creation Pets. I hear there are some other great shops around Atlanta, but I haven't visited them yet.

I bought my 120 from Shac, he worked with me and got me a deal on the tank I was looking for. I was just getting back into the hobby so I didn’t have enough experience to get a good feeling about his coral selection but I’d like to get back and check it out. Thanks.

widget · Mar 2, 2018

Any updates on this Dana?

Dana Riddle · Mar 5, 2018

I can't believe how busy retirement can be... so, I appreciate your patience!
The diatom outbreak is totally under control after addition of the Chaetomorpha, and calcareous algae are showing up in small patches.
Astraea snails spawned and settled, and there are at least two dozen small snails in areas I can see.
The Chinese black box was replaced with a Kessil AP700. The Kessil has failed (it still lights up but is erratic. It has been replaced with an old tried and true BML luminaire until I can get a permanent replacement figured out.)
In the meantime, the invitation to speak at MACNA has changed things. It was my intent to grow out corals in the 90-gallon tank (which will still happen) but I need easy access to coral frags, necessitating a new build.
This new frag tank is a shallow Rubbermaid tub with a 100-gallon sump. Lighting is an Orphek Atlantik V4. I have a large Octopus skimmer, but might use a Turbo Algae Scrubber instead. See photo.

BigJohnny · Mar 5, 2018

Dana Riddle said:
I can't believe how busy retirement can be... so, I appreciate your patience!
The diatom outbreak is totally under control after addition of the Chaetomorpha, and calcareous algae are showing up in small patches.
Astraea snails spawned and settled, and there are at least two dozen small snails in areas I can see.
The Chinese black box was replaced with a Kessil AP700. The Kessil has failed (it still lights up but is erratic. It has been replaced with an old tried and true BML luminaire until I can get a permanent replacement figured out.)
In the meantime, the invitation to speak at MACNA has changed things. It was my intent to grow out corals in the 90-gallon tank (which will still happen) but I need easy access to coral frags, necessitating a new build.
This new frag tank is a shallow Rubbermaid tub with a 100-gallon sump. Lighting is an Orphek Atlantik V4. I have a large Octopus skimmer, but might use a Turbo Algae Scrubber instead. See photo.

No photo : (