Paul's 90 Gallon Build

pdt7361 · Jul 21, 2016

Here are a few pics from this evening.

FTS:

My favorite coral is my Dendro. You can't see it in this pic, but he has 8-10 new heads growing on all sides of it.

Another favorite:

My sun coral is odd...but that is why I bought it. It has 1 black head, 1 yellow, and the rest orange.

pdt7361 · Jul 24, 2016

So I think I need a couple more fish...maybe a couple of anthias. I was looking at the Bartlett and Sunset....any suggestions?

pdt7361 · Jul 25, 2016

I got a nice leather coral yesterday - added to the top of my tank right in the flow and he's been really happy so far. It has already started to move off of the base rock that it was on and start to attach to my rock work.

pdt7361 · Jul 25, 2016

Just wanted to add a few pics of my acans and a couple of zoas.

pdt7361 · Aug 8, 2016

I've decided that I want to add some additional lighting to my tank to both enhance the coloring in my zoas and allow me to house some sps. I had thought about upgrading my 4 bulb T5 fixture to a 6 bulb....but ultimately I decided I wanted to mix some LEDs in with my T5s.
With the way my current T5 fixture sits, I knew I'd need a strip light for my LEDs. I looked into many of the different ones out there but ultimately decided on a customized 36" Reef Bar Pro. I went with the 36" on my 48" tank because of where I'll mount it on my T5 fixture (the control panel on the front prevents a 48" from being mounted where I want it). The bar is all royal blue on one channel and the other is an even mixture of aqua blue, UV, and 10k white. I am hoping that this mix gives me the extra pop that I've been wanting.
I'll start making some mounts for it tomorrow and will hopefully have pics of it up then. First impressions of the light are really really good....excellent packing, fast shipping, sturdy construction, easy to use controller, and beautifully bright LEDs.

pdt7361 · Aug 8, 2016

Here is the light. For the pic with the LEDs on, I turned down the white balance on my camera so you can see the colors. I also have both channels set to 30% for now.

pdt7361 · Aug 11, 2016

I got my LED bar mounted onto my T5 fixture today. For now I am starting both channels at 30% and will ramp up slowly over the next couple of weeks.

Here are the mounting brackets that I made. They are a standard corner brace bought from Lowes. I bent one end of each up (they both have the same angle on them) and painted them black.

Here is the bracket mounted to the side of my T5 fixture (excuse the salt creep):

And here is how the bar looks mounted to my T5 fixture:

pdt7361 · Aug 26, 2016

I've added a few SPS to my tank. About a month ago I added an ORA Joe the Coral frag and it's been doing wonderfully. Today I added two more acro's....a Strawberry Shortcake and a Miyagi. I'll try for some good pics of each tomorrow.

pdt7361 · Aug 26, 2016

Since he's been in here a while and is happy...here is my Joe the Coral.

rebekwl · Aug 26, 2016

Very nice!

pdt7361 · Sep 15, 2016

For better or worse, I added a RBTA to my tank yesterday. I say it like that because I worry about it running over some of my other corals and killing them, but so far he is being good. It is a very beautiful red and only cost me $6.99....the cost if a 6 pack of Millers Light that the guy wanted in trade

pdt7361 · Sep 17, 2016

My new RBTA is still on the move...can't decide where he is happy. This morning he rubbed past my cup coral and made him real mad. Now he's pushing up to some blastos that I might need to move.

pdt7361 · Sep 22, 2016

Took this pic of my dendros tonight...you can see some of the smaller heads have been growing a lot. There are 5 on top and 5 more on the bottom. For an idea of size, the center disks on the larger 2 are just a bit bigger than a quarter...so all together the larger ones are about 3.5 inches in diameter when the current pushes them upright.

pdt7361 · Oct 2, 2016

I've had to move a few corals as my RBTA continues to get comfy and expand...otherwise I've just been letting everything grow and be happy. I'm really happy with the growth that my Utter Chaos zoas have been having....I originally got 3 polyps and now I have 7.

Daniel@R2R · Oct 3, 2016

pdt7361 said:
I've had to move a few corals as my RBTA continues to get comfy and expand...otherwise I've just been letting everything grow and be happy. I'm really happy with the growth that my Utter Chaos zoas have been having....I originally got 3 polyps and now I have 7.

Looking good, bro!

pdt7361 · Oct 3, 2016

Thanks

pdt7361 · Oct 4, 2016

Looking back through my build posts and I am actually very proud of myself. My tank has evolved very nicely over the last 4+ months. I've had some good growth and excellent coralline growth.

My tank on 5/12/16:

My tank today:

pdt7361 · Oct 4, 2016

I do miss that nice, white, clean sand though

Dropped · Oct 4, 2016

Massive coroline explosion there!! looking good!

Xclusive Reef · Oct 4, 2016

pdt7361 said:
Looking back through my build posts and I am actually very proud of myself. My tank has evolved very nicely over the last 4+ months. I've had some good growth and excellent coralline growth.

My tank on 5/12/16:

My tank today:

I see this pink stuff on some people's glass, what is it? can it be wiped off?