PDR's RSR 350 - Retired

[PDR]

Wow. Looking absolutely beautiful. Your new friend will love it!

Thanks! There are still some things I want to change (like getting some more height on the right of the tank) but this is the happiest I've been with the tank in the last 3 years!


I forgot to mention there have been several changes I forgot to document. I added an ornate wrasse and orchid dottyback about a month ago. I also added both wrasses (yellow and melanurus) from my frag tank after going bare bottom about 2 weeks ago. It has been a struggle getting the ornate to accept the new additions. I was able to catch the ornate and I kept him in the social acclimation box for several days. Once he was released he was great with them until the next morning when he started harassing the melanurus. My current plan is to keep him in the acclimation box in my frag tank for 1 week, then move him and the box back to the DT for 1 week and then release. I'm hoping that will give enough time for him to forget it was his territory and more time for the melanurus to claim some so he will stand up for himself. If that doesn't work, I'll have to figure out which one to rehome.

Some bad news too, my orange spotted blenny, possibly my favorite fish, managed to jump out of a gap I thought I had sealed better. I love my fish, but I usually don't have much of an emotional reaction when one passes. But finding this guy on the floor was a gut punch...

 

[NY_Caveman]

Thanks! There are still some things I want to change (like getting some more height on the right of the tank) but this is the happiest I've been with the tank in the last 3 years!


I forgot to mention there have been several changes I forgot to document. I added an ornate wrasse and orchid dottyback about a month ago. I also added both wrasses (yellow and melanurus) from my frag tank after going bare bottom about 2 weeks ago. It has been a struggle getting the ornate to accept the new additions. I was able to catch the ornate and I kept him in the social acclimation box for several days. Once he was released he was great with them until the next morning when he started harassing the melanurus. My current plan is to keep him in the acclimation box in my frag tank for 1 week, then move him and the box back to the DT for 1 week and then release. I'm hoping that will give enough time for him to forget it was his territory and more time for the melanurus to claim some so he will stand up for himself. If that doesn't work, I'll have to figure out which one to rehome.

Some bad news too, my orange spotted blenny, possibly my favorite fish, managed to jump out of a gap I thought I had sealed better. I love my fish, but I usually don't have much of an emotional reaction when once passes. But finding this guy on the floor was a gut punch...

Ugh! Sorry to hear. If the Wrasse works out you will feel better.

 

[PDR]

I'm happy to report that the CBB is now eating prepared foods! It took him a few days to figure it out, but he is now eating LRS Fish Frenzy like crazy.

I also sold some more coral that will help pay for some new equipment. I can't decide on new pumps, additional lighting, or a controller. I am leaning towards the controller.

 

[PDR]

Well, today was a bad day. I discovered that a couple of my drain pipes were leaking and decided to take them apart to "fix" it. About 4 hours, and 3 gallons of spilled water later, I had the plumbing cleaned and back together...and it's still leaking...:mad::mad::mad:

I'm pretty sure I need new o-rings, but I haven't been able to find them in stock yet, so I contacted red sea to see how to get them. The only good thing that came of it is I had to remove the sump, so I was able to really clean it out. I removed the sand (again lol) to get ready for my skimmer that comes next week. I also cleaned the ATO float valve for the first time in 3 years.

I was able to reduce the leaking and I would say 95%+ of the water is leaking back into the sump. I would guess it's leaking maybe 4-5 drips a minute.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Well, today was a bad day. I discovered that a couple of my drain pipes were leaking and decided to take them apart to "fix" it. About 4 hours, and 3 gallons of spilled water later, I had the plumbing cleaned and back together...and it's still leaking...:mad::mad::mad:

I'm pretty sure I need new o-rings, but I haven't been able to find them in stock yet, so I contacted red sea to see how to get them. The only good thing that came of it is I had to remove the sump, so I was able to really clean it out. I removed the sand (again lol) to get ready for my skimmer that comes next week. I also cleaned the ATO float valve for the first time in 3 years.

I was able to reduce the leaking and I would say 95%+ of the water is leaking back into the sump. I would guess it's leaking maybe 4-5 drips a minute.

Ugh. Sorry to hear.

 

[PDR]

So I ended up redoing half of my tank. I want to try some sps and needed to get some height in the middle of the tank away from gsp and my bubble tips.





I'm not in love with the scape, but it is solid and leaves me some room for some sps frags.

I also bought the red sea diy top (not pictured) and while much better than the other diy screen tops, it's still not perfect. I will get a custom one when I have the $200+ to spare.

 

[PDR]

I have really been slacking off with the updates. A lot has changed but I will make a longer post documenting all the changes later today or tomorrow.

For now here are a couple of unedited iPhone shots from today. I still haven't finished placing the sps and zoas so ignore those for now.


Best shot I could get of the new addition.


My mandarin enjoying some @ReefFrenzy

 

[PDR]

I spent some time organizing the sump and wires today. Still not great...but you should have seen it before lol.

 

[PDR]

I've been having some trouble with my sps, check out this thread for details. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/sps-noob-needs-some-help.539395/page-5#post-5592922

 

[PDR]

Long story short, the sps project didn't pan out. I'm done trying SPS in this tank. The problem is I now have a pretty large bare rock in the top middle of the tank (1st post has the most current pic, but it still shows the sps that are now gone) and am wondering what I should do with it? I was thinking of moving the yellow toadstool so it's more centered and possibly moving a gorgonian to the center as well but I really don't know.

Any ideas?

 

[Brew12]

Long story short, the sps project didn't pan out. I'm done trying SPS in this tank. The problem is I now have a pretty large bare rock in the top middle of the tank (1st post has the most current pic, but it still shows the sps that are now gone) and am wondering what I should do with it? I was thinking of moving the yellow toadstool so it's more centered and possibly moving a gorgonian to the center as well but I really don't know.

Any ideas?

Wonderful system! I am always amazed when I see a system that ran as long as yours did without a skimmer.

I do like the idea of moving the toadstool and a gorgonian. I would put the toadstool closer to the front and offset slightly right. I would put the gorgorian toward the back and offset to the left.

 

[hdsoftail1065]

Great looking system! Moving those two would definitely fill the gaps. When I look at it I'm drawn to the left side of the tank, moving them would definitely draw attention to the center as the focal point.

Edit:. Just my opinion.

 

[Fudsey]

Found your thread and just read through, as I guess you noticed with the like barrage. You have changed your scape more then I have in the 25+ years of tank keeping

 

[mta_morrow]

I just read through your thread. You were right when you said we share a lot of the same taste for fish and corals!

You have a beautiful tank and I hope I get to see it in person someday!

 

[PDR]

Wonderful system! I am always amazed when I see a system that ran as long as yours did without a skimmer.

I do like the idea of moving the toadstool and a gorgonian. I would put the toadstool closer to the front and offset slightly right. I would put the gorgorian toward the back and offset to the left.

Thanks! That's basically what I'm thinking of doing. I have another gorgonian that's about 6" tall (hard to see in the fts) and I'm torn on if I'm going to move that one to the center or the one you circled. To be honest, I kind of wished I would have stayed with the fuge instead of the skimmer, but I do like having the extra oxygenation from the skimmer with my bioload.

Great looking system! Moving those two would definitely fill the gaps. When I look at it I'm drawn to the left side of the tank, moving them would definitely draw attention to the center as the focal point.

Edit:. Just my opinion.

Thanks! I'll get them moved soon and see how it looks.

Found your thread and just read through, as I guess you noticed with the like barrage. You have changed your scape more then I have in the 25+ years of tank keeping

LOL I know right? It all started when I had to remove some large base rocks with invasive palys. Ever since then I haven't been totally happy with it (not that I was before). I'm getting close to leaving it alone, just need to get these corals placed right...

I just read through your thread. You were right when you said we share a lot of the same taste for fish and corals!

You have a beautiful tank and I hope I get to see it in person someday!

Thanks! I actually used to have a lot more gobies, dartfish, cardinals etc, in my other tanks. I decided to go with some bigger fish since this was my first non-nano tank. I really miss those guys.

 

[Brew12]

Thanks! I actually used to have a lot more gobies, dartfish, cardinals etc, in my other tanks. I decided to go with some bigger fish since this was my first non-nano tank. I really miss those guys.

If I were starting my tank from scratch, this is the one thing I would likely do different. I think I'd go with more nano fish and wrasses instead of with the Tangs. Now my tank is way too aggressive for many of them.

 

[PDR]

I just got back from the annual Carolina Aquatics Trade Show and maybe I missed the memo, but I thought the whole point of these frag shows/swaps was to be able to get a good deal on coral. Except for a couple of vendors, the coral prices were insane.

Just a couple of examples: orange RFA for $200, 6" rainbow BTA for $175, 8-10 heads of seductions for $550, etc.

I have been basically giving my frags away at those prices. The only coral I came home with was free frag of candy apple reds I got from a vendor I had sold some frags to a few weeks ago. He was one of few that had decent prices on stuff.

One major thing I noticed was the lack of anemones for sale. Just about everyone had zoas, lps and sps, tons of zoas actually, but not a huge variety. Some of the only vendors with the nicer ones wanted an absolute fortune for them. Are shows like RAP similar or can you actually get good deals at them?

 

[PDR]

This probably would be best as a separate thread, but I want to see what you guys think before starting one.

I have noticed a lack of decent consistent corals/anemones for sale in my area. There is only one LFS that almost none of the local reefers I've sold to say they shop at. There are corals for sale from time to time on the local FB groups, but like I said, not very consistent. Mainly just stuff from tank breakdowns, or ads for online auctions or businesses in other areas. As you can see from the above post, the market in my area seems drastically different than say the market in Florida.

I could really use some extra income to help pay for the hobby and would like to be a reliable source for a variety of decently priced soft coral and anemones for the local market.

My main hold up is how to farm these corals, specifically the zoas as they seem to be what the local reefers have been the most interested in.
I have a frag tank, but I have not had good success growing coral in it. I feed the coral daily, dose amino acids, feed the fish heavily and I still have undetectable nutrients, with almost no algae growth and very little coral growth. I'm not big into dosing n03 and p04 but I haven't ruled it out.

My DT grows zoas like crazy, but I hate the look of frag plugs and when I have grown them on rubble rock and tried to frag off of that, it was just a mess compared to growing on tiles or plugs.

I'm stuck trying to decide on either figuring out a way to grow and frag out of the DT while still having it look nice, or try to replicate my DT's success in my frag tank. The main difference between the two is the bioload and available nutrients. There is also a 3+ year maturity on the DT that I can't really replicate in the frag tank.

The second main thing I am considering is propagating anemones. Anemones are what I am the most passionate about, and there does seem to be a void in the local market. I would also love to set up a RFA breeding system, but it seems that it would be a good 2-3 years before I could start selling any captive bred RFA. Speaking of which, I have never actually seen captive bred RFA for sale. Does anyone know of anyone who sells them regularly?

@DSC reef I wouldn't mind your input on this as well, specifically with the zoas.

 

[DSC reef]

The maturity is going to be a factor IMO. If possible I would try to replicate the DT in the frag tank. Use rock from the display, try to match the lighting and if possible, plumb into the display so they run as one system.

 

[PDR]

The maturity is going to be a factor IMO. If possible I would try to replicate the DT in the frag tank. Use rock from the display, try to match the lighting and if possible, plumb into the display so they run as one system.

I started the frag tank with several pieces of mature rock from the DT, so I’m hoping that has helped some. Unfortunately, plumbing into the dt isn’t going to be an option. I had considered getting a smaller frag tank that I could plumb into the dt if I turned this one into an anemone tank. The problem with that solution is I wouldn't have the room to grow many colonies out in the smaller frag tank so I would still need to grow them in the DT.

I wish I could just find a good way to grow them in the DT as it would save me a lot of trouble. I've had several ideas I thought were on the verge of genius but ultimately didn't pan out lol.