Phil's 125 dream getaway

Duke4Life · Nov 6, 2015

I thought that since I spend a good amount of time over here now that it was time to create 1 of these. It's been a wild and crazy ride so far and 1 I'm glad to be back on. Prior experience 10+ years ago, panther grouper, miniatus groupers, huma huma and niger triggers, lunare wrasse, and lion fish. I liked em big. I liked them bad with a personality. These were as close to the eating machine I dream of that I could handle. Jaws drew me to the ocean as a small child and my fascination only grew.

Fast forward to March when I re stablished a 10 gallon (currently not setup) for QT, followed shortly by a 20 at the end of April. DT was setup with live rock beginning of May. Currently have 130 pounds of live rock so far, with about 1 to 1.5 inches of sand. Currently feeding LRS "Chunk".

I lightly sanded and buffed my whole 125 gallon 6 foot long DT, as 1 of my best friends had it setup for freshwater. I have a 20 gallon sump, spray bar as a return, 1 hydor Koralia 1150 powerhead connected to a controller. Lighting at the moment is a single t5, I switch out the white and blue bulb, will be upgraded Xmas.

Currently stocked with - description - how long:
Chainlink eel - Alcatraz (escaped 4 ft down a vent, covered in dust and dog hair 3 days after getting) - June 11, 2015
Red Firefish - July 30, 2015
Carpenters flasher wrasse - Gandi - end of August
Cirrhilabrus Rubmarginatus - Staten - September 26, 2015
Cirrhilabrus cf Cyanopleura - September 26, 2015
McCosker flasher wrasse - April 2016

Duke4Life · Nov 7, 2015

I enjoy pics but love a good video.

soggytees · Nov 9, 2015

Very cool! Thanks for sharing!

Duke4Life · Nov 10, 2015

Duke4Life · Nov 10, 2015

Duke4Life · Nov 19, 2015

This is what I woke up to this morning a bunch of babies

Duke4Life · Nov 27, 2015

With every tank success there are always those failures and these past couple days have taught me that. While not major, I did have a sump baffle come loose and am in the process of repairing, at least I get to give the sump a good cleaning.

The other was I lost a c. Adornatus within 4 hours of acclimating and introducing to my QT. I've lost 2 fish in QT but never this fast, salinity was matched and all parameters that matter are like my DTs. This is the 1 I'm most bothered by, as I hate loosing a fish (yes I know it happens). Next time I'll think twice before pulling the trigger, as I told myself snails, hermits, water, and no fish. Arrrrrrrr

But on the bright side my file fish is an eating machine and I have a beautiful c cf cyanopleura that went super male.

Duke4Life · Dec 6, 2015

Duke4Life · Dec 10, 2015

This guy likes to play king of the mountain

Duke4Life · Dec 10, 2015

I'm seeing what I think is another mouth on the front 1

Duke4Life · Dec 10, 2015

Can you find Spike? Have yet to get a good picture of the tail fully fanned.

Duke4Life · Dec 11, 2015

Best pic I've gotten with the tail fully fanned out (sorry for my partial reflection in background).

reefwiser · Dec 11, 2015

He's showing off. [emoji3]

Duke4Life · Dec 11, 2015

reefwiser said:
He's showing off. [emoji3]

Him and my flasher are the 2 coolest when they show off, they just have that uh what wow factor. Working on my next project and hopefully accomplished within the next month.

Duke4Life · Dec 31, 2015

Happy New Years Y'all

Duke4Life · Jan 7, 2016

Duke4Life said:
This is what I woke up to this morning a bunch of babies

This is what we woke to again this morning. They gotta be peppermints.

Duke4Life · Jan 11, 2016

Ever have 1 of those days that finally puts you in a better direction? For me today was 1, our local club president stopped by and brought his par meter. While he didn't point out many things wrong, his advice on increasing flow and measuring my light was big. Ended up finding out my led (fully ramped) would be better on a shorter tank and that t5s pump out some light. A big thanks goes out to @reefwiser for stopping by and helping today. Support your local clubs!

reefwiser · Jan 12, 2016

Yes Phil it was interesting testing out your lights. Man that Led has not punch to it at all.

We would get 175 par at the top of the water and zero at your sand bed. While the LED looked good to our eyes the meter told a different story.

Duke4Life · Jan 12, 2016

reefwiser said:
Yes Phil it was interesting testing out your lights. Man that Led has not punch to it at all. We would get 175 par at the top of the water and zero at your sand bed. While the LED looked good to our eyes the meter told a different story.

It was trippy seeing nothing until the bottom of my basket, 8 inches off the sand bed actually on that meter. Then switching the LED lights with the t5 in same area and getting good numbers on the sand bed. The more I've thought about it, I'm not complaining because I did want 1 side about half the other for my fish that prefer it, so most (shaking my head) lol. But that doesn't mean that other half couldn't get a better light

, and that t5 gets moved to my 20 like I bought it for, even though I was thinking anemone, I may do a mantis (still up in the air).
A bit different than others you've seen in our area @reefwiser?