Prostar 90v2

[rc8t6353]

I finally made up my mind about the leather coral as well. I took it out and placed it in the mancave 20 gallon. I love the space that was opened up. It changed the whole look on that side. And it opened up space for maybe a showpiece sand coral of some kind.

 

[rc8t6353]

The rock with the leather coral on it also had 3 or 4 nice sized hairy mushrooms. I already have a rock full of them but I did want to keep the leather since it was one of my first corals. Out came the Snap On hammer and chisel lol. I put on some gloves and eye protection then went to work. Came out pretty good. I put the leather and mushrooms back in the 20 for now to observe. I've heard leathers let out toxins. I don't know if it's true but why chance it. That was about three days ago. It shed and is looking ready for the display again. I'll move it when I mount the rest of the coral off the rack.

 

[SaH_UFA1L]

The tank sat like this for a few days because I had no way of mounting my light. I searched the marketplace here for an rms mount but I only got one reply and of course it was already sold. Went to my lfs, The Ark, and they had some flex arms for AI lights that didn't work on a customers build so they were open. Beggars can't be choosers lol. And they gave me a really good discount! If you're ever in NWI give them a visit! While there I took a pic of their Prostar 60. It's their smaller show tank.

Following your build. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

 

[rc8t6353]

Following your build. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

Thanks for following! This is my second build thread. The first one was all of maybe 2 pages lol. I'm gonna try to keep this one pretty up to date.

 

[KQuillan]

He was right and I was pleasantly surprised. Some Monti, birdsnest, I think cyphastrea, Favia, and some very nice mushrooms. These were 10 minutes after dipping. I sent him these pics and to thank him, and I asked him why he would give away coral and fish lol. I was still a little confused. His reply is why I love this community. He said " I just want to keep people interested in the hobby". Once I grow my coral out, Im promising myself to do the same.

I love the last one

 

[rc8t6353]

I love the last one

Me too. The pic doesn't do the colors justice. I wouldn't mind these mushrooms taking over a rock or two lol. I'll try to get a better picture when it's all opened up. It's about three inches in diameter

 

[rc8t6353]

Burning the midnight oil at work so I figured might as well do an update. May 29th I tested everything.
Nitrate-18.7
Phosphate-0.00
Cal-435
Alk-7.2
Mag-1390
Not too bad. I don't like having undetectable phosphate so I broke out the Neophos. I always start everything I dose below the recommended amount to be safe. 5ml came out to a 0.03 reading the next day. I also hadn't dosed anything for Alk or Calcium for about a week so that I could kinda start figuring out consumption. It was a little over 1dkh and about 50 ppm of calcium.

 

[rc8t6353]

Since I hadn't made my mind up about which way I was gonna go with dosing yet, I watched a whole bunch of YouTube to help with the decision. I really liked the Aquaforest components system and have enough dosers to run it but I thought lets try to keep it simple. Kalkwasser was the final choice after research. At least for now. Plugged up 1 of the x1's and calibrated it with RO water first. I had a jug of BRS Kalk powder for years that's just been sitting unused lol. I tried this method before but without a doser and I didn't like just mixing it with my top off water. That lasted all of maybe 10 gallons worth of top off water before I went back to 2 part.

 

[rc8t6353]

Since dosing Kalk is relatively new to me and the tank I decided to start out very slow and well below fully saturated Kalkwasser. I started out with 1/4 tsp per gallon of RO water and I'm only dosing 100ml per day thru the X1. I figure I have a very long way before I match my evaporation amount. And I still have a long way to go before needing fully saturated Kalkwasser. I raised the ALK back up to 8.1dkh with ESV then started the dosing at 12AM April 31st. 12 doses at 8.4ml per dose. I must've either guessed really good or got lucky lol. Tested after 5 days of dosing Kalkwasser, ALK is 7.9dkh and Calcium is 455. Phosphate was at 0.00 again so I'll continue dosing Neophos until it stabilizes.

 

[rc8t6353]

I started the Kalkwasser dosing on April 31st. (Knock on wood) As of yesterday, my Alk has been very stable. 8.0-8.3dkh. The dosing also has cut back on how much I'm refilling my smallish ATO container, another plus lol. And I'm very happy to say I'm seeing some growth on the corals! I'm still dosing Neophos to keep some phosphates detectable when testing. I was dosing 1ml per day for a week straight. Just tested after skipping a few days and phosphates are sitting at 0.04 right now. I'll see how long it takes to start going down and adjust my Neophos dosing. But that's a good number for me. Nitrates were at 16.5 after a 15 gallon water change last week. Got a few spots of cyano popping up so I may add to or adjust the flow in the tank. Also have some STN at the base of the TCK yellow tips for some reason. I'm gonna let it ride tho because all the other SPS are doing good and showing growth. Oh, and I think I'm getting better with the photos lol.

 

[rc8t6353]

Added a Hammer that was fragged from my LFS display tank. And a frag of Gold Hammer. I kept them on the sand for a few days then mounted them. Was looking thru the marketplace section and found a zoa seller that's about an hour away. I haven't had the best luck with zoa before between zoa eating nudis and spiders. But I'm gonna give them another try next payday and take the drive. Here's the hammers. Nice and happy. Been looking for a tuxedo urchin for the algae on the rock in the pic but my LFS hasn't had any.

 

[rc8t6353]

Update time lol. Now you all can call me crazy after reading this lol, that's ok. But hear me out. When I added the space invader pictinia, I just had the plug sitting in a hole in the rock, kinda close to my smaller anemone but not touching at all. Probably a couple of inches away. Everything was cool for about a week so I glued the coral to the rock. Well, all of a sudden, like within a few hours, the nem inched closer and stung a small part of the coral. So I took the coral off and put it probably 8 inches away from the nem in the sandbed, then went to bed. The next morning the anemone was on the sandbed closest to the coral, barely connected to the rock. Call me crazy but I think the anemone was hunting the space invader lol. I wish I took pictures thru out the few days.

 

[rc8t6353]

Excuse my Reefing paranoia from the last post lol. So with the anemone moving all of a sudden I decided to take advantage. I watched the tank, more specifically, the anemone for a little while and sure enough, it detached all the way from the rockwork! I wanted to get it out to make room for more coral on that side of the tank so this was perfect. Only problem, I didn't have anything to keep the anemone in. Did a lil bit of reefing McGuyver lol. Old salsa dish and old heater holder.

 

[taylor hightower]

I just set up my prostar 90 and it is blowing sand around even with my return pump turned all the way down. Did you replace the return nozzle? Or what did you do to prevent that?

 

[rc8t6353]

I just set up my prostar 90 and it is blowing sand around even with my return pump turned all the way down. Did you replace the return nozzle? Or what did you do to prevent that?

My pump is on its second to lowest setting. It's the factory nozzle. I have it pointed straight out and a little bit up for surface agitation. What kind of sand are you using

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Excuse my Reefing paranoia from the last post lol. So with the anemone moving all of a sudden I decided to take advantage. I watched the tank, more specifically, the anemone for a little while and sure enough, it detached all the way from the rockwork! I wanted to get it out to make room for more coral on that side of the tank so this was perfect. Only problem, I didn't have anything to keep the anemone in. Did a lil bit of reefing McGuyver lol. Old salsa dish and old heater holder.

Nice looking anemone!

 

[taylor hightower]

My pump is on its second to lowest setting. It's the factory nozzle. I have it pointed straight out and a little bit up for surface agitation. What kind of sand are you using

I’m using Fiji pink sand. My pump is turned down to the lowest possible setting. I really don’t want to change the pump out. I may try and split the return nozzle. I pointed it outwards for now and it isn’t blowing the sand as much anymore. Anyway, I’ve been following your build and I really like it.

 

[rc8t6353]

I’m using Fiji pink sand. My pump is turned down to the lowest possible setting. I really don’t want to change the pump out. I may try and split the return nozzle. I pointed it outwards for now and it isn’t blowing the sand as much anymore. Anyway, I’ve been following your build and I really like it.

The Fiji pink is really fine grade. One other thing I think you could do is to remove some if possible and replace it with a courser grade sand. The Prostars come with metric pipes so you may need an adapter piece to split the return. But that should help some

 

[rc8t6353]

Update time lol. The tank has been on auto pilot pretty much due to how much I've been working smh. I need to hit the lotto so I can just stay home and watch my tanks lol. But anyways, not so good stuff first. I've pretty much lost all of the SPS except the Monti, scroll coral, and lepto. But the green slimer anacropora, my very first test coral, is doing great which kinda has my head spinning a little. Are they hardier than birdsnest? If anyone knows feel free to chime in lol. My only thought is it could have been flow or the phosphates being too low. Nitrates haven't went above 18.

 

[rc8t6353]

Now some good update stuff! Pretty much all the LPS in the tank are doing great and almost all of my mushrooms have dropped a baby or two. The torch head is almost done splitting as well. Cleaner shrimp is molting on a regular basis and fish are all getting along. The wife has even taken to feeding the fish and adding phyto! I haven't taken a full tank shot for a while and glass is dirty, but I promise there's some coming