ReeferMadness80G’s Shallow SPS Reef

randyBRS · Jun 27, 2017

ReeferMadness80G said:
Ok, let me just praise BRS real quick. I've been going back and forth on buying my dry rock online for months now! I knew I wanted Tonga branch but really the only place that had it was Bulk Reef Supply. But it's scary buying rock online, I mean, you can't really choose your pieces, you're basically paying top dollar and you really don't know what you're gonna get, it's scary! However, I put my trust in the crew at BRS and a very small amount of info on what I was trying to create and the dims of my tank, I bought 20 lbs of complex multi branch Tonga and 10 lbs of simple multi branch Tonga and then waited for it to arrive, anxiously. I picked it up today and whoa! I opened the box and it was like every piece I pulled out was a show piece, everything was unique and had so much character, and BRS was let's just say,very generous! So @randyBRS, please extend my thanks to the whole team, I'm very appreciative, you guys did not disappoint and my dream build just got a lot better!

That is AWESOME! Thank you so much and I will absolutely send your response out to the entire team!

-Randy

ReeferMadness80G · Jun 27, 2017

I'll be elbows deep in aquascape surgery for the next few hours! Wish me luck!

brett_schn · Jun 27, 2017

ReeferMadness80G said:
I'll be elbows deep in aquascape surgery for the next few hours! Wish me luck!

Mind I ask but what salt do u use for both your tanks. I’m looking to switch from nsw from my lfs to water I’m make because the <5min drive weekly to the lfs isn’t convenient for me

ReeferMadness80G · Jun 27, 2017

brett_schn said:
Mind I ask but what salt do u use for both your tanks. I’m looking to switch from nsw from my lfs to water I’m make because the <5min drive weekly to the lfs isn’t convenient for me

Sorry Brett, I use a special formula of salt that I get from my coral farmer. I buy it from him. Thanks for asking but I wouldn't even know where to buy it if it wasn't from him.

ReeferMadness80G · Jun 27, 2017

BOOM!!

this structure is 2 feet in length! A foot and a half is suspended 7 inches off the bottom! I hope you like it! I love it! Can't wait to get it in the tank but I'm going to let it sturdy up until tomorrow. I think that's best!

chefjpaul · Jun 27, 2017

Just my style there.
Great job!

ReeferMadness80G · Jun 27, 2017

chefjpaul said:
Just my style there.
Great job!

Thanks chef!

brett_schn · Jun 27, 2017

ReeferMadness80G said:
Sorry Brett, I use a special formula of salt that I get from my coral farmer. I buy it from him. Thanks for asking but I wouldn't even know where to buy it if it wasn't from him.

Oh cool.

brett_schn · Jun 28, 2017

ReeferMadness80G said:
I think I'm going to try
B+
B+
Actinic
C+
C+
Actinic
B+
B+

Those sound good but have u thought about the led bulbs that go into t5 fixtures they are called e5s I believe. They may save u some money in the long run

ReeferMadness80G · Jun 28, 2017

So far the emarco 400 cement works great, it was easy to mix and I found that if you get a small foam brush and keep it damp with the liquid part of the compound it really made spreading it easier. I ran out of liquid way before I I used all the powder so keep that in mind if you use emarco 400. However, this stuff was supporting the entire structure after an hour. It will definitely get put into the tank tonight. I had some reef saver rock I was going to incorporate as well as a separate part of the scape, since I ran out of the cement I will do that at a later date but I'll probably still put it in the tank tonight to let everything cure and cycle together.

ReeferMadness80G · Jun 28, 2017

ReeferMadness80G · Jun 29, 2017

Put the scape in the tank last night, man that thing is heavy! And sturdy, can't say enough about emarco 400! I put the Tonga structure and the pieces of reef saver I had, not sure how I will position it yet, figured I'd wait to get the bulbs in the light before I start moving around. However, I'm pleased to say after almost 2 years in the making, this tank is finally cycling! I added a basket of special German Bio ceramic rings lol, I don't know..what I do know is that they've been sitting in my coral farmers 20,000 gallon system for a while and are covered with coralline ! I also started dosing MicroBactr7, I just need to get the tunze ATO now bc I'm really tired of manually dumping water in twice a day. SPOILED