Retirement 150g Tank Upgrade

[aquavista99]

Amazing mixed reef you assembled, Peter! Can’t wait to see those sticks grow out.

Stunning collection of everything under the rainbow lps, zoa’s and chalices too!

I was trying to take some fish pictures ,, didn’t work out so good ,, thought I would post some pics of the tank I got ,,

I was trying to take some fish pictures ,, didn’t work out so good ,, thought I would post some pics of the tank I got ,,

 

[Braves Fan]

Ok ,, kinda big doing's in the SPS tank today ,, not sure I am messing up or not ,, ya'll can let me know what you think ,,

Lets start this with my Carib Sea scape sits way back in my tank, just a few inches off the back panel glass ,, the tank is 30" front to back ,, I sit it that far back to allow me as much space as I could have in the tank from the front of the scape to the front glass panel of the tank ,, reason for this was to have space to place Favia frags across the front of the tank. This was a good idea that just wasn't working out for me ,, for a couple of reasons ,,

Reason 1 ,, the Favia's were still getting to much light ,, even on the sand bed ,, they were growing from the center of the Favia towards the front glass ,, they weren't growing from the center of the Favia back towards the center of the tank ,, the back sides of the Favia's were getting to much light ,,

Reason 2 ,, Having the scape sitting so far back in the tank is allowing me to only use half the scape to mount SPS frags on ,, the SPS frags I have mounted in the tank now are getting between 350 to 400 Par , the number bounces around because I didn't turn the power heads or return pumps off ,, I broke the Par meter out today ,, but I am only being able to use half the scape ,, the back side of the scape ,, were I could mount more SPS frags or just spread the frags I do have out more ,, that back side is only getting a Par number of 160 ,,

I have been thinking about doing this for a few weeks ,, its not something I really wanted to do ,, I had no choice though ,, I raised the light % up yesterday in the tank 5% I am at 65% on the Radion's ,, so my Favia problem wasn't going to get better ,, it was going to get worse ,, at least to my brain What I did was move almost all my Favia's over to the chalice tank ,, they are getting about 100 to 125 Par in the chalice tank ,, they were getting around 180 Par in the SPS tank ,, I still have my 4 or 5 biggest Favia's in the SPS tank but I need to move them also ,,

My plan is to slide the Carib Sea scape to be more centered in the tank ,, get the full scape getting that 350 to 400 Par number ,, I haven't done that yet ,, was out of energy for the day

 

[Braves Fan]

Just a bit of a update ,, I will start with the punch line the SPS tank is at a point where I couldn't be happier with it ,,

All the new SPS frags I got from aquavista99 ,, you couldn't ask for better color on them ,, they never browned out on me ,, that's saying something when it comes to my past SPS keeping ability ,, the older SPS frags that have been in the tank for quite some time , back when I wasn't doing my part in keeping the tanks numbers as stable as I could they are mostly still green ,, but a very healthy looking green with good polyp extension ,, all the frags ,, newer and older ,, are encrusting and fixing to have new vertical growth ,, I see bumps

The Chalice tank is also doing good with the Favia's moved into it ,, there is a bit of a update here ,, all the Stax rock I had in that tank ,, that I had Chalices and Favia's mounted to ,, I removed as many of these corals as I could from the rock and mounted the corals to 4" frag disk that I ordered ,, some were a bit upset over this for a bit ,, back to normal now ,, a couple of the larger Favia's ,, I left them on their Stax rock ,,

The reason for this removal from the Stax rock ,, it was a good idea that turned out to not be a good idea the rock has a lot of pores in it ,, I started having a Aptisia problem in the tank ,,, these pours were getting Aptisia growing all in them ,, I left the center structure in the tank to give the fish a hiding place ,, but removed all the rest of the Stax ruck I could ,, placed the larger pieces in the sump tank ,, I will get some updated pics of the Chalice tank ,, guess I should just call is a LPS tank now

 

[Braves Fan]

Small update ,, not much going on ,,, but a little bit of something to tell ya'll ,, its kinda major ,, hope ya'll are learning something from my mistakes I have just been testing the water ,, keeping everything stable ,, SPS corals are still looking great with their color and looking like they just want to take off

The update ,, I have two problems going on in the tank that needed to be dealt with ,, the SPS tank is just 20" tall ,, with a CaribSea scape in it ,, when I set this scape in the tank ,, I placed some Stax Rock pieces under it to raise the scape up in the tank ,, thought this was a good idea at the time ,, it turned out to not be ,, imagine that lol the problem was ,, it put my SPS frags imperil of getting to much direct flow on them from the power heads ,, if the tank would have been 25" tall ,, wouldn't be a problem.

The second problem ,, the tank is 30" front to back ,, when I placed the scape in the tank ,, I placed it close to the back glass panel ,, the reason for this was ,, it would give me the max buffer space in the tank from the front glass panel and the start of the scape ,, where I could place Chalice and Favia frags ,,

I was able to slide the scape around a bit for this to not be all that much of a problem ,, but it really was a problem ,, what needed to happen was ,, the Stax Rock needed to be removed from under that scape so I could lower the scape and get the corals away from all that flow ,, I had places in the tank where I could put more SPS frags ,,, but couldn't because of the flow issue. I hate a tank with coral gaps

My fear was ,, working by myself ,, when I lifted the scape to remove the Stax Rock ,, I might drop the scape and bust my SPS frags all up ,, been there done that before this issue had me procrastinating getting this job done ,, I waited as long as I could ,, then I could wait no longer ,, I took the job on.

So ,, I got the job finished ,, didn't bust up any frags ,, I did dislodge 3 frags from the scape that were still mounted to their original frag plugs ,,, I got lucky ,, they were frags that hadn't encrusted off of their frag plugs

The second problem ,, having that scape sitting so far back in the tank ,, after I set the Chalice tank up and removed all the Chalices and Favia's to the Chalice tank ,, I no longer needed all that buffer zone at the front of the tank ,, why this needed to be dealt with is because having that scape so far back in the tank ,, I had places on the top back sections of the scape where I should have SPS frags ,, but there weren't any there ,,, because those spots weren't getting enough light

Now the scape is more centered in the tank ,, I can buy 7 or 8 more SPS frags or I could just space out the frags I do have ,,, naw ,,, buy more frags

There is a added bonus my SPS tank isn't a peninsula tank ,, but you have to walk by the side of the tank to get to the kitchen / dining area of the house ,, you can see right down the back of the tank ,, that now has about a 5 inches of gap between the back of the scape and the back glass panel ,, I can remove some of the Favia's out of the Chalice tank ,, which is pretty much full ,, place them in that gap ,,, make the back of the SPS tank purdy and allow myself to buy more frags for the chalice tank lol always thinking of how to buy more frags

 

[intricate_reefer]

Small update ,, not much going on ,,, but a little bit of something to tell ya'll ,, its kinda major ,, hope ya'll are learning something from my mistakes I have just been testing the water ,, keeping everything stable ,, SPS corals are still looking great with their color and looking like they just want to take off

The update ,, I have two problems going on in the tank that needed to be dealt with ,, the SPS tank is just 20" tall ,, with a CaribSea scape in it ,, when I set this scape in the tank ,, I placed some Stax Rock pieces under it to raise the scape up in the tank ,, thought this was a good idea at the time ,, it turned out to not be ,, imagine that lol the problem was ,, it put my SPS frags imperil of getting to much direct flow on them from the power heads ,, if the tank would have been 25" tall ,, wouldn't be a problem.

The second problem ,, the tank is 30" front to back ,, when I placed the scape in the tank ,, I placed it close to the back glass panel ,, the reason for this was ,, it would give me the max buffer space in the tank from the front glass panel and the start of the scape ,, where I could place Chalice and Favia frags ,,

I was able to slide the scape around a bit for this to not be all that much of a problem ,, but it really was a problem ,, what needed to happen was ,, the Stax Rock needed to be removed from under that scape so I could lower the scape and get the corals away from all that flow ,, I had places in the tank where I could put more SPS frags ,,, but couldn't because of the flow issue. I hate a tank with coral gaps

My fear was ,, working by myself ,, when I lifted the scape to remove the Stax Rock ,, I might drop the scape and bust my SPS frags all up ,, been there done that before this issue had me procrastinating getting this job done ,, I waited as long as I could ,, then I could wait no longer ,, I took the job on.

So ,, I got the job finished ,, didn't bust up any frags ,, I did dislodge 3 frags from the scape that were still mounted to their original frag plugs ,,, I got lucky ,, they were frags that hadn't encrusted off of their frag plugs

The second problem ,, having that scape sitting so far back in the tank ,, after I set the Chalice tank up and removed all the Chalices and Favia's to the Chalice tank ,, I no longer needed all that buffer zone at the front of the tank ,, why this needed to be dealt with is because having that scape so far back in the tank ,, I had places on the top back sections of the scape where I should have SPS frags ,, but there weren't any there ,,, because those spots weren't getting enough light

Now the scape is more centered in the tank ,, I can buy 7 or 8 more SPS frags or I could just space out the frags I do have ,,, naw ,,, buy more frags

There is a added bonus my SPS tank isn't a peninsula tank ,, but you have to walk by the side of the tank to get to the kitchen / dining area of the house ,, you can see right down the back of the tank ,, that now has about a 5 inches of gap between the back of the scape and the back glass panel ,, I can remove some of the Favia's out of the Chalice tank ,, which is pretty much full ,, place them in that gap ,,, make the back of the SPS tank purdy and allow myself to buy more frags for the chalice tank lol always thinking of how to buy more frags

Doesn’t it always feel good when you can squeeze some more frags in the tank lol

 

[Braves Fan]

Can't seem to get a good FTS shot. I still need to work on it but this is what the tank currently looks like. Can't decide if the Olympus TG6 or my iPhone 6 takes better FTS shots. The Olympus is a little clearer but the iPhone has better colors.

Doesn’t it always feel good when you can squeeze some more frags in the tank lol

You seriously have to get a bigger tank ,, or have a Live Sale

 

[Braves Fan]

I have two problem's with the tank and have made corrections in the tank to fix them ,, will try and keep it short

First problem ,, When I put the CaribSea Scape in the tank ,, I placed it on top of a few pieces of Stax Rock to give the scape a bit more height ,, seemed like a good idea at the time geez ,, think I would have learned my " good ideas " never seem to work out ,, I should have known better by now ,, turned out ,, not so much of a good idea ,, if the tank was 25" tall ,, wouldn't have been a problem ,, its only 20" though.,,

I was having a direct flow problem from the power heads on some of my SPS frags ,, I was having to try and bend a un bendable rock scape to avoid this problem ,, I was having to not put frags in places on the scape where there should be frags ,, the answer was to remove the Stax Rock from under the scape and lower the scape ,, this wasn't a problem and a answer that just hit me over nite ,, the problem was ,, holding up the ends of the scape to remove the Stax Rock ,, without dropping it and busting up all the SPS frags I have mounted to the scape ,, been there done that before ,, I was putting off making the fix to the tank for fear of busting up some of the frags ,, I really needed a second pair of hands ,,

Tackling this problem would also allow me to make another correction to the tank ,,

The second problem ,, My tank is 30" front to back ,, when I placed the scape in the tank ,, I placed it almost all the way to the back of the tank ,, only a few inches from the back glass panel ,, doing this would allow me to have the maximum amount of space at the front of the tank between the front glass panel and the scape to place Chalice frags ,, another one of my good ideas ,, the down side ,, I was not able to use the full top of the scape to place SPS frags ,, I wasn't getting as much light to the back of the scape as I needed for the SPS frags that would be mounted there ,,

Between the direct flow problem and the light problem at the back of the scape ,, I was short the carrying capacity for SPS frags that I could put into the tank ,, not acceptable ,, I don't want coral gaps in my tank ,,

When I set the Chalice tank up ,, I moved all the Chalice frags ,, and later all the Favia frags over to the new tank ,, I didn't need all the buffer space in the SPS tank any longer between the front glass panel and the scape to place Chalice frags ,, what needed to be done ,,, the Stax Rock needed to be removed from under the scape ,, the scape needed to be moved forward in the tank so that I could use the full scape to place SPS frags ,,

I finally got up the courage to tackle the problem ,, broke SPS frags be $#@%# I got it all done and didn't break any frags

Ordered 7 new SPS frags last night

 

[intricate_reefer]

Any updates?