Waking up from the nightmare build: the reboot

[Biokabe]

Thanks everything if read about them says the opposite, that you can’t keep more than a bonded pair.

Not to hijack too much in what's an awesome build thread, but -

Most of what we read about with regards to fish husbandry is built around best practices and smaller tanks that a more typical aquarist is likely to experience. Most rules like that can be amended or expanded in a larger tank. For example, in most tanks, you definitely wouldn't want a puffer or a parrotfish in a reef tank. But if you had a large enough tank with strong enough SPS growth, you could totally have some of those fish in a reef tank. Most of us will never have a tank that will allow us to break these "rules" of fishkeeping, and so for most of us rules like "Don't keep more than one firefish in a tank," hold true. But if you're ever in a position to drop a big fat chunk of change on an enormous tank, you might be surprised what you can get away with.

 

[KenO]

Not to hijack too much in what's an awesome build thread, but -

Most of what we read about with regards to fish husbandry is built around best practices and smaller tanks that a more typical aquarist is likely to experience. Most rules like that can be amended or expanded in a larger tank. For example, in most tanks, you definitely wouldn't want a puffer or a parrotfish in a reef tank. But if you had a large enough tank with strong enough SPS growth, you could totally have some of those fish in a reef tank. Most of us will never have a tank that will allow us to break these "rules" of fishkeeping, and so for most of us rules like "Don't keep more than one firefish in a tank," hold true. But if you're ever in a position to drop a big fat chunk of change on an enormous tank, you might be surprised what you can get away with.

Thanks, I have a 130 and 250 gallon tank. So maybe it’s time to break some rules. Lol

 

[Ashish Patel]

Hey, thanks a lot!

The idea has really opened things up for the aquascapes on some of my tanks. I’ve got a couple of tanks that have trouble areas for aquascaping w/o taking up a bunch of space. Now I have a way to open those tanks up. Really happy it worked out.

And now that I’ve done it, I can get a little more adventurous.

Nice, not only that you made that load bearing beam kind of ok, I am thinking about using 2 part expoxy to cover the overflow wall (stuff they use with those coral insert tanks) Mainly to keep the peinsula overflow wall clean of bottom rock and to cover 2 closed loop pipes but also to save me time in cleaning the back wall. I am still not decided yet since it will come down to cost I don't think Id want to spend more than $100-$150 on it so well see

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

Quick tank update:

Not a whole lot going on. I’ve been adding some new corals...mainly some soft corals for the lower levels, GSPs (don’t judge....) on a couple of rocks placed in a way that will limit the ability for it to spread, a few chalice frags down lower, and a couple monti cap frags in spots I designated for their horizontal growth.

The big frogspawn that I almost lost has been broken up into one bigger colony, one medium colony, and two small colonies. The main colony had been placed pretty close to the bottom when it was really stressed (had bleached and/or lost pigment to about 60%, and had several polyps in the lower tier melt off) with the thought that I would start to move it up once it became clear it was going to pull through. Well, it has come back almost completely, even being near the bottom, and looks really good. This is great news, because I have room to grow some big colonies without having conflicts with the SPS etc that I want up higher. Wasn’t sure how they would do down that far...that question has been sufficiently answered.

Dealing with a minor dino bloom, but there has been a really quick succession (I anticipated this), with some Bryopsis etc showing up already. Lost a lot of coralline due to a lot of the rock beignnout of the water for so long. Yesterday, I pulled a rock that had a lot of coralline on it and just began scraping it off with a file and then waving the file around the other rocks to deposit the coralline on rocks that had none. Didn’t really feel like waiting for it to colonize on its own.

Still moving a couple things around. I’ve also revamped part of the filter, and will post some pics once it’s all settled in. Will also post some pics of the tank once the dinos go bye-bye.

The good news is that every coral I’ve added has settled in instantly. Really need to get this thing looking like a reef by the end of March.

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

Also, quick aside about GSPs...

If you colonize the top of a rock that sits atop a rock structure and isn’t in contact with any other rock structure, it will cover the upper part of the rock and then begin to plate or finger outward horizontally. It will eventually begin to grow on the lower shaded part of the rock and attempt to grow onto other rocks, but that’s why God invented razor blades and needle-nose pliers.

Anyway, I know a lot of people avoid them because of their propensity to spread, but adding a colony in this manner allows for easy management. When it grows out too much, just rip the plates off and give them away.

 

[._Z_.]

Curious if you’re doing anything to combat the dinos or just letting it run its course?

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

Curious if you’re doing anything to combat the dinos or just letting it run its course?

I’ll see how long it lingers. If it’s not noticably thinner in a week-week and 1/2, I’ll just cheat and do 3 treatments of AlgaeFix, turn the lights off for a few days, and move on with life.

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

Curious if you’re doing anything to combat the dinos or just letting it run its course?

Update:

The dinos didn’t last long. There’s still a little here and there, but it’s quickly being outpaced by other algae.

Even though I was pretty sure that the other algae I needed were present, I still added a couple of small pieces that were covered in some ‘higher’ algae, just to promote quick succession.

 

[nezw0001]

i think this is one of the best threads i've read. thanks for sharing

 

[actik]

WoW, what a great idea man setting rocks on the wall as well, i feel like im in an underwater cavern just watching them. So natural

 

[Viking_Reefing]

How are you getting along with the tank? [emoji51]

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Pics pics pics!

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

Hey guys, thanks for checking in.

Tank is doing pretty well. I’m still playing with it, moving stuff a little, etc. Everything has gone very smoothly, with pretty much every coral I’ve added settling in and doing well.

The only kinda bad thing that happened was with the first batch of acro frags. I had them on a tray toward the bottom to begin light acclimation. They did well through the first week, so I moved them out into more direct light. Looked good after that. But then a few days later I came in and they were all browned-out. I was like ‘huh?’.

Well, I came back in a couple days later and found out what the issue was. As the sun is now shifting toward the north, that end of the tank is getting about 2hrs a day of direct sunlight. Whoops! Light acclimation backfire. So, I’ve moved them up onto the rock structure and they’re slowly coming back around.

I’ll get some pics the next time I’m there at night. Too much light coming in during the day.

 

[Sallstrom]

Hey guys, thanks for checking in.

Tank is doing pretty well. I’m still playing with it, moving stuff a little, etc. Everything has gone very smoothly, with pretty much every coral I’ve added settling in and doing well.

The only kinda bad thing that happened was with the first batch of acro frags. I had them on a tray toward the bottom to begin light acclimation. They did well through the first week, so I moved them out into more direct light. Looked good after that. But then a few days later I came in and they were all browned-out. I was like ‘huh?’.

Well, I came back in a couple days later and found out what the issue was. As the sun is now shifting toward the north, that end of the tank is getting about 2hrs a day of direct sunlight. Whoops! Light acclimation backfire. So, I’ve moved them up onto the rock structure and they’re slowly coming back around.

I’ll get some pics the next time I’m there at night. Too much light coming in during the day.

Good to hear things are going well. Looking forward to see the result.

Just checked out your homepage. Great tanks!

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

Good to hear things are going well. Looking forward to see the result.

Just checked out your homepage. Great tanks!

Thanks! There are a lot of tank pics on the site that are old/outdated, but we just put them on to get the site launched. The site is like this current tank reboot...taking forever to get going. We’re still building it, and I need to sit down for a few hours and do a LOT of editing.

There’s going to be a page where a project like the one I just did is documented start to finish with vid/pics. Just haven’t had time to put into the site over the last 2 months. We still have like 3 phone #s on the site!

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

Here’s a little preview:

In this pic, you can’t see much in the way of how the structure looks. Too much light and reflections coming in.

Next week, I’ll go in the evening to get better pics. We’ll do a little tour plus take a look at some filter modifications (my favorite part)

 

[Viking_Reefing]

Looking great!!!

 

[Lowell Lemon]

The reboot looks great! Nice job and I bet the customer is happy!

 

[dantimdad]

That is looking so much better!

Great job!

 

[norfolkgarden]

Looks great!

Hard to remember the left side is a sawtooth of walls and the right side is a 3 sided box.

VERY nice work!