2Sunny's 240 Coral Garden Cube

[LadyTang2]

I'll update with some pictures of the tank and 'nem tomorrow, and I think I do have some beginning photos from 2010 so I'll try and dig those up too.

Yes please!

 

[LadyTang2]

Were those blue chromis, or blue green chromis?

Also you mentioned cleaning your sump rocks every few weeks/months, how did you clean them? Just brush off algae with rodi or?

 

[revhtree]

Hi L,

My first 'nem I surrounded with cheap corals like a birds nest colony so it couldn't move but back then I had a ton of colonies. Most recently I put my newest 'nem on a rock that I could move and I would just reposition it back to top center every time it moved until it finally gave up and stopped moving. I think its been about 6 weeks or so since the last time my new 'nem has moved. For sure it takes work to try and find a happy spot. If I were starting over I think I would build my rock work and put the 'nem in first and then start building my reef once it settled down. I always assumed H. Mags preferred smooth rocks since they seem to very often end up on the glass, but this new 'nem seems to prefer regular craggy rock.

I'll update with some pictures of the tank and 'nem tomorrow, and I think I do have some beginning photos from 2010 so I'll try and dig those up too.

Thanks for checking out my thread

Joe

Bro you better do it now that you said it!!

 

[Brandon McHenry]

Amazing tank! Such an inspiration! Which iteration of this reef has been your favorite looking back? And if you could offer one piece of advice about your success, what would it be?

 

[2Sunny]

Haven't gotten out my old Canon to take some "sharp" photos yet, but clearly I need to do so because the reef is beginning to fill back in, and the iPad videos just aren't very sharp, but at least you get the idea.

Funny story now that it's over (wasn't so funny at the time). Anyways, last Saturday morning (9/26/20) I got up and went downstairs to find no water circulation from the basement . . . uh ohhh . . . run downstairs to my sump room to find my reguium external overflow had somehow broken siphon and about 60-70 gallons of water had spilled onto the basement floor and the recirc pump and skimmer pump, both Iwaki 55s, were running dry as the intakes had been exposed to air. I turned off the pumps, mixed up 100 gallons of Instant Ocean, replenished the sump, restarted the siphon, and turned on the Iwakis. Then I found that the skimmer Iwaki was dead. Fortunately I have a back up so uninstall the skimmer Iwaki and re-install the backup. Sheeeesh. Thats what I get for trying to be cheap. I didn't want to spend much money setting up the refugium so I used a glass 20 I had with no overflow and bought a cheapo external overflow. I had the same problem once before and had installed a shut off on the refugium pump but I had recently tried to raise the sensor slightly higher (I really don't remember why now) and obviously had put the optical sensor too high because it didn't shut the pump off this time. Thank goodness I have an enormous basement and sump room with a cement floor. The overflow keeps losing siphon every couple of days and for the life of me I can't figure out why, but I obviously need to buy a refugium tank with a built in overflow to stop this nonsense. Ah well . . . it's only money

 

[2Sunny]

Amazing tank! Such an inspiration! Which iteration of this reef has been your favorite looking back? And if you could offer one piece of advice about your success, what would it be?

Hi Brandon,

Sorry for the slow response. I haven't checked this thread in a while obviously.

Interesting question you ask. I had to think about that for a bit. My 2011 reef was spectacular in that it had sooo many corals that were so big, but I have changed with the times and come to enjoy evening fluorescence. The introduction of blue LEDs that mimic dawn/dusk and provide for a few hours of a glowing reef has added a new element of pleasure to my aquarium viewing time so I guess if I'm honest I really love my latest version the most. It still has a year or so to go to mature, but I can see already that the couple of expensive corals I bought are going to be super nice as large colonies. Long ago I was obsessed with Oregon Tort and Purple Monster and the like because they had the most color of all my SPS. Today, because of the blue LEDs, I'm more interested by good 'ole Bali Green, Walt Disney, JF Frankies Gumdrops and suddenly softies are making a come back in my viewing pleasure including my Ice Fire zoa's and Orange Ric's which are taking over my tank. I'm also trying to grow some Utter Chaos zoa's but growth is painfully slow. I'm trying to feed them regularly to speed up the process, but they still aren't "taking off" yet. Soon, I hope

My advice is something I have said many times and even started a couple discussions on. I'm a huge believer in K.I.S.S.

My current reef, although large, is fairly basic by modern standards. I have a skimmer, a refugium, ATI lights, heaters, and a bag of Xport PO4, and a bag of GAC and I dose B-Ionic by hand daily. No reactors, small water changes when I vacuum my sump once every other month, no fancy monitors, and no dosing of "stuff" other than B-Ionic. Honestly I cringe every time I read a thread where people are dosing this or that chemical to kill some algae or treat a sick anemone or add an element that's the flavor of the month, but hey there's something for everyone in this hobby, and I certainly won't tell people to stop doing what they're doing if it's working for them and they're happy. Anyways, bet you're sorry you asked now

Thanks for stopping by!

 

[Brandon McHenry]

Hi Brandon,

Sorry for the slow response. I haven't checked this thread in a while obviously.

Interesting question you ask. I had to think about that for a bit. My 2011 reef was spectacular in that it had sooo many corals that were so big, but I have changed with the times and come to enjoy evening fluorescence. The introduction of blue LEDs that mimic dawn/dusk and provide for a few hours of a glowing reef has added a new element of pleasure to my aquarium viewing time so I guess if I'm honest I really love my latest version the most. It still has a year or so to go to mature, but I can see already that the couple of expensive corals I bought are going to be super nice as large colonies. Long ago I was obsessed with Oregon Tort and Purple Monster and the like because they had the most color of all my SPS. Today, because of the blue LEDs, I'm more interested by good 'ole Bali Green, Walt Disney, JF Frankies Gumdrops and suddenly softies are making a come back in my viewing pleasure including my Ice Fire zoa's and Orange Ric's which are taking over my tank. I'm also trying to grow some Utter Chaos zoa's but growth is painfully slow. I'm trying to feed them regularly to speed up the process, but they still aren't "taking off" yet. Soon, I hope

My advice is something I have said many times and even started a couple discussions on. I'm a huge believer in K.I.S.S.

My current reef, although large, is fairly basic by modern standards. I have a skimmer, a refugium, ATI lights, heaters, and a bag of Xport PO4, and a bag of GAC and I dose B-Ionic by hand daily. No reactors, small water changes when I vacuum my sump once every other month, no fancy monitors, and no dosing of "stuff" other than B-Ionic. Honestly I cringe every time I read a thread where people are dosing this or that chemical to kill some algae or treat a sick anemone or add an element that's the flavor of the month, but hey there's something for everyone in this hobby, and I certainly won't tell people to stop doing what they're doing if it's working for them and they're happy. Anyways, bet you're sorry you asked now

Thanks for stopping by!

Thanks for the response! Honestly I love getting opinions and advice from reefers who have been as successful at SPS as you have. I hope to never stop learning in this hobby so thanks for all of the intel! And I understand where you are coming from with the fluorescence, it definitely adds a new dynamic to a reef tank. I can’t wait to see how this tank progresses over the next year but it’s looking great already! Keep the updates coming!

 

[mattgsa]

You have a really nice tank.

 

[Sdot]

Hi Brandon,

Sorry for the slow response. I haven't checked this thread in a while obviously.

Interesting question you ask. I had to think about that for a bit. My 2011 reef was spectacular in that it had sooo many corals that were so big, but I have changed with the times and come to enjoy evening fluorescence. The introduction of blue LEDs that mimic dawn/dusk and provide for a few hours of a glowing reef has added a new element of pleasure to my aquarium viewing time so I guess if I'm honest I really love my latest version the most. It still has a year or so to go to mature, but I can see already that the couple of expensive corals I bought are going to be super nice as large colonies. Long ago I was obsessed with Oregon Tort and Purple Monster and the like because they had the most color of all my SPS. Today, because of the blue LEDs, I'm more interested by good 'ole Bali Green, Walt Disney, JF Frankies Gumdrops and suddenly softies are making a come back in my viewing pleasure including my Ice Fire zoa's and Orange Ric's which are taking over my tank. I'm also trying to grow some Utter Chaos zoa's but growth is painfully slow. I'm trying to feed them regularly to speed up the process, but they still aren't "taking off" yet. Soon, I hope

My advice is something I have said many times and even started a couple discussions on. I'm a huge believer in K.I.S.S.

My current reef, although large, is fairly basic by modern standards. I have a skimmer, a refugium, ATI lights, heaters, and a bag of Xport PO4, and a bag of GAC and I dose B-Ionic by hand daily. No reactors, small water changes when I vacuum my sump once every other month, no fancy monitors, and no dosing of "stuff" other than B-Ionic. Honestly I cringe every time I read a thread where people are dosing this or that chemical to kill some algae or treat a sick anemone or add an element that's the flavor of the month, but hey there's something for everyone in this hobby, and I certainly won't tell people to stop doing what they're doing if it's working for them and they're happy. Anyways, bet you're sorry you asked now

Thanks for stopping by!

Im sorry, and i know you've heard this a million times already...but you have a beautiful tank. When you 1st acquired your mag anemone...did you feed it? Also i noticed from some of the pix, it appeared it was bleached at one point in time? How long did it take to color up? Thanks!

 

[2Sunny]

Im sorry, and i know you've heard this a million times already...but you have a beautiful tank. When you 1st acquired your mag anemone...did you feed it? Also i noticed from some of the pix, it appeared it was bleached at one point in time? How long did it take to color up? Thanks!

No trouble. Just like everyone else, I love talking about my reef ;Happy

I got my latest H. Mag back in April. It spit out zoox and deflated and was pale for the first 2 months during which time I fed it whole silversides 4 or 5 times to try and give it some energy. By late June it was still pale but stayed fully inflated. Since that time it has gained some color, but it is still much more pale than my previous H. Mags. Way back in 2004 I bleached my first H. Mag totally white with an alkalinity spike, and it took several months to regain it's color.

 

[2Sunny]

Tank update:

 

[Brandon McHenry]

Tank update:

Looking great! The corals are growing well and look super healthy! Also I love the school of Chromis!

 

[ReefBum]

Looking awesome as usual Joe

 

[revhtree]

Tank update:

You don't do anything shabby! Beautiful!

 

[2Sunny]

Thanks guys. I feelin' a need to invest in a new camera 'cuz my old Canon just doesn't seem to get the job done anymore either either with macros or FTS. I'd like to post some macros of my colonies as several are real stunners. The red table is Jason Fox Frankie's Gumdrops and took 2 years to grow from a 1/4 inch nub, but man is it beautiful in person. Gotta get some good photos

 

[2Sunny]

Broke out the 'ole Canon today. Discovering that using Lightroom makes an enormous difference. Now to slowly figure it all out again. Here's a coral that makes me a little mad, but I have no right to be so since truth is I bought it kinda as an experiment to test whether so called "high end" corals were real. It was sold to me by Jason Fox as Frankie's Gumdrops, but after two years of growing out it looks a heck of a lot like one of the red tables he has listed for a third the price. Interesting to note he doesn't sell "Frankies Gumdrops" anymore. Anyways, the picture doesn't do justice to the red. In person it is a very red table with hints of green and yellow. Really nice . . .

 

[2Sunny]

Time to start fraggin' Things are finally filling in and looking decent. Still can't get good pictures with my 'ole Canon. I really think there's a trick to LED photography. Maybe I need to try turning on white LEDs when I take pictures because right now everything comes out way to dark. Anyways, happily the filter on an iPhone does a decent job:

 

[ReefCheef]

Just had to share my excitement. Jason from Greenwich Aquaria was here today and noticed something shocking . . . a baby Cardinal fish hosting in my anemone! So far he hasn't been bothered or eaten by the clowns, but I guess we'll see . . .

 

[ReefCheef]

Mr. Peck, I have major tank envy. I noticed in your video on ReefBum's channel that your sand is very unique looking. It appears as though it's a solid mass as opposed to a bunch of individual sand crystals. How did you get it so compact? It looks like you can blast it with flow almost like a bare bottom and not blow the sand everywhere. Do you have a special technique for this? Please explain your method!

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Time to start fraggin' Things are finally filling in and looking decent. Still can't get good pictures with my 'ole Canon. I really think there's a trick to LED photography. Maybe I need to try turning on white LEDs when I take pictures because right now everything comes out way to dark. Anyways, happily the filter on an iPhone does a decent job:

Looking fantastic!!