45 Gallon Shallow Reef Build

[CBonito]

Once I get my lighting all dialed in (just bought a par meter) Battle Corals will be one of my first stops.

Yeah, they have some really nice stuff and everyone seems to love them. I'll definitely give them a try.
Never tried them before.

 

[CBonito]

Ok, so I fired up my GFO reactor. I'm so proud of myself. I've avoided GFO for years, but I teted my phosphate and it's a little high so I'm on it. It's not bad, but I can bring it down. I'm not surprised though since I let the tank just run for a year, and then I cleaned it all up and did some water changes. I've probably done a 50 percent water change over the past couple weeks so the water is good. My ph stays up. It's 8.44-8.50 over the course of the photoperiod.

My RO/DI is so much faster at making water too. MAN!!! I had the 75gpd that I made into a 6 stage, and it was so slow. Now it cooks.

Corals all look really good. Good Polyp extension. I put a bunch of berghias into the rocks with a pipette.
So we'll see what happens there. Honestly though, I think the peppermint shrimp are actually eating some too because there are a lot less of them now. I have 4 of them in the tank. The fish leave them alone.

And my tank is starting to look awesome. I kind of rescaped and the rocks now form sort of a crescent with a bridge in the middle. I wanted some good water flow through the rocks and we're there dude. I got most of my frags up on rocks and what an amazing difference. I mean holy crap. When things grow in, it's going to be gorgeous.

You just don't get it looking at everything sitting on the bottom. I think I may buy another couple acros. I want a red stag. And I need something that is a strong blue, like a nobilis or something.

Lights are out now, so I'll get some pics up in the am. I put my stylophora all together. I have one that's pink and blue, I have a rainbow and a purple all together. They contrast nicely. There is some space between them, but let them compete. They're all nice pieces and look great. Now they'll get some nice powerful light up on the rocks.

I have a lot more montipora than I thought too. LOL My forest fire and my bubble gum digis are awesome and I also have what I think is a spongodes and a setosa which is also nice. I would definitley invest in more montipora. I want some exotic ones. Definitely more digitata. I would like another cap too on the right side.

I think I want to buy some pieces of nano live rock too so I can have a couple rocks sitting by themselves to put more corals on.

Ok, I'm rambling...pics tomorrow.

 

[CBonito]

Still have a lot of work to do, but here's the general idea. I really need some kind of bright pink stylo to go with the others.
On the right I have what I think is some kind of blue stylo, a purple, and a rainbow all together and there is no contrast. I'm guessing colors will come in time. But I need something on that side that is bold.

Maybe I'll put the anachropora up top right far enough away from the stylos. I know they can kill.

I guess from here I'm going to just buy really sought after ones and glue them in odd spots.
I'd like to have a table or an efflo of some sort too.

I don't have a huge collection at this point, but I'm just glad it's looking like a tank instead of a tank of rocks.

 

[TheWB]

Still have a lot of work to do, but here's the general idea. I really need some kind of bright pink stylo to go with the others.
On the right I have what I think is some kind of blue stylo, a purple, and a rainbow all together and there is no contrast. I'm guessing colors will come in time. But I need something on that side that is bold.

Maybe I'll put the anachropora up top right far enough away from the stylos. I know they can kill.

I guess from here I'm going to just buy really sought after ones and glue them in odd spots.
I'd like to have a table or an efflo of some sort too.

I don't have a huge collection at this point, but I'm just glad it's looking like a tank instead of a tank of rocks.

Looking great. Where’s you put that teal stag?

 

[CBonito]

Looking great. Where’s you put that teal stag?

It almost completely died.

I was killing Aiptasia in the tank, and the slime from one of them landed on it and almost killed the whole thing.
Part of it is still good though, so I am letting it sit and when it looks strong enough I'm going to re-frag it.
If not, I'll buy another. But yeah talk about a huge bummer and irony that the coral I wanted to be the centerpiece...

So now I have a green slimer stag I havent placed yet, and my TSA Candle Light stag you can see up on the left.
I think I am going to order another one with a few more stags.

 

[CBonito]

On a lighter note, between TRUE peppermint shrimp, Berghia Nudibranchs and my dumb ***, Aiptasia are almost extinct in the display. I have some in my overflow, sump and refugium, but I can spot kill them if they emerge in the tank now.

I think I killed/removed over 1000 of them from the tank when I decided it was time to get ready to for corals a month ago. They were everywhere.

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

On a lighter note, between TRUE peppermint shrimp, Berghia Nudibranchs and my dumb ***, Aiptasia are almost extinct in the display. I have some in my overflow, sump and refugium, but I can spot kill them if they emerge in the tank now.

I think I killed/removed over 1000 of them from the tank when I decided it was time to get ready to for corals a month ago. They were everywhere.

Can't the berghia be used in the overflow and sump too?

 

[CBonito]

Can't the berghia be used in the overflow and sump too?

I put a few in each. And they're alive. They come out at night. So far I havent observed any peppermint shrimp eating them. They come out, run around for a while and then go back to their hiding spots.

 

[CBonito]

So I've just been observing how things are looking with my corals and they all seem pretty good.

I was concerned about my Aussie Gold Stag because I wasn't seeing any polyps, but they're small and hard to see. I have it in almost 400 PAR and the green frost on the tips is becoming more evident. And the polyps are extending. I'm just going to have to give it time to settle in. It came here, sat on the bottom for a week or two, then got put up into some strong light, so it's to be expected.

And then some others that are looking fine. My montipora are already getting the color back in their tips and starting to grow again.

I love this cap. I saw someone else on here had a nice one and I got jealous, so I had to have it. I just put it there when it first came in and it's already stuck to the rock so I'm leaving it. It's under about 220 PAR so it will take some time to color up.

This TSA Candlelight Acro is sweet too. I just love the look. It's close to the Aussie Gold so it's getting in the high 300 PAR range. Next shots I'm going to use a macro lens because these pics suck man. But yeah, this coral is going to do good.

And my Stylos...still looking for a nice pink one or anything more exotic to mix in here.
I can fit two more in between these. A pink one in the middle will make the others contrast nicer.
So will more time growing though.

 

[Fish Styx]

It just dawned on me that I'm not over here! I'm sorry, Carmine- I dropped the ball there. Looks like I've got some catching up to do.

 

[Fish Styx]

Hey, #Heathens are we over here?! I just got here myself. One of our own, too.... I suck.

 

[fishguy242]

...

 

[TheWB]

It almost completely died.

I was killing Aiptasia in the tank, and the slime from one of them landed on it and almost killed the whole thing.
Part of it is still good though, so I am letting it sit and when it looks strong enough I'm going to re-frag it.
If not, I'll buy another. But yeah talk about a huge bummer and irony that the coral I wanted to be the centerpiece...

So now I have a green slimer stag I havent placed yet, and my TSA Candle Light stag you can see up on the left.
I think I am going to order another one with a few more stags.

I stopped in at Barrier Reef today. The guy there actually remembered your order. No Teal Stags in stock right now but if they get more they will end up on their website.

 

[CBonito]

It just dawned on me that I'm not over here! I'm sorry, Carmine- I dropped the ball there. Looks like I've got some catching up to do.

I stopped in at Barrier Reef today. The guy there actually remembered your order. No Teal Stags in stock right now but if they get more they will end up on their website.

Yeah, it's not like they are particularly rare, but it is one I must have.
I'm just happy that the tank overall is doing very well.

All the other corals are doing excellent. I'll definitely order more from Barrier in the future. They did a good job and I like their stuff a lot.

 

[CBonito]

Hey, #Heathens are we over here?! I just got here myself. One of our own, too.... I suck.

Well I kinda suck too. I had just started looking at everyone else's stuff too recently.
I didn't even know that Jojo upgraded his tank.

 

[TheWB]

Yeah, it's not like they are particularly rare, but it is one I must have.
I'm just happy that the tank overall is doing very well.

All the other corals are doing excellent. I'll definitely order more from Barrier in the future. They did a good job and I like their stuff a lot.

It's a good shop. They had a great selection of Eyphillia if you're interested in Torches and Hammers. Most I've ever seen there. Said he had more Torches in the back still to frag but probably 5-6 different kinds on display. I've been on the lookout for a nice Frogspawn but nobody seems to have any of those anywhere. All my locals have been out for months.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

Well I kinda suck too. I had just started looking at everyone else's stuff too recently.
I didn't even know that Jojo upgraded his tank.

I neglect my build thread so bad haha. I lurk around on others mostly.

Polluting all you guys' threads keeps mine pristine!

 

[CBonito]

I neglect my build thread so bad haha. I lurk around on others mostly.

Polluting all you guys' threads keeps mine pristine!

It's hard to put everything in a thread all the time. It's not like a tank is one's only responsibilities.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

It's hard to put everything in a thread all the time. It's not like a tank is one's only responsibilities.

Eventually I'll get all caught up. My plan, tentatively, is to upgrade and document that really well and then I can just refer to this current setup in the past tense with very vague descriptors.

 

[Fish Styx]

I neglect my build thread so bad haha. I lurk around on others mostly.

Polluting all you guys' threads keeps mine pristine!

Yeah, I fell on that grenade a few years back. You're welcome.