45 Gallon Shallow Reef Build

[CBonito]

Ok, so these will be here tomorrow, I'm pretty sure.
Never had Acans before. I had to work that out of my system. Great way to add lots of color.
Couple of cool Favia and a Hammer because you have to have Hammers.

I want some cool Goniopora too, but some of the prices I'm seeing are a big "hell-to-the-no."
I'll hunt some good ones down for a price I'm willing to pay. We'll see how these guys go...

 

[CBonito]

Yup, confirmed I'll have those guys tomorrow. I'm going to change another 10 gallons of water today and leave it. I changed 10 yesterday too. The fish are all doing great and eating well. I don't think my melanurus likes my readhead fairy though. I saw him chasing him yesterday. When I feed I dump a whole cube into the tank so I know he's getting food and when I see him he looks good, so I guess eventually he'll adapt. Maybe he just hasnt seen him enough so he's freaking out at the invader, I dunno. All of the rest of the fish are fine and so is my exquisite fairy. He's always out in the open. Very bold.

The aggressive behavior one of my anthias was exhibiting seems to be subsiding. He's no longer going after my blue eyed anthias and no one was hurt anyway. My peppermint shrimp are all still alive too...for all its worth.

The diamond goby seems to venture out further each day to survey his surroundings. He's starting to move the sand around which is what I was looking for.

Tank seems to be doing fine.

My ph probe is a point of sale and is acting up so I'm going to replace that and I need to shut my main pump and check my flow sensor that dropped out a few days ago. I'm guessing it got jammed with something.

I lowered the temperature of the tank too. It varies from 77 to 78. It was getting close to 79 at times and I think that's pushing it, so there's that. I'd rather have the tank cooler and we all know that a lot of these corals in deeper water are mid-70s. If I need to, I'll go down another degree.

 

[CBonito]

Ok, so these will be here tomorrow, I'm pretty sure.
Never had Acans before. I had to work that out of my system. Great way to add lots of color.
Couple of cool Favia and a Hammer because you have to have Hammers.

I want some cool Goniopora too, but some of the prices I'm seeing are a big "hell-to-the-no."
I'll hunt some good ones down for a price I'm willing to pay. We'll see how these guys go...

Ordered some more! hehe I have no self-control. I think there's a really good mix of stuff now.
Some, I'll need to find them some low flow areas, but overall, I think it everything will be fine.

So now, 21 corals on the way. Pretty excited. I even have putty, ready to go! I forgot all about it.

 

[FishLvR]

I love a high dollar build. Following along. You'll end up hating those lights with the pinpoint on such a shallow tank, hopefully you will prove me wrong. The tank is an awesome size.

 

[CBonito]

I love a high dollar build. Following along. You'll end up hating those lights with the pinpoint on such a shallow tank, hopefully you will prove me wrong. The tank is an awesome size.

The kessils? I love them. But they're just for the halide effect anymore and not enough themselves. I went with the Hero.

With both there's roughly 350 watts of light. But that's way too much. The straton puts out an amazing amount of light. I run it at 45 percent now with the kessils at half too and it's really amazing together. I get all the coverage of the straton and the shimmer of the kessils and together there is a really nice color to them though the color of the straton varies through the day.

 

[FishLvR]

I love a high dollar build. Following along. You'll end up hating those lights with the pinpoint on such a shallow tank, hopefully you will prove me wrong. The tank is an awesome size.

The kessils? I love them. But they're just for the halide effect anymore and not enough themselves. I went with the Hero.

With both there's roughly 350 watts of light. But that's way too much. The straton puts out an amazing amount of light. I run it at 45 percent now with the kessils at half too and it's really amazing together. I get all the coverage of the straton and the shimmer of the kessils and together there is a really nice color to them though the color of the straton varies through the day.

I have never seen a successful reef with kessils as stand alone ever. Lol! I'm so happy you have a more than decent light on this tank. It's gunna be fire.

 

[CBonito]

I have never seen a successful reef with kessils as stand alone ever. Lol! I'm so happy you have a more than decent light on this tank. It's gunna be fire.

Thanks! Yeah, I learned that pretty fast. I like the look, but the coverage sucks. The ATI is a like an orbital death ray. At least I can never say I don't have enough.

 

[CBonito]

I got some berghia nudibranchs and a box from Rip Tide which is all of the Acans and favia in the pics up above.

I guess I have some work to do now. The work never ends. It's a good thing I don't work work anymore or I'd never be able to keep up with this.

 

[CBonito]

Ok so my Berghias arrived dead in a little bottle of cloudy water. So that's great. I wont lose sleep over it though.
I found the best way to kill aiptasia is this awesome little toof-brush i have shoved into a piece of half inch pvc pipe. A couple scrubs and they turn into slime and get sucked down the drain. I'll have to source some berghias locally so they don't die apparently.

I've already knocked them down enough where they're not bad and I guess I can just keep on them for now as necessary. But that's disappointing.

I guess it's time for coral christmas...more to come.

 

[CBonito]

Ok, so these will be here tomorrow, I'm pretty sure.
Never had Acans before. I had to work that out of my system. Great way to add lots of color.
Couple of cool Favia and a Hammer because you have to have Hammers.

I want some cool Goniopora too, but some of the prices I'm seeing are a big "hell-to-the-no."
I'll hunt some good ones down for a price I'm willing to pay. We'll see how these guys go...

Ok so I received this shipment from Riptide Aquaculture and everything is great as advertised. I'm just waiting for them to all settle down and open up. These guys pack everything EXTREMELY WELL man so no worries.

They pack things so well, I'm unsure whether they want the corals to survive or me to die from convulsions.

Each frag is double bagged and in a little shot cup so it doesnt get banged around. Then 3 frag bags are put into one bag and secured in styrofoam with a cold pack in newspaper...I mean, above and beyond. It costs money to do this, but it probably saves money when everything arrives alive.

No funny smells, everything labeled, receipt, stickers and free shipping promo code in the box for returning customers. Excellent first impression.

Anyway, this was a win since all this stuff cost me only 300 bucks. I think 4 of those were free. They have some nice deals going for LPS/SPS and htey have nice stuff.
Acans are decent growers in the right conditions, so we'll see what happens. 2 of them are favites and they can grow too so hopefully in time I'll have some neat little half balls of them. I'm really interested in these Acans. The colors you can get them in are amazing. They are worth the money.

@RiptideAquaculture - Thank You!

I'll be sure to use my promo code soon!

 

[RiptideAquaculture Verified Sponsor]

Ok so I received this shipment from Riptide Aquaculture and everything is great as advertised. I'm just waiting for them to all settle down and open up. These guys pack everything EXTREMELY WELL man so no worries.

They pack things so well, I'm unsure whether they want the corals to survive or me to die from convulsions.

Each frag is double bagged and in a little shot cup so it doesnt get banged around. Then 3 frag bags are put into one bag and secured in styrofoam with a cold pack in newspaper...I mean, above and beyond. It costs money to do this, but it probably saves money when everything arrives alive.

No funny smells, everything labeled, receipt, stickers and free shipping promo code in the box for returning customers. Excellent first impression.

Anyway, this was a win since all this stuff cost me only 300 bucks. I think 4 of those were free. They have some nice deals going for LPS/SPS and htey have nice stuff.
Acans are decent growers in the right conditions, so we'll see what happens. 2 of them are favites and they can grow too so hopefully in time I'll have some neat little half balls of them. I'm really interested in these Acans. The colors you can get them in are amazing. They are worth the money.

@RiptideAquaculture - Thank You!

I'll be sure to use my promo code soon!

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this and share your experience — this absolutely made our day!
We’re thrilled to hear that everything arrived safe, healthy, and as expected. We do put a lot of care into packing our corals so they arrive in the best possible shape, and it’s awesome to know you noticed and appreciated the extra effort.

We can’t wait to see how those Acans and Favites settle in and grow for you — The Dumbo is one of our favorites, and it sounds like you’ve got it in good hands. If you ever have any questions about care, growth tips, or future orders, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Thanks again for choosing us, and happy reefing!

 

[CBonito]

So one of my Kessils has a dead power supply. When I turned the light on I would just get a flash and that's it. I took the light and moved it over to the other power supply and it fired right up.

Then I looked online and saw what people are asking for replacement power supplies, 40 dollars, 55, 65 dollars, and I was like no. I found them on Amazon for 18 bucks and one will be here tomorrow. So if you're reading this and have a kessil with a power supply that died, go on Amazon and get one. And don't feel the replacement is any cheaper than the original because that's crap. They are the same thing, only they're marked way up.

 

[CBonito]

So today, all corals from Riptide are doing great. Mostly acans and all opened up nice at night and feeding.
They look great today.

And I have another shipment coming tomorrow with a few different things and some SPS pieces I've wanted.
I can't wait to see the dragon's breath Goni and I hope it does good. They're really pretty. My only Goni So far. I've been afraid of them because I've killed them before in other tanks, probably just due to ignorance of their requirements. Anyway...tomorrow can't come soon enough. I think tonight I'm gonna have some vodka/redbull shots and tomorrow when Mikey and Ted freak out I'll know it's the UPS man.

 

[tzabor10]

Following

 

[gsxrshane]

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this and share your experience — this absolutely made our day!
We’re thrilled to hear that everything arrived safe, healthy, and as expected. We do put a lot of care into packing our corals so they arrive in the best possible shape, and it’s awesome to know you noticed and appreciated the extra effort.

We can’t wait to see how those Acans and Favites settle in and grow for you — The Dumbo is one of our favorites, and it sounds like you’ve got it in good hands. If you ever have any questions about care, growth tips, or future orders, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Thanks again for choosing us, and happy reefing!

Just a +1 to y’all’s shipping. I got a 5 pk of zoas from you and the packaging was great!

Related to the tank, looks great and following along for the future! Love the dimensions and looking at something similar for my next build.

 

[CBonito]

Just a +1 to y’all’s shipping. I got a 5 pk of zoas from you and the packaging was great!

Related to the tank, looks great and following along for the future! Love the dimensions and looking at something similar for my next build.

They pack stuff amazingly well for sure. Everything was completely secure regardless if the UPS dufuses flipped the boxes upside down or whatever have you. The corals arrive intact and fine. I don't mention anything if I'm not particularly impressed.

If you're interested in anything I did here with my tank, and you want to do something similar, I'd be glad to help.

 

[RiptideAquaculture Verified Sponsor]

Just a +1 to y’all’s shipping. I got a 5 pk of zoas from you and the packaging was great!

Related to the tank, looks great and following along for the future! Love the dimensions and looking at something similar for my next build.

They pack stuff amazingly well for sure. Everything was completely secure regardless if the UPS dufuses flipped the boxes upside down or whatever have you. The corals arrive intact and fine. I don't mention anything if I'm not particularly impressed.

If you're interested in anything I did here with my tank, and you want to do something similar, I'd be glad to help.

We’ve been perfecting our shipping method for a few years now and finally have it dialed in! We definitely invest in the materials because it’s worth it—and more importantly, it’s what you guys deserve. Thanks again for the support!

 

[CBonito]

We’ve been perfecting our shipping method for a few years now and finally have it dialed in! We definitely invest in the materials because it’s worth it—and more importantly, it’s what you guys deserve. Thanks again for the support!

Yup, That's a whole lot of bags, little cups, cold/heat packs and styrofoam coolers, but we sure appreciate it when everything arrives as it was seen in the photos...alive even!

These things are all long-term smart business decisions.

I own a bar/restaurant so I know about those things. It makes a difference.
That strawberry or extra chunk of pineapple in your drink...it matters!

 

[CBonito]

Time for food. It's amazing how smart fish are. When they see that food cup man, they follow you back and forth. They know what's up. I'm working on trying to get some good pictures...with my ghetto light on the right that don't work...replacement power supply here tomorrow.

Fish are doing great. My melanurus killed my red head solon wrasse and I feel horrible about that. I know why he's been hiding now. I saw him chasing him, but he would find a place to hide and be fine. But He got him...My only guess is that he has a red head too and identified him as a rival male. If you blur your vision for a second and look at both, they are kind of similar color regions on their bodies. So I can never try another again.
I'm not some wrasse expert, so I'm just guessing. I know if some punk shows up cramping my style and acting like he's boss, I'm shutting him down...

I am going to add some more fairies though since i love them. That's an exquisite on the top right hovering over the rocks. My melanurus doesn't even bother him. It must be what I said. I have to be mindful of similar coloration patterns. I am never getting that melanurus out of the tank anyway so I must conform. I like him, but I'm ticked at him now. Fat SOB!!!

Stay tuned, I have acros, hammers, a goni and some montipora and other stuff coming tomorrow and if I can take a good picture of them, I will do just that. There's over 20 fish in there now. I think if you want to call your tank a reef...there are lots of fish on reefs. lol My sump is the same size as my tank, skimmer is for a tank 3 times the size and I have a mud refugium out back midway between the tank and the sump. There is a strong biome is my point. It's been running for 2 years now. I can support a good number of fish as long as they remain peaceful.

It will look a lot better when there are corals growing off those rocks, huh? Should be fun figuring out where everything needs to go.

It's amazing how this tank cleaned up with a little work. I mean, it's been running all year with only basic maintenance. I still have some aiptasia to get but I will. I have this toothbrush shoved into a piece of PVC pipe and I just get in the cracks and scrub them into pieces. Works great! Been doing it in sessions every night.

 

[CBonito]