45 Gallon Shallow Reef Build

[CBonito]

Ok so I got another coral shipment this morning. Only problem was that my digitata was broken, but it was a big frag so it's all good. I'll take the broken pieces and stick them in another spot. Everything was packed just fine and no gripes.

Other than that, @Williamson’s Reef hooked me up nicely with some really cool corals that I am very happy with, and if I had known they were in Taylor I would have just picked them up! haha

Thank you for the free yellow coral. I don't know whether it's anacropora or acropora, but I was going to buy that one! That's awesome! It should be a cool grower. I'm slowly watching everything extend itself, and my dragon breath goni is looking good! I am gun shy of these because when I was younger I used to kill them somehow. Nope, it's slowly opening up and looking nice. I'll have to find a spot it likes best.

Just waiting on the hammers and duncans to open, but that can take a while as they figure it out.
I have a lot of stuff now. Just have to grow it out.

I'll get pictures of everything tonight.

Thanks again @Williamson’s Reef! Will buy again!

 

[Williamson’s Reef]

Ok so I got another coral shipment this morning. Only problem was that my digitata was broken, but it was a big frag so it's all good. I'll take the broken pieces and stick them in another spot. Everything was packed just fine and no gripes.

Other than that, @Williamson’s Reef hooked me up nicely with some really cool corals that I am very happy with, and if I had known they were in Taylor I would have just picked them up! haha

Thank you for the free yellow coral. I don't know whether it's anacropora or acropora, but I was going to buy that one! That's awesome! It should be a cool grower. I'm slowly watching everything extend itself, and my dragon breath goni is looking good! I am gun shy of these because when I was younger I used to kill them somehow. Nope, it's slowly opening up and looking nice. I'll have to find a spot it likes best.

Just waiting on the hammers and duncans to open, but that can take a while as they figure it out.
I have a lot of stuff now. Just have to grow it out.

I'll get pictures of everything tonight.

Thanks again @Williamson’s Reef! Will buy again!

Thank you for the order! I really appreciate the review. The freebie is RRC Goldenrod. It’s a anacropora. Start it in 150-200 par. It does well in 150-300 with the best colors in 180-200.

I’m in Brownstown… you should make the trip sometime. It’s always nice to meet local reefers. I’ll warn you though I do love to talk tank…lol. Feel free to message me anytime.

 

[CBonito]

Thank you for the order! I really appreciate the review. The freebie is RRC Goldenrod. It’s a anacropora. Start it in 150-200 par. It does well in 150-300 with the best colors in 180-200.

I’m in Brownstown… you should make the trip sometime. It’s always nice to meet local reefers. I’ll warn you though I do love to talk tank…lol. Feel free to message me anytime.

It's ok, I get it. I have my own problems too.
I usually tell people to bring their bathing suit and some pajamas...

What kind of PAR does the Aussie Gold like? Water flow?

 

[Williamson’s Reef]

High flow for the Aussie gold, Rainbow Rommel and Judge Judy Milli. Start all of them at 200-250 par. Aussie Gold and Rainbow Rommel don’t need a lot of par to color up. They can stay at 250 par. But will be happy in 250-350 par. The Milli will do best in 350-400 par once it is a mini colony. Raise par slowly over a few months to 300 as a frag. It’s a very nice and bright Milli.

 

[CBonito]

Just some practice pics I took. Those duncans on the left are really happy! I fed them some brine shrimp earlier and they took it like it was going out of style. I think this is going to be a big coral before too long. I took it off the plug and kinda shoved it into the rock. It will stick in a week or so and continue growing over the rock.

All of my Acans are doing great. They have healthy feeding response and they inflate nicely

I love the stylophora too. That's going to be another great one. Just giving it some time before I put it up on the rocks and I have some aiptasia to kill off too. Everything is doing really good. I'm just going to keep replacing calcium/alk by doing water changes and we'll see how these grow. It's not like this is a huge demand system at this point so I should be able to get away with it and maybe some kalk.

And I can feel myself going on a crazy goniopora bender because the one I have is also doing great. I can move it to a lower flow area and it will be happier. Blah! Whatever.

This cap is ******!

 

[CBonito]

Ok, so my corals are all doing great, everything has good polyp extension and good feeding response.

So it seemed like I needed to just order more corals or something. I have always bought almost all acropora and that can be a drag sometimes. Stylophora is nice and so is montipora. I did get 3 nice stags though, so there's that. I don't do all the little pinky nipple frags with fancy names for 150 bucks a piece, so these were good. They're all nice sized and will likely grow very nicely.

I havent given up on the Berghias. I ordered another 10. Hopefully these arrive alive.

I've been jonesin' for some stags, and I am glad I got a green slimer. That Teal and purple one look bad-butt too.
And Pink Stylo is always great too. These should really round it out nicely, then I can just let them grow.

These are from Barrier Reef. Never heard of them, but they had a nice selection of stuff I was looking for and they have Berghias which I need.

So like Yay or whatever.

 

[BonnieB]

Welcome to the R2R family!

 

[TheWB]

Ok, so my corals are all doing great, everything has good polyp extension and good feeding response.

So it seemed like I needed to just order more corals or something. I have always bought almost all acropora and that can be a drag sometimes. Stylophora is nice and so is montipora. I did get 3 nice stags though, so there's that. I don't do all the little pinky nipple frags with fancy names for 150 bucks a piece, so these were good. They're all nice sized and will likely grow very nicely.

I havent given up on the Berghias. I ordered another 10. Hopefully these arrive alive.

I've been jonesin' for some stags, and I am glad I got a green slimer. That Teal and purple one look bad-butt too.
And Pink Stylo is always great too. These should really round it out nicely, then I can just let them grow.

These are from Barrier Reef. Never heard of them, but they had a nice selection of stuff I was looking for and they have Berghias which I need.

So like Yay or whatever.

If that's Barrier Reef in Newcastle WA that's one of my LFS. Their coral tanks generally look really good so I think you'll be happy with what you get if it's from there.

 

[CBonito]

If that's Barrier Reef in Newcastle WA that's one of my LFS. Their coral tanks generally look really good so I think you'll be happy with what you get if it's from there.

Thanks!

Yeah Renton Washington is what their site says, those are almost all WYSIWYG (except for the green slimer) and those are nice size frags for a good price. I'm excited about that Teal Stag. I think I know what that is and if I'm right I'll be overjoyed. I'm really excited about all of them.
I mean, I'm not cheap or budget limited, but when I pay 150 bucks and I get something smaller than my nipple that I can lose if I drop it on the floor, then I'm not so thrilled.

These guys give nice sized frags, as did the gentlemen on my last two orders, not to discount them.
There are some good places to deal with in here. Many of them I have never heard of and those seem to almost always be the best ones!

I've been pretty satisfied so far. I am VERY excited about this order though because a lot of my checklist items were found in one place. And they contact you directly themselves to settle on a ship date which is nice.

I can't wait to get this order so I can look at everything and putty them onto the rocks. Right now I have a parking lot on the sand.

 

[TheWB]

Thanks!

Yeah Renton Washington is what their site says, those are almost all WYSIWYG (except for the green slimer) and those are nice size frags for a good price. I'm excited about that Teal Stag. I think I know what that is and if I'm right I'll be overjoyed. I'm really excited about all of them.
I mean, I'm not cheap or budget limited, but when I pay 150 bucks and I get something smaller than my nipple that I can lose if I drop it on the floor, then I'm not so thrilled.

These guys give nice sized frags, as did the gentlemen on my last two orders, not to discount them.
There are some good places to deal with in here. Many of them I have never heard of and those seem to almost always be the best ones!

I've been pretty satisfied so far. I am VERY excited about this order though because a lot of my checklist items were found in one place. And they contact you directly themselves to settle on a ship date which is nice.

I can't wait to get this order so I can look at everything and putty them onto the rocks. Right now I have a parking lot on the sand.

Yep, that’s the spot, right across the freeway from the Seattle Seahawks practice facility on Lake Washington. It’s buried in the back corner of a little shopping center and has no windows. The front door looks like the back door to one of the other businesses on the other side of the building. You’d never know it was there if you didn’t know it was there. Last time I was in there those Stags were all like 2-3” so you’ll probably be getting some fairly good sized frags.
I’ve purchased fish, CUC and some dry goods there. I think the only corals I’ve bought there were a green slimer stag frag and a purplish photosynthetic gorgonian. Good shop.

 

[CBonito]

Everything is looking great.

I have a few things to do like figure out why my flow sensor is reading 0, and scrubbing aiptasia off rocks with a brush. They're on the rocks on the right side. I have some berghias coming too. I rebuilt my UV and that's working again which was bothering me. It's probably why aiptasia spread. You kill one and 5 take its place.

Up at the top of the rocks with my Parwise, I measured 450-500 PAR yesterday which is more than I need. Of course the picture wont allude to that. kessils are are at 78 percent and the straton is at 50 percent.
I could probably boil my tank if I wanted with another 50 percent. So the light levels will stay where they are, and we'll just work with that.

On the bottom I have a pretty even field of 250 PAR on the ends and like 270s in the middle. I need clams! haha
I have a little red goniopora in the shadow of one of my powerheads on the far right. It likes it there. There are 3 nice acros chilling there for now and also doing great. I have a green slimer, a teal stag and some others coming too but I am chilling on acros and enjoying some montipora, stylophora and probably some pocillopora too, otherwise it gets boring. I want a wide mix of stuff so I have a wide array of shapes and colors.

Temp is staying in the 78 range. Calcium and alk are good, ph is 8.48 right now because I have a large fan in the room to circulate air. That's all I have to do to keep my ph up. ORP is 372.

But the tank is going great, everything is happy, plenty of water flow. I have real waves in my tank with no splash.
It's awesome. I cant wait to get all SPS situated in their final homes. That's the part I'm really waiting for so I can get an idea what kind of colors I'll be looking at....and what else I'll be looking for. haha!

I lost 2 of my blue eye anthias. Found them dead in my filter socks. shhh... lesson learned. I need to go bigger on those and I am replacing them because I love them. smaller anthias are temperamental SOBs.

That's the state of the union. I'll probably change 10 gallons of water on friday night.

And I gotta hit up the Dinkins' and get some phytoplankton. I'm a phyto proponent. If you have a mud refugium like I do, feeding phyto fuels its growth.

For feeding, I feed come crushed up pellets in the am, and in the PM I broadcast feed one cube dissolved in tank water. That feeds everyone...even that fat melanurus.

 

[CBonito]

Yep, that’s the spot, right across the freeway from the Seattle Seahawks practice facility on Lake Washington. It’s buried in the back corner of a little shopping center and has no windows. The front door looks like the back door to one of the other businesses on the other side of the building. You’d never know it was there if you didn’t know it was there. Last time I was in there those Stags were all like 2-3” so you’ll probably be getting some fairly good sized frags.
I’ve purchased fish, CUC and some dry goods there. I think the only corals I’ve bought there were a green slimer stag frag and a purplish photosynthetic gorgonian. Good shop.

That shipment is coming tuesday and there are some really cool stags and montipora in that shipment.
The teal stag I think is going to be the centerpiece. If I can get that one to do well, it's going to be nice.
I had a sky blue stag 20 years ago that I cant seem to find anymore and teal is close enough. Maybe it will change too, who knows. Between what I have now and what is coming, it should be a really nice combination of corals.

 

[TheWB]

That shipment is coming tuesday and there are some really cool stags and montipora in that shipment.
The teal stag I think is going to be the centerpiece. If I can get that one to do well, it's going to be nice.
I had a sky blue stag 20 years ago that I cant seem to find anymore and teal is close enough. Maybe it will change too, who knows. Between what I have now and what is coming, it should be a really nice combination of corals.

I've seen their Teal Stags in person and they look nice. I think you'll be happy.

 

[CBonito]

I've seen their Teal Stags in person and they look nice. I think you'll be happy.

Yeah, Pictures never tell the true story no matter how they try.
I'm sure it's going to be awesome, and once it settles in it will become bright.
I've wanted one of these for a long time.

I was always more drawn to the stags than anything else. I love the growth forms and the space they fill when they get larger. I think other than what I have now, the only other stag I want is a red one.

 

[CBonito]

"So what's going on with your tank?"

Oh nothing.

"Why not?"

Because I haven't done sh...oot!

That's the secret of my success. I just don't touch anything. If you want things to be successful sometimes you just need to not touch them...at all. Get your hands off that bottle fool!

That's why everything is fine. I haven't touched anything. haha!

I'm doing a 10 gallon water change tonight. I think I'm just going to keep doing that every week.

I have new RO/DI stuff coming because my TDS is 1 now. Not worried about tds of 1, but I need to replace those.
I have GFO and a new media filter coming to run it in, and something else but alzheimers.

I have a few awesome corals coming tuesday, and I'm going to put them all into their final resting places and again...not touch anything.

I've been refraining from putting anything I have now on rocks because I don't want to jump the gun before I see what I have to work with and what's going to look right. So Tuesday, I'll be doing that. Today, water change and maybe fix my flow sensor. You have to take it in small doses just like your tank does. But Tuesday it will look more like a reef instead of a rock tank.

 

[CBonito]

Ok, so I got some new corals today and they kick butt. Check 'em out! I think these are really going to do well.
Only one I have to really be careful with is the Goofy Grape Gemmifera. I think that needs some big light. But I have plenty of that. Just got everyone sitting on the bottom. I'm doing a water change today and I wanted all the corals to adjust to my water. I know some do the whole drip acclimation thing, but I just do a dip and put them straight in. They're all happy.





Goofy Grape Gemmifera

TSA CandleLight Acro

Montipora Setosa I like this one!

A Rainbow Stylo

Montipora Spongodes? I'm probably wrong, but who cares. It's Montipora and it's just velvety.
I want to lay on it and watch movies.

And I want to chew the pink right off this forest fire.
In person the tips are a really nice yellow too. Gorgeous piece.

And this Teal Stag that I think just may be the centerpiece.

 

[CBonito]

I got a few other things but I'm busy right now.

 

[TheWB]

Ok, so I got some new corals today and they kick butt. Check 'em out! I think these are really going to do well.
Only one I have to really be careful with is the Goofy Grape Gemmifera. I think that needs some big light. But I have plenty of that. Just got everyone sitting on the bottom. I'm doing a water change today and I wanted all the corals to adjust to my water. I know some do the whole drip acclimation thing, but I just do a dip and put them straight in. They're all happy.





Goofy Grape Gemmifera

TSA CandleLight Acro

Montipora Setosa I like this one!

A Rainbow Stylo

Montipora Spongodes? I'm probably wrong, but who cares. It's Montipora and it's just velvety.
I want to lay on it and watch movies.

And I want to chew the pink right off this forest fire.
In person the tips are a really nice yellow too. Gorgeous piece.

And this Teal Stag that I think just may be the centerpiece.

Told ya that Teal Stag was going to be a nice piece. That one might be even chunkier than the other ones I've seen in the shop.

 

[CBonito]

Told ya that Teal Stag was going to be a nice piece. That one might be even chunkier than the other ones I've seen in the shop.

You were spot on brother! That's a nice shop and I'm totally happy with what I got. My Berghias arrived alive this time too. I have them in a bag floating in the sump because I'm going to put them in the tank one by one with a pipette. They even included that.

Very nice sized frags that I can actually look at and say "man that's nice" instead of looking at some little pinky nipple thing and saying to myself "man I hope that survives!"

Good first haul from them. They did a great job and I have only good to say.

Next place I have to do is Battle Corals. Everyone seems to love them too.

 

[TheWB]

You were spot on brother! That's a nice shop and I'm totally happy with what I got. My Berghias arrived alive this time too. I have them in a bag floating in the sump because I'm going to put them in the tank one by one with a pipette. They even included that.

Very nice sized frags that I can actually look at and say "man that's nice" instead of looking at some little pinky nipple thing and saying to myself "man I hope that survives!"

Good first haul from them. They did a great job and I have only good to say.

Next place I have to do is Battle Corals. Everyone seems to love them too.

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