90g Peninsula

[Linlox]

Tank has been up and running just over a year now!
Building a hood for the tank to contain the light spill which should be done in the next week or so, the poly takes forever. Running four AI's at max and the four T5's is making the living room quite uncomfortable with the lights glaring at you while on the couch. Will post pics.
Hope everyone is doing great!!!

 

[Linlox]

Canopy is complete! Very happy with it.

 

[Linlox]

When the reef aquarium is running smooth for this long it makes you wonder what failure is coming.....

Earlier this week one of my AI Prime HD's started looking teal instead of blue in the tank and figured it was dead, so I removed it and started researching lighting.... This morning a few minutes after lights started ramping up another one of the AI Prime 16hd's just went dark. Put a volt meter on both failed lights power supplies and they read 24VDC. Plugged both lights into a known working power supply and they lit up perfectly, so the power supply is not providing the amperage. AI wanted $60 each, but was able to find a couple on amazon for $15 that the reviews say work with the AI primes. $30 is easier to swallow while I research lighting. The other 2 primes are lighting half the tank, luckily the 4x T5HO should keep things ok until power supplies arrive or I make a decision on lighting upgrades.

Everything else seems to be ok except the PH which has plummeted from 8.0ish to 7.2-7.4 but coincides with heavy smoke from the Canadian forest fires blanketing this area, so much that I cant see the tree line across the street or the down hill ski area a mile down the road and it is miserable outside. Hoping this is the problem as everything else is testing normal and have a Co2 scrubber going on the skimmer but detached the outdoor air line. Did a calibration check on the probe and it was spot on.

PH 7.4
Alk 9.5 dkh
PO4 0.20 ppm
NO3 25 mg/L
Ca 425 ppm
Mg 1280 mg/L

Pic of a half dark tank.... ugh.

 

[Linlox]

These torches are getting big FAST! Had to move the cotton candy away from the acros.

Researching lights is absolutely painful and I never thought light bulbs would reach these kind of $$$$s. Looking at everything from NICREW and keeping my T5HO going, or reefi uno, maybe reefbreeders, all the way up to ATI stratons and ditching t5s and the canopy. One of the prime's worked with the new power supply and the other light burned out a new power supply.... Not a fan of these AI primes at all considering a brand new one melted a lens and the fan failed in the first couple months of use.

Coral quarantine is setup again with my first order from Tidal Gardens arriving this last week. Coral look amazing, just WOW! Placed another order for 12 more during the live sale today. Just using my old 60" Tek T5HO 8 bulb fixture with just 2 ATI blue plus over the 10 gallon since my prime is dead. Should work, but overkill much?

 

[Linlox]

Started working on building a stand for a 40 breeder and thinking of moving all my SPS from the 90 gallon to it or making a species specific tank of something else for fun. Might start a build thread for it but quick preview of stand so far. Working on the doors and deciding on a finish. Stain or Paint?

 

[Linlox]

Turned on the moonlights the other night and snails started broadcast spawning, turned the whole tank milky white. Was very fun to watch!

 

[Linlox]

 

[Linlox]

The order from Tidal Gardens is doing great in quarantine. This stuff looks amazing.

Started the setup of the 40g breeder to move the SPS to as these torches are going to smother it.

 

[Linlox]

Ordered a 3-light set of Quanta Helix blue+ to try on the 90g and if I like it will order a setup for the 40g which is going to be dedicated to sticks. Pretty excited to get these.

The 4x AI primes are dying a slow death and I am definitely not spending more money on them.

Have been working on the 40g, should really start a build thread. Drilled and painted the tank this weekend.

 

[Linlox]

Updated the sump area this week with wire management, added a tripp lite switched power strip. Replaced the salt bucket with the trigger systems titanium top off container that was just sitting in the basement, pretty lame but nice being able to see the level through the side.

 

[Linlox]

The Quanta Helix light bars showed up yesterday! Got them setup and matched the par from the old lights, at least everything except the acros which will be moving to the 40g eventually. When I plugged in the first Meso Blue light my wife said "whoa" so I unplugged it quick thinking something was wrong but she was just stunned at the corals fluorescing!

Immediate pros for these lights as time will tell growth and coloring:

• Very well built with quality drivers
• My living room doesn't sound like a drone attack anymore from 4x AI primes at 100%, these are silent!
• The color and spread is absolutely amazing
• No app, website or controller needed, just plug it in and adjust the knob to your desired output. Not being beholden to an app is primary because it sucks when support ends, your phone gets to old for an update, the company goes belly up or whatever. If I have electricity the lights work, simple.
• Its designed and engineered in WI!
• Includes hanging kits and some brackets with each light (3-light combo came with the 3d printed stand which I am using)

No cons so far, will update if there is.

This yuma dropped a baby this week! :)

Mounted the drivers on aluminum flat stock spaced out from the wall for cooling to hopefully increase their lifespan. Used velcro for the control knobs, probably a horrible idea if you have kids, but not a problem here.

 

[Linlox]

Moved the chalices, blastos, super nova hammer, electric daisy stylocoeniella, meteor shower cyphastrea, candy canes and purple people eater favia from QT into the tank about a week ago. Everything is looking good. Also reworked the overflow side of the rock work so the fish could swim full circles around the tank.

 

[Linlox]

Everything is just in auto pilot. Manually squirt from AFR in every morning, feed 3x a day and change water + filter sock once a week.

There is a out break of bubble algae that the foxface and emerald crab are just ignoring but it doesnt bother me much, just pluck it out when it gets big enough.

Still an ongoing outbreak of vermitid snails, stopped frozen food a while ago and was stopping all pumps for feeding. Does not seem to have helped, but will see over time.

 

[Linlox]

One of the splatter hammer heads brown jellied a couple weeks ago, removed it immediately and fragged it. Scraped and rinsed the skeleton of the affected head and super glued over it, 10 minutes in Lugols and into the QT tank with all of it. So far it looks happy, will leave it in QT for a while and watch.

 

[Linlox]

Well winter is almost over, only got an inch of snow this morning and 1-3 inches expected monday!

Brown jelly nearly wiped out the hellfire torch, only one head survived and the splatter hammer only lost the one head. The other torches are taking over the entire top of the tank.

Vermitids have been reclassified from pest to filter feeder in the tank and I give up even trying to combat them in the open, will clean around corals but they spawn to fast to keep up. Trochus are also spawning to plague proportions and have been moving them downstairs to the 20g L and 10g qt. My wife still counted over 80 trochus on the glass a couple nights ago. Added bumblebees a while ago but if the snails spawn this much its a losing battle.

Bubble algae is also getting rebranded to nutrient sponge and is just scraped or plucked off the rockwork when it grows into a mass. 3 emerald crabs and a foxface don't touch it.
Have some more LPS to add this week!

Here are some current shots of the tank:

And the yuma mushrooms have been busy dropping babies:
5 babies from this copper planet.

Couple babies next to and under this green yuma:

 

[MegabiteOG]

Very nice pics and set up.

 

[Linlox]

Very nice pics and set up.

Thanks!

 

[kevgib67]

Well winter is almost over, only got an inch of snow this morning and 1-3 inches expected monday!

Brown jelly nearly wiped out the hellfire torch, only one head survived and the splatter hammer only lost the one head. The other torches are taking over the entire top of the tank.

Vermitids have been reclassified from pest to filter feeder in the tank and I give up even trying to combat them in the open, will clean around corals but they spawn to fast to keep up. Trochus are also spawning to plague proportions and have been moving them downstairs to the 20g L and 10g qt. My wife still counted over 80 trochus on the glass a couple nights ago. Added bumblebees a while ago but if the snails spawn this much its a losing battle.

Bubble algae is also getting rebranded to nutrient sponge and is just scraped or plucked off the rockwork when it grows into a mass. 3 emerald crabs and a foxface don't touch it.
Have some more LPS to add this week!

Here are some current shots of the tank:

And the yuma mushrooms have been busy dropping babies:
5 babies from this copper planet.

Couple babies next to and under this green yuma:

Beautiful, well done!