A Pale Blue Dot – My SPS Dominated Reef

[chrishet]

BTW, if there are any colors of corals or fish that you think might remind you of this subject let me know and I'll add it to my list. I am reminded of a Mandarin Goby when I see this one.

 

[PanchoG]

BTW, if there are any colors of corals or fish that you think might remind you of this subject let me know and I'll add it to my list. I am reminded of a Mandarin Goby when I see this one.

Nice pic @chrishet, how about a Rainbow Montipora?

 

[NY_Caveman]

Very nice!

 

[pshootr]

Hello, that was a very nice introduction. Welcome to reef2reef! Looks like you have a very well-thought-out system you're working on. Looking forward to seeing this progress, and thank you for sharing.

 

[chrishet]

While the bugs are doing there thing in the tank I thought I would post a few of my 3D designs.

I have an Ender 3 printer that so far is working great. I use PETG for all my tank parts and I really like this filament. I did do some orange parts to match the Neptune colors but all of the items that get exposed to water are black. My printer is running 24x7! I designed these in Fusion360. It's new to me but I am having fun making things. Right now I am designing some brackets for my WCS to hold a heater, float switches, temp probe and a few RO lines.

Power Supply Brackets - I'll post pics of the electronics cabinet later. I made brackets for my Radions, MP40, Gyre 230, Kessil Fuge Light...whatever had a separate power supply that needed mounting to the cabinet.

Auto Top Off Bracket - I didn't really like the design of the Neptune, the magnets were not strong enough for me to feel comfortable. This one is adjustable and hangs off the wall of my sump. I ditched the float valve as I didn't have room in the sump for it, I replaced it with a float switch that will be connected to a BOB to kill the PMUP if it gets too high.

Lid for my Water Changing System tanks. The slots are for cables and lines and there are no threads for easy on/off

Dose Line Bracket - I tried the Neptune magnetic probe holder but again the magnets just aren't strong enough for me. I have some MurLoc push connect fittings that the lines will connect to. I'll probably tap some holes for a thumbs screw as well but it fits pretty snug as is.

Automatic Water Change Line Holder Brackets - These will also have MurLoc push connect fittings on them. I tried this with magnets as well...again I opted for the clip on's. I actually printed 3 of these, one for ATO In, one for Tank Water Out, and one for Fresh SW In. I may combine the ATO in and SW in into one bracket.

 

[chrishet]

Week 4 - Still cycling....patience young Skywalker......

 

[WDKegge]

Following, awesome looking build!

 

[WDKegge]

Did you secure the rocks with anything? I would be worried about that all coming tumbling down.

 

[chrishet]

Did you secure the rocks with anything? I would be worried about that all coming tumbling down.

Right now I have not. Its a fairly new product called STAX by TLF. Each piece is cut flat and they stack up on each other very nicely. There are a few places where I may add some epoxy though. It looks like great stuff, especially for mounting frags!

 

[chrishet]

I should add, I have done a lot of work to the rock work and added about 10 more lbs. I'll take a pic later.

 

[chrishet]

Did you secure the rocks with anything? I would be worried about that all coming tumbling down.

I thought about this some more last night and I think I will cement some of the rock together to form larger, heavier groups. I placed an order for some E-Marco-400. Thx for the suggestion!

 

[infinite0180]

Awesome tank!

 

[WDKegge]

I thought about this some more last night and I think I will cement some of the rock together to form larger, heavier groups. I placed an order for some E-Marco-400. Thx for the suggestion!

Awesome, yeah one small bump and everything you set up will come toppling over and you never seem to get it back just the way it was before.

 

[chrishet]

What do you all think of this rock work? I need a gut check before I cement it all together....

 

[NY_Caveman]

I like it. The challenge with Stax seems to be avoiding too many straight lines which you obviously achieved.

 

[buddy.]

Love the tank and especially the astrophotography! I've done a fair bit of it too but my let down is the post processing. I still think it's amazing what you can take a picture of with a pretty small amount of money!
I'll definitely be following this build along...

 

[chrishet]

The cycle continues. Ammonia and nitrites are still high, as are nitrates so I started 15% automated continuous water changes (15% total water volume per week). Patience is key! I dosed a bottle of Microbactor 7 over the past 10 days and also started using GFO as my phosphates were rising. I am looking at adding a tang, some pods, and lawn mower blenny as soon as the cycle is complete

I think I have landed on an aquascape design. After pages and pages of R2R posts, I have landed on what I feel is a fairly minimalist design around a lagoon thought. There are lots of platforms for attaching corals and lots of free space for fish. Also lots of caves and openings for flow. No need to cement this, it is solid as a rock! I can remove a rock as needed to attach a coral frag - or remove it if things go south. We shall see, but there is no way this can be toppled!

For a coral mix I am thinking SPS predominantly on the upper 2/3's of the rock, and a Hammer farm to the right and a Zoa farm to the left.

 

[chrishet]

Has anyone seen the comet? I have, its very bright but not much of a tail. My good friend Chris Cook took this pic of comet 46p/Wirtanen the other night...nice pass by m45, The Plaides.

http://www.abmedia.com/astro/current/46p-121118.html

 

[KrisReef]

Never understood astronomy. My dyzlexia may have confounded my ability to comprehend some of this subject(?), but I did understand the assignment of colors, which is a big let down to know that the space photo-colors are added like blue light on an A. tenius frag perhaps?
The tank, the rocks, the 3d parts are all fantastic. Very nice thread, unique. Not sure why you are doing a partial water change with high Ammonia & Nitrite?

 

[chrishet]

Thx KrisReef! Most space photos don't really "add" color, however to get the most detail in each color band we typically shoot using color filters and a monochrome camera. After we shoot the subject we have to post process the images (something that takes a lot of time!) to realign and re-calibrate the color channels. So when you see deep sky images, these are typically (not always) real color representations. The exception is narrow band imaging which is quite another topic....

On the water change....My nitrates shot up to 20ppm. Do you recommend I not do water changes for a while? I appreciate the feed back!