Beware the Shallows! An 80g Reef Reboot

[GHill762]

do ittttttt

not in the cards for a while, just bought a house and soon to be married, it'll be probably another year or two minimum before I can upgrade unless I find a super deal on a used tank..

 

[jedimasterben]

not in the cards for a while, just bought a house and soon to be married, it'll be probably another year or two minimum before I can upgrade unless I find a super deal on a used tank..

Oh poppycock, there is always room in the budget for a larger tank

 

[GHill762]

I'm thinkin I'll just stuff more fish in the 40b :hat:

 

[jedimasterben]

god save the queen.

 

[jedimasterben]

New aquascape. God I have a problem. At least I admit it, though

It doesn't follow the 'golden ratio' as of right now, but if all goes according to plan, dinoflagellates allowing, I'll have SPS on the left rock that will grow up and out to fill and form the '5' in both height and width.

All the fish above arrived in good condition, and all but one blue gudgeon (that jumped) are still doing well. I haven't been able to get any good pictures of them, since the gumdrop hides all the time, the gudgeons stay under a rock because they're scared to death of the trigger (though they are getting more bold now, at feeding time they will zoom around that portion of the tank), and the betta is nocturnal, so only after the lights go out does it come around, but it's OH SO BEAUTIFUL!

And here is 'Lumpy' the gumdrop croucher. Thank metrokat for the name lol

I don't have any DSLR pics because my light is still gimping along after I dripped water into the controller. I have the two T5 and the lime and royal blue LEDs coming just on/off full power for the time being. The new light should arrive some time next week. Here are the finalized specs now that I can talk about the new controller.
16x Luxeon T 3000K 95CRI
8x Luxeon T 4000K 85CRI
32x Luxeon T royal blue
8x Rebel blue
8x Rebel cyan
16x Rebel ES lime
16x SemiLEDs 410-420nm violet
8x LEDgroupbuy 410nm true violet
8x LEDgroupbuy 430nm hyper violet


All powered by LDD-700H (because srsly), fans powered by SCW08C-12 and will be controlled on/off via the new Bluefish Mini. I chose not to do the relays for the T5 at this time since I will be doing some T5HO reviewing for CoralVue and will need manual control of the ballasts - if I had a Storm X control them, then I would not be able to turn them on/off manually, as it would be hard-coded into the controller firmware without a menu option to be able to change it. The reason for the 'extra' violets to the side of the 13up PCB is that Dave was originally going to flow off the SemiLEDs chips and put the LEDgroupbuy chips on the PCB, but that was too much work so he decided just to add another couple of drivers and hook them up individually lol. All of this, including the controller, is wrapped up nicely inside of an ATI Sunpower 6x39w fixture, leaving four of the T5HO tubes in. I plan on running a pair each of Giesemann Super Purple and Actinic Blue, but I'll be doing some comparisons between them and some other bulbs to figure out what I like.

This is the wiring map.

This is the approximate spread of the line of four LED pucks from the front.

And the two rows from the side.

And here are some photos of the build process.

I also now have a single tester SPS in place, a generous hunk of a Stylophora.

Hopefully it continues to do well. I've been taking micrscope samples of scrapings of the rocks to keep an eye on the dinoflagellate population. I recently took two samples and couldn't find a single cell, live or dead. I don't know if they're 'gone' or just encysted, but it's definitely strange, normally, even during times when there was no visible bloom, under the scope I'd see at least 20 each of live and dead cells. I'm continuing use of the large UV sterilizer and protein skimming and carrying on as I did, as I don't want them back

I think that's all for now, should be caught up. Stay tuned for the new light, the 35w Gyre, and maybe more coral next week!

 

[jedimasterben]

Got the Nanobox Sunpower retrofit in... sorta. Had Dave ship it unfinished since I got impatient, I'm going to finish up the wiring once my new driver boards and Bluefish Mini arrive In the meantime, I have it afro-engineered with 24ga wire 'hanging kit' and some rocks on it to level it lol.





Really, really crappy out of focus FTS. You can see on the wall the reflection of the LED arrays and the leftmost ones don't have the white LEDs on (one of the LEDs is missing and that series won't light).

One of the blue gudgeons making sure I'm not going to eat him.

Can definitely tell why these are called scribbled rabbitfish

This stupid fish only wanted to hang out on the side where the white LEDs weren't on.

Don't have much place for this gorgonian, so it's a hidey spot for the chalk bass

Female flasher wrasse. Best pic by far that I could get.

Not too bad a pic of this one since it's to the left of the LED arrays that have no white LEDs.

The duncan I got last week that is actually (and surprisingly) in recovery mode.

Have had this ricordea for around two years now. it crawled under this rock about a year ago and bleached out, but never has come out at all.

 

[jedimasterben]

Need to get some more maxis.

My wife's favorite thing in the tank. Surprisingly has all its polyps out even though I just epoxied it in place today.

Got these palys not long after I set up my 55g tank three years ago. This patch of the colony has around 40 polyps, the other patch has around 50, and that's after having thrown out most of the colony when I rebooted the tank.

A pavona (maybe?) that I got Friday.

 

[jedimasterben]

My wife texted me earlier 'Holy ****, what the heck are you building, you just got another three boxes'

Got a TLF Veggiemag, a new turkey baster, a 7' long box containing some wiring duct to clean up my electricals, another 100' of wire and a bunch of sleeve and heatshrink for making a light for someone, an old Nanocustoms light, and a bottle of 35% peroxide. I should be getting my new Gyre 150 controller tomorrow and my Oxydator should arrive possibly by the weekend.


I, uh, also may have rescaped the tank again last night... I knocked some rocks over cleaning the starboard and, well, got carried away.

New leather, not quite ready to show off all the goods

New P. grandis

Some trumpets that don't seem to be recovering but aren't getting worse.

One of two 'eternally bleached' maxi minis. Dunno why, they live under their respective rocks in near total shade, so you'd think they'd be nice and dark like the others, but they always look like this.

 

[Electrobes]

Thats looks fantastic!

 

[jedimasterben]

Thats looks fantastic!

Thanks! Been a long, tough road to get here, and even then, it's still not where it could be. Hopefully over the next few months I can whip it into shape a little more before the little one arrives in September and I start slacking!

 

[Electrobes]

Have you posted your latest tank details lately? I may be blind... XD

 

[jedimasterben]

It has definitely been a while! A few things have changed.


Display tank:

• Deep Blue 80g Rimless Edge
• 48" x 24" x 16"

Sump:

• Trigger Systems Ruby 30

Filtration:

• Reef Octopus NWB 150 with Bubble Blaster HY-2000
• SunSun CUV-155 UV Sterilizer

Flow:

• Maxspect Gyre XF130
• Jebao DC-6000 return pump

Lighting:

• ATI Sunpower Nano Box Reef hybrid
• 16x Luxeon T 2700K 95CRI
• 8x Luxeon T 4000K 85CRI
• 32x Luxeon T Royal Blue
• 8x Rebel ES Blue
• 8x Rebel Cyan
• 16x Rebel ES Lime
• 16x SemiLEDs C35-L 410-420nm
• 8x LEDgroupbuy 410nm
• 8x LEDgroupbuy 430nm
• Bluefish Mini LED Controller
• Meanwell LDD--350H, 700H, 1000H powering LEDs
• Meanwell SCW08C-12 powering fans and Bluefish Mini
• Meanwell HLG-320H-54 main power
• 2x Giesemann Aquablue Coral
• 2x Giesemann Actinic Blue

Controller:

• TBA

Livestock

Fish

• Amphiprion ocellaris
• Calloplesiops altivelis
• Centropyge potteri
• 2x Chrysiptera springeri
• Cryptocentrus cinctus
• Ctenochaetus truncatus
• Elacatinus multifasciatum
• Ptereleotris heteroptera
• Serranus tortugarum
• Siganus doliatus
• Synchiropus picturatus
• Xanthichthys ringens

Invertebrates

• Cerithium lutosum
• Cerithium altratum
• Collospongia auris
• Euplica scripta (originally misidentified as Strombus maculatus)
• Haliclona sp.
• Heteractis magnifica
• Nassarius sp.
• Ophiocoma sp.
• Ophiolepsis superba
• Stichodactyla tapetum

Corals

SPS

LPS

• Duncanopsammia axifuga
• Favia sp.
• Lobophyllia hemprichii
• Tubastraea coccinea

Soft coral

• Sarcophyton sp.
• Palythoa grandiflora
• Palythoa grandis
• Palythoa mutuki
• Palythoa sp. “singapuraâ€
• Zoanthus gigantis
• Zoanthus sociatus
• Zoanthus sansibaricus

Corallimorphs

• Actinodiscus sp.
• Ricordea florida

Octocorals

• Muricea elongata
• Muriceopsis flavida
• Pinnigorgia flava
• Plexaura flexuosa
• Pseudopterogorgia bipinnata
• Pterogorgia anceps
• Pterogorgia citrina

 

[Electrobes]

Great googily moogily, dat light!

 

[jedimasterben]

Great googily moogily, dat light!

It's unfinished for the time being, looks like poop hanging over the tank right now lol, but my new LED driver boards should arrive next week and I can finish assembling everything. I've got a dozen T5 bulbs that I'll be testing different combinations of and getting some pictures and PAR readings for, so look for that in the coming weeks

 

[jedimasterben]

FINALLY got my new LED driver boards in the mail. They weren't 100% correct in their design, but it's definitely good enough for me and nothing more than a few jumper wires can fix Started assembly last night but also realized that three of the white channels on my LED boards are bad - so that makes 4/8 that had bad white channels. Replacement boards are on the way though and should be here Thursday or Friday. In the meantime, I'll be assembling everything else and the T5 and such.


Also, got a copperband butterfly last Saturday. Was eating at the store and was chasing pellets last night.

 

[Electrobes]

Wow that's a really nice angle shot!

 

[Goat33]

I just joined and I must say that I love your attention to detail. Hope to post my build thread on my existing 180 gallon tank soon. Thank you for the inspiration.

 

[jedimasterben]

Wow that's a really nice angle shot!

Thanks! This copperband is not scared of me at all, most new fish would hide for the first few days or weeks when I walked up to look in, but this one is all 'hey man, you gonna feed me or what?'

I just joined and I must say that I love your attention to detail. Hope to post my build thread on my existing 180 gallon tank soon. Thank you for the inspiration.

You're welcome


Also, forgot to mention, DUELING GYRES
[video=youtube;tQLmw-q5v80]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQLmw-q5v80[/video]

 

[Electrobes]

What a blessing to find such a cooperative Copper and!

I love my Gyre 150!! It actually handles the entire flow for my 100G Half Cylinder kin the return pump.

 

[jedimasterben]

Nearly complete.