Built not bought.

[Builderguy]

It is "done"! I left the water low tonight so the adhesive can continue and cure on the overflow. Few pictures, took the plumbing apart to check for leaks, not just at the bulkheads but that my glue joints into them were good. Got to make sure I don't slowly drain the display during a power outage!

Ran the hood power wire through the secondary overflow, using glycerin as lube. Was actually surprised how easy it pulled with that 120°+ corner I have in there I was sure it would be a struggle. This will power lights and gyres and keep the tank 360 viewable for future placement.

And I had my FIRST clearance issue. And I gotta say, man I am really proud to say that on a build like this.... Shyte was tyte. I had intended to put the dmp40 on the left but the reactor is too far forward. So we'll see. It's fine on the right. I'll also be using 1-2 gyres plus a dmp10 under the rockwork.

 

[Builderguy]

Looking good! Cant wait to see what it looks like all done

Thanks! Me either!

 

[Builderguy]

Wire management is pretty much done save for some details and the obvious canopy. I usually opt for hooks every 2" but instead I used aluminum picture hanging wire around the perimeter. Gives a me a good way to tuck the bundles up while being easy to access. I tried a few ways to space it and found about 1" away from the corner to be best.

Threw some whites on for some photos. I'm over the moon that my rock center drain worked out. It doesn't have that big swoopy look that inspired me but I think it's going to fill in nicely.

Next step is to make the DIY UV. Ive had trouble with dinos a lot in the last 5 years. This last round was pretty brutal and took out some some frags I've had for over a year. These two UV units in a 2" pipe was all it took to stop it. But it prompted me to hurry up and finish this thing, the temp tank was just plain suffering.

And I need to figure out how to quiet my overflow. This is my first filter roller and all the noise is coming from the downpipe, after the valve. I have the two pumps (1050gph DC) all the way up, the valve about halfway shut and the water is just perfectly below the secondary overflow. So idk if I just need bigger pumps to keep the overflow full with the valve wider open? It seems to run quietly if I open up the valve a touch and throw some media over the drain to reduce air entrainment. I knew this was a risk going with 6" instead of 8" deep for the box. But but but.. aesthetics.

 

[Builderguy]

Well the filter roller was easy enough to silence. All I did was sand the nubs off a sch80 coupler and it slid right down into the downpipe and I think that's creating enough backup that it's no longer a cascade of water. Now ive got both pumps on full blast. Fuge bucket could use a durso, for now Ive got it turned down since the chaeto is "idling" on ambient light.

My copperband is finally taking to frozen food. He's been on live blackworms and feather dusters since I got him last month. The feather dusters are gone now. His mucus secretions are going away. They terrified me when they popped up but I decided that QT would mean certain death. He is THE fish in this tank as far as I'm concerned, all others are secondary to his needs.

Next I'm getting mollies to help with the GHA that only seems to grow around acro frags. That's just how it be. Tempted to throw some guppies in the nem tank TBH. Don't judge me.

 

[Builderguy]

Figured I'd just post a quick shot cause I'm still alive. Had a little dino outbreak after my last post but got it nipped pretty quick with a rebuilt diy UV unit and started dosing ammonia. The corals really like the ammonia!

I'm just about done with the metal halide hood. Man... Way too much work to keep it contained in a small space. I call it the lunar lander.

My two year old has become obsessed with water changes. So we made a tank to practice on.

 

[Builderguy]

Woohoo! What do you NOT see around this tank? Wires! So excited to get that done, it's such a small detail that meant a lot to me. This is with a 10k Aquabright bulb, I'll let'er eat til I start fragging and put something bluer in. It much yellower in person. Photos look great! The clam is as stoked as a bivalve can be.

That koralia is there to see if I like this flow pattern. I hid the dmp 40 under the main rock. I think I like this better, I just need to make some feet for the main rock to level it. I'm thinking gyre for that back section. Not sure yet.

Next update will have LESS coral. I've got 18 frags on the way and I'm going to get some of those stylos and birdsnest out of there. I think all I'm gonna have room for after this is a couple of tenuis.

 

[Builderguy]

Okay so I skipped the less coral update. Took most of the Stylo out and that big birdsnest. Been busy stocking! Most of these photos focus on the newer pieces. I definitely need to go digging for pixel 9 settings, the quality is terrible! I tried my best to get true to life colors. Nobody is going to be impressed by these little frag photos, they're just for my own documentation. Maybe time to invest in a used dslr.

Once I got the MH running I tortured myself by not using it for a few weeks. I bleached the corals on my forward rock by working on it (grinding away at the back to shape the wave maker flow a bit) in my cold garage. I lost red dragon and waited for the raspberry shortcake to show some signs of encrusting growth before cooking it. I'm now running it two hours daily and will continue to do so until my final order is received, then I'll crank it up slowly.

I'm working on removing the mushrooms from that main rock, I think I'm actually gonna scorch em dead so I can put the turbinera there. It's such a beautiful coral that needs space, we'll see if I don't regret just racking it to grow out for the next tank. Next step is also to remove those pink zoas. I think that'll be a good spot for PC rainbow.

All zoas and encrusting montis will go on hexagon tiles, so I can easily frag or remove but still have a coated substrate. NT prefix means Nem Tank.

Armor of God zoas (maybe wrong name) LFS
Hellfire leptastrea LFS
JF sunspot psammicora LFS
NT Tequila sunrise rhodactis mushrooms LFS
NT Pandora zoas LFS hitch hiker
All of the above survived hurricane Ian.
Purchased in Florida:
Tyree Pink Lemonade tenuis LFS
NT Green birdnest LfS
Purple Milka Stylo LFS
Lava Feilds leptoseris LFS
Pink ******* Chalice LFS
Dragon Soul Favia LFS
Scribble hydnophora SU
Cloudberry bounce chalice LFS
Forest Fire monti digi 7Cs
NT Hammer LFS
Maxima Clam Boardroom
Bubblegum Monster? Chalice LFS
Rainbow Acan Lord RAS
NT Blue Acanthastrea Echinata RAS
Golden Eyes cyphastrea RAS
24k lepto RAS
Ponape birdsnest RAS
Rainbow pink Yuma RAS
NT Green cabbage leather RAS
NT Rainbow Bubble Tip anemone RAS
JF slow burn palawensis 7Cs
Bill Murray LFS
Golden Rod anacropora TSA
Kermit the Frog 7Cs
Oregon Tort! TSA
Boo Berry TG
Raspberry Shortcake TG
ACI manila spy RebR
Grinch Porites TG
Superman Porites TG
ORA Hawkins RebR
Rte 66 /Tyree Merlin Staff RebR
Little red Ferrari RebR
Joker 2.0 RebR
RR the Vihn RebR
Vivids Rainbow Delight RebR
Pink tip Sarmosa RebR
Blue stag (thicker) RebR
Teal Stag (purplish blue tips) RebR
TNT anacro RebR
Green Goblin Anacro RebR
Blue bottle brush RebR
Montipora Spongodes RebR
m. Hirsuta green RebR
Tubbs M stellata RebR
Reptar cyphastrea RebR
Meteor shower cyphastrea RebR
Walt Disney Tenuis TG
TSA Bollywood Latistella TSA
TSA firecracker TSA
TSA wollie mammoth (milli) TSA
CB Golden Jawdropper (A. rosaria) TSA
NT Joker Nexus Nem
Lakers turbineria TG
RRC Pink Cadillac TSA
Manderin zoanthids TG
Sunfire grafted montipora TG
Slow burn monti TG
Monster Jam Psammy TG
Pink Flamingo Lepto TG
Aquaman Monti TG
Yellow fiji porites TG
Poker star Monti TG
JF foxflame TSA
TSA burning ember TSA
TSA habenero TSA
Red robin TSA
Kelly green Psammy TSA
Cherry red Monti tsa
Rapture favia tsa
Oregon tort TSA
Holy Diver TSA
TSA The fuzz

On the way:
NT Fascination Favia tg
NT Toro Bravo Favia TG
NT Tranquility Favia TG
NT Pink platypus platygyra TG
Vivids Confetti TG
NT Rainbow poci TG
NT Pink poci TG

CORAL WANTS:
Hugo's rainbow staghorn
Big Bird/Sun God Tenuis (likely unnamed mariculture, yellow w/ blue tips)
Brads jaw dropper
ACI shenanigans (looks like pink lemonade but bushy)
RRC Lemon Demon (microclados)
Palmer's blue milli (pillar island)
TSA Forbidden Fruit speciosa or BC cabanacide
Aci Cherry blossom!
Sexy Corals Orange Passion
Aci Pink panther (tables)
UC golden goose milli (gold/pink tips)
JF solar flare milli
BC aquatic man (table)
TSA long island (table)
Jackson's rainbow tenuis
Pink rose pavonis cactus coral
Raspberry limeaid
RR Canada Rainbow loom (tables)
Orange creamsicle or orangsicle
Joe knows reefs (jkr) yellow milli
Aci? Sunbeam (easy)
Pink highlighter
Aris avalanche
ASD rainbow milli (yellow base)
Red planet (table)
Turbinera heronensis
Tusi's rainbow granulosa
Nauti spiral monti
Pearlberry


Pink Cadillac

Heres my yellow submarine. I cut out a huge chunk because it's going to coat the back wall of my nem tank. Then shaped that old bubble coral skeleton to hopefully help it grow in and pretend to be a platygyra.

TSA Holy Diver @ 300par. Really looking forward to this one.

I think that's Kermit the Frog there, if anybody knows what that green one is. Oregon Tort hiding in there. TSA Bollywood above the frog. TSA habanero blending in with that snail under tort. TSA Exploding Embers right next to superman porites.

I had to go back and add RR firecracker to my order from TSA, even though it wasn't on sale. This guy earned a front and center spot around 250 par, right by Merlin Staff.

Merlin Staff. The purple in this thing is already beautiful. I put this rock in to elevate it because I had some yellow submarine favia on that rock, one of my favorite corals. But I decided to remove that for the firecracker in the name of #noragrats.

"Joker 2.0" unknown lineage. Really cool coral though.

Blue bottle brush with goldenrod/green goblin splice colony out of focus and a little bit of the cloud berry. It's coloring up again after some neglect.

Blue stag with lots of new growth in just a few weeks, JF fox flame on the right. And this M. Spongodes I bought for the sake of it turned out to be one of my favorite purchases. And "Massive Snail", my son's pet. It dwarfs "Big Snail"

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

Why would anyone buy anything when the option is there to make it yourself, saving money spend twice as much, an additional 9 months on the project, and collect hundreds in tools you wont use twice in 3 years.

This is perfect

 

[Builderguy]

This is perfect

If you know.... You KNOW!

Dumping some more photos. Phones do everything okay, but nothing well.


More of my  Quality photography. Hiding some cyphastrea from the light.

ORA Hawkins

Crowded.

Teal stagg over the pink caddy, manila spy down there next to lava fields lepto which is under a tabling no name brown out. RR the Vihn visible on the other rock above the power head.

Juicy TSA order before placement. Some of a TG order on the other rack.

TSA Woolly Mammoth is aptly named.

Picked up this two spot on Valentine's day. He seems really happy with the open rockwork and I considered his ability to swim through it as I placed coral. Don't worry, tang police, I'll be upgrading.

 

[Builderguy]

Ran some 1/4" tubing from the tank to outside. Rabbeted the base to make it fit. The plan is to have RO/saturated kalkwasser in one line and the other two for an AWC, which I should be able to use to link the cube with my planned outdoor tank, making coral transfer easier and potentially unifying the systems entirely. Ran short out of 125' of tubing... To go 20 feet.... C'est la vie...

But yeah if anybody has unified multiple systems with an AWC style peristaltic pump, would love some input. Kinda thinking I will need to handle chilling, evap and alk independently but Ca and everything else should sync up.

I also stripped the zoas off this little uh.. rhombus? Shaped rock. Made room for a PC rainbow if you squint. Not sure what else to put on that rock. Lawdy knows it ain't zoas. Maybe a leptastrea.

IDK where I'm supposed to put these platygyras but gosh diddly dang those are some beefy frags. Tidal Gardens hooks it up, no doubt. Brain corals have been some of my favorites since diving the carribean as a teenager. I've got one more order coming in next week from TSA. REALLY REALLY excited about one of the frags coming.

Oh and the phosphate photo... Was at 0.12 three weeks ago (yeah I'm a nutrient test and WC as needed every 3 weeks kinda guy). So pretty stoked that feeding double with the tang, to see it going down. I'll make nori a daily staple and ponder another change in 3 weeks.

 

[Builderguy]

Front and center: TSA Rainbow Fever! We'll see if I can get this to color up. This spot is a little under 300ppfd and it's about the best spot for viewing nuanced colors.... im really more of a "step back and look at the whole tank" kinda guy and as this tank grows out I fully expect to cull anything or rearrange if the aesthetic isn't right. But I tried to plan for grow out.


Also got me some ASD rainbow milli and Harvey Wallbanger. Couldn't keep the WD alive for whatever reason it's the only frag that would RTN 4 days after shipping. So I think those two should give me some of that same color pallet until I find a WD locally.

I also added 2 Jebao MOW-16's. They are dualing in the back and creating a really natural looking surge throughout the tank. The DMP-40 at the bottom runs constant, the tank is a total washing machine with no detritus build up. I LOVE it. Hands down the best flow setup I've ever had and worth sacrificing sand.

So yeah... I better finish the stand and hood quick enough to get another tank built. Figure i got about a year til I gotta pull that pillar rock with the stags on it.

 

[Builderguy]

I made a little 360 around the tank, I think it gives a better sense of the dimension of the rockwork.

60 cube settling in.

 

[Mr Dream Weaver]

Holy hell, what a project! Love it! Makes me jealous.
Where's the fun in just buying a complete setup a anyway.
Yours will be something to be proud of.

Good luck the rest of the way.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I made a little 360 around the tank, I think it gives a better sense of the dimension of the rockwork.

60 cube settling in.

Awesome video! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Builderguy]

Awesome video! Thanks for sharing!

Too kind for a raw video, glad you liked it!

Holy hell, what a project! Love it! Makes me jealous.
Where's the fun in just buying a complete setup a anyway.
Yours will be something to be proud of.

Good luck the rest of the way.

Thank you Mr. DW! I honestly think by the time this one is done it might be time to start building the next setup.