Caravan's 165 SPS dominant Reef in Austin

Caravanshaka · Apr 2, 2019

New skimmer doing work already!

Caravanshaka · Apr 4, 2019

Had a small dip in Alk yesterday, which I hope is a sign that vitals are recovering from the calcium issue. Alk was pegged st 8.4 for a few days, and was 8.05 last night. I upped the Alk dose while pulling down the calcium dose a bit when it tested out at 450.

Hopefully I can get everything stable again here soon. I haven’t completely lost anything yet, but a few acros have seen much better days.

Caravanshaka · Apr 6, 2019

I’ve been battling low nutrients in this tank since it began...never getting readings on nitrate or phosphate without dosing for both. I think I have finally overcome that after adding 3 more fish last weekend!

Foxface
Yellow coris wrasse
Carpenters flasher wrasse

That seems to have finally created a balance in nutrients as I’m getting 2 nitrate and 0.01 phosphate readings finally!!

I’ve slowly moved over some of my cheaper Acro frags to the frag tank and have seen a tiny bit of encrusting, so I decided it was time to throw a couple fish in there and get some life going!

Just added 3 small juvenile fish:
Tomini Tang
Sailfin Tang
6-line wrasse

Not planning on adding much more to that tank, so I figured I’d start with babies and let them grow in the tank. So far so good as the tangs are already grazing on rocks!

Janci · Apr 7, 2019

The frag tank looks great.
Glad you found the solution to the nutrient shortage.

Caravanshaka · Apr 7, 2019

Janci said:
The frag tank looks great.
Glad you found the solution to the nutrient shortage.

Thanks! you and me both! I had some rough patches due to the low nutrients. Now going through a rough patch with the Essentials transition. Would love to be done with both of those issues and just have a stable tank going!

I'm ready for a calcium reactor....just need to wait until I have the funds available to use since I just spent a lot more on the frag tank lighting than I planned, lol!

Nht · Apr 11, 2019

Awesome build! I was wondering why did you choose the ATI essentials over traditional 2 part?

Caravanshaka · Apr 11, 2019

Nht said:
Awesome build! I was wondering why did you choose the ATI essentials over traditional 2 part?

To keep up with trace elements without having to dose anything extra. I didn’t want to go with Triton, so decided to try ATI. Loved the 3-part Essentials...the Pro has me frustrated so far but I’m dosing it in the frag tank and it seems to be rock solid....so I’ll give it more time....about 3 weeks more time while my custom GEO calcium reactor is being made!

Nht · Apr 11, 2019

Caravanshaka said:
To keep up with trace elements without having to dose anything extra. I didn’t want to go with Triton, so decided to try ATI. Loved the 3-part Essentials...the Pro has me frustrated so far but I’m dosing it in the frag tank and it seems to be rock solid....so I’ll give it more time....about 3 weeks more time while my custom GEO calcium reactor is being made!

You’ve got me really interested in the ATI essentials now. I’m currently doing ESV 2 part and while they do have trace elements I’m not sure if they are at adequate levels. Have you done any Icp tests to see where your levels are at? Do you perform water changes? Thanks

Caravanshaka · Apr 11, 2019

Nht said:
You’ve got me really interested in the ATI essentials now. I’m currently doing ESV 2 part and while they do have trace elements I’m not sure if they are at adequate levels. Have you done any Icp tests to see where your levels are at? Do you perform water changes? Thanks

I have done ICP tests, typically on a quarterly basis or around that. Most of the trace elements have been kept in check...the one I seem to still have trouble with is fluoride. Every tank is different though, so no single solution is going to be 100% perfect...that's what keeps us on our toes.

For a long while I didn't do water changes, but I was having some cyano trouble and have started doing about 10% weekly for the last month and half or so. I may keep up with it, as I think it is a good routine to stay with. If my water changing station wasn't over 100ft away from my tank, I'd likely have a DOS doing auto water changes by now.

edit: LOL at the link that was auto-created in that first paragraph....hope R2R is getting some money out of that one!

saintsreturn · Apr 11, 2019

What a lot of reading... and worth it! Well done on both of your setups! Love the look and the build style you went with. When i move and setup my new tank, i will be coming back to this thread for some inspiration!

Caravanshaka · Apr 11, 2019

saintsreturn said:
What a lot of reading... and worth it! Well done on both of your setups! Love the look and the build style you went with. When i move and setup my new tank, i will be coming back to this thread for some inspiration!

Thanks! I'm pretty happy with how everything has turned out. I'd really like to get my display enclosed soon so I can call it "done" from an aesthetic standpoint. The frag tank is going to stay open though!

Caravanshaka · Apr 15, 2019

Change of plans, I will be making my own calcium reactor for both the display and the frag tank! Starting with some Avast parts and making modifications from there. Will post pics along the way when it all arrives

Caravanshaka · Apr 17, 2019

This one isn’t SPS, but it is one of the most beautiful corals I have...and what thread is complete without *******?????

Pink ******* chalice:

Couldn’t quite get the color right through the phone, as it is slightly more pink in person...but that’s how bright it is. My Avast porthole comes in tomorrow, so maybe I can learn to use the dslr we have to take better pics.

I moved this over to the frag tank last night, as it was about to start growing onto the sand. It’s on a 3” chalice dome and covers it completely now. It was grown from a 1 eye frag, and I want it to spread onto some tiles before it goes back in the display so it can be shared!