Checking in!

[amoore311]

How’s everyone’s tanks doing? Summers coming to a close so I know you’re all getting back into your tanks more and more. I finally got around to finishing the basement and getting the 220 set up! Still need some finish work in the basement before it’s 100% conplete

first drop of saltwater went in the second week of July. As I cut frags from my frag system I move more over to the 220.

Started with about 140 lbs of liverock that’s been in saltwater in the dark for 2 years. This is one of the simplest systems I’ve ever done. Kalk for mineral replenishment, diy 40 breeder sump, a large skimmer, and some mp40’s and gyres for flow.

no real water changes yet as the system has not had a reason for it. Nitrate and phosphate are there, but always test at or near zero.

 

[amoore311]

few quick shots from tonight.

 

[mattdg]

The tank is looking good. I know you've been at this build for some time. I am really looking forward to seeing it in person some day.

 

[amoore311]

The tank is looking good. I know you've been at this build for some time. I am really looking forward to seeing it in person some day.

You’re welcome any time.

 

[amoore311]

Moved the acanthophyllia over from the frag system. They’ll get the appreciation they deserve here.

 

[amoore311]

I’m enjoying this side of the tank the most right now. Picked up a gorgeous green acanthophyllia, rainbow micromussa lord, and and absolutely crazy looking indo Pectinia from HVFNR this weekend.

 

[amoore311]

So many things to update! Here’s a daylight side shot from last week. Lots of growth, tons of coral additions.

The first group of additions was me moving more larger Acro colonies from my frag system to the 220. I want to slowly thin out the frag system of colonies, moving what I can to the 220. That will leave the frag system for….. well frags!

The second group of additions I jumped on a great opportunity. I bought an entire box of Maricultured Bali Acros direct from overseas. Mikey at HVFNR helped facilitate the whole thing with the collector in Bali, I can’t thank him enough. Needless to say 18 Bali acros came in, 4 weeks later I have 14 healthy colonies coloring back up. They are still low in the 220, as I light acclimate them to my system. Not a single pest in the lot of them. I unfortunately lost all of the commensal Acro crabs that came in on the colonies. I will augment my dip and QT procedure to hopefully save them if I ever do this again. Once these color up I will ID them all.

here are the species I brought in:
A. austera
A. Cardus
A. Divarcata
A. Efflorescens
A. Feneri
A. Formosa
A. Gomezi
A. Humilis
A. Hyacinthius
A. Plana
4 Tenuis. (3 didn’t make it)
2 Mille

 

[nbooks]

thats pretty sweet! i got a few freshly imports indo frags via someone on here a few weeks back. lost all but one...but its starting to color up. good luck!

 

[amoore311]

Popping in with some updated shots. Tank is cruising right along, sucking up kalkwasser like a sponge.

I hooked up the aquamaxx roller matt at the end of January. I love this thing but it does chew up filter rolls ever 2 months.

Nice lot of fish coming in the next couple days. marine betta shipping up from a friend in Maryland who’s breaking his tank down, and a trio of captive bred square spot anthias from Biota.

if anyone local is looking for beginner sps frags, I’ve got lots ready and plenty more I can cut.

 

[TTTony]

Your tank looks amazing, I like it because there’s more coral than rock , when that grows out it’s going to be even more

 

[nbooks]

looking good. fingers crossed ill be filling my 220 in the next two weeks or so.

Taking the wife on a CT fish store next weekend, going to be really hard to come home with something for the qt tank lol.

 

[amoore311]

Biota Captive Bred Pink Square Anthias and Marine Betta arrived over the last couple weeks. All were eating immediately.

awesome fish, and I love not having to deal with quarantine or risk of losing them to disease. I don’t think I’ll ever buy wild anthias again.

 

[amoore311]

Picked up a Captive Bred Biota Regal Angel last week. He’s been eating flake and frozen with gusto since he came out of the bag. He is in a large acclimation box in the frag system with the Pink Square Anthias.

Coming up on 11 Months since saltwater went in. The tank is still running very simply. Lots of coral, bi-weekly 10% water changes, lots of kalkwasser (2 gallons/day), some two part, and I am now dosing trace elements as well. ICP tests started showing near constant deficiency. Since supplementing trace I’ve had notable increase in growth and colors in a lot of the sps. Nutrient control wise I’m using a skimmer, upgrade to a rollermatt filter, and I am dosing vodka (same OG recipe as always). Very happy that I have not had to deal with any gfo, lanthanum, fuge, etc for nutrient control.

The Marine Betta has settled in nicely as well. I hope all your tanks are doing well as we come into the summer months.

 

[amoore311]

Anyone still checking in on the forums here? Mikey at Hudson Valley Fish N Reef is doing a BBQ next month. i'll post the details as I get them, hoping to meet a bunch of you there and maybe exchange some frags too!

Anyways, the system turned 1 year old July 4th. I did a deep maintenance this weekend, as we are going away on vacation this come week.

Hope all of your tanks are doing well, hit me up if you need any frags!

 

[mattdg]

Tank is looking great! Please do post the BBQ details here. Have a fun vacay!

 

[Smoke-Town]

Tank looks great. I saw a huge marine Bettany at my lfs a couple months ago and wanted one every since. Pretty big fish tho. And how's that regal doing? Is he eating? I love e angels and that particular one is on my must have list... tough price for finicky eater tho!

I need my lfs to do fun BBQ and swaps and stuff. If I was closer I'd definitely go. I'm assuming that store is Poughkeepsie or south thereof tho.

BTW every coral I got from you a few months ago is healthy and growing well. Oddly enough the slowest grower I have is the green slimer. It spent a long time slowly encrusting and has a couple new branch nubs now so maybe it'll take off soon.
Do you remember the name of this one above right of the bangai cardinal? It's a really cool coral. Doesn't like being hit by my gravel vacuum though for some reason

 

[amoore311]

Tank looks great. I saw a huge marine Bettany at my lfs a couple months ago and wanted one every since. Pretty big fish tho. And how's that regal doing? Is he eating? I love e angels and that particular one is on my must have list... tough price for finicky eater tho!

I need my lfs to do fun BBQ and swaps and stuff. If I was closer I'd definitely go. I'm assuming that store is Poughkeepsie or south thereof tho.

BTW every coral I got from you a few months ago is healthy and growing well. Oddly enough the slowest grower I have is the green slimer. It spent a long time slowly encrusting and has a couple new branch nubs now so maybe it'll take off soon.
Do you remember the name of this one above right of the bangai cardinal? It's a really cool coral. Doesn't like being hit by my gravel vacuum though for some reason

sorry it took so long to reply back!

Mikey's shop is on Route 9 in Poughkeepsie/Wappingers. I am waiting for him to send me a facebook invite for the BBQ, once I have it i'll make a post here.

Above and to the right is an un-named frag I got from a random dude at Frag Farmers Market 3-4 years ago. I've since called it the Mint Chip Acro, when it's happiest the flesh is mint green and it has white polyps. If you overnight it the flesh will turn brown/tan. Very fast grower. My colony is over 2' across in my 220!

 

[amoore311]

Little Fall/Winter Update for 2022

The 220 has been cruising right along. I've been battling a small hair algae problem for the past 5-6 months that I've finally gotten ahead of. An army of Tuxedo Urchins ended up tipping the tides in my favor. This was the last hurdle the system needed to get over before I start cranking up the par.

I will be adding another (3) Noopsyche V3, making 6 total. I am also already utilizing (4) ali express 470 NM bars. The tops of the rock work where the acro bases are averaged around 250 Micromols when I first set the tank up. I'm hoping to bump that number eventually by around 100-150 par.

I have a lot of higher light, higher end acros in the frag system I would like eventually move to the 220. the plan is to mount them to disks, and then mount those disks to the end of a faster growing branching monti or acro. That will get the higher light demanding frags up higher into the water column.

I have (3) Biota Pink Square Anthias, and a Biota Yellow Tang growing out in the frag system that will eventually move over to the 220 as well once they are larger.

Both the frag system and 220 are running 100% on Kalkwasser. The 220 will need 2 part added in before the end of the winter I'm sure. Both systems are also getting trace elements through daily additions of Tropic Marin A and K. I am noticing a deficiency in Strontium and Potassium, so those specific elements I will have to start dosing soon as well.

The frag system is busting at the seams space wise, as it's also the system all the LPS go that can't handle the flow in the 220. I will need to upgrade that system to something large, 100 gallons isn't cutting it anymore -_-. On the look out for a proper 8' plastic hydro prop tank for the frag system upgrade. All in due time...

 

[mattdg]

Nice update. It sounds like things are going just as they should. I have been curious about the noopsyche fixtures for awhile. Glad to hear they are working out. The algae is a serious hurdle to get past, but just one of those things. I have also sort of come around to adding tuxedo urchins, instead of snails. They are pricey little guys, but seem to fair better and work a bit harder than my handful of trochus. I look forward to seeing your setup in person again soon!