ED3's Displays and Secret Basement Spawning Lab

[ED3]

Here are some pictures of the mixing station now and the current, still in progress, sump system with soon to be attached frag tank.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Here are some pictures of the mixing station now and the current, still in progress, sump system with soon to be attached frag tank.

Those are some huge mixing stations!

 

[ED3]

Those are some huge mixing stations!

Indeed! The idea is to be able to, in theory, do a 100% water change on the whole system within 6-12 hours if need be.

 

[ED3]

Raising the next generation of reefers

 

[ED3]

Unfortunately, shortly after my last post I had a very sudden crash I still haven't been able to figure out. Long story short of it, I lost all motivation and let the tank coast for 2-3 months. I lost frags I'd been keeping for over 10 years, probably 75-80% of all my corals. Oh and did I mention that during this time an XR15 over my QT and XR30 over my display blew out of nowhere?

In the past week I got motivated to finish setting up my system and do everything I could to make sure this never happens again. I sent out ICP tests, did MASSIVE water changes, changed every component of the RODI system, hooked up a GHL ION Director, started the frag tank even though I have nothing to frag just to increase the water volume, organized my fish room, restarted my coral QT tank and so much more.

It may not be Instagram pretty, but I'm back on a path to restart my collection.

 

[ED3]

Took the time to rescape the rockwork and was able to find some nubs of SPS that survived the crash from colonies I thought I completely lost. I attached them to tiles and threw them in the frag system. I also hooked up an ION Director to get a better idea of what's going on between my weekly water tests.

Before:

After:

The Radions are going out for repair next week. Slowly but surely we'll be back cooking!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Took the time to rescape the rockwork and was able to find some nubs of SPS that survived the crash from colonies I thought I completely lost. I attached them to tiles and threw them in the frag system. I also hooked up an ION Director to get a better idea of what's going on between my weekly water tests.

Before:

After:

The Radions are going out for repair next week. Slowly but surely we'll be back cooking!

Very subtle changes to the aquascape, but I like the new one more!

 

[ED3]

Very subtle changes to the aquascape, but I like the new one more!

Thank you, more caves, more space for corals to grow into their colony shapes

 

[ED3]

I recently set up a freshwater tank shelf system for breeding shrimp—mainly Neocaridina for now, but I’m also considering dabbling with some Apistogramma cichlids.

On the reef side, I’ve decided that if my Waterbox Infinia Frag 125.4 doesn’t sell by mid-August… I’m keeping it. And honestly? I’m quietly hoping it doesn’t sell. If it sticks around, I’m planning to turn it into a Euphyllia and soft coral-dominated tank—lots of movement, color, and a more relaxed vibe compared to my SPS systems.

After I cleaned out the refugium a couple of weeks ago I needed to restock the macro algae in it. I added some Caulerpa Mexicana, 5 mangroves and some Chaeto.


I’ve also decided it’s time to swap out the return pumps. I’m currently running 2x Vectra L2s, but I’m just not getting the turnover I want in the display. I’ll be replacing them with a Reef Octopus VarioS 10, which should give me the added flow and control I’m looking for. While I’m at it, I’ll be redoing the plumbing (which I admittedly slapped together just to get the tank running), and I’ll also move the sump over a few feet to make maintenance much easier. I'll also be able to build a work bench over the moved sump which will give me more work space and allow me to get rid of the old work bench currently in the fish room and adds another space for a potential tank.


Lots of moving parts right now, but I’m excited for what’s ahead. I'm glad my spark for the hobby has finally reignited. I’ll post updates as things progress—especially if the Waterbox sticks around and the softie garden becomes reality.

 

[ED3]

After nearly 3 months of patiently waiting and monitoring the system, the surviving corals are starting to encrust and/or show axial growth as well as color up from bleached or brown to showing their true colors again. I have developed a hair algae problem in the frag runner, refugium and under some rocks in the display but its nothing I can't control and get rid of.

I'm ready to start adding soft corals and NFS to a 40B I've had cycling for 4 months or so now and my old Waterbox Infinia Frag 125.4 made the journey from MA to NJ finally and since I've been failing in my attempts to sell it I've decided to set up a LPS bare bottom tank. I'll be using the old return pump, skimmer and heaters and will be experimenting with Jaebo wavemakers and NICREW HyperReef 100 Gen 2 Reef Lights. I've heard good things about them and would love to compare the growth to the 4 other types of lighting I have running in my systems (Mitras, XR30 Pro, XR15 Blue, AI Prime).

 

[ED3]

My wife's condition for letting me set up the euphyllia tank was if I could get it in the basement with no help. Guess what I did while she was at work yesterday?

Decided on a scape and cemented it together yesterday morning. I'll be threw rubble from my display in the sump and got it running in the afternoon. I'm going to put the XR15 Blue's I have over the 40B on this tank and the NICREW HyperReef 100 Gen 2 Reef Lights over the 40B, I'll feel more comfortable with these untested lights over softies vs over LPS. I'll be adding coral this week to help with the cycle/bioload as I have with all my other systems and am hoping this one will be as successful as the others.

 

[ED3]

I've been trying to get better at documenting everything going on with the tanks better, I realized I don't take nearly enough pictures recently. All of the surviving frags from the crash 6 months ago are growing again and coloring up nicely, showing polyp extension again. I've had a lot of frags QTing and over the past several of weeks I've been adding a few to the 40B, the CADE and even threw a few hammer, a frogspawn and a couple duncan polyps into the waterbox to help cycle things.

The CADE is starting to fill out again, the 40B is looking great and the waterbox is well on its way. I've been monitoring things pretty closely over the past few weeks and had to start dosing Sodium Nitrate and Potassium Phosphate temporarily to keep the levels stable until all the fish I've been QTing can be added.

In QT I currently have a lot of animals almost ready:

-an exquisite fairy wrasse, pinstripe melanurus wrasse, bella Goby, achilles tang and arc eye hawkfish for the CADE

-A springeri damsel and sixline wrasse for the frag tankeady

-a six line wrasse for the refugium

-A Hi Fin Red Banded Goby and Carpenter's Flasher for the 40B

-A Helfrichi Firefish and starkii damsel I decided will look better in the Waterbox than the 40B and CADE+ one of the yellow tangs in the frag tank as soon as I'm comfortable adding fish

I have a lot of other fish in QT/Observation too but many of which are only 1-2 weeks in and all at different stages.

I completely forgot to mention that I added several rock flower anemones to the 40B a couple of weeks ago.

 

[ED3]

One of my Chiton decided to make an appearance yesterday too!

 

[ED3]

Haven't updated this thread in a while but this is what I've been up to since October (big new projects):

The new project is the start of my journey into coral spawning, focused on Acropora millepora and Euphyllia species. The goal is to build a small-scale, modular spawning system that will allow for controlled lunar and thermal cue experiments, following much of the framework used by Rich Ross, Jamie Craggs. and others.


Here’s what’s in progress so far:

The new setup will use four 60-gallon breeder tanks (thank you Petsmart sales), arranged in two stacked pairs, each pair sharing a 40-gallon breeder sump on a heavy-duty steel rack. Each tank can run as part of the shared loop or be isolated when needed for spawning events or quarantine. The design prioritizes flexibility—easy to drain, easy to clean, and ready for fine-tuned control over lighting and flow.

Next to these will be a separate rack of 50-gallon Rubbermaid feed tubs, which will serve as conditioning and larval-rearing systems. These tubs are durable, simple to plumb, and provide a stable environment for initial fertilization work, larval settlement, and early grow-out before colonies transition to the larger systems. The long-term goal is to document the entire process from gamete release to settled, tank-raised colonies—and to develop repeatable protocols for small-scale, at-home coral spawning.

All spawning and conditioning systems will be Apex-controlled, giving full automation over temperature, lighting, and flow. I am considering trying to modify the protocols I'm using to design the system to use a GHL Profilux. I still have time to finalize the plan.


Filtration and life-support include:

• 40-gallon breeder sump with mechanical filtration and dedicated return section
• Regal 150INT protein skimmer (Reef Octopus) for each pair of spawning systems
• Versa S2 Return Pumps on each system
• 2x Radion XR15 Pro lights per tank
• 2x AI Orbit Gyre pumps per tank
• Inline heaters and titanium probes synced to the controller
• Redundant ATO sensors and backup aeration
• ESV 2-part dosing (Calcium/Alkalinity) via GHL dosing heads
• Tropic Marin Pro Reef Salt and stable RODI top-off

Conditioning will begin with temperature, lunar, and photoperiod synchronization cycles, followed by controlled spawn induction based on current research and field data.


I'm also about to start building a stand for a 250-gallon grow-out fiberglass tub that will house the primary broodstock colonies (plus backup colonies from my SPS system ;) ) and will also serve as the grow out system for any settled colonies. This system will use 3x Radion XR30 G6 Pros and 2x AI Blades 66" with a Regal 200INT skimmer, tied into the existing GHL Profilux system for dosing and monitoring.

Secret Basement Lab Timeline (2025–2026)​

• November–December 2025: Finish assembly and start running the quarantine system and 250 gallon tub system
• January–March 2026: Finish assembly of all spawning and conditioning systems. Begin long-term environmental calibration (temperature, salinity, lighting, lunar phase simulation). Start acquiring and quarantining additional broodstock colonies of Acropora millepora, and Euphyllia glabrescens.
• April–July 2026: Conditioning phase — feed intensively, maintain stable nutrients and synchronize photoperiods with natural equatorial daylight cycles.
• August–September 2026: Implement lunar cycle simulations and begin monitoring for gonad development and gametogenesis.
• October 2026: Final pre-spawn conditioning. Simulate seasonal temperature shifts and adjust photoperiods to match natural Great Barrier Reef spawning cues.
• November–December 2026: Target spawning window for Acropora millepora, and Euphyllia glabrescens. Conduct nighttime observation, gamete collection, and controlled fertilization.

If the new systems aren't stable in time to hit these goals, I'll try the following year. I'm not going to rush things, if I need to wait then I need to wait, no one is holding me to this schedule but me.


Progress so far:

-The new 60 gallon QT is up and running, fully cycled and ready for coral

-Coral growth in my 400 gallon system is booming

-Waterbox is dealing with a bacterial bloom but all of the LPS are thriving, I added a UV sterilizer to combat the bloom. I need a new skimmer for this tank because I dropped the skimmer when moving, it cracked and I can't get it to prime correctly even though I sealed the cracks with epoxy

-40B is thriving, the softies are all spreading, the mushrooms are all plump and the rockflower anemones are all happy and colorful

-First coral imports are coming in this Thursday and next Friday, I'm taking things a little slower than I initially anticipated. I want to ensure I have my QT/acclimation process down for a variety of species before I start importing colonies to spawn

-The 250gallon tub has not been set up yet but with any luck it will be dark cycling within the month

-I'll be moving some colonies I've been growing in my runner tank to my CADE (same system) within the next two-three weeks to help fill in some spaces

-Ordered a @Battlecorals Battlebox to add a little more to my collection

-Starting to think of fish to add to the CADE, I lost 2x lyretail anthias, a blonde naso tang and jawfish randomly and in separate events seemingly randomly so I have some room. I'll definitely be getting another naso tang but I'm open to suggestions for other adds. The 40B could use a few more fish too, maybe a goby pair of some sort and a few more bangaii cardinals. The livestock in the Waterbox is staying as is for now as the parameters are all in a range I'm happy with for LPS growth.



Life's gotten crazy the past few months but I'm still chugging along with my plans. I'll share some pictures later this week. In a few weeks I'm going to start fragging a bunch of my colonies, stay tuned for frags for sale/trade ;)

Eddie

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Man, you are making some big changes! Excited to see pictures of all your coral growing out if you have any!

 

[ED3]

Man, you are making some big changes! Excited to see pictures of all your coral growing out if you have any!

I'll post some pictures by the end of the week!

 

[ED3]

I'll post some pictures by the end of the week!

Ok I lied, but I’ll get some pictures tonight!

Alright, here's another update for you all:

I found a few importers who are willing to help me get the corals I need for spawning. I've never imported and acclimated wild colonies to captivity before so I put an order in the size of what I was thinking of ordering when I am ready to spawn. Before I start trying to spawn I want to be sure that I can receive and care for wild colonies successfully. That being said, my first wild shipment of Euphyllia and Acropora arrived last Thursday from Indonesia. All but two torches survived the shipping and I am floored by the immediate beauty of some of these colonies. So far so good, we'll see how they do in QT before they move to their forever homes. So far I’ve lost one torch plus 1 head and two of the acro colonies started displaying STN after about a week. I was able to save them by fragging so overall I’m pleased with my experience so far.


I added cameras, long overdue, to look at the sump, GHL and dosing containers, CADE, where the 250 gallon tub will be and the Waterbox for remote viewing. I don't go into my basement everyday even though I should just to check on things and had a few days of dramatic Alk swings when my 2 part Alk dosing hose disconnected from my doser and proceeded to spew all over the floor. I lost a few SPS but you live and learn.


I've gotten to the point with the 400 gallon SPS system that 2-part is no longer economical so I ordered a Geosreef Super Silent Extreme CR818 SSE Calcium Reactor that I'll slowly transition to. I'm also switching my automatic water changes from using the GHL dosers to 2x Kamoer FX-STP2's. The GHL dosers are great but I've noticed my system getting tripped up with AWC and ATO being on the same program over the past few months.

My Battlebox also arrived last week and I have to give Adam @Battlecorals a huge shoutout. This package was delayed by a day and he was on top of the shipping updates and has been in constant communication with me regarding the health of the corals every day.

This week I added sand to my waterbox, my wife and I are not a fans of the bare bottom look. I only put a thin layer of coarse aragonite down to give it the sandy bottom look. Not deep enough for any wrasses or gobies who like to dig.


Today I bought the materials to build the stand for the 250 gallon tub and a sump. I’m hoping to have this built and dark cycling within two weeks.




As I start to dive deeper into my spawning journey and spend more time in my fish room I’m realizing how disorganized everything still is from the initial chaos of setting up my SPS system when I moved. I’ve noticed a few glaring things, come to a few conclusions and am moving forward with some major overhauls to the fish room, my SPS system and the overall functionality of the room.

Problems:

1. My dosing pumps aren’t the easiest to service, nor are the dosing containers the easiest to access.

2. Because of my chamberless sump basin, the water isn’t efficiently being skimmed and along with that, its location has prevented me from installing a carbon reactor or UV sterilizer. I could’ve made these work but both would’ve been inefficient and who knows if they’d have been effective.

3. The stand my 57 gallon refugium for the SPS system is breaking. It is very old, has been moved several times and was stored outside for God knows how long before I came into possession of it. The amount of water passing through it is essentially negligible too based on how it is connected to the system. This refugium has also become exactly that, a refuge for pests, namely flatworms.

4. My systems are controlled by a central GHL Profilux with the SPS system, Waterbox, coral QT and soon to be grow out tub all being dosed, topped off and, in the case of the SPS system, having automatic water changes done by GHL Doser 2.2’s.

5. As mentioned in my last post, the 2 part dosing is no longer economical for the SPS system.

6. There are wires and RO tubing running everywhere.

7. I never finished siding the stand for the frag tank on the SPS system because I was in such a rush to get it built and started using the space to store all my controller boxes, dosing containers and the GHL system.

8. The current layout of my storage shelving is not optimal and is preventing me from being able to add the necessary aquariums I will need in order to achieve spawning at the scale I’m going for.

9. My RO booster pump fell off the wall somehow and cracked. The RODI system will also be difficult to access once the grow out tank gets built.

10. I use 2x optic level sensors for the ATO and AWC on the SPS system. Over the last several months it seems either the ATO, AWC or both parts of the program bug and I’m having to manually top off the system.


My solutions:

1-3 and 5,6: I bought a longer and deeper shelving unit, the same brand that currently holds the coral QT system. I bought a 60” proper, chambered sump that will sit on the bottom shelf.

I’ll also be placing the 57 gallon refugium on a shelf and treat it as a separate aquarium that shares the same sump as the rest of the current SPS system. I’ll nuke the flatworms before I move it.

The new Calcium reactor, Profilux and all of the dosing pumps for the Waterbox, SPS system and coral QT will be at a workable height on this shelving unit as well. If I calculated everything right, I’ll have enough room for all of my dosing containers as well. This shelf will be close enough to the coral QT shelf that I can store chemicals on the bottom shelf there too and be able to hide the tubing under the frag tank if need be.

I’ll have enough space to hang the UV sterilizer and Carbon reactor on the wall behind and next to the shelf. I don’t intend on running these constantly but having the option to run them when needed in an efficient way will be a big relief, especially the carbon.


4: I mentioned in my last post that I purchased, and am still waiting for, 2x Kamoer FX-STP2's to do my automatic water changes on the SPS system.

7: I bought the necessary amount of siding to finish the frag stand off. I’ll be installing doors to be able to access the RO tubing running underneath it for when it needs to be replaced and also for additional storage.

8: I ordered several different sized shelving units, all the same brand I’m using for the coral QT shelf. I’m removing the current shelves I’m using and replacing them with these heavy duty shelves. I’m also adding two additional shelving units so I’ll be able to keep everything much more organized and will be able to add additional aquariums for spawning and my other various projects and experiments.

9: This happened right before I started writing this so I’ll need to buy a new booster pump. I’ll also be moving the RODI system to somewhere more accessible.

10: I’ll be switching to a float switch for the ATO.


I’ll continue to update as I make progress (with pictures). Im hoping all of this organization, cleaning up and finishing of the frag tank stand will inspire me to share more (especially pictures). Not having a “clean” looking setup has definitely deterred me from sharing. Functionality isn’t always “instagramable” but if it works, it works!


Thanks for reading!

Eddie

 

[ED3]

 

[FeedMyReef]

I'm interested in following your spawning journey. Can you post some pics of your setup? What lights and what kind of schedule are you using?

 

[ED3]

I'm interested in following your spawning journey. Can you post some pics of your setup? What lights and what kind of schedule are you using?

The spawning setup is Still under construction. I will post updates including schedules as soon as they are set. I will be using Radion G6 lights.

I had an extended power outage for the first time shortly after my last post and was able to keep everything going except for the new coral QT. Only lost a couple of pieces.

I haven’t completed everything on my lists but am getting there. Everything but lighting for the tub is in hand and I’ve organized the main SPS system’s sump/filtration/controls.

There are three new shelves in the fish room and the SPS system has a new sump that should be much more efficient with filtration.

Forgive the dirty glass, I took the screen shots while I was away