FarmerTy's 215-gallon SPS Tank

Coastie Reefer · Jan 5, 2018

FarmerTy said:
That's why you make an excuse to see Austin (heard it might be a cool town) and pick up a bag of coral goodies for the ride home. [emoji41]

I hear you have a pretty good music scene there, so I might try to convince the Mrs. we need to take a mini vacation this summer!

FarmerTy · Jan 5, 2018

Coastie Reefer said:
I hear you have a pretty good music scene there, so I might try to convince the Mrs. we need to take a mini vacation this summer!

If she asks why you're packing a cooler, tell her to bring snacks for the drive. [emoji1]

bubbaque · Jan 5, 2018

That's pretty good wave action. I was never able to get my gyres to do it.

FarmerTy · Jan 5, 2018

bubbaque said:
That's pretty good wave action. I was never able to get my gyres to do it.

I've never run gyres so I have no experience with their wave capabilities. I would imagine a standard style pump would be more effective to create waves than one designed to create a gyre flow.

Much the same as my use of the Jaebos to create a gyre flow in the tank isn't as efficient as just having a gyre pump.

Daniel@R2R · Jan 5, 2018

I do love following this reef!

Coastie Reefer · Jan 5, 2018

mdbannister said:
I do love following this reef!

One of my favorites on R2R for sure.

FarmerTy · Jan 7, 2018

mdbannister said:
I do love following this reef!

Coastie Reefer said:
One of my favorites on R2R for sure.

Thanks for following along guys! I hope it has been entertaining to see the tank move last year and me work on rebuilding it at the new house! Babies slow everything down, I still haven't glued my colonies up and add a background but I hope to get to both before his 1 year birthday. That gives me until March!

FarmerTy · Jan 7, 2018

Well, I got a pair of flame wrasses from a LFS, fortunately prior to the Hawaiian fish industry changes. Well, the female decided its time to start changing to a male.

Not fully decided if this is a good thing or a bad thing yet. Good thing is I may have two awesome looking males swimming the tank. Bad thing is they decide the tank isn't big enough for the both of them and start trying to kill each other.

There is the off chance the female stays at the initial phase of being male and not change fully until the terminal male dies.

Here's a video of him/her.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/IQ2DUIMqszI?feature=oembed

She's on the right of the picture. Also a repeat picture of the male flashing to show the differences of a terminal (supermale) male and initial male.

Coastie Reefer · Jan 7, 2018

FarmerTy said:
Thanks for following along guys! I hope it has been entertaining to see the tank move last year and me work on rebuilding it at the new house! Babies slow everything down, I still haven't glued my colonies up and add a background but I hope to get to both before his 1 year birthday. That gives me until March!

We have a 3.5 month baby girl in the house now, so I understand delays for sure! I'm hoping to have a shop/man cave built in the next year or so to give me a place to setup a larger tank display and grow out system. The Mrs. has me limited to a 40g for now, so I live vicariously through your thread at the moment LOL.

FarmerTy · Jan 7, 2018

Coastie Reefer said:
We have a 3.5 month baby girl in the house now, so I understand delays for sure! I'm hoping to have a shop/man cave built in the next year or so to give me a place to setup a larger tank display and grow out system. The Mrs. has me limited to a 40g for now, so I live vicariously through your thread at the moment LOL.

Congrats man... On the new baby and on the preapproval for the man cave! It took me 5 months after moving and having the baby to even aquascape the new tank if that gives you any idea what you're in for if its your first child like me.

I'll make sure to keep posting than my friend... Just for your entertainment of course. [emoji12]

FarmerTy · Jan 17, 2018

Caught them in the act... A secret military conch coup! They are trying to overthrow the funny looking guy with glasses!

FarmerTy · Jan 18, 2018

Been awhile since I posted a Full tank shot. Its getting there slowly. I've culled some colonies the last couple months, lost some too during November when my tank was in a funk, and now have open space to start gluing my new stuff to the rocks. For now, the frags that graduated from the frag tank are sitting on the frag rack to be glued somewhere. I took my first stab at gluing some colonies/frags but its always a process. The right rock is close to where I want it except I may swap some corals out and I still need to fill in the bottom right with more frags/colonies.

The left rock structure is a hot mess but I'll keep working on it.

I also cleaned up the sandbed and reclaimed my beach. Its nice to have that negative space back... It makes the tank look like a tank again.

I also got the pvc foamboard in and cut it and applied it as a backdrop. I'm decently happy with the results but may look at another alternative as the seam in the middle does bug me at times. I still need something that is removable when needed so painting is not an option. At least its nice to look at the tank now and not see plumbing and storage boxes behind the tank. [emoji1]

The tank cabinets and front are finished from a construction standpoint. I still need to complete it by sanding and painting it as well as sealing it with silicone against the glass so guests don't drop crud into my sump below. We'll get some nice bar stools down the line but for now, these two chairs I stole from the breakfast table will do.

All in all, I'm very happy with the progress the tank is making and even more happy that my corals are back to being happy and growing/thriving/coloring back up again. Its also bittersweet as I know once the corals are all glued up, I will have nothing to do with the display anymore and the only option is just to sit back and watch it grow. At least there's still the equipment/sump/frag tank to play with. [emoji106]

Happy reefing everyone and thanks for following along.