Foothill Corals 185

Foothill Corals · Nov 30, 2018

Zuma said:
Nice tank build! Have you transferred and coral to the DT yet?

Thanks.

I have been taking it slow. No fish yet, the only coral is a small toadstool that IPSF threw in as a freeby with an order of Pods. The ugly phase is ending and spots of coraline are popping up now. No plans on transferring colonies from the old tank only frags, this is going to be a fresh start. I should have a bunch of Zoas a Torch and a few RFAs today when UPS shows up. I'm getting shipments from WWC, Cherry Corals and Corals.com its going to be a fun day. The plan is to put some colorful Zoas and RFAs around the base of the rocks and save the rocks for Acros. It's nice I have a ton of (rock) real estate in this tank, ran out of room way too fast in the last tank.

As far as fish go... It's been really frustrating trying to get fish locally. I have a 20 long QT set up just need to find something to put in it. I may end up transferring my current fish first but will need to tear their tank apart to catch them. On a positive note by not having any fish in there the tank has a HUGE population of pods.

I haven't been keeping this thread up to date. I will try to find some time to get some pics of the sump area and also the equipment cabinet that is on the other side of the wall behind the tank.

Zuma · Jan 18, 2019

Any updates on this build?

Foothill Corals · Jan 18, 2019

Thanks for following.

I have been adding fish and Acros over the last few weeks. I’m planning on taking some pics at the end of this month the tank will be 6 months old then.

Acros seem happy so far...

Fingers crossed. Where is some wood to knock on?

Foothill Corals · Feb 8, 2019

6 Month update:

The tank is doing well now the ugly stage is over, that took a while. I’ve been adding Zoas and Acros mainly, they have been doing pretty well the Sapphire milli and Oregon Tort have been in there for a month now. Though the tank can support them it is too new for them to color up well, it’s too clean I need more fish.

I tried to keep things very simple and everything easy to work on. I put the sump at the front of the stand, there is still a lot of room behind it for adding equipment in the future if needed. The filter bags are easy to get to from the front or side. Plumbing is 1 1/2" for the secondary and emergency lines, 1" for siphon and return.

I have all these Zoas on these ceramic rocks that I am not sure what to do with. For now I just have them at the base of the rocks wich may look ok after they grow out but I think they look odd rite now.

I had these RFAs on a small rubble island but they never settled in and wandered all over until they found the main rock work where they settled rite in.

Not sure if I want to call it Shaggy or The Woolly Mammoth? This is what happens when you keep a turbinaria in too much flow. It is a torus shape like a hollow donut the fish can actually swim though it.

Foothill Corals · Feb 8, 2019

How about some bluer Pics

And a little bluer

12gallonsofhex · May 2, 2019

The build looks to be going along great. Nice work.

Greengny · May 2, 2019

Very nice build. We all learn/improve from previous builds. Best of luck with the tank. J

Foothill Corals · May 2, 2019

12gallonsofhex said:
The build looks to be going along great. Nice work.

Greengny said:
Very nice build. We all learn/improve from previous builds. Best of luck with the tank. J

Thanks

I need to update this. I have moved some around, removed a few and added a lot of new frags. I got a pack last week and am getting a large pack tomorrow, starting to run out of room. I'll get the camera out in a few weeks.

bubbaque · May 3, 2019

Your tank looks great! Very clean setup also.

Do you have any regrets about using the white starboard on the bottom of the tank? Would you of went with a different color?

Foothill Corals · May 3, 2019

bubbaque said:
Your tank looks great! Very clean setup also.

Do you have any regrets about using the white starboard on the bottom of the tank? Would you of went with a different color?

Thanks

It is not starboard. It's an acrylic tank nothing on the bottom. I left the protective paper the comes on the acrylic from the manufacture on the (outside) bottom of the tank. It looked more tan (like sand) when new but is looking pretty much purple these days. The entire back wall is purple now also.

Basically I don't think it matters what you put on the bottom it will be covered in coraline algae anyways.

bubbaque · May 3, 2019

Do you scrap it often?

Foothill Corals · May 3, 2019

I have never scraped it or done any thing to clean it. It went from having a few spots to just being covered. It's actually starting to concern me I'm having to clean the three viewing walls every few days or they start getting purple spots on them. If anyone doubts that coraline in a bottle works I can assure you that it does.

12gallonsofhex · May 3, 2019

Foothill Corals said:
I have never scraped it or done any thing to clean it. It went from having a few spots to just being covered. It's actually starting to concern me I'm having to clean the three viewing walls every few days or they start getting purple spots on them. If anyone doubts that coraline in a bottle works I can assure you that it does.

I can second that the one brand that advertises that its bottled the day it ships does actually work. I added the bottle to a one month old tank with dry rock and within 2 weeks I had little chicken pox on the rocks, and now, 2 months later, I have pink purple and red coraline the size of pencil erasers and they are growing quickly.

Foothill Corals · Jun 21, 2019

10 Month update:

I'm still adding and moving things around

I removed the large turbinaria and added a few frags. Love how the polyps moves in the current.

The garden

Foothill Corals · Jun 21, 2019

I have been struggling with low P04 and nitrate. I added two more tangs a few weeks ago so hopefully they help I have stopped dosing phosphate and nitrate. I am going to give it a few weeks to see the result, may still have to dose.