Franco's Reef Tank [ sps fusion lagoon] PIC HEAVY

[Francoreef]

Brief history

The beginning
It all started at around the age of 4 in Cleveland, Ohio when my father purchased a 250 gallon fish only tank with show sized fish. He knew nothing other than they where pretty and paid people to do everything but feed the fish ( that was my job). I would soon after refuse to eat unless i was seated in front of the fish tank, witch later became a regular thing into my youth, Sadly we had to move to sunny South Florida and the aquarium was sold with the hous e

Fast forward to 2009 when i had my first home and was able to start my own reef tank a 55 gallon which later became a 120 which later became 200 Yo all know the story.

Now to the GOOD STUFF!

The build

Tank: Innovative marine fusion lagoon 25 ( purchased from a Reef 2 Reef member )

Stand: Black Stand purchased with the tank

Lights: Radion Gen 2 fro my old build ( Thinking about upgrading to t5, gen4 pro, or halides)

Live : About 15 Lbs of live rock from my recently broken down 60 gallon cube

Flow : Stock return ( will be adding a sicce 1.5 in the near future),
Aqamai ( really like the interface but might go with an mp10)

Doser: Purchased the jebao chinese 4 channel doser, after speaking to some local reefers and hearing there conserns about dependability chose to go with the Esopps 2 channel doser which I can later add slaves to.

Sand: Bare bottom

Skimmer: Ghost Desktop skimmer


The Day We bought the tank

So im one of the lucky ones that can lug his Girlfriend along to Fish stores and frag swaps
but this time WE WENT TO RAP!!!

So it was my first time at Rap and I was getting a new tank i was extatic. After a few phone calls and trying to find each other in the parking lot i was able to meet up with John or as you guys might know him @flowflezy super cool guy ( even gifted me a monti frag) i would highly recommend buying from him. He was also nice enough to give me a few tips on what to look for a the show.


After walking around for about 2 hours i was able to snag a few things for myself
sorry about the phone pic

Also Was able to grab a Few frags
2 maricultered Colonies lets just call them no name

Im going to have to cut the post short im still trying to figure out how to get the file size right to be able to post pictures on here.

If anyone could help with that it would be amazing im uploading them from my DSLR

 

[P-Dub]

You can resize the photos in your DSLR menu. It's a pain to keep switching it but it makes life a heck of a lot easier to post.
Alternatively, if you are using Windows.

1. Select the photos you want to resize, and then on the Edit tab, in the Properties group, click Resize.
2. Click the Select a size list, and then select a size for your photos. For a custom size, in the Maximum dimensions box, enter the maximum width you want your photos to be.
3. Click Resize and save.

 

[Quartapound]

I'd recommend a different route for your pictures. It preserves the quality.

Create an account on https://imgur.com/ ...you actually don't need an account to do this, but it's nicer to keep track of your pictures.
(they have an app for android/iphone that's convenient to use as well)
upload any pictures you want to share (on R2R, or elsewhere) to Imgur (I usually select "private", so I don't have to add a title)
copy the URL for any picture you want to put into the post on R2R, (by clicking the little image icon when making a post, and paste in the image url instead of uploading a picture).
voila.
now you have full quality pictures (click and it expands) and you never had to resize.
it's also allows you to share to unlimited websites this way (multiple forums, reddit, etc)

I've used the technique extensively on my tank thread, for an example. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/quartas-120g-reef-tank.372900/

 

[Francoreef]

You can resize the photos in your DSLR menu. It's a pain to keep switching it but it makes life a heck of a lot easier to post.
Alternatively, if you are using Windows.

1. Select the photos you want to resize, and then on the Edit tab, in the Properties group, click Resize.
2. Click the Select a size list, and then select a size for your photos. For a custom size, in the Maximum dimensions box, enter the maximum width you want your photos to be.
3. Click Resize and save.

Thank you i really appreciate it

 

[Francoreef]

I'd recommend a different route for your pictures. It preserves the quality.

Create an account on https://imgur.com/ ...you actually don't need an account to do this, but it's nicer to keep track of your pictures.
(they have an app for android/iphone that's convenient to use as well)
upload any pictures you want to share (on R2R, or elsewhere) to Imgur (I usually select "private", so I don't have to add a title)
copy the URL for any picture you want to put into the post on R2R, (by clicking the little image icon when making a post, and past in the image url instead of uploading a picture).
voila.
now you have full quality pictures (click and it expands) and you never had to resize.
it's also allows you to share to unlimited websites this way (multiple forums, reddit, etc)

I've used the technique extensively on my tank thread, for an example. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/quartas-120g-reef-tank.372900/

appreciate it

 

[Francoreef]

OK BACK TO THE BUILD

This had to be one of the easiest stand ive ever put together

I thought about leaving the desk open but later decided not to

Here is a picture of the full set up, im going to have to end up adding shelves to hold my doser and seperate a ato reservoir.

I needed all the help i could get with the rockscape, but hey it only took us 2 hours in a 2 foot tank lol
And this is what i came up with.

Dont mind the enormous amounts of detritus....... ;Yuck Which led to a bunch of water changes

So i took to adding the corals to the aquarium not final placement

For some reason The Ghost skimmer puts a bunch of micro bubbles into the tank its unbearable i put filter floss between it and the baffle and nothing if anyone has any advice please feel free to let me know.

Corals in my aquarium as of now :

No name acro i purched at RAP, Really cant wait till this one colors up

WWC Toxic Waste

 

[P-Dub]

Looking good!

 

[Francoreef]

Update on the reef

So for the past few days ive gotten everything dialled in with the doser and feedings and all my corals look happy and healthy for the most part.
Today after work i come home and look at my tank and see something rather unusual.
It is what seems to be a crab but it is fuzzy (idk if im making sense but it is) and it seems the branches around him are dead or dying. The rest of the mini colony seems to be doing fine.

What do i do im not one for having unwanted pest in my tank specially not this early in the game.

On another note here is some pictures of some of the other corals in my tank.

A nice favia i would like to grow on the bottom glass.

a Trachy that has been with me for a while but might have to get rid of it.

A cyphastreas from wwc We all know these bad boys encrust like no other and tend to be faster growers lets hope thats true.

And what i like to call the movement part of m reef,That has my lps and gsp.

And a fts for good luck

Still dealing with micro bubbles help meeeeeee.

Ok ok ok before the tang police come crashing the party let me tell you the story about cocolate.
DORY(I HATE the name) is my girlfriends and her niece's favorite fish after telling them both countless times that i can not keep it. She secretly went on the hunt knowing that i told her ( a really small one would survive for a few months if tended to correctly and fed and kept eating until it would later need to be relocated) so naturally all she heard was a tiny one would survive if tended to.
So she shows up one day with a bag from the lfs and all i see is water in the bag. She says i got you a present and guess what there it was a 1 1/2 inch blue hippo tang IN MY ENTIRE LIFE HAD I SEEN ONE THIS SMALL.

Long story short the little bugger is eating everything i put in the aquarium i have him eating purple and green algae i have been thinking about also buying garlic omega one flakes. Hes fat hes happy and im scared to re home him for fear of when i went back to the store the ones left looked emaciated.

So i welcome cocolate (named by Emma the niece inlaw that is to young to pronounce chocolate LOL ) to the reef.

Those ghastly microbubles