Gilroy 425g Build Thread (All Apex, all the time)

[mwilk19]

This weekend I finally cleaned my skimmer - it had been three weeks. Also, it had been almost four weeks since I thinned out the macro algae when Chad came over. So I ripped out a 5g bucket full of it. You can hardly tell in the pic below that I shot of my macro patch after the thinning out.

Also cleaned out and topped off my calcium reactor with Two Little Fishies ReBorn. Did the secondary chamber too.

Going to do a wiring and equipment rearrangement soon to hopefully clean things up so I can actually take some more photos and not be embarrassed.

You mean the wiring's not supposed to look like a bowl of spaghetti?

 

[themcfreak]

OMG. Finally read all of this. 2 day ordeal (don't tell my boss) . Amazing thread. Your corals are looking amazing. Loving the Apex integration you are using, and telling us real world what you did. Fish are beautiful. I just upgraded my 42 to an 85, and your thread is an inspiration of what can be done! Thanks for all of the post, can't wait to see more!!

 

[Terence]

You mean the wiring's not supposed to look like a bowl of spaghetti?

Um, no. And after seeing how great some of our customers' tanks and gear look, it is quite embarrassing!

OMG. Finally read all of this. 2 day ordeal (don't tell my boss) . Amazing thread. Your corals are looking amazing. Loving the Apex integration you are using, and telling us real world what you did. Fish are beautiful. I just upgraded my 42 to an 85, and your thread is an inspiration of what can be done! Thanks for all of the post, can't wait to see more!!

Thanks for tagging along.

 

[Terence]

Just got back from Seattle. Duane Oestrich up there is the local reef geek and control freak. Did a live stream on FB of his tank - go check it out. Anyways, he gave me about a dozen super-nice acro frags - so far they all are doing great on my frag rack. I added another piece of Real Reef branch rock to the 'scape so that I will have places to put them all. It's gonna look SWEET!

 

[Terence]

Some pics of those new frags this morning. If Duane reads this, he can list them off or point them all if if he wishes - but there is a lot there. Every single frag from Duane made the trip. Pretty amazing really.

The ones on the frag rack came from Robert at Neptune Aquatics here in San Jose. I have no idea what the species is in particular or if any of them have a crazy industry name or not. One of them has this crazy blue/purple color. The other two are still coloring up.

The coral by itself came from Mark at Tenji and it has done quite well. Some say it is "Spainbow" - I don't know - maybe you all do.

On another note, I posted another thread here asking about this creepy crab I have had roaming the tank for some time.

Also, when I was up in Seattle, I won a raffle for a years worth of Rod's food. As many of you know, I really love LRS food and had I not won this, I would be sticking with that. But, now that I have Rods, I can do this mans comparison between the two - nothing scientific, just my observations and opinion. I will do that in a future post.

I am uploading a new FTS video now and will post it as soon as it finishes.

 

[Terence]

OK, here is the video taken two days ago.

 

[Fudsey]

@Terence Good music choice. I felt like I was watching Soul Train....

"It's got a good beat and you can dance to it"

 

[markstubb]

Still have your yasha?

 

[Terence]

Still have your yasha?

I haven't seen him in the display for quite some time - there is a chance he is in the sump. . . slim, but a chance. It's a long ride down!

 

[markstubb]

They are totally one of those fish that you either see often or never at all

 

[rlbannon]

Also cleaned out and topped off my calcium reactor with Two Little Fishies ReBorn. Did the secondary chamber too.

Been a while since I've gone through this thread. Are you still using your DOS to feed your reactor? If so, how is it working out for you? What is your flow rate, and how often are you replacing heads?

 

[ReeferBud]

Hey Terence, are you still using your sulfur denitrator in addition to the refugium?

I’m running a SD and a CaRx and battling really low pH. Thinking of adding a refugium and curious about your experience.

 

[Mark Gray]

Great looking corals Trance my total Apex tank will start as soon as the tank arives should be here soon.

 

[Terence]

Been a while since I've gone through this thread. Are you still using your DOS to feed your reactor? If so, how is it working out for you? What is your flow rate, and how often are you replacing heads?

Yes. I am still using it. About 160ml every three minutes. Replaced the heads at six months. Second set longer than that already.

 

[rlbannon]

Yes. I am still using it. About 160ml every three minutes. Replaced the heads at six months. Second set longer than that already.

Are you using both heads to feed into a single common input tube? If so, is that 80ml per head, or 160ml per head every three minutes?

 

[Terence]

Are you using both heads to feed into a single common input tube? If so, is that 80ml per head, or 160ml per head every three minutes?

Just one.

 

[Terence]

Hey Terence, are you still using your sulfur denitrator in addition to the refugium?

I’m running a SD and a CaRx and battling really low pH. Thinking of adding a refugium and curious about your experience.

Yes. Still using it.

Best thing for ph is outside air into skimmer. Then lots of chaeto/macro.

 

[Cliff Shepherd]

I just finished the whole thread!! I can now resume my life hahaha, just couldn't put it down.
I am in planning stages for hoping to start in the fall for what right now looks like ruffly 200g. Learned way to much from this thread can't even start
Thanks for all the effort.

 

[Afishionado]

Excellent tank Terence. I’m actually really impressed with its progress and your blue thumb!

 

[Terence]

Thanks guys for the support!

Things are still progressing. I just put in the nuclear option when it comes to fighting aiptasia. 12 peppermint shrimp, huge copperband, marginalis, and an aiptasia eating file fish.

Good news. Aiptasia is almost all gone.

Bad news, one of the three heniochus just LOVED acans. Really did a number on all of them. Had to pull all of them I could (some had encrusted) and put them down in the sump with a Kessil 360 over them. Once the fish is eating more regular food, and in a couple of months, I will try reintroducing them at the other end of the tank that he does not like to frequent.