Tank transfer/upgrade, brand new rock island. This is going to be my Acro SPS island. I already have an SPS island with monti digis and caps, anacropora, psammacora, birdsnests and stylo. This one is going to be the fancy stuff!
Rocks are old, old reef rocks from Marshall Islands that were dried out. These are great rocks.
The tank is a very mixed reef with a lot of great sand bed corals, a zoa garden in the works, a BTA island with a black widow and a rainbow (far left), SPS island (left-center), new SPS island in planning phase (right center) and a TBS rock island mostly covered with sponges with a few star corals, hidden cup corals, and topped with a green cyphastrea and a mint pavona, also with a large toadstool growing off of it (far right). The tank is beneath an Orphek Atlantik with two OR4 30cm bars going on the sides. Dimensions 48"x20"x20".
Below are PARwise measurements. Target PAR in green, current PAR #s in blue. Flow is a 1900gph return pump and an MP40.
SO, on to planning this SPS island! Here are a couple of views to show you the space I'm working with:
Front:
Side (ignore the taller knobby rock in the back):
Back view:
A note about nutrients. I'm currently running high nutrients but I've typically been running lower nutrients in the past. Things were a bit upended and I'm restabilizing. Also getting an algae scrubber to help with nutrient stability. I run almost no filtration. No socks, no floss, no skimmer, no roller. Just a cryptic zone in the sump, a macroalgae zone in the sump and the upcoming scrubber. I will also have a doser pumping in live phyto daily, as well as other Reef Nutrition foods. An Avast Plank also dumps Reef Jerky into the tank a few times a day... starting to see where the nutrients are coming from!
Back to planning the SPS island! The only coral I'm 100% sure on is having a garf bonsai, which I'm thinking can go front-middle since it has been tolerant of lighting with me in the past (was growing great until it got killed by triple-ganging monti + birdsnest + stylo, followed by an Aiptasia Fatality). I'll also probably pick up a green and a purple slimer that I'm thinking of setting up towards the back to give it vertical space to grow together. With the limited space, I'm thinking of one centerpiece Acro on the top. It should be relatively hardy, but I'd like something a bit different. No greens if possible.
Would something like a strawberry shortcake work, or too tricky?
Merlin staff?
Other ideas?
Thanks!
Rocks are old, old reef rocks from Marshall Islands that were dried out. These are great rocks.
The tank is a very mixed reef with a lot of great sand bed corals, a zoa garden in the works, a BTA island with a black widow and a rainbow (far left), SPS island (left-center), new SPS island in planning phase (right center) and a TBS rock island mostly covered with sponges with a few star corals, hidden cup corals, and topped with a green cyphastrea and a mint pavona, also with a large toadstool growing off of it (far right). The tank is beneath an Orphek Atlantik with two OR4 30cm bars going on the sides. Dimensions 48"x20"x20".
Below are PARwise measurements. Target PAR in green, current PAR #s in blue. Flow is a 1900gph return pump and an MP40.
SO, on to planning this SPS island! Here are a couple of views to show you the space I'm working with:
Front:
Side (ignore the taller knobby rock in the back):
Back view:
A note about nutrients. I'm currently running high nutrients but I've typically been running lower nutrients in the past. Things were a bit upended and I'm restabilizing. Also getting an algae scrubber to help with nutrient stability. I run almost no filtration. No socks, no floss, no skimmer, no roller. Just a cryptic zone in the sump, a macroalgae zone in the sump and the upcoming scrubber. I will also have a doser pumping in live phyto daily, as well as other Reef Nutrition foods. An Avast Plank also dumps Reef Jerky into the tank a few times a day... starting to see where the nutrients are coming from!
Back to planning the SPS island! The only coral I'm 100% sure on is having a garf bonsai, which I'm thinking can go front-middle since it has been tolerant of lighting with me in the past (was growing great until it got killed by triple-ganging monti + birdsnest + stylo, followed by an Aiptasia Fatality). I'll also probably pick up a green and a purple slimer that I'm thinking of setting up towards the back to give it vertical space to grow together. With the limited space, I'm thinking of one centerpiece Acro on the top. It should be relatively hardy, but I'd like something a bit different. No greens if possible.
Would something like a strawberry shortcake work, or too tricky?
Merlin staff?
Other ideas?
Thanks!
