I received a box of rocks today.

[Fudsey]

not shoot video of me in my robe when I first wake up.

;Hilarious ;Hilarious ;Hilarious ;Smuggrin

 

[YHSublime]

Tagging along! Love the scape, btw!

 

[Justfebreezeit]

The rockscape looks great! Cant wait to see the tank in a few months!

 

[NY_Caveman]

Tagging along! Love the scape, btw!

The rockscape looks great! Cant wait to see the tank in a few months!

Thank you! It has been just about a month now and I am loving how it is progressing.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Coral Update

First day in the tank and it is looking pretty good.

Trumpets (Caulastrea furcata)
This one was even open in the bag. Definitely the hardiest of the new corals

Alveopora
Seems to be doing well after I cracked the skeleton removing the plug

Duncans (Duncanopsammia axifuga)
Still has not opened, but I expected this coral to be more sensitive than the others

After moving the rocks around the hitchhiker Palythoas are faring well

The Green Polyp Toadstool Leather is in a new spot and seems to be fine.

Aquascape Update
I am liking the minor changes to the aquascape

I especially like that the cave is more open

I may tweak the right side a little, but after messing with it yesterday and adding new corals, I will wait a week or two before attempting that. I am not planning on adding or doing anything for the rest of August and just monitor and let everything mature and settle.

(I am getting Trachyphyllia fever thanks to @najer, @Robin Haselden, @Fudsey and @Brew12, but that will come much, much later).

 

[GoVols]

(I am getting Trachyphyllia fever thanks to @najer, @Robin Haselden, @Fudsey and @Brew12, but that will come much, much later).

Lol!!

 

[NY_Caveman]

The Duncans decided to make a late night appearance.

They look hungry. I will treat them to a spot feeding tomorrow.

 

[NY_Caveman]

This thread is getting long! Between the delays and the three tanks I went through, I wanted to make it a little easier for new followers. I edited my first post in this thread with a table of contents and a recap of everything going on currently. Check it out and let me know if it makes sense. Thanks!

 

[Fudsey]

Well that was a ton of work.....wanna do mine next

 

[NY_Caveman]

Well that was a ton of work.....wanna do mine next

Hey, great idea! A “build thread enhancement” business might net me some funds for livestock!

 

[Fudsey]

;Hilarious ;Hilarious ;Hilarious ;Hilarious

............................;Smuggrin

 

[NY_Caveman]

Speaking of funds, my setup cost me around $1,800. The retail value was $2,800 so I feel I made great use of sales, reward points and used equipment. Since I set up the tank I have added a bunch of small $20-30 pieces of equipment, the live rock and a few live specimens. Well, I updated the spreadsheet this weekend and the $600 additional I expected was closer to $1,000!

The moral of the story, reefing “stuff” adds up quickly!

 

[NY_Caveman]

I considered deleting that last post. I want to be honest about every part of my build including the cost. All of the retail prices are available online anyway for someone willing to do the work. I wanted to document a simple, reasonably priced reef.

That said, people have different ideas about money. Some feel weird discussing it. I respect that. I feel that cost is as important as any other aspect of my system’s planning and execution.

With that in mind, here is how I paid for my build. I sold two musical instruments

Gibson, 1962 Les Paul Jr.

Fender, 2000 Precision Bass

I had not played them that much since having kids. It seemed like a good trade at the time and still does.

 

[NY_Caveman]

The Duncans have been in for three days now and have not yet opened

(LOL, Pepper photobombing)

The skin looks healthy and the feeders come out at night. In is under low PAR and probably in the lowest flow spot in the tank. I know these corals are a bit of a “canary in a coal mine.” When I bought them, they had just arrived at the store, so they have been through a lot. I will continue to monitor. I think moving it now may just prolong its stress.

 

[Brew12]

The Duncans have been in for three days now and have not yet opened

(LOL, Pepper photobombing)

The skin looks healthy and the feeders come out at night. In is under low PAR and probably in the lowest flow spot in the tank. I know these corals are a bit of a “canary in a coal mine.” When I bought them, they had just arrived at the store, so they have been through a lot. I will continue to monitor. I think moving it now may just prolong its stress.

Is that peppermint photo bombing or trying to eat lunch?

 

[najer]

The Duncans have been in for three days now and have not yet opened

(LOL, Pepper photobombing)

The skin looks healthy and the feeders come out at night. In is under low PAR and probably in the lowest flow spot in the tank. I know these corals are a bit of a “canary in a coal mine.” When I bought them, they had just arrived at the store, so they have been through a lot. I will continue to monitor. I think moving it now may just prolong its stress.

Watch the skeleton flesh, if that starts to recede it may become a problem.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Is that peppermint photo bombing or trying to eat lunch?

I had just fed some mysis. He usually takes it in that area to keep what he caught from the bigger Cleaner Shrimp.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Watch the skeleton flesh, if that starts to recede it may become a problem.

Will do. It looks healthy to me, just does not want to come out and sway.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Worked very late tonight. Next week I start new hours. 10p-6am. ;Jawdrop

Some late night parameters

08/08/18
dKH = 9.8
NH3 = 0 ppm
NO3 = 2 ppm
PO4 = 0.47 ppm
pH = 7.8

The numbers are good in my opinion. PO4 is still elevated, but now trending lower. dKH is rising. Not sure why. A drop in NO3 from 4ppm to 2ppm is not enough for the rise I have seen. I note I am near the end of my salt bucket and did not test the last water change batch three days ago (only a 10% water change).

I have added a bit of life lately and seem to be seeing nothing negative from that. No algae issues I see so far, just some diatoms that already seem to be lessening. Overall I am satisfied for a new build.

I have not tested Calcium. Well, I tried several times, but the used Hanna kit I bought seems to be defective. I had a thread about it here. I have an ICP-OES test coming in so I will just wait on that. Just got a magnesium test kit too, but I will wait for the ICP to test.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Oh, and the Duncan’s feeders were out again tonight. I spot fed them a late night snack. A mix of Phytoplankton and Coral Frenzy 0.5mm pellets. They seemed very happy by their response. Everything about them seems healthy, so I will be patient about them opening fully.