JLUR's 90 Gallon Mixed Reef

[JLUR_]

I've been meaning to document my tank growth and what better way to do that than with a build thread?

I mostly intend to keep softies and designer zoas but since I'm not able to keep myself away from some of the monti's and SPS currently on the market I'll throw in some of those, too. Live sales seem to get the better of me sometimes... Looking at you @TopShelfAquatics...

Tank online 6/1/19
Cycle complete 7/1/19
First corals added 7/9/19

I'm currently running the following:

90g Reef Ready - 48"x13"x24"
40b sump w/ chaeto fuge section
Reefbreeders Photon48-V2+
2x Jebao RW-8
120 lbs reef saver rock
80 lbs arag alive special grade
Syncra Silent 3.0
Reef Octopus Classic 200INT
2x 300W Finnex HMO
Kessil H80 Tuna Flora on Chaeto in sump
HW Marinemix salt
Tunze Osmolator 3155 ATO

 

[JLUR_]

My first additions to the tank were zoas/palys from CherryCorals and the pieces that I received were top notch. Dipping in CoralRX revealed no hitchhikers and once in the tank they opened immediately and have been doing well since. I added:

CC Chemical Romance
Armageddon Palys
Nirvanas
CC Sky Fire
Hot Hawaiian Palys
KH Sunburst Palys
Magician Palys
OG Utter Chaos Palys
WWC Purple Monster Palys

 

[JLUR_]

The second addition included 5 unnamed aussie ultra acans from Austin Aqua Farms from a sale that I couldn't pass up on.

 

[JLUR_]

Thanks to a TopShelfAquatics live sale last weekend I have a new order arriving 7/19 with 17 new pieces. I managed to score 4 pieces of $1 frags including the TSA Infinity Gauntlet mushroom. The list also includes:

Chunky Duncan
TSA Fruity Pebbles Monti
TSA Megachrome Monti
TSA Sour Apple Monti
TSA Jedi Mindtrick
TSA Death Spiral
TSA Purple Rain Acro
Bird of Paradise
Bam Bams
Mohawk Zoas
TSA Infinity Gauntlet FOR $1
TSA Key Lime Galaxea
Premium GSP
TSA Lemon Twist Paly
TSA Frozen Apples
Gatorade Zoas
Pandora Zoas

 

[JLUR_]

Future stock list includes the following:

Bonded Pair Black Ice Oscellaris
Azure Damsel
Royal Gramma Basslet
Purple Firefish
Six-Line Wrasse
Chalk Bass
Starry Blenny
Kaudern's Cardinalfish
Dispar Anthias

Halle Berry Zoas
Atomic Sunrise Zoas
Starry Night Palys
Mohican Sun Zoas
Candy Apple Red Zoas
Everlasting Gobstopper Zoas
Hyper Jubilee Palys
Superstar Zoas
Buttmuncher Palys
Illuminati Zoas
Agave Palys

 

[JLUR_]

1 of my 2 emerald crabs molted last night. I found his carapace on the sand this morning and found him nearby looking much bigger. That's just what I needed, an even bigger crab hellbent on bulldozing all my zoa plugs from the rockwork overnight.

I've been getting some diatoms as of late. I notice some small brown spots all over the rockwork late in the afternoon but the CUC seems to mow it down overnight and they do a pretty good job of it. Water tests reveal nothing out of the ordinary to fuel these diatom blooms except that I can't test for silicate. All of the rock in the tank is new reefsaver rock so I think that's what's leeching the silicate and fueling the bloom.

Ordered some Red Sea liquid calcium last night. My Reef Crystals white-bucket makes good water but it's lacking in calcium. I switched to HW Marinemix this week but I'm currently sitting at 290 ppm calcium so I'll be supplementing calcium for a couple days. The plan is to bring the calcium up slowly by 35 ppm per day for 4 days and then maintain with Kalkwasser in the ATO. I will be monitoring KH and Mag levels while I bring the calcium up.

Everything in the tank is doing well currently. My zoas are popping new heads left and right and the frogspawn and GSP have exploded! Really the only reason I'm boosting calcium is for coralline algae growth.

Update on the $1 Infinity Gauntlet shroom: After some initial dieoff from shipping it has stabilized. I caught an emerald crab harassing it and after a few **** pokes with a "discouragement" stick he has since left it alone. For such a small frag it really pops under the actinics.

 

[JLUR_]

After dosing Red Sea Foundation Calcium for the past 4 days, 50 ml at a time, my calcium levels are now where I want them to be at 430 ppm. Alk and Ph varied only slightly over this period, each by about 0.1. Mag is up to about 1500 ppm from 1400 but shouldn't present any issues with snail lethargy. Speaking of snails, I moved a few "volunteer" nassarius to the sump to combat some diatoms/GHA in the chaeto section.

First fish are on their way!
I've got 2 new ORA black ice snowflake clowns on order from LA and they should be here tomorrow. I set up my QT tank this past weekend using WC water, an internal filter, 50w heater and some 3" PVC connections for cover.

I shuffled some zoas around this weekend. My magicians were bleaching out whereas my utter choas were reaching a little so I switched their places and both seem to have responded positively to this change. The UC have popped a new head and it's growing nicely.

I noticed something new on my glass this past weekend as well. Looks like a medusa hydroid and I'm kinda bummed that these guys will ultimately end up in my filter because they're kinda cool to watch.

2 other recent additions that I haven't mentioned previously:

Leonardo de Pinchy:

Jiminy the Acid Wash Bubble Tip Anemone:

 

[JLUR_]

Well, after the first pair were cancelled by LA my new Black Ice Snowflake Clowns are here! Just dropped them into quarantine and they are doing well so far.

 

[Tahoe61]

That's really a nice looking system.
Those are big nice colonies that you acquired.

Welcome to reef2reef by the way.

 

[JLUR_]

I ordered some new pieces from Cherry Corals and AquaSD today. I've been extremely happy with the stuff that I've received from Cherry Corals and will keep purchasing from him for the foreseeable future.

ASD Blinded By The Light Acan
ASD Royal Flush Acan
ASD Grafting Micromussa
Aussie Lightning Tips Torch
ASD Awol Cyphastrea

JF Tinkerbell Palys
Blue Lagoon Palys
Agave Palys
CC Solaris Palys
Goblins On Fire Zoas
Rose Nebula Palys
2 Radical Ricordeas
Aussie Micromussa

I also added Reef Roids and LRS Reef Frenzy to my feeding rotation and everything seems to love the mixture of foods. I've seen a little new growth in the past week that I think I can attribute to the change.

Lastly I added 2 large live rocks to the sump to promote coralline algae growth in the display and I relocated the GSP to it's own little island in an effort to keep it isolated.

 

[Bleigh]

The second addition included 5 unnamed aussie ultra acans from Austin Aqua Farms from a sale that I couldn't pass up on.

Those are some nice sized colonies!

 

[JLUR_]

The month old 10g quarantine tank sprung a small leak so I transferred Blizz and Flurry to the display tank. I hope that a combination of being in Prazipro/CP for 72 hours plus being shipped direct from ORA will minimize my risk for disease in the DT. I wish I could have completed their QT period just to be safe but the leak called for desperate measures. They're eating just fine and show no outward symptoms at least.

 

[JLUR_]

Those are some nice sized colonies!

I'm not sure why AustinAquaFarms was trying to get rid of them but I managed to pick them up for about $40 each. Kinda hard to turn that down lol.

 

[Bleigh]

I'm not sure why AustinAquaFarms was trying to get rid of them but I managed to pick them up for about $40 each. Kinda hard to turn that down lol.

That’s an amazing price!

 

[JLUR_]

I've been a bit too overzealous with nutrient export and my nitrates/phosphates have bottomed out giving way to dinos. I've cut the skimmer off for now and skipped my last water change in an effort to get some nitrates back. My cleanup crew is doing a decent enough job at preventing a full runaway but I got lax in testing. Lesson learned.

In other news the $1 Infinity Gauntlet Bounce from TSA has doubled in size to about a dime in the past week or so. I had some die back after shipping and it took a while to settle in but it's growing now. Can't wait to see it grown all the way out!

 

[Bleigh]

I've been a bit too overzealous with nutrient export and my nitrates/phosphates have bottomed out giving way to dinos. I've cut the skimmer off for now and skipped my last water change in an effort to get some nitrates back. My cleanup crew is doing a decent enough job at preventing a full runaway but I got lax in testing. Lesson learned.

In other news the $1 Infinity Gauntlet Bounce from TSA has doubled in size to about a dime in the past week or so. I had some die back after shipping and it took a while to settle in but it's growing now. Can't wait to see it grown all the way out!

This is why I want one of the mind stream trackers. I'd love to be able to see something was moving directly than indirectly by symptoms.

 

[JLUR_]

I've been a bit too overzealous with nutrient export and my nitrates/phosphates have bottomed out giving way to dinos. I've cut the skimmer off for now and skipped my last water change in an effort to get some nitrates back. My cleanup crew is doing a decent enough job at preventing a full runaway but I got lax in testing. Lesson learned.

In other news the $1 Infinity Gauntlet Bounce from TSA has doubled in size to about a dime in the past week or so. I had some die back after shipping and it took a while to settle in but it's growing now. Can't wait to see it grown all the way out!

The dinos took off after my last post and ticked off a lot of my zoas and covered a lot of my rockwork. I tried to bring nutrients back up with heavy feeding but that wasn't working. My zoas seemed to like it, though, and many have popped off new heads faster that what I've seen previously. I'm happy to report that after dosing phosphate via Brightwell Neophos and turning off my lights for 48 hours about 95% of the dinos have disappeared. I'll keep dosing phosphates to keep 0.03ppm and will probably leave my lights off another day just to make absolutely sure that the last stragglers are killed off.

My magicians bleached out due to the lack of nutrients in the water column but other than a little color loss they look fine.