Lincoln's Reef

[Dub_G]

Looking good so far. Cool that it calms him down. I know it does for me after a day at the office.

 

[Bob Weigant]

I hope so [emoji4] Its really uncanny how much he enjoys the tank. The other night my wife said he was really fussy and the only thing that calmed him down was sitting in front of the tank with him and letting him watch the fish.

sounds like myself

 

[smilinteddy]

Got double single arm tank mounts for my hydra 26 HD's and it's a marked improvement from one hydra 26 HD on a gooseneck mount...

Here is the before...

 

[smilinteddy]

The during...

 

[smilinteddy]

And the after.

These mounts are really solidly built and look great. Big improvement over the flex mount for my application. Being able to feed the cord through the rail channels is a nice perk I was not aware of.

 

[ReeferReefer]

Looking super clean! That is a ton of light for this tank lol. You are making me wish I went with Hydras instead of Kessils!

Will this be an SPS tank?

 

[smilinteddy]

Looking super clean! That is a ton of light for this tank lol. You are making me wish I went with Hydras instead of Kessils!

Will this be an SPS tank?

It is a ton of light [emoji28] I got a sweet deal on the hydras used, and it was even sweeter if I bought them both. I actually found that with the one mounted in the middle I had some shading issues at the sides, and with the two there clearly is not [emoji6]

When I bought them I figured if I only needed one I could save the other one for another tank that I am planning in the future when our basement is finished. I am already starting a "big tank" savings fund even as I'm building out this tank. [emoji28]

I would love to do some sps in this tank and maybe a clam or two, so I wanted to make sure there would be plenty of light.

 

[smilinteddy]

Made a trip to a LFS called Pet Connection in Livonia, Mi. Nice LFS with good selection and prices. Really nice looking fish and I like that they put their date of arrival for the fish right on the tank next to the price. Lots of frags that are pretty reasonably priced too. Will probably be back when it's time to add some more fish to the reef. We left with some nassarius snails for today.

Wish I took more pics but I was the baby transport and my wife only got a couple pics of Link checking out the tanks.

 

[smilinteddy]

Our nassarius snail friends are in!

Here is a pic of them being acclimated. I took a video of them being added to the tank but can't seem to figure out how to get videos to post here yet...

 

[ReeferReefer]

Our nassarius snail friends are in!

Here is a pic of them being acclimated. I took a video of them being added to the tank but can't seem to figure out how to get videos to post here yet...

Cool dudes for sure. Awesome to see them come out of the sand.

 

[smilinteddy]

Some exciting new developments today. [emoji4]

 

[smilinteddy]

Got a shipment from Pacific East Aquaculture today. I was very impressed with their customer service and attention to detail every step of the way. I will post a vendor feedback post when I have reached the requisite 30 day mark, but for now I will chronicle here.

After I placed my order I was contacted by Rachel to arrange a delivery date. I initially misunderstood the shipping options on their website so they contacted me to ask me what I wanted to do. If I wanted to get the order shipped out right away I would need to pay a $16 Saturday shipping fee, or I could choose another weekday for free shipping. I was able to schedule the delivery for a day that I knew I would be able to attend to the delivery in a timely fashion.

I asked for the order to be shipped on Tuesday for a Wednesday arrival. (All their shipments are sent overnight air) I was notified both by UPS and PEA via email about my delivery.

 

[smilinteddy]

The packaging was very well done. The box was sealed well on the outside with tape.

I was impressed that the inner flaps were also sealed with tape.

 

[smilinteddy]

Upon opening the flaps I found that the entire contents of the box was in a large plastic bag (with a PEA notepad to boot!)

Opened the bag and lifted the styrofoam panel to find some newspaper layered over the bags of corals.

This order was for a clam and a bunch of frags to stock the reef tank. I took advantage of a build your own frag pack, an sps 3 pack, a number of add on $5 "nuggets" (qualify for one $5 nugget for every $100 spent) a clam, and a special surprise frag that I received for being a premium member (purchased for $30 a year)

It was a lot of little bags...

 

[smilinteddy]

Each frag was triple bagged. There was an outer bag, an inner bag filled with water, and then the frag itself was in another bag left open and folded down in the bag of water... The innermost bag formed a sort of cushion around the frag, but still allowed the bag water to get to the frag.

These frags are (as near as I can tell from the pictures)

Electric Plesiastrea

Elephant Skin Pachyseris

Dragon Soul Favia

Purple Stylophora

Sun King Psammacora

Green Polyp Stylophora

Red Panda Favia (I think)

Red Skirt Zoas

PEA choice birdnest

 

[smilinteddy]

Wait, there's more...
Encrusting porites

Purple Stylophora

Yellow Fever stylocoenellia (I think)

Blood pool Monti

Green Monti

And last but certainly not least, the most glam clam you ever did see!

 

[smilinteddy]

After acclimating everything went in the tank.

(Dangerous I know, but all of these items came from one source and are aqua cultured in their facility... That's my way of justifying adding everything and not having a qt tank)

 

[smilinteddy]

I flicked the lights on super low power just to get a couple pics of some of the corals in the tank.

I've got to say, I was super impressed with everything and with Pacific East Aquaculture from start to finish.

I suspect that any issues with the stuff I got from them will be my own fault (adding too much, too fast, etc.) But I would happily order from then again with the utmost confidence.

 

[smilinteddy]

This morning as the lights came on in acclimation mode it was nice to see most of the corals with good polyp extension.

This stylophora is super fuzzy looking

This pachyseris was exhibiting it's bright green dots nicely.

Green Monti with nice visible PE

Two more stylos and bird'snest with visible polyp extension

Yellow fever stylocoenellia and sun King Psammacora with visible polyp extension

It's nice to see that they feel good enough to give the ol' polyps a stretch [emoji4]

 

[ReeferReefer]

They are all looking good! I love the stylo in particular. They have such good color.

With all these sticks you have now, how are you planning on managing Ca and Alk? What are you going to use for testing?