Megabite's 180 Reef - Round 2

[MegabiteOG]

And lastly the Snipers Blue. Besides the base starting to encrust, not much going on. Color and PE are good though.

Placed on Rock 3/13/26 to today (28 days)

 

[MegabiteOG]

A little feeding action. I love that all that turns into coral food once the fish "process" it. The kids are growing up so fast.

 

[kingranch2003]

My tank is 6 months old today!

It's been 6 months today since I first put water and rock in this tank. I've been blessed with things going very well and in large part thanks to the R2R community and all the info and support on here. I don't think I'd be this far along in a relatively short time without you!

Special thanks goes to @Miami Reef (RIP) as I've followed a lot of what he was doing in my tank. Another special thanks goes to those that have frequented, offered support, and always comment on this build starting with @That Crusso Kid, @skey44, @Red_Beard, @kingranch2003, @08TRDOFFROAD, and many others that have followed.

On to a few timeline pics. Thanks all for the support. This hobby wouldn't be as fulfilling without you!

9/28/25

10/6/25

10/9/25

10/14/25

11/7/25

12/21/25

1/6/26

2/14/26

3/4/26

3/26/26

Today (4/9/26)

This is what it's all about man. Great stuff! Seeing you turn an empty glass box into one of the finest reef scenes a person can create in only 6 months, has been quite enjoyable!

Congrats and looking forward to the year mark brother!

 

[kingranch2003]

And lastly the Snipers Blue. Besides the base starting to encrust, not much going on. Color and PE are good though.

Placed on Rock 3/13/26 to today (28 days)

Those look really nice though man. Right now mine is 40% snipers blue and 60% snipers white lol.

 

[MegabiteOG]

This is what it's all about man. Great stuff! Seeing you turn an empty glass box into one of the finest reef scenes a person can create in only 6 months, has been quite enjoyable!

Congrats and looking forward to the year mark brother!

Thanks man. It has been a blast starting a reef again after so many years.

 

[tbrown]

And lastly the Snipers Blue. Besides the base starting to encrust, not much going on. Color and PE are good though.

Placed on Rock 3/13/26 to today (28 days)

From my understanding if they start basing out they tend to not go vertical much until they're done basing out.

 

[MegabiteOG]

From my understanding if they start basing out they tend to not go vertical much until they're done basing out.

My understanding as well. Just about all the SPS I've thrown in this tank puts down a huge base before growing upwards much. High flow possibly?

 

[MegabiteOG]

My understanding as well. Just about all the SPS I've thrown in this tank puts down a huge base before growing upwards much. High flow possibly?

@tbrown or anyone one else that would like to weigh in.

Just took a few top down pics as examples on the base. The last one is the newest of these, but you can see how the base continues to grow.

 

[Red_Beard]

My understanding as well. Just about all the SPS I've thrown in this tank puts down a huge base before growing upwards much. High flow possibly?

I have wondered that too. I think it is a combination of things. I think pH and kH play a big role there too, along with lighting flow and particulates in the water column

 

[tbrown]

My understanding as well. Just about all the SPS I've thrown in this tank puts down a huge base before growing upwards much. High flow possibly?

Maybe. Makes sense. It wants more stability.

 

[rzimm33]

My understanding as well. Just about all the SPS I've thrown in this tank puts down a huge base before growing upwards much. High flow possibly?

This is also my understanding. I saw a trick on a video from @Reefer Matt where you can “trick” the acro by putting it on a tall frag plug. Once the acro fills the plug top, there’s a higher likely hood it will start to grow upwards instead of continuing to build a base.

 

[MegabiteOG]

This is also my understanding. I saw a trick on a video from @Reefer Matt where you can “trick” the acro by putting it on a tall frag plug. Once the acro fills the plug top, there’s a higher likely hood it will start to grow upwards instead of continuing to build a base.

Thanks rz. I’ve read that as well in a couple of places. Seems like it makes sense, but just don’t want to mount that way. The bases are beautiful though, so I will let them do their thing.

 

[MegabiteOG]

Four more top down photos of corals on the other side of the tank.

 

[skey44]

Bases for days man… after about a year a lot of mine sent up sticks from the bases that suddenly outgrew the original part of the frag. Seems pretty common. I think it’s resource competition based. The number one limited resource on the reef is surface area. Why waste effort growing up when you can expand your footprint chewing up more valuable space on the reef. It’s almost like a country home with acreage is a based out acro vs an inner city high rise if there’s no room to grow out!
Plants will do this too. Growing tall and spindly if planted close together but becoming full and round if spread out.
I’m sure there lots of other factors but that’s my hypothesis for today.

 

[skey44]

PS your tank looks so amazing. Love the feeding frenzy!

 

[tbrown]

I tricked my Acroberry and Pink Cadillac into growing vertical by mounting then horizontal instead of vertical.

 

[MegabiteOG]

Bases for days man… after about a year a lot of mine sent up sticks from the bases that suddenly outgrew the original part of the frag. Seems pretty common. I think it’s resource competition based. The number one limited resource on the reef is surface area. Why waste effort growing up when you can expand your footprint chewing up more valuable space on the reef. It’s almost like a country home with acreage is a based out acro vs an inner city high rise if there’s no room to grow out!
Plants will do this too. Growing tall and spindly if planted close together but becoming full and round if spread out.
I’m sure there lots of other factors but that’s my hypothesis for today.

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for your thoughts and insite!

PS your tank looks so amazing. Love the feeding frenzy!

Thanks Scott.

 

[MegabiteOG]

@tbrown - The Pink Caddy is positioned at a bit of an angle, but not horizontal. I will try that with a future frag.

Thanks.

 

[rzimm33]

Four more top down photos of corals on the other side of the tank.

Super gorgeous my friend! I especially like the hairy green one!

 

[MegabiteOG]

Super gorgeous my friend! I especially like the hairy green one!

Thanks! I love the fuzzy ones as well. Having some in different places really helps to see what your flow is doing too. I use them alot for to adjust PH placement/ direction and intensity.