My Big Beautiful Budget Breeder Build

[Retro Reefer]

Always looking sharp bud... is that a pavona on the rock with the acans?

thanks man.. that’s my Pavona minus a ear from chasing the clown around the tank

 

[RichtheReefer21]

thanks man.. that’s my Pavona minus a ear from chasing the clown around the tank

The Van Gaugh pavona! Haha

 

[Retro Reefer]

Maybe they are afraid of it - I would flip it too

I thought of that.. lol, honestly not something I would typically put in my tank but thought it would be cool if I can get it completely encrusted with my JD

 

[najer]

Pavona spam, the weir box one.

 

[Retro Reefer]

Pavona spam, the weir box one.

Nice! love the flame photo bombing the pic

 

[Retro Reefer]

Almost impossible for me to get a good picture of the mini me.. I did finally clean the glass, lots going on in there I couldn’t even see.. lol

 

[Retro Reefer]

My mini me show piece I love this stuff to bad it’s so invasive

 

[Barnabie Mejia]

I think in my 75g build I might isolate a rock away from the rest and put some of this on it cause I really like them but I don't want them to get everywhere.
I wonder how hard it is to remove it off rocks that you don't want it on? has anyone had experience doing that?

 

[Katrina71]

Xenia and gsp are both beautiful!

 

[Retro Reefer]

I think in my 75g build I might isolate a rock away from the rest and put some of this on it cause I really like them but I don't want them to get everywhere.
I wonder how hard it is to remove it off rocks that you don't want it on? has anyone had experience doing that?

welcome to my build thread @Barnabie Mejia ! They are tough to get off rocks once they get going, if you leave one tiny piece they will regrow with a vengeance even isolated on a rock island they will eventually make their way to your other rock work, little pieces will let go from main colony and find a new home.

 

[Retro Reefer]

So Im getting over a rough patch with my tank.. everything has been super mad for like a week, not sure if I let my nutrients fall to low or it was from all the kayos in the tank over the last couple weeks. I disrupted the tank pretty good chasing down the clown and all the while the Talbots continued their digging and turning things over up until Saturday.. I had multiple pieces completely covered in sand from them where you couldn’t even see the coral including my scoly, lobo and orange fungia :mad: they even knocked over my clam and spun it completely around facing the other way! ;Facepalm the tank was also very cloudy for several days (don’t run filter socks) from all the detritus being kicked up. The Talbots seem to have settled down for now so I did a water change over the weekend, tweaked my parameters a bit and threw lots of food into tank.. happy to report things are looking dramatically better today.

Still ramping up this morning, T5’s not on yet ..

 

[Barnabie Mejia]

what is a Talbot? I'm new to this stuff, even though I am on a really sharp learning curve, I don't know much about all fish and invertebrates… I know popular coral and fish, and I can count them on one hand haha. I googled it and found a Talbot damsel fish, but not sure if its the same thing.

 

[najer]

So Im getting over a rough patch with my tank.. everything has been super mad for like a week, not sure if I let my nutrients fall to low or it was from all the kayos in the tank over the last couple weeks. I disrupted the tank pretty good chasing down the clown and all the while the Talbots continued their digging and turning things over up until Saturday.. I had multiple pieces completely covered in sand from them where you couldn’t even see the coral including my scoly, lobo and orange fungia .. they even knocked over my clam and spun it completely around facing the other way! the tank was also very cloudy for several days (don’t run filter socks) from all the detritus being kicked up. The Talbots seem to have settled down for now so I did a water change over the weekend, tweaked my parameters a bit and threw lots of food into tank.. happy to report things are looking dramatically better today.

Still ramping up this morning, T5’s not on yet ..

With you on the big interactions, I have two cave gobies (pair?), the big one can move 2 - 4 lbs of sand a day and move 5 inch corals if it gets the other one to help, constantly bits in the water column, I am keeping a close eye on my sps, so far so good!

 

[Retro Reefer]

what is a Talbot? I'm new to this stuff, even though I am on a really sharp learning curve, I don't know much about all fish and invertebrates… I know popular coral and fish, and I can count them on one hand haha. I googled it and found a Talbot damsel fish, but not sure if its the same thing.

yes it’s a damsel.. supposed to be a little more docile compared to other damsels however I didn’t read anything about them being psycho.. lol

 

[Retro Reefer]

With you on the big interactions, I have two cave gobies (pair?), the big one can move 2 - 4 lbs of sand a day and move 5 inch corals if it gets the other one to help, constantly bits in the water column, I am keeping a close eye on my sps, so far so good!

yes that’s why I said potentially a nutrient issue because other than the corals actually being knocked over or buried I wouldn’t think all the stuff floating around in the water would have such a negative effect on the tank as a whole but virtually everything in the tank looked really bad and I was thinking I was going to lose a few pieces.. my scoly had literally turned itself inside out, my gorg’s didn’t open at all for several days and it also appeared that the skeleton was sticking through my orange fungia when I uncovered it.. and this is supposed to be a relaxing hobby ;Hilarious

 

[Retro Reefer]

YOU KNOW YOU HAVE ISSUES WHEN...

I grabbed a bite for lunch and swung by my LFS for some food, as I was enjoying my hamburger I suddenly realized something was terribly wrong with me.. lol

food for tank = $57.00

Food for myself = $5.00

 

[RichtheReefer21]

YOU KNOW YOU HAVE ISSUES WHEN...

I grabbed a bite for lunch and swung by my LFS for some food, as I was enjoying my hamburger I suddenly realized something was terribly wrong with me.. lol

food for tank = $57.00

Food for myself = $5.00

57? That same pile of frozen is about 30$ for me. Yikes. Order online if ur paying that much.

 

[Retro Reefer]

57? That same pile of frozen is about 30$ for me. Yikes. Order online if ur paying that much.

don’t worry man I don’t pay to much for anything.. lol. The pkg cubes are about $6 each, LRS was around $10, bottle of pods $20 and a pkg of freeze dried shrimp not shown and of course tax..

I haven’t honestly priced any of that on line but I like to support my LFS even if I pay a little more sometimes.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

I haven’t honestly priced any of that on line but I like to support my LFS even if I pay a little more sometimes.

I used to feel this way, until I got laid off and had to trim my spending everywhere. I didnt notice the pods the first time around. That brings it up a bit.

Either way. I hope I have a reef as colorful and balanced as urs some day. Keep swimmin

 

[Retro Reefer]

Thanks man.. balanced is probably an appropriate term because I feel like I’m walking a tightrope ;Hilarious I’m like perpetually on the verge major algae outbreak but when I cut my nutrients things get mad quickly.

thankfully very little is growing on rock at this point but I need to replenish my CUC soon, you can see the back wall engulfed in hair algae in this picture..