Paul’s Rubbermaid Reef

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Graffiti Spot

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The rock is here already. I got 40 pounds which is about two 5 gallon buckets worth. The only concern for me is mantis shrimp so I have them sitting in some buckets with high salinity water. Hopefully if there are any in there they will come out. I have a tiny powerhead that I will move from each bucket every now and then just to keep the water moving some. I hope the sponges make it, there are some nice red ones on there.
The rock looks pretty good with lots of life on it at first glance. Lots of big brittle starfish are still alive so that’s a good sign. I thought It was being shipped in water but it was just in wet paper. Doesn’t stink at all so I am thinking the soak in the buckets will dislodge anything that could cause issues. A few big bubbles of bubble algae and some other normal algae’s are on the rock butt that’s all easy to pluck off. I am honestly not even worried about it and will just skim over it before I put it in the tank.
Hopefully later I will have the energy to move some corals to a tub and start working on the tank. Looks like I might have to pull a few rocks out to get all 40 pounds in the tank. I will just remove the ones most covered in bubble algae since the same rocks always seem to get covered no matter what.

C3DB9CD4-DD83-4A1B-98B1-6D1A91DA9844.jpeg
 

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The rock is here already. I got 40 pounds which is about two 5 gallon buckets worth. The only concern for me is mantis shrimp so I have them sitting in some buckets with high salinity water. Hopefully if there are any in there they will come out. I have a tiny powerhead that I will move from each bucket every now and then just to keep the water moving some. I hope the sponges make it, there are some nice red ones on there.
The rock looks pretty good with lots of life on it at first glance. Lots of big brittle starfish are still alive so that’s a good sign. I thought It was being shipped in water but it was just in wet paper. Doesn’t stink at all so I am thinking the soak in the buckets will dislodge anything that could cause issues. A few big bubbles of bubble algae and some other normal algae’s are on the rock butt that’s all easy to pluck off. I am honestly not even worried about it and will just skim over it before I put it in the tank.
Hopefully later I will have the energy to move some corals to a tub and start working on the tank. Looks like I might have to pull a few rocks out to get all 40 pounds in the tank. I will just remove the ones most covered in bubble algae since the same rocks always seem to get covered no matter what.

C3DB9CD4-DD83-4A1B-98B1-6D1A91DA9844.jpeg
They look delicious
 
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The tangs should think so too. I decided to clean them and check for whatever I can find in the rocks before I put them in, just to ease my mind. I am going to work on that in a bit. It’s going to be a lot of work, my back is going to hurt later for sure... That is one thing I hate about this tank. Working on it you gotta be hunched over. If I did it again I would raise them up slightly on stands.
 
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I decided to let the rock sit in a trash can for an extra day to make sure any die off was not going to be in the tank. I found a whole family of pistol shrimp in one rock but I have no experience with them. The male and female are almost 2”, I just don’t want them to cause problems with fish or corals. Everything else looks good, nothing else wierd found except for a tiny white fuzzy crab with black eyes and an orangish crest on his back, that I threw in my skimmer bottom to be safe. I tested the ammonia and it’s zero and doesn’t stink so I think I am good to go.
 
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So I got 2/3 of the rock out in the tank and it’s really helped create more space for corals to be placed better. It’s going to take some work to get the rest of the rock in and then to mount the corals where I want but I will update when I finish.

On a side note I tested nutrients today since po4 has been kinda high and 12 hours after adding the rock po4 reads 7 on my Hanna! Wow, I am not sure if the new rock sucked up that much po4 but I can’t imagine it dropped naturally over the last few weeks I tested it. I knew I should have tested it before I put the rock in but I was very tired. I think I am going to have to keep a close eye on nutrients during the next few weeks. I am so happy for it to be back to normal levels though. Nitrates are dropping again too since adding some vodka to the vinegar. My goal is to have natural seawater readings for nutrients. The only other thing I did yesterday was unhook the cheato reactor since it really wasn’t doing much of anything and was just an extra pump in the tank and outlet on the wall

I am also hoping I can continue to use dosing pumps and that I don’t have to switch to a calcium reactor at any point in the near future. But if I do I have made my own out of a 4’ piece of 5” acrylic tube and will just need to glue it together. I thought about researching the automatic co2 injection system like the destaco reactors and diy one myself but I doubt I will have time if it comes to it. I guess I could get Adam from artfully acrylic to make it for me since he is right next door basically.

I really appreciate everyone who has commented on the tank and everyone that’s following. I didn’t know if it would interest many people since I don’t have top of the line equipment and all that jazz and my methods are somewhat dated. But on that note, if I saw the opportunity to benifit my reef with anything new I would have bought it. I am hoping I can keep it going and show how nice these old school lights and methods color acropora.
 

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So I got 2/3 of the rock out in the tank and it’s really helped create more space for corals to be placed better. It’s going to take some work to get the rest of the rock in and then to mount the corals where I want but I will update when I finish.

On a side note I tested nutrients today since po4 has been kinda high and 12 hours after adding the rock po4 reads 7 on my Hanna! Wow, I am not sure if the new rock sucked up that much po4 but I can’t imagine it dropped naturally over the last few weeks I tested it. I knew I should have tested it before I put the rock in but I was very tired. I think I am going to have to keep a close eye on nutrients during the next few weeks. I am so happy for it to be back to normal levels though. Nitrates are dropping again too since adding some vodka to the vinegar. My goal is to have natural seawater readings for nutrients. The only other thing I did yesterday was unhook the cheato reactor since it really wasn’t doing much of anything and was just an extra pump in the tank and outlet on the wall

I am also hoping I can continue to use dosing pumps and that I don’t have to switch to a calcium reactor at any point in the near future. But if I do I have made my own out of a 4’ piece of 5” acrylic tube and will just need to glue it together. I thought about researching the automatic co2 injection system like the destaco reactors and diy one myself but I doubt I will have time if it comes to it. I guess I could get Adam from artfully acrylic to make it for me since he is right next door basically.

I really appreciate everyone who has commented on the tank and everyone that’s following. I didn’t know if it would interest many people since I don’t have top of the line equipment and all that jazz and my methods are somewhat dated. But on that note, if I saw the opportunity to benifit my reef with anything new I would have bought it. I am hoping I can keep it going and show how nice these old school lights and methods color acropora.
What do you keep your alk at?
 
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7-8 normally but i let it drift up to 10 since the nutrients went up, not on purpose really I just figured it would happen and didn’t check it for a while. The acros obviously stopped growing like they were so now I will probably lower the dosing and let it drop back to normal. I will probably be on a weekly water change schedule until things perk up.
 
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Thanks guys! Do you think it’s a mille? I am confused with that one. I am probably going to mount it in a different space because it’s about to touch what’s around it. I was going to put the other three rocks in the tank today but I have had them just sitting in a bucket with low flow for two days and forgot to change the water out last night. I am defiantly moving some corals around though. A few I think are the same pieces and I am going to mount them together and hope I am right haha...
 

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Thanks guys! Do you think it’s a mille? I am confused with that one. I am probably going to mount it in a different space because it’s about to touch what’s around it. I was going to put the other three rocks in the tank today but I have had them just sitting in a bucket with low flow for two days and forgot to change the water out last night. I am defiantly moving some corals around though. A few I think are the same pieces and I am going to mount them together and hope I am right haha...
Everything definitely looks good bud. Where is estomago?
 
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The tanks coming along ok and I finally got nitrate back down to “zero”. I was getting worried it wouldn’t drop but I started adding three capfuls of vodka once a day and that really seemed to boost the bacteria to get things back to normal. I haven’t tested po4 yet but it was high for a while now so I have been adding some stump remover to lower it while I am getting clear readings on salifert tests for nitrate. Also finally able to try out the pohls extra since nutrients went back to normal. Yes, close to zero is normal guys :)
Corals are doing fine and I have been putting any smaller fragments that are not attached to anything on some fishing line and hanging them to grow. This should help give a nice uniform growth pattern and hopefully color the pieces well and I would think they would grow a little quicker this way since lights hitting them from all angles. Time will tell though. This has opened up some room for other corals to grow thankfully and I can probably find enough frags to hang one more run of frags.
The hanging fragment idea really has me wanting to try growing corals this way in a bunch of large stock tanks but maybe I can experiment with it more if I get a place with enough space one day. For now it will just for fun.
The only thing that’s been a little wierd and annoying is some funny looking bubble like algae that doesn’t pop. I am not really familiar with it but it’s clusters and grows from a single point and is so hard to rip off the rocks. That and normal bubble algae I have been manually removing so it doesn’t get out of control and smother corals from the base.
The colors are coming around more to my liking with the new 14k ushio bulbs and that is making me happy for sure. Colors are much more bold and bright from what I can tell but now are changing some due to the nutrient drop.
Here is how I hung the fragments.
53662D2E-DFE4-4A1B-8531-719DD5B41C32.jpeg
 

Brandon McHenry

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The tanks coming along ok and I finally got nitrate back down to “zero”. I was getting worried it wouldn’t drop but I started adding three capfuls of vodka once a day and that really seemed to boost the bacteria to get things back to normal. I haven’t tested po4 yet but it was high for a while now so I have been adding some stump remover to lower it while I am getting clear readings on salifert tests for nitrate. Also finally able to try out the pohls extra since nutrients went back to normal. Yes, close to zero is normal guys :)
Corals are doing fine and I have been putting any smaller fragments that are not attached to anything on some fishing line and hanging them to grow. This should help give a nice uniform growth pattern and hopefully color the pieces well and I would think they would grow a little quicker this way since lights hitting them from all angles. Time will tell though. This has opened up some room for other corals to grow thankfully and I can probably find enough frags to hang one more run of frags.
The hanging fragment idea really has me wanting to try growing corals this way in a bunch of large stock tanks but maybe I can experiment with it more if I get a place with enough space one day. For now it will just for fun.
The only thing that’s been a little wierd and annoying is some funny looking bubble like algae that doesn’t pop. I am not really familiar with it but it’s clusters and grows from a single point and is so hard to rip off the rocks. That and normal bubble algae I have been manually removing so it doesn’t get out of control and smother corals from the base.
The colors are coming around more to my liking with the new 14k ushio bulbs and that is making me happy for sure. Colors are much more bold and bright from what I can tell but now are changing some due to the nutrient drop.
Here is how I hung the fragments.
53662D2E-DFE4-4A1B-8531-719DD5B41C32.jpeg
I’d love to see the results of the hanging frags!
 
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Graffiti Spot

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I will get some better pics soon so I can show what they look like before they start growing in that position. I forget who the last person was to use this method but it was just a few frags that I can remember. I wonder how many I could stretch across a tank at different levels while all of them still getting light. I would imagine you could make use of space a lot better like this than with frag racks. Since the corals swing and spin they would get light even if another one is above it some.
I always wanted to design something that would rotate a rod in the tank that you could mount corals on so they get light on all sides and grow out in all directions but haven’t thought of any really good ideas for it yet. I wonder if there are any slow turn pumps that are tiny and able to have a decent bit of power enough to do this inside a tank.
 
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I have been seeing a new algae or plant pop up in a number of spots in my tank. It grows really quick and is quite annoying. I have never dealt with something like this and hope it doesn’t become a problem because bubble algae is enough work for me to deal with. It’s dark green and looks like codium from the pics I have seen but it branches a lot and grows from one spot outward. It’s base is really tough to break in order to remove it and doesn’t fully come out and just regrows. Trying to find an ID on it if anyone is familiar please speak up. It must have came in on some indo plugs or on the Florida cultured rock but that’s only been in for two months.

The hanging frags are acclimating ok but I am having trouble getting them to stay in place and need to find a better knot to tie the to the main string with. I picked up a few indo pieces from asd one being a cool Florida I haven’t grown and always wanted to grow and I even picked up one of the crazy expensive tenuis they had. They all came in fairly rough but should be ok after a month or so hopefully. The tenuis is very cool and I am curious how it will turn out since I haven’t tried this color variant before. It’s got some nice orange and pinks in it. Even the standard looking ones normally turn pretty nice. I will include pics of the algae if anyone can ID it and I will throw in a pic of the tenuis they took under all blues. Hopefully it does well under this bright white lights.
There are a few pieces that are having a hard time adjusting to the new ushio bulbs, but I think I just need to lower my alk and things should perk up. I am also fighting detritus in some spots and am thinking about replacing the weak reefbreeders pumps with mp40s or an mp60 since they are just sitting here collecting dust. I am still just letting things go. A few corals are touching but I am going to let them touch and see how things turn out. I lost a few pieces in the rocks and a couple didn’t take to the new light and nutrient drop and died. I am just assuming that was the cause.

This is the asd pic they took before it came to me. Mine will be much different I am sure... anyone who got some of these tenuis recently I would love to see some pics, feel free to post them here.
8B5F392F-490A-4BAB-BE65-EFB50C6DA670.jpeg


Here is the “algae” I am dealing with...
F67D7CCB-9328-4C8D-9D2F-884C532244AD.jpeg

0361F200-63C4-468C-9D85-B68BCDCF9D4D.jpeg
 

Charlie’s Frags

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I have been seeing a new algae or plant pop up in a number of spots in my tank. It grows really quick and is quite annoying. I have never dealt with something like this and hope it doesn’t become a problem because bubble algae is enough work for me to deal with. It’s dark green and looks like codium from the pics I have seen but it branches a lot and grows from one spot outward. It’s base is really tough to break in order to remove it and doesn’t fully come out and just regrows. Trying to find an ID on it if anyone is familiar please speak up. It must have came in on some indo plugs or on the Florida cultured rock but that’s only been in for two months.

The hanging frags are acclimating ok but I am having trouble getting them to stay in place and need to find a better knot to tie the to the main string with. I picked up a few indo pieces from asd one being a cool Florida I haven’t grown and always wanted to grow and I even picked up one of the crazy expensive tenuis they had. They all came in fairly rough but should be ok after a month or so hopefully. The tenuis is very cool and I am curious how it will turn out since I haven’t tried this color variant before. It’s got some nice orange and pinks in it. Even the standard looking ones normally turn pretty nice. I will include pics of the algae if anyone can ID it and I will throw in a pic of the tenuis they took under all blues. Hopefully it does well under this bright white lights.
There are a few pieces that are having a hard time adjusting to the new ushio bulbs, but I think I just need to lower my alk and things should perk up. I am also fighting detritus in some spots and am thinking about replacing the weak reefbreeders pumps with mp40s or an mp60 since they are just sitting here collecting dust. I am still just letting things go. A few corals are touching but I am going to let them touch and see how things turn out. I lost a few pieces in the rocks and a couple didn’t take to the new light and nutrient drop and died. I am just assuming that was the cause.

This is the asd pic they took before it came to me. Mine will be much different I am sure... anyone who got some of these tenuis recently I would love to see some pics, feel free to post them here.
8B5F392F-490A-4BAB-BE65-EFB50C6DA670.jpeg


Here is the “algae” I am dealing with...
F67D7CCB-9328-4C8D-9D2F-884C532244AD.jpeg

0361F200-63C4-468C-9D85-B68BCDCF9D4D.jpeg
Never seen algae like that before. I purchased one of those Tenuis from asd but didn’t remember to save their pic before they removed it but it looked similar to yours. Here’s what it looked like out of the bag.
C24B0536-C4C6-433B-ABD8-9CE9194DFB28.jpeg

Temp was 70 degrees and I should of checked the alk on the qt bc it was 5.2 (oops)
It’s really stressed and brown now after the base removal and dip but its looking better. Here’s a zoomed in pic of their website pic
26C23172-B070-4F8D-80CB-88D081215D8F.png
 
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Graffiti Spot

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Awesome! Thanks for sharing the pic too. I have never seen algae like this either it’s kinda disturbing given how big it is.
Here is mine with the flash on and blue lights on in the tank. I think they are all pretty similar some were nicer than others. I chose this one because it looked to have more pinks and orange and purples in it and the tips were not glowing blue in the blue light pic.
The frag next to it is the piece of my red staghorn I got back from a buddy finally. That stag is just amazing and I can’t wait for it to grow out again. I saw the colony I posted earlier at my friends house last week and it’s just stunning with huge fat red branches, some green polyps and yellows coming in on the lower coralites. Defiantly a monster red stag, not like most red “stags” that have made it into the hobby.

FC441185-F862-452B-9076-5BF3391E822B.jpeg
 
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