I'd like to start off by saying thank you to all who replied to my meet and greet, never in a thousand years did I expect 20 strangers from around the world to provide so much warmth. Maybe it's because I've been an online gamer for 20+ years - not much warmth there!
Regardless, I owe it to all of you to log my next build.
I ask in advance that you all play gentle with me (haha) and excuse the newness as well as the odd slip of the tongue - I'm a mechanic, we swear like sailors and have nudie calendars!
A bit of background, I'm 6mths into my first salty (70L Ecostyle) since moving back to my hometown (Tauranga, NZ) around a year ago.
I'm have a b/w Oce at 1" and a b/w Perc at 2". Originally bought 2 black Oce to begin with and one sadly died overnight in QT due to what I figure as low overnight shipping temps. I had my first taste of heartbreak watching one try and pick the other up, poor guy was faded when he got here but hey I broke that "seal" by losing my first animal and now I know what to expect, plus I got to check his taxonomy to confirm he was indeed a Darwin Ocellaris.
I also scored a cheap Zoa frag and bought some other small frags (discos, ps gorg and leather) from a local breeder when I bought the Perc. As I've learnt with the zoa you cant kill them! Same with the discos it seems, but the gorg and leather were a lot more fussy, so that's when I finally started testing my water, lol.
I had no ammonia and barely detectable nitrates, but I noticed my trace elements were down and my pH was pretty low too so Ive been doing the diy dosing method (that Randy guy is in here, right?) for 4wks and my leather is opening now, and some flow redirection has the gorg happy (but forced one of my discos to move out lol). I've also been spot feeding whatever phtyo I can afford.
Sorry for waffling but that's my story so far and it leads into my next build: I noticed my lighting was ABSOLUTE **** as these medium light corals I had to place right up high, even my zoas are halfway up..
From here I had two options:
1 - Aqua One led hood light mod
Or
2 - New build!
Being a tradie, I've always loved the build, and just like that ive changed the lives of all my family, haha!
Next up I go through the gear I have already and the wish list.
PS- I've only ever read 2 build diary's so please tell me if I'm doing it wrong!
Regardless, I owe it to all of you to log my next build.
I ask in advance that you all play gentle with me (haha) and excuse the newness as well as the odd slip of the tongue - I'm a mechanic, we swear like sailors and have nudie calendars!
A bit of background, I'm 6mths into my first salty (70L Ecostyle) since moving back to my hometown (Tauranga, NZ) around a year ago.
I'm have a b/w Oce at 1" and a b/w Perc at 2". Originally bought 2 black Oce to begin with and one sadly died overnight in QT due to what I figure as low overnight shipping temps. I had my first taste of heartbreak watching one try and pick the other up, poor guy was faded when he got here but hey I broke that "seal" by losing my first animal and now I know what to expect, plus I got to check his taxonomy to confirm he was indeed a Darwin Ocellaris.
I also scored a cheap Zoa frag and bought some other small frags (discos, ps gorg and leather) from a local breeder when I bought the Perc. As I've learnt with the zoa you cant kill them! Same with the discos it seems, but the gorg and leather were a lot more fussy, so that's when I finally started testing my water, lol.
I had no ammonia and barely detectable nitrates, but I noticed my trace elements were down and my pH was pretty low too so Ive been doing the diy dosing method (that Randy guy is in here, right?) for 4wks and my leather is opening now, and some flow redirection has the gorg happy (but forced one of my discos to move out lol). I've also been spot feeding whatever phtyo I can afford.
Sorry for waffling but that's my story so far and it leads into my next build: I noticed my lighting was ABSOLUTE **** as these medium light corals I had to place right up high, even my zoas are halfway up..
From here I had two options:
1 - Aqua One led hood light mod
Or
2 - New build!
Being a tradie, I've always loved the build, and just like that ive changed the lives of all my family, haha!
Next up I go through the gear I have already and the wish list.
PS- I've only ever read 2 build diary's so please tell me if I'm doing it wrong!