2022 Photo & Baby Update - 170 Gallon Mixed Reef - CADE 1500

PanhandleReef

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Have been chatting about the Reefbreeders lights lately and while I'm SUPER happy with the 50, I'd definitely suggest flat starting out with a lumenbar also, just to get pop. The photon let me hone in on a really good bright daylight look, as I really dislike the megablue "fish in a night club" look some tanks end up with. Adding the lumenbar kept me in the beautiful daylight / natural colors, but added all the pop you get from the night club look.

Plus the PAR is crazy, so ... No issues there. I can't see any reason to spend more on pricier lights really at all.
I currently have the 48 Photon with Royal Ice and High Octane lumen bars. What settings do you run to achieve the daylight look?
 
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mvbrandt

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I keep the white, blues, and violet the same intensity. Then put up the red and green to the minimum number necessary for a daylight look (don't really enjoy he megablue coral night club aesthetic). The royal Ice added a lot of pop without changing it to Blue also.

Intensity ramps from the morning to night and caps out at no greater than 80% per channel; PAR was in sunburnzone at 100.
 

PanhandleReef

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I keep the white, blues, and violet the same intensity. Then put up the red and green to the minimum number necessary for a daylight look (don't really enjoy he megablue coral night club aesthetic). The royal Ice added a lot of pop without changing it to Blue also.

Intensity ramps from the morning to night and caps out at no greater than 80% per channel; PAR was in sunburnzone at 100.
Thanks! I'm working on a 100g build right now that the lights are going on. I prefer the daylight look also, but was recommended these lights. Was a little worried I wasn't going to be able to achieve the look I wanted.
 
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mvbrandt

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That's a good shout; BRS actually ran a video that helped sell me on them. I also like the ease with which you can add lumen bars to the rig. I could totally see myself adding another royal ice to pop the backwall of the tank once the leptastrea and other things start overgrowing it.
 
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"Stop staring at us and GIVE US FOOD ALREADY."

I feel like my life of late has been relegated down to watching corralline grow and browsing for sticks to adorn the SPS platform with.

PXL_20210213_160327475~2.jpg
 
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mvbrandt

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Alright, a few updates.

First, I went with a really lightweight sand bed, because I like the sand aesthetic but that's it. The diamond goby of course took a ton of the sand and made the center rock formation into his fortress of solitude, clearing two big chunks of the sand down to the glass.

But because the CADE has a painted white bottom under the glass, I actually don't mind the aesthetic at all. Neat bonus points for Cade.
PXL_20210221_225755352~2.jpg


PXL_20210221_225751158~2.jpg


So, the next bit for today is a preview. I am ready to bite the bullet and try to extract some of my favorite Zoas from the soon to be decommissioned nano. I'm not looking forward to it, as I don't really have any fragging experience. First are these crazy bright orange ones that have taken over about 25% of the tank.
PXL_20210221_230121637.PORTRAIT-01.COVER.jpg


Finally, these, which if you'll look closely, you'll notice some new hybrids that materialized in the tank, combining the neon yellow of the fruit loops with the orange frills of the other colony. So I really don't want to screw this up.

PXL_20210221_230150938.PORTRAIT-01.COVER.jpg


Doing it tonight, wish me luck.
 
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mvbrandt

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Annnnd chickened out. I really don't know how to go about removing those zoas from the nano (sand, plugs, and rock all connected).

Successful [and too pricey] participation in WWC live sale has me excited for loading up the rock the right way; picked up:
Some Kryptonite Caulstrea, bright neon green, going to place them near the blue caulastrea on the right-most rock formation.

Everlasting Gobstopper Zoas, which will go on the left foot of the left formation to grow the zoa garden there.

PC Rainbow Acro, which will go in a prime spot on the SPS ledge.

Mint Green Stylo (b/c $5), which will probably just go near the existing one. TBC.

Superman Monti, which will be encrusting the top of the left formation.

Tiki Torch Monti, which will plate off ... something. IDK. Gorgeous colony that came off.

A Green Hairy Shroom to add to the shroom frag plug rock in the grotto.



I ended up with a cheap green hydno frag, which is a bit of a concern in hindsight for aggression. TBC exactly where that will go, thinking about putting it on one of the backwall frag rocks and letting it work away from others.
 
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Skynyrd Fish

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Great setup. Your wife’s blue hippo tang is one of the nicest I’ve seen in thirty years. I’m looking into the light bars, as I want to add to my t5’s.
 
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mvbrandt

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Great setup. Your wife’s blue hippo tang is one of the nicest I’ve seen in thirty years. I’m looking into the light bars, as I want to add to my t5’s.
That's incredibly nice of you to say! Let's hold off on that comment until we reach at least a year of successful husbandry of the bugger. I'm optimistic, though, with the much broader variety of vitamins, healthy food options, etc., in the hobby now than there were 20 years ago.

I'm thinking about getting a second light bar honestly, at this point.
 

danieyella

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Triton test came back, only out of whack parameter was Chromium, which I find weird. Reading up on how to best get rid of it and how it would have gotten in, and open to suggestions.

It will come down on its own with consumption. I dose this daily in my tank and it's still undetectable. I wouldn't worry.

How are you liking the CADE? Looking at this for my upgrade on the 90 once I hit that point.

Also a big reefbreeders fan here. I'll be following along, tank looks great so far!
 
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mvbrandt

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It will come down on its own with consumption. I dose this daily in my tank and it's still undetectable. I wouldn't worry.

How are you liking the CADE? Looking at this for my upgrade on the 90 once I hit that point.

Also a big reefbreeders fan here. I'll be following along, tank looks great so far!
Good to hear; I put in a polyfilter for a while, but I think I'll yank it out at this point.

The CADE is fantastic! I really can't complain ... and thanks! Gonna take a gander at your build thread as well.
 
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mvbrandt

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Interesting decision-making tonight. I've really, really liked the ReefWave 45s, but I've now twice - despite putting tight mesh screens on them to try and stop it - woken up to either my sand blasted halfway across the tank or water blasting sorta out of the top of the tank b/c a snail has wedged themselves into one of the Gyres and redirected the flow.

SOOOO, that's twice in almost 4 months ... but twice too many for my comfort. Solution? Well, there's not necessarily one, but I've dropped the RW45's to 10% flow (still with some randomization) over night. I'll keep a weather eye on whether that does anything negative to the tank's overall flow and turbulence patterns, though I think it'll still be fine.

But now I can at least rest easy not worrying I'm going to wake up to a whole host of problems one day.

I *am* really happy with the flow patterns and general tank management I get from the RW45s, but the snail-in-a-gyre problem is real.
 
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mvbrandt

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Progress is starting to become steady on the CADE, H2O quality in particular is super consistent with the All for Reef.

SPS growth has started to be visible daily.

FTS for a Friday
PXL_20210305_223453916~2.jpg
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

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