Retirement 150g Tank Upgrade

[ylreefer]

I am not a Pro when it comes to starting a tank ,, or pretty much anything else when it comes to this hobby lol except water changes ,, water testing and over feeding my fish My point here is ,, I am not sure how much of what I am fixing to say here had an effect on me getting fish into the tank after only 12 days ,, keep that in mind

I don't think its " just " the sand bed that got me there ,, I had 8 bags of Bio Spheres ,,, that's 320 Bio Spheres and according to the maker of those spheres ,, each of those 8 bags is equivalent to 144 pounds of live rock ,, that's 1,152 pounds of live rock ,, even if the maker of those sphere's is fudging on that number ,, that's still a lot ,, they were at several different stages of being cured but they were mostly fully cured ,, my one mistake ,,, as I understand it from my LFS owner ,,

Those Bio Spheres came out of my old system ,, when they were pulled out of that system ,, they were ,, for the most part ,, fully cured bacteria covered live spheres and put into a Brute container with a heater and a pump plus some MB 7 ,, MB 7 is a bacteria ,, this is where I made a mistake ,, I was thinking that would have kept the Bio Spears fully cured ,, start up the new tank and for the most part would be ready to go ,, wrong

The Bio Spheres have to not only be kept like I had them in that Brute ,, they also have to maintain a bio load on them ,, meaning ,, instead of setting up a cube to hold my fish in like I did ,, until the new tank was ready for them ,, what I should have done was ,, kept those fish in the Brute container ,, let the fish poop in that can ,, let the fish be fed in that can ,, that would have allowed the Bio Spheres to maintain their level of bacteria on them, the fish poop and fish feeding would have also been feeding the bacteria ,, I am guessing here lol throwing some fish food in the container would have achieved the same goal ,,, the way I understand it, by not feeding the bacteria on those spheres ,, this either caused a bacteria die off ,, not sure that is correct ,, either way ,, the point is the same ,, the spheres didn't keep their level of being alive or maintain their level of being able to handle a bio load ,, that being said ,, they weren't dead either ,,

The point here is ,,, I wasn't starting the system out with uncured live rock or uncured bio spheres ,, this had to help me get fish into the tank faster ,, I also added some Dr. Tims to the new system ,, this is supposed to help shorten the cycle ,,

How much did both of these things help me shorten the cycle process and get fish into the tank after just 12 days ,, I have no clue

I am going to pull some sand out of my cube today and place it into the new display tank ,, I was told that will help the new sand bed ,,,

Ahhhh. That explains a lot yet lol. I was wondering if you'd come over and show me how it's done [emoji23][emoji106]

 

[Braves Fan]

I am going to break out the Par Meter today ,, the sand bed was hitting a 175 Par ,, I messed with the lights a bit ,, trying to get this number down to the 125 range ,, I like chalices also , a lot ,, I am thinking jmo that 175 number will be to much for them ,, and with my scape ,, there really isn't anywhere to hide them ,, really can't place the chalices out to the outskirts of the lighting either ,, with 4 Radions over a 5' tank ,, there really isn't a outskirts area of the sand bed.

I have been collecting a few really nice chalices lately ,, they are in friends tanks ,, I need to get them into my tank ,, I bought two more nice ones yesterday from Cherry Corals ,, they still had the prices on the site marked down from after their Live Sale,, I had been eying these chalices for awhile ,, I knew they would mark them down for the sale ,, took a chance they wouldn't be bought before I could get them

https://www.cherrycorals.com/product/cc-sour-cherry-chalice/

https://www.cherrycorals.com/product/jf-crazy-fox-chalice/

Also picked up two nice Favias

I ordered a bunch of new test kits from BRS ,, got them yesterday ,, will put them all to good use today ,, curious to see where the Nitrate level is at ,, might have to put the Pax Bellum online ,,

I moved the Marine Betta from the cube ,, into the display tank yesterday ,, will move the Midas Blenny today ,, couldn't move him yesterday ,, didn't know which rock he was using I will move his rock also ,, it has a hole in it he likes. I am tempted to move the Malinarius Wrasse also ,, he is all that's left in the cube after I move the Blenny ,, don't want him jumping since I don't have the top yet ,, but I have never had a problem with him jumping ,, we will see ,,

I want to take the cube down ,, I always liked cubes till I got one ,, don't like them anymore lol

 

[Braves Fan]

Not getting my Cherry Corals order today,, unless they bring them out later today,, and UPS has done this several times ,, missed a flight ,,, you will think I am over stating this ,, believe me I am not ,, wish I had kept track of every coral shipment ,, I get ,, no lie ,, only 1 shipment out of 5 is delivered the next day to me ,, like it is supposed to be ,, be it Fed Ex or UPS ,, this is a UPS shipment ,,, the good thing is, its Chalices & Favias and not SPS corals ,, the down side is ,,, they are above average , really nice corals ,,, I am so &%$#@ &%$#@ I have contacted Cherry Corals ,, this delivery problem that I seem to always have ,, is one of the reasons I only buy corals from the best vendors ,, I have never had a problem with any of the top of the line vendors over late shipments ,, pretty much I have only lost ,, maybe three corals ,, I didn't even tell the vendors about those losses ,, most of them throw in a frag or two extra ,, so I don't say anything about the loss of a frag I actually paid for ,, that being said ,, I have never lost a high $$ frag due to a delayed shipment,,

 

[Braves Fan]

Got the corals they are going into a friends tank ,, he has several of my corals in his tank ,, well ,, more than several all of my nicer corals ,, anyway ,, I have a freebe chalice in his tank , I will bring that home and put in my tank ,, I broke the Par Meter out yesterday ,, found a spot that is getting 100 Par , I will put the chalice there. The average sand bed Par is 135 ,, coral level at the top of the tank is 350 plus ,,

 

[najer]

Glad they arrived safely, very nice pieces.

 

[Braves Fan]

I ordered 4 Dispar Anthias from Fishy Business yesterday

Ok ,, the fish order got here ,, everything went as it should, Fishy Business did a bang up job , would use them again,, I had several text messages last night and thru out the morning from them ,, telling me the status of my package the Anthias , I ordered 4 ,, they were all the same size ,, they are small ,, about 1 3/4 inches ,, I have several pieces of small Live Rock in the tank ,, kept it from the old tank to grow zoas on ,, all four of the fish dove down and hid in holes in the rock ,, took awhile and three are now out and about, would feel better if the fourth would come out.

I placed a couple of coral orders this morning ,, one with Boom Corals and one with Vivid ,, the one from Boom Corals will arrive in the morning ,, haven't heard from Vivid yet ,, all the corals from Boom Corals ,, nothing fancy ,, just everyday run of the mill corals that I am sure he has sitting in his frag tank waiting to be bought ,, so he shipped today. The one from Vivid all of those corals except for one ,, were corals that they most likely have in their frag tanks ,, they would most likely ship today also had I not bought one of their SPS corals ,, its a pretty nice coral ,, at least it looks that way in the picture ,, normally I wouldn't buy a coral like this,, not cheap ,, Vivids Something Special Acro ,, I am not sure they have frags of this coral in their frag tank ,, might have to have a healing time before they ship,,

I ordered some pods from Algae Barn ,, not sure how many its 4 or 5 bottles of them ,, figured I would put some in the tank ,, the rest in the return section of the sump ,, all those Bio Sphears should give them plenty of places to hide ,,

Finally went to Lowe's and picked up the remaining parts I needed to finish getting the Pax Bellum plumbed ,, will get some Chatto ,, make some saltwater and get that online this week end ,, the Pax Bellum is pretty good sized ,, I will need to make some saltwater to fill it.

Went to the LFS again today ,, I got the new algae magnet yesterday ,, but forgot to pick up some crabs for the tank ,, had plenty of snails ,, just no crabs,, I got 20 today.

That's about it ,, was pretty much a full day,,,

 

[norfolkgarden]

The corals sound great.

A good day. :- )

 

[Braves Fan]

I am down to just two of the Anthias guessing two have died in the rock holes they have found ,, I guess, since I haven't found them dead in the tank ,, maybe I should have bought bigger fish ,, guess I should call Fishy Business ,, I paid extra for a warranty ,, I hate having to convince someone that the fish died ,, I will send them a message ,, if they give me any grief ,, I will just write them off ,, they were cheap fish ,, if they are smart,, they will give me a refund or credit my account ,, they have 4 or 5 wrasses I want to get, I am just waiting for the top from Artfully Acrylic to come in before I buy those.

More bad news ,,, I went to put the Pax Bellum online yesterday ,, for the life of me ,, and I have turned the house upside down looking for it ,, I can't find the ,, I am guessing this is what you call it ,, the power converter for it,, you plug the reactor lights into it, then plug it into the wall ,, I had it sitting under the stand ,, either I moved it when we did the plumbing for the tank ,, which I would have done ,, or ,, the new puppy ,, I got a French Bulldog ,, moved it for me ,, she can't get behind the stand now ,, but she could at one point

Earlier in my post on this new tank ,, I said the wife and I had lost our last dog of 13 years to cancer ,, then I lost my wife to cancer a month or so later. I have a type of Leukemia ,, its called CLL ,, I go in every so often and get a blood test ,,, the point is ,, I wasn't going to get another dog ,, in case something happens to me ,, I didn't want family members having to deal my new dog ,, a friend told me that I can't live my life that way ,, I need to do what makes me happy ,, what ever happens ,, happens ,, a quiet house is really loud ,, that's why I bought the new puppy ,, it has helped me having her ,, if I could just get her potty trained my friends advice is also the reason I set up this new tank ,,

Anyway ,, I am going to be looking for that power converter again today ,, I have called and left a message with Unique Corals ,, they are the supplier of the Pax Bellum in the USA ,, if all else fails ,, I am hoping they can get another one sent to me ,,,

More bad news I had put two SPS frags into the tank ,, I am losing one of them ,, the other is doing fine ,, fine means its still alive lol the one I am losing could have died from to much flow ,, or who knows what the reason ,, the tanks numbers are all fine ,, and the second SPS frag is still with me ,, anyway ,, I will keep watching ,, see what happens,,

 

[ylreefer]

I am down to just two of the Anthias guessing two have died in the rock holes they have found ,, I guess, since I haven't found them dead in the tank ,, maybe I should have bought bigger fish ,, guess I should call Fishy Business ,, I paid extra for a warranty ,, I hate having to convince someone that the fish died ,, I will send them a message ,, if they give me any grief ,, I will just write them off ,, they were cheap fish ,, if they are smart,, they will give me a refund or credit my account ,, they have 4 or 5 wrasses I want to get, I am just waiting for the top from Artfully Acrylic to come in before I buy those.

More bad news ,,, I went to put the Pax Bellum online yesterday ,, for the life of me ,, and I have turned the house upside down looking for it ,, I can't find the ,, I am guessing this is what you call it ,, the power converter for it,, you plug the reactor lights into it, then plug it into the wall ,, I had it sitting under the stand ,, either I moved it when we did the plumbing for the tank ,, which I would have done ,, or ,, the new puppy ,, I got a French Bulldog ,, moved it for me ,, she can't get behind the stand now ,, but she could at one point

Earlier in my post on this new tank ,, I said the wife and I had lost our last dog of 13 years to cancer ,, then I lost my wife to cancer a month or so later. I have a type of Leukemia ,, its called CLL ,, I go in every so often and get a blood test ,,, the point is ,, I wasn't going to get another dog ,, in case something happens to me ,, I didn't want family members having to deal my new dog ,, a friend told me that I can't live my life that way ,, I need to do what makes me happy ,, what ever happens ,, happens ,, a quiet house is really loud ,, that's why I bought the new puppy ,, it has helped me having her ,, if I could just get her potty trained my friends advice is also the reason I set up this new tank ,,

Anyway ,, I am going to be looking for that power converter again today ,, I have called and left a message with Unique Corals ,, they are the supplier of the Pax Bellum in the USA ,, if all else fails ,, I am hoping they can get another one sent to me ,,,

More bad news I had put two SPS frags into the tank ,, I am losing one of them ,, the other is doing fine ,, fine means its still alive lol the one I am losing could have died from to much flow ,, or who knows what the reason ,, the tanks numbers are all fine ,, and the second SPS frag is still with me ,, anyway ,, I will keep watching ,, see what happens,,

Wow queit the drama week [emoji85]. And I'm. Sure the same sort of week we all had at one point, I know I did lol. I swear sometimes I put something down turn around and it's gone [emoji853]. If I look for it not a chance. Forget all about it and a week later it'll turn up somewhere. Funny thing is I have no pets that could have moved it [emoji23]. Anyway enough about my insanity.

Sorry about the fish, are you sure they didnt make the leap of faith then get found by the doggy. It's possible but I suppose there's no point wondering over it. But if definitely say for sure save the fish buying until that lid arrives.

Your friend sounds like a smart guy [emoji106]. Do whatever makes you happy. Otherwise why have we live life for so long if not to try to enjoy it till the very end[emoji123] [emoji123]. When ever I had a puppy that needed potty training I'd put a litter tray or what people seem to use here is like a big daiper on the floor, near to where the dog does it's business if they have a favorite spot, in hopes that the next one is on the mat. Once the dog has figured this out I'll gradually more the mat a meter or so a day to where I eventually what it doing its business. Eventually you'll be able to remove the mat altogether and the dog will hold it until its walkies time. [emoji4]. In theory lol. Good luck with this.

As for the Sps. Well hard to say. I've had sps die on me before in tanks that have near perfect figures and never found out why. But from what I've seen in all my research the most common cause seems to be bad light Acclimation or to much light to fast. I think I burnt one of my sps like this. Started to black at the tips until eventually it started to rot at the base. Fortunately I was able to cut away all the effected bits and I'm happy to say it seems to be recovering. I'll post a few pics of how it was when I got it. After cutting and now.

Keep it up, it'll all work out in the end as you've seen with your 37g. [emoji106]

 

[Braves Fan]

I never did find the power supply for the Pax Bellum ,, Unique Corals called me yesterday ,, they couldn't have been more helpful what I was expecting was ,,, we don't carry extra ,, we can get you one ,, but it has to be ordered from China ,, and will be two months before it comes in I was pretty much over a barrel not having this thing ,, without it ,, the Pax Bellum is pretty much a paper weight ,, whatever they wanted to charge me ,, I pretty much had to pay the cost was $24 plus shipping , they had it in stock ,, I upgraded my shipping ,, it will be here this morning ,, most of the time when it comes to this hobby ,, and ordering stuff ,, my luck is for squat ,, I guess its just Fed Ex and UPS that makes it feel that way lol most likely I will find the old power supply around noon today ,, sitting right out in the open and I over looked it lol anyway ,,, Unique Corals ,, thank you for getting this thing shipped out to me yesterday ,,

I have chalked the SPS loss up to ,, not acclimating it enough to my tank light ,, I have turned the lights down a bit more on these XR 30 G4 Pro Radions ,, I had 3 of the the old Gen 3 lights over my old tank ,, I could place the SPS corals in those in between spots in the tank and the SPS corals did just fine ,, with these Gen 4 XR30 lights and having 4 of them over this tank ,, there are no in between spots ,, no place to hide ,, I will just have to do a better job acclimating the corals ,, I have another SPS in the tank ,, I had bought a ORA Hawkins from Boom Corals ,, it seems to be doing fine ,, its a big deal getting these SPS corals dialed in ,, I have a bigg pack ordered from Adam at Battle Corals he has no problem holding these corals for me ,, but its a big pack and I am sure taking up space in his system ,, sure is nice doing business with quality vendors ,,

I have another coral order coming from Cherry Corals today also ,, so should have two shipments on the UPS truck this morning lol they have pretty much become my favorite vendor ,, along with Battle Corals ,, I can't seem to get enough of their corals ,, I had in the old tank ,, but lost in the 37g cube holding tank ,, a Yellow Submarine Favia ,, it was just starting to grow good I had bought it from Darren Novi another fine vendor, if y'all need corals ,, you need to seek this man out ,, anyway ,, I just had to get a replacement of this coral ,, Cherry Corals carries this Favia ,, its got a different name on their site I believe, but its the same coral ,, the one on the site had been sold ,, I asked if they had another one in the back room somewhere they did ,, so I ordered it ,, along with a one polyp, poly frag and another Chalice ,, this isn't a nothing to write home about chalice frag ,, its still a nice looking frag though with some size to it ,, I am acquiring some really nice chalices lately ,, where to put them lol more on that down below unless its a high $$ chalice frag ,, most of their chalice frags are in the 5 or 6 eye frags ,, most of the time larger & most of the time, fully encrusted frag plugs ,, that's a good start to a chalice in your tank and most of the time ,, really aren't over priced for what you are getting ,, you can't beat that ,, especially for a pest free coral ,,

The plan was ,, to put the chalices in the new display tank ,, and that may still be the plan ,, I have a tester chalice in the display tank and its doing just fine ,, not growing yet ,, but its alive and still holding its color, its one of those cheaper kinda bright orange chalices that all the vendors sell ,, this one came from Joe's Corals ,, it hasn't been in in the tank long enough to start growing yet ,,

I have this 37g cube sitting here with nothing in it ,, I have moved everything over to the new display tank ,, yesterday I removed some of the sand from the cube ,, cleaned the remaining sand bed ,, removed a few pieces of live rock ,, added that to the sump tank on the new display tank ,, did a large water change ,, cleaned the glass and have it looking pretty good ,, this tank has a XR15 Radion over it with a Tunze Top Off ,, a Eco Tech S1 return pump ,, I have quality equipment running this tank ,, I am kinda in a ,,, don't know what to do with this tank right now ,, its just sitting there ,, to keep it up and running ,, I will need to buy a fish or two to put in it ,, pretty much spend a few more $$ on it ,, or I can sell it ,,

I have a friend that wants it ,, a friend that I would give a good deal on it ,, so I asked him to give me a offer on it ,, told him he doesn't have to buy the return pump , Radion light the Eco Tech S 1 pump or the Tunze Top Off ,,, if he doesn't want to ,, this is quality equipment that I have no problem storing away for my future use if he wants any or all of it ,, I will sell to him ,, if he doesn't ,, then I may just make it a chalice & acan tank out of it ,, will just have to see what the next few days have in store for this tank ,,

I have always liked cube tanks when I saw pictures from people that had them ,, until I owned one ,, now I like them a bit less what I don't like about them ,, the confined area inside the stand that you have to work with ,, I like space ,, elbow room ,, water volume ,, larger skimmers ,, bottom line is ,, its not going to break my heart to sell this thing ,,

I haven't been keeping track on the calendar ,, but I should be getting close to getting a message from Artfully Acrylic on my screen top I hope this thing fits and that I don't have to send it back for adjustments ,, I am expecting to have to send it back though ,, the upside to this is ,, this is a top of the line vendor ,, I have no doubt they will do what ever it takes to make this thing fit ,,

The project for today will be to get the Pax Bellum on line ,, have saltwater making now to fill it up ,, might be time to put the GFO reactor online also ,, will do some water testing today also ,,,

 

[ylreefer]

I never did find the power supply for the Pax Bellum ,, Unique Corals called me yesterday ,, they couldn't have been more helpful what I was expecting was ,,, we don't carry extra ,, we can get you one ,, but it has to be ordered from China ,, and will be two months before it comes in I was pretty much over a barrel not having this thing ,, without it ,, the Pax Bellum is pretty much a paper weight ,, whatever they wanted to charge me ,, I pretty much had to pay the cost was $24 plus shipping , they had it in stock ,, I upgraded my shipping ,, it will be here this morning ,, most of the time when it comes to this hobby ,, and ordering stuff ,, my luck is for squat ,, I guess its just Fed Ex and UPS that makes it feel that way lol most likely I will find the old power supply around noon today ,, sitting right out in the open and I over looked it lol anyway ,,, Unique Corals ,, thank you for getting this thing shipped out to me yesterday ,,

I have chalked the SPS loss up to ,, not acclimating it enough to my tank light ,, I have turned the lights down a bit more on these XR 30 G4 Pro Radions ,, I had 3 of the the old Gen 3 lights over my old tank ,, I could place the SPS corals in those in between spots in the tank and the SPS corals did just fine ,, with these Gen 4 XR30 lights and having 4 of them over this tank ,, there are no in between spots ,, no place to hide ,, I will just have to do a better job acclimating the corals ,, I have another SPS in the tank ,, I had bought a ORA Hawkins from Boom Corals ,, it seems to be doing fine ,, its a big deal getting these SPS corals dialed in ,, I have a bigg pack ordered from Adam at Battle Corals he has no problem holding these corals for me ,, but its a big pack and I am sure taking up space in his system ,, sure is nice doing business with quality vendors ,,

I have another coral order coming from Cherry Corals today also ,, so should have two shipments on the UPS truck this morning lol they have pretty much become my favorite vendor ,, along with Battle Corals ,, I can't seem to get enough of their corals ,, I had in the old tank ,, but lost in the 37g cube holding tank ,, a Yellow Submarine Favia ,, it was just starting to grow good I had bought it from Darren Novi another fine vendor, if y'all need corals ,, you need to seek this man out ,, anyway ,, I just had to get a replacement of this coral ,, Cherry Corals carries this Favia ,, its got a different name on their site I believe, but its the same coral ,, the one on the site had been sold ,, I asked if they had another one in the back room somewhere they did ,, so I ordered it ,, along with a one polyp, poly frag and another Chalice ,, this isn't a nothing to write home about chalice frag ,, its still a nice looking frag though with some size to it ,, I am acquiring some really nice chalices lately ,, where to put them lol more on that down below unless its a high $$ chalice frag ,, most of their chalice frags are in the 5 or 6 eye frags ,, most of the time larger & most of the time, fully encrusted frag plugs ,, that's a good start to a chalice in your tank and most of the time ,, really aren't over priced for what you are getting ,, you can't beat that ,, especially for a pest free coral ,,

The plan was ,, to put the chalices in the new display tank ,, and that may still be the plan ,, I have a tester chalice in the display tank and its doing just fine ,, not growing yet ,, but its alive and still holding its color, its one of those cheaper kinda bright orange chalices that all the vendors sell ,, this one came from Joe's Corals ,, it hasn't been in in the tank long enough to start growing yet ,,

I have this 37g cube sitting here with nothing in it ,, I have moved everything over to the new display tank ,, yesterday I removed some of the sand from the cube ,, cleaned the remaining sand bed ,, removed a few pieces of live rock ,, added that to the sump tank on the new display tank ,, did a large water change ,, cleaned the glass and have it looking pretty good ,, this tank has a XR15 Radion over it with a Tunze Top Off ,, a Eco Tech S1 return pump ,, I have quality equipment running this tank ,, I am kinda in a ,,, don't know what to do with this tank right now ,, its just sitting there ,, to keep it up and running ,, I will need to buy a fish or two to put in it ,, pretty much spend a few more $$ on it ,, or I can sell it ,,

I have a friend that wants it ,, a friend that I would give a good deal on it ,, so I asked him to give me a offer on it ,, told him he doesn't have to buy the return pump , Radion light the Eco Tech S 1 pump or the Tunze Top Off ,,, if he doesn't want to ,, this is quality equipment that I have no problem storing away for my future use if he wants any or all of it ,, I will sell to him ,, if he doesn't ,, then I may just make it a chalice & acan tank out of it ,, will just have to see what the next few days have in store for this tank ,,

I have always liked cube tanks when I saw pictures from people that had them ,, until I owned one ,, now I like them a bit less what I don't like about them ,, the confined area inside the stand that you have to work with ,, I like space ,, elbow room ,, water volume ,, larger skimmers ,, bottom line is ,, its not going to break my heart to sell this thing ,,

I haven't been keeping track on the calendar ,, but I should be getting close to getting a message from Artfully Acrylic on my screen top I hope this thing fits and that I don't have to send it back for adjustments ,, I am expecting to have to send it back though ,, the upside to this is ,, this is a top of the line vendor ,, I have no doubt they will do what ever it takes to make this thing fit ,,

The project for today will be to get the Pax Bellum on line ,, have saltwater making now to fill it up ,, might be time to put the GFO reactor online also ,, will do some water testing today also ,,,

37g. = quarentine tank [emoji4][emoji23]. Sorted

 

[Braves Fan]

A few friends have suggested that the reason I haven't went that direction with it ,, don't hold me to this ,, I kinda only half way know what I am talking about here having never had a QT set up ,, some of the meds ,, when you put them into your tank,, you can ,, maybe ,, I could be wrong here lol never use that tank for anything else but a QT tank ,, this is a really nice cube tank ,, if what I said about those meds is true ,, and I don't know that it is ,, I would be better off buying a cheaper tank from the LFS and using that for a QT tank ,, not ruining a really nice cube tank to sit up a QT tank,,

 

[ylreefer]

A few friends have suggested that the reason I haven't went that direction with it ,, don't hold me to this ,, I kinda only half way know what I am talking about here having never had a QT set up ,, some of the meds ,, when you put them into your tank,, you can ,, maybe ,, I could be wrong here lol never use that tank for anything else but a QT tank ,, this is a really nice cube tank ,, if what I said about those meds is true ,, and I don't know that it is ,, I would be better off buying a cheaper tank from the LFS and using that for a QT tank ,, not ruining a really nice cube tank to sit up a QT tank,,

To the extent of using it for a, reef or invert tank you'd be correct, as a purist. For fish it would be fine. However I have heard of others, using ex qt tanks that have had coppe in for DT. I'd not try it myself though

 

[Braves Fan]

Dang UPS ,, These people are for squat ,, the web site says delay because of missed flight for my coral order ,, the Pax Bellum power things ,, shows all good ,, I would almost bet the guy from Cherry Corals ,, after he gets his coffee in the morning ,,, tracks my packages I won't waste my time telling him about it ,, he already knew about it last week for the last shipment ,,

 

[Braves Fan]

As always good news ,, bad news ,, good news ,, Corals got here ,, bad news ,, no Pax Bellum for me today ,, they sent the converter thing ,, they just didn’t send the power cord ,, but I did find the cord the Pax Bellum is online

 

[Braves Fan]

A few updates ,,, I have moved most of my SPS coral frags out of a friends tank and into my tank, about 8 frags , still have a couple more to get. I have a Hawkins SPS frag in the tank ,, it came from Boom Corals ,, arrived mostly a browned out frag from shipping ,, its been in the tank going on 3 weeks ,, all the brown is gone ,, now its pretty much the color a Hawkins SPS coral should be. I am not a SPS expert but I am taking this coral coloring up as a good sign and it makes me feel better in moving the other SPS frags into my tank. I will give these SPS frags a month or so ,, see how they do ,, then will give Battle Corals a call about the frag pack I have ordered ,, going to be in the range of 15 frags ,, maybe more.

Chalices ,, I have two in my display tank ,, one is a tester chalice , the other is a chalice from Cherry corals , its not high $$ but is sort of a nice chalice ,, the tester chalice has been in the tank for a month ,, the Cherry Corals chalice a couple of weeks ,, both are doing good ,, not growing yet ,, but holding their color .

What I have is chalice frags in two friends tanks ,, in one tank is one chalice ,, a 6 eyed Raja Rampage Chalice , wow ,, a in your face chalice ,, if you don't have this chalice ,, but you buy them for your tank ,, you need this one I call corals like this ,, across the room corals when I bought mine ,, they weren't all over the place on the web ,, now seems like every vendor has them and the prices have come down on them ,, anyway ,, I moved this chalice into my tank yesterday ,, kinda didn't want to do this ,, but that friend had a big chunky Montipora frag he made for me that he wanted to get out of his tank ,, so I took the chalice also ,, In the other friends tank I have 4 more chalices ,, two are rainbows ,, there is no hurry to move these ,, they will stay where they are at.

I have been mounting zoa frags to the branches on my scape ,, they are doing good ,, not really growing at this point ,, but they are bright and happy ,, my friend has in the neighbor hood of 65 to 70 different type of zoas in his tank ,, I came home yesterday with 7 or 8 more zoa frags ,, I will get them mounted today. His tank is a zoa growing machine ,, when I buy zoa frags ,, they go into his tank ,, he makes me frags when they start growing ,, its a win ,, win ,, for both of us ,,

The last bit of news I have got rid of my desk top putor ,, I have replaced it with a lap top ,, trying to figure out how to use this thing ,, I got some lessons yesterday Soo ,, what has this to do with reefing lol by getting rid of the desk top ,, I have eliminated my putor desk ,, I have eliminated my old Navy surplus 4 drawer file cabinet ,, geez that was heavy to move to the street ,, the point of this is ,, I really don't have anything to put into the area this stuff was taking up ,, its kinda a walk way ,, but new tank would be perfect for this spot ,, maybe something is the neighbor hood of a 48x24x whatever ,, a 24"wide, front to back would be perfect here ,,, maybe a acan tank there is no hurry on this ,, still have plenty to do dialing in the new display tank ,, might need to get some new rock cycling though lol

Still waiting of the Clearview Top ,, any day now

 

[Braves Fan]

Set back ,, lost half of those sps I added to the tank, I can understand a couple of them , they weren't in the best shape ,, but one of them ,, I shouldn't have lost

 

[Braves Fan]

I am thinking the coral loss is due to a flow issue ,,, to much of it ,, I lost 6 of 8 SPS corals I had put in the tank ,,

The two corals I didn’t loose weren’t in the main flow like the ones I lost ,, one closer to the front of the tank ,, the second was in the flow path ,, but it has a branch in my scape between it and the flow ,,,

The Hawkins that has been in the tank for a few weeks is towards the back of the tank ,, out of the direct flow,,, if it were water conditions ,, that killed the 6 SPS corals ,, it should have killed all of them.

This is only a 20” tall tank ,, them two MP40s are set at SPS coral level , I am going to lower the MP40s are just turn down the flow ,, are some of each ,,

Okkkk ,, now for the major reason for this post ,,, I have ordered another tank from Mircales Aquariums

My favorite corals are acans & chalices ,, I have ordered a tank dedicated to just them ,, 48x24x15 ,, Reef Savvy overflow box ,, seam protectors, low iron glass on the front panel only ,, Derrick said they are running 7 weeks on the tanks plus a week for shipping ,, the shallow tank is to force me into keeping the tank and Par for acans & chalices only lol

I am in no hurry ,, this was a last minute decision,, i have another stand to make ,, it’s hot here in Mississippi too

 

[Braves Fan]

Update for the old new tank

I have pretty much come to the conclusion that my SPS problem in the tank is that I had the white LED's on the Radion's turned up to high and that I was frying the SPS corals that were mounted under the lights ,, I have turned down those white LEDs ,, added a bit more blue ,, the several SPS corals that I have in the tank that aren't directly under the lights ,, further out in the cone area of the lights are still doing fine ,, I would even say growing a bit. I have added another SPS frag to the tank ,, started it down in the tank a bit, about halfway down ,, I will move it up over the next couple of weeks ,, if this works out for me ,, I will have Battle Corals send me the frag pack ,, I am keeping him in the loop on this.

I sent Artfully Acrylic a email on the top ,, it will ship on the 26th of this month ,, not overly excited about this ,, which I should be ,, I fully expect it not to fit ,, after dealing with them on this ,, I believe they have never had to deal with these corner seam protectors before ,, they weren't hard to deal with ,, far from it ,, very understanding ,, it just took several pictures to get them to understand what we were dealing with ,, the upside ,, when the new chalice tank comes in ,, the process should be easier as the chalice tank will also have these seam protectors in it. I might not need one of these tops for the chalice tank ,, I am going to order it anyway ,, better to go ahead and get it ordered since I don't know what fish will end up making it into this tank.

Update on the Chalice tank ,, yea I have dropped the acan part off of the " Acan & Chalice Tank" I am sure I will have some cherry picked acans in the tank,, I am sure I will end up with way more Chalices than acans though if ya'll see any nice chalices for sell online and they will ship ,, give me a heads up ,, I bought 2 more from Cherry Corals and another from a seller on R2R ,, turns out it was from a vendor who I had bought from before ,, finding nice chalices is not a easy thing to do as it once was ,, I have found some vendors that have a few I like ,, they are just charging way to much. Found one that had 30% off ,, but that 30% off was about 60% more than it was worth lol I remember back in the day ,, say 15 years ago lol when Chalices were going thru their " The Coral to have " period ,, everyone was selling nice looking old school chalices ,, now you have a hard time finding them.

Worked on the stand yesterday ,, I am starting to put it together ,, I should have it finished today ,, maybe ,, I am going to place a order with BRS today ,, not order everything I need ,, but I need to get a couple of things coming my way ,, for sure I want the return pump,, I can get the manifold made when I get that ,, Still not sure what I am going to buy when it comes to equipment for the new tank ,, trying to save $$ where I can ,,

 

[norfolkgarden]

Congrats on the second tank.