SPS dominant WB frag 55.2 & 40gal soon to be 120gallons!

[Tonycass12]

Dirty glass

 

[Tonycass12]

Well didn't have as much salt as I thought I did. Local shop isint open until Tuesday so have a pump and a heater going with rocks from the sump for now.

 

[Tonycass12]

The overflow on the frag tank is a little louder then I would like buts its all coming from water spilling through the teeth on the tank side. Hopefully it goes away once a biofilm starts growing on it. Only thing left before moving some corals over is to rent a par meter and get my light dialed in.

 

[Tonycass12]

Getting the tanks cleaned up and ready for a weekend away. Had some time to move the new acro colony over. Ill get some full tank shots later tonight.

 

[Tonycass12]

Finally frag rack free in my display!

 

[Tonycass12]

just added a 6 line and a quarter size yellow belly hippo tang. He won't stay in this tank once he gets bigger. Plan is for a future upgrade to be ready by the time it outgrows the frag tank.

 

[Tonycass12]

May update. Slowly catching all the fish to put into copper. Lost our hippo in the frag tank and decided its now or never. Also thinking about knocking the scape down by removing the two big rocks holding it all up. Ill be waiting for the fish to all be put and into a new system before attempting that.

Scored an awesome Deepwater acro colony from Bali at my local shop

Frag tank is a little bit of a mess, I have a few things showing up tomorrow to help with the clutter.

 

[Tonycass12]

Got the frag tank cleaned up last night with an added rack. Finished putting all the birdsnest frags on plugs from trimming last weekend. 24frags off that thing this last time around. Im going to have to start giving the stuff away. Flow is doing much better now that everything is off the bottom. Going to try and get the reefbreeders light hanging from the ceiling later this week.

 

[Tonycass12]

Scored a green/gold millepora colony yesterday at the LFS he had a few nice big acro colonies but I've been wanting a mille for a long time now.

I also picked up a 2 spot bristletooth tang to help keep the frag tank clean although ill be pulling all the fish into a hospital tank this weekend.

 

[Tonycass12]

Had to go back to my LFS for one more today. The wife might not be so happy but I turned in over 300$ worth of scrap steel from my work to the scrap yard that they were going to throw out so I really got 2 colonies for the price of a frag lol.

Welcome garf bonsai! Another maricultured colony from the same place my other colonies came from and of course another acropora crab hosting it.

Frag tank is really filling in with these larger colonies

 

[Tonycass12]

Happy sunday

 

[Tonycass12]

Snagged a couple of top down shots yesterday during a waterchange. Will get some full tank shots later this afternoon to add to the monthly progression pics in the beginning of the build thread.

 

[Tonycass12]

 

[Tonycass12]

Well stopped into the LFS to see what they got in this month and my wife said she loved the 7" maxima they had. Got a good deal on it and i am always willing to add anything that gets my wife more interested in the tanks and a possible future upgrade. Its in the frag tank until it attaches to a tile then ill move it over to the main display.

 

[Tonycass12]

Nothing new to report but here are some updated shots of the tanks.

 

[Tonycass12]

Just after 5pm every evening my whites and blues balance out and the tank just pops. I moved a maricultured colony over from the frag tank in hopes the less intense radions will help it color up a bit more, it got really pale during acclimation and has slowly gained some green and pink pigments but its been a slow ride waiting for it to come back.

 

[Tonycass12]

Scored again today! Stopped at my LFS yesterday to grab some nori and see what the monthly shipment of frags looked like. The owner told me to come back tomorrow because he had a good size fish order coming in with one coral he knew I was after. Stopped in after work today as he was opening the boxes and as soon as I saw the pink millepora come out I just asked what the damage was gonna be to my wallet.

This millepora already looks great. Usually they come in a bit pale or brown and take a month or so to start coloring back up so I'm excited to see how this one does over the next 2 months and how the colors will change under my lights.

Its going to start getting tight in the frag/growout tank and my main display has no room for more corals. Soon its going to be time to stop buying livestock and start putting away for a new tank upgrade. Ive been dreaming of a 100-150gal peninsula for a little while now....

 

[Tonycass12]

Had to finally make a judgment call on my green birdsnest. It has been outgrowing everything in the tank and started growing into and stinging other corals. Luckily it all came out in almost one football sized chunk after a couple small fractures. Im thinking about putting a green millepora in its place but I may let it sit at least until the end of the month before I decide on that.

 

[Tonycass12]

Empty space on the rocks didn't last long. Took the birdsnest colony into my local shop today and he just happened to recieve another acro colony that he was keeping hidden away for me. Ended up moving my green millepora colony and the new one I picked up on a trade from the shop where the green birdsnest was. While gluing them down I saw the glass shrimp thats been hiding in the coral colonies jump shim from the green millepora to the new acro colony in the tank.

 

[Tonycass12]

Well its been an interesting week so far with plenty to stress out over. First noticed flatworms on my glass . Luckily they look to be acoela flatworms so nothing super concerning and their populations boom and bust from what I've read. I have flatworm exit showing up today but have read conflicting reports of how well it works on these specific flatworms and realized it will probably decimate my pod population. I may just wait it out. In 8 more days fish go back into the tank and sadly I lost my 6 line wrasses to my initial cupramine treatment. Ive since switched to copper power and have had no negative effects. One those fish go back im going to grab a couple more 6 lines and treat them before they enter the main system to use for flatworm control.

The next downside i noticed was my corals seamed to be getting a bit pale. I haven't done a full round of testing in a couple months because outside of dosing alk and calcium their hasent been much input into the tank without the fish and things seamed to be staying stable. Of course I should have known better, tests showed my phosphates and nitrates at 0. Luckily it seams my system has matured to the point I haven't suffered a dino explosion like I've had in the past. Im starting to feel the corals reef roids and some meaty foods to my few lps to help encourage those levels to get back up and hopefully when the fish are back and the feedings are more regular things will go back to normal.

Just another lesson for myself on how important at least somewhat regular testing is to make sure I'm not moving into dangerous territory.