Swannyson7's 180g mixed reef

[swannyson7]

Some of the SPS on my frag rack.
Sunset Mille:

MC Fuzzy Watermelon. Beautiful piece, especially for $10. I bought 3 and can't wait until they grow out

My $40 "purple monster." Hopefully it colors up...

 

[swannyson7]

One of my dragonface pipefish on the hunt for lunch

Top down of left Island

Center Island

 

[swannyson7]

Right Island and the Zoa Garden

And a couple pics of my topdown box. The Weldon 4 was pretty old and wasn't working to well, so I put a bead of caulk inside just to be safe

 

[swannyson7]

Great looking top down pics Swanny!!! The Topdown box must have helped a decent amount....zoas are looking great! By far this is my favorite shot though....

Thanks. The topdown box looks kind of ghetto, but it's tho only way I can get top downs with my new lens. I have the photo top down box from Avast, but I didn't get the extended one. When focusing, the barrel on the Tamron extends, so I can't get anything in focus with the Tamron unless its pretty far away.

 

[greg0385]

wow very nice setup you got, im loving your pipefish. they are slowly becoming my top 5 fish to have. you hard work and love for this hobby shows in your pictures.

 

[nater]

tank looks sick , pictures are saweet. i'm a subscriberrr

 

[swannyson7]

wow very nice setup you got, im loving your pipefish. they are slowly becoming my top 5 fish to have. you hard work and love for this hobby shows in your pictures.

Thanks! THe pipefish were a great addition to my tank. They're very interesting fish to watch and they're a practical addition to an SPS tank due to their diet consisting of red bugs. They weren't able to keep up with the outbreak of red bugs I recently had, but they prevented plague proportions until I was able to dose interceptor.

tank looks sick , pictures are saweet. i'm a subscriberrr

Thanks! 13 pages full of pictures and always adding more

 

[Jcr's Reef]

Pipefish eat Redbugs? Sweet. Where do I sign up to get them lol! Would love to have a pair in my 40br.
Those LEDs look to be putting more and more color in your SPS man. Very nice!

 

[swannyson7]

Pipefish eat Redbugs? Sweet. Where do I sign up to get them lol! Would love to have a pair in my 40br.
Those LEDs look to be putting more and more color in your SPS man. Very nice!

Not all pipefish eat redbugs, but the dragonfaces are known predators. I have gotten very good color out of my SPS, but have noticed a significant impact on coloration lately with the dosing of Birghtwells Amino acids. Once I'm out of the brightwells, I think I'm going to try the Zeovit aminos because they seem to be more concentrated and therefore cheaper.

 

[btkrausen]

Tank looks nice man, first time I've been able to look at your build thread. I've always had interest in the pipefish as well, but I do like different fish than other people keep.

Congrats on a great looking tank

 

[swannyson7]

THanks! THe DT looks good, but I've been battling a never ending string of bryopsis in my frag tank. Im trying all sorts of different options to increase flow in there, but I think I'm going to have to use egg crate instead of the acrylic racks I made. :squigglemouth:

 

[btkrausen]

THanks! THe DT looks good, but I've been battling a never ending string of bryopsis in my frag tank. Im trying all sorts of different options to increase flow in there, but I think I'm going to have to use egg crate instead of the acrylic racks I made. :squigglemouth:

Have you tried the Tech M trick? Would benefit your SPS as well :)

 

[Henry C]

Wow, what an awesome build thread!!!! Great job with the all the furniture you built for the tank!!!! You have a schweet collection of corals!!!! What is your opinon on the leds as far as growth? Do you find the corals growth rate has increased?

 

[swannyson7]

Wow, what an awesome build thread!!!! Great job with the all the furniture you built for the tank!!!! You have a schweet collection of corals!!!! What is your opinon on the leds as far as growth? Do you find the corals growth rate has increased?

I think my growth has been a little better than I had on the 125 with halides, but I think that can be attributed more to good husbandry. Plus, topping off with kalk has been a God-send

 

[swannyson7]

Have you tried the Tech M trick? Would benefit your SPS as well :)

Yeah, I raised my mag to 1700 with the TechM and held is steady for a couple weeks, but it came abck as soon as I let it fall. I read a bit more and I found that you should keep the elevated levels for a couple months and risk losing coloration in SPS. I think the major problem is flow. I've got a pretty bad detritus buildup in the prop. tank

 

[btkrausen]

Yeah, I raised my mag to 1700 with the TechM and held is steady for a couple weeks, but it came abck as soon as I let it fall. I read a bit more and I found that you should keep the elevated levels for a couple months and risk losing coloration in SPS. I think the major problem is flow. I've got a pretty bad detritus buildup in the prop. tank

Gotcha. After I quit dosing vodka, I started getting red cyano, and I tried multiple things to increase flow to no avail. This is why I wanted to run the mp10s on my new tank, but it may not happen if the glass is too thick :(

Algae is just the worst, it'll make somebody go to drastic measures to abolish it.

 

[swannyson7]

I had a thread asking for recommendations for flow and I had suggestions for a spray bar which I'm gonna give a try, but someone with a similar system said I'm going to need rediculous amounts of flow to stir it up with the acrylic racks. The tank is only 16"x16"x8", but they suggested an MP10. If it comes down to that, Ill just switch to eggcrate instead of spending the cash for another Vortech

 

[btkrausen]

MP10 can really crank out some flow, I was pleasantly surprised when I got mine last year. It even was making small waves in my display, which was 4'x2'x1'.

For some reason, I can never keep a second tank going on the same system, it always ends up looking like crap. It either gets overrun with algae, or diatoms. I've tried multiple ones in the past, and they are turned out bad. Not sure what my fault is on them.

 

[swannyson7]

MP10 can really crank out some flow, I was pleasantly surprised when I got mine last year. It even was making small waves in my display, which was 4'x2'x1'.

For some reason, I can never keep a second tank going on the same system, it always ends up looking like crap. It either gets overrun with algae, or diatoms. I've tried multiple ones in the past, and they are turned out bad. Not sure what my fault is on them.

The biggest problem I face is that the waterlevel in the frag tank is about 1/2" from the top of a rimless tank due to the design of the overflow. If I put a powerhead the size of an MP10 on there, I'll wind up with water everywhere

 

[btkrausen]

True, but you could crank it down as well, which is part of the premium you pay for a Vortech. If you turn that thing down all the way, its very gentle.