The Garden -- Rakies 45g SPS cube build thread

[Rakie]

EDIT: My current build thread is in my signature and started from day 1 with the physical build of the tank, from drilling and painting awhile ago to the other night.



Whelp. Time to spam stuff here. I will fill in the thread with pictures from when the tank was first setup in later posts. For now, here's some pics I just took (Warning: I suck at photography, corals may be more awesome than they appear).

So the Basics
- 45g SPS cube (24x24x18)
- Vertex 130i Skimmer
- DIY'd sump
- Sicce Voyager 3.0 general flow (Gyre 230 en route)
- Stocked VERY lightly at the moment (will change soon)
- SPS dominant with a couple nasty flubbery acans and zoa's.

Dosing
- FULLY Saturated Kalk in ATO @ 1TBS/g +45ml Vinegar -- 1.5 : 3.5 (Kalk : RODI)
- KNO3 (Potassium Nitrate) -- Every few days
- AcroPower Aminos (Switching to ME Corals soon) -- Every few days
- 5ml Vinegar -- daily


Tank has been live since October 2016


Some pics from tonight -- I try to keep pics as neutral and true to life as possible. No actinic only lies here, full 6x24 ATI fixture, Blue pop OFF. These pics themselves are nothing too special though :)

Main Philosophies
- It's a miniature biotope -- our job is to keep our reefs as diverse as possible, with the introduction of positive bacterias, varied diets, the occasional CLEAN live food offerings, and as varied a diet as possible. Happy fish poop out award winning colors.

- If all your pictures are actinic only, you have nothing worth showing :)

- @mdbannister used to feed puppies to his snakes -_-

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Great looking reef! Following along!

...and for the record, I never fed a puppy to any snake...those were eels. :p

 

[Rakie]

Some top down pictures -- All lights on, blue pop off, as close to natural as possible. 6x24 T5

Frag Rack -- Diabolic Pacman, Red Planet, Green Slimer, Tricolor, miami orchid, Joe the Coral

Closer

Sunset Mille

PC Superman Table

PC Rainbow, JF Fox Flame, ORA Green birdnest

GARF Bonsai / PC Superman (hoping they contrast well)

"The Ridge -- Left"

"The Ridge -- Center" -- ASD Rainbow Mlle, and Aussie pieces

"The Ridge -- Right"

Aussie Mille #1 (Peaches and Green)

Aussie Mille #2 (Peach Lighthouse) -- Developing yellow tips

Aussie Mille #3

Aussie Baby Blue

"Table Point" -- (Front Left) Aussie tabling "Pink Floyd" / Hulkster, Rainbow table, WWC Red Shortcake

Nasty Zoas: Rainbow incinerator, Jokers, Sunn-D

Nasty Acans

My typical POV (Don't mind the QT Tank that's sort of in the way)

 

[Rakie]

New Maricultured Corals.

Light purple with Deep Blue Polyps

Nice Deepwater-Ish -- Flouro body that grows ice blue near the tip of the arms and deep blue/purple tips

Golden/Orange Mille. Hope it holds it's color!

And two nasty cheaty actinic only shots


Gold / Orange mille

Deep-ish water acro

 

[Slack Tide Reef]

Man your loaded up[emoji106]
What are your current nutrient levels? Also what is the reasoning for dosing nitrates and vinegar? Seems counterproductive?

 

[Rakie]

Yep, lots of options. Not everything will be staying, as pieces grow and I collect more some of these guys will be cut from the group photo and sold off.

I think of the Vodka/Vinegar (it's actually a 1:4 mix) as bacteria food. In a closed environment like an aquarium, one bacteria will eventually outcompete nearly all others and become dominant. Additionally, I feel that in the reef many bacteria serve many different functions. When one species is out competed, the biotope fails to properly dispose of all the organics within the system. I feel it is because of lacking bacterium sp. within our aquarium we have things like "Old Tank Syndrome" -- When really all these old tanks need is a bottle of bacteria and something to ensure the bacteria don't die out.

As for the Potassium Nitrate -- That's specifically for the corals. Not only have my corals looked BEST when dosing KN03, but, it allows me to keep dosing bacteria and carbon sources without allowing my tank to bottom out nutrient wise. So to me -- They are complimentary, rather than counter productive! Although I completely understand where you're coming from.

And lastly, I was really, really lightly stocked! I was waiting for some choice fish to show up

N03: 10-15
P04: 0.04

Not a believer in the ULNS system :)

 

[Seth401]

Very nice, what is your bulb combo?

 

[Rakie]

Very nice, what is your bulb combo?

Thank you. 6x24 ---> 3x ATI Blue+, 2x ATI Coral+, 1x ATI Actinic. If I get a 2x24 retrofit, I'll be adding an ATI ABS, and ATI Purple+.

If I end up winning a radion or something crazy I'll add that for the blue spectrum and add in a few GE 6000k

 

[DML08]

Nice man, love those dimensions.. Little motivation, here is a pic of my old 45G sps cube..

 

[Rakie]

Thank you, and nice looking cube!

Over at RC it's much more common to put a build thread in the forum you're dedicated to. But I moved the thread over to the members tanks section (Or, remade the thread I should say).

 

[Madimod]

Nice man, love those dimensions.. Little motivation, here is a pic of my old 45G sps cube..

Very nice setup! Can you tell me more about your tank

 

[Katrina71]

Your build thread hasn't been updated since Feb? Gonna have to fix that :)

 

[Rakie]

Your build thread hasn't been updated since Feb? Gonna have to fix that :)

Oh, that's because at RC it's customary to have your build thread in the section you call home -- Or the section that represents your coral selection (SPS) My build thread is in my signature, in the proper section. I update it on average like once a week.

THis is also a proper build, starting from my day 1 DIY of the tank drilling, painting, etc etc ---> The Garden, Rakies shallow SPS cube <---

Here's my last update this Saturday -- 3 Months Growth

My current issue is making the FTS not look washed out. Camera limitations, fun stuff.