The Garden -- Rakies shallow SPS cube

[najer]

England, oops "color"!

 

[Rakie]

England, oops "color"!

Didn't even catch that until this comment.

Well, I did a bad. Got some corals. Already so full... Ah well.

 

[Rakie]

So my scape is done -- the current problem is trying to find something large enough to cycle and cure it in.

18"x19"

The only thing that might fit it is a large trash can.. but I'm not looking to spend $40 on a trashcan so the search continues!

EDIT: Large enough**, not late enough.

 

[Rakie]

Finally I've got my dumb structure starting to cycle. Stil need to add about 10 gallons of water, but you can clearly see both layers right now!

I've also got a whole bunch of other rock in there just in case I decide to make a teeny island for misfit non-SPS.

And yes... The tub is huge, it's 40 gallons... But only has about 30-ish gallons with rocks in it.

EDIT: The exposed bit on top will be right under my overflow box.

 

[Rakie]

Also, I made a DIY porthole because cheap.

TLDR; 2" tube, 3x3" Acrylic square, PVC glue.

So here's a few pics I took when lights were ramping down.. Kinda blue, but okay for a first whack at the "lets hope it doesn't leak" tube.

Monti group + Pink Diamonds

Bum

Pink Diamonds

Wild pink blob with red polyps (polyps went kinda brown at the bottom of tank with weekly dips)

RMF Acid Trip Mile

FHC Flood Light

Jawbreaker with 3 babies

I had more pictures but lights went too blue and they looked meh. I'll get more pictures when lights are normal.

 

[Janci]

Also, I made a DIY porthole because cheap.

TLDR; 2" tube, 3x3" Acrylic square, PVC glue.

So here's a few pics I took when lights were ramping down.. Kinda blue, but okay for a first whack at the "lets hope it doesn't leak" tube.
I had more pictures but lights went too blue and they looked meh. I'll get more pictures when lights are normal.

Very cool.
Love the yellow in the RMF Acid Trip Mile pic

 

[Rakie]

Thanks much @Janci -- That one nearly died in a friends tank and he gave it to me, took a long while to turn it around.

Here's a few more pictures using the DIY Porthole. Due to lots of dipping and removing from the rock structure many of my corals have picked up some green. It's slowly going away.

This one is supposed to be "Yellow Submarine"

Some wild thing

Bum with daylight colors

TGC Tropic Thunder

Wild red/pink mili

Baby WD starting to get a lil color

Oregon Tort (color morphed during move/dips)

RRU Strawberry Fields

 

[revhtree]

These look great!

 

[Rakie]

These look great!

Thank you @revhtree -- Slowly but surely it's coming back together. Corals got pretty annoyed getting ripped off the rocks and dipped for two months... But you gotta do what you gotta do. When my structure is ready they'll have room to grow in prime real estate.

By the way, I heard you will have an official R2R table at some upcoming shows... @mdbannister has hired me to come up with a logo, let me know what you think;

 

[CoralWealth]

everything looks great man for being taken off the rock and dipped multiple times.

 

[Rakie]

everything looks great man for being taken off the rock and dipped multiple times.

Thank you! Yeah... fragging every coral off the rock really made 'em unhappy. Most of them are sitting on my sandbed right now, and have been for two months now. They're bouncing back slowly...

Note to everyone whose concerned; Bayer isn't effective for AEFW. Dipped side by side, AEFW can survive Bayer dips. Not melafix though...

 

[CoralWealth]

Thank you! Yeah... fragging every coral off the rock really made 'em unhappy. Most of them are sitting on my sandbed right now, and have been for two months now. They're bouncing back slowly...

Note to everyone whose concerned; Bayer isn't effective for AEFW. Dipped side by side, AEFW can survive Bayer dips. Not melafix though...

That is why I use melafix for everything and it is clear so you can see everything. Not sure why everyone like Bayer so much, melafix is much easier on the frags I found too.

 

[Rakie]

That is why I use melafix for everything and it is clear so you can see everything. Not sure why everyone like Bayer so much, melafix is much easier on the frags I found too.

Honestly I've found bayer to be much more gentle on frags. This is the first time Bayer hasn't worked for me, and I've got a drawer full of dips that I don't care for. Melafix is the only other one I found to be useful besides bayer.

For bayer I just let everything settle on the bottom, gently pour off the cloudy water, and fill with clear water to see what came off. Hadn't been an issue before, just need to move slowly.

 

[GoVols]

Rakie,
How long are we going to cycle...

 

[Rakie]

Rakie,
How long are we going to cycle...

I'll give it about a month most likely!

So time for another good old power outage. 7 hours with no power.

EDIT: Power back on, water dipped down to 73* while I slept. Little bit of tissue loss on the tips of a few SPS. Nothing too bad.

 

[Rakie]

Baby WD

RRU Strawberry Fields

IC Kaleidoscope

Some Wild Thing

RRU Diablo

Something from FHC...

Messy Frag Rack

 

[SneakyTortuga]

Baby WD

RRU Strawberry Fields

IC Kaleidoscope

Some Wild Thing

RRU Diablo

Something from FHC...

Messy Frag Rack

what a good looking frag rack

 

[gabeJLFT]

Baby WD

RRU Strawberry Fields

IC Kaleidoscope

Some Wild Thing

RRU Diablo

Something from FHC...

Messy Frag Rack

dang where did u get those corals[emoji7]

 

[Janci]

Looking good and packed Rakie.
One would not see dipping was going on for a while now.
Beautiful colours!

 

[najer]

The only reason I don't like that frag rack is because it isn't in my tank!
Sweet!