~ TJ's Reef, the new and much improved making of the 187gReeftank~

[TJ's Reef]

With the reaquascape done and a few new and replacement Corals glued in place I decided to buy a helper with the Mojano infestation.
Was super cool to get back a Coral I had for 7-8 years originally bought as a Tricolor and yet it wasn't, and had four distinct colors so had called it my Quadcolor for most of that timeframe. Everyone thought it was a lame name so before the big regional Frag Swap "Reef Worx" I (the anti-name coral guy) officially renamed it the "Seattle Dreamcatcher"
Also was able to get back my old Rose Milli from Duane that was once the showpiece Coral in my 125g and 21" × 18" at it's peak. I started it small again and with a couple different Sunset Millie's next to it to fuse with and a Pink Milli close by.
A few other pics of the new frags in place.

 

[TJ's Reef]

With the Reef Worx show rapidly nearing and still having 200 plus frags disperse I went to the shop for another quick acrylic project in making a 5g bucket frag and water carrier all-in-one unit. And of course no pics of it loaded up with Coral in the buckets... oh well.

 

[TJ's Reef]

Mid February random photos including a pair of juvenile Leopard Wrasses that didn't make it, possibly Cyanide poisoning as were doing well and eating for first few days then both spiraling out and dying within 8 hours of each other. I performed a basic autopsy and found that the liver and surrounding organs were mush. Were supposed to have been treated for internal parasites/worms so didn't go through any QT at my place... my mistake, and luckily didn't infect my other Fish.

 

[TJ's Reef]

Finally the Reef Worx weekend arrived and was an honor to have "the one and only Tullio Dellaquila" in the house along with his lovely wife Joy for some one on one shop talk then out to dinner the night before the event. The show was a big success with 500 plus in attendance and even picked up a few new Corals, mostly zoanthids for filling in with. The best part of the show was finally meeting Shawn Hale and Jessica from Fritz, Jeremy Olsen of Benepets and getting hooked up with a bunch of Benereef Coral Food. Amazing product and one I'm happy to support and refer. It absolutely blew up my Acanthophyllia, Trachyphyllia and other LPS plus increased polyp extensions on the SPS.

 

[TJ's Reef]

Well darned, I forgot to add the gratuitous photo above.

 

[TJ's Reef]

The Cali Tort after feeding Benereef

 

[TJ's Reef]

Getting closer to "real time" updates now. March into April photo series, the Acanthophyllia was getting so HUGE and in danger of sparring with the Chalice I moved it to the other end of the tank. It's been fun being able to have LPS doing well without a fish nipping at them and easy feedings since I don't/won't target feed. Even the Clams seem to really benefit from the Benereef feedings and are Happy as.... you know, clams.

 

[TJ's Reef]

Beginning of April I couldn't pass up trying a Leopard Wrasse again and happened across my favorite, the Ornate Leopard (M. ornatus) was a fairly rough introduction in getting harrassed by the Yellow Coris, Powder Blue and female Azure Damselle, but after a month in eating well, putting on weight and mostly accepted as part of the gang... except from the Powder Blue who's still being a bit of a turd. Along with the Wrasse I also added a Tailspot Blenny and glued a empty barnacle shell onto the overflow box for him. And picked up a nice sized mariculture colony that has some potential.

 

[TJ's Reef]

All caught up, and some shots from yesterday.. including a "oh poop" moment when I realized that the Chalice could indeed reach up and say hello to the Milli above that I thought would be safe.

 

[TJ's Reef]

I had to use the Turkey baster to blow off the Chalices misentrial threads (spelling ???) and have yet to come up with a remedy to raise or separate the Milli further away.

 

[TJ's Reef]

Well after a few days of debating what to do and how to go about it with saving the mixed Milli group I came to a decision.... go big or pay the price. So, like a sliding tile puzzle started by cutting out the big-ish Miyagi Tort colony and managing to keep it in one piece.

Then let the Tangs house clean the area of algae.

Cut out the damaged Rose Milli along with the 2 Sunsets and Pink Milli and attach them to the improved location. And a booger frag that I'm cooking.

And shuffling a few others to better locations like the Seattle Dreamcatcher to where the Millis were and a Milka to where it was and finally keeping a smaller mini colony of the Miyagi Tort and placing it close to the Cali and bright green Tort. Also removed a second Red Prostrata Coral and placed part of the Branching Cyphastrea in place.

 

[TJ's Reef]

FTS of the new arrangement and a HUGE SURPRISE, found a ghost.... thought I'd lost him directly after introducing it month's ago... cool little Pixie Hawkfish.

 

[TJ's Reef]

Temporary Coral holding area before Duane stops by to pick up... cleaned up the Gyre XF280 in a bucket of FW and 1.5 gallons of white vinegar while doing the Coral switcheroo.

 

[ihavecrabs]

Hey, saw a few of your comments on your refugium/pod farm. Hoping to learn more about it. Can you give us some specs and what you have in it?

 

[HunterW]

Fabrication of the aquarium, mostly pics and little rambling....
Making MDF paterns, routing top and bottoms of front and back pane to exact dimension, routing all 4 sides of end panels, multiple tape layers removed one at a time for very clean edges.

This is definitely a case of Tankitis. pouring thru your builds. I see alot of that (face breakouts...lol) in our future for our builds we're doing.TFS