Grog

Thanks Tim. My thought is that I'll have the 180 resealed and a stand built in about two weeks. I don't want to do a leak test with salt. Expensive leak test. I'll do it with hose water. I'd like to do a PAR test with a few lights at that depth, during the leak check, to see what I want to do. I have ideas. Some are more expensive than others. Also, want an eyeball check on what kind of coverage the lights get, spread, and visuals too.

If everything else is the same: same lighting, same sensor placement, same depth in the water, same temps... Would a PAR reading in fresh water be different than salt water? I'm thinking it would have an impact, due to difference in density in the two liquids, and that salt would have more of a PAR loss at depths than fresh. Do PAR meters have switches/toggles for this? I'm curious because I wonder if tests could be run in fresh water, for simplicity and cost savings, and if fresh water based test data would be meaningful to salt water applications.

Got both overflows removed. That one was stubborn. Cleaning the sides one at a time with a razor blade and vinegar. Vinegar is great for dissolving the coraline. First side progress below. There is a stain under where the overflow box was. I cannot feel it with my hand. I've tried the blade and vinegar, but no success. I'm going to try a Magic Eraser tonight. Kind of odd. I wonder if the silicone caused permanent discoloration or etched it some. hmm Two pics attached. Easier to see the stain from the outside. Overall the tank is looking way better.

I started on the overflow boxes and clean up process. Good thing we decided to remove them and replace with stand pipes. Like I said, I have ape strength. Got one overflow out completely, but I broke the other box on removal. 🤪 Big shocker there. I've decided that I will remove the old coraline from the sides. Looks ugly on the sides IMO. Back panel I'm still deciding.

I will most likely reuse the 2 SB Reef lights I have over the 70g tank. I'm going to have a little less rock and coral than most reef tanks. Want to add some larger fish. The tank will likely have some more and some less lit areas, but I'm ok with the 'open water' area not having super high PAR. The idea with this upgrade is to make more 'open water' for things like tangs to swim around. Worse case, if I end up not liking it, the SB Reef lights are only $150 each and work pretty good. I run them way less than full power. Adding one extra would be a simple and cheap fix. If this is confusing, I run the Kessil on the 40g tank currently. And yes, if I were running Kessils on this I'd definitely get more than one for this application. Overall, I'm happy with the SB Reef lights. They are not as sexy as the Kessil by any means. The company's communication is terrible, but you get your product, and it works. It would be hard for me to recommend them to others, just because their customer service is so spotty. I'd love to have Kessils over this tank. Just buying 3X of them would really hurt the old wallet.

Small first post to start the thread. Pardon my messy garage. The 75 wasn't enough for me. I knew this would happen. Got a used 180 gallon today. Thanks Tim! Gonna fix this up and upsize the 75 gallon to this tank, moving all the live stock and live rock over. I have a lot of work ahead. Removing the overflows, redoing the silicone, new plumbing, building a stand etc.... Gonna be a while, but it will get done. Pulled one overflow out today. I'll get the other one out tomorrow and start working on the old silicone. Apparently, this tank has a name, "Heavy". I'll keep the name. Renaming boats is bad luck, and probably bad for tanks. "Heavy" it is. Thus, it begins.

You will find folks some differences of opinions on the snails. I have a love hate relationship with most of them, but I really think the conch snails do great job. May want one or two in the tank. I also keep peppermint shrimp and donkey dung in my tanks but I'm kind of an invert fan.

I second Tim's comment on the Kessils. I have an AP9X over my 40 and love it. Running at 60% output and chalice and birdsnest are doing great. Kessil app is easy to use. If power goes out they start back up and remember where they were on the cycle. I got the Kessil hard mounting arm to go with. Very glad I did it. Worth the money. Love the look, of both the fixture and the light output. The shimmer is awesome. I have cheaper LEDs on other tanks but the AP9X covers a 40 breeder perfectly. Covering a larger tank with them could get spendy...... Other small thing that I notice after using it, the mounting arm makes it so easy to maintain the tank. No lifting of a hood, etc, to get in the tank and mess around. Very convenient and that is definitely a factor. Mine is mounted 18" over the water. Another small thing, the Kessil arm has a inches marked on it so you can use it to set height. Little items like that add up.

After I return from Iceland I'll do some rearranging in both tanks. I'll move the green one closer to this one. Free up some space on the middle right of the tank for other goodies.

Some auto parts stores will lease/lend stuff like this.

Now those are some sweepers! 😍 Guessing 7"-7.5" extension, about double the size of the colony. If anyone ever wondered about their sweepers. Here ya go. This is Galaxea Town!

Never really did much fragging before. Minimal at best. Got in some cool blue and orange (Fire and Ice) zoas on a frag plug the other day. I want to propogate this new frag to other plugs, so my thought is to surround the original with empty plugs, let it grow onto them, then separate afterwards. Picture of my layout with the original plug in the middle. This will be done in a rack in a dedicated frag tank. Is this the proper way?

New additions. Coral banded shrimp and some unknown freebie coral. Unknown is gonna move to the TBD frag tank after I get home from overseas next month. Hammer is kinda PO'ed as I was messing in the tank. Moody thing.... And yes, I need to vacuum my sand this week. Also added to emerald crabs to fight a small algae issue. They are camera shy tho.

At least I didn't get a condy.

New anemones. I can't resist nems... Even though I told myself I wasn't adding them to this tank.

I have space in this tank for another fish. I want to keep its current calm demeanor. Thinking of seeding with pods and then adding a mandarin about a month later. Any opinions?

He's gone now. Broke the green galxea off of its rock. Tried to eat a fish and another snail. Done! That thing was as aggressive as a pit bull on steriods. OMG

OK this guy has to go. Just witnessed him dragging off a large snail into his lair. Kinda comical but not what I want to deal with.

That means he needs to go.... I don't need an 8" carnivore invert in the tank.

Crab is growing. I hadn't seen him in about a week or two, so I guess he molted. Fresh colors so I think that is the case. Got good pics today. Leg stripes are changed. I have this odd suspicion that this is a juvenile rock crab and will be a big boy. Thinking this is what it is.... https://txmarspecies.tamug.edu/invertdetails.cfm?scinameID=Menippe adina

Updated FTS and new blue hammer. Rearranged a little and pulled some things out.

So, next obvious question. If you have a male and female, are folks able to breed urchins in tanks? Or do the offspring require crazy special care?

Other cool growth progression. Three months between the first photo and the last two. Green Birdsnest. NOTES: My photos are getting better, and there is lots of good stuff showing up on the back glass. March Photo End of June Photos Top View Side Shot

None. The tank was almost full already. I'd say a half gallon of water over flowed. So not much change. I caught it as it was happening. I think I have some ideas for a solution. I'll type them up later...

Some excitement today! Heard a noise from the living room. Water noise. That is never good. A lot of water noise. Wife and I both looked up. Water draining over the top of the tank onto the floor. OMG! Run into the living room and shut off the power. Then there was water gurgling from back siphoning in the ATO tank now. Scoop some water out and dump in to a bucket. All fine afeter that. Cause? A freaking snail on my ATO optical sensor. OMG! I picked his *** off and put him in a more appropriate space. I'm so glad this happened today and not last weekend when I was out of town for four days.\ Now I need to figure out some shielding to put around the sensor. Or maybe a float kill switch for high level fail safe. NOTE: This is a sumpless build. No sump, so snails can access this sensor. Snail Wall 1.0 coming soon.