Good Greef

Before u bust my balls, I did just tweak and see what looks best. But still depends on where my LEDs are in the light cycle, how close and taking a picture Etc. So any tips would be great

Haha. Yep. Got the Motorolla Razr... I have an S7 and do have that "pro" mode. Why dont you give me a cliff notes version. I.e. adjust iso to 0. Move white balance to "x."

Shawn, Good meeting you last week. I also don't know how ppl take such good pics with their cell haha. Tank looks good though!

Not much meat in this update. Just wanted to point out a few things I think I think.. 1. I think I hate peppermint shrimp now. In the past month ive witnessed my three peppas harass any non fish livestock introduced to my tank. Feather dusters I understood, even tag teaming and killing a cleaner shrimp maybe. But a healthy (albeit young) longspine urchin wtf? After a 3 hr drip acclimation, all 3 took turns pestering the urchin as it sped away and pointed its spikes toward them. Laughed and told my wife that theyd never get to his body. Two hrs later, they were still messing with it and the urchin slowed down.. then they flipped it and I saw 3 spines had broken at the base. Finally I jumped in and caught all three into the sump to exchange. Two days later, the urchin is finally roaming again. F em. 2. After punting them, I put my feather duster back in the display. Its one of the soft tubed kind. Tonight as I was staring at the tank, I noticed the crown had bailed and was submerged in the sand 2 inches behind its tube. Bummer I thought. Then all of a sudden, I witnessed another crown emerging from the tube? Huh? I read on advanced aquarist: "Soft tube varieties reproduce sexually, but many form dense colonies of clones by a budding process called scissipary. In this process the posterior end of the worm breaks off and develops a new crown while the "parent" grows a new posterior." How cool. Funnest things in this hobby are witnessing these natural processes occurring.. then googling to figure it out haha.

While there's a small opportunity for me... it really is all about you and making sure your colonies' ingress/egress are not impeded on by the new fancy out of town builders. Plus, my tank is full of vacant land that will soon be available to develop on. And since you're one of my primary developers lol...

Looks like you need to chop up some mini colony sized frags of your average, boring, acros for me to buy in March at a discount...So you have more room for these designer strains right?

Hah. I may just buy exactly what you have, so I can just follow you like a monkey. It will be alot easier and I can just bug you with questions muahaha!

Korallin and Reef Octopus are popular brands that people in the club have had good results with. I have an old school reactor that's worked well for me. You can even DIY one! I think that I have the plans saved somewhere if you're interested in going that route. I would say the most common path for people is to start dosing and then move onto the reactor when the dosing requirements becomes more than they're willing to handle. That's pretty much how I got started! There are a lot of commercial dosing mixes out there if you have a favorite brand. I see a lot of people using the BRS stuff, but I haven't tried it myself. Here is a link to An Improved Do-it-Yourself Two Part Alk Calcium Supplementation System if you decide on a DIY mix. Thanks for the link. I know im probably overthinking things and that once I actually set it up, ill realize its not as complicated as I thought. Ill pass on a DIY one haha. After the past 3-4 months, im itching to move forward from that. And you're right, most ppl start with 2 part dosing then upgrade to a CaRx as needed. For the past 3 yrs I dosed Kalk from my ATO. I do plan on eventually being heavily stocked, especially with all the open space ive reserved. I can see myself stocking my tank 50% full of maricultred mini colonies and 50% from frags/mini colonies from other hobbyists. So i was thinking it would be best to just skip that dosing step and just "buy once cry once. " But I dunno, still flip flopping.

Thanks for the tips. Ive heard similar things about not under/over sizing for those very reasons. Also didnt think about getting an easy to find pump. Initially I thought I could run it off my manifold, but have bee. Told otherwise.

Calcium Reactor thoughts/opinions are needed here. ANYTHING that will help speed up my learning curve and/or my ability to obtain one. Some of you like Ty have been very helpful over PM''s, but maybe I can take some load off them and open things up. I'll go into more detail of my coral stocking plan and timing in my next update, but for purposes of this discussion you can assume 80% of the corals will be SPS/Acros. My Objective: To buy/build the correct calcium reactor setup up-front so that any future needed upgrades for a 180g SPS focused tank are not needed. And in the most cost efficient manner Back in December, I spent a lot of time skimming through hundreds of anecdotal reviews on the various calcium reactors sold on the market. Cliff notes version is that I decided to manage my tank's alkalinity by looking/purchasing a used Geo 612/618/624 Calcium Reactor setup, somewhere on the secondary market. Fast forward to February and I have not had any luck securing a CaRx setup. There still isn't too much of a rush, because I do not expect that I'll add enough stony corals to require supplementation for 1-2 months. But I didn't realize that shipping is not recommended for CaRx due to all the moving parts - so this eliminated the national forums from my seller supply pool, so not much inventory available. It seems like my options at this point are: Option A: Purchase a brand new Geo 618 reactor: The CR618 will hold 12 pounds of large grain media and is suitable for reef aquariums up to 300 gallons. 6″ diameter reaction chamber All cell cast acrylic construction 3/8″ thick flange, lid and base Key hole slot for lid removal Full access to the reaction chamber NEW Precision Needle Valve for fine adjustments Sicce Syncra 1.5, bolts to base plate pH probe port in lid pH probe adapter included Auto fill bubble counter 11 x 10 foot print, 22″ overall height Comes with tubing harness shown in picture Now comes with push to connect fittings Q: If I go this route, do I just then buy a separate regulator and C02 tank and call it a day? Q: I know I can find a CO2 tank locally. But what kind of regulator should I get? I read of ppl saying its easy to build your own 2 stage regulator, but I'd rather buy an off the shelf one if it will be sufficient in the long run, since I'm getting tired of all the DIY at this point lol. Necessary to go with a Carbon Doser? Masterflex through EBAY? Help!!! haha. Option B: Open up my classifieds search to other brands. I've heard Lifereef, MTC, Vertex? Others? Option C: Scrap the CaRx and go with a dosing setup. It costs less upfront and if I eventually get the APEX Trident monitoring system it would be cool having the DOS setup sync with it. Thanks for everyone's thoughts!

Ive always heard that, but kept 2 for 2.5 yrs before. Although thats not considered long in reefing, we will see. So far they all sleep in the same crevice and are out and about 10x more than I expected. But perhaps that will change once I add more aggressive fish.

Finally getting around to making some much needed updates... Its easy to just skip the build posts but Ill regret doing so down the line!!! So a lot has happened in the past month. I've transferred all the selected livestock from my old tank and shut it all down. It was a pain in the *** to catch everything. At one point, all my LR was moved into buckets and I could not find one of the Royal Grammas. I knew it was in a dart hole amidst the 75lbs of rock but couldnt find it. When I finally gave up, I brought the rocks outside to chunk in a creek we have in my backyard. Luckily I saw a yellow speckle in a rock I was about to chunk and was able to get him out. Livestock Transferred: Female Bipartitus Leopard Wrasse, Midas Blenny, Ocellaris Clownfish, Royal Gramma Pair/ Other: Maxima Clam, Serpent/Banded Starfish, Tuxedo Urchin,Hermits, 15 headed Torch Coral, and a few small Acro/Blasto/Zoa frags . I then received my lid from Advanced Acrylics and it fit perfectly. Only thing i would change would be making it two pieces to cover the 6 feet. One piece works but its hard to just pick up one side for a quick hand in the tank, since the Acrylic bows because its so long and heavy. At the same time, my 20g QT tank had been setup with Aquaclear 50 and seeded with DT sponges and media which had sat in my new build sump for 3 wks. Wave#1 "Docile" fish into QT: Red Firefish x 3, Whitespotted Pygmy Filefish x 2, Mccoskers Flasher Wrasse (Male and Female) -Wave #1 livestock were in QT for 17 days where I fed them a mix of PE, Hikari, Cyclopeeze, and SF Bay Capelin Roe. By day 3, all were eating so I dosed a round of Prazi. I decided to transfer the Firefish into the DT a few days earlier than the rest to hopefully get them to settle in, which seems to have worked well . Interestingly though, I added a Sunburst Anthias and Wheelers Goby into my QT 4 days in but did not transfer them into the DT with the rest, as I wanted it to eat more aggressively before doing so. On day 15, I noticed the Sunburst Anthias not swimming like usual and ignored my feeding. It had white stringy poop hanging from it and died within a few hours. 10 hrs later the Wheelers Goby died also in my QT. I'm guessing internal worms, so I guess I should've dosed another round of Prazi but I am glad that the other adds are doing great. I tried a FW dip after it died but didnt see any flukes, assuming I know what flukes look like lol. Also ordered some inverts from LiveAquaria which I never have done. Longspine Urchin was DOA, but added a few other common things like 5 Trochus Snails, 2 electric blue hermits, 2 small nassarius, Sexy Shrimp (size of a corn kernel SMH), and a controversial Strawberry Crab. I made the mistake over overloading my first tank with too much CUC at the start. Now that my Diatom bloom is in full effect, I needed to buy a few. Next update: Skinning the Stand, Calcium Reactor quest, 2nd wave into QT, etc.

Looks good. I just got my lid from them and it fits perfect too. I need to update my build thread, im so bad at that. 180g Rimless SPS Focused

Nice build. I also wish i had a fish room, or at least a low profile utility sink that I can hide near the stand.. does this exist? Anyway, just wondering if those metal hose clamps on your return pump have started rusting yet. I used the same on my previous tank and had to remove it.

Good for you there is no phosphate. I had to treat 75lbs of pukani for 3 wks aggressively with LaCl to rid it of phosphates. The amount of phosphate precipitate that built up on 75lbs was truly about 8-10 cups of pure powder precipitate

So a little update, my tank has been cycling now for 3 weeks and I am about to begin my transition of livestock from the current tank. The current livestock I plan on keeping are: Female Bipartitus Female Leopard Wrasse (2.5 years old), Midas Blenny (3 yrs), 2xRoyal Grammas (2 yrs), Ocellaris Clownfish (1 yr). In addition, I am bringing over my Blue Maxima Clam (3 yrs), small Tyree pink lemonade Acro frag, Tricolor Valida frag, Miami hurricane chalice frag, Red Blastomussa Wellsi (15 heads), Purple Blastomussa Wellsi (10 heads) and maybe a frag of my huge torch coral. Going to the Aquadome for store credit (unless anyone wants to buy them) are: YWG + Pistol Shrimp pair (2 yrs), 15+ head torch colony, 6 head trumpet mini colony, red monti cap and digitata. Moving forward, I've researched the various viewpoints of QT/medications and can tell its a very heated, debateable topic. I am always open to hearing peoples' thoughts on things so fire away. But I am also realistic and know what is feasible on a daily/monthly/annual basis for my tank, family, living space, etc. I'd love to hear your thoughts on my "high level" summary plan of action. Existing Corals/Clam -> New Tank: All the corals transferring over have been scrubbed and soaked in peroxide solution for 10 minutes each day for the past 3 days. FYI - I've never been squirted by a clam in the eye until now!! All vermetid snails have been crushed then smothered with superglue. I will perform one last peroxide scrub tonight to remove as much algae as possible, then perform a Bayer Dip (not on the clam) before transferring on to the new tank. I hope the Blastos handle the Bayer? Existing Fish and Inverts -> New Tank: This was the process that I kept flip flopping on. I've never QT'd these fish and most have been in my current tank for 2+ years. While part of me says to throw them in my 20g long QT and start medicating them, I'd really hate doing that when none of them have shown signs of ich in the past and are eating heavily. I am sure there's ich present in their systems since they've never been in QT. But this comes down to the overall philosophy I plan on employing which ill discuss next. New Fish Additions: My plan is to setup a 20g long "observation" tank that I will keep all new fish additions in for 10-20 days. From my reading, the only meds I plan on proactively using will be Prazipro. The two primary goals for my observation tank will be to ensure that all new fish are eating well (hopefully can convert most to pellets), and to observe for any signs of ich/velvet that may arise after leaving the LFS' copper laced water which often hides the symptoms. In the event that ich or velvet show up, at least the onset will be isolated to the observation tank where I can then weigh how I want to treat it, or just feed them through it and hope it builds some immunity going forward. What are your thoughts on my plan? Starting new, its tempting to just say go and QT all the current livestock and start drugging them up to make my new tank "ich free." But the truth is, all the rigorous QT advocates admit that it only takes one drop of infected water to introduce ich to your tank. If that is the case: 1. How do I possibly transfer over my maxima clam without bringing over any old tank water? The clam surely has some drops of water inside its shell that I cannot rinse out without stressing it to death. How do you suggest transferring over my zoa rock that is the size of a baseball with tons of porous crevices in it? How do I know swishing it around in RODI gets 100% of it. Same with inside a hermit crabs shell? I guess that's the tough philosophical decisions I am facing. If a single drop of LFS water can make my tank have ich, is it realistic to believe that for the next several years I will never "contaminate" my tank with water perhaps stuck under a fingernail? Again - not looking for any arguments or heated debates. I'm just using thinking out loud here and am open to you experts.

I may just have to bid on it too!

Thanks yall. Forgot to add, Jolt you were right. I believe I just needed to type the command word "outlet" first to pre-populate it with the VARSPD outlet name. Anyone else have any thoughts regarding topic #2? Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

My Varios' outlet programming is attached. Once a sensor (LDK1 or LDK2) detects water the port "closes." Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

Alrighty, quick update then a few questions. Since December 20th, Ive been in and out of town while the tank has been cycling. I've been ghostfeeding every 3-5 days some mysis as well as adding some Aquavitro "Seed" I impulsively bought from Jake at RCA. My Deluxe BRS reactor is up and running with GFO via my manifold, and I threw in a media bag with some GAC into my sump for ****s and giggles, since my hands are constantly going in and out at this point I figured it wouldn't hurt to keep things clean. In addition, I also added a 40lb bag of additional CaribSea reef grade sand b/c my Gyres keep causing sandstorms and exposing my PVC rock bases. A quick random test of No3 showed 4ppm, but since I do not want to buy and Ammonia test kit just for the cycle, I am unsure how far along I am at this point. Either way, no rush for me except Im getting tired of seeing 2 tanks in the same room. Things on my mind: 1. Getting a hang of APEX 2016 and programming outlets/code can be a pain. I'm tempted to just offer someone a flat $100 bill to come over and get everything up and running. I've called APEX and also am using their forums, but all this takes alot of time and sometimes you dont get responses for days. Either way, some things I'm trying to figure out Q: My Varios 6 is plugged into Variable Speed Port 3(0-10v) using the ice cap controller. I've created a simple profile and currently have it set where if my LDK senses water, the return pump shuts off. Now..... my Reef Octopus skimmer and neck cleaner are both utilizing an EB832 outlet for now and I want the both of them to shutoff if my return pump is off. Ive tried using: If "Varios" OFF then OFF but it does not recognize or pre-populate anything that is connected via 0-10v ports, it only seems to prepopulate items plugged into eb832. Is that normal and if so, how do I make this happen? Q: When I transfer the old tank over I still have to hook up my Tunze Osmolator ATO unit and IceCap Battery backup to my APEX. Should these go into an eb832 outlet? Any best practices for advanced programming? Q: I messed up my initial PH Probe calibration so had to buy more packets. There are many myths on how to best calibrate new probes, room temp, soak in water etc. Any thoughts from you APEX experts? 2. Regarding transferring over existing livestock from current tank: Q: I have a blue Maxima clam for 3 years now that has grown well. The problem is, is it has 2-3 large Vermetid Snails and a bunch of ugly slime algae on the outside of its shell. Just for your knowledge, Vermetids are the bane to my existence and I want to risk 0% chance that I transfer over anything into the new tank. How do I transfer this Clam to ensure nothing transfers over? Can I expose it to air for a few minutes while I toothbrush and squirt peroxide on the outside of its shell? Then break the Vermetids and cover with superglue? This also applies to some corals that have nuisance algae on its base rock... Q: To help seed pods and stuff, I've been tempted to take my sponge sitting in my current tank sump baffle and transfer it to my new tank. But would there be gametes or anything that could facilitate a transfer of Vermetids to my new tank? Is it better to just scoop up some existing sand into a bag then place in my new tank?

Looks nice. If you have a drill and time, Id recommend drilling a few holes and using some pvc/rods/tons of superglue to connect some of the stacked pieces. It can save you a big avalanche headache down the line.

Ty, That's probably my biggest "growth" success ive had. Mustve been 2+ yrs ago, the 1st time I met you I purchased a frag. It ended up tabling 10x its size and was nice and hairy before my alk spike nuked it. But I remember you and I talking about how hairy it was ha.

Appreciate it. It feels like it has been a long journey already, the past 6 months especially, but now the real fun begins.. Although I must admit, there's one more "teach yourself" schooling i'll need to read heavily up on and that is maximizing the new APEX controller. I'll be posting some Q's coming up soon and hope someone can help shorten my learning curve on this portion since its not my favorite haha. Thanks. The aqua scape positioning evolves everyday and probably won't be final for months. But I made those three major structures over several weeks. Nothing is leaning on any glass. Here are a few more pics to possibly help you see. All I used was 1/2" pvc for the base rock and driveway markers+superglue+reef putty to hold some smaller pieces together. I currently have the thicker Marine Pure Block media in the sump and have 20lbs of various leftover pukani rubble that I'll add for aesthetics. But I may look at adding another block in the sump, but besides that not much more rock.

Hello Everyone, My name is Marc and I'm addicted to reefing... Just kidding. kind of....I've been in ATX for 17 years now and been reefing for 3.5 years now. This will be my first build thread, for my first custom tank ever, a 180g rimless from Planet Aquarium. I'm mainly a lurker on here as well as R2R and reefcentral but felt a build thread would help me keep a timeline of things, as well as provide one place to seek y'alls expertise. Quick background: I'm upgrading from a 75g standard Aqueon which was my first time dabbling in saltwater. I've experienced many, many, equipment, aquascape, chemistry, and user errors over the tank's life and I was done putting band aids on things, hence my decision to upgrade and finally do things "right." At my tank's peak (month 12 - 24) I was able to grow LPS and several Acro frags (chips acro, tricolor valida, PC Rainbow) into small mini colonies. But when my daughter was born, I let maintenance slip and my Tunze Osmolator optical eye got covered in precipitaTe (dosing KALK from ATO), which led to a major Alk spike ending most of my Acros. So for the past 12+ months I haven't added any new corals as I decided to focus on planning the upgrade and feeding the fish. The Upgrade: Here is where I am at one month in. Sorry for the shading - my other AP700 will stay on the current tank until this one is ready. Here's a few other pics of the progression of the build thus far before I list my equipment. My home has an inverted floor plan, so my main living space/street level is on the 2nd floor so I had to get structural engineers/ contractor to install 2 x LVL beams to support the weight. Stand from Ndstructible Welding Chiseled Pukani and soaked it in LC DIY Plumbing Manifold Behind my control Panel Finally finished plumbing with no leaks. Took 3 days to fill up with RODI! Equipment List Tank: 180g Rimless from Planet Aquarium (Aquadome) Stand: 36" tall Powder coated steel stand from Ndestructible Welding Overflow: 16" Synergy Reef Overflow drilled for bean-animal style Sump/Plumbing: Synergy Reef cl-44 (44x18x18) / Drains = 1.5" , Return Plumbing = 1", Manifold = 3/4" Lighting: 2 x Kessil AP700 Return Pump: Varios 6 Powerheads: 2 x Maxspec Gyre XF250 Skimmer: Reef Octopus SRO 3000 INT with ANC 200 neck cleaner Alk Control: TBD (Leaning on GEO calcium reactor but considering waiting for Trident+DOS solution) Reactors: BRS Deluxe for GFO; Media Bag for Carbon; Undecided on Biopellets for n03 Controller: New APEX 2016 Rock/Substrate: 70lbs Pukani / 210lbs CaribSea Special reef grade RODI: BRS 4 stage 75gpd

The 16" shadow overflow has 4 total. Both directly on both sides of glass Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk