eddius-maximus

AGREED! It's a gorgeous disaster. My two big tank stresses: aiptasia and spongodes. And I can't just remove it. It has firmly become an integral part of the biggest piece of LR in my tank.

I'm incredibly jealous of the shapes your spongodes is forming. Beautiful. Mine aspires to be a gigantic (12"+) flat dinner plate, taking over everything. 

Correct, new(ish) home, very well sealed. If your media is expiring quick, have you tried the trick where you run a hose to your skimmer cup?

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-best-way-to-implement-a-co2-scrubber.330806/

Instead of adding a little water to the bottom of the media, run a hose on one side to your skimmer cup and the other side to your skimmer's silencer. It can extend your media up to weeks.

Added a co2 scrubber and wow! Instant pH boost. I'm now peaking at around 8.4. 

Get one of these and chop the Reefer 450 sump area in half. One section just big enough to house your skimmer, the remaining space for your fuge. It'll absolutely be big enough for aggressive nutrient export:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/202091893065?ul_noapp=true

Front to back, it's 16.5". And then tell them your water level is around 9.5" (confirm the water level on your own of course but it should be the same). I've done this on past systems -- their build quality is impeccable. And instead of spending $$$$ on a new sump, spend it on a Kessil H380.

And you should also consider doing ATI Essentials Pro instead of Triton. It's super concentrated (I went from 150ml of 2-part to 30ml of ATI Essentials Pro) and there doesn't seem to be inventory availability issues like there have been with Triton. The end goal is still the same -- no water changes.

Edit: Found some old pics. https://imgur.com/a/q6s5XSy

40 minutes ago, diesel3443 said:

I love how clean this looks. How are you liking the Orpheks?
 

So many variables in a tank that make me second guess, but Orphek isn't one of them! I love these lights. Tons of uniform PAR. The light quality looks incredible in person.

3 minutes ago, diesel3443 said:

Haha. That’s not a good plan for the problem I have. Would fill that as fast as I filled this

 

 

You think the same way as my wife. Neither of you guys are wrong.

8 hours ago, jolt said:

Looks like you are running out of spots for new sticks.  It's one of the saddest things I know ....

The sole reason for my upgrade to a 200 gallon.

How funny. I think I saw you in there today (Aquadome). I was upstairs buying a Linckia starfish. I would've introduced myself and said hello had I known!

3 hours ago, Dogfish said:

Not to be a pain here but wanting to avoid pain. I found 6 brown palys on the rock my duncan is on. I assume since Im in Texas they are Texas trash. I can take the rock out to work on it. I have long arm gloves, goggles and a mask. Should I cut them off close to the base and paste over whats left of them with something like aptasia-x ? Or ??????

If it were me, I'd do the work under water. Grab a tube of reef putty, and cover them. Run some carbon passively in the sump. Most of these stories stem from crazy bad luck -- drilling rock in the kitchen sink and spraying paly juice everywhere, or boiling rock covered in them. My brain tells me those are terrible ideas. 

Definitely steal it -- I stole it from Broadfield's infamous Reefer 450 on R2R. 

Great PAR values! So, I haven't followed all 7 pages but had to ask.

Is that a baby human skull in the lower right? That's metal.

Edit: I scrolled up, awesome! Toss an encrusting cyphastrea on that bad boy.

12 minutes ago, mhart032 said:

Did you remove the black vinyl backing on the rear glass? I really like the look of the back glass clear with the overflow section black. 

Yep! Dig a fingernail under a corner of the vinyl and just start peeling. It required a bit of strength but there was zero sticky residue left afterwards, surprisingly.

It does add one additional step to glass cleaning, getting in the back there. But it's only like an additional 30 seconds or so. Really not too much extra hassle. I was sure to add enough room between tank and wall to be able to lean in and have space.

New ATO from Advanced Acrylics. This is the first time I've purchased anything from them and was blown away by delivery time, price, and quality. It's 30 gallons, currently being used with a Tunze 3155. It would be pretty hilariously awful for some sort of failure to empty 30 gallons of RODI on my floor, so I'm thinking of adding a Neptune FMK as a third layer of protection.

I've also added a Mimic Tang, Mystery Wrasse, and 5 peppermint shrimp. The shrimps are for a growing Aiptasia problem. It was pretty intense watching my wrasses immediately attempt to eat them. They're fairly large peppermints and they held their own! After a couple minutes the wrasses decided my HEB meals were way less of a hassle and moved on with their lives. Awesome.

Welcome!

New arrivals. 8 Chromis, 1 Hippo Tang, and 1 Yellow Wrasse. 

Chromis. Never again. This is the second time I’ve attempted a school. They’re disappearing one a day just like the last time I tried this. Lesson learned! Three down, 5 left. Freakin Highlander in there.

That is a super cool find! Perfect for your application.

Another thing you could try is making your own food - I'm not sure what additives are in the cubes we all use but there's definitely something. I goto HEB and grab a half pound of mussels, oysters, shrimp, scallops, random fish, toss them into a food processor and then smoosh into a thin layer in a ziplock bag and toss in freezer. The time it takes to thaw in saltwater is very different than the cubes which tells me extra ingredients are definitely added. One batch lasts me months and months - and that's feeding 18 fish!

Thanks guys! I am currently experiencing the most intense diatoms bloom (or something! Brownish green dust algae coating everything) I’ve ever seen. I’m guessing it’s the silicates in the new sand. 

Im assuming the best course of action is to do nothing as surely if it’s silicates it’ll burn up and dissipate eventually. 

Sold

I started with 100% dry rock. I think it contributes to a harsher ugly phase (my tank went through diatoms (normal), but got a pretty heavy cyano and dinos outbreak). Things can get interesting (awful) on a bacterial level before everything stabilizes.

But two years later, my rock is encrusted with coralline (and a thousand other things) and teeming with pods, sponges, worms, you name it, it's in there living and thriving. Life will find a way as you add coral from a thousand different systems over the life span of your tank.

Don't feel bad about the dry rock decision! I did it too and will continue doing it for future tanks.

I'm a horrible fish owner. My tanks have had ich for forever. Zero losses, though. I add a new fish, it may have like 30% chance of showing signs. I just feed, feed, feed. It goes away. 100% success rate so far. I do soak my food in selcon sometimes.

I have a large japanese toadstool leather and black widow BTA. Neither one is moving. Just getting bigger. And I'm quite stuck as to the best course of action. This rock is Pukani so the BTA isn't going anywhere. His foot is, no joke, 5" deep into a tiny crevice. And the toadstool is massive. Its stalk is four inches across. 

Will this play out in the exact way I'm assuming it'll play out? AKA anemone wins and my gorgeous toadstool is no longer gorgeous? Any instances of these two weirdly co-existing?