Gig 'em @ NDstructible

Just ordered a replacement motorblock from Royal Exclusiv USA for my Bubble King Mini 200. I have been running my old Vertex skimmer for the past 2 months in it's place and it definitely doesn't pull out as much as the BK does, but honestly I haven't seen a real change in the tank. Nutrient levels are still super low, I still have patches of cyano in lower flow areas of the tank, and the corals don't seem to have reacted any differently to a smaller skimmer. I'm not convinced right now of any benefits of over skimming vs. under skimming, at least from my own observations lately. Perhaps I'm not focusing hard enough on the small details. Either way I'll be happy to get the BK back in the sump and running soon.

Typically you can distinguish a mariculture coral from a wild collected coral from the concrete disk they are grown on. Maricultured corals are usually stuck into a handful of concrete formed into a mound or disk whereas the wild corals look like a large chunk of coral that has been broken off at the base or from one end of the colony. If you ever see a large chunk of coral and it's not attached to a concrete disk, but is labeled "mariculture" I'm not sure I would trust that classification. As far as the resiliency of the coral goes, I consider a mariculture typically as resilient as a wild coral since it essentially has always existed in the wild. I have had more luck with maricultures in the long run than wild corals, but neither one of them are as strong as the aquacultured corals that have survived captive conditions for years. Maricultures, like wild corals, may not be as resiliant to changing environmental conditions, will most likely change colors under your artificial lighting conditions, and their growth pattern will also probably change slightly from how they look straight from the supplier. Sorry for getting off topic, back to the build!

Thanks, I'm not sure if I've said this before on this build thread, but the clams names are Clamuel L Jackson and Clams Armstrong. My wife is very proud of those names and wants to make sure everyone is aware of them haha

Aquacultured typically means completely raised in captivity (fragged and grown out in captivity over multiple generations) whereas mariculture was fragged and grown out in the wild, typically on trays out in the bay or reef flat. Here's a great website of one of the mariculture companies that produces some really nice maricultured colonies.

I wholeheartedly agree with you sir. I don't believe a coral is "aquacultured" and fully deemed suitable for an aquarium until it has been kept in captivity and keeping its color for a minimum of half a year+. Anyone can chop shop a colony and have the frags encrusted in a matter of weeks to sell at a swap, but in my experience those corals are the ones that brown out and die within a couple of months. I'm willing to spend the big bucks on the established colorful corals like the Red Planet or Hawkins echinata, but don't be charging me a bunch for something that may or may not retain its color or even survive! That's the best way to drive people away from trying to keep SPS, it's so demoralizing (and bank breaking) to beginners.

I've seen a whole lot of mariculture colonies in the past year and it's staggering to see all these online vendors who receive the exact same thing, fragging it up, giving it some ridiculous name, and selling each frag for 4x the price of the original mari. Not saying they all do it... But so many of them receive corals from the same importers or from the same area that exporters are collecting from. Many times I'll see a frag under nice actinics with the photo colors enhanced for $90 and think to myself "gee that looks EXACTLY like the mariculture I bought 6 months ago..... I'M RICH!!!"

Eye candy

I feel your pain! That was me a year ago when I had my 50 gallon running. Corals would be doing fine, and then I would come home from a trip and 1/4 of them were RTNing or already dead. Tearing down my tank, baking my rock and starting new, and upgrading to a 120 gallon was the best thing I did. Now my only coral deaths come from weaker wild colonies or frags from wild colonies. I wouldn't be afraid to tackle an upgrade and hold off on acros until you can restart fresh.

Start saving those pennies sir! You skipped on the last house I found you with a green house and a huge wooden deck with a tree growing out of it. [emoji12] Yeah, but corals don't grow so great in the shade, and that yard was allllll shade [emoji856]

You find me a house with a nice green house that gets the morning sun and I will will it with hydroponic tubs for corals and anemones. Until then, I'm not sure my marriage can withstand putting a hydroponic tub inside the house...

I've been working toward transforming my old 50 gallon display tank into a QT tank in the fish room. I don't have any pictures yet, but as soon as I get all the necessary plumbing parts together I'll start taking some pictures for reference. Since space is a bit limited in my house, I was considering plumbing in a second tank next to the 50 gallon that would help increase the water volume and keep things more stable. I have a shelving rack right next to the 50 gallon that currently holds 10 gallon tanks I've used for treatments and beta breeding. I'm thinking of putting a 20 long and/or 30 long on the racks and make those into frag tanks. Since it would all be plumbed into the QT tank I'm nervous that if anything ever got past my dipping it would wipe out my frags, but I don't produce nearly enough frags and the extra water volume will really help keep the QT tank more stable so I'm thinking it's worth that risk. I'm also trying to decide how I want to go about keeping the frag/QT tank parameters in check. Temperature and salinity are easy, but I don't think I want to deal with another CaRX. I have one dosing pump that is currently lent out to another member, so I'm thinking of buying another one and some two part solution and rely on the 2-part method for this system.

Ahhhhhh. It's finally that time of year when it's cool enough to open your windows at night and the tank pH actually starts bouncing back up in the night hours rather than dip even lower! Love it

Efficiency at its finest!

Yeah! Welcome to the BK club of Austin! Except mine is currently out of service waiting on a new motor block.... But I'll eventually rejoin the ranks.Really? That's too bad. How old is it?I like it a lot. Quiet and efficient. Needs a bigger collection cup. I'm trying to run it a little dryer but it loves to pull out the stinky stuff Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk The skimmer itself is 8, and I think the motorblock that died was a replacement that last a couple of years [emoji53] hopefully the new replacement will last longer, they aren't cheap.

Yeah! Welcome to the BK club of Austin! Except mine is currently out of service waiting on a new motor block.... But I'll eventually rejoin the ranks.Really? That's too bad. How old is it?I like it a lot. Quiet and efficient. Needs a bigger collection cup. I'm trying to run it a little dryer but it loves to pull out the stinky stuff Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk The skimmer itself is 8, and I think the motorblock that died was a replacement that last a couple of years [emoji53] hopefully the new replacement will last longer, they aren't cheap.

Yeah! Welcome to the BK club of Austin! Except mine is currently out of service waiting on a new motor block.... But I'll eventually rejoin the ranks.

Full tank shot today

Thanks, yeah I sure think so! I hope I can help people get great strong stands for their tanks and also any other random metal work they may be looking for.

Should you change your name to JeeperJasReef? That tank looks like it's going to be awesome! Can't wait to see this build.

That's always comforting! Now you'll spend the week wondering where it is and if it has made it into the powerhead yet

Anemone shot of the day

This was it a few months ago I

That was the ugliest brown mariculture I had ever seen. But I used my actinic flashlight and thought I saw some reddish hues hidden under all the brown so I took a chance and bought it. Sometimes your best corals start off as diamonds in the rough

I sure love the way corals look from the top down. Can't stand the blue LED washout look though [emoji849]

I wish! Unfortunately we don't have the resources for powder coating