A Golden Reef Tank (v2)

[halmus]

Looking good. Love the anthias

I don’t have plans to add many more fish to the tank but Anthias are top on the list. I have 3 Bartlett’s and 3 Bimaculatus in there now. Not sure what the future ones might be. Probably a couple Sunburst and Lyretails I had a couple Waitei but they didn’t make it. Pretty small.

I watch videos of David Saxby’s tank in England at least once a month. I love his huge schools of Anthias.

 

[SynDen]

Ya I love his tank, and something I am going to strive for in mine.
Love sunbursts, lyretails are a good filler one, but the one I want the most in my tank is a couple Borbonius Anthias

 

[halmus]

Couple Borbonius? That would be an awesome site. I couldn’t remember the name but that’s one my wife had her eye on until she saw the price. Maybe sometime down the road but when we first looked at them, we had poor luck with the QT process. That’s far improved now.

Do you think a Borbonius would make a good anniversary present for my wife? I swear I would be getting it for her, not me.

 

[Lmmchops]

Looking great man!

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[SynDen]

Couple Borbonius? That would be an awesome site. I couldn’t remember the name but that’s one my wife had her eye on until she saw the price. Maybe sometime down the road but when we first looked at them, we had poor luck with the QT process. That’s far improved now.

Do you think a Borbonius would make a good anniversary present for my wife? I swear I would be getting it for her, not me.

Ya, my wife had the same reaction. One of the few fish that she actually really liked until she saw the price tag. Although they have come down in price a bit recently. Not sure my wife would view that as a good anniversary present though lol, but maybe yours will

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[SkyShark]

Looks great! All the purple coralline on the back wall makes me think the corals are ready to really start taking off!

 

[halmus]

Looks great! All the purple coralline on the back wall makes me think the corals are ready to really start taking off!

I’ve been away two weeks. Back this weekend if the weather cooperates.

We’ll see if I can notice any growth in that period of time. But, yep the coraline is a pain in the butt good sign things are on track.

I’ve got some thin black ABS sheets I’ve been meaning to cut to fit the back wall. I was thinking I could hold the sheet in place with the MP-60’s. Swap them out ever once in a while and clean them off. That way I can keep a more crisp and clean look.

 

[SynDen]

meh, sounds like a ton of hassle.. just let it grow imo, backwall doesnt need to be clean

 

[MuralReef]

Sounds like too much work.


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[halmus]

Good point. So, far that’s been my philosophy. I’ve had the ABS sitting in the garage for a year and still haven’t done anything with it. I sometimes wish it looked cleaner for more contrast. But I wonder how much coral damage I would do just trying to get the sheets in and out.

 

[SkyShark]

I’ve got some thin black ABS sheets I’ve been meaning to cut to fit the back wall. I was thinking I could hold the sheet in place with the MP-60’s. Swap them out ever once in a while and clean them off. That way I can keep a more crisp and clean look.

Public Aquariums typically do something like this. I’d say it’s all personal preference and depends on how easy it would be to get the sheets out without making a mess.

 

[halmus]

I did steal the idea from someone who stole the idea from public aquariums.

For now, I’m just going to live with the coraline. Too many other life priorities right now to try to figure this out. I have the materials. Maybe a future snow day when my wife’s To-Do list is complete. Haah.

 

[mebeknob]

I
I’ve got some thin black ABS sheets I’ve been meaning to cut to fit the back wall. I was thinking I could hold the sheet in place with the MP-60’s. Swap them out ever once in a while and clean them off. That way I can keep a more crisp and clean look.

And I’m over here trying to get coralline to grow ‍




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[halmus]

It sounds cliche but it was never my intention to grow coraline. I’ve just been aiming for the recommended water parameters. One thing leads to another and pretty soon I’ll be complaining that my corals are filling in too quickly.

Still, my tank is about a year and a half old and everything didn’t really start to make solid progress until about the year anniversary. At about nine months in I finally added the calc reactor and at the year mark I modified it to actually support the volume and coral demands. Around that time coraline really picked up. Corals were existing before. Now they’re growing. Solid and appropriate parameters.

I’ve seen tanks fill in with coraline quickly while dosing Kalk. I just tend not to use the product because it always precipitates out clogging impellers and turning my sand to concrete. I’m sure that’s user error in my part. I like my calc reactor and it works (now).

 

[Balz3352]

How'd you fix the reactor?

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[halmus]

I don’t know if the attached picture will go through. I do like the media I picked up from you. (By the way, thanks!)

I basically tripled the capacity of the reactors and was able to cut the throughout of the master flex way down. I did all of that at once so I can’t say for sure whether it’s the new media or the increased capacity. Either way, it works well now.

In the picture below, you can see the original size of the MRC reactors. I bought some of their general media reactors, cut out the bottoms flush with the inside diameter, and used them as extension tubes for each chamber. Then modified the plumbing to extend the circulation tube. Instant giant reactor. Almost 3’ tall now.

View attachment 13760

 

[Balz3352]

I don’t know if the attached picture will go through. I do like the media I picked up from you. (By the way, thanks!)

I basically tripled the capacity of the reactors and was able to cut the throughout of the master flex way down. I did all of that at once so I can’t say for sure whether it’s the new media or the increased capacity. Either way, it works well now.

In the picture below, you can see the original size of the MRC reactors. I bought some of their general media reactors, cut out the bottoms flush with the inside diameter, and used them as extension tubes for each chamber. Then modified the plumbing to extend the circulation tube. Instant giant reactor. Almost 3’ tall now.

View attachment 13760

Nice mod looks great

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[halmus]

I made a run on a couple stores today handing out fliers for the upcoming ReefEd event.

Since I just completed my first big job with my new business, I decided to celebrate along the way picking up pieces from each store. Like the good old days when I was an irresponsible kid!

I’m mainly focused on SPS in my tank but I’ll be needing to fill in some lower portions of the reef with a 34”ish deep tank.

I also have a ton of red and pink in the tank right now. So, I picked up a lot of blues today.

View attachment 14282

Also, I want a lone island of GSP. Guilty pleasure. Invasive crap but attractive in its own way. I’ll get it growing out on a separate rock and the rest will just grow out in my fish QT. I don’t plan on medicating these tanks. I’m not a competent fish doctor with meds. I just keep these going with some lone damsels and can move fish through the system as needed.

View attachment 14283

 

[halmus]

I also finally fired up a frag tank hooked to my main display system. That happened last weekend with the help of a few IPA and a girls night out making me a bachelor.

View attachment 14284

I have two frag tanks that have been prepped for almost two years now. They’re both 2’ x 4’ in dimension. I just needed to turn a valve to supply water and hook up the lights that have been collecting dust. Being hooked to the main display, the water parameters will be stable and I only have to worry about keeping the acrylic clean.

I only have one of them running now. I don’t need that much real-estate. The other can be brought online easily down the road as needed.

I’m getting ready to frag a few coral in my display and let them grow out here.

 

[neil82]

You have amazing self control. I wouldn't make it half way into a Coors before I'd get the itch to fire up that other frag tank. I agree about the GSP. Heck, I'm a sucker for pulsing xenia too. Nice work as always on the build!