Syn's 75 bowfront tank build

SynDen

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#1
So here is my tank, figured it time I post some pics of it. Its a 75g bowfront with a 20g sump/refuge with deep sand beds. It has been up around about a year now, although not nearly as impressive as most of your tanks here, but hoping to get it there eventually. Still got lots to learn but enjoying every minute of it.
After I took these pics I added in a large CuC to the tanks, thanks to Nick, and I also moved the Mushroom leathers down of the top and into the far back right corner, where they seem to be doing better.

One issue I had when I first got the tank was the star polyps. They came with the tank and they have grown like weeds since but soon after spring started this last year my house temp suddenly shot up one day and by consequence so did my tank temp. After that the star polyps lost almost all of their color and even new ones that grow in are brown. I was hopeful that they would regain their color eventually but after 8 months or so they show no sign of regaining any of their color. I have been dosing iodine but it has had no effect on them. Anyone know of a way, or if it is eve possible to get their color back?

View attachment 17084 View attachment 17085 View attachment 17086 View attachment 17087 View attachment 17088 View attachment 17089
 

Blindrage

Anthias
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#2
I am not an expert on what affects GSP, but what are all your water parameters?

I assume you are testing the basics (Salinity, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, and PH) and they are all good, but what about Calcium, Alkalinity, Magnesium, and Phosphorus?

High values could "burn," for lack of a better term, the corals. High Phosphorus (PO4) can cause all kinds of problems, including unwanted algae.
 

SynDen

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#3
Well Salinity is at 33/1.0245 ammonia 0, Nitrites and Nitrates are 0, ph sits around 8.0, alk at 8.4 DKH and at last check mag was 1400 and calc at 480ppm. Dont know about PO4 though as I dont have a test kit for that yet. But pretty sure that about the time the star polyps lost their colors the Phos was fairly high as I had a huge algae bloom soon after. I have taken steps to lower it, like running Rowa, and using RODI water now. I also recently cleaned most of the sand to remove any more build up of Phos as it was one of the last places I was still getting a lot of GHA. Have seen the GHA pretty much stop growing now
 

Blindrage

Anthias
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#4
Well that about empties my knowledge bank in this area, which was not all that deep to begin with. I hit on the obvious stuff. Now we wait for those with more exhaustive experience.
 
#5
Mine only pop under led. What lighting are you using?
 

SynDen

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#6
I have T5s. They used to be all green but now they are almost entirely brown, they have a few polyps that have some green still at the tips. The green that is there really looks great under the lights but it is so sparse you can't hardly notice. Would love to find a way to get all the green back, cause they would look amazing if they did
 

SynDen

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#7
You can see the brown with specs of green pretty well in the 5th photo
 

Blindrage

Anthias
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#8
Mine are under MH and T5s and are a very bright green color.
 

SynDen

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#9
Well after the whole resealing of the tank and the bulkhead debacle, the tank is back up and with a few additions and improvements. First off I added about 40 pound of some nice live rock I got from Nick at Ambrosio. All my live rock before hand was mostly just shelf/brick pieces so these new pieces really helped me get a much better scape I think.
I also added a Sunburst montipora, Red rider mushrooms, frogspawn, green favia (all from Gonzo's) as well as a zoa and mushroom rock from a dbtc.
I also added a new BRS GFO and Carbon reator, a b-day present from the wife.
Tomorrow I will be adding 4 new fish as well after I pick them up from Bush8984
And that GSP that lost all its color got moved to the back corner of the tank lol, anyway here is some pics.

[attachment=65988:name]
 

SynDen

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#10
New additions since reseal

Lots of new additions since I finished the reseal on the tank 2 months ago.

New lobo that my 2yr old daughter picked out at aquatic art.
Daughter: "Daddy, that one" pointing
Me: "That one? Why?"
Daughter: "It's Pink daddy."
Me: "That ones pink too"
Daughter: "No, Daddy that one"
Me: " Okay..."

[attachment=66307:name]

Strawberry and orange/red acans
[attachment=66309:name]

Xenia (dbtc from Rumen)
[attachment=66310:name]

Rainbow nem
[attachment=66311:name]

Duncan
[attachment=66312:name]

Stylo (Frag from Josh)
[attachment=66313:name]

2 of these cleaners
[attachment=66314:name]

Frogspawn
[attachment=66315:name]

Marbled Mushroom (Dbtc from opakapaka)
[attachment=66316:name]

Red Rider mushroom
[attachment=66317:name]

Two Spot Tang
[attachment=66318:name]

Female Carpenter Flasher Wrasse
[attachment=66319:name]
 

ThatsDeep!

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#11
Syn, We'd love to come check out your tank sometime. We are generally down at Colfax and Race every Sunday around 2 - maybe sometime we can arrange to see it. Oh, BTW, I just made some frags from my GSP's and though it will be a while before they are worthy of your tank - there is that option :).

You also reminded me about NICK! Yeah, that guy has often had instant responses and helped with a variety of things. Thinking maybe he owns a Ft Colins FS.... want to look him up and say thanks some time as well.

Damn. Only problem we have currently is that I am pretty sure there is a 120 gal in our future :)

Reef on!
 

SynDen

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#12
Your welcome to stop by anytime. Im generally here on Sundays, although not this weekend. Thanks for the offer on the GSP but mine have actually since recovered. They went a year without any color and then suddenly got all their color back and now bright green again.
On a side note you made me realize I haven't updated this thread in quite awhile and the tank looks quite different now
 

SynDen

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#13
[attachment=66881:name]

So haven't updated this thread in a while so about time. Been playing around some with my camera too trying to get better shots of the tank. Starting to get better but lots of room for improvement.
None the less tank has been looking great, quite a few new additions and everything else growing out nicely. I upgraded my t5 to an LET retro fit kit with reflectors and then over a month or more I slowly brought the lights back up to a full cycle. Everything so far has responded really well to them and finally have the "pop" I had wanted to see all along.
The only oddity at this point is my sunset monti that has grayed out in the middle for some reason. Still growing great and petals are bright orange, but the center area about where the plug is under it has been gray/brown for sometime.
 

SynDen

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#17
Thanks! 2 of the acans came from Aquatic Art, my 3yr old daughter actually picked them out along with the pink lobo. Only 3 and already has a great eye for corals lol
 
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SynDen

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#19
haha ya certainly has that potential, but also gives me a good alibi with the wife lol
 

Mermaid Gardens

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#20
Pretty awesome setup!
 
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