50g Cube Build

[TheEngineer]

After seeing some great pictures @Fragzilla took with a dive camera, I decided to give that a try too. These are shot with just blues and UV on with the underwater color correction turned on. Focus and exposure are off in many of them, but I'm amazed at how well the colors turned out. They are just about spot on with no color correction at all. I did crop, sharpen, denoise and adjust exposure on all of them.

 

[Fragzilla]

Can you turn the clarity up? That tends to pull out all the fine detail

 

[TheEngineer]

Can you turn the clarity up? That tends to pull out all the fine detail

Probably. I don't usually mess with the clarity slider if I don't have to. Most of those are just out of focus I'll see if I can clear them up with clarity a bit

 

[TheEngineer]

I can't believe I didn't post this here...

I had a major issue with my ring of fire colony melting away. I managed to stop the losses but there aren't many left.

Here's the thread. I talk about starting vitamin c dosing in it.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/im-out-of-ideas-zoas-slowly-melting.244257/

 

[drstratton]

I'm glad that you were able to save some of them.

 

[TheEngineer]

I'm glad that you were able to save some of them.

Me too. They're my favorite zoa (in my tank). I haven't seen others with them and the colors are just awesome.

 

[drstratton]

Hopefully they will start to grow and flourish in your tank again.

 

[TheEngineer]

I had an awesome time at the Delaware Reef Club's frag swap this weekend. I wound up MC'ing the event (haven't done that in years!) Grabbed a bunch of great corals and a clam.

Tubbs Blue, still opening. Well over 100 polyps. $40!

Green eggs and ham (@Supreme Reefs)

JF Stargazers (@jfox) Blurry pic, but super bright

Freebie! Don't know if they have a name.

Clam from Dr. Mac. I think it is a maxima.

 

[TheEngineer]

Here are a few wider shots of the rest of the tank. Filling out nicely

 

[TheEngineer]

Took a quick FTS this morning after doing some rearranging.

 

[TheEngineer]

I did the one thing that strikes more fear into me about my tank than anything.... I went on vacation! Dun dun dunnnnnnnnnn! I set up my ATO with a 20g brute trash bin, got an automatic air pump backup, installed an auto feeder and hoped for the best. We were gone for 11 days and when I came home..... My glass was filthy, but everything else looked great

Corals seemed to like the extra nutrients the fish feeder was dumping in. The smallest it feeds is more than I normally give. I've got a bunch of new growth and everything looks happy. Turned the skimmer back on and I'm pulling out some nasty gunk. I can breathe now

 

[TheEngineer]

I haven't updated this thread in a while. Things were growing great, the tank came through vacation unscathed and all.

I'm battling yet another mysterious zoanthid killing something in my tank and it's really stressing me out. This seems to pop up every 3 or 4 months just when things are growing well. It kills off a ton of polyps, I eventually get it under control and then I wait for it to happen again. It is getting really disheartening.

 

[TheEngineer]

Well, I think I managed to arrest the decline. Two rounds of chemiclean and I restarted dosing vitamin C twice a day. One colony is still annoyed looking, but the others have at least stopped withering away. I think I'm going to add a few weekly doses of vitamin C to my regimen and see if that prevents this from happening again.

 

[TheEngineer]

Looks like I'm on the better side of the outbreak now. Some still annoyed polyps but no more die off.

 

[Jerzyray]

Hi, I've been looking to upgrade to a bigger tank. Was looking at the red sea reefer 170. Or save some money and go with the 50 cube you have. What do you think?

 

[TheEngineer]

I really like this tank. I have not had a Red Sea before. They look nice.

 

[Jerzyray]

I really like this tank. I have not had a Red Sea before. They look nice.

Thanks for your input. I know the red sea has a better sump. Are you running the sump that came with the tank? And what about the skimer

 

[TheEngineer]

Thanks for your input. I know the red sea has a better sump. Are you running the sump that came with the tank? And what about the skimer

I'm running all of the equipment they provided. I think the sump great.

 

[TheEngineer]

I stopped down at @PacificEastAquaculture yesterday with my local club. Picked up four zoa frags. Sorry for the bad iPhone pic. It is the three up front and the middle left (purple and green) frags. They're much brighter in reality but you get the idea

 

[TheEngineer]

My tank is a year old

I took a really quick and dirty video just now with my phone. Filling in nicely. I need to get some more frags off the sand as I'm picking up another 5 on Saturday.