Bubba's SPS Journey

lillypads reef · Dec 16, 2018

bubbaque said:
I did start carbon again but use it off and on. I do a mixture of the brs large size (forget the name) and rox carbon as I am still scared to go strictly rox. I use about 1 1/2 cups of the large and only a few tbsp of the rox. My water looks crystal clear now.

Why scared to use only rox? Thanks!

bubbaque · Dec 16, 2018

lillypads reef said:
Why scared to use only rox? Thanks!

I have tried to use it a couple times before and I would get burnt tips. Not sure if it was from running the flow too fast through the reactor or never running carbon and then going with the more aggressive rox.

bubbaque · Dec 16, 2018

I am really liking the BC Houdini lately!

Wrangy · Dec 16, 2018

So nice!!

speedstar · Dec 16, 2018

How many total SPS corals are you growing out?

bubbaque · Dec 16, 2018

speedstar said:
How many total SPS corals are you growing out?

I think I'm around 150 different ones. You can see a slightly older list back on post #1544. I've added a few dozen since then.

speedstar · Dec 16, 2018

bubbaque said:
I think I'm around 150 different ones. You can see a slightly older list back on post #1544. I've added a few dozen since then.

Thanks missed that in my skimming of the tread, was mostly just catching all the great pics.

tjsmk8 · Dec 16, 2018

Accidental post.

Reefpuck · Dec 16, 2018

bubbaque said:
I finally got around to taking a pic of the TCK New Dragon for you. For me the body isn't red and the tips aren't yellow like their pic shows. Could be a light issue though as you can see most of it is shaded. I do like how it looks though, it's different than anything else I have.

Awesome!...really appreciate it. Always nice being able to see what a colony looks like after it grows out a bit.

whyoming.white · Dec 16, 2018

Any pics of the lucky charms?

bubbaque · Dec 17, 2018

whyoming.white said:
Any pics of the lucky charms?

I would say another month and it will be picture worthy. It's been green for a while but it's starting to get some nice pink to it.

bubbaque · Dec 17, 2018

The little area with my shrooms. My Jawfish likes to spit sand on top of them all the time.

FarmerTy · Dec 17, 2018

bubbaque said:
The little area with my shrooms. My Jawfish likes to spit sand on top of them all the time.

Shroom lover? You think you know a guy and then he does something like this! [emoji12]

Looks great bud!

najer · Dec 17, 2018

bubbaque said:
The little area with my shrooms. My Jawfish likes to spit sand on top of them all the time.

Shhh, just between me and you, I bought an interstellar bounce shroom on the weekend!

bubbaque · Dec 17, 2018

FarmerTy said:
Shroom lover? You think you know a guy and then he does something like this! [emoji12]

Looks great bud!

Thanks Ty.

I am not really a fan of lps and zoas are just okay but I like mushrooms a lot. I have been thinking about getting more of them.

najer said:
Shhh, just between me and you, I bought an interstellar bounce shroom on the weekend!

Lucky you! I really like those.

speedstar · Dec 17, 2018

bubbaque said:
I have the standard 180 also but I’m using the maxspext gyres. With the gyres I’m using alternating flow where one pump blows one direction for 2 minutes then the other pump turns on and does the same for 2 minutes. They flow runs into each other as the pumps and turning on and off to create a strong downward flow.

The problem with the gyres is they need cleaned a lot or the flow noticeably goes down. I would say I take them apart every 6 weeks and swap out the propellers.

What brand sand are you using? Any issues with complete washouts of it.

bubbaque · Dec 17, 2018

speedstar said:
What brand sand are you using? Any issues with complete washouts of it.

I use Tropic Eden Reef Flakes. This is the best sand I have ever used. It's large enough for the sand not to really move around but not too large where it starts to look unnatural.

speedstar · Dec 17, 2018

bubbaque said:
I use Tropic Eden Reef Flakes. This is the best sand I have ever used. It's large enough for the sand not to really move around but not too large where it starts to look unnatural.

I'll have to check it out, currently I am using sand for TBS it is coarse and works, but almost too chunky. Looking at moving forward with a 155g build 60x30x20 and trying to put a plan together. Flow is what I am trying to figure currently. I always used closed loops and ocean motions in the past, but thinking I may go with the gyres on this build. Thank you for the info.

Graffiti Spot · Dec 17, 2018

Ok bubbaque, I hooked up my old large skimmer with a mazzei injector and a large pump so I can get co2 media running right. Its defiantly helping PH a ton! I never have seen it above 8, and already after maybe 6 hours its up to 8.35 or so. Do you really think that it could be bad if it keeps getting higher this quick (I thought I remember you saying something about being careful on a previous page), and if so what would you say I should be watching out for? I wasn't worried about it but I didn't except it to work so well and so quickly! I am looking forward to seeing if it has any noticeable improvements to corals health, I have idolized people with higher ph for years and been running reactors and had an average of 7.7-7.9.

Keep the pics coming, what page is your last FTS on?

bubbaque · Dec 17, 2018

Pedoconfuego said:
Ok bubbaque, I hooked up my old large skimmer with a mazzei injector and a large pump so I can get co2 media running right. Its defiantly helping PH a ton! I never have seen it above 8, and already after maybe 6 hours its up to 8.35 or so. Do you really think that it could be bad if it keeps getting higher this quick (I thought I remember you saying something about being careful on a previous page), and if so what would you say I should be watching out for? I wasn't worried about it but I didn't except it to work so well and so quickly! I am looking forward to seeing if it has any noticeable improvements to corals health, I have idolized people with higher ph for years and been running reactors and had an average of 7.7-7.9.

Keep the pics coming, what page is your last FTS on?

The reason I said be careful is the first time I hooked my scrubber up it went up fast and I got burnt tips. I'm not sure you will experience that but that's what I'd watch for.

I went and took some FTS pics of all my tanks just for you, lol. I also posted a top down of the display on post #2205

Display - 180 gallons

Frag tank 1 - 50 gallon lowboy

Frag tank 2 - 50 gallon lowboy

New tank. I didn't really want to add this tank but a buddy of mine was selling all his tanks and was selling this one for $200 so I couldn't pass it up.

8' tub tank