Comeback Tour - Haggisman14's Eshopps Deskmate Build

[cromag27]

Just won a R2R Raffle! I've had products from @cromag27

Back when I had my BioCube, I had a custom lid built from him, as well as some float valve holders! Love his stuff! Fingers crossed I might be able to trade in the SHU for some Nano Duo frag racks as that big old SHU won't fit into my little eShopps Deskmate.

Either way, super pumped to have won! Thanks R2R!

you know i’ll hook you up!

 

[Haggisman14]

Ebay auctions for @WWC end tonight. Hoping to win some more corals to really fill out my tank.

Coral Delivery Day is Wednesday....PUMPED!!

 

[Haggisman14]

So the haul is complete, won 8 more corals last night, brings my total haul to 14 corals...not a bad way to start my Deskmate off! The one thing I was hoping to get was a hammer or torch...but that will have to wait for now. I feel like I got a great combination of different colors and different types, and corals that will thrive in the deskmate! Here's looking at tons of grown in the next few months!

Everything ships tonight, and arrives tomorrow....I'M PUMPED!

 

[Haggisman14]

@WWC

Can't wait for my shipment! Also kudo's to your ebay team, they emailed me right away this morning to confirm that my message was received that all 14 corals will be shipping together today!

 

[Haggisman14]

I'm excited....IT'S DELIVERY DAY!!!

 

[Haggisman14]

So today was delivery day, and my package arrived by 10:30, and everything was in the tank and fully situated by 11:30.

Only mishap is that when I was unbagging everything, my Purple Stylo popped off the frag plug, but no worries, I found a nice little hole on the rack I wanted him to live on, and now he's happy with polyps out and everything!

@WWC amazing job packaging up all the corals. They got all 14 frags into a smaller box. No leaks or punctures.

I took everything out into my big blue bucket, turkey basted them to blow off any detritus etc, then did my 2.5 gallon water change, and then put all the frags in the sandbed.

@ESHOPPS.INC I must say I'm impressed with the little light on this tank. All the colors of the corals look really good. It's not the crazy pop that you might get under a AI Prime or Radion, but for a stock light it really makes all the corals look really good!

Ordered my glue and epoxy, so when I do my water change next week I'll be able to put them all in their final resting places!

Onto the pictures!

 

[Haggisman14]

Received my free frag rack from Octo Aquatics (@cromag27 ) from last months R2R Raffle. Got hooked up with a Nano Duo frag rack as the SHU box wouldn't fit in my tank. Quality is top notch! Currently all my frags are in the sandbed from my WWC purchases, but I'll be using this rack on my next haul as I"ll be mounting all my current frags this week.

Also got my 2 part Tunze Epoxy, and IC Gel to mount my frags. Excited to get them all off the plugs and into the resting place tomorrow/Wednesday.

I also came into the office this morning to an EXPLOSION of pods all over the tank! Not a bad problem to have!

Thanks for looking!

 

[Haggisman14]

Got 9 of my frags glued into place between yesterday and today (5 more to go). I was able to gently pry them off of their frag plugs and using the gel/expoxy/gel sandwich method, everything's been working perfectly!

I must say the Tunze epoxy and IC Gel has been working great. Everything is holding EXACTLY where I placed them. I will say these are small frags, and I'm using small amounts (not gluing huge rocks or colonies into place, but everything has stayed put since I placed them (even some frags that are at a 90° placement.

With these corals in place, it's now REALLY starting to feel like a reef tank to me! Attached are 2 side shots, and a front shot showing where everything has been placed.

Thanks for looking!

 

[Haggisman14]

Finally got EVERYTHING mounted! Here's some eye candy. Now it's time to let everything start to grow out. My next "big" coral order probably won't happen until @CherryCorals does their $20-25 coral sale this summer. I LOVE the crazy colored lords they have, and will also probably add a few others too!

In the meantime I'm just going to stick with feeding my fish, weekly 2.5 gallon water changes, and watching things grow.

Then come November, I'm definitely going to hook the tank up with a new light (really wish I never got rid of my AI Prime!).

Thanks for looking!

 

[Haggisman14]

So like the saying goes...a watched pot never boils....the same seems to go for corals!

Before I left the office on Friday, I took a few pictures of the new frags in the tank, and wanted to compare how they looked on Monday morning (2 full days later).

I'm HAPPY to report that once the lights turned on, I got out the camera and took the same pictures...and ladies and gentlemen...WE HAVE GROWTH! All across the board. My GPS has more over a matt. The golden eye chalice is growing more eyes and extending its rim. All my favia and favites are expanding, my zoa's have more matts, and my lords are super fluffy!

Excited to track progress from May 1 - May 30!

 

[Haggisman14]

Quick little video of my 2.5 gallon water change today. My weekly maintenance takes me all of 15-20 minutes.

-Step one: blow on the rocks and get everything suspended into the tank, so it can collect any free floating debris in the filter floss

-Step two: Siphon out 2-2.5 gallons of tank water from the display

-Step three: scrub the glass to get any algae off the main viewing panels

-Step four: fill back with fresh salt water

-Step five: replace old filter floss

-Step six: clean up

-Step seven: enjoy!

Here's a little time lapse for your viewing pleasure!

 

[Haggisman14]

New addition coming for the tank next week....

Radion XR15 Gen 4! Cannot wait for this for a few reasons...1 to really make those colors of my corals pop, and 2....BRING ON THE GROWTH!

 

[Haggisman14]

Here are some updated growth shots from some of the corals (a weeks worth of growth on the stock eShopps light).

It should be interesting b/c my Radion is supposed to arrive today, and then after a bit of acclimation I have a feeling my coral growth is going to EXPLODE!

I am noticing great encrusting on all my favia/favite corals. The chalice is growing really well (expanding all the way around), my GSP is ALMOST officially on the back wall and off of its plug, and my zoa's are sprouting new baby heads!

Lords and trumpet coral are all super fluffy and happy. I'm making sure I'm keeping up on my weekly 2.5 gallon water changes, and I typically do a feeing of "reef chili" once a week on Monday afternoons.

Here are some pics of growth!

 

[Haggisman14]

So my "new" Radion has arrived...and it's glorious! All of the corals look a million times better under the new light. Only thing that stinks is my phone won't take good pictures anymore! (but that's a probably I'll gladly accept!!

I've currently got it on the "PHX14" schedule, starting at 30%, and going to slowly ramp it up over the next month to 60%. I like this one as it's a little "whiter" than the all blue AB+

I must say all the corals look absolutely incredible with this light.

Can't wait to see the growth explode! Overtime I might increase the "white" levels just a tad more...all this blue is definitely a different look...but I like it!

 

[Haggisman14]

I added a bit more white to the spectrum. I uploaded the WWC light profiles, and they're just too dang blue for me!

I tweaked the PHX14 light schedule, and increased the warm white and cool white to 43% each.

I still have the light on the "acclimation period that will ramp the light up to full intensity over the next 30 days. That being said, I have turned down the overall intensity of the light program to 50%. I think on a little 5 gallon cube, that is more than enough power for it (I can always crank it up down the road). Especially coming from the eShopps stock light that at best was probably putting out 15-20 watts of power!

Only downside of the light is that once it's plugged in, I have about 5 minutes to make any updates to the light on Mobius, and then it disconnects. Only way to get back in is to power cycle the light.

I also moved my cyphastrea so that it's now at the bottom of the tank, but in direct light/low flow. I can now see the iridescent green base, and if my eyes aren't deceiving me, it looks like 3 new polyps are starting to form!

Corals do look much happier under the Radion (no shocker there). Favia/favites have much better coloring, and it even seems like they're opening up more. And don't get me started on my zoa's...they now look INCREDIBLE!

Thanks for looking as always.

 

[Haggisman14]

Increased both white channels up to 50% each...it was still TOO BLUE for me with them at 43%.

Really loving this light, and I swear the corals are already growing faster! Water change on deck for today!

 

[Haggisman14]

Little Monday update. Tank is looking happy, and everything is growing well. Came into the office and my cyphastrea clearly has 7 new polyps that are forming (pretty cool how this coral works...it has put out a SUPER THIN layer of skin, and you see these BRIGHT polyps that are faintly on the surface...and then the skin thickens up around it), and everything else is incrusting, growing mats, and staying fat and happy.

I'm staying consistent with a 2-2.5 gallon water change every 7-8 days, a weekly or bi-weekly feeding of reef chili on Monday/Wednesday, and it seems to be making the tank thrive.

 

[Haggisman14]

Just realized the tank is 3 months old from the day I put water in...happy with the progress so far!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Love seeing your updates!! Congrats to 3 months!

 

[Haggisman14]

Love seeing your updates!! Congrats to 3 months!

Thanks! I appreciate it! You forget how much you love the hobby when you take time away. I always had my screen saver which showcased corals...but the real thing just hits different! Watching the corals grow millimeters a day, laying down new mat or skeleton, watch the fish grown and darken up in color as they're getting a good healthy diet...man I love it!

In other news I was also lucky enough to win last Friday's "Find Casper" from @WWC I'm looking forward to a little swag pack from them that I believe I'll have sometime this week!

I'll "probably" keep the tank as it is for the next few months. The next big purchase would possibly be @CherryCorals if they do their $20-25 coral sale, and or another live sale from WWC. I love the WWC live sales as you're able to snag some good ones, and then throw in eBay purchases on top!

Now that I've got a radion, I'm excited to pick up some SPS frags this summer and see how they do. So far my pink stylo is doing well (it's darkened up a lot since I first got it!