HighEndOfTheLow's Red Sea Reefer 750 XXL

[najer]

Thanks ^^; it's unfortunate that between moving house I lost a few real nice pieces during the upheaval and as you can see some of the pieces got roughed up over the months (mostly being too cramped and burning each other)

Still.. can't do anything about them now and I have the fun of hunting out new pieces.

Onwards and upwards, I am about 6 months post extended power cut, nearly a happy tank again but lost a lot of sps and some creatures.

 

[fabutahoun]

Nice Tank and build thread, I am joining the ride

 

[highendofthelow]

Nice Tank and build thread, I am joining the ride

Welcome aboard ^^

 

[highendofthelow]

So an interesting observation has been made the last few days

Firstly my water has gone super clear and algae growth is reduced significantly in the last week or two, The skimmer after being reset doesnt appear to be pulling so much but its pulling more concentrated which is good, and the refrigurium as lost slight surface scum/cyano/froth that it had and is now clear and clean.

to the point where I'm considering moving at least 1 of my urchins if not both on as I suspect there isn't really enough food to go around at the moment.

New growth is continuing to be exhibited on the SPS with generally new growth visible all around on a slightly more negative note I've noticed what looks a bit like a bacterial / fungal infection on both of my clowns fins where somethings nipped them (ether each other or the foxface at a guess). I'm not overly concerned at the moment as I generally find these will recover quickly enough but I'm currently keeping an eye on them, if they get any worse I'll pull them out to treat them, for the moment i can live with some slightly ragged fins and presume this is just a re-assertion of dominance.

Still waiting for the Red Sea zig zags to turn up before i can chuck the remaining fish in but so far no joy. I need to spend some time this weekend deciding where i want to mount some of these corals so that they're in a more permanent position.

I need to move over from the glass heater to the titanium ones on an STC controller and I also need to tidy up the power cupboard as best i can as I suspect it wont be long before i'll need to start dosing and / or order a Calcium reactor.

 

[highendofthelow]

11 x Nassarius snails added
1 x "Candy Cane" sea cucumber added
1 x turbo snail added.

That's the last of the CUC I think from the old tank now over

 

[highendofthelow]

Today's musing

Isn't it interesting all the small things?
Some of the rock I brought was full of feather dusters and they're starting to populate thought the sandbed.

I think they look cool but I'm not expecting them to last long once theres wrasse in the tank.

Also I need to decide which urchin to move on next I'm honesty I may move both on eventually but trying to think which is "safest" to keep the longest

I'm thinking trade in the shortspike and keep the tuxedo (purple one top right) urchin as I've always been led to believe they are one of the safest.

And as I'm posting, the clowns look a little better today

You can see the slightly ragged tail fines, the white mark on the females top fin and the bite mark on the males tail top fin.

Generally happy with their progress they aren't perfect but it doesn't appear to be getting any worse.

 

[najer]

I have 4 or 5 tuxedos, I'd keep that one.

 

[highendofthelow]

I have 4 or 5 tuxedos, I'd keep that one.

Pretty sure that's what we'll end up doing.
I've had no issues with ether but at the moment there's virtually no algae on the rocks or sand the snails are Getting abit from the back glass wall but the urchins don't spend That much on the glass (thankfully).

We're actually just on our way out to a dog show for a breed we're considering about an hour way and were going to nip via an LFS which we wouldn't normally go to to have a bit of a browse.

Also started looking into the last few bits of equipment I'd like to get and starting to price a few bits up.

 

[highendofthelow]

Ok so good news

Moved the short spine urchin on (I still have the small tuxedo urchin)

We also finally got round to swapping the mixed glass heaters over for my 2 x sheigo titanium heaters on an STC1000

Its the weirdest sensation putting metal heaters in a tank but something overdue.

I also told my LFS to talk to the distributors about ordering an APEX 2016. But I can see that turning up for a bit yet - edit: holding off on this for now as I'm struggling to justify.

The STC is set for 25*c +/- 0.2 but I may knock it down 0.5-1 degree lower.

 

[highendofthelow]

Ok so we nipped to another LFS approx 1 hour away today and picked up a few frags

1 super bright green pocillopora to compliment the standard purple variety

1 crazy golden yellow / orange frag of ether a chalice or acanthastrea echinata with some green flecks in it.

1 small strawberry shortcake frag

I also requested my friend LFS to contact the UK distributor of Pacific Sun which with any luck will allow me to place an order.

I've also been informed by my other LFS that I "should" get my red sea zig zags next week enabling me to move over the wrasse and mandarins!

We also picked up some of these Aqua medic frag plugs; they're comparatively expensive but blend in a whole lot better for acros then standard rocks or concrete bases.

They're reserved for "display" frags and not frags I intend to trade out.

 

[najer]

Check out the pac sun web site, they do do offers sometimes.

 

[highendofthelow]

Check out the pac sun web site, they do do offers sometimes.

We'll certainly bare that in mind but I do have a very healthy relationship with my nearest LFS and a generous store credit note

Part of my issue is deciding which Calcium reactor to go for! Mini which is technically good for 600 ltrs (underrated) the Ca1 good for 800liters (about right) or Ca2 300 - 1200 litres (plenty of scope, upgradable, less reactor refills) .

 

[Brew12]

We'll certainly bare that in mind but I do have a very healthy relationship with my nearest LFS and a generous store credit note

Seems like you are friendly with a few LFS's!

Ok so we nipped to another LFS approx 1 hour away today and picked up a few frags

Going to a LFS for a nip and some frags? makes me wonder if something is lost in translation. Or maybe I need to open a pub/LFS!

 

[highendofthelow]

Seems like you are friendly with a few LFS's!



Going to a LFS for a nip and some frags? makes me wonder if something is lost in translation. Or maybe I need to open a pub/LFS!

Haha yea sorry nip = nipped in = quick visit! Alas drinking anything but saltwater or tea is generally frowned upon.

I have 2 LFS's that I would say we're close with; both deal with different spectrums and aspects of the hobby and have different perks.

But we've also visited 2 other LFS's which are within an hour or so which we haven't visited in probably a year.

 

[highendofthelow]

Helllllloooooo

Firstly apologies yet again for the near radio silence we've been crazy busy since the last update; holidays abroad, work issues and an intensive wedding weekend meant the tank is being running on auto pilot pretty much the last month solod and with the exception of a bit of food and r.o its ticking along nicely.

Since we last spoke we've had a mini explosion of baby turbo snails with the largest coming up to 2-3mm in size.

The algae bed is kicking nicely and the frags for the most are showing slow and steady growth.

The UK Pacific Sun distributor is being a bit of a PITA and not responding to my LFS's correspondence so hopefully they'll try and contact Pacific Sun directly to see if we can get any traction.

On a slightly more boring for you but major mile stone for us point look what finally turned up after ~10-11 weeks back order

That's right my covernet zig zags this means that once the net is built we can move over the last fish , shut the old tank down and finally re-claim our living room.

This has been a major hold up because I've been religious in not buying any new fish or coral until it's here and I have the Ca reactor.

I've finally found time to frag my ropy looking bali slimmer and now have 5 frags which I'm waiting for them to entrust. I'll then probably keep 1-2 and trade in the rest.

I also mounted a few other bits to start some encrustation.

 

[najer]

I love my Pac Sun hybrid light big lots but they can be a pain to deal with!

 

[highendofthelow]

I love my Pac Sun hybrid light big lots but they can be a pain to deal with!

Urgh don't say that! Hopefully we'll get a response.


So the Red Sea Zig Zags came yesterday and couldn't wait to get the cover net sorted.

Fortunately Liz is bloody brilliant at this sort of thing and although is still suffering with Neck and shoulder pain post car accident last year, was able to tell me what to do. Tonight we have actually fitted the net and all has gone well with that.

As we now have the cover net on, Liz has managed to catch the mandarins and the 2 wrasse from the old system and I am currently aclimmatising then to the new system.

The old system is now in a complete black out to get rid of all the hair algae prior to shutting the tank down.

 

[highendofthelow]

And today's new additions

 

[highendofthelow]

Today's little haul added a few ric's to the growing "ric" garden and a bit of an oddball

A red And green St Thomas mushroom, these things I've not seen for years and as Liz had eyes on it so I picked it up,

Finally a freebie rescue frag (informed it was a Nana)

 

[wowkingjames]

You have an amazing aquarium.