Mattdg's 120G SPS / Mixed Reef Build and Progress

[mattdg]

Upper right is the newly placed cherry bomb tenuis, on the skeleton multimedia millepora RIP. No worries, I have 3 frags in the R&R and a new one placed in this system. Directly behind the CB a newly placed tricolor hammer. Lower left, the remains of the homewrecker, which I intentionally reduced in size. Lower right, the orange passion, doing fine but has been a slow grower in this system. Dead center, two small frags of the newly added rainbow loom. I am looking forward to seeing this one encrust and grow into a colony.

Probably my favorite coral in this tank is my space invader pectinia, grown from a tiny frag when this tank was first established. I am gladly letting it take over the lower right portion of this system.

Here is a shot of how the season's greetings montipora has taken over the back right portion of the reef. I love how natural it makes the tank appear. It does take some managing, but totally worth it.

Those of us with build threads post these updates so we can see our progress over the years. This is not a great picture, but it will serve as a reminder of how this frag placement worked out. Craft Aquatic Multimedia Millepora and a blue with green tip acropora on a plug, dead center.

This is a bounce mushroom that I added 3 years back. It is absolutely incredible, with purple and peach vesicles. IMO, one of the most curious things about the last 5 years in this hobby is the discovery of the WWC OG, Frankenstein, sunkist and a variety of other bounce mushrooms. I'm convinced a lot of the rhodactus morphs are due to the powerful LED lighting we use in our systems. Either way, this one is unique and keeps getting nicer every year.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Upper right is the newly placed cherry bomb tenuis, on the skeleton multimedia millepora RIP. No worries, I have 3 frags in the R&R and a new one placed in this system. Directly behind the CB a newly placed tricolor hammer. Lower left, the remains of the homewrecker, which I intentionally reduced in size. Lower right, the orange passion, doing fine but has been a slow grower in this system. Dead center, two small frags of the newly added rainbow loom. I am looking forward to seeing this one encrust and grow into a colony.

Probably my favorite coral in this tank is my space invader pectinia, grown from a tiny frag when this tank was first established. I am gladly letting it take over the lower right portion of this system.

Here is a shot of how the season's greetings montipora has taken over the back right portion of the reef. I love how natural it makes the tank appear. It does take some managing, but totally worth it.

Those of us with build threads post these updates so we can see our progress over the years. This is not a great picture, but it will serve as a reminder of how this frag placement worked out. Craft Aquatic Multimedia Millepora and a blue with green tip acropora on a plug, dead center.


This is a bounce mushroom that I added 3 years back. It is absolutely incredible, with purple and peach vesicles. IMO, one of the best things about the last 5 years in this hobby is the discovery of the WWC OG, Frankenstein, sunkist and a variety of other bounce mushrooms. This one is awaiting a proper name, but until then I will enjoy watching it do its thing.

Coral is looking really good!!

 

[mattdg]

Our spotted grouper, Dotty, awaiting her morsel of hand delivered food. She has become much bolder, since learning to eat from the tongs. It's so gratifying feeling the bonk of her attack, as she grabs the little hunk of sinking pellet from the Maxspect coral tweezers.

Another pic to the war coral and Fox Flame. Check back in a few years. These are going to be amazing looking together. The flow in the system has cleared out an area of glass where the gravel has been blown away. I'd love to see the favites encrust over some of this area, especially if it continues to maintain both the blue and red.

Every mixed reef system needs that "nail biter" coral. For me, it is this jellybean chalice. It died back several times, before finally settling in and cost me a pretty penny to acquire. If in time it takes over this entire rock, I will be totally cool with that.

Last picture for his update, this Raja Rampage chalice (it has looked better and sorry for the algae on the glass) and the red cynarina. I love them both, especially in contrast with each other.

Until next time

 

[mattdg]

Coral is looking really good!!

Hey thanks. It's been a bit of a bumpy road lately, but I am happy with how things are turning out.

 

[Cthulukelele]

Upper right is the newly placed cherry bomb tenuis, on the skeleton multimedia millepora RIP. No worries, I have 3 frags in the R&R and a new one placed in this system. Directly behind the CB a newly placed tricolor hammer. Lower left, the remains of the homewrecker, which I intentionally reduced in size. Lower right, the orange passion, doing fine but has been a slow grower in this system. Dead center, two small frags of the newly added rainbow loom. I am looking forward to seeing this one encrust and grow into a colony.

Probably my favorite coral in this tank is my space invader pectinia, grown from a tiny frag when this tank was first established. I am gladly letting it take over the lower right portion of this system.

Here is a shot of how the season's greetings montipora has taken over the back right portion of the reef. I love how natural it makes the tank appear. It does take some managing, but totally worth it.

Those of us with build threads post these updates so we can see our progress over the years. This is not a great picture, but it will serve as a reminder of how this frag placement worked out. Craft Aquatic Multimedia Millepora and a blue with green tip acropora on a plug, dead center.

This is a bounce mushroom that I added 3 years back. It is absolutely incredible, with purple and peach vesicles. IMO, one of the most curious things about the last 5 years in this hobby is the discovery of the WWC OG, Frankenstein, sunkist and a variety of other bounce mushrooms. I'm convinced a lot of the rhodactus morphs are due to the powerful LED lighting we use in our systems. Either way, this one is unique and keeps getting nicer every year.

Weird things definitely happen to rhodactis under our lights for sure! Beautiful coral!

 

[mattdg]

Weird things definitely happen to rhodactis under our lights for sure! Beautiful coral!

Thank you! We get some crazy colors from coral like tenuis and chalice that we might not have even given a second glance in the days of t5 and MH. The bounce phenomenon was just the cherry on top, lol!

 

[Cthulukelele]

Thank you! We get some crazy colors from coral like tenuis and chalice that we might not have even given a second glance in the days of t5 and MH. The bounce phenomenon was just the cherry on top, lol!

Before my crash I had a bunch of juggernaut rhodactis, and over 6 months they grew little bounce bubbles of various size. It's such a strange phenomenon.

 

[mattdg]

Before my crash I had a bunch of juggernaut rhodactis, and over 6 months they grew little bounce bubbles of various size. It's such a strange phenomenon.

Very cool. I've had several other coral develop bouncy vesicles over the years... favia and chalice. So true, strange and interesting adaptation for reasons we don't yet understand.

 

[mattdg]

I have been busy building a cabinet for the LiFePo4 battery generator that will keep the reef running during our rolling power outages. The build is going well. It has been fun working on another cabinet. I think the stand will look nice and low profile next to the main display. I'll be painting the new cabinet the same color as the stand I built almost 6 years ago for the 120. I have attached a picture of the stand and 2000 watt Aims inverter mounted inside.

You may have noticed the two cutouts at the top. I've wanted to plumb a smaller display tank into the main reef system, basically ever since building the original cabinet. This solar generator cabinet has plenty of space to house the 200 Ah battery and inverter, a Trident on the lower shelf and a 12 gallon lagoon type display on top. Plumbing the systems together is more for convenience, than the increased water volume. I want a nano tank, without all of the work that goes into keeping a nano happy and healthy.

Anyway, this is just a sneak peak. I will be posting more about the build here, along with a link to a video outlining the battery generator setup.

In the mean time, the second picture is of our current "tandem" or "sidecar" reef, the rack and rubble frag system in our basement.

 

[mattdg]

Here is the finished LiFePo4 power backup cabinet, next to the 120. The plant on top will eventually be replaced with a mangrove system, plumbed in to the main tank. The pictures show cabinet with panel inserted and removed to show the control board. On the side, NOT shown, are outlets for mains power, DC outputs for MP40QW and Gyre backup and inverter generated AC back to the Apex. Oh yeah, finally replaced the RK2 and installed an Apex. Haha!

The front panel controls power to the aquarium in two ways. Inverter on off switch, with AC pass through when off. Master DC breaker switch, to switch off all DC devices. Monitors for Amp draw and battery level. Switch to turn off second level backup to the DC pumps. I use this, when dosing or pausing the aquarium for feeding.

Also included a second AC plug and USB charge points, for the family to use during a power outage. There is a 7 amp Victron IOS app controlled smart charger connected to the 100Ah LiFePo4, to maintain and charge the battery between cycles. This may be replaced or supplemented with a solar panel, or two, eventually.

Obviously, this system powers the tank when we lose mains power. The switch over is seamless. I haven't tested the battery to fully dead yet, but did run the Aims inverter (and entire aquarium including 1000w heater) for 6 hours with plenty of juice left. When the inverter drains the battery too low, the DC outputs take over to run the two DC pumps for an additional 48 hours... maybe more. Again, I did the math, but have not performed a real life test yet.

The apex is set to turn off non-critical devices during a blackout, such as the 4 banks of T5/LED's. There is a second lower wattage heater / cooler fan that trigger during a power outage at increased/decreased set levels. I utilize the optional DC input on the Apex to monitor and control these functions. I simply swap out the temp device, based on the season, to save on Apex outlets being used. Of course, the Apex will notify me during a power outage, having heartbeat enabled.

 

[mattdg]

Here is where the mains, Apex and DC pumps connect, to the side of the cabinet. All 4 sides have removable panels, for easy access to interior maintenance. Back of cabinet is partially open, for ventilation.

 

[mattdg]

Here is a video I put together, about my new LiFePo4 battery backup cabinet.

 

[mattdg]

Pic update July 13 2023

Freshwater finally set up again

 

[mattdg]

8/2/23 The tank is going through the summer slump, but looking healthy and happy. SPS coral is growing slow, but looking colorful.. mostly. I have been trying to keep up with my monthly GFO change 3/4 cup in the reactor, keeps the SPS looking especially nice. It never creeps up to 1, but has reached as high as .85 recently. Nitrates hover around 5-15, which is generally perfect for this system. Alk has stabilized at a solid 8.3, especially since installing the Versa peristaltic dosers. Speaking of Ecotech Versa's, my son caught a potential disaster the other day. He heard a drip and notified me. We realized one of the versa pump's quick connect fittings had failed. It ended up frying the entire unit. I notified Ecotech and they offered to replace it (one time only) since they typically do not cover water damage. The fact that it was under warranty and the pump literally damaged itself due to a component failure, is probably the reason why they replaced it. Either way, I was happy to not spend another $250 on the system, this year. I have already nearly maxed out my budget, around $2500 / year. I try to sell at least that much coral, to cover.. That said, the coral has been growing slow as of recent, so it has not been easy. I blame the air quality from the wild fires... half joking.

The new Apex controller has been a welcome change. I know I railed against having one for years, but I don't use it as a crutch for the entire system. Versa's are still on their own apps and the new battery backup is a last resort fail safe, to keep the Apex running in power outage. I view the Apex as a link / monitor, to understand what is happening with the tank, while I am away. A few weeks ago, one of my Auto Aqua heater monitors went bad setting the alarm off. My wife called to let me know. Having the Apex allowed me to view the heating / cooling trend.. and guide her through the necessary steps to fix the issue. Various small issues have happened several times, since having the Apex, the remote monitoring has more that made up for the cost.. which was actually no cost since I traded it for a nice big HW frag.

Let's see, what else. Oh.. I finally bought one of the Tunze cleaner magnets Large. Yes, they are as amazing as so many hobbyists say they are. I have so many little scratches on the front glass of my tank, that are especially evident when algae starts to populate. My Piranha magnet can't clean the little scratches out, so I generally go in with a plastic blade a few times a month. Don't have to any more with the Tunze. I can get to all the scratches, with the plastic blade, but the metal blade seems to do a bit better. Currently just leaving the mag in the tank with the metal blade on and giving it a once over a few times a week.

Speaking of Tunze, a few weeks back I pulled the large pump on upper right side of the tank and replaced it with a Gyre (also equipment I traded for coral). It's running at 80% slow pulse. So far, so good. I am getting a bit of algae build up in the areas where the old pump used to cover, so I may add one smaller tunze right up next to the Maxspect Gyre and aim it back in to those low flow areas. Even though the coral is growing slow, it is growing, effecting flow throughout the system. That said, I'd love to see the Jason Fox Flame, at the bottom center populate that entire area, where the red and green capricornis used to be. I think adding the strategically placed Tunze, will get it growing a bit faster.

I'll put a few update pics, under this post.

 

[mattdg]

 

[mattdg]

Here are some top down pics 8/2/23

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Great job, Matt! Reef looks awesome!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Your tank looks awesome as always!

 

[mattdg]

When people ask me what my favorite LPS coral is, I usually reply Space Invader Pectinia. The one in our 120 is living up to its name. I plan on letting it grow even bigger.

 

[mattdg]

Posting a few full tank shots. We had a little drama last week with lost power. Fortunately the power bank got the tank through about 16 hours of a 20 hours total. Not bad. I will be upgrading to the 200AH battery, to hopefully double that. The issue drew attention to a curious issue.

Once battery was drained, I plugged the APEX directly into my 3375 Watt Generac Gas Generator, with nothing else connected. Apex was only running a return and two DC circulation pumps, drawing 1.90 amps. The Apex tripped the GFCI on the Generac every time. No problem if I separated the devices from the Apex and plugged them directly into the gas generator. If you own an Apex and have experienced this issue, let me know your work around.

For some undetermined reason, finally lost the last rainbow chalice and a green torch. Not happy about that. I placed one of my favorite rainbow favia in place of the rainbow. Hoping it will be just as much of a gem, when it starts to grow out. The Raja Rampage and one chalice, to the lower right are the only two left in this system, other than the chalice in the frag system in our basement. In the past, I have had nothing but good luck with chalice, but this system doesn't seem to love them.

Most SPS are growing into little if not large colonies. I'm really happy with the progress of the Rainbow Lume (upper right) Vivid Confetti, Craft Aquatic Multimedia and JF Solar Flare (Upper Left). Most Rhodactus seem to do really well in this tank too, especially the OG bounce variety. I plan on growing as many OG bounce mushrooms in this tank, as I have space for. It will really stand out, as most hobbyist still sell them off or frag them up, before they grow big and drop babies.

I'd really like to raise my average PH by a point or two, so will be experimenting with nightly kalkwasser dosing, in this system. I am between 7.85-8.2 day/night swings. I'll be converting the vinegar dosing, BRS space saver container, to a still Kalk reservoir, to begin. Start with 260 ml over 2-3 hours / 2-4am and go from there. I will consider purchasing a proper kalk stirrer, if things progress in a positive direction.