My Big Beautiful Budget Breeder Build

Retro Reefer · Sep 3, 2018

In keeping with my budget build theme I was able to purchased a aquatic life 36” t5 fixture today for $242 from BRS during there 10% off Labor Day holiday sale.. a $27 dollar savings and also earned a $12 store credit with the purchase

Retro Reefer · Sep 3, 2018

Another holiday steal and the beginnings of my acan garden, snagged 10 of these for an average of $15 each shipped free overnight to my door.. here is a few samples

Retro Reefer · Sep 3, 2018

Another weekend score.. I won the R2R August supporter giveaway and will receive a $100 gift card from LiveAquaria ;Smuggrin

;Hilarious Just in time as I start stocking my reef

najer · Sep 4, 2018

Sweet, can't wait to see the acans in your garden!

Retro Reefer · Sep 5, 2018

Cleaning and Acclimating the new frags I received today.. I see why they where so cheap, they are tiny little things.. lol, however they look nice and healthy and where very clean, pest free and opened in a few hours in my tank.

Retro Reefer · Sep 6, 2018

New frags look happy today

Everyone got a nice big breakfast.. a chopped mysis shrimp, reef roids and phytoplankton smoothie

Johniejumbo · Sep 6, 2018

I’ve watched this build thread off and on for a bit. I like what you’ve got going on there! I just set up a 40b a few months ago. Got the whole set up used for next to nothing. I’m getting some good ideas from you. I want to see how you like that led t5 setup.
Mine came with 2 150w metal halides and I’m not sure which route I want to go with it. Following along!

maevepotter · Sep 6, 2018

I love your new frags!! Where did you get them? Congrats on the win, I'm super jealous.

ramona · Sep 6, 2018

They do look happy smily babies

What is your technique for acclimating and dipping, if you don't mind sharing with us?

Retro Reefer · Sep 7, 2018

Johniejumbo said:
I’ve watched this build thread off and on for a bit. I like what you’ve got going on there! I just set up a 40b a few months ago. Got the whole set up used for next to nothing. I’m getting some good ideas from you. I want to see how you like that led t5 setup.
Mine came with 2 150w metal halides and I’m not sure which route I want to go with it. Following along!

Thanks for following along.. hopefully I’ll have the t5’s installed this weekend. Hard to beat halides especially combined with t5’s but the energy consumption, bulb replacement and heat make them not viable for me.

Retro Reefer · Sep 7, 2018

maevepotter said:
I love your new frags!! Where did you get them? Congrats on the win, I'm super jealous.

Thanks! They came from salt critters, super low prices and free shipping at $150.. I paid on average $15 each for the acans compared to $25-35 each my LFS charges and a lot of on line retailers would charge $39-59 or more for similar frags + shipping.

seems something is blocking my attempts to provide a link or even spell out the company name?, just combine above name and add .com

Retro Reefer · Sep 7, 2018

ramona said:
They do look happy smily babies
What is your technique for acclimating and dipping, if you don't mind sharing with us?

Thanks for stopping by! I try to keep the process as simple as possible.. when I receive a new shipment of corals I visibly inspect each bag and record internal temperature, I like to document the process in case there is a issue so I video record the box opening and inspection of each bag and also the temperature of shipping water.. below is my method

* first I float all bags in my tank for about 15 minutes to acclimate temperature, during this time I gather supplies and water I will need.

* I take two small containers and fill one of them half full of water from my tank and add a small frag rack.. the other I carefully add frags along with water that they where shipped in.

* Next I start the cleaning process.. I’ll add the directed amount of Revive to the container with frags and shipping water, I will visually inspected each peace then bast them with a turkey baster and I’ll use a small brush to clean the plug followed by another blasting with turkey baster.

* Next step is transferring them onto the frag rack in container with clean tank water.. No acclimation from shipping/cleaning water I just put them right into container with tank water.

* Finally I just gently swish the frag rack around inside the container with tank water and just lift the entire rack out and place into tank.. I will typically leave them on rack for a couple weeks for observation before final placement.

Retro Reefer · Sep 7, 2018

Aquatic life t5 fixture arrived today, went together easily just need to install cable guides my LED’s and it’s ready to install..

Retro Reefer · Sep 10, 2018

Finished hanging the t5 fixture over the weekend, still need to mount LED’s, install bulbs and work on wire management but so far I’m happy with the way it’s coming along.

I did a how to for lighting Installation here..

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/h...-lighting-over-your-reef.453845/#post-5110129

Retro Reefer · Sep 14, 2018

LET THERE BE LIGHT!

Retro Reefer · Sep 14, 2018

My new acan frags basking in some t5 love

Retro Reefer · Sep 15, 2018

I’m done with lighting for now, I may add more LED’s if I decide to add sps later but what I have now is more than sufficient for a mixed reef.. adjusted totals to reflect changes in my original lighting plans and a savings of $200.