ReefGrammie's 90-Gallon Reboot

[ReefGrammie]

what are these called? I think I need some too!!

The one on the left is Scrambled Eggs. The one on the right is @WWC Illuminati. I think they're both great. It's hard to find a true yellow in coral, and the Illuminati is just stunning period!

 

[ReefGrammie]

I "invested" in a JF Chemical Reaction chalice at recent live sale. I have an Avatar chalice on the other side of the tank that is doing well and was trying to figure out what to do with the new piece. I found this nice flat rock and decided to mess with it using my bone cutters. Basically, I just hollowed out a place where the chalice frag could set down into the rock and the chalice itself could be flush with the rock. I can move it around in it's rock house if 1) it doesn't seem happy or 2) it starts attacking the neighbors. Also, the rock is too heavy for my urchin to carry around and wear as a hat. Not the greatest lighting this time of day, but here are a few pictures:

My experiment on the kitchen counter:

The urchin who likes to wear everything in the tank that isn't glued down:

The chalice back in the tank in it's new rock house:

 

[ReefGrammie]

Pictures from today!

 

[ReefGrammie]

Time for a few more pictures, this time of the chalices. I never had much luck with chalice corals years ago (and they were VERY expensive), so hopefully will do better this time. I have two in opposite corners of the tank.

JF Chemical Reaction. I can't wait to see the colors really form on this piece. It's probably just over an inch in diameter right now:

GB Avatar. This one is doing amazingly well right now. It's about 2 inches in diameter now and has formed many more eyes from when I first got it a few months ago. A close look shows several more eyes forming, which I couldn't see until I cropped the picture.

Accidental picture (not a chalice), which just made me laugh. I was trying to shoo the clownfish away while taking pictures of the chalice. What is that damsel frowning about? Maybe the pygmy angel for not social distancing! ;Doctor

 

[TriggerFinger]

Hey @ReefGrammie! Does your tank have the center brace across the middle on the top? Is it 48Lx18Dx24H?
I’m considering the photon for my 90g and it has the center brace; wondering if it causes shadows with the one big fixture.

 

[ReefGrammie]

Hey @ReefGrammie! Does your tank have the center brace across the middle on the top? Is it 48Lx18Dx24H?
I’m considering the photon for my 90g and it has the center brace; wondering if it causes shadows with the one big fixture.

You are correct on the tank dimensions (I had to find my tape measure to be sure), and I do have the center brace. I took a quick picture with my canopy open. The top brace you see is actually the canopy brace, which sits above the light. My son installed some brackets on the sides so we could mount the light inside the canopy. The light sits about 8 inches above the water line. After discussing it with Logan, I went with the 50" because I specifically was mounting the light in a canopy and was questioning whether the 48" would be long enough.

When I'm looking directly at tank, I don't see any shadows. I actually have a two acro frags that are pretty close to that center brace...I tried to glue them off center a bit. The center brace is 2 inches across. That may be standard for a 90, but thought I'd mention that.

I had a previous ReefBreeders LED about 6 years ago. I love this light because for one thing, it's so much more sleek than my original! I was actually able to raise it up a few inches in the canopy.

I'm still working on my light settings. I have both blues peak at around 50%, but want to go a little higher than that. I may bump the white up a little more also. The red/green stay around 15%. If I can find my Excel light schedule, I'll post it here also.

Here's a little different view with the canopy open and the pumps off:

 

[TriggerFinger]

Thanks @ReefGrammie! I have two viparspectra black boxes and I just don’t love them now that I’ve got a bit of coral in the tank. I don’t have a canopy either, I prefer to go topless. The reefbreeders are attractive because of the customer service, price and they are really sleek and nice looking. So many lighting decisions thanks for your reply, greatly appreciated!

 

[ReefGrammie]

Thanks @ReefGrammie! I have two viparspectra black boxes and I just don’t love them now that I’ve got a bit of coral in the tank. I don’t have a canopy either, I prefer to go topless. The reefbreeders are attractive because of the customer service, price and they are really sleek and nice looking. So many lighting decisions thanks for your reply, greatly appreciated!

You're welcome! The light does come with several mounting options, including hanging options and a bracket (I think). I just packed all of that in the box since I knew mine would go in the canopy. I totally agree on ReefBreeders for all of the reasons you mentioned, which is why I went right back to them again when I bought my new fixture last fall! Good luck with your decision...I shopped around a tiny bit before buying and you're right, there are SO many options!!

 

[ReefGrammie]

@TriggerFinger,

Here's my current light schedule. The programming is a little tricky at first, but it's not bad once you get the hang of it.
The section highlighted in yellow is the time frame I'm working with. I'm pretty sure I got this this schedule as a download on the ReefBreeders site. You can plug in when you want the light to turn on and off, then plug in your maximum intensity for each channel. The schedule then calculates the ramp up and down times. I did a manual override on the actinics, mainly because that's my favorite time to stare at everything and watch it glow!

 

[ReefGrammie]

My starfish from this morning (doing his morning yoga routine):

I've never claimed to be a super photographer, but I love this picture of my orange ricordea! It is really bright and is crazy under the actinics!

 

[ReefGrammie]

I had to rearrange the chalices. I noticed one of my ricordeas looked like it was being attacked by the chemical reaction. That thing must have some longer sweepers! I tried to look the other night, but didn't see them out. Interestingly, the avatar chalice had a lot of sweepers out and they were very short, more like about an inch. It has about 11 eyes now, so sweepers were out like crazy. I moved it over by the ricordea garden a few days ago and everything looks ok now. It's a good 5 inches from the nearest ricordea/acan. I moved the chemical reaction to the back right corner where it's a good bit away from everything else.

A picture of my poor cleaner shrimp, who was tiny and mistaken for food, jumped in the overflow box, lived in there until my son could rescue him, was moved to the refugium for 5 months, and just this week went back to the DT. He seems pretty happy in there now!

Avatar chalice after relocation.

Random center of the tank picture. Things are growing!

 

[ReefGrammie]

This is kind of creepy looking, so I had to post it! I hope the urchin is carrying part of a molt!

 

[NY_Caveman]

Nice Grammie! Cool to read the algae battle and see the tank come around. Looking excellent!!

 

[ReefGrammie]

Nice Grammie! Cool to read the algae battle and see the tank come around. Looking excellent!!

Thanks for visiting my tank and for the nice comments! It's been a frustrating battle, but I'm happy to finally look at the tank and not cringe. I'm going to visit yours later because it's a bazillion pages long!

 

[NY_Caveman]

Luckily I made a table of contents to help me manage it, LOL!

 

[ReefGrammie]

Luckily I made a table of contents to help me manage it, LOL!

I saw that! Your TOC is amazing! ;Joyful

 

[ReefGrammie]

New box of crabs/snails/pods/macro algae today from ReefCleaners! I just noticed that my 1-year-old grandbaby, who was here this weekend, flipped my octopus upside-down on top of my reservoir....he's just so cute. ;Happy

 

[ReefGrammie]

@TriggerFinger, you need a build thread!!

 

[TriggerFinger]

I am working from home with my 3 year old and 6 month old ;Dead (those are frazzled/exhausted faces!) and hubby works long hours.
I haven’t made a whole lot of progress since I started the tank almost 2 years ago honestly;Hilarious one of these days I will...

 

[Devesh.R]

Love the Zoas, sure will look awesome when then start to spread.