Sierra_Bravo's "What did I get myself into??" 120g in-wall build thread

[zcedric]

Awesome build!

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

Awesome build!

Thanks! It's been a lot of fun - very glad I got into the hobby! The kids didn't need to go to college anyway . . .

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

WWC All-In monti. Two things I wish I had known before I had bought it:

1. It's encrusting
2. The only way for me to really get the yellow to pop is by cranking up the actinic lighting to a ridiculous level.

I've tried it high and low in the tank - just can't get it yellow under less than 20K. Under normal lights it just looks a plain Jane shade of peachy-pink with blue polyps.

 

[FarmerTy]

WWC All-In monti. Two things I wish I had known before I had bought it:

1. It's encrusting
2. The only way for me to really get the yellow to pop is by cranking up the actinic lighting to a ridiculous level.

I've tried it high and low in the tank - just can't get it yellow under less than 20K. Under normal lights it just looks a plain Jane shade of peachy-pink with blue polyps.

Pick me, pick me! I'll take it Scott! [emoji12]

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

Pick me, pick me! I'll take it Scott! [emoji12]

LOL - I promise when I decide to throw away the high dollar stuff you'll get first pick.

 

[FarmerTy]

LOL - I promise when I decide to throw away the high dollar stuff you'll get first pick.

I'll just go ahead and wait by your trash can just in case. [emoji41]

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

I put together some comparison pictures. Now I don't have these large, beautiful colonies some do but I am pretty darn happy seeing my corals finally starting to progress. I put live rock in my tank in May of 2017. The Jedi, stylo, and Tubbs stellata all went in around mid-September '17 and just sat there. Not dying, but not growing, except the Jedi. The rest went in around the first part of January '18. Everything finally started taking off around that time, so it took about eight months from when the rock went in before the tank was to the point that it was ready to grow corals.

These are from today or a little shy of four months after they started to grow.


Fiji rainbow stylo

BC Grape Juice

Needle in a Haystack

Tubbs Stellata

BC I love my Monster tort

Jedi mind trick

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

I lowered a monti cap into a position where I have a strong eddy current and look at how thick it's becoming in response:

Also took a pic of a Tyree undata that is further back in the tank and hard to focus. This has been a very slow grower.

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

Played with taking some top down shots with my phone through a coral viewer at lunch:

Red Dragon, Hawkin's, Pearlberry, RR the Vinh, and a speciosa I saved from a LFS:

BC Grape Juice, ASD Rainbow Mille, RR Red Rage, and an Oregon Tort from Farmer Ty's collection:

UC Strawberry Shortcake finally encrusting:

 

[FarmerTy]

Played with taken some top down shots with my phone through a coral viewer at lunch:

Red Dragon, Hawkin's, Pearlberry, RR the Vinh, and a speciosa I saved from a LFS:

BC Grape Juice, ASD Rainbow Mille, RR Red Rage, and an Oregon Tort from Farmer Ty's collection:

UC Strawberry Shortcake finally encrusting:

Great pics Scott!

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

I have two baby pistol shrimp in my tank that I've elected to keep. They are most likely either a Big Claw or Blue Leg Caribbean species. When they are little they hide in the rocks, hunting for pods. When they get larger they'll start burrowing the sand.

I happened to get lucky and filmed one last night - they are typically very rare to spot when they are this young. The video is not very exiting - you do hear clicks at :13, 1:28, and 2:15 but at least one of them is from across the tank. Other than that it was just kinda neat to catch him out and about. He's approx. 1/2" long.

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

Cool little hidden cup coral that came in with my liverock. Last June when I found it, it had three small heads collectively no bigger than 1/4. Now it has nine. They like shady spots and aren't really all that aestetically pleasing - just neat that I was able to keep them and have them grow. There will be a problem with the monti at some point.

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

Garf bonsai is encrusting. I like that it has finally colored up - it's been pretty pale since I had attached it to the rock.

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

I've been told Sherman's don't inflate very much. This is about as inflated as I ever see it get:

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

 

[FarmerTy]

Nice video work Scott! Corals look happy and healthy!

Is that the sweet WWC monti at 2:30?

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

Is that the sweet WWC monti at 2:30?

It is. I wish I could figure out a way to photograph it where it looks good. For some reason I can never get it in focus or pick up the colors. It doesn't even look decent in the video.

 

[FarmerTy]

It is. I wish I could figure out a way to photograph it where it looks good. For some reason I can never get it in focus or pick up the colors. It doesn't even look decent in the video.

Nice! Bring it over next time and put it in my tank and let's see if we can take good pictures of it. We might need to let it acclimate for a couple days or years first though. [emoji6]

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

I had a rock shift, pinching my Sherman nem's foot. He moved over because of it, directly brushing against three corals. I tried to move him with a power head; even tried to pull the rock and get him to detach but couldn't. I ended up chisling the piece of rock he was attached to off and now have the nem in an acclimation box. In the process I broke off two glued frags (arghhh... :mad: )

Starting to rethink if having a Sherman or any anemone was a good idea. My 120 is stocked with glued corals and no matter where I put him as he grows and the colonies grow he's going to be in contact with a coral eventually. My ocellaris clowns have not shown an interest, and even if I place them in the acclimation box with the nem and they warm up to the Sherman I still don't know where to ultimately put it back in the tank.

Maybe a nano for the office is in my future.

 

[FarmerTy]

I had a rock shift, pinching my Sherman nem's foot. He moved over because of it, directly brushing against three corals. I tried to move him with a power head; even tried to pull the rock and get him to detach but couldn't. I ended up chisling the piece of rock he was attached to off and now have the nem in an acclimation box. In the process I broke off two glued frags (arghhh... :mad: )

Starting to rethink if having a Sherman or any anemone was a good idea. My 120 is stocked with glued corals and no matter where I put him as he grows and the colonies grow he's going to be in contact with a coral eventually. My ocellaris clowns have not shown an interest, and even if I place them in the acclimation box with the nex and they warm up to the Sherman I still don't know where to ultimately put it back in the tank.

Maybe a nano for the office is in my future.

Me personally, I wouldn't put a Sherman in my acro tank. They are known to be prolific splitters and anytime I've had a nem split on me, one of them would walk the tank in a path if destruction. Plus, they can grow over 14" across!

I think you made the right decision.