The "She Said Yes!" 120 Gallon Build

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Not much to report this week but I did do some minor coral rearranging. My torch was sufficiently settled in so I moved him to his “forever home”

Still waiting on the zoas. Some of the polyps randomly close still. No idea why. Once I get a feel for how quickly each of them grows I’ll make an island with 3 or so of them. Then put the other 2 on small islands of their own. I don’t want to put two or three together where one over grows the others.

Also, weirdly, one of my AI Prime 16 lights is acting goofy… The one on the left sometimes doesn’t turn on all the way. Then *poof* it just turns back on all the way. I’ll have to look more into it but I’m really not keen on buying a new light anytime soon

 

[ralquist]

Not much to report this week but I did do some minor coral rearranging. My torch was sufficiently settled in so I moved him to his “forever home”

Still waiting on the zoas. Some of the polyps randomly close still. No idea why. Once I get a feel for how quickly each of them grows I’ll make an island with 3 or so of them. Then put the other 2 on small islands of their own. I don’t want to put two or three together where one over grows the others.

Also, weirdly, one of my AI Prime 16 lights is acting goofy… The one on the left sometimes doesn’t turn on all the way. Then *poof* it just turns back on all the way. I’ll have to look more into it but I’m really not keen on buying a new light anytime soon

Looks awesome man! Bummer about the light, how long have you had that one?

 

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Looks awesome man! Bummer about the light, how long have you had that one?

About 18 months or so

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

Not much to report this week but I did do some minor coral rearranging. My torch was sufficiently settled in so I moved him to his “forever home”

Still waiting on the zoas. Some of the polyps randomly close still. No idea why. Once I get a feel for how quickly each of them grows I’ll make an island with 3 or so of them. Then put the other 2 on small islands of their own. I don’t want to put two or three together where one over grows the others.

Also, weirdly, one of my AI Prime 16 lights is acting goofy… The one on the left sometimes doesn’t turn on all the way. Then *poof* it just turns back on all the way. I’ll have to look more into it but I’m really not keen on buying a new light anytime soon

My Prime started acting funny a while ago too. Would shut off randomly, flicker, and have only the blue channel illuminated. Turn out to be a failing power supply.

Picked this up cheap and it has been working flawlessly since!

 

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My Prime started acting funny a while ago too. Would shut off randomly, flicker, and have only the blue channel illuminated. Turn out to be a failing power supply.

Picked this up cheap and it has been working flawlessly since!

I recorded the malfunction…

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

I still bet power supply. The primes are really picky about voltage and will act funny if it drops below the required 24v.

This is the thread I found when trouble shooting mine. He does a much better job of explaining it.

AI Prime 16 HD Unusual Failure Mode (Missing Color Channels) & Solution

I've been using an AI Prime 16 HD over a 10G tank in my rack for some low light corals and anemones, and a week and change ago, I had a strange fault: it would come on and act normal, but was all green. On closer inspection, it was that the light appeared green because both blue channels seemed...

www.reef2reef.com

 

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Growth!

My candy cane has started splitting…

My favia are growing out onto their rubble pieces…

My cyphastrea is also growing over its rubble piece…

And my Ricordea Yuma made a baby!

I’ve got it in a little cage with other rubble pieces hoping it will move around and deposit more lil fellas.

Not shown:
My plating montis are growing over their plugs and onto the rock work, and my leptos are growing over their plugs as well. The gradual growth of the branching corals is harder to identify when I’m looking at them every day. I need to start taking regular photos to compare over time.

I added an Ecoflow battery backup to my return pump. Now I’ll at least get SOME system flow through my sump when the power goes out.

 

[ralquist]

Looks fantastic and healthy! Great work sir!!

I also picked up the same back up battery, great deal they had going. Did you get the same recommended adapter for the DC side? Assuming you have a ecotech return?

Side note of course you have a spot for it all nice and organized
Mine is sitting professionally placed on the floor with no plan to be honest!

 

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Looks fantastic and healthy! Great work sir!!

I also picked up the same back up battery, great deal they had going. Did you get the same recommended adapter for the DC side? Assuming you have a ecotech return?

Side note of course you have a spot for it all nice and organized
Mine is sitting professionally placed on the floor with no plan to be honest!

Thanks!

Yep. DC adapter and Ecotech 12-24v adapter. The only thing I don’t like about running it that way is that Ecotech sets their pumps to run at 25% speed when on battery backup. Given the size of this battery, I would’ve rather it run at full power. I haven’t figured out how to make it do that yet. Or if it’s even possible.

 

[ralquist]

That’s interesting, I’ve got mine on my MP-10, just hooked to see it work and that’s as far as I’ve gotten lol.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Growth!

My candy cane has started splitting…

My favia are growing out onto their rubble pieces…

My cyphastrea is also growing over its rubble piece…

And my Ricordea Yuma made a baby!

I’ve got it in a little cage with other rubble pieces hoping it will move around and deposit more lil fellas.

Not shown:
My plating montis are growing over their plugs and onto the rock work, and my leptos are growing over their plugs as well. The gradual growth of the branching corals is harder to identify when I’m looking at them every day. I need to start taking regular photos to compare over time.

I added an Ecoflow battery backup to my return pump. Now I’ll at least get SOME system flow through my sump when the power goes out.

Glad to see your candy cane is doing well!

 

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Caught in the act!

I wasn’t sure which of my snails was leaving all these egg trails. I was hoping it was my trochus snails but it turns out it’s my cerith snails! I see these trails probably once a week, a couple at a time.

 

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A few new additions...

"Wild caught" red mangroves propagules! I collected these from Key Largo last week. My wife and I went. I was scheduled to dive for a couple of days but perforated one of my ear drums on my first FREAKIN dive so I had to cancel the rest

Anyway, I plan to use one of my spare 5 gallon aquariums to make a little mangrove and softie tank I think. If I can convince my wife to let me lol

I also got a Duncan right before I left. I counted 5 heads and only paid $35 from my LFS!

 

[ralquist]

A few new additions...

"Wild caught" red mangroves propagules! I collected these from Key Largo last week. My wife and I went. I was scheduled to dive for a couple of days but perforated one of my ear drums on my first FREAKIN dive so I had to cancel the rest

Anyway, I plan to use one of my spare 5 gallon aquariums to make a little mangrove and softie tank I think. If I can convince my wife to let me lol

I also got a Duncan right before I left. I counted 5 heads and only paid $35 from my LFS!

O man that’s a bummer. Looks great though!!

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

A few new additions...

"Wild caught" red mangroves propagules! I collected these from Key Largo last week. My wife and I went. I was scheduled to dive for a couple of days but perforated one of my ear drums on my first FREAKIN dive so I had to cancel the rest

Anyway, I plan to use one of my spare 5 gallon aquariums to make a little mangrove and softie tank I think. If I can convince my wife to let me lol

I also got a Duncan right before I left. I counted 5 heads and only paid $35 from my LFS!

That is a bummer about the ear drum! I would love to get scuba certified, but dont think I could keep my anxiety at bay having to breath through my mouth. And I know you cant certify on a full face mask initially....

The foam is genius!!! Might have to steal that idea if I ever get a mangrove!

That is a steal for the Duncans!! I paid 20 for a single head...added it April 16th and it is still yet to create any new heads...

 

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A few other shots from tonight…

My Molly Miller Blenny is a CHONK

My zoas are doing just ok. Not as good as I’d like

 

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That is a bummer about the ear drum! I would love to get scuba certified, but dont think I could keep my anxiety at bay having to breath through my mouth. And I know you cant certify on a full face mask initially....

The foam is genius!!! Might have to steal that idea if I ever get a mangrove!

That is a steal for the Duncans!! I paid 20 for a single head...added it April 16th and it is still yet to create any new heads...

I stole the foam idea from my LFS!

 

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Ugh. Still not happy with my photos.

 

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Man I'm tired of chasing phosphate. I run kinda high normally (0.2-0.3). I feed a lot (for the Anthias), and some of the food is powdered coral food. I expect kinda high phos so I use GFO in a reactor to try to keep it from getting too crazy high. But when I swap out for fresh GFO my phosphate dumps to like 0.04 - even with the reactor on a very low flow. Then it slowly climbs back to my normal levels until it's time to swap GFO again. Super aggravating

I think I either need to modify my feeding, or.... I'm not sure! No real sense in constantly adjusting my refugium light cycle, or adding the skimmer that's been sitting in its unopened box in the attic. My nitrate is spot on where I want it.

I'm leaning toward adjusting my food. Right now I use a mixture of Avast's Reef Jerky, TDO ChromaBoost pellets, Hikari Seaweed Extreme pellets, and some freeze dried calanus from BRS. I feed 4x a day (because of the anthias). Maybe I need to back off on the Reef Jerky in the mix.

Also...

Another TSA order will be heading my way next week!

The rock flower anemone and clove polyps are for a special little project.... I'm pushing my luck with my wife and setting up a 5 gallon pico mangrove tank next to my main display! I've got some rock soaking in my sump for the 5 gal and some sand on the way. I'll be limiting what I put in it for obvious reasons. Probably just the two mentioned above, and maybe some shrooms if I can get some for cheap. Plus some hermits, snails, and probably some sexy shrimp for the anemones!

I'll be plugging it in-line with my auto water change so it will get all the "old" saltwater from my display before it goes on to the drain. It will basically be getting 1.5g (38% or so!) water changes every single day lol. I just need to figure out an ATO solution for it and it will be pretty low maintenance and have a great shot at stable parameters - which is normally the downfall of picos!

I'll start a dedicated build thread for it soon.

 

[ralquist]

Sorry to hear about your phosphate man, is there a reason for no skimmer? If you have it already, no harm in see what happens after running it a few weeks! Could try feeding same schedule with skimmer running vs no skimmer and reduced feeding?

Which GFO are you using? I personally had quite a bit better luck with the high capacity GFO from BRS.

O Man that's an exciting pico idea, can't wait to see it come to life!
Nice haul, beautiful corals #fillerup!!!!