The "She Said Yes!" 120 Gallon Build

[ralquist]

I finally fragged my Blue Zing seriatapora that was dying from the bottom up because it was shading itself. Won’t lie. Kind of a pain because it’s brittle (I knew this going into it). I went from one medium size colony to 7 frags (then an 8th after the photo when one more broke).

I knew it was going to be a tangled mess but I didn’t expect the branches would grow apart, then back into each other.

It was also a pain to find 8 places to put the SAME CORAL. I need to find somebody local who wants some!


Also… I want to figure out why there’s SO MUCH more coralline on the right side of the tank vs the left!

Looks like you did a great job fragging! I don’t think it’s avoidable going forward, just going to shade itself again once it grows back. I say let it go and enjoy your success, worry about it when it starts sticking out of the water!!
Tank looks awesome sir!

 

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Also I finally (almost!) finished the door for my control board! I just need to sand some wood filler and figure out a mechanism to keep the door in place - besides screws

I would have left it open in all its glory but my wife was kind enough to offer the space on that wall to me, so I wanna keep her happy lol

Voila

 

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A couple of updates for this week…

My mandarin dragonets and my yellow tang (my wife named it “Slim Shady”) are still alive! This is such a huge relief after my last two new fish died so rapidly. I was afraid to try again but that’s no way to live life, right??

My hammer has been super happy lately!


My Ricordea yuma (King Kong Bounce) has also been really happy. In addition to the 2 babies I knew about, I found 3 more!

Super tiny at this stage. The third isn’t in a good position for a photo.

My pectinia also seems to be happy. Growing slowly but surely.

Here’s a happy shot of my happy Duncans and my happy Slim Shady doing what he does ALL DANG DAY picking at the rocks… I don’t wanna fat shame, but his belly is always full

A couple of shots from my mangrove tank…

The sexy shrimp are getting FAT

The mangroves are doing fine. No real developments there.

Back to my main tank…

My Bali Green Slimer has NOT been very happy. He randomly started developing brown gunk on some spots. I dipped him in Reef Primer last week, and Revive earlier tonight. I hope he recovers.

I have a few other SPS that aren’t doing very well. My PAR levels top out around 150-170 though so I’m going to try bumping my lights some to peak around 220 at the “hottest” spots. That being said it could easily be my fluctuating nutrients for so long. More stable lately.

My alk consumption has been on the increase, which could either be my stoney corals getting happier, or all that coralline. Maybe both

 

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I forgot to post this one of my Molly Miller blenny last week…

Aaaaaand my mystery hitchhiker crab is still lurking. I still haven’t seen him outside his lair. I tried the “shrimp in a glass jar” twice now without any success. I don’t know how he survives in there! I’m a little worried if he has a taste for fish he’ll go after my tiny dragonets when I move them into the main tank

 

[dangles]

They get more yellow with age, correct?

A week later and the yellow has already gotten much bolder!

 

[ralquist]

A couple of updates for this week…

My mandarin dragonets and my yellow tang (my wife named it “Slim Shady”) are still alive! This is such a huge relief after my last two new fish died so rapidly. I was afraid to try again but that’s no way to live life, right??

My hammer has been super happy lately!


My Ricordea yuma (King Kong Bounce) has also been really happy. In addition to the 2 babies I knew about, I found 3 more!

Super tiny at this stage. The third isn’t in a good position for a photo.

My pectinia also seems to be happy. Growing slowly but surely.

Here’s a happy shot of my happy Duncans and my happy Slim Shady doing what he does ALL DANG DAY picking at the rocks… I don’t wanna fat shame, but his belly is always full

A couple of shots from my mangrove tank…

The sexy shrimp are getting FAT

The mangroves are doing fine. No real developments there.

Back to my main tank…

My Bali Green Slimer has NOT been very happy. He randomly started developing brown gunk on some spots. I dipped him in Reef Primer last week, and Revive earlier tonight. I hope he recovers.

I have a few other SPS that aren’t doing very well. My PAR levels top out around 150-170 though so I’m going to try bumping my lights some to peak around 220 at the “hottest” spots. That being said it could easily be my fluctuating nutrients for so long. More stable lately.

My alk consumption has been on the increase, which could either be my stoney corals getting happier, or all that coralline. Maybe both

Frammer!! Beautiful!

 

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Frammer!! Beautiful!

I’ve actually wondered if it’s a frammer. It doesn’t quite look like the hammers I’ve seen, and not quite like a frogspawn either

 

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A little "right side of the tank" tour, featuring the Ricordea yuma and her babies. I wish I could get a good pic of the other babies. I have found a total of 5 so far!

I can't get over how much coralline is growing all over everything. I intend to keep the back glass clean though. I've noticed though that there's about twice the coverage on the right side of the scape as on the left. Light is the only thing I can think of that might cause that discrepancy. Any other ideas?

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

A little "right side of the tank" tour, featuring the Ricordea yuma and her babies. I wish I could get a good pic of the other babies. I have found a total of 5 so far!

I can't get over how much coralline is growing all over everything. I intend to keep the back glass clean though. I've noticed though that there's about twice the coverage on the right side of the scape as on the left. Light is the only thing I can think of that might cause that discrepancy. Any other ideas?

Have you checked to make sure you don't have diodes out on the left side?

 

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Have you checked to make sure you don't have diodes out on the left side?

I don’t *think* so but I’ll double check. I’ll shoot some PAR readings too.

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

I don’t *think* so but I’ll double check. I’ll shoot some PAR readings too.

I would definitely double check. I recently had an issue with my kessil. I got some inexplicably low par readings and within about a month had it fail when it lost the entire blue channel...currently running my AI Prime on max while I decide on a permanent replacement.

On that note, I can't decide between a Reefi Uno Pro, Quanta Atlas, or 2 - Noopsyche K7 Pro III's.

Have any suggestions?

 

[fishguy242]

Flow ? shading ?

 

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I would definitely double check. I recently had an issue with my kessil. I got some inexplicably low par readings and within about a month had it fail when it lost the entire blue channel...currently running my AI Prime on max while I decide on a permanent replacement.

On that note, I can't decide between a Reefi Uno Pro, Quanta Atlas, or 2 - Noopsyche K7 Pro III's.

Have any suggestions?

Maybe check these out. @telegraham has good things to say about them. If you don’t follow him on IG he’s a great follow. No nonsense, follows the testing not the influencer hype.

 

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Flow ? shading ?

Definitely not shading. Maybe flow? I still need to take a close look at my lighting situation though.

 

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I added these lil fellas to my pico mangrove tank tonight. I sold some of my Pom Pom gracilaria to my lfs for store credit. Didn’t cost me a dime

 

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I also “cooked” up some baby brine shrimp and fed them to the mandarins in the mangrove tank. They loved them!

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

Maybe check these out. @telegraham has good things to say about them. If you don’t follow him on IG he’s a great follow. No nonsense, follows the testing not the influencer hype.

I actually have been talking to him quite extensively about lighting. He runs a Reefi Uno Pro over his own tank...so I think that says something. I have also talked to Luca (owner and creator of Quanta) and the Atlas seems like a real legit powerhouse too. And his led Bars are some of the best out there. Had my kessil not died, I would have added two of the Quanta Helix Meso Blue bars to boost my par to more acceptable numbers and then dialed up the whites on the Kessil.

But I made the mistake of asking my wife her opinion based on esthetics and she definitely didn't like the "round light" she voted for the "more square" one.

 

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I actually have been talking to him quite extensively about lighting. He runs a Reefi Uno Pro over his own tank...so I think that says something. I have also talked to Luca (owner and creator of Quanta) and the Atlas seems like a real legit powerhouse too. And his led Bars are some of the best out there. Had my kessil not died, I would have added two of the Quanta Helix Meso Blue bars to boost my par to more acceptable numbers and then dialed up the whites on the Kessil.

But I made the mistake of asking my wife her opinion based on esthetics and she definitely didn't like the "round light" she voted for the "more square" one.

I’m casually thinking about replacing the 2 Primes in the middle of my light setup. There both nearly maxed and I’m still not quite getting the PAR I want in the middle of the tank. I could either add a 3rd, or go a different direction. Maybe another light bar of some kind in the middle instead of the 2 Primes, possibly 36” long instead of 48” to keep the ends of the tank at lower intensity for LPS. That’s about as far as I’ve gotten with it though lol

 

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https://www.luxdium.com/

This is another option I might look into at some point… get more (better?) life out of my Primes

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

https://www.luxdium.com/

This is another option I might look into at some point… get more (better?) life out of my Primes

Didn't know such things existed. But, they won't work for mine. As I have the HD version of Prime.