This is it. My last build thread

[Uncle99]

Not much going on. NO3 is hanging at 11 and PO4 at 0.3ish which is very close where the the old tank ran. I haven't had to start dosing yet. Alk started at 10.7 and is gradually dropping. It was 9.3 yesterday. I didn't bring the big monti caps over so I think they were my biggest consumers. I want to keep it between 8 - 9. It works for me and leaves a bit of room in both directions if needed. I think I'll start of with esv 2 part since I have it on hand and have started all my tank using it so it's familiar. Eventually I would like to switch to AFR. I've been using it on my reefer 300 and alk and calcium has been super stable.
I've been dosing 3ml bacto balance daily along with 30 ml microbacter7 and 12 drops of zeobac twice I week. I'm getting film algae but so far the only green algae is in the scrubber. I did my first 10% WC the other day. I'm going to test weekly (alk daily) and watch things. I would like to be able to do minimal water changes but haven't determined what minimal will be. I would like to get by with monthly 10% changes but we'll see.
I have to say at this point this really is my dream tank. I have coral tanks but fish have always been my thing. I think it's a carry over from fresh water and raising juvies up to almost dinner plate size fish. I've never had a tank with this much swim room for the fish. It is so nice to watch them out and about and not having to dodge rocks but still have plenty of hiding places and swim throughs.

Chow time

What a great piece of work!
Very, very nice

 

[exnisstech]

That looks really nice!

That came out sick! Love it...............

What a great piece of work!
Very, very nice

Thanks all. Its really nice having it turn out like I envisioned it. I usually fall short and then spend months moving things around and still never get that yes I love it feeling.

 

[Raptor72]

Very nice build. I should be getting my 330 wet here in the next week hopefully.

 

[exnisstech]

Very nice build. I should be getting my 330 wet here in the next week hopefully.

Congrats. Take a close look at the plumbing flanges for any burrs.

 

[exnisstech]

Rocks are staring to color up nicely. Sorry not much fish action, they're a bit shy

 

[Reefering1]

So what, you're not going to start a emergency thread "what's this brown stuff on my rocks, and how do I get rid of it?"?

 

[exnisstech]

So what, you're not going to start a emergency thread "what's this brown stuff on my rocks, and how do I get rid of it?"?

I'm wondering if I should do a rip clean and start over

 

[VintageReefer]

I'm wondering if I should do a rip clean and start over

I know just what you need

https://a.co/d/cVo5J6C

 

[Reefering1]

I'm wondering if I should do a rip clean and start over

Monthly rip cleans is all you ever need, what could go wrong

 

[Reefering1]

Really loving those yellow tangs, how are the 4 of them getting along?

 

[exnisstech]

Really loving those yellow tangs, how are the 4 of them getting along?

They are getting along just fine. I'm pretty sure adding the babies first and letting them settle in helped. So far I'm not really seeing any aggression at all in the tank which is nice. I'm not a fan of watching fish fights.

 

[Mschmidt]

I'm wondering if I should do a rip clean and start over

Always and forever.

 

[twentyleagues]

Always and forever.

Once you "pop" you can't stop!

 

[exnisstech]

Always and forever.

Once you "pop" you can't stop!

I'm not ignoring. I can be really dense at times and I think I'm not getting something so silence keeps me safe

 

[twentyleagues]

I'm not ignoring. I can be really dense at times and I think I'm not getting something so silence keeps me safe

Rip clean.

 

[exnisstech]

Rip clean.

Gotcha. That was my initial thought then I read not being able to stop once I pop and my mind just tanked

 

[Reefering1]

Gotcha. That was my initial thought then I read not being able to stop once I pop and my mind just tanked

Hahaha. The Ole gutter express.idk what you're talking about

 

[exnisstech]

5/27/24

Just figured I'd add a few images of the rocks under room lighting.

And a couple of my buddy. Tangs haven't figured out the feeder for masstick yet so he's pigging out

 

[exnisstech]

Just a video update. More to follow.

This is my oldest (8yrs) coral. I was able to get a few of the old timers to pose on front of it.

Got the kids

I normally mute video but had to let this one roll. Thats my Gal whistling not me. She's the best.


EDIT : youtube sent this lol. I have doubts that other video I see with music in the background are paying royalties

 

[exnisstech]

The scrubber is starting to grow a fair amount of algae. @VintageReefer mentioned that if the algae is pale to reduce the light cycle. It was very pale so I turned off one bank of leds and it is starting to darken up. So far I'm not seeing any of this type of algae in the display. Fingers are crossed hoping it continues.

I moved a rock yesterday and 4 of those evil bristle worms and a brittle star about 1.5" came crawling out so the tank is coming to life. I still can't understand why people try to eradicate so many life forms that make thier way into our tanks. I did kalk some aiptasia in the reefer 300 display yesterday so I guess I'm a hipocrite. I wondered how long it would take for them to appear after I moved the CBB to the new tank. I think I'm going to try and catch one of these guys in my 170 and move it into the 300 to help control the aiptasia.

I've always been poor at recording video or photos of coral growth so I'm going to post some shots here and hopefully I'll be able to come back and compare them in a year or so.
I call this monti hill. Part of this was covered up by the big monticaps in the old tank but they are bouncing back. The orange is the only monticap piece I brought over. I like the caps and they grew very well I just want to keep this tank a little more open looking.

A few flatworms hanging out on the shrooms. I really want to add another sixline but am hesitant. All of the fish are doing well and I've not had good luck with fish in QT and have been through velvet before. I have a yellow banded possum wrasse in my reefer 170 I may bring over.

I bought the leather in the center years ago because it was the biggest and cheapest coral in the store. It was also the ugliest lol. It has done nothing but sulk no matter where I placed it. I actually had started hoping it would die so I could pull it and be done but it refuses. I think I may have finally found a spot it likes. It's still ugly and big but getting a light greenish color vs the drab brown it has been.

This is another piece that has been stagnant for a couple of years and is starting to come back

A few more for for future comparisons

The pectinia have been unhappy so I pulled them and put one in the 300 and one in the 170. They are started to puff up so hopefully they turn around. They didn't like the 180g either so maybe theres something going on with all the leathers. I will say I'm glad to be able to have multiple tanks so I can relocate things that struggle in one tank.
Last test results were
NO3 11.8
PO4 0.39
ALK 8.8
CAL 425
SG 1.025
I'm just rolling with the PO4 to see where it settles. As long as things continue to look good I'm not going to intervene. Alk is coming down slowly and I'll probably calculate my consumption today and most likely start adding a small amount of two part on a regular basis.
FTS I need to invest in some light blocking shades for those windows.

EDIT : forgot about the clams. I bought one of the top down viewers from melev's reef that works well with a phone