65 to 120 Upgrade

[Fish Brain]

I must say, I am really liking the Vegas. I am still in acclimation mode so the lights are only at about 35% but the color that is coming back in the corals is amazing.

My Tyree Aequituberculata is making an incredible comeback. I thought I would only have a 1/2" frag of it left, but the whole piece that turned white is getting color back.

My sunset which was always a dull orange, is turning that nice bright orange. And a coral that was brown that I thought was dead has polyps out!

 

[Fish Brain]

The AI controller decided today is a partly cloudy day. I'm doing some work in the basement and watching the tank dim as a cloud passes by!

 

[Zippy69]

Nice looking tank! I see corals have recovered well and you seem to have gone bare in the bottom (tank). Why no substrate?

 

[ClownAquatics]

liking the barebottom! I think you need more vortechs though

 

[Fish Brain]

Nice looking tank! I see corals have recovered well and you seem to have gone bare in the bottom (tank). Why no substrate?

In my 29G I had a 2 inch sand bed, and when I took that tank down, the sand was nasty. So when I set up my 65, I went with a 1/2" sand bed, but the sand was still nasty when I took that tank down. So this tank has no sand for ease of maintenance.

My tank is about 95% SPS so I need flow and I can have lots of flow without having to worry about sand storms.

liking the barebottom! I think you need more vortechs though

I do have a 5th MP-10 I can put in there!

 

[Fish Brain]

I find myself gravitating towards some NPS corals. I have some lower light and shaded areas I would like to fill and what better way than with some NPS corals? Now I only have to find some...

 

[Fish Brain]

Some new additions to the tank:

Picked up these two really nice looking frags on the right from OGII last weekend.

FTS as of 2/16/13:

End to end shot of the reef:

 

[Zippy69]

Nice clean tank Brian. It really looks great, gotta love a basement! Are there some gorgonians in some of those shots?

 

[Fish Brain]

Are there some gorgonians in some of those shots?

Yep! Those would be the new additions.

First pic is a purple tree, second pic is orange and red finger, and third is a purple ribbon.

 

[dirtycontour]

Are they photosynthetic?

 

[Fish Brain]

My birdsnest is sprouting a bunch of new branches!

 

[Fish Brain]

Are they photosynthetic?

Both purples are photosynthetic, but the red and orange are not.

 

[dirtycontour]

Both purples are photosynthetic, but the red and orange are not.

Are you worried about the SPS not doing as well with the heavy feedings?

 

[Fish Brain]

<--- This is Thermo

Well the Orange finger is not doing so good. It was a little rough when I got it and had some algae growing on it, which is not a good sign. It is losing tissue on some of the branches so the outcome for it does not look good. The others are going really well, and all have polyps out.

 

[howze01]

Tank looks great Brian! Why are you not Thermosts anymore? I don't like change....

When do I finally get to see this new tank, house and child???

 

[Fish Brain]

Tank looks great Brian! Why are you not Thermosts anymore? I don't like change....

When do I finally get to see this new tank, house and child???

Welp... I'm Fish Brain on MR and R-C so, I figured I would go for the trifecta.

Next month's meeting is being hosted by yours truly, but you are welcome to stop by anytime, just shoot me a text!

 

[howze01]

Yes! Will definitely come to the meeting. Will be good to see everyone again! Don't know that I will be able to make it up there before then though. Will call if I can.

 

[Fish Brain]

Well, yesterday I decided to tear down and start over. I had some serious killer hair algae growing over everything in the tank and was loosing SPS left and right.

I tried to salvage what I could. I fragged anything that was still alive or looked like it might still have a little life left in it.

::Warning the following pictures are pretty graphic::

This is what the tank currently looks like and the fish are still in there.

It was a pretty hefty death toll:

I did find out 2 of my 3 frag racks had corroded magnets, and i'm not sure if this had anything to do with my tank problems. In addition to the SPS, I lost a majority of my snails also.

You can see the right magnet is discolored and could have been leaching who knows what into the tank.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

 

[TanksNStuff]

Ouch! That must have been a hard thing to do Brian. Your tank was full of beautiful corals last time I saw it.

I would definitely consider leaving out those frag racks.

I would say pickup a bunch of turbo snails to help get rid of any remaining HA.

I would also suggest not restocking any corals for a while to make sure the problem is eradicated completely.

Once you do that, let me know and I'll hook you up with some frags.

Good luck bud.

 

[Zippy69]

Sorry Brian, that is one devastating site! Let ma know when you are up again, I have some frags to start your tank. With regards to the magnets, not too sure if they would be a cause. I use some to mount colonies to the glass wall. Mine have some pitting/rust and corals are fine. Good luck on the redo.