Cali Kid Corals

DurTBear's 20 gallon mixed reef tank

DurTBear

DurTBear

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Hey guys,

Just realized I have a tank journal for my 10 gallon frag tank but not a formal tank journal for my display tank! So here goes...it's about 2 years too late but just wanted to get something going so I can add to it as my tank develops.

Here are pics from about Jan. 2007 when I first set it up and started cycling it. I started witih 2 maxijet 1200's, PC lighting, a red sea prizm skimmer and an old freshwater filter that used as a refugium. Here it is with sand and it's first two pieces of live rock to seed it.
fulltank.jpg


Here is a full tank shot of when I finally filled it up with more live rock and had my first crack at aquascaping:
Rockscape.jpg


After many revisions, this is what I finally settled with (to this day, I'm still not entirely satisfied but can't really do anything about it now!
Fulltank2.jpg


Shortly thereafter, I added my first clownfish and first pieces of coral: a frogspawn, hammer coral and green palythoas:
Fulltank.jpg
 
It's obviously too much to retrace all the trials and tribulations from the last two years so I'll just post a couple full tank shots throughout the last couple years.

Here it is at about 6 months:
fulltank-1.jpg


Here it is at about 1 year (12/2007):
fulltank12-07.jpg


Here it is at about 1.5 years (4/2008):
Fishtank284.jpg


Another shot at around 1.5 years (7/2008):
Fishtank360.jpg


Another shot two months later (9/2008). You can see I had caught the sps bug and started running out of space. I tried to fix this by making some awful looking DIY eggcrate frag racks:
Fishtank395.jpg


Finally, I set up the plumbed in 10 gallon frag tank so here's what it looked like without the frag racks (12/2008)! Finally!
Fishtank472.jpg
 
So this is where I stand now and the equipment that I have now:

150W 20K Radium MH on a Current USA Sunpod 24" fixture.
One Koralia 1 and one Tunze 6025 nanostream.
Lifereef nano overflow box.
Aquaclear power filter converted into a makeshift refugium with a Coralife PC fixture for light with live rock and chaeto.

Livestock includes two false percs, a yellow watchman goby, a blood red fire shrimp, a variety of snails (ceriths, black foot trochus, nassarius and astreas), hermits and until today, I had a six-line wrasse as well.

I perform a 10% water change weekly and dose Bulk Reef Supply's 2-part. I feed the fish flake food once a day and every other two days or so, I feed a blend of mysis shrimp, ground seafood, arctipods and rotifers. I also periodically add DT's phytoplankton and Oysterfeast.
 
I was just thinking how cool the frag racks were! Looking good, nice and crowded. I tend to use 2-litre bottles for my home projects, so eggcrate's super classy 8)

Sounds like the 6-line had a harsh happening, sorry to hear that.
 
I just kind of let the corals battle it out and sort things out. I try to trim every now and then if they're really touching a lot but otherwise, I just let them settle it out on their own.

Snapped a couple pics tonight of the Tubbs Alien eye chalice and Nuclear Greens:

TubbsAlieneyechalice20090531.jpg


NuclearGreens20090531.jpg
 
Durwin,

How are you liking the Radium 20k? I am using a phoenix 14k in my Sunpod right now, and after a couple months of burn in time, the color seems to have shifted a little bit. Not quite as blue as it was before. I like the Phoenix 14k though, because I hear it is a great (non-10k) growth bulb. I am already researching and planning for when the time comes to replace my lamp :)
 
Hi Ant, it's hard for me to notice any sort of color shift at the moment. I do think my red corals (like the AOG's and Devils Armors) pop a little more. But other than that, I can't favor one or the other right now. I was very happy with the 14K Phoenix bulbs and just wanted to try something new. I'll see if the color shifts at all over the next month or so.

Thanks again Sherri!
 
Thanks Matt. Too bad I didn't get to meet you at BAYMAC. I know you were there but I guess we just never crossed paths. Couple other pictures:

Monti setosa that I just mounted:
MontiSetosa.jpg


Pink chalice that I got at BAYMAC:
Fishtank695.jpg


AoG's under actinics:
AoGs-5.jpg
 
Unfortunately, I've been dealing with some STN issues. I have a feeling it's because my parameters are taking big swings but I'm not sure. With the increased amount of sps in my 30 gallon system, I think the Ca and Alk demand is getting quite high. So dosing once per day is causing the tank to take large swings. Hopefully when I get my controller, I will be able to stabilize my parameters better. Also bought a used Tunze Osmolator for ATO. Still very frustrating though...lost a lot of nice corals over the course of the last couple months. This is the end result for some of my sps. :(

Fishtank700.jpg
 
holy crap! Sorry to hear about the tank Durwin! Hopefully things right themselves soon enough. Are those expired corals from your DT, or your frag tank?? :(
 
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