jlanger's 120gal Arts and Crafts Inspired Reef Build (1 Viewer)

[Bschowa]

love the picture of the haloween urchin one of my favorites! im also glad it bumped me back to the beginning because it allowed me to view your water changing simplifies that i will be trying out

 

[jlanger]

As my light cycle is ramping down for the night, I guess I'm done taking photos for the day. (Maybe...)
Here's my male Percula Clownfish settling in for the night.
Yep... he prefers the Duncans.

 

[ChristopherKriens]

Glad you're liking the camera- looks like you're off to a good start; these are some great shots already. I hope my montis look that good some day.

 

[N1ceDrgn]

I am a huge fan of the works by Frank Lloyd Wright and Greene and Greene.
I was influenced long ago by the mission/arts and crafts style of architecture and furniture.
And I wanted my reef system to honor that style, and build on a new theme for the look of our home.
I wanted a piece of furniture.
I wanted a work of art.

When I was in school for drafting and estimating, I became a fan of FLW as well. I really like how you incorporated the different styles together. It makes for a very eye-catching aquarium.

I've also had better luck with monti's over the years. I have learned that they will draw nutrients out of the water faster than acro's or milli's will. I have (4) different types in my own system right now. I have a purple and a red/orange plating. The other ones are a hodag's and a purple rim that scroll. I'm leaning more towards acro's a milli's now though. In all honesty, it is the constant fragging the montipora's require that turns me off. So I let them grow large and then turn over the frags to a LFS. In some way, it could be a form of fragging it forward and keeping the LFS's going.

 

[N1ceDrgn]

Sorry for the double post, the connection timed out. :laugh:

 

[jlanger]

When I was in school for drafting and estimating, I became a fan of FLW as well. I really like how you incorporated the different styles together. It makes for a very eye-catching aquarium.

I've also had better luck with monti's over the years. I have learned that they will draw nutrients out of the water faster than acro's or milli's will. I have (4) different types in my own system right now. I have a purple and a red/orange plating. The other ones are a hodag's and a purple rim that scroll. I'm leaning more towards acro's a milli's now though. In all honesty, it is the constant fragging the montipora's require that turns me off. So I let them grow large and then turn over the frags to a LFS. In some way, it could be a form of fragging it forward and keeping the LFS's going.

Thanks for the comments.

Over the past year, I have been able to "unload" a number of very large frags and colonies from my system.
I have sold three of the green montipora colonies that were over 100 square inches of coral each! BIG pieces!
It has become more difficult lately, but I do okay when the prices go down.
Being in Wisconsin doesn't help much, but I do make it into The Cities regularly.
That being said, frags are available at any time.

 

[N1ceDrgn]

Well, if you ever want something new, feel free to ask. I'm fragging things on a semi-regular basis. I keep trying to redesign my aquascape and it doesn't always leave me room to accommodate what I have in my tank.

 

[jlanger]

Well, if you ever want something new, feel free to ask. I'm fragging things on a semi-regular basis. I keep trying to redesign my aquascape and it doesn't always leave me room to accommodate what I have in my tank.

PM sent.

 

[Omen]

Where did you get the Halloween Urchin? That looks awesome.

 

[jlanger]

Where did you get the Halloween Urchin? That looks awesome.

I actually snagged that at my "LFS" (aka Ace Hardware) for the low price of $16.99.
We stop in weekly to get crickets for my son's leopard geckos, but every now and then they get something in I just cannot pass on.

 

[surveyor1]

Wow...I love the "Mission " style stand and hood ...you are a true artisan !

 

[N1ceDrgn]

I hope the frags made it home ok and are now settling into your system. :biggthumpup:

 

[ikserk]

I actually snagged that at my "LFS" (aka Ace Hardware) for the low price of $16.99.
We stop in weekly to get crickets for my son's leopard geckos, but every now and then they get something in I just cannot pass on.

whoa....wait a minute. You have an Ace Hardware with an aquatics section? I've got to see this the next time I am out your way.

 

[jlanger]

whoa....wait a minute. You have an Ace Hardware with an aquatics section? I've got to see this the next time I am out your way.

The place used to be a "Ben Franklin/True Value Hardware" store before the Ace Hardware franchise took over.
They kept the pet department and fabrics/crafts section that was there originally.
So they have fish (fresh and salt; some corals and inverts), reptiles, birds, rodents and adoptable dogs when available.
Not very impressive on the saltwater section, but "Hey!" they're trying.

I have another "find" that I am hoping will acclimate with my tank, but I don't want to divulge that until it settles in. Superstitious karma.

I hope the frags made it home ok and are now settling into your system. :biggthumpup:

I just got home from the shop and took a quick look. They look really good.. and huge!
I need to find where I want to attach them before they get moved or covered by the pistol shrimp.

And after seeing the thickness of your montipora spp., I started researching calcium reactors.
Might be time to upgrade with my calcium supplementation.
And let me know when you decide to frag that Millepora.

Wow...I love the "Mission " style stand and hood ...you are a true artisan !

Thanks!
Great first post; by the way.

 

[benihana]

Everything looks great, gives me lots of ideas for my future build

 

[jlanger]

I have more fish pictures that I wanted to post, but since it is a build thread I should talk about some updates I have made to the build.



I finally installed the second DJ Power Strip (4 channel) to the left side of my cabinet.
This now powers the two EcoTech Vortech pumps on the left side of the tank.
I use one of the open channels for when I need to pump new saltwater into the tank during water changes.

I mentioned the Vortech pumps.
I purchased a second MP40 during the Black Friday sales, so I now have 2xMP40 and 2xMP10 running on the tank.
The MP40's are opposite each other towards the upper front of the tank and the MP10's are opposite towards the lower back.
The pumps are set up with one MP40 and the opposite side MP10 synched and the other two pumps anti-synched while running in the Tidal Swell Mode at 75%.
There is plenty of random flow throughout the tank.
The SPS corals have great polyp extension (The ORA Chip's Acro is crazy!) and the ORA Red Goniopora and the Alveopora really like the flow also. It's fun just to watch the polyps dance around.

I made that Drip Tray for my return pump section, but decided against using it.
It worked great, but it was too difficult too take in and out repeatedly for the way I designed it.
I am planning to make a media chamber box to hold some rubble rock and filter floss in it's place.

Other than those changes/additions, everything has been running well.
Blah, blah, blah... Fish pictures.

Lyretail Anthias - Male

Lyretail Anthias - Females

Chocolate Tang

Kole Tang

Bipartitus Leopard Wrasse

One-Spot Foxface

Lamarck's Angelfish

Percula Clownfish pair and Randall's Shrimp Goby

 

[jlanger]

I forgot to mention in my last post that I added a powerhead to my ATO reservoir to keep the kalkwasser mixed.
Since I began using kalkwasser in my make up water, I have had to clean out the container of kalkwasser precipitate about every six months.
I usually mix the solution to just under full saturation, but over time I still would get a precipitate since the solution was stagnant.
I found a very small powerhead just laying in a bin, so I added it to the ATO reservoir to keep the solution moving around.
This has really helped in keeping the kalkwasser being added to the display at a stronger concentration.
Many of the corals have shown a jump in growth over the last two months. Some of the M. digitata frags show visible growth daily.

Here's a couple of pics from tonight.

Top view of the left side island.

Top view of the center.

Top view of the right side island.

The right side is still under construction.
The top rock tipped and crushed the red montipora, so I now have a nice gap and a handful of red montipora frags growing out.
And I still have a lot of green montipora frags growing out also.
Hoping to fill up the open real estate with some frags or colonies in the next couple of months.

 

[Bschowa]

In your opinion do you think the vortex were worth the money?

Awesome pictures by the way, how long have you had that green monti that it is that big?


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[jlanger]

In your opinion do you think the vortex were worth the money?

Awesome pictures by the way, how long have you had that green monti that it is that big?


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I'm assuming you meant the Vertex Illumina LED fixture...
I really like the light a lot. Worth the money?....

I bought the fixture during the BRS Black Friday Sale in conjunction with Bonus Extra Rewards Points, so I saved quite a bit of money off of the regular price.
I have added two of the Multicolor Modules and two Royal Blue Modules to fill in four of the five the available slots. Once again, buying the modules during holiday sales or Extra Bonus Rewards Points.

With all of that money spent(saved), it has been a very dependable fixture and it has performed very well.
It was a quite the learning curve coming over from T5 lighting. But after having the lights on the tank for a year, I'm very comfortable with the program and how to acclimate new corals to the LED light.
The one down-side I see, is that the sps corals begin to die back when they do not receive direct light. But this is the case with all point based lighting fixtures. A second row of modules would be nice, but extreme overkill.

For what I spent on the fixture and modules, I say that it is worth every penny I spent.

As for the green montipora...
I bought the original 3" colony about three years ago.
Since that time, I have sold dozens of frags and three larger colonies; two of them over 12" by 15".
So I probably only have about one-third of the size of what the colony could be fully intact.
Very fast grower. And great color.

 

[Bschowa]

Stupid auto correct, I meant vortech the mp40 and mp10 are they worth the money vs say a koralia powerhead set on a wave maker ?


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