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jlanger's 120gal Arts and Crafts Inspired Reef Build (2 Viewers)

Gary said:
Just curious...what are your settings for the two dosing pumps? I have that large Idaho Grape colony and it looks mostly brown in my tank. I've been trying different things with the Apex to dose my calcium and alk at different times. Just wondering what you are doing. I set my minimum PH to 8.35 and max to 8.45 yesterday. Is that high enough?
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I have been keeping my alkalinity at 8.2dKH and my calcium at about 450ppm.
My pH stays around 8 to 8.2; mostly 8.0.

The color issue is more in part due to the lighting change.
What lighting are you using? LEDs, T5s or halides?
That piece was lower in my system and was being somewhat shaded; hence the whiter edges. The Idaho Grape will turn brown when it is not getting enough light. Slowly raising it higher or to a place with more light will bring back that purple color. In that last photo above (with the large montipora colony) you can see the parent Idaho Grape colony in the left corner (dark purple); but the Idaho Grape colony on the upper shelf has a much lighter color (lavender) due to being higher up.
Give the frag some time and it will rebound.
 
Here's a look at the newly finished stand.
The door hardware hasn't been added yet, as the client is choosing their own.
They chose a laminate top with a lighter stone look with a crescent edge on all four sides.







I am still waiting for them to decide on the canopy dimensions before I begin that part of the build.
So now I guess that my stand is not a one-of-a-kind; one of two!
But I really like this one also.


As far as my system goes, I have made a couple of small changes.

The biggest change was a battle I have been waging against my RBTA. I conceded.
As the anemone has grown, it has been stinging the surrounding corals. I tried coercing the anemone to move to a new location with very little success. Since the Miyagi Tort was suffering quite a bit of damage from the nem, I chose to remove the frag and I am currently trying to find a new location for it. With the frag removed, the anemone has decided to open up even more and is now starting to irritate the Blue Tort and Neon Green Birds Nest. If I have to relocate those frags, I really lose the "wow factor" of the SPS slope.

Another change is has been my dosing regimen.
I have been manually dosing for the past couple of weeks to find out exactly what my system consumes. I believe that I once I get paid-in-full for the stand and canopy build, I will add a couple of dosing pumps to dose my supplements. Since I have been dosing 2-part, my parameters have been much more stable. So I am unsure if I will go back to kalkwasser.
I have re-started dosing the Red Sea Coral Colors Program supplements and the Red Sea Energy supplements. Since I am dosing manually, I thought I would give those two programs another shot; before they expire. So we shall see.

Back to my livestock, I am seriously thinking of removing my Halloween Urchin. Since I have new frags that have yet to be glued down, the urchin seems to think they are playthings. I have already lost a couple of small frags from the recent swap and I don't like having to search for missing corals.

And I have decided to remove the large green and red Montipora spp. colonies that take up the right half of my tank. How I end up doing that? Unsure. It will be a drastic change to the look of my system, but I think I will enjoy recovering about 25% of the real estate for new corals. There will still be some montipora pieces in the tank, but just not ever that large again. I think that the reef residents will miss the big colony most of all; as the anthias love to sleep amongst the plates and the cleaner shrimp hold sway underneath.
 
When you remove the monti, the fish will battle. Also, the flow patterns in your tank will change completely....some things won't like it, be prepared for mild fallout to be possible is all.

Good luck removing the monti. I am still on the edge of releasing the monti eating nudis in my tank to get rid of it all...so far, I have refrained from doing that...I bashed and bashed and scraped, I could never get it all. It comes back with a vengeance. If you can just remove all rocks it is attached to, do that... Good luck.
 
LowersMyBP said:
When you remove the monti, the fish will battle. Also, the flow patterns in your tank will change completely....some things won't like it, be prepared for mild fallout to be possible is all.

Good luck removing the monti. I am still on the edge of releasing the monti eating nudis in my tank to get rid of it all...so far, I have refrained from doing that...I bashed and bashed and scraped, I could never get it all. It comes back with a vengeance. If you can just remove all rocks it is attached to, do that... Good luck.
Click to expand...

Removing the large montipora section should be very easy; it is actually loose. The base is about three inches in diameter and it is not glued down but wedged into place with some rubble rock. When the pumps go into the Nutrient Transport Mode and create a wave, the colony actually moves just a little bit. I may have to remove the top shelf rock first to prevent any breaking from happening.

I have many spots throughout the tank where I used to have monti frags that encrusted onto the rock and are forming new patches of coral. Sometimes I just place other corals on top of the growth to smother them out. I have also placed certain LPS corals in places to help contain any unwanted growth by having the LPS corals sting the montipora pieces; biological control.
I'm still a huge fan of montipora sp. corals so I'll have some pieces remaining.

The issue of upsetting the fishes' habitat is the one negative aspect. They all get along, for the most part, because of the numerous nooks and crannies that the montipora creates. It's really neat seeing the fish slide in and out of such narrow spaces or sleeping deep inside the plates.
 
Sometimes buying an ugly, browned-out and discounted coral pays off.

Back in March I placed an online order and I need to add one more item to get the free shipping upgrade, so I looked in the discounted/sales section for a cheap coral or frag. I added this Acropora verweyi colony to my order. The coral was listed as a purple and green branching coral but it was completely brown and discounted half the price to $40. So, why not?
I apparently never took a photo of it when it was first added to the system; most likely from it being ugly.
But after spending the last three months in bright lights and good water flow, this is what it looks like today.
The colony has shown really good growth from all sides and I cannot wait for it to fill out even more.

35639284296_c2fa94474a_b.jpg


I think it has turned out to be quite a stunner. Now, I wish I had taken a photo from the day it came in.
Lesson learned… Take a chance every now and then, sometimes you will get the diamond in the rough.
 
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It is done… Now what?

Well… it finally happened.
I received the first text at 09:30AM this morning and by 04:30PM this afternoon, the deed was done.
I sold the entire XL large colony of montipora spp.

Removing the colony was actually quite easy. The colony had attached in a few small places to the rock above it and the back glass. I took a razor blade and scored along the encrusting edges (which weren't too bad) to loosen the colony from the rock. There is only one spot about an inch long where the red colony left some tissue, but it should be very easy to chip the remnants away.
I next relocated the frags to a frag rack and moved the rock that sat above the colony to the sand bed to make it easier to remove the coral.
The colony was already two separate pieces nestled together. The first piece (upper tier of plates) was two large sections that were growing in opposite directions. So when they came out of the water, the two centers of gravity caused the center to break and create two pieces about 10" x 12" each. The lower tier was removed intact with no breaks or damage, and measured out at over 24" by 14". So the entire colony ended up leaving my house in three separate pieces; which the buyer was completely okay with as it was going to need to be broken down somewhat for their system.

So this is what my tank looks like right now.
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Once the coral was removed the fish were very cautious of that side of the tank and any movement around the tank. As the minutes passed, they began to explore the new aquascape. It will be interesting to see how this impacts their environment; as per who's sleeping where now.
All of the fish ended up being accounted for; even the Ruby Red Dragonet.
The two female anthias were the most spooked from this; as they huddled together under the rock work and didn't want to come out.
The only hitchhiker that tried to leave was one lonely Scarlet Reef Hermit Crab which was deep inside the plates.
As soon as I fed the fish and inverts, everything seems to have come through okay.

As for me… I'm excited to see where I go from here. BIG CHANGE!!!
I think I will add another shelf rock; or two. I will definitely add more SPS colonies and frags; just staying away from plating montiporas.
Although I do plan to keep some smaller pieces in the tank; with regular "pruning" I want to see what kind of "bonsai" growth forms I can achieve with these plating corals.
I do know that I want to relocate (or rehome) the large cupping Idaho Grape colony in the center. I would like to open up the center of the tank again and get the "chasm" effect back.
And I am seriously debating on removing the RBTA that is now stinging my corals. I like having the anemone for the clowns, but not at the price of possibly losing some nice corals.
And for some reason, a voice is telling me that I need to add something green… Nah.

Here's another view of "Ground Zero."
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Dang I hardly recognize it! That's got to be a good feeling, suddenly having 30-40% of your tank open to add new coral. You'll have to grab that Pearlberry the next time you're around, I see some good spots for it. It's got a few branches coming up and I'm getting sort of attached to it..

Great looking sleeper acro too-
 
ChristopherKriens said:
Dang I hardly recognize it! That's got to be a good feeling, suddenly having 30-40% of your tank open to add new coral. You'll have to grab that Pearlberry the next time you're around, I see some good spots for it. It's got a few branches coming up and I'm getting sort of attached to it..

Great looking sleeper acro too-
Click to expand...

I hardly recognize it!
I've gone out to look at it a few times tonight and it seems weird; like a storm came through and bashed half the reef.

It feels so good that I already hit "Flounder" up tonight for a handful of new frags to help fill it back in.
And I would appreciate the Pearlberry very much. I think I could spare a branch or two of the A. verweyi if you're interested.
BTW… did you get a new wrasse and not tell anybody? Or has it been in there for a while?
 
Love it.

Cut your alk and cal doses waaaaaaaaay back. I am dealing with that right now, never seem to cut back enough......

I might reduce them by more than 50% if I were you....or more.
 
Who would have ever thought that making one small change to your system would be so much work!
After removing the XL colony of Montipora, I had the opportunity to redesign the right side of my reef; since the montipora basically WAS the right side of the reef.
Easy enough, right? Right! :brick1:

I picked up another fifteen pounds of dry rock on Saturday and brushed/washed it and let it soak in some saltwater overnight.
I always thought adding rock that was saturated in saltwater prior to adding it to an established system would reduce any possible risks to the tank. Or I am that OCD.
I've spent the batter part of the past four hours trying to create the island aquascape for the right side of the reef.
Things probably could have gone somewhat quicker if not for my pair of clownfish that kept biting my hands the entire time.

(Back story: On Friday I tried to find a solution to keep my RBTA from stinging the neighboring corals. After getting bit by the clownfish for about the fiftieth time, I caught the clowns and put them into my fish trap. Needless to say, they were not very happy about that. So even though today I was working on the other side of the tank far away from the RBTA (which won and is still in it's place), the clownfish went right after me immediately. Serious personal space issues!)

In the course of creating the new aquascape, I removed the "cupping" Idaho Grape colony and the downsized the plating Idaho Grape colony.
I also widened the gap between the two islands so I can create another "slope" on the new island.
There is now plenty of swimming room and naked real estate for landscaping another coral island.

The fish have begun to come back out; the fish that didn't want to bite me.
I had to keep my eye on the Ruby Red Dragonet, as it kept swimming back over to the right side during the construction.
I hope I was able to create plenty of new places for sleeping at night. Two of the newer rocks had plenty of large holes already. And I placed the rocks such so that there are plenty of overhangs and caves.

All I need to do now, is figure out where I am going to place the thirty or so displaced/new corals and frags.
I grabbed the BIG tube of PaleoBond yesterday, so I should be well prepared (to glue my self to something).

All I wanted to do was remove one colony that was too big.
Now I'm spending the better part of a couple of days re-aquascaping the tank. :brick1:
I may sound coming off disgruntled, but I am excited for the new look. :biggrin:
Once the "dust" settles, I will try to get some new pics.
 
Based on what happened to me, that clown isn't likely to quit biting you, good luck. I just got rid of mine and have, for the most part, sworn off clowns, at least in pairs.
 
Dawning of a New Age

LowersMyBP said:
Based on what happened to me, that clown isn't likely to quit biting you, good luck. I just got rid of mine and have, for the most part, sworn off clowns, at least in pairs.
Click to expand...

Yep… No sooner than putting my hands into the water to "plant" frags, the biting began.
I ended up catching the female again and put her into the trap, but the male was too smart and quick this time so I endured the bites as I placed the frags.
The female is the worse of the two as she will (or try to) knock over the frags as I try to layout the new aquascape.

Here's just a quick shot of the new aquascape.
It's stacked together nicely, but I'm still not completely convinced I like the look.
The far right side looks too "heavy", but there's a lot of nice places to mount frags if I keep it this way.
Many of frags still need to find a permanent location; many are just placed in potential locations for review.
But I think I spent enough time getting my hands wet for one day.

35639285116_dcdeb0d4f1_b.jpg


I cannot wait for the new rock to lose the white appearance.
Corals look so much brighter when being contrasted by the darker/aged rock.

I also brought a couple of corals up from my sump that were being rehabbed.
The bright green/yellow/orange Lobophyllia has made a great recovery so I hope it does well back in the display.
And a colony of red M. capricornus made it up into the display; for now. The reef looked like it needed some more red color. I have a couple small colonies of the green and red M. hodgsoni in the sump, but they're staying down there for now.

34869506813_0e456ed842_b.jpg
 
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Jason, that's a lot of empty rock work! The right side does seem a bit heavier like you say, but that's probably okay.. I think with less rock in the new island, the left and right islands would look too similar and with the split down the middle you might have a little too much symmetry.
 
Not too much to update on my system until I take some new pictures, but…

I finally got around to building the canopy to go with the stand build I was working on.
The client wants the canopy to completely cover their tank and be mounted from the wall; not the ceiling.
I had to make a couple of small redesigns to do so, but i think it turned out rather well.
This canopy is much, much larger than mine!

35658881666_e771c1c6a4_b.jpg


And here's the stand again (without the door handles).

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I'm not quite finished with this build.
I have to cut out a couple of holes for his Kessil LED fixtures and a few openings for ventilation in the top panel.
And then make three ventilation/lighting grilles to dress up those openings.
I hope to get these done this week and then it's time to build a couple of shipping crates and send it off to San Francisco.

It will be really nice to have this build completed.
But also kind of sad to have to ship it so far away.
 
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Back to Updating My System… Life After Monti's.

It has been a good month since I removed the large montipora colonies.
And I'm glad I decided to do it. No regrets.
Unless having the novel idea of setting up a MUCH LARGER tank so I could keep the colonies is a regret.

I think I finally have the aquascaping to my liking.
I moved a couple of rocks around and eliminated one altogether. I moved the Idaho Grape montipora colony to the other side of the tank. And I rearranged the lower bases to create a more open environment.
Now that the algae has covered the rocks, it doesn't look like quite like a disaster as before.
Once my schedule slows down, I plan to take a day to glue down all of the corals/frags to more permanent locations. Still tinkering with the design.
35639287486_616f78602c_b.jpg


Here's a neat pic from the right end of the tank.
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This is being called a "Zombie's Paradise". BRAINS!!!
The lobophyllia on the left is still doing quite well since I moved it back into the display.
I do have another pink/green lobophyllia on the other side of the tank that I may move over to make it a part of the collection.
35548337121_9dd163c760_b.jpg


To update my battle with the RBTA… I think I may have won.
I moved my more precious SPS corals away from the anemone and I placed a small rock in front of the anemone to keep it from expanding forward.
I mounted my red montipora colony in the place vacated by my Miyagi Tort. The plating form of the coral creates a nice shield that keeps the anemone under control.
I left the birds nest coral on the right. The coral's sharp growth form also keeps the anemone from expanding too much.
The clownfish do not seem to mind the new arrangements, but they still feel the need to bite me any time I have to put my hands in the water.
So maybe it's more of a stalemate than a win.
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Here's some complementary fish pics.

The Midas Blenny posing for it's close-up.
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And the Midas Blenny showcasing the mimicry of the female Lyretail Anthias.
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Speaking of anthias… Here's the big boy.
I finally got a somewhat decent picture of him in full display.
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And my Mimic Tang finally was still enough for a decent picture.
Every time the camera shows up, the tangs and wrasse do not like to be photographed.
The fish isn't very large, but does the tail show signs of potential streamers?
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The new arrangement looks awesome. I was still really liking the mainly montipora tank but since David is making one I guess I'll have to look at that in a year or two :p

The colors of the fish and corals are great. That Lobo Brain has some wicked colors, if you ever have the urge to frag a single head let me know.
 
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