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jlanger's Reef Build: Episode II - The 120gal Strikes Back (1 Viewer)

Glad things have turned around for you. I have serious lobo envy.
 
This will be a short update as I want to have a more picturesque update when I have time to play with my newest toy. :D

The Copperband Butterflyfish has reluctantly accepted his role in this system. The aiptasia anemones are just about eliminated. The aiptasia on the rocks were nuked with Joe's Juice; which had the best results of all the formulas that I used. The aiptasia on the substrate would be collected and placed in the front corner where I would place the fresh clams. The copperband discovered that these were meant to be eaten and they would be eaten shortly thereafter. I know of one that is hiding behind the rock that gets serious flow that the copperband hasn't found yet. It may be up to me to gather it and place it up front. The copperband has also started eating frozen food blends so I haven't had to buy any more fresh clams in a week. The fish has a voracious appetite and has a nice belly on it so I'm happy.
That tiny Melanurus Wrasse disappeared this week. I have a suspicion on who is to blame.

No more new corals since my last post, but they are all mounted now. (There's a chunk of green M. foliosa that is loose, but I don't really need it in my system so I don't want to mount it.
All of the goniopora corals are growing very well. I've moved some pieces onto larger frag discs so fragging them may be a possibility in the near future.

Here's a nice macro photo of the Burning Man Goniopora as it is growing and coloring up more each week. That fire is starting to come through!

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I should have plenty of photos in the next update. ;)
 
It must be rough to lounge around in a Burning Man Goniopora...

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Quick update notes before I forget...

Overall the aquarium is looking really good.
I haven't had to do much over the summer equipment-wise. I still need to recalibrate a couple of probes that were on my to-do list. The Geo's Reef calcium reactor has been rock solid all year. I replaced the two T5 lamps. The APIS-300 is still kicking out a lot of algae every ten days or so. I still need to build a rack system for the four Ecotech Marine MP40 power bricks and drivers; they're just a mess behind the tank for now.
The fish are doing well. I did lose the small Melanurus Wrasse; of which I suspect the tuskfish. The wrasse was acting strange one day and I noticed that it had a large wound on its side but swimming fine. A couple of days later, it was gone. The Copperband Butterflyfish is doing great! I have not found any aiptasia in the last month; even those tough to get to ones are gone now. The copperband is eating the frozen foods with gusto and looks very healthy. The Harlequin Tuskfish is still quite shy, but is looking good. The two tangs are just being tangs; no issues. The Percula Clownfish has relocated to the Goniopora Garden full time; it will swim amongst all of the colonies.
Speaking of the Goniopora Garden, it is about all grown in again. I've had to move a few to reduce the abuse from larger colonies. I haven't added any new pieces in a short while, so maybe it's time to start looking for more.
The montipora corals are growing very well. Now that the wrasse is gone, I have found a few Monti-eating nudis on a few frags. Those frags got tossed out or I fragged off an unaffected section and tossed the rest. I'm considering adding another wrasse to combat the nudis, but I haven't gone shopping yet. I may lose my Juicy Fruit Montipora. I found a nudi on the frag disc so I dipped the entire coral and it doesn't seem to have taken that very well.
At this time, my biggest peeve is bubble algae. I've had success with Vibrant in the past but now that I'm running the ATS, I don't know if I want to take it offline and dose again.
Other than that, I really wish I could invite everyone over for a house meeting. The reef is looking really good and the corals' colors just pop when the lights are ramping down at night. Here's some photos instead...


The Goniopora Garden with the resident clownfish.

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Two of the latest goniopora frags; UC Fire Gardens and UC Citrus Sparkler.

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Close up of the Stardust Alveopora from New Wave.

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And here's a good look at the algae growing in my algae turf scrubber before today's harvest.
Today's harvest yielded a good 14.6 ounces (squeezed) from a ten day cycle at a ten hour photoperiod.
Test results... NO3: 10ppm and PO4: 0.02ppm

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The goni garden is looking lush and the alveopora is cool. It looks like similar to a clove polyp
 
The goni garden is looking good!!! :)
 
Join me next Friday, November 20th at 7PM for a virtual tank tour of my 120gal reef.
A meeting thread will be posted within the next few days where you can RSVP.

Take some time to read through this thread for the back story and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask them here or during the virtual meeting.

Here's a FTS from this evening as a preview.

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Thanks guys. The Goni-garden was replanted today.
I took time today to move a handful of the gonipora and bernardpora coral into new locations as they needed more room. And I received three more gonis and one bernard frag this week so they were added to the garden; nice colors and they're opening up quite well for newcomers.

Over the next week prior to my virtual meeting, I'll post many photos showing various aspects to my system.

I haven't changed much in the way of my filtration system over the past year. I'm still running the APIS-300 Algae Turf Scrubber, Reef Octopus Regal 200-SSS and the Geo's Reef 618 Calcium reactor with the 415 SMC.
Here's a recent photo from a couple of weeks ago showing what's "under the hood".

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One long overdue project of making a control board for my four MP40 pumps was completed last month.
I mounted the board to the wall behind the left side of the stand . The power supplies are on the back side while the controllers are still accessible from the front. A power strip is mounted on the backside to provide power and all of the extra cables are bound up behind the board as well. I have the WXM Module for controlling the pumps through the Apex controller but I haven't brought those on board yet. Unfortunately, one of the MP40 dry sides seized up during this project and it seems that I'll need to send it in to get fixed; unless someone knows how to fix it.

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I'll leave this post with a pic of the Copperband Butterflyfish. Its been a great addition; eating well and not harassing any of the corals even though he's constantly on the look out for any more aiptasia.

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After I finished mounting the new corals, I took an inventory of what corals are in the display.

I have nine different varieties of plating montipora corals; a handful of them have multiple colonies.
There are three varieties of encrusting montipora corals.
And there are five different varieties of branching montipora corals; numerous duplicates with these as well.

There are twenty-two pieces of goniopora corals; twenty varieties.
There are six pieces of bernardpora corals.
And six pieces of alveopora corals; one duplicate.

I have six lobophyllia colonies.

There are two Duncanopsammia colonies; original from the old system.

There is one Purple Scroll coral.

And the two pieces of Oculina robusta that came in with my live rock order.


The fish include the Harlequin Tuskfish, a Kole Tang, a yellow Tang, the old True Percula Clownfish, the Copperband Butterflyfish and the Melanurus Wrasse.

The only clean up crew that is present are snails, mostly Banded Trochus Snails; there's one Nassarius Snail and one Turbo Snail that I see.
 
Some very quick, last minute macro photos of some of the new goniopora and bernardpora corals that are looking good.
(My new camera porthole arrived about an hour ago.)

Enchantress Goniopora (Bernardpora???)

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Joe's Rainbow Troll Goniopora (Bernardpora???)

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UC Citrus Sparkler Goniopora

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Joe's Pyromaniac Goniopora

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See you all in about thirty minutes!!!
 
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