gcarroll - (updated coral pics 12/03/12)

Well, after some issues (conflict of interest, ect…) with our club president, he was asked to resign and finally did. I was then elected as the club President. Ont thing I set out to do was to make our club show the best show in the country and to make our club finacially stable so that money was not a limiting factor as to what we could and could not do. I really focused on those two task and was pouring so much time into the club, my tank became more of a chore to me. During that time we decided that we would also look to move our home while the housing market was down. With all that going on I asked a friend to watch over my coral colonies. I moved them all to a friends outdoor coral farm as he was the only person that could take on that many large coral colonies. Had I to do it all over again, I would have fragged each one and either kept them or sent them to a secondary location for safe keeping. The big problems started when moving the corals back to my tank. Many RTN'd and STN'd and I was unable to save much. Eventually I was able to stabilize what was left and over the last two months things have turned around. Righ now I am focused on growth and running 14K MH but plan to move to LED. I have also considered moving to T5. We will just have to see what happens. I have lots of options. If all else fails and I continue with MH, I will change out to the old reliable 20K Radiums for color!

 

Great tank Greg! Love the colors and it sure looks like you have it going the right direction. That is going to fill out nice. Can't wait. Love the title too - I had something like that in mind for my tank post. lol Great stuff. How about a sump shot?

matt

 

Well, at least your tank decline was for a good cause! Moving established colonies can always be risky, but definitely looks like your picking up the pieces :thumb_up:

 

If you need to make sure that efflo doesnt disappear, you can send me a frag for safe keeping.

Switching lighting might be a little dangerous right now, don't you think?

 

Here you go Matt!

Custom AquaC RX-2 (holds 5 jars of ARM media when full)
20lb CO2 bottle
Aquacontroller2
Enaly 300mg Ozonizer with built in air pump
Warner Marine MF-251 protein skimmer


40g refugium with no light and a deep sand bed.
50g sump
Precision Marine 24" tall media reactor running 1.5 liters of Warner Marine Ecobak
No carbon of GFO used unless necessary.

 

Not too worried. I have never kept the same lighting on this tank for more than 2 years anyway. PAR meter comes in handy.

 

5 gallons of ARM? That is a big reactor sir and should keep those SPS happy.
Thanks for the shots. Any observations on your ozonizer you can share Greg? I've always been curious about those on the hobby level.

 

The ozonizer is only there for maintenance. I only turn it on just after water changes, cleaning the glass, when I use the turkey baster on the detritus that forms on the rocks, or when I scrub the skimmer down. Since I'm using Ecobak, I prefer to not to run it constantly.



I used to run chaeto in the refugium however since I keep such a low nutrient level, I just doesn't grow. I decided on a larger grain sand ion the display, so I have been slowly siphoning out the suggar sand and building a deep sand bed in the refugium. I used to run a frag tank down there where I cultured xenia for a local fish store where they were giving mer $10/stalk credit. I had it down where I could grow approx 30 stalks/month. The rack was 4" from the surface with a 150 watt MH beating down on the xenia. I may go back to using it as a frag tank once the corals grow out but for now it is just a DSB.

 

Tank looks great Greg. I changed my priorities and tried to sell our house too. Take advantage and move up. We just took it off the market. It just is not where it needs to be. We will try again next year.

Meanwhile I am tankless. I got into some other hobby, but I do miss my tank. I have a dream tank in my head that never goes away. Not monsterous, just some setups I would love to try. I was going to get a piece of your Efflo right before I decided to get out. I really love that coral.... but effloless, and tankless. At least I get to look at your beautiful tank and think of the possibilities.

 

Yeah, it is a tough time out there. We still plan to move but I am just gonna keep reefing until the move. Then the time is right to get a new tank! I'm thinking something between 5-6' x 3-4' x 2-2.5'. It just depends what fits in the new home!