Smite's Stout CDA - 205G

Smite

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Slowly removing sand bed with water changes. I'm down to the last bit. I'm trying to decide whether to rehome my sand cuc and sand dwelling wrasse to pull the rest. I'm dealing with bryopsis again but at least I'm starting to see some improvements in coral health.

Alkalinity 7.7
Calcium 450
Magnesium 1450
po4 .03
no3 10-15
salinity 1.026
temp 77.7-80.5
ph 7.85-8.15 (calcium reactor back online with TLF)

I found weird black sludge in my algae reactor so I pulled it a while back. not much was surviving in there anyway. I've been dosing brightwells carbon that I had on hand to try and help with nutrients. Currently po4 .03 is low (bryopsis) but no3 has stayed in the 10-15ppm range.
Dosing OG phyto and also his newer blend that I believe it has some strain of red enhancing zooxanthellae.

Gigantea anemone is starting to get some cool colors under blues. They are faint in the daylight as well.
MAS_6333.jpg

TGC Cherry bomb
MAS_6330.jpg
MAS_6342.jpg

Silly String over Raunchy Red bounces
MAS_6369.jpg

CSB tips looking like lava lamps
MAS_6371.jpg

RR Firecracker starting to grow and color
MAS_6352.jpg

Vivid's Insanity starting to show hints of color
MAS_6339.jpg

Tongs Tenuis got a cool swirl on the new growth
MAS_6393.jpg

JF Pimped out very bleached looking but still how some pop all blue. Stressing on the lack of PE
MAS_6334.jpg

Other grow out peice I'm blanking the name on. Getting some coralite coloration. Starting to encrust. Looks like it gonna start to try and shoot nubs out.
MAS_6336.jpg



Eventually I'm going to change my sump layout. I want something with an easily accessible and large fuge section. When I do that I'll probably be plumbing a manifold off the return for GAC ect.
 

drexel

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Looking good! That gig looks awesome! I really want to get one for my percs, but fear that it will get too big for a 25g. I loved seeing Ali's gigs in one of his tanks, but yours is displaying some really nice colors. I'm glad that silly string is behaving nicely for you. It gets some serious PE when it's really happy.
 

Gedxin

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Beautiful looking anemones and acros you've grown! Man, reading about the Alk/dosing struggles you went through had me gasping at the mess/headache that must have been. Certainly looks like you pulled through, especially with the PE on those pieces!

Great coral picks for your named sticks! Walt disney, Tongs Tenius, cherry bomb, I could go on, they're all stunning. I just nabbed a bunch of frags from CherryCoral's summer sale and will be sharing the story/build for a new tank soon. Hoping to achieve a portion of your colors! I've been slacking on participating on SCR, been over at R2R a bit more.

Thanks again for the UV light too! That office nano tank is still struggling with a smallish dino population and mass GHA. It's the most frustrating battle.
 

Smite

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Looking good! That gig looks awesome! I really want to get one for my percs, but fear that it will get too big for a 25g. I loved seeing Ali's gigs in one of his tanks, but yours is displaying some really nice colors. I'm glad that silly string is behaving nicely for you. It gets some serious PE when it's really happy.
I love the look of clowns in a gig. I prefer them over BTA and it seems like the clowns do too. I haven't once seen them in the CSB and it's getting pretty large so they've had to have checked it out at some point. That tiny one is still tiny so maybe you'd get some life out of a really small one in the 25? But then you'd have to take it away at some point. I love dropping in Ali's place, lives up to the store name for sure. Big thanks for the silly string very cool! The lime in the sky fell off its rock but it's got a solid 3/4-1" new growth tip that is bright blue. Looks amazing, might end up being one of my favorite pieces.
 

Smite

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Beautiful looking anemones and acros you've grown! Man, reading about the Alk/dosing struggles you went through had me gasping at the mess/headache that must have been. Certainly looks like you pulled through, especially with the PE on those pieces!

Great coral picks for your named sticks! Walt disney, Tongs Tenius, cherry bomb, I could go on, they're all stunning. I just nabbed a bunch of frags from CherryCoral's summer sale and will be sharing the story/build for a new tank soon. Hoping to achieve a portion of your colors! I've been slacking on participating on SCR, been over at R2R a bit more.

Thanks again for the UV light too! That office nano tank is still struggling with a smallish dino population and mass GHA. It's the most frustrating battle.
Thanks! It's been a bumpy road with this tank but I'm hoping it's getting to a point where it will level out and get more consistent. Colors have improved recently so hopefully I'll get back to where I was over the next few months. The dosing thing was a nightmare but luckily the CARX dialed in easily. I did lose my hot pink acro colony due to that.

Nice, I'll keep an eye out for what you grabbed. I really want to the CC hellboy again. I lost that one right at the start of the transfer.

Sorry to hear the UV hasn't taken those out yet. Both those can be a pain in the ass for sure. I'll say these Jebao UV are no joke and pretty cheap if you feel the need to add one in series to the Vecton. They do seem to add more heat though.
 

Jimbo327

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Are you planning to crank up your flow for the SPS? Removing the sand bed probably threw the balance off temporarily.

I think sand give a lot of surface area for bacteria to grow in. And I love the look of a sand bed, I'm a big fan.

Your SPS and tank is really looking great though.
 

Smite

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Are you planning to crank up your flow for the SPS? Removing the sand bed probably threw the balance off temporarily.

I think sand give a lot of surface area for bacteria to grow in. And I love the look of a sand bed, I'm a big fan.

Your SPS and tank is really looking great though.
I’ve got all 3 tunze 6105 at 100% long pulse. Fighting those is a gyre 150 jebao knockoff at 100% long pulse. So it’s pretty turbulent. part of why I pulled some sand.

to each their own on sand vs BB but for me my best system has been bare bottom. I wanted sand on this one mostly for wrasse and more diversity but in the end I feel very high flow and ease of maintenance lines up best for my reefing style.

my only real concern is making it easy for that gig to walk. Seems pretty content for now though.
 
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Oh man, the tank is looking great Smite! I honestly don't know how I've missed your updates, but everything looks to be progressing nicely.

Been a while since I updated by thread, but everything is looking great on my end too (honestly, I haven't updated my thread because my photography is $h!t). Glad we both are finally running into some good reefing vibes!

Keep it up!
 
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I’ve got all 3 tunze 6105 at 100% long pulse. Fighting those is a gyre 150 jebao knockoff at 100% long pulse. So it’s pretty turbulent. part of why I pulled some sand.

to each their own on sand vs BB but for me my best system has been bare bottom. I wanted sand on this one mostly for wrasse and more diversity but in the end I feel very high flow and ease of maintenance lines up best for my reefing style.

my only real concern is making it easy for that gig to walk. Seems pretty content for now though.

hard to get good flo for sps without messing up the sand bed, running into that issue with my mixed reef.

in the future i want to do a smaller sps dominated bb tank
 
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are the 6105s the wide flow ones? i picked up 2 6095s awhile back and they seem pretty awesome. i have them cranked to 100%, but they don't just blow the sand around like the octopulse 4s i had would, granted that's a 2500gph vs 4500gph situation

i get it though, sand is mostly a hinderance, but aesthetically i prefer it, and sand burying wrasses are the best so it's a tradeoff
 

Smite

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Oh man, the tank is looking great Smite! I honestly don't know how I've missed your updates, but everything looks to be progressing nicely.

Been a while since I updated by thread, but everything is looking great on my end too (honestly, I haven't updated my thread because my photography is $h!t). Glad we both are finally running into some good reefing vibes!

Keep it up!
Glad to hear your system is doing well too. We both had our go with issues it seems.
I'm still not out of the woods with the bryopsis popping back up but hopefully once I knock that back I'll be in business. I'm just happy to see some color coming through. Daylight still needs some work but blue's showing progress for me.
 

Smite

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hard to get good flo for sps without messing up the sand bed, running into that issue with my mixed reef.

in the future i want to do a smaller sps dominated bb tank
Yep, I did a bit in my UNS tank and that was okay and managable but once I removed even that portion it was just so much easier. Crank it to where the fish don't die and clean from the sump.
 

Smite

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are the 6105s the wide flow ones? i picked up 2 6095s awhile back and they seem pretty awesome. i have them cranked to 100%, but they don't just blow the sand around like the octopulse 4s i had would, granted that's a 2500gph vs 4500gph situation

i get it though, sand is mostly a hinderance, but aesthetically i prefer it, and sand burying wrasses are the best so it's a tradeoff
I have them setup as wide but they did come with the narrow guards too. With all 3 on one side and the tank only being 50" it's pretty powerful. I'll say I'm surprised how much the output drops off over grim or algae build up. That's were it's really hard to be mp40s. Those wide grates don't really plug up like tunze and gyre.

I do like the look of sand but I also really liked growing things off the glass as well. It could be pretty cool on a large scale. I also feel it gives more surface area for film algae to feed tangs/pods. Almost like more rock surface in that way for grazing. My tanks are constantly picking at the bare bottom areas.
 
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I have them setup as wide but they did come with the narrow guards too. With all 3 on one side and the tank only being 50" it's pretty powerful. I'll say I'm surprised how much the output drops off over grim or algae build up. That's were it's really hard to be mp40s. Those wide grates don't really plug up like tunze and gyre.

I do like the look of sand but I also really liked growing things off the glass as well. It could be pretty cool on a large scale. I also feel it gives more surface area for film algae to feed tangs/pods. Almost like more rock surface in that way for grazing. My tanks are constantly picking at the bare bottom areas.
yeah i feel you there, i really like encrusting montis, but they're a freaking nightmare on the main rock structure. i feel like wwc does it really well with their barebottom tanks and using those to just cover space
 

Jimbo327

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Whatever you are doing, it’s in the right direction. The tank looks great, and colors are really popping. Bare bottom definitely has a lot of advantages.
 

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Your coral are looking great and I love the CSB picture. Are you using Brightwell Reef Biofuel for carbon dosing and I'm curious what's your dosing regimen.
 

Smite

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Your coral are looking great and I love the CSB picture. Are you using Brightwell Reef Biofuel for carbon dosing and I'm curious what's your dosing regimen.
Thanks man

yeah I’m using biofuel for the carbon source. I’m going really slow started at 5ml a day midday and have worked up to 10ml but that’s still half the recommended dose. I plan to go to 15ml when I’m back from vacation.
 
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Glad to hear your system is doing well too. We both had our go with issues it seems.
I'm still not out of the woods with the bryopsis popping back up but hopefully once I knock that back I'll be in business. I'm just happy to see some color coming through. Daylight still needs some work but blue's showing progress for me.
Try spot-treating (squirting with a syringe) the byropsis with Hydrogen Peroxide if it's just coming up in patches. That seems to kill it pretty good in my experience.
 

Smite

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Try spot-treating (squirting with a syringe) the byropsis with Hydrogen Peroxide if it's just coming up in patches. That seems to kill it pretty good in my experience.
I'll give that a go. I'm surprised I dosed reef flux hd before leaving for a long weekend. I only had enough for 1/3 of the dose recommendation but when I got back today it has started turning white and appears to be dying back. A hit with h202 will probably seal the deal.
 
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